Theme: United Kingdom

Commonwealth leaders meeting in Antigua said the UK has signed up to “structured, time-bound, inclusive and good-faith” talks addressing the “historical harms” of the transatlantic slave trade. The paragraph appears in the summit’s 18-page final communiqué, in which leaders “welcome the agreement of the Government of the United Kingdom” to join the dialogue. Prime Minister Andy Burnham opened the door to a formal apology on behalf of the UK, while ruling out direct reparations. The timeframe for the talks will be agreed at a later date, though Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband has suggested they are likely to conclude in around a year.

Europe’s far-right leaders began to distance themselves from Donald Trump after the Democrats’ victory in the US midterm elections, but mostly avoided directly criticizing the president, according to Reuters, in a text republished by Al-Monitor. Jordan Bardella, leader of France’s National Rally, said Trump’s second term was less isolationist than his first, from 2017 to 2021, and that “American intervention regarding Iran carries very heavy consequences” for economies around the world, without mentioning Trump as being behind that intervention. Santiago Abascal, leader of Spain’s Vox, made little attempt to temper his move away from Trump, telling reporters he was “in Spain and not in Michigan,” and that he cares “very little about what happens in other places.” Rupert Lowe, leader of the British party Restore Britain, blamed the decision to attack Iran for the Republicans’ defeat, calling it a “catastrophic mistake,” and wrote in his X post: “What has this war achieved? Absolutely nothing of worth.” Lowe did not include in the text the name of the president who launched the war.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot called the outcome “very good news for American democracy”, saying it is further proof that in a democracy the people write their own history. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said voters had rejected hatred, sexism, climate change denial and privileges for elites, and that the far-right wave “is no longer growing: it is crumbling”. German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) “must become more European in order to be able to remain transatlantic”, and that Germany is taking on more responsibility and a larger share of the burdens within the alliance. British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said the world now has an opportunity to unite around the cost of living and expressed hope that the Strait of Hormuz would reopen. Austrian Foreign Minister Beate Meinl-Reisinger said Austrian and European security and prosperity must not depend on how people in Kansas or Iowa vote.

A British healthcare worker infected with Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is being medically evacuated to Britain, in stable condition, expected to arrive on Wednesday or Thursday, according to an official document seen by Reuters. The British government confirmed that a British citizen in the DRC had tested positive and said the risk to the UK public remains low. It is the first case involving a British national linked to the current outbreak, and the patient had been sent to the DRC by a humanitarian organization. The outbreak is the second-largest on record, with more than 10,000 confirmed cases and nearly 5,000 deaths reported by late October.

The British government is facing a legal challenge over its recommendation for schools to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, in a case filed on Monday by the Good Law Project. Seven of the definition’s 11 illustrations include references to Israel. The group’s executive director, Jo Maugham, said rules that conflate criticism of Israel with antisemitism could be among the drivers of antisemitism. British Jewish group Na’amod said that “Jewish pupils should be safe at school, and antisemitism has to be taken seriously. The IHRA definition doesn’t do that job”.

Britain’s highest court on Wednesday heard an appeal against the ban on Palestine Action, which the British government classifies as a terrorist organization, as police moved to arrest protesters outside. A lawyer for the group’s founder argued that only three of 385 acts by the organization cross the legal threshold of terrorism. Twenty-five protesters were arrested outside the Supreme Court on suspicion of expressing support for a proscribed organization, according to the Metropolitan Police. The court heard that more than 3,000 people have been arrested since the ban came into force, and that the High Court found the ban unlawful in February, a ruling overturned by the Court of Appeal in June.

The United Nations General Assembly elected, in three rounds of balloting, Dapo Akande of the United Kingdom and four other judges to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), for nine-year terms starting on February 6, 2027. Akande received 129 votes, in an election where the absolute majority was 97. Mahmoud Daifallah Hmoud of Jordan and Phoebe N. Okowa of Kenya were re-elected, and François Alabrune of France and Rena Lee of Singapore were elected. Akande will become the first British judge on the court since 2018 and is expected to sit on the bench as the court decides the case brought by South Africa accusing Israel of violating the Genocide Convention in Gaza.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said the UK’s plan to make some refugees wait up to 30 years to apply for settlement raises significant concerns. The government kept a wait of up to 30 years for refugees who arrived by irregular routes and created an exemption allowing care workers to apply for indefinite leave to remain after five years. UNHCR said extended settlement waits, short-term stay arrangements and limits on access to citizenship could undermine refugees’ security and ability to integrate.

The United Kingdom Supreme Court began hearing the appeal on Wednesday from Palestine Action co-founder Huda Ammori against the government’s designation of the group as a terrorist organization. The hearing is scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday. Permission to appeal was granted only on the argument that the proscription is compatible with Articles 10 and 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR); the argument on the interpretation and application of the Home Secretary’s policy was refused. The proscription was announced to Parliament on June 23, 2025, and came into effect on July 5, 2025, under the Terrorism Act 2000. More than 300 supporters of the group were arrested by London police on Saturday for displaying placards bearing the now-prohibited slogan. The defense argues that only three of the 385 actions undertaken by the group over five years were assessed as meeting the definition of terrorism.

Professor Dapo Akande has been elected a judge at the International Court of Justice (ICJ). The United Kingdom had not had a judge at the court for almost a decade, and Akande will serve a nine-year term. Nine candidates were running for the five seats in simultaneous elections in the Security Council and the General Assembly, which required an absolute majority in both bodies. The election was treated as a major British diplomatic victory, almost ten years after the previous British judge failed to win re-election.

UK funding for the Commonwealth nations that previously had bilateral aid programs will be cut from £546m in 2024-25 to £131m in 2028-29. Of that total, £68m will go to Nigeria, leaving £63m for other countries. Sierra Leone will see its aid cut from nearly £30m to £5m, Rwanda from nearly £30m to £5m and Tanzania from £60m in 2025-26 to £5m in 2028-29. At least 26 Commonwealth countries have been prevented from receiving funds under the longstanding Darwin funding stream, worth about £40m a year for nature projects.

Hongkongers moving to the United Kingdom under the British National (Overseas) visa scheme, known as BN(O), will be exempt from plans to double the qualifying period for settlement to 10 years, according to an official announcement. The exemption retains stricter English-language requirements and tighter rules on criminal records, alongside existing conditions: five years of continuous residence and passing the Life in the UK test. On Monday, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood outlined plans to overhaul immigration rules, under which migrants would no longer gain the right to live permanently in the UK almost automatically after five years.

Drax unveiled plans to build an artificial intelligence data center at the site of its biomass power plant in North Yorkshire, using the plant’s surplus energy capacity, in a partnership with Radiant, according to City AM, in a text republished by OilPrice. The first phase is to deliver up to 100 megawatts by 2028 and the second an extra 500 megawatts by 2031, with total capacity above one gigawatt and potential investment exceeding £20 billion, of which £2.5 billion in the first stage. Drax shares rose 8.5% to 877 pence on Tuesday morning, making the stock the biggest riser on the FTSE 250.

At the opening of the Commonwealth summit, King Charles III called the transatlantic slave trade “a monstrous injustice”. British Prime Minister Andy Burnham is holding talks with leaders of the bloc about a formal apology but ruled out paying the financial reparations demanded by some Caribbean countries, saying over the weekend that he was open to saying sorry. Britain will allocate £40 million for Caribbean infrastructure and is pursuing a debt relief plan for the poorest Commonwealth countries.

Britain’s government set out before Parliament the “earned settlement” model, which ends the almost automatic grant of permanent residence after five years. People earning more than £50,271 a year and some public service workers, such as doctors, nurses and teachers, will be able to settle after five years; others will wait 10 years as the new default. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said settled status “until now has been given almost automatically” and that, “from today, it must be earned.” People found to have breached immigration rules will have to wait at least 20 years to settle, and anyone who arrived by small boat or another clandestine means faces an additional 10-year wait, which could reach 30 years. The new rules are due to come into effect next year and do not affect people who already have settled status.

The European Union (EU) and the UK have completed their deal to remove Brexit checks on imports and exports of food and animal products ranging from sausages and cheese to leather goods and flowers. The sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) deal is not expected to be implemented until the first quarter of 2028, after a six-month delay to the second EU-UK summit, now due on 20 November. British trade with Europe has dropped by a third since 2019. The deal should remove the need for £200 export health certificates per shipment.

Under the new rules, most foreign workers will have to wait 10 years to settle in the UK, while higher earners can qualify sooner, and refugees who arrive on “small boats” may wait as long as 30 years for residency, according to Al Jazeera.

The United Kingdom National Cyber Security Centre assesses it as highly likely that AI-powered malware will have been used in a ransomware attack on UK critical infrastructure by 2028. The center chief, Richard Horne, said the United Kingdom will likely face AI cyberattacks on critical infrastructure by 2028, from criminals and states — including China and Russia.

