Category Archives: UK news

Johnson accused of misleading public over Brexit deal after NI remarks

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PM says there will be no checks on goods going from Northern Ireland to rest of UK

Boris Johnson has been accused of misleading the public about his own Brexit deal, after footage emerged of him telling exporters in Northern Ireland they will not need to fill in extra paperwork.

After a rocky start to the general election campaign in which Jacob Rees-Mogg had to apologise for his comments about victims of the Grenfell Tower fire, and the Welsh secretary, Alun Cairns, resigned, footage emerged of the prime minister regaling businesses with the benefits of his deal.

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Crossrail faces further delays and will cost more than £18bn

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TfL says aim is for the London rail link to open ‘as soon as practically possible in 2021’

Crossrail will not open until 2021 and has incurred a further cost overrun that will take the total price of the London rail link to more than £18bn, Transport for London (TfL) has announced.

The latest assessment for the opening of the central section has ruled out late 2020 and the aim is for Crossrail to open “as soon as practically possible in 2021”, the capital’s transport authority said. TfL had previously said the Elizabeth line, as the service will be called, was unlikely to start running before 2021 but had kept an autumn 2020 opening in its plans.

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‘We had to buy blankets’: floods force shoppers to spend night in Meadowhall

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Sheffield shopping centre cut off by rising waters as torrential rain deluges large areas and Met Office warns of more to come

Dozens of people have been trapped in Sheffield’s Meadowhall shopping centre overnight after torrential rain caused flooding throughout the city and transport chaos across large parts of northern England.

Heavy rain across the region on Thursday made roads impassable and forced the cancellation of train services, while 35 homes were evacuated in Mansfield after a mudlside.

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Eighteen-year-old stabbed to death in west London

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The victim who was attacked in Uxbridge is 21st teenager to be murdered in capital this year

Police have launched a murder investigation after an 18-year-old was stabbed to death in west London.

Officers were called at about 4.40pm on Thursday to reports of a stabbing at Hillingdon Civic Centre in High Street, Uxbridge. The victim was taken to hospital with a stab wound to his chest, but was pronounced dead less than an hour later.

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North of England floods: trapped shoppers allowed to leave mall

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Meadowhall in Sheffield says those who wish to stay can, due to ‘extreme conditions’ outside

People trapped by flood water in a shopping mall near Sheffield have been told they can leave but were warned there will be severe delays due to “extreme weather conditions”.

People at the Meadowhall shopping centre had earlier been told to stay put by police and not to attempt to leave the mall after flooding left roads gridlocked.

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Tories and Labour warned over ambitious spending promises

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Returning infrastructure investment to 1970s levels may be undeliverable, says IFS

Labour and the Conservatives have triggered a public spending bidding war, promising massive programmes of borrowing that will return public investment to levels last seen in the 1970s, according to Britain’s leading experts on the public finances.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies said plans unveiled by Sajid Javid, the chancellor, and John McDonnell, his Labour shadow, would represent a decisive break with the past, but warned that a future government might have trouble delivering projects on the scale envisaged.

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Peterborough voters: tell us which issues will decide this election

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The Guardian’s Rob Booth is reporting from the constituency of Peterborough to find out what issues people there care about most – and he wants your help

The Guardian will be reporting from Peterborough next week ahead of the General Election, as part of a series of pieces from across the country focused on finding out what matters to the people who live there. For example, the people of Peterborough have seen public spending fall by £262 a year per person since the start of austerity in 2010 – typical of the UK as a whole.

If you live in Peterborough, can you tell us what this has meant? We’d like to understand the big issues facing you and your family and which policies matter to you. How happy are you with the state of housing, work, community relations, policing and health services?

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Grace Millane murder trial: friend feared for her during date as CCTV shows final hours

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UK backpacker’s friend says ‘something seemed out of place’ during online chat as jury watches video of Millane visiting bars with Tinder date

The parents of Grace Millane have watched CCTV footage of the last hours of their daughter’s life as an Auckland court heard how a friend of the British backpacker feared for Millane on the Tinder date during which she died.

The CCTV footage, played to the court on Thursday, showed Millane, in a black dress and white sneakers, greeting the man now accused of her murder with a hug and a brief kiss on the cheek before the pair visited bars around the city together and then went to his hotel.

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Tom Watson quits as Labour deputy leader and steps down as MP

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Move will reopen debate about party’s direction under Jeremy Corbyn

Tom Watson is quitting parliament and stepping down as Labour’s deputy leader, reopening the debate about the party’s direction under Jeremy Corbyn. Watson, who is one of Labour’s best-known figures, has represented the constituency of West Bromwich East since 2001.

In a letter to Corbyn released by Labour, he said his decision to step down was “personal, not political”.

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Russian army’s hazing culture drove son to kill soldiers, says father

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Ramil Shamsutdinov opened fire on eight fellow soldiers on Siberian military base

The father of a Russian conscript who allegedly shot and killed eight fellow soldiers on an army base last month has blamed a culture of brutal bullying for driving his son to carry out the attack, raising fresh concerns over a poisonous culture of hazing that Russia claimed to have eliminated from its army.

Ramil Shamsutdinov opened fire from his service weapon last week on a military base in Russia’s Transbaikal region, killing two officers and six soldiers. Some media reports said he targeted the heads of his victims during the rampage.

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Alun Cairns urged to stand down as Tory election candidate

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Boris Johnson pressed to drop Cairns after he quit as Welsh secretary over rape trial claims

Boris Johnson is facing calls to remove Alun Cairns as a Conservative candidate after the Welsh secretary resigned over allegations that a former aide sabotaged a rape trial.

Cairns stepped down following huge pressure in recent days over the actions of his former adviser Ross England, with the furore threatening to derail the Tory campaign in Wales.

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Businessman speaks of abