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  • UK Foreign Office victim of cyber-attack in October, says Chris Bryant

    Minister says ‘any individual’ at low risk from hack, while Sun reports Chinese cyber gang responsible for breach The UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office was hacked in October, the minister Chris Bryant has said. Bryant, a trade minister in Keir Starmer’s government, told Sky News there was a low risk to “any individual” from…

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  • George Osborne has a new job in tech, and it doesn’t bode well for Britain | Chris Stokel-Walker

    OpenAI is the latest to make a political hire as big tech spreads its tentacles around the world. So what’s the attraction? George Osborne getting a new job isn’t exactly news. Since leaving frontline politics, the former chancellor has served as the chair of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, edited (not entirely successfully) the Evening Standard,…

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  • From Nvidia to OpenAI, Silicon Valley woos Westminster as ex-politicians take tech firm roles

    Commons committee monitoring revolving door that gave jobs to George Osborne, Nick Clegg and Tony Blair When the billionaire chief executive of AI chipmaker Nvidia threw a party in central London for Donald Trump’s state visit in September, the power imbalance between Silicon Valley and British politicians was vividly exposed. Jensen Huang hastened to the…

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  • UK insists US tech deal not dead as Trump threatens penalties against European firms

    Keir Starmer’s office claims UK still in ‘active conversations’ about deal for tech industries in both countries to cooperate Downing Street insists the $40bn Tech Prosperity Deal between the US and UK that is on hold is not permanently stalled. The BBC reported on Tuesday evening that the prime minister’s office claimed that the UK…

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  • US puts £31bn tech ‘prosperity deal’ with Britain on ice

    Pledge to invest billions in UK paused, with Washington citing lack of progress on trade barriers across pond The US has paused its promised multi-billion-pound investment into British tech over trade disagreements, marking a serious setback in US-UK relations. The £31bn “tech prosperity deal”, hailed by Keir Starmer as “a generational stepchange in our relationship…

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  • Boost for artists in AI copyright battle as only 3% back UK active opt-out plan

    Liz Kendall faces pressure from campaigners as she tells parliament there is no clear consensus on issue A campaign fronted by popstars including Elton John and Dua Lipa to protect artists’ works from being mined to train AI models without consent has received a boost after almost every respondent to a government consultation backed their…

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  • UK Treasury drawing up new rules to police cryptocurrency markets

    Rachel Reeves wants to protect consumers by bringing digital money and assets into the ‘regulatory perimeter’ Cryptocurrencies will be regulated in a similar way to other financial products under legislation coming into force in 2027. The Treasury is drawing up rules that will require crypto companies to meet a set of standards overseen by the…

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  • Conservatives would end 2030 ban on new petrol and diesel cars

    Party would also abolish zero-emission vehicle mandate, cutting legal requirement on carmakers to sell EVs The Conservatives have announced proposals to end the 2030 ban on new petrol and diesel cars and cut the legal requirement on car manufacturers to sell electric vehicles. A Conservative government would abolish the zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate, ending the…

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  • YouTube channels spreading fake, anti-Labour videos viewed 1.2bn times in 2025

    Exclusive: More than 150 anonymous channels using cheap AI tools to spread false stories about Keir Starmer, study finds YouTube channels spreading fake, anti-Labour videos have amassed more than a billion views this year, as opportunists attempt to use AI-generated content to profit from political division in the UK. More than 150 channels have been…

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  • Scores of UK parliamentarians join call to regulate most powerful AI systems

    Exclusive: Campaign urges PM to show independence from US and push to rein in development of superintelligence More than 100 UK parliamentarians are calling on the government to introduce binding regulations on the most powerful AI systems as concern grows that ministers are moving too slowly to create safeguards in the face of lobbying from…

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