Nearly 3,000 military personnel from 12 European nations are taking part this month in Poland in Exercise Koalicja, running November 9–22, 2026, according to the BBC, a rehearsal, led by the UK and France, of how to move, protect and supply a multinational force in Ukraine if there is a peace deal.

The so-called Coalition of the Willing holds on November 9, 2026 its first large-scale military exercise in Poland, in Nowa Deba in the southeast, with nearly 2,800 soldiers from 10 countries in the region bordering Ukraine. The Koalicja exercise runs until November 22. France and the United Kingdom are the main contributors, alongside Estonia, Lithuania, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Belgium. The alliance, led by France and the UK, has 36 nations and does not include the United States.

The Caribbean Community (Caricom) reaffirmed at the Commonwealth summit in Antigua and Barbuda, which opened on Sunday, its demand that the United Kingdom take institutional responsibility for slavery and pay compensation. Saint Lucia’s prime minister and Caricom’s chair pro tempore, Philip J. Pierre, said in a statement that moral reparations and economic compensation cannot be left out of the negotiations or replaced by a symbolic apology, and Buckingham Palace said King Charles III will not apologize on behalf of the country.

The UK is open to a formal apology for Britain’s role in the slave trade but rejects reparations. In a Guardian article ahead of a Commonwealth leaders’ summit where the subject is expected to dominate, Andy Burnham went further than any previous prime minister toward offering a formal apology for Britain’s role in the transatlantic slave trade, but rejected demands from Caribbean countries and campaigners for financial reparations, maintaining the position of successive governments that British people today cannot be held liable for the past.

Britain will require some migrants to wait 10 years or more before they can settle, while granting concessions to some care workers to defuse a political row. The sweeping reforms to the immigration system were unveiled on Monday.

Britain's governing Labour Party decided to stop cooperating with the Green Party in 11 councils across England after the Greens adopted a policy last month that “Zionism is racism.” Through a vote of party activists at the Green Party's annual conference in October, the Greens became the first major party in the UK to recognize Zionism as a form of racism and to back a single democratic Palestinian state with equal rights for all ethnic and religious groups, rather than a two-state solution.

Five Britons detained in France on suspicion of harassing migrants were fined, expelled and banned from entering the region for six months on Sunday, November 2, according to French authorities. An aid group had accused them of violence against undocumented migrants, but investigations found no evidence of violent offenses, prosecutor Charlotte Huet said in a statement on Sunday.

British officials initially insisted that discussions of reparations for slavery should not be on the agenda of the Commonwealth leaders' summit in Antigua and Barbuda, according to the Guardian. Currently, slavery reparations are not on the official agenda of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) summit, which begins on Sunday.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry designated MI6, the UK’s foreign intelligence service, as a hostile group and the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force (RAF) as terrorist organizations, as a reciprocal measure against the British, according to the Tehran Times. The ministry said the decision was adopted in response to British actions over the past year, including the country’s involvement in the US-Israeli war against Iran through the provision of military bases, facilities and logistical support.

Five Britons arrested on Thursday in Dunkirk on suspicion of violence against migrants were banned from appearing in the Nord and Pas-de-Calais departments for six months for carrying weapons, Le Monde reported. They drove along the coast in a minibus they had nicknamed “the battle bus” and livestreamed images of intimidation against migrants on a social network, according to the newspaper.

London’s Metropolitan Police said on Sunday that 325 people were arrested on Saturday at the protest outside the US embassy, 320 of them for “expressing support for a proscribed organisation under the Terrorism Act.” The demonstration preceded a two-day Supreme Court hearing starting Wednesday on the UK government’s July 2025 decision to outlaw Palestine Action under anti-terrorism legislation, according to France 24.

London’s police arrested 139 people at a demonstration outside the US Embassy on Saturday after protesters expressed support for Palestine Action, a pro-Palestinian group that has been outlawed in the UK, according to the Jerusalem Post. The demonstration was organized by the activist group Defend Our Juries, which is campaigning against the British government’s decision to outlaw Palestine Action.

Iran’s foreign ministry announced on Sunday that it had designated the UK’s Royal Navy and Royal Air Force as “terrorist organizations”, according to the Hindustan Times, which cited Iran International. The ministry also classified MI6, Britain’s foreign intelligence service, as a “hostile group”. The statement characterized the move as a reciprocal step to Washington’s designation of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization.

Human rights lawyer Margaret Owen, 94, was arrested again on Saturday at the protest outside the US embassy in London against the ban on Palestine Action. The Metropolitan Police said the majority of those detained at the demonstration were held for expressing support for a proscribed organization, and that further arrests were expected throughout the day.

London police arrested 139 people on Saturday at a protest outside the US Embassy in support of the banned group Palestine Action, up from the 48 detentions announced earlier at the same rally. The majority of those taken into custody had expressed support for a proscribed organization, London’s Metropolitan Police said in a statement cited by AP News. Al Jazeera reported at least 139 arrests after protesters defied a warning not to attend the rally against the proscription of Palestine Action.

The UK approved the development of the Jackdaw gas field in the North Sea on October 21, after years of legal battles and political uncertainty, according to OilPrice. A legal challenge by environmental campaigners led to a ruling that the earlier consent had been granted unlawfully and that a more detailed assessment of the environmental impact was needed, according to the BBC. The government says gas from Jackdaw will be in British homes and businesses this month.

London police arrested 48 people on Saturday at a protest by Palestine Action supporters outside the US Embassy, days before a two-day Supreme Court hearing on the ban on the group, according to Middle East Eye. “The majority of arrests have been for expressing support for a proscribed organisation,” the force said. Nearly 4,000 people have been arrested for allegedly showing support for Palestine Action since the British government proscribed it under anti-terrorism laws in July 2025.

Former British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the UK and other European nations must draw closer together as the US becomes a less reliable partner, in his first significant political intervention since leaving office. According to the Evening Standard, he said the change is permanent and not an aberration of the Trump presidency, and that things will not go back to the way they were before.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham is “open” to the possibility of the UK formally apologizing for its role in the transatlantic slave trade, but has ruled out financial reparations, the BBC reported. In a Guardian piece, he writes that listening to calls for a formal apology on behalf of the British state will form an important part of the process and that he does not see financial reparations as the right answer.

Iranian diplomat Nasser Kanaani criticized what he termed an attempt by colonialists to strip nations of their powers, in response to the UK prime minister’s remarks on Iran’s nuclear deal and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, according to Mehr News.

London’s Metropolitan Police has warned that anyone attending a demonstration in support of Palestine Action near the US Embassy on Saturday will face arrest, “as part of a robust policing operation.” The force says expressing support for the group is an offense under the Terrorism Act after its proscription in June 2025, a decision upheld by the Court of Appeal in June 2026.

Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz remains 70 percent below pre-conflict levels, according to a weekly assessment by the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO). The body recorded 277 vessel transits in the seven days to October 28, 155 inbound and 122 outbound. Since the conflict began on February 28, UKMTO counts 88 incidents in the strait, with at least 35 attacks on shipping in October — the worst month for attacks since the conflict started.

The traditional family photo that opens the G20 foreign ministers' meeting was canceled in the United States after Australia, the UK and several countries refused to appear beside Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, The Guardian reported. Secretary of State Marco Rubio pulled the plug after European delegations, the UK and Australia made it known they would boycott or walk out of the ceremonial snapshot. European diplomats refused to stand for an official photo with Lavrov, leading the American hosts to cancel the planned picture, the BBC reported.

The British maritime agency UKMTO (United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations) said in a warning issued on Thursday that it had received a report from a company security officer that a tanker was hit by an unknown projectile while completing an outbound transit of the Strait of Hormuz, according to Anadolu. The agency did not identify the weapon, establish who fired it or attribute responsibility to Iran, according to Gulf News.

Britain’s Home Office canceled the electronic travel authorization (ETA) of academic Andreas Malm on Wednesday, saying his “presence in the UK is not considered to be conducive to the public good”, according to Middle East Eye.

ExxonMobil earned US$15.4 billion in the quarter, slightly more than double the US$7.5 billion of the year-earlier period, and Chevron's profit was US$9.9 billion, against US$3.5 billion a year earlier, according to AFP, in a text republished by France 24. London-based Shell reported a profit of US$12 billion in the third quarter, up 127% from a year earlier, according to CNN.

The UK Home Office canceled Swedish national Andreas Malm's Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA) on Wednesday, described as a pro-Palestine academic, according to Al Jazeera; the government said his presence in the UK “is not considered to be conducive to the public good”.

John Healey's Budget assumed that the government will approve North Sea exploratory drilling projects producing in excess of a billion barrels of oil and gas, according to OilPrice. The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) expects UK oil and gas production to decline by around 10% annually through 2031, compared with 14% without new field development.

