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British Steel agrees to £70m offer from Chinese firm
Could this be the deal that rescues thousands of UK jobs? China’s Jingye Group has agreed in principle to buy British Steel – kept running with government support since May, when it went into liquidation – for £70m.
British Steel employs 4,000 people at its Scunthorpe and Teesside sites, and supports another 20,000 jobs in the supply chain. Jingye is believed to have promised to increase production, but to have warned that costs may need to be cut.
The UK steel industry has struggled for several years, amid claims that China has flooded the market with cheap products. And the future looks to be difficult, after US President Donald Trump imposed a 25% trade tariff on steel imports from China and the EU, among others.
Here is what people in Scunthorpe said about their town’s possible future without its British Steel plant.
Our business team has the latest on this and other stories.
Two cannabis-based medicines approved for NHS
The NHS in England is giving the go-ahead for two cannabis-based medicines to be used. GPs will be able to prescribe Epidyolex, which helps children with two types of severe epilepsy, and Sativex, approved for treating muscle stiffness and spasms (known as spasticity) in multiple sclerosis. Read more about them here.
The law changed in 2018 to allow specialist doctors to prescribe cannabis-based medicines, but this has rarely happened. Read the story of the father of a girl with epilepsy who has had to smuggle such treatments into the country.
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General election 2019: Labour and Tories promise to help forces
It is Armistice Day today. It is also the first time since 1923 that it has fallen during a general election campaign. To mark this, Labour is promising to improve pay for the armed forces and to provide better care for forces children, including help with frequent school moves. The Conservatives, meanwhile, say they would protect personnel from “vexatious” legal action and ensure veterans are guaranteed an interview for any public sector job they apply for.
Elsewhere, the Liberal Democrats are pledging to give every adult a £10,000 “skills wallet” for training courses. And veteran Labour politician Keith Vaz has announced he isn’t running again for Parliament at the 12 December election.
What jobs do UK workers actually do?
When politicians want to appeal to working people, they tend to don hard hats and head to factories or construction sites. These workplaces may look good in pictures, but they do not chime with most people’s experience of work.
Fewer than one in 10 people work in manufacturing, and even fewer in construction. In contrast, more than four out of five people work in service industries.
What the papers say
Most newspapers show the Queen wiping away a tear at the Remembrance Sunday service at London’s Cenotaph. The Daily Mail welcomes the Conservatives’ pledge to protect Northern Ireland veterans from a legal “witch-hunt”. Elsewhere, the Daily Mirror reports that Labour is pledging £845m to ensure every child has access to mental health support at school. And the Times leads on the two parties’ dispute over spending plans.
Daily digest
Hong Kong Man’s shooting by police shown on Facebook during day of violence and chaos
Nikki Haley Senior White House aides “told former UN envoy to undermine Trump”
Bullying Fifth of young people in UK “have been victims in past year”
Spanish elections Socialists win most seats but not majority, as far-right parties surge
Climate change Airlines accused of putting profit before planet
If you see one thing today
How one pen stroke saved 0.5 degrees of global warming
If you listen to one thing today
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Getty Images
Can you have your plate and eat it?
If you read one thing today
The 35-year-old vow to a dying policewoman
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Lookahead
09:30 The Office for National Statistics publishes its first estimate of the UK’s gross domestic product for the third quarter of this year.
11:00 A two-minute silence takes place to commemorate the dead of two world wars and all later conflicts.
On this day
1992 The Church of England’s Synod votes for women to get the right to become priests.
From elsewhere
In place of Berlin’s Wall now stands a barrier of sullen resentment (Guardian)
How two centuries of slave revolts shaped American history (National Geographic)
Living with snow leopards (Cambridge University)
Life turns on a dime – a truth only realised over time (Sydney Morning Herald)
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