UK not ‘on the slide’, Burnham to tell UN as he gears up for first meeting with Trump – UK politics live

Burnham is heading to New York for the United Nations general assembly In his huddle on the plane to the US, Andy Burnham also confirmed that the UK has agreed to provide defensive air support to Saudi Arabia to help counter Houthi fighters. He said: We have received a request from Saudi Arabia for military support and … I agreed to that request for defensive air-to-air refuelling. By our calculations, a windfall tax on profits made by two leading British arms companies from weapons used by the Saudis during the war could raise up to £3.9bn.

With the British state matching this sum, a reparations payment of £7.8bn would help address the urgent humanitarian needs in Yemen – which British policy has helped to create – and provide a foundation for Yemen’s economic recovery. Continue reading...