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said on Thursday that Britain was “doing everything we can” to support the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, amid the impact of the Iran war, according to Middle East Eye.

British prosecutors said they had charged two British nationals under the National Security Act over an incident last month at the RAF Fairford airbase, and police say the two are suspected of assisting Iran, according to CNN. The base had been used by US B-1 bombers to carry out strikes on Iran, and the aircraft were withdrawn on security grounds shortly after five men were arrested outside the base in the early hours of September 27.

King Charles III began a nine-day Caribbean tour in the Bahamas, including Guyana, Antigua and Barbuda, and a Commonwealth summit, according to France 24, met by protesters with placards demanding reparations, and confirmed he will discuss the legacy of slavery with Commonwealth leaders, according to The Guardian.

British officials have begun discussions with the EU about a long-term relationship that could include a return to free movement, the business secretary said, according to the Guardian. The focus of the negotiations is the EU summit in November, to seal an agreement easing some trading restrictions and a youth mobility deal, the newspaper reported. The Independent says the UK is already holding talks about a possible return to freedom of movement.

Two men have been charged with national security offences after an investigation into a suspected terror plot near RAF Fairford in the UK, according to the Guardian. One of them, a 24-year-old man, was charged with assisting a foreign intelligence service, the BBC reported. The charges were brought under the National Security Act, according to the BBC.

The United Kingdom sanctioned 15 senior commanders from the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) over suspected atrocities, including conflict-related sexual violence, and allocated £5 million to support survivors of that violence in Sudan. The measures include travel bans and asset freezes, with the stated aim of ensuring that “the horrors that took place at El Fasher will be known to the world”, according to the British Foreign Office.

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s cabinet is split over whether to approve drilling at the Rosebank oilfield, west of Shetland, an £8.7 billion development that its operator says would pump about 69,000 barrels a day at peak, OilPrice reported. Energy security sits on one side, the government’s climate commitments on the other.

The United Kingdom sanctioned 15 Sudanese commanders for sexual violence, torture and attacks on civilians during the fall of El Fasher and allocated 5 million pounds to survivors of sexual violence plus another 10 million pounds in humanitarian aid to Sudan. The list includes commanders from the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese Armed Forces, all subject to a travel ban and an asset freeze, according to the Guardian.

The Board of Deputies of British Jews, an umbrella group for British Jews, passed by 118 votes to 1 a motion declaring the Green Party of England and Wales a racist party, the Times of Israel reported. The vote took place at the body's October plenary on Sunday, after the party approved a resolution describing Zionism as racism and calling for Israel to be replaced with a Palestinian state.

UK Defence Secretary Wes Streeting said Britain must be ready for war in 1,000 days, as the government tells Britons to stock up with tinned food and bottles of water, according to The Independent. “That gives us a little over 1,000 days to complete our mission: to be ready with our allies to fight and win,” he said.

Storms battered northern Europe on Sunday, cutting power to more than 150,000 homes, forcing the cancellation of hundreds of flights and silencing phone networks, according to AFP. Authorities in the countries said more than 82,000 homes in Britain, nearly 60,000 in France and at least 10,000 in Germany had power cuts inflicted by storms Boelo and Austen within 24 hours of each other. Amsterdam's Schiphol airport cancelled dozens of flights on Sunday; AFP counted some 90 cancelled flights on the airport website, mainly to European cities including Paris, Rome and Dublin.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei said that France, Germany and the United Kingdom, known as the E3, and Middle Eastern foreign ministers must examine the root causes of military conflict in the region, according to the Middle East Eye. He condemned what he called the E3’s double standards over their inaction in the face of US and Israeli military aggression against Iran, their comprehensive support for Israel and their destructive approach to Iran’s nuclear issue.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has decided that Israel should support Argentina on the Falkland Islands issue, according to the British newspaper The Telegraph, as reported by Ynetnews. The decision was prompted by sanctions Britain imposed about a month ago on Israeli settlements, and the newspaper stressed that the move amounts to support for negotiations, without formal recognition of Argentina’s sovereignty.

UK Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said Britain is “redoubling” efforts to find diplomatic solutions to the Iran war because the conflict is “driving up bills for families in Britain”, Middle East Eye reported.

France and the United Kingdom carried out their first joint nuclear air strike simulation, with French Rafale jets in a mock mission called “Rummy” escorted by British Royal Air Force Typhoons, according to The Times of Israel. The exercise comes as Paris and London deepen nuclear coordination amid rising tensions with Russia.

The government of the United Kingdom has told the public to keep three days' worth of food and water at home to get through a national emergency, according to the BBC. The Be Ready campaign lists bottled water for three days, 3 litres per person per day for drinking, plus non-perishable food, an FM radio, a torch, a power bank, cash and medication.

A US judge has ordered President Donald Trump to answer questions under oath in his defamation lawsuit against the BBC by December 11, the BBC reported. Trump is suing the broadcaster over a Panorama episode that edited together two different sections of a speech he gave before the riot at the US Capitol in 2021. Trump cancelled a previous deposition on October 16, citing “matters of national importance” while he was campaigning in Georgia.

Beijing criticised what it called irresponsible remarks by Britain after a UK half-yearly report said Hong Kong’s national security law had further diminished the openness that underpinned the city’s success, according to the South China Morning Post. Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said he was deeply concerned and disturbed by the continued imprisonment of former media boss Jimmy Lai Chee-ying, jailed for 20 years over national security offences.

UK Defence Secretary Wes Streeting said Britain should prepare for the threat of “state-sponsored terrorism” by hostile powers targeting everyday infrastructure, as part of a national conversation about resilience in the face of emergencies, according to the Guardian. He said on Thursday the public should consider how to respond to hybrid warfare risks, such as cyber-attacks that could knock out payment systems used by businesses or cause supply chains to collapse.

Flaws in the PHP programming language could let attackers take control of affected servers without authentication and steal sensitive data, and developers of the platform rolled out patches on Wednesday for vulnerabilities that had been lurking in the software for years, the BBC reported. In the UK, 32 government services were offline and four were partially unavailable while the fix was carried out, a minister said, according to the Guardian.

The terms of reference for a review commissioned by the British government into antisemitism in schools, seen by the Middle East Eye, say the work will use the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, which has been widely criticised for allegedly being used to target criticism of Israel. According to widely reported accounts, teachers could be told not to wear pro-Palestine badges, including the watermelon symbol, although the report is not set to advise a blanket ban on badges, the Middle East Eye reported.

The British government approved on Wednesday the Jackdaw gas field in the North Sea, ending years of legal and political wrangling between climate commitments and energy security, with a peak of around 6% of domestic output expected and supply for up to 11 years, according to Reuters. The approval frustrates environmental campaigners and some Labour MPs, according to the Guardian.

Britain will deploy Royal Air Force Typhoon fighter jets to Saudi Arabia to help defend the kingdom against attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, the UK government announced on Tuesday, according to DW. The British Ministry of Defence said the aircraft will protect Saudi cities and critical infrastructure from drones and missiles and will not carry out offensive strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen. In Taiz, Yemen’s third-largest city, Houthi rebels struck a residential area on Tuesday, killing two teenage girls, according to the Times of Israel, which highlighted the UN warning that the siege leaves civilians at grave risk.

British police rearrested two men on suspicion of assisting Iran’s intelligence service in the suspected plot at a US-run air base in England, police said on Tuesday. Counter Terrorism Policing said the men, a 24-year-old British national and a 25-year-old dual UK-Iranian national, were arrested under the National Security Act. Police are investigating a suspected terror plot on Sept. 27 against the US-run base at RAF Fairford in western England, which has been used to bomb Iran during this year’s war.

Multiple Google Cloud services were experiencing serious network disruptions at its European data centre in London on Tuesday, according to the US technology giant's service health website. British digital bank Revolut said it was facing disruption to multiple services, which a source close to the matter attributed to the Google Cloud outage. Google said the incident began at 06:08 GMT on Tuesday.

The UK will provide additional defensive military support to Saudi Arabia given escalating Houthi attacks in the region, according to the UK Ministry of Defence. Royal Air Force (RAF) Typhoon fighter jets will fly defensive counter air missions to support the protection of Saudi cities and critical national infrastructure against aerial attack, and the ministry says the warplanes will operate in a defensive role and will not be used to attack the Yemeni group, according to Al Jazeera.

British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband on Monday urged companies and individuals not to submit bids for the E1 settlement project in the West Bank, the Jerusalem Post reported. The British government says it has created new powers allowing it to sanction individuals and companies involved in the construction of illegal settlements such as E1.

The European Council has warned that companies that become involved in the construction of the E1 settlement in the occupied West Bank could face legal, economic and reputational consequences, according to Middle East Eye. The warning came days before the October 19 deadline for bids in one of the construction tenders. The plan connects West Bank settlements with occupied East Jerusalem and would effectively cut the West Bank in half, making a Palestinian state unviable, according to the outlet. The alert came after Britain’s sanctions on Israeli settlements — including sanctions on bodies that finance settlement construction — came into effect earlier this week.

