BBC News

[Centurius]

 

 

King Has Dissolved Parliament

 

 

With the addition of various territories to the United Kingdom His Majesty the King has dissolved Parliament to allow for a new House of Commons to be elected that also represents Portugal and Tasmania. Additionally landed nobility within Portugal will be allowed into the House of Lords.

 

The move did not come as a surprise as the United Kingdom returns to normalcy following the recent troubles. General elections will be held within three weeks and many experts predict that with the addition of Portugal and Tasmania there may be significant shifts when the new Parliament is assembled.

 

The new Parliament will be faced with tough challenges as a large collection of policy proposals have come up in recent days which require quick attention.

Edited November 12, 2014 by Centurius

[Centurius]

The British Armed Forces would rapidly return to their previous level while equipment left behind by Carthage in both Portugal and Spain was used to improve the strategic reserves of the country. Likewise the satellite network would be linked to the British ones. Manufacturing of additional reserves would continue steadily.

[Centurius]

Elections Return Hung Parliament, Conservatives Lose and Labour Wins

 

 

In an election that covers entirely new territories the ruling Conservative Party has lost its absolute majority as many observers had expected. Labour has made significant gains at its expense and many within the United Kingdom call for cooperation between these two parties to form a new government. The Conservatives remain the party with the most votes.

 

Prime Minister Urquhart has stated immediately following the election that he will be meeting with Ed Miliband to discuss the possibilities in light of the recent general elections. Sources inside both parties have stated that attempts will be made for a coalition government that will have both an absolute majority in the House of Commons as well as support from the majority of the House of Lords to implement the policy the United Kingdom needs.

 

The general elections have also seen the smaller parties in general lose in influence as such parties as the BNP and SNP have been marginalized with the redistribution of seats to Portugal and Tasmania. The full results will be shown below.

 

Conservative Party - 290

Labour Party - 254

Liberal Democrats - 30

Portuguese People's Party - 20

British National Party - 15

Scottish National Party - 8

Green Party - 4

Independent - 59

[Centurius]

Conservatives and Labour Agree to Coalition with Revolutionary Plans

 

 

Following the appointment of Francis Urquhart as Prime Minister by His Majesty the King an agreement has been reached between the Conservative Party and Labour Party on policies to be implemented as well as cooperation in both the House of Commons and House of Lords. The agreement provides for an array of legislation that would truly transform the United Kingdom.

 

The agreement is also considered to include a lot of give and take. Whereas the Conservatives gained an increase in relative power of the House of Lords as well as the King, more funding for the military and police and stronger positions in foreign policy. Labour benefited from increased expenditure in healthcare as well as education and immigration.

 

Discussion on the first bill in line with the agreement has already commenced. As part of the proposed changes various Acts such as the House of Lords Act 1999 and the Parliament Acts of 1911 and 1949 are to be repealed while a new bill will provide for a system where the House of Lords must once again approve of bills before they can become law. The proposed bill would also provide for hereditary peers to once again take part in the House of Lords in greater numbers. As compensation for Labour and the other parties however the bill is also to formalize the Salisbury Convention.

[Centurius]

Royal Navy to Increase Mediterranean Presence, Royal Army Following

 

 

Following earlier commitments to maintain a proactive approach on global matters as well as using the increased funding recently having become available to it the Royal Navy has announced the deployment of additional ships to the Spanish protectorate to aid in the defence of said protectorate as well as maintaining security in the Mediterranean.

 

In line with this several ships have left Portsmouth and are heading for Gibraltar where they will be based. The ships are to patrol the shores as well as international waters within the Mediterranean to proactively confront any threat the United Kingdom might face.

 

The naval deployment is accompanied by the additional deployment of a division from the Royal Army into the Spanish protectorate to maintain order in the region for an independent government to form in.

[Centurius]

Royal Marines Land in New Zealand

 

 

On orders of His Majesty the King, with permission from Parliament, the Royal Army and Royal Navy have launched Operation Kiwi, a military operation to secure New Zealand following the apparent collapse of organized government.

 

Forces operating from Tasmania have taken part in the operation and according to a public statement Auckland and the surrounding area have been secured. Upon completion of security operations civilian contractors will be sent in to maintain existing infrastructure as well as construct new facilities.

 

Before the collapse New Zealand had already been an isolated state with only limited international interactions. It is expected King William will give Royal Assent to the New Zealand Protection Act later today.

