logo
MP Rachel Taylor to drive donated ambulance to Ukraine

MP Rachel Taylor to drive donated ambulance to Ukraine

BBC Newsa day ago

An MP who is taking an ambulance to Ukraine has said she is "honoured" to contribute towards humanitarian efforts in the country.Labour MP for North Warwickshire and Bedworth, Rachel Taylor, is set to take on the 1,300-mile drive from Birch Coppice to the Poland-Ukraine border.The ambulance has been paid for by fundraising by an automotive parts firm, based in her constituency.LKQ said it had delivered more than 200 tonnes of aid since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in 2022, including 34 ambulances and more than £6,000 worth of medicine.
Taylor - who is also chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Freight and Logistics - met with a delegation from the Ukrainian embassy in October.She said seeing the dedication of the team coordinating the relief effort had been "truly inspiring"."I'm really excited to be playing my small part in supporting Ukrainians in their fight for freedom," she said."I know the strength of feeling in North Warwickshire and Bedworth about the need for the UK to keep standing strongly with Ukrainians in their hour of need."Taylor was elected as the Labour MP for North Warwickshire and Bedworth at the 2024 general election.Before that, she was a local councillor in North Warwickshire and worked as a property solicitor and has also previously served as a line judge and umpire at Wimbledon and in grassroots tennis.
Follow BBC Coventry & Warwickshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

UK's watered down welfare reforms will push 150,000 into poverty, modelling shows
UK's watered down welfare reforms will push 150,000 into poverty, modelling shows

Reuters

time32 minutes ago

  • Reuters

UK's watered down welfare reforms will push 150,000 into poverty, modelling shows

LONDON, June 30 (Reuters) - New British welfare reforms are still expected to push 150,000 people into poverty despite Prime Minister Keir Starmer's government watering down the measures, according to fresh modelling ahead of a key parliamentary vote. Seeking to quell a rebellion threatened last week, Starmer revised his planned welfare cuts in an attempt to win over more than 100 lawmakers from his own party who had threatened to revolt over the issue in a vote on Tuesday. He amended the bill so that changes to make it tougher to collect some disability and sickness benefits would now apply only to new applicants, while the millions of people who already rely on benefits would no longer be affected. Publishing analysis of the updated policy, the government on Monday estimated that an extra 150,000 people will be pushed into relative poverty in 2030, 40% fewer than the 250,000 forecast to be affected before the changes. A spokesperson for Starmer told reporters that the analysis was not an impact assessment but poverty modelling. "What it doesn't reflect is the wider action we are taking to lift people out of poverty and raise living standards," they said. The government has said it is investing 1 billion pounds ($1.4 billion) a year to help people with disability and long-term health conditions into jobs, as part of broader employment support across the parliamentary term. Lawmakers opposed to the welfare cuts will now have to assess whether the changes Starmer has made are enough to convince them to back the bill. Starmer has argued that Britain's disability benefits system is too costly to sustain, and makes it too difficult for people who can work to do so, by penalising them for their earnings. Those who oppose the welfare cuts say the changes mean too many people will still be harmed and argue that a two-tier system will be created. ($1 = 0.7304 pounds)

Germany to help Ukraine make more weapons to strengthen hand in peace talks
Germany to help Ukraine make more weapons to strengthen hand in peace talks