Two Latvian men living in the United Kingdom, aged 32 and 26, were arrested at about 2 a.m. Thursday after being found inside RAF Molesworth, in Cambridgeshire, which hosts the Intelligence Fusion Centre of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the US Joint Intelligence Operations Center, Europe, according to The Guardian. The investigation began four hours earlier, when military police found an abandoned vehicle near the facility, and police later found a small hole in the perimeter fence, according to The Hindu. The men were initially arrested on suspicion of trespass on a prohibited site and causing criminal damage, then on suspicion of an offence under section 4 of the National Security Act 2023, namely entering a prohibited place for a purpose prejudicial to the UK, and were later released on bail, with strict conditions, while the investigation continues.

Israel said Thursday that the British Consulate in east Jerusalem has “ceased to function” in that capacity and that 20 staffers will leave the country, in what the Associated Press (AP) describes as the biggest diplomatic rift between the two close allies in decades. The dispute began last month, when the United Kingdom banned trade with Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, which the UN and much of the international community consider illegal. A sign outside the consulate was taken down, but Britain said the building remains open and a core staff will continue to deliver “vital services” and work with Palestinians.

Britain brought new regulations into force on Thursday that significantly expand its sanctions powers, enabling action against construction companies, developers and financial institutions supporting settlement expansion in the West Bank, according to the Jerusalem Post. The measures took effect four days before the deadline for submitting bids for construction in the E1 area between Jerusalem and Ma’aleh Adumim, amid a diplomatic dispute between Israel and Britain.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei accused the United Kingdom of reversing the roles of aggressor and victim after Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said he discussed ending Iranian aggression, including in the Strait of Hormuz, with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, according to Middle East Eye. In a post on X, Baqaei said the regional turmoil stemmed from unlawful interventions, including those backed or supported by Britain.

The UK’s new sanctions regime against Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank came into effect on Thursday, October 15, days before the October 19 deadline for construction tender bids for the E1 settlement, with Israel having closed the British consulate last week in protest, forcing the withdrawal of 21 diplomats and the downgrade of the consulate to mission status, according to Middle East Eye.

London announced £45 million in surface-to-air missiles, including £10 million to be accelerated for Ukraine’s urgent winter needs, according to the Kyiv Post — the addition to Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit to Downing Street this Wednesday (October 14, 2026), where British Prime Minister Andy Burnham hosts him. The deliveries form part of the existing £1.6 billion commitment to supply more than 5,000 LMMs over four years, the outlet said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will meet British Prime Minister Andy Burnham in London on Wednesday, October 14, 2026, as Britain looks to reaffirm its support for Ukraine, including with the promise of a new package of surface-to-air missiles, according to Reuters, in a text published by The Hindu. The announced package is £45 million (US$59.60 million) of surface-to-air missiles used to target jet-powered Russian drones, with £10 million of that package fast-tracked to meet an urgent need in Ukraine. Britain has said it does not support the US-Russia diesel deal and called on allies to keep up the economic pressure on Moscow.

More than 100 British soldiers and local reservists trained for six days in the Falkland Islands in early October, in an exercise that included an approximately 32-kilometer night march and an amphibious assault operation, with troops landing from the sea, according to the British newspaper The Times, in a text published by G1. Argentine President Javier Milei again said the territory is under “illegal foreign occupation” and threatened to take measures to advance the dispute.

The head of Britain’s domestic intelligence service MI5, Ken McCallum, said Iran has broadened its targeting in Britain to military sites and that the suspected plot at US-run RAF Fairford was not an isolated incident, according to the Los Angeles Times. McCallum also said British authorities have made more than 50 arrests in “Iran-linked operations” in the past 12 months, according to The Hill.

A tanker was struck by an unknown projectile in the Strait of Hormuz, UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said, a division of the Royal Navy, according to a source verified by the agency. UKMTO also recorded four more previously-unreported attacks on ships in the same strait on Sunday.

Iran summoned the British ambassador to Tehran over “accusations” linking the country to a suspected plot against Fairford air base in the United Kingdom, Iran’s foreign ministry said on Tuesday, according to the Middle East Eye. The ministry demanded that the British government provide “as soon as possible” the documents and evidence supporting its accusations and said that otherwise the Islamic Republic of Iran “will seriously reconsider its bilateral relations.”

Britain has appealed to Interpol to reject Argentina’s requests for the arrest of individuals involved in the Sea Lion oil project off the Falkland Islands, according to The Guardian. Javier Milei’s government has initiated criminal proceedings against the Israeli company Navitas and its British partner Rockhopper Exploration, the core companies in the project.

The head of Britain's domestic intelligence agency MI5, Ken McCallum, confirmed that Russia did try to interfere in the Brexit referendum, through social media and television reports, but said that did not mean the Kremlin had any impact on the result. In an annual threat update, McCallum said RT and Sputnik, Russian-owned English-language broadcasters, came in strongly around the time of the referendum with biased anti-migration and anti-EU reports, and cited trolls with fake accounts. Downing Street said it had been confirmed that Russia interfered in the 2019 general election and that it was “inconceivable that they didn't in 2016”.

The head of Britain’s domestic intelligence service MI5, Ken McCallum, said Russia remained “aggressor number one” and that the agency’s terrorism and state-threats operational missions are now of pretty much equal scale, according to BBC News. He said MI5 had made over 50 arrests in the last year over Iran-linked activities. McCallum also said Iran is trying to hit military sites in the UK and that the suspected plot to attack a US-run military air base in September is “not unique”, according to ABC News, in a story distributed by The Associated Press (AP).

Argentina’s government said it had filed a request for provisional measures with the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) seeking to halt British-authorized hydrocarbon activity near the Falkland Islands, according to The Jerusalem Post. The government said in a statement that the request aims to prevent the United Kingdom from exploiting hydrocarbon resources on the continental shelf of the Northern Falklands Basin.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham told Parliament that the British assessment is that the episode at the Royal Air Force (RAF) base at Fairford was [“highly likely to have been coordinated in Iran [and] almost certainly directed” by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and that the United Kingdom would bring further sanctions against Tehran and the Guard as a result](https://theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/oct/12/iran-revolutionary-guards-irgc-raf-fairford-threats), according to The Guardian. Iran's Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the British allegations, calling them a false-flag plot to advance an anti-Iran campaign, according to Mehr News.

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said a suspected plot against Royal Air Force (RAF) base Fairford was almost certainly directed by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), according to Al Jazeera. The British government summoned the ambassador and announced sanctions against two individuals, according to DW.

UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham said Russia did interfere with the Brexit referendum and warned that similar activities were taking place in France and Germany. Burnham said he had received the clear answer that there was. He did not provide further details about the type or extent of Moscow’s activity during the referendum. It is the first time a UK prime minister has said Russia sought to sway the 2016 Brexit poll.

UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham said on Monday the UK is ready to consider further requests of support for Saudi Arabia, according to Middle East Eye. The offer comes after Houthi attacks on the kingdom escalated in recent days, the deadliest of which killed at least 12 and injured more than 300. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey stands beside Saudi Arabia against “unlawful and inhumane attacks”.

UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham told Parliament it is highly likely the threats against RAF Fairford were coordinated in Iran and almost certainly directed by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Burnham said the UK would bring further sanctions against Tehran and the IRGC as a result, with more information to follow in an update from Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood. Five men from London drove to Whelford, a village next to a base used by the US air force, in three white vans shortly after midnight on 27 September. They were released on police bail a day later after no bombs or explosives were found. A week later, the US withdrew 12 B-1 bombers from the base, amid reports of concern about a possible drone attack on a base used to attack Iran during the Middle East war in the spring and summer.

The General Authority of Civil Aviation extended the suspension of operations at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh to complete the necessary procedures to verify the safety of the facilities and their operational readiness, according to Reuters, in a text republished by Middle East Eye. A new attack hit Riyadh’s international airport on Sunday, a day after another attack on the airport killed at least 12 people and injured more than 300, according to France24. US government employees in Saudi Arabia now require special authorization to use the airports in Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam, according to Sputnik. The United Kingdom updated its official guidance on Sunday to advise against all but essential travel to all airports in Saudi Arabia except Medina International Airport.

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Saturday, the same day US President Donald Trump suggested the Ukrainian leader should be replaced for refusing to reach a settlement with Moscow, according to RT. Earlier on Saturday, Trump accused Zelenskyy of seeking to “make problems for the world” through continued attacks on the Russian energy infrastructure, including refineries. “I suggest they get a new leader who can make a deal,” he said.