[Centurius]

1/7 New Zealand

 

While the published goal was simply protection British intent was fully to reunify its Empire as long as local populations showed themselves open to the idea. As had been done with Tasmania the people of New Zealand would be subtly polled and the conclusion from those polls had been a majority of the local population supported integration into the United Kingdom. These polls would be used to justify an increased military presence as well as additional funding and to begin the preparations for a more general referendum which would allow the population to vote on formally becoming part of the UK. Existing institutions would already begin being integrated into British counterparts to allow for a swift and easy transition if the population voted to join.

[Margrave]

OOC: I'm still here Cent. I'm going to go ahead and not recognize this.

Edited November 18, 2014 by Margrave

[Centurius]

2/7 New Zealand

 

King William to Visit New Zealand on Oceanic Tour

 

 

Following the recent announcement of protection over New Zealand it has been announced that His Majesty the King will travel to New Zealand to meet with local politicians. The King will go to Australia afterwards and finally Tasmania before returning back to the mainland.

 

Preparations for his arrival have immediately commenced and the news has generally been received positively however some dissident groups that oppose the movement of British forces into New Zealand remains. These groups fear the prospect of a potential integration into the United Kingdom but are generally considered a very small minority. Security preparations will be aimed at making everything go smoothly.

 

The announcement follows another one by the Exchequer that significant funds have been reserved for development programs in Oceania.

 

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With the treaty with Novak signed that would provide for defence, trade and other clauses but perhaps most importantly the gradual handover of Australia several divisions of the Royal Army would be redeployed from England to assume general responsibility of protecting while administrators from various departments in London would travel to Australia to aid with the development of institutions by local governments.

[Centurius]

With news of the apparent collapse of Hanover a protectorate would be declared while a division of British soldiers were moved there for a landing to once again place this area under British protection awaiting a new government.

[Centurius]

3/7 New Zealand

 

The unexpected visit to New Zealand by King William managed to further push the population into supporting full integration into the United Kingdom. Meanwhile final preparations for a referendum were almost completed and the population would be able to vote on their future in just a week. If they did vote to join it was expected that the UK could quickly complete integration fully as existing authorities and infrastructure were already being made compatible.

 

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At the same time rather than going directly to Australia following the New Zealand trip the King would make a detour to Tianxia first to discuss matters of mutual importance.

[Centurius]

Defra Under Fire over H5N8 Outbreak

 

 

Despite a relatively swift response to the recent outbreak of the H5N8 avian flu strain the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and its Secretary of State have come under fire of responding to warnings too late.

 

The criticism follows several outbreaks of the strain on farms throughout the United Kingdom. The Department of Health has insisted that there is no significant threat to humans at this point in time however sales in poultry and other avian meats have gone down significantly in the last few days.

 

The Defra has put in various restrictions to avoid further outbreaks however experts say that countermeasures implemented earlier could have kept the outbreak more contained.

[Centurius]

4/7 New Zealand

 

New Zealand Votes to Join United Kingdom

 

 

Mere days after the King's visit and sustained campaigning by individuals on both sides of the matter a majority of 70% of the 80% of New Zealanders who voted chose to join the United Kingdom in full. The results have been verified by both local authorities as well as observers sent from London.

 

With the referendum a success the previously passed New Zealand Act can now be fully implemented, existing authorities are being integrated into British counterparts and the previously existing militias in New Zealand are being integrated into the Royal Army. It is expected these final stages can happen swiftly as preparations have been ongoing since the establishment of a protectorate.

 

In a statement made upon His Majesty's arrival in Sydney he said that he is "glad to welcome new citizens to this United Kingdom and look forward to serve New Zealand as well as all my other territories", politicians in London have also responded positively. It is expected a governor will be appointed in the very near future.

[Centurius]

5/7 New Zealand

 

Progress was occurring steadily as the mandate provided by the New Zealanders was executed. While preparations had been made it still wasn't a cakewalk to return the existing procedures to the ones used by the United Kingdom, after all despite the common history there still was a long period of time where the United Kingdom and New Zealand had been independent of each other. In the end however steady progress would continue to be made.

[Centurius]

6/7 New Zealand

 

By now integration of New Zealand into the United Kingdom was nearly complete and steadily the citizens began identifying themselves more as such. The military would formally bring facilities in the area to active service while additional forces were being deployed to protect British interests in the Pacific.

[Centurius]

Reunification of Britain Declared, Sverige Collapses

 

 

Following months of disputes over the true ownership of the Shetland Islands Great Britain is once again reunited as Swedish forces have been forced out of the islands due to the collapse of their government. The withdrawal marks the full restoration of the British Isles to control of the United Kingdom.

