After two UK Supreme Court justices resigned from Hong Kong’s highest court on Wednesday, British leader Carrie Lam said “there must be a lot of politics behind this”.

Addressing a press conference on Thursday, she said: ‘I remain very confident that we still have very good judges in the justice system, both local and foreign. Hong Kong will continue to benefit significantly.

The judges resigned on Wednesday over a sweeping national security law imposed by China that cracks down on dissent in the former British colony. The resignations were condemned by Beijing and the Hong Kong government.

Ms Lam said she was confident that all levels of the judiciary in the Asian financial hub would be free from political interference.

She said Hong Kong’s controversial national security law does not prohibit foreign judges from serving and hearing security cases.

Gordon MacDonald, Member of the Scottish Parliament, has urged Defense Secretary Ben Wallace to use around 11,000 vacant homes to support Ukrainian refugees in a “horrific situation”.

In its letter to Mr Wallace, MSP Edinburgh Pentland said: ‘Other countries are already making good use of empty military accommodation, including the US where eight military bases are currently in use to house Afghan refugees until until permanent accommodation is available.

“I’m sure you would agree that if the choice is a family home or a hotel room for months then most people would choose a family home and I think it would be a failure of the Ministry of Defense not to use these properties. provide a safe and warm home for displaced Ukrainians.

“I urge the Ministry of Defense to make this a priority, working with the Scottish Government and local authorities.”

Boris Johnson has clashed with his Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab over the Partygate scandal, refusing to endorse the Justice Secretary’s admission that laws were broken in Number 10.

Andrew Woodcock brings you more details

British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss is due to arrive in India on Thursday to exert diplomatic pressure on Narendra Modi’s government to reduce strategic reliance on Russia in its invasion of Ukraine.

But his visit coincides with that of his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, who is due to arrive in Delhi for a two-day visit on Thursday and Friday.

Ms. Truss is expected to convey that Russia’s assault on Ukraine “underscores the importance for democracies to work more closely together to deter aggressors, reduce vulnerability to coercion and strengthen global security.”

A string of foreign officials including the US, UK and even Russia travel to India within days as Delhi continues its traditional neutrality and abstained in several UNSC votes condemning the invasion Russian.

“Closer ties between Britain and India will enhance security in the Indo-Pacific and around the world, and create jobs and opportunities in both countries,” she said ahead of her visit. .

“This is even more important in the context of Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and underscores the need for free democracies to work more closely together in areas such as defence, trade and cybersecurity.

“India is an economic and technological powerhouse, the world’s largest democracy and a great friend of Britain, and I want to build an even closer relationship between our two nations.”

Vladimir Putin’s advisers are “afraid to tell him the truth” about the situation in Ukraine, according to a British spy chief.

In his first public address on the conflict, Sir Jeremy Fleming, head of Britain’s spy agency GCHQ, said Mr Putin had ‘massively misjudged the situation’ and ‘overestimated his army’s ability to secure a victory quick “.

“It is clear that he misjudged the resistance of the Ukrainian people,” he said during a visit to Australia.

“He underestimated the strength of the coalition and his actions would galvanize. He underestimated the economic consequences of the sanctions regime.

Speaking of the demoralization of Russian soldiers, he said: “We have seen Russian soldiers – low in weapons and low in morale – refusing to carry out orders, sabotaging their own equipment and even accidentally shooting down their own aircraft.

“And while we believe Putin’s advisers are afraid to tell him the truth, what is going on and the extent of these misjudgments should be crystal clear to the regime.”

He added: “It has become his personal war, the cost of which is being paid by innocent people in Ukraine and, increasingly, by ordinary Russians too.”

He warned China not to align itself “too closely” with the Kremlin.

Labor is calling on the UK to strike a security pact with the EU after the wake-up call for an invasion of Ukraine.

It’s part of the party’s drive to ‘make Brexit work’.

Boris Johnson must end his ‘petty diplomatic wrangling with our neighbours’ and rebuild relations, says Labor.

The Conservative Party is increasingly becoming an “English nationalist party” that does not understand what is happening in devolved nations, a Northern Irish MP has said.

In an interview with GB News to be aired on Thursday, DUP MP Ian Paisley Jr said that although his natural allies in Westminster should be the Tories, he found Labor had given Northern Ireland a “much better deal”.

Mr Paisley said: “Yes, the Conservatives call themselves the Conservative and Unionist Party, but I believe the Conservative Party is now becoming more and more of an English nationalist party that doesn’t really understand what’s going on in Scotland , certainly in Northern Ireland. , and in other areas.

Labor is set to kick off its local election campaign with a focus on the spiraling cost of living, as it publishes new research suggesting families should be poorer by as much as £2,620 under monitoring of curators.

Leader Sir Keir Starmer has said his party will cut people’s energy bills by up to £600, funded by a one-off tax on oil and gas companies.

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Boris Johnson has publicly mocked the Scottish National Party leader’s weight at Westminster for the second time in two months – after he was previously accused of shaming him.

During Prime Minister’s Questions, the Prime Minister invoked Ian Blackford’s height in response to the SNP leader in Westminster’s criticism of the government’s spring statement.

A production of The Phantom of the Opera was brought from China to visit the EU because the Brexit bureaucracy made it too ‘expensive’ for a Brit.

It was “simpler and cheaper” to bring production 5,000 miles away, said Jessica Koravos, president of the Really Useful Group, which promotes Andrew Lloyd Webber shows around the world.

“Under the current circumstances, I wouldn’t dream of sending a British production to Europe,” Ms Koravos told the Commons culture committee, pointing to the mountain of paperwork involved.