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said it is clear that Russia interfered in the Brexit referendum. According to him, when he arrived at 10 Downing Street, he asked whether Moscow interfered in the 2016 vote on leaving the European Union (EU) and was given the clear answer that yes, there was.

Thousands of people gathered in central London in support of Palestinians after three years marked by what The Guardian describes as Israel's “genocide” against them. The Metropolitan Police said it had made 20 arrests, including for criminal damage, after demonstrators climbed on to the Battle of Britain memorial.

Two men accused of carrying out hostile surveillance on behalf of Iran against Israel’s embassy in London, Britain’s oldest synagogue and other Israeli or Jewish targets pleaded not guilty on Friday. Nematollah Shahsavani, 41, a dual Iranian-British national, and Alireza Farasati, 22, an Iranian national, appeared at London’s Old Bailey court and denied a single offence under the National Security Act, according to Reuters, in a text republished by the Jerusalem Post. The pair allegedly gathered information and undertook reconnaissance in July and August 2025, with a list of targets including the Israeli Embassy, the Israeli Consulate and London’s Bevis Marks Synagogue.

The United Kingdom has chosen Audere Group as its partner to set up a dedicated business centre in Kyiv, giving British businesses a permanent base, according to the UK Ministry of Defence. The centre will give direct access to battlefield data and targets defence industrial partnerships, under the 100-Year Partnership. It builds on more than 40 major UK-Ukraine industrial partnerships already established.

The Royal College of Pharmacy dropped Teva UK as a sponsor of and exhibitor at next month’s annual conference, the second major UK health body to cut ties with the Israeli drug firm after pressure from pro-Palestine campaigners, with Teva saying it was disappointed and that healthcare should not become politicised, according to The Guardian.

Labour candidate Sagal Abdi-Wali won the by-election in Holborn and St Pancras with 12,292 votes against 8,928 for Zack Polanski of the Greens, for Keir Starmer’s seat, with Starmer replaced as prime minister in July and stood down as a lawmaker in September, according to The Hindu. NYT World notes that Labour held off the Greens in the race for Starmer’s former London seat.

Two Latvian men, aged 32 and 36, who live in the UK, were arrested at 2am inside RAF Molesworth in an investigation that began four hours earlier. The suspects were further arrested on suspicion of an offence under section 4 of the National Security Act 2023 — entering a prohibited place for a purpose prejudicial to the UK. The base is home to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)’s Intelligence Fusion Centre and the US Joint Intelligence Operations Center, Europe, according to The Guardian.

Police in the UK have agreed that warrants they secured to search properties linked to Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor had been issued unlawfully and must be quashed. High Court Justice Nicholas Hilliard said the Thames Valley Police had made a “significant error” in applying for the warrants, and that quashing them does not bring an investigation to an end, according to Al Jazeera.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said the time of containment in the face of hostile acts against the State of Israel is over on Thursday. Israel has removed British representatives from the International Gaza Support Center in Kiryat Gat, terminated British training activities for Palestinian Authority forces and barred 12 British elected officials and other British citizens accused by Israel of antisemitic or anti-Israel activity, according to The Jerusalem Post.

The United Kingdom announced it is closing its consulate in occupied East Jerusalem and downgrading the building to the status of a mission. Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said the UK does not accept that the Government of Israel has the legal right to close the consulate and that it will try to rebuild its diplomatic presence in East Jerusalem. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said the British consulate is ending its operations today and the sign has been removed.

The United Kingdom introduced anti-Russian sanctions against twenty-six individuals and companies, according to the updated black list on the Foreign Office website, cited by the TASS news agency. Restrictions applied to Zarubezhneft and INK-Capital, the Capital Credit bank, and businessmen and firms from Canada, China, Kyrgyzstan and the Netherlands. London also imposed sanctions on twelve merchant vessels.

British police charged a member of the Royal Navy on Thursday with offences under the National Security Act for allegedly obtaining protected information and preparing to disclose it to benefit a foreign power, according to Reuters, in a text republished by Global Banking & Finance. The accused is Teddy Young, 24, who faces two offences and is due to appear at London’s Westminster Magistrates’ Court later on Thursday. Police did not name the foreign power. Police said the charges were not connected to the recent investigation into an incident at the RAF Fairford airbase, which US officials have said involved a potential Iranian drone attack.

The British consulate-general building in East Jerusalem will not close and will be known as a UK mission, Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said, according to The Guardian. Israel says 20 diplomats and the Consul General will leave the country, while a seven-person task force may remain in the building with a very limited scope of activity, according to the BBC.

Reuters journalists saw workers remove the “British Consulate General” plaque from the consulate building in East Jerusalem, along with another sign for its consular section, on Thursday, according to the agency, in a text republished by Al Jazeera.

Israel will close the UK consulate in East Jerusalem on October 8, but will not expel British diplomats or their families, according to the Times, in a text republished by TASS — the consulate will lose its diplomatic status, and its nearly 30 diplomats will be able to continue working at the UK embassy in Tel Aviv.

British police arrested a seventh suspect on Tuesday in a widening investigation into a suspected Iran-backed plot to attack an air base that hosts U.S. bombers, according to The Washington Post. The arrest is the seventh linked to the airbase incident, according to France 24.

Iranian men accused of spying went on trial at Woolwich Crown Court on charges of engaging in conduct likely to assist Iran’s foreign intelligence service between August 2024 and March 2025, according to the Washington Post. The men targeted journalists for “serious violence”, BBC News reported.

Two US officials told Reuters that fear of an Iranian drone attack plot on RAF Fairford led the country to remove its B-1 bombers from the British base, in a text published by the Middle East Eye. Iran denied any involvement in the alleged plot at Fairford, the preferred European base for US bombers, according to the Middle East Eye.

Thursday marks 30 days since Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar's order to close the British consulate in East Jerusalem, a retaliatory move against the UK's wave of sanctions on illegal Israeli settlements, according to Al Jazeera. Former British consul Vincent Fean told Al Jazeera that Israel acts unlawfully and has no right to interfere in the diplomatic relations between the United Kingdom and the State of Palestine. Reports cited by Al Jazeera claimed the UK could expel 27 Israeli diplomats if the consulate closure goes ahead.

British police arrested a 22-year-old British national in Westminster on Tuesday, the seventh suspect linked to the Fairford incident, according to TASS. Counter Terrorism Police say the detainee is connected with activity that took place close to RAF Fairford, according to Al Jazeera. The six people arrested earlier on suspicion of terrorism in the same case were all released on bail. On Monday, US President Donald Trump said his administration withdrew the B-1 bombers from the base because of what he described as “some threats”, according to Al Jazeera.

Argentina's Foreign Minister Pablo Quirno said that preventing the Falkland Islands from exploiting their offshore oil is part of a strategy to recover sovereignty peacefully, in a speech to an audience that included the British ambassador. Quirno accused the UK of refusing to negotiate and of advancing the Sea Lion project in the North Falkland Basin. On 28 September, Milei gave the UK a two-week deadline to stop the oil project or face arbitration and a binding decision under annex VII of the UN convention on the law of the sea (UNCLOS).

US President Donald Trump said the United States moved its bombers out of RAF Fairford because of “some threats” to the base, according to the BBC. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the US still has full confidence in the security of all its bases and that British authorities have been cooperative since the incident.

The UK threatened to expel one Israeli diplomat for each of the 27 British diplomats whose diplomatic status at the consulate would be terminated if Israel closes the British consulate in East Jerusalem, according to Al Jazeera. Israel ordered the consulate’s closure by 8 October, in retaliation for British sanctions on illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank. The Foreign Office did not deny the Ynet report and said it would not comment on speculation, according to The Guardian.

US Vice President JD Vance said he has confidence that Iran was behind the incident at the base in Fairford, in the United Kingdom, and linked the withdrawal of the B-1 bombers to the episode, saying it was out of an abundance of caution to protect the troops, according to TASS. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he would not directly tie the removal of the B-1s to the incident, according to Al Jazeera. Five British nationals were arrested near the base on suspicion of preparing terrorist acts and released on bail; a sixth man, a dual UK-Iranian national, was also released on bail, according to Al Jazeera.

The Pentagon confirmed it had removed its bombers from RAF Fairford, thought to be about a dozen B-1s, back to their home stations in the United States, according to the BBC. The British government insisted RAF Fairford is safe, after the US withdrew all of its bombers from the base.

The British United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) centre said a tanker 11 nautical miles north of Khasab, Oman, was hailed by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) forces and warned it would be targeted unless it turned back, and the tanker complied. The tanker's master confirmed it had complied with the instruction to turn back, according to Mehr News, citing UKMTO.

All of the US Air Force’s B-1 strategic bombers were withdrawn from the Fairford airbase in the United Kingdom and returned to the United States after the incident that occurred there last week, according to TASS, citing The Wall Street Journal. The report is attributed by the paper to unnamed US administration officials. France 24 confirms the full withdrawal of the bombers from the British base at the centre of a suspected terror attack.