 

In addition to concluding the dispute over Shetland His Majesty the King has also declared his protection over Iceland, Svalbard and Norway however talks have already commenced with local groups on the formation of a new government in Norway. The Foreign Office has announced it has requested Russia and Prussia to intervene in the remaining parts of the former Swedish state.

[Centurius]

Redaction of Previous Article Regarding Sverige

 

Earlier today BBC News published an article on the collapse of the Kingdom of Sverige, it has been clarified to us by the Foreign Office that the journalist responsible for the article was responding to low level officials within the Foreign Office mentioning action plans in the case of the likely future collapse of Sverige and that said state in fact did not collapse. It has been further clarified to us that both the declaration of protection as well as other statements were never made by any member of the government or senior levels within the Foreign Office. Those responsible for this faulty article within both our own organization and the relevant government departments will face disciplinary action.

 

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7/7 New Zealand

 

After several weeks of additional work New Zealand was finally properly integrated into the United Kingdom entirely, with great celebrations around him the new Governor took his place and introduced several measures to continue ensuring the prosperity of these new subjects of the Crown as well as happened in Tasmania. Being one of the most important centres of business for the United Kingdom and with all expectations that at some point in the future Australia too would become part of the United Kingdom significant numbers of corporations would begin investing in the area.

 

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No-Fly Zone Declared Over Shetland

 

 

About half an hour ago the Royal Air Force and Royal Navy have announced they have commenced operations to enforce a no-fly zone around Shetland. Air Force and Navy assets will enforce this no-fly zone on all aicraft of a military nature entering the airspace in or around Shetland without explicit permission from the British government.

 

The measure is the latest escalation in a heated conflict between the United Kingdom and Sverige which started with British movements to support an allied Hanoverian claim in northern Germany and resulted in the occupation of British soil by Swedish invaders.

 

While not explicitly having stated such analysts working for the BBC believe the movement is intended to once and for all establish that foreign forces will not be allowed on British soil.

[Centurius]

Australians to Attend Commonwealth Summit

 

Only days after the initial announcement of the first Commonwealth Summit since the return of the United Kingdom a delegation of Australians has stated its intent to attend the summit. The Foreign Office swiftly responded that it has received and approved of the Australian request.

 

The summit will be a meeting where representatives from England, Scotland, Ireland, Portugal, Tasmania, New Zealand and now Australia will be able to discuss matters relevant to their interests and has it stated goal to preserve the unity and cohesion of the United Kingdom.

 

Following the treaty signed with Novak the United Kingdom has assumed a greater role in protecting Australia. While the area remains nominally a protectorate of Novak general day to day affairs of the administration have transferred to the United Kingdom. The British Armed Forces also maintain a significant presence there and His Majesty the King has recently concluded a formal state visit.

[Centurius]

Royal Wedding: King William to Marry Alice Jones

 

 

In a move that surprised many, despite rumours circulating about a relationship, His Majesty the King has announced he and the Australian native Alice Jones intend to marry. In a mostly unprecedented move he will formally ask Parliament for permission.

 

Miss Jones currently works as a consultant for a private security firm in Australia and was introduced to the King at an event during his visit to Australia several weeks ago. Not much is known about her besides that she was born and has lived her entire life in Sydney. Rumours about a relationship between Miss Jones and His Majesty the King had been floating around ever since the visit however could not be confirmed before now.

 

In his statement the King stated he seeks permission from Parliament out of respect for the institution and the reality that the marriage of a King does affect the state. Several members of parliament have come forward to congratulate their King and have indicated it is unlikely Parliament will refuse to give permission.

[Centurius]

Protectorate Declared over Northlands, Sverige. Shetland Reintegrated

 

 

In a move that would appear to make the earlier redacted article prophetic the United Kingdom has officially declared a protectorate over the lands of the Northlands, Sverige and their protectorates. With the collapse of organized government in both countries His Majesty the King has declared that the country will help those fellow Europeans in need. Shetland has also been formally reintegrated into the United Kingdom.

 

When asked about its specific plans the Ministry of Defence has stated they are preparing to enforce the so called Militia Protectorate Doctrine. This new doctrine focuses on giving existing local law enforcement and military institutions increased support to maintain over their own areas. In these protectorates the United Kingdom will maintain a hands off approach and only make sure that there is no foreign intervention and that any possible government enjoys the support of its people.

 

The Department of Energy and Climate Change has given a BP plc and Dutch Shell plc joint effort a license for the oil reserves within the British and Protectorate parts of the North Sea.