LONDON — Tory peers in the U.K. parliament took aim at the government’s plans to expel hereditary members of the House of Lords, accusing ministers of embarking on “class warfare.” More than 90 peers — who thanks to an accident of birth serve as legislators in parliament’s upper chamber — spoke in an all-day debate on the Hereditary Peerages Bill. Once implemented, all 92 of the remaining peers eligible to sit in the Lords as a result of their inherited titles will be booted out. The bill is all but certain to pass, given Labour huge majority in the dominant…
Author: Esther Webber
LONDON — British lawmakers are to consider proposals to give terminally ill people the right to end their life. The plans, which apply in England and Wales, will be brought before parliament this month in a bill put forward by backbench Labour MP Kim Leadbeater. Speaking to the BBC, Leadbeater said the “time is right” to debate assisted dying, after MPs rejected a similar reform in 2015. Details have not yet been finalized, but it is expected to follow the outline of a bill introduced in the House of Lords by former Justice Secretary Charlie Falconer, which would allow terminally…
BIRMINGHAM, England — Never mind the massive electoral kicking: Britain’s Tories are feeling good. Anyone who came to the Conservative Party’s annual conference this week expecting a wake found something very different. The Birmingham gathering was noticeably quieter after the Tories’ crushing defeat to Labour in July’s general election, with far fewer events and a dearth of eager lobbyists. But it was no washout. Champagne flowed at the first-night reception thrown by the 1922 Committee of Conservative MPs. Leadership candidates competed over who could come up with the weirdest merchandise. Happy-go-lucky activists bopped away to the sound of faded pop…
RAMSTEIN, Germany — Vlodymyr Zelenskyy pushed for more timely military aid as he met allies in Germany, stressing that the “number of air defense systems not yet delivered is significant.” The Ukrainian president said his country must gain access to every support package announced so far “without delay.” Zelenskyy addressed allies at a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group in Ramstein, Germany, hosted by U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. He said that in the one month since his troops embarked on the Kursk offensive, “We have turned the tables and are pushing the war into Russia through counteroffensives.” However,…