Britain’s Green Party voted on Sunday to class Zionism as a form of racism, according to France 24. The motion passed by 1,022 votes to 813, and Israel banned the party’s leader, Zack Polanski, from entering the country after the vote, according to the Middle East Eye.

The British center United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) reported a possible shelling of a tanker near Yemen’s coast, according to TASS. The report describes an incident 60 nautical miles south of Al Mukha; the Company Security Officer said the tanker sighted multiple explosions close to the vessel. The crew are reported safe and no environmental impact has been reported, and the vessel’s name and port of registry were not disclosed.

Britain is considering imposing tariffs on Chinese electric vehicle imports, amid concerns that Beijing is flooding the market with state-subsidised cars, according to Reuters. British ministers are ready to match the European Union's 45 per cent levy on Chinese electric cars, the Times reported. A British government spokesperson told Reuters no tariffs have been imposed on Chinese EVs.

The United States has withdrawn all its bombers from RAF Fairford in England and redeployed them to their home stations in the United States, following an investigation into an alleged terror plot against the base, according to The Guardian. The base, run by the US military, had been used to launch strikes on Iran, according to the Times of India.

The Green Party of England and Wales voted at its conference in Brighton to declare Zionism a form of racism, in a motion that also backs a single democratic Palestinian state with equal rights for all ethnic and religious groups, rather than a two-state solution. The proposal has split the party, and critics claim it is antisemitic, according to The Guardian.

A judge at the immigration court known as the Upper Tribunal quashed the British Home Office decision blocking mothers and children in Gaza from joining families in the UK, finding the home secretary acted unlawfully in the way the policy was applied to two families. Both are young mothers with five children between them aged seven and under, hoping to reunite with their husbands granted refugee status in the UK. The Home Office said it is looking to appeal.

A sixth man arrested in connection with the suspected terrorist plot at Fairford, a Royal Air Force (RAF) base, has been released on bail, the Guardian reported. The 25-year-old, a dual UK-Iranian national, was arrested on suspicion of preparing terrorist acts under section 5 of the Terrorism Act 2006. Counter-terrorism police said a quantity of petrol, but no explosive devices, was found in the vans that sparked the alert near the airbase.

Two Iranian men accused of preparing a homemade bomb attack on Manchester’s Jewish community identified potential targets including the city’s Jewish museum and Heaton Park synagogue, the Guardian reported. Rahman Salehi, 34, from Salford, and Salam Ahmadyan, 36, from Liverpool were charged on Friday with preparing to commit an act of terrorism or assisting another to commit an act of terrorism. According to the prosecution, the pair were in contact with a third party, also assessed to be an Iranian national, who directed and coordinated the plot and sent instructions on how to assemble a homemade explosive device.

Two Iranian men have been charged in relation to an alleged terror plot targeting Manchester's Jewish community, according to The Guardian. The men, both in their 30s, were arrested on 20 September, on the eve of Yom Kippur.

The man accused of murdering Ann Widdecombe has been charged with engaging in conduct in preparation of acts of terrorism, including against Nigel Farage, police have said. The charge, according to counter-terrorism police, relates to activity alleged to have taken place between 31 May 2024 and 8 July this year.

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN), which represents nearly 600,000 nurses, ended its commercial partnership with Teva UK and withdrew the company from sponsoring the RCNi nursing leadership summit on 30 October 2026, according to Middle East Eye. Teva said it was disappointed and accused the union of allowing healthcare to become politicised, according to Middle East Eye.

The United Kingdom relies on the United States for about 30% of its diesel and holds reserve supplies for 42 days, and transport minister Keir Mather said on Friday that the country has a wide range of fuel sources and is in talks with other European countries, according to The Guardian. Europe is weighing the release of new diesel stocks under pressure from the United States, according to sources cited by Reuters.

A 25-year-old UK-Iranian dual national was arrested in Westminster, London, on suspicion of preparation of terrorist acts in connection with the incident at RAF Fairford, counter-terror police said, according to the BBC. Five men in their twenties arrested near the airbase on Sunday remain on police bail, also according to the BBC. The RAF Fairford airbase hosts United States Air Force (USAF) personnel, according to The Jerusalem Post.

The treaty signed by Britain and Mauritius on May 22, 2025 provides for Mauritian sovereignty over the Chagos archipelago, with British rights over the Diego Garcia military base for an initial 99-year period, according to Al Jazeera. The deal has yet to enter into force amid opposition from US President Donald Trump and a legislative stall in Britain. Between 1968 and 1973, Britain removed an estimated 1,400 to 1,700 Chagossians from the islands.

British counter-terrorism police arrested a 27-year-old man in Westminster on Thursday on suspicion of preparation of terrorist acts under section 5 of the Terrorism Act 2006, according to The Guardian. The detainee is a UK-Iranian dual national and the arrest was made in connection with the incident at RAF Fairford, according to Counter Terrorism Policing, quoted by the BBC. A second man, 26, a UK national, was questioned under caution.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry summoned the British ambassador in Tehran over accusations by the British prime minister that it considers baseless, according to the Iranian agency Mehr News. Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs Majid Takht-Ravanchi met Hugo Shorter at the ministry on Thursday to convey the protest, and Tehran rejected as “baseless and unfounded” the British claims linking the country to an alleged sabotage plot at Fairford military base, demanding an official explanation.

A year-old deal between France and Britain to return migrants crossing the Channel illegally on small boats has come to an end, the UK interior ministry said on Wednesday. The deal was agreed last year under Keir Starmer, then UK prime minister, as part of a post-Brexit reset and to ease tension between the neighbours. According to UK figures, some 1,500 people had been returned to France and just under the same number had in turn been accepted by Britain, RFI reported, citing AFP.

British Sikh activist Jagtar Singh Johal has been released from a Delhi prison after nine years in detention, after the Indian high court warned the government it would be found in contempt of court if it continued to attempt to keep him in jail despite a September 18 order releasing him on bail, according to The Guardian. The nine-year detention on alleged terrorist offences has been a cause of diplomatic tension between the United Kingdom and India, and campaigners say the British government has not been active enough to secure his release or a full trial.

The US 10-year Treasury yield breached a level last seen in April 2002, rising 4 basis points to 5.3338%, according to LSEG data. In Europe, the French 10-year yield rose 11 basis points to 4.9501%, Italy’s was up 10 basis points to 4.7171%, and the UK 10-year yield rose 5 basis points to 5.483%.

A Russian drone hit a school in Kyiv on Thursday while children and staff were hiding in shelters, and there were no immediate reports of casualties, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said. Two other Russian drones hit an important bridge connecting eastern and western Kyiv, forcing the suspension of metro services and ground public transport. Ukraine’s nuclear safety watchdog said a Russian drone hit the grounds of a nuclear research facility in Kyiv on Wednesday, causing a fire but leaving the facility’s test reactor undamaged. The United Kingdom announced a new package of 31 sanctions on Russia, aimed at stemming funding to the “Kremlin war chest, propagandists and torturers”.

The UK Security Service (MI5) said that more than 100 UK-based academics had contributed to projects funded by the China General Technology Research Institute (CGTRI), according to Reuters, in a text republished by The Olympian. According to Reuters, in a text republished by UNN, MI5 established that CGTRI’s primary purpose is to fund academic research that directly enhances the technical espionage capabilities of China’s state security service (MSS). The funded projects include artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, covert communications systems and steganography.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Wednesday rejected UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham's claim that Iran played a role in a suspected attempted attack on the Royal Air Force (RAF) base at Fairford, used by the United States in its war on Iran, according to Middle East Eye.

Saudi Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman called British Defense Secretary Wes Streeting on Wednesday, and the two reviewed the two countries' strategic defense relations and discussed joint efforts to address regional issues, according to the Saudi Gazette.

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said the United Kingdom could eventually rejoin the European Union, as his government considers options for reshaping relations with the bloc a decade after the Brexit referendum, according to RT. In an interview with the BBC on Wednesday, he said Brexit had done “more harm than good” and that the current arrangement was holding back economic growth.

The UK government has announced that the pilot “one in, one out” agreement with France to send back some migrants who cross the Channel has been scrapped. A pilot programme between the UK and France that aimed to curb the number of people crossing the English Channel in small boats to migrate to Britain has been scrapped, Britain’s government said on Wednesday. A spokesperson for the UK Home Office said the pilot with France to remove asylum seekers in exchange for an equal number of legal migrants is no longer processing new cases.

UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham said there are “strong indications” that Iran played a role in the events that led to the arrest of five men near the airbase at RAF Fairford, in Gloucestershire, as part of a terror investigation. The five men, all in their 20s and from London, were arrested in the Gloucestershire countryside near the airbase, after a local woman driving home saw a series of vans and men in masks and called police. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Tuesday that Washington believed “a foreign actor” was involved in the events on Sunday night at the airbase, which has been used by US planes for missions against Iran.