BreakingNews.ie

timean hour ago

  • BreakingNews.ie

Germany to help Ukraine make more weapons to strengthen hand in peace talks

Germany aims to help Ukraine manufacture more weapons more quickly as Kyiv looks to strengthen its negotiating position in peace talks with Russia about ending their more than three-year war, the top German diplomat said. 'We see our task as helping Ukraine so that it can negotiate more strongly,' foreign minister Johann Wadephul said during a visit to the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, on Monday accompanied by German defence industry representatives. Advertisement US-led international peace efforts have failed to make progress on halting the fighting. Our institutions are working on the synchronization of European and Ukrainian sanctions. We are also fully aligning the European sanctions package targeting the regime in Iran, which includes numerous individuals, companies, and entities not only involved in military production… — Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) June 29, 2025 Russian President Vladimir Putin has effectively rejected a ceasefire and has not budged from his war goals. 'When Putin speaks of peace today, it is pure mockery,' Mr Wadephul told a news conference with Ukrainian foreign minister Andrii Sybiha. 'His apparent readiness to negotiate is only a facade so far.' Advertisement Russia's invasion shows no sign of letting up. Its grinding war of attrition along the roughly 1,000-kilometre (620-mile) front line and long-range strikes on civilian areas of Ukraine have killed thousands of troops and civilians. Ukraine is outgunned and short-handed on the front line and international aid has been vital for Ukraine's resistance against its neighbour's bigger army and economy. Germany has been Ukraine's second-largest military backer after the United States, whose continuing support is in doubt. Advertisement 'We want to build new joint ventures so that Ukraine itself can produce faster and more for its own defence, because your needs are enormous,' Mr Wadephul said while standing next to Mr Sybiha. German foreign minister Johann Wadephul, left, and Ukrainian foreign minister Andrii Sybiha talk during their meeting in Kyiv, Ukraine (Efrem Lukatsky/AP) 'Our arms cooperation is a real trump card — it is a logical continuation of our delivery of material,' Mr Wadephul said. 'And we can even benefit mutually from it — with your wealth of ideas and your experience, we will become better.' Mr Wadephul was also due to meet with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky. Advertisement The top German diplomat's trip to Kyiv came less than 48 hours after Russia launched its biggest combined aerial attack against Ukraine over the weekend, Ukrainian officials said, in an escalating bombing campaign that has further dashed hopes for a breakthrough in peace efforts. Ukraine's air force said on Monday it detected 107 Russian Shahed and decoy drones in the country's air space overnight. Strikes in Ukraine's north-eastern Kharkiv region left two civilians dead and eight injured, including a six-year-old child, regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said on Monday. The aerial onslaughts are calculated by Russia to squeeze Ukraine into submission, according to the Institute for the Study of War. Advertisement 'Russia is continuing to use increasingly large numbers of drones in its overnight strike packages in order to overwhelm Ukrainian air defences and enable subsequent cruise and ballistic missile strikes,' the Washington-based think tank said late on Sunday. German foreign minister Johann Wadephul, left, and Ukrainian foreign minister Andrii Sybiha stand at the entrance of St Michael Monastery in Kyiv (Efrem Lukatsky/AP) 'The increases in Russia's strike packages in recent weeks are largely due to Russia's efforts to scale up its defence industrial production, particularly of Shahed and decoy drones and ballistic missiles,' the institute added. Mr Sybiha thanked Germany for its contribution to Ukraine's air defence and urged Berlin to send more anti-missile systems. The Russians 'are attacking civilian targets in order to create panic, to influence the mood of our population', he said. 'The key is the air defence system.' Berlin has balked at granting Mr Zelensky's request to provide Ukraine with powerful German and Swedish-made Taurus long-range missiles, which could potentially hit targets inside Russia. That is due to fears such a move could enrage the Kremlin and draw Nato into Europe's biggest conflict since the Second World War. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz pledged in May to help Ukraine develop its own long-range missile systems that would be free of any Western-imposed limitations on their use and targets.

Gloating migrants take selfies on packed dinghy headed for UK – as Labour slammed over ‘merry-go-round' deal with France
Gloating migrants take selfies on packed dinghy headed for UK – as Labour slammed over ‘merry-go-round' deal with France

The Sun

timean hour ago

  • The Sun

Gloating migrants take selfies on packed dinghy headed for UK – as Labour slammed over ‘merry-go-round' deal with France

GLOATING migrants have been spotted snapping cheery selfies as they attempt to cross the Channel in a bid to enter the UK. The boat was seen setting out from Gravelines, France, today, June 30. 5 5 Pictures show one boat, laden to the brim with migrants, setting off from a beach in France as one of them snaps selfies. Images show the migrants decked out in bright orange lifejackets and holding floatation devices. One of the men on the dinghy, sitting near the front, can be seen snapping a selfie in celebration. He holds both hands in the air in joy as he and his mates set out across the Channel. Others on the boat can also be seen pumping their arms in the air as the dinghy sets off for Britain's shores. Some further back in the boat look to be waving for the celebratory snaps. PM Sir Keir Starmer has come under increasing pressure to turn the tide on a record year of small boats after promising to 'smash the gangs' in the election. It comes after Labour was slammed for signing up to a "migrant merry-go-round" with France. Ministers are expected to reach a 'one in, one-out' returns deal with the French in a bid to deter small boats. Undercover delivery driver investigation The deal was branded a "gimmick" by Tory Shadow Home Secretary Chris Phillip. Starmer has previously admitted that the small boats crisis was "deteriorating." Record numbers of migrants have crossed the channel under Labour's government. Many are now finding easy work and free accommodation once reaching the UK, incentivising others to follow. 5 5 5 A Sun investigation revealed how Channel migrants were picking up jobs as food delivery couriers earning up to £250 a week after arriving in the UK. The investigation showed how migrants across the country could work illegally from asylum hotels as fast-food delivery drivers within hours of arriving in Britain. Bosses of Deliveroo, Uber Eats and Just Eat were hauled in by the Home Office to discuss the issue. He purchased the login to the delivery app's service from a seller called Danyel. Small boat migrants get illegal £1k-a-week delivery rider jobs within HOURS of landing in UK By Thomas Godfrey CHANNEL migrants are working as fast-food ­del­i­very riders within hours of arriving in the UK while being housed and fed at taxpayer expense. They rake in nearly £1,000 a week operating from asylum accommodation, used as hubs for black-market work on apps like Deliveroo and Just Eat. Migrants in hotels are banned from working in any circumstances if they have been in Britain for less than 12 months. Even those here longer are not allowed to legally work as delivery drivers. But at hotels around the country, including in London, Bournemouth and Man­chester — each one housing hundreds of asylum seekers — we snapped migrants in branded jackets for Deliveroo, JustEat and Uber Eats. Some rode £1,000 e-bikes while others used public-hire bicycles. Last night Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick said: 'This crucial Sun investigation reveals yet another appalling abuse of our immigration system. 'These delivery companies know exactly what they're doing. It's a disgrace and they need to be made to feel consequences.'

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store