Is it time for the UK to acknowledge the ‘rhetoric to reality gap’ on its military power?

It will have been more than three weeks since the US and Israel first attacked Iran when the first British warship finally arrives off the coast of Cyprus, a belated defensive deployment that has highlighted the lack of military capacity available to the UK.Nominally, HMS Dragon was one of three destroyers available out of six. In reality the warship has had to be hauled out of dry dock, prepared and then, after launch, tested for several days in the Channel. Its arrival date is still unconfirmed.“It’s clear one of the military’s big problems is giving the government contingency options,” said Matthew Savill, of the Royal United Services Institute, reflecting years of spending constraints

Claimants drop lawsuit against Gerry Adams over IRA bombings

Three victims of IRA bombings who sued Gerry Adams alleging he was a member of the paramilitary group and culpable for the attacks have withdrawn their lawsuit on the last day of the civil trial.John Clark, Jonathan Ganesh and Barry Laycock, who were injured respectively in the 1973 Old Bailey bombing and the 1996 London Docklands and Manchester bombings, were seeking symbolic “vindicatory” damages of £1 each.They alleged that the former Sinn Féin leader, who is credited with helping to bring about the Northern Ireland peace process that ended the Troubles, was a member of the IRA and had sat on its army council. Adams denied being a member of the IRA or being involved in bombings.On Friday, the ninth and final day of the trial, the claimants’ lawyer, Anne Studd KC, was expected to finish her closing submissions, but she told the high court that the claim would be discontinued after “proceedings developed overnight”

Labour dismisses Reform UK MSP candidates as ‘hopeless Tory rejects and oddballs’ as one is suspended – as it happened

Severin Carrell is the Guardian’s Scotland editor.Commenting on Reform UK’s decision to suspend one of its MSP candidate (see 1.13pm), and revelations coming out about the extremist views of others (see 10.12am), Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, said:double quotation markNigel Farage promised that Reform’s candidates in Scotland would be ‘fit and proper people’ – and yet, just like every promise made by Farage, it has fallen apart immediately on impact with reality.Within 24 hours of the party’s candidates being announced, one has already been suspended, while several more are embroiled in scandal

‘We need to think much bigger’: trade minister calls for greater ambition in UK-EU reset

It was all smiles and warm handshakes when the two men in charge of renegotiating the UK’s relationship with the EU met in Brussels this week.Maroš Šefčovič and the UK minister for EU relations, Nick Thomas-Symonds, sharing a stage on the third floor of the vast European parliament building, were at pains to show the cross-Channel relationship was in a good place after years of rancour.The deep frustration about the lack of progress in the “resetting” of the relationship between the UK and the EU was evident on stage and behind the scenes.Šefčovič, the European commissioner for trade, told MPs and MEPs gathered at the EU-UK parliamentary partnership assembly (PPA) of the need for a reboot but also hinted at the need for more ambition in the next round of talks, reminding the British in the room that an over-arching Swiss-style deal, as offered to the former prime minister Boris Johnson, was still very much on the table.The following day, the trade minister, Chris Bryant, on a charm offensive in Paris, expressed his own frustration at the “piecemeal” approach he inherited when he was appointed in September

Reform UK suspends Scottish candidate less than a day after announcing him

Reform UK has suspended one of its Scottish candidates after it emerged he had been struck off as a company director, and the party faces growing attacks for fielding candidates making Islamophobic remarks.Reform confirmed on Friday morning it had suspended Stuart Niven, its candidate for Dundee City West, after the Herald revealed he had been struck off after diverting tens of thousands of pounds of Covid grants into his personal account.Several hours after that admission, claims within Reform’s Scottish manifesto that it could save billions of pounds in Holyrood spending were dismissed by the Institute for Fiscal Studies thinktank, which described many of its pledges as “not fiscally credible” and “unserious at best”.Reform had faced a succession of attacks from across the political spectrum about the conduct of several candidates only hours after Nigel Farage unveiled the 73 Reform UK hopefuls standing for May’s Scottish parliament election.Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, said the disclosures in several newspapers about their “divisive tweets” raised challenging questions about the party’s screening process, which Farage earlier this year claimed was now far more rigorous than before

Starmer’s ministers look at new economic blueprint to quell voter anger

Cabinet ministers have been studying a blueprint for Labour to radically overhaul its economic offer and messaging, including devolving tax powers, abolishing national insurance, and major property tax changes.Passed around dozens of MPs, the paper argues that without a major rethink, the failure to tackle the discontent on the cost of living will hand the next election to a hard-right government. There is also increasing concern that the war with Iran – pushing up prices of fuel, energy, food and mortgages – will fuel further mass public anger.The report, which has the draft title of the Beveridge Report for the Economy, will say the British economy rewards grifters and exploitation rather than hard work, and that voter anger is fuelled by the belief that hard work and “doing the right thing” leaves many feeling cheated.Several potential Labour leadership candidates are understood to have requested to see the report, which was prepared as part of a partnership between the Labour Growth Group of MPs once considered loyal to Keir Starmer and the Good Growth Foundation thinktank