MI5, the UK's domestic security service, said publicly on Wednesday that the China General Technology Research Institute (CGTRI) is a front for Chinese intelligence, namely the Ministry of State Security, and asked universities and researchers to halt collaboration with the institute, according to The Guardian. According to the paper, the organisation [gave money to 100 or more academics at a series of UK universities and in return obtained access to the research], in fields such as artificial intelligence and cybersecurity, and part of the material is alleged to have reached the Chinese intelligence service. With the alert, MI5 said researchers who keep engaging with the Chinese institute will be subject to legal action, according to G1.

Three vessels were struck by unknown projectiles in the Strait of Hormuz on September 29, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said, according to TASS. The vessels include a crude oil tanker and a liquefied natural gas (LNG) tanker, according to the Hindustan Times, which also cites UKMTO. There are currently no reports of casualties, and the ships’ names and ports of registry were not reported.

The last British and American troops have left Iraq, ending a military presence of more than a decade in the country, according to the BBC. The US military announced on Wednesday that it has completed the withdrawal of all American troops from Iraq, ending a 12-year mission, according to France24. Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi said the end of the coalition’s mission marked Iraq’s transition to a phase in which it assumes full responsibility, according to the BBC.

Qatar’s prime minister said, in an interview with British journalist Piers Morgan, that whoever is responsible for the situation in Gaza is a “war criminal” and that nothing justifies the acts, according to Al Jazeera. He said that more than 1,400 Gazans have been killed since the ceasefire came into effect. He further conditioned ending the war with Iran on agreement on Tehran’s right to peaceful nuclear power with removal of sanctions, freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz under international law and reform of regional security arrangements.

British counter-terrorism police confirmed that no improvised explosive devices were found in the three vans searched near RAF Fairford and that a quantity of petrol was recovered from the vehicles. The five men released on police bail remain under investigation and must adhere to strict conditions.

Marco Rubio said the incident at the British air base RAF Fairford “clearly involved” a foreign actor, according to The New York Times. British counterterrorism police said on Tuesday they had found no explosives in the three vans used by the five men arrested on suspicion of planning a terrorist act near a base used by American bombers to strike Iran. The men were detained early Sunday after three vans were spotted near RAF Fairford, a UK-owned base, according to the Associated Press.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency said a vessel was hit by an apparent projectile while transiting the Strait of Hormuz on Monday evening, causing a fire, according to Middle East Eye. According to Mehr News, the fire was extinguished, the crew was safe and the vessel continued its journey. The UKMTO said there was no reported environmental impact and that the extent of damage to the vessel was still being assessed.

US President Donald Trump said he was surprised that British police released on bail five men arrested on suspicion of a plot to attack a UK airbase, according to France 24. Trump said the case might be linked to Iran, but declined to give details, the same outlet reported. Iran has denied involvement in any plot to target the base, according to the same report.

British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband confirmed the United Kingdom is considering defying the Israeli order to close the British consulate in occupied East Jerusalem, saying the government does not want that to happen, according to Middle East Eye. The Israeli government ordered the closure in retaliation for British sanctions on illegal settlements, setting a deadline of 8 October, the same outlet reported. Former attorney general Dominic Grieve advised the UK Foreign Office that Israel has no legal right to act on its plan to close the consulate in East Jerusalem, according to The Guardian.

Argentina's president, Milei, has threatened to launch a legal challenge against the British government unless oil exploration off the coast of the Falkland Islands is halted, the BBC reported. Milei said he had instructed the Foreign Ministry and legal teams to initiate arbitration proceedings against the United Kingdom for what he called the illegal sacking of resources through the Sea Lion Project in the North Falklands Basin, France 24 reported. The project's companies, Israel's Navitas and Britain's Rockhopper, shrugged off Argentina's threats, insisting they have valid exploration licenses issued by the United Kingdom.

US secretary of state Marco Rubio said that a foreign actor was involved in the suspected bomb plot at the Royal Air Force (RAF) base at Fairford in the United Kingdom, hours after the five suspects arrested close to the airbase were released on bail, but provided no evidence for his claims, according to The Guardian. After the suspects' release, it emerged that no explosive material had been found.

British police said the five men detained near the Fairford air base are UK nationals from London, and all of them were released on bail without immediate charge, according to The Guardian. For the newspaper, the absence of an immediate charge suggests they are not deemed to pose a serious and violent threat. Iran has said that bases used by the US to attack it, including Fairford, were “legitimate targets”. According to The Guardian, the question of whether Iran had a hand in the alleged plot remains open.

Five men arrested near the RAF Fairford base in the United Kingdom will be released on bail but remain under investigation, British police said, in an Associated Press (AP) report republished by The Boston Globe. All five are British nationals from London in their 20s, counter-terrorism police said. The head of UK Counter Terrorism Policing said the five were being released on bail “following extensive interviews and inquiries” and remain subject to strict conditions, according to Al Jazeera. Iran’s embassy in London condemned the “fabricated speculations” linking Tehran to the incident, in a statement cited by Al Jazeera.

Israel has said it intends to shut the British consulate in East Jerusalem on 8 October, in response to the sweeping ban on trade with goods from Israeli settlements announced this month by the British foreign secretary, Ed Miliband, according to The Guardian. Former attorney general Dominic Grieve assessed that Israel has no legal right to close the consulate. The British mission in Jerusalem dates from 1838, more than 100 years before the creation of the state of Israel, and is separate from the embassy in Tel Aviv.

Five men were arrested on suspicion of preparing a “terrorist act” and explosive-related offenses in the Whelford area, next to Fairford base, according to DW. British counter-terrorism police are investigating whether Iran was behind a suspected bomb plot targeting RAF Fairford, a British air base used by US forces in operations against Iran, according to The Jerusalem Post, and US President Donald Trump praised the arrests, calling it an “amazing job”.

85 households in Whelford, about 1.6 km from RAF Fairford, were evacuated in the early hours of Sunday after authorities were alerted to suspicious vehicles, according to AFP. Police arrested five men on suspicion of preparing a terrorist act near the base, without confirming the nature or source of the threat, according to AFP. In March, the United Kingdom authorized the US to use Fairford for specific defensive operations against Iran, and since then US bombers have used the runway, according to AFP.

London's Metropolitan Police confirmed it is leading the investigation into an incident overnight near RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire, with five men arrested on suspicion of preparing a terrorist act, according to Le Monde. The five were initially arrested on suspicion of offences under the Explosives Act near an air base in southwestern England used by the US Air Force. RAF Fairford is also being used by the US for strikes on Iranian missile sites targeting ships in the Strait of Hormuz, according to France 24.

On September 27, 2026, Gloucestershire police arrested several men on suspicion of offences under the Explosives Act and evacuated properties in the Whelford area, where a major incident was declared, according to The Guardian. The British Army's specialist explosive ordnance disposal team is examining a number of vehicles, France 24 reported. The broadcaster France 24 reported that the British government authorised the United States to use the Royal Air Force (RAF) Fairford base to carry out strikes on Iranian missile sites that are attacking ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent thanked the governments of the United Kingdom, Turkey, Oman and the United Arab Emirates for supporting “Operation Economic Outcast”, Washington’s economic campaign against Iran, according to Middle East Eye. Turkey and Oman halted incoming flights from private carrier Mahan Air, and the UAE stopped all flights by Iranian airlines. The UAE central bank blocked transactions to and from Iran by branches of Iran’s Bank Melli. The U.S. Department of the Treasury said it sanctioned 36 targets for supporting Iran’s aviation sector, which the regime uses to move weapons, personnel and illicit cargo.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Ukrainian attacks on Russian and foreign-flagged merchant vessels and tankers — including ships linked to the United States and Turkish merchant vessels hit by drones — prompted Russia’s retaliatory actions, according to the Russian state news agency TASS. Peskov also said Moscow is in no hurry to name new ambassadors to the United Kingdom and France, because normal bilateral relations with both countries are missing, according to TASS.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu used the U.N. General Assembly tribune on Thursday, September 24, 2026, to attack Iran, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, critics and allies such as the United Kingdom and France, and rejected accusations of genocide in Gaza, Al Jazeera reported. Dozens of delegations walked out as the speech began, some jeering and booing, while Netanyahu’s own team stood and applauded; SBS News put the number of delegations that walked out at 77.

Russian President Vladimir Putin relieved Andrei Kelin of his post as ambassador to Britain, a position he had held since November 2019, in a decree published on Friday, September 25, 2026, according to TASS. The Russian Foreign Ministry confirmed the end of Kelin's planned tenure and said Putin will name a replacement “in due course,” according to The Moscow Times.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband in New York on the sidelines of the 81st UN General Assembly, Mehr News Agency reports. Miliband said the United Kingdom “will not tolerate intimidation, threats or hostile activity on UK soil” and urged de-escalation and diplomacy instead of prolonging the war, stressing the importance of reopening the Strait of Hormuz, according to the BBC. Senior Iranian officials say Washington has four to five days to respond to Tehran’s conditions for reopening the strait, according to The Guardian.

US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday, 22 September 2026, in New York that he does not support the deal transferring sovereignty over the Chagos Islands, in the Indian Ocean, to Mauritius, calling the agreement “terrible” and “ridiculous,” according to The Guardian. The remarks came at his first meeting with British Prime Minister Andy Burnham on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), where Trump said relations with London were “more up” than with predecessor Keir Starmer and called Burnham “a natural businessperson.” His harshest words were for Chagos: “I don’t support it. I think it’s terrible. It was a terrible deal,” he said, adding that the prime minister is going to be “looking at it,” according to the Jerusalem Post and the Associated Press (AP). Under the agreement, the United Kingdom gives up sovereignty over the archipelago to Mauritius and leases Diego Garcia for 99 years, keeping a joint military base with the United States there; ratification has been stalled since April 2026, when the US administration withdrew its support, and London had refused to let the United States use the base for its first strikes on Iran in February, according to the Press Association.

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said on Tuesday, September 22, 2026, in his debut at the United Nations General Assembly, that violence in Gaza and Israeli settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank were pushing the two-state solution towards a “point of no return”, according to Middle East Eye. Burnham cited the E1 settlement project, which he said would sever East Jerusalem from the West Bank, and urged action to match the international support states declare for a Palestinian state. The speech came two weeks after Britain, France and Canada announced, on September 8, 2026, sanctions on goods from Israeli settlements, to which Israel responded by ordering the closure of the British consulate in East Jerusalem within 30 days, according to France 24.

Jamaica’s culture minister, Olivia Grange, told the country’s House of Representatives on Tuesday, 22 September 2026, that King Charles III has referred Jamaica’s slavery reparations petition to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. The petition was filed on 7 September 2026 on behalf of the Jamaican people, according to the Jamaica Gleaner and The Guardian. The petition asked the King, who remains Jamaica’s head of state, to seek an advisory opinion from the country’s highest court on three questions: whether the enslavement of Africans in Jamaica was lawful under English common law, whether it breached international law, and whether the United Kingdom has a legal obligation to provide a remedy. Grange described the decision as a “really big deal”, according to The Guardian. Jamaica is now awaiting directions from the Privy Council on the next steps in the case, and the country’s attorney general is preparing to handle it, according to the Jamaica Gleaner. The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, which advises the British monarch, is the final court of appeal for Jamaica and other Commonwealth countries.

In his debut at the United Nations (UN) General Assembly on Tuesday, 22 September 2026, British Prime Minister Andy Burnham accused Russia of an “industrial-scale assault” on the information environment and of trying to interfere in the United Kingdom’s 2019 general election: “Russian agencies have used every means at their disposal to spread lies and disinformation and prey on people’s fear. They’ve used bots and fake websites. Falsified newspaper articles. Forged the branding of 28 British organisations — including universities and the BBC,” he said, according to the Daily Express and Al Jazeera. Burnham said the Kremlin spends around £ 1.3 billion each year on manipulating information and announced a new National Centre for Information Defence to detect, attribute and disrupt hostile state information attacks and identify deepfakes damaging British interests, according to Reuters, in a report published by the Global Banking & Finance Review. The body starts out under the prime minister’s office and will work with intelligence agencies, government departments, the police and social media companies, according to the Daily Express. The prime minister said the United Kingdom has already supported Moldova in protecting its elections from Russian interference and that the country is ready to lead an international effort to set standards for artificial intelligence (AI).

Donald Trump said on Tuesday, September 22, 2026, at a joint press conference with British Prime Minister Andy Burnham on the sidelines of the 81st United Nations (UN) General Assembly in New York that relations with the United Kingdom are better than under Burnham’s predecessor Keir Starmer, and attacked the deal that transfers sovereignty over the Chagos archipelago in the Indian Ocean to Mauritius while keeping Diego Garcia, home to a joint military base, under lease. “I don’t support it. I think it’s terrible. It was a terrible deal,” Trump said, according to The Guardian, which reports that Burnham nodded when the US president said the British prime minister would “look at it” again. The Jerusalem Post reports Trump praised Burnham as a “natural businessman” and said the two covered “everything from Rolls-Royce to energy to immigration”. Burnham had reaffirmed on Monday, September 21, 2026, to Mauritius’s prime minister, Navin Ramgoolam, his commitment to proceeding with the transfer, according to Middle East Eye. The deal was agreed by Starmer, and the legislation to implement it has been stalled since April 2026 over opposition from the White House.

Ineos halted production on Tuesday, 22 September 2026, at three chemicals plants in Hull, north-east England, blaming the cost of gas in the United Kingdom, which the company says stands at 12 times the level in the United States and eight times that of China. Two units at the Saltend complex have already stopped and the third will be shut down in the coming days, according to The Guardian and the Yorkshire Post. The company says around 1,000 employees at Saltend are affected and that a further 3,000 skilled jobs across the Humber region could be hit; no redundancies are planned. The plants produce acetic acid, acetic anhydride and ethyl acetate, and are Europe’s last world-scale acetyls units. UK natural gas prices doubled between July and September and reached their highest level since December 2022, a move the Yorkshire Post links to the United States and Israel’s war on Iran and the disruption of oil and gas supply through the Strait of Hormuz.

The United Kingdom will send a Royal Air Force (RAF) Voyager tanker aircraft to provide “defensive” air-to-air refuelling to Saudi jets against Houthi attacks, Prime Minister Andy Burnham announced on Tuesday, September 22, 2026, saying he had agreed to a Saudi request for military support. The aircraft, based at the British base of Akrotiri in Cyprus, is expected to begin operating within days and the mission is “time limited”, according to BBC News, which reports it involves a single aircraft and that the support is limited to defending the country from drones and missiles rather than backing strikes on Yemen. Defence Minister Luke Pollard told Sky News, according to Middle East Eye, that the decision is about British “national security” and that “in dangerous times, good friends stand together”. Besides the Voyager, Saudi Arabia already hosts the Sky Sabre air defence system, and the Houthis have claimed drone and ballistic missile attacks on Riyadh and on energy sites on the Red Sea coast in recent days. The announcement came the same day the United Nations (UN) Refugee Agency (UNHCR) projected that around 230,000 displaced people in Yemen and another 10,000 refugees in Djibouti may need humanitarian assistance in the coming months, according to spokesperson Babar Baloch, cited by Middle East Eye.

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham makes his UN General Assembly debut on Tuesday, September 22, 2026, and holds his first meeting with Donald Trump on the sidelines of the gathering, with Ukraine, the risks and opportunities of artificial intelligence (AI) and the cost of the conflict in the Middle East on the agenda, according to The Associated Press. Burnham, in office since July, said he will seek “common ground” with Trump and that the two had “found a connection” in two phone calls; in 2017, as mayor of Greater Manchester, he said the US president would not be welcome in the city, and in 2019 he said he would refuse to meet Trump. He is expected to urge Trump to send interceptor missiles to bolster Ukraine’s air defences before another winter of war, and the British government wants to discuss how to restore the free passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz, blockaded since the start of the US-Israeli war with Iran in February 2026, according to AP. The closure of the route has pushed oil prices up and complicates the British economy.

Operators of civilian nuclear plants in the United States bought 13 million separative work units (SWU) of enrichment services in 2025 at an average price of $108.70 per SWU; 77% came from foreign suppliers, and Russia accounted for 26% of that foreign-origin SWU — ahead of France (18%), the United Kingdom (14%) and the Netherlands (8%), according to the annual uranium marketing report of the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). The 2024 US law that bans imports of Russian uranium lets the Department of Energy grant waivers when alternative supply is unavailable, and that authority expires in January 2028; new enrichment projects in the United States and among allies are not expected to reach commercial scale before 2029, according to Bloomberg. Foreign Policy reported on Tuesday that Russia remains the largest supplier of enrichment services to US nuclear utilities.

Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has charged Dr Vincent Brown, formerly Dr Vincent Bajinya, 65, with one offence of conduct ancillary to genocide and six offences of conduct ancillary to murder as a crime against humanity, under section 52 of the International Criminal Court Act 2001 — the first time charges relating to the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda have been brought in the United Kingdom. The service says he is alleged to have directed and incited acts of murder and genocide carried out by others, that he lives in Islington, north London, and that the decision followed a review of an evidence file from the Metropolitan Police’s War Crimes Team; he is due at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday, 22 September. The CPS says proceedings are active and asks that there be no reporting, commentary or sharing of information online that could prejudice them, according to the CPS, the BBC and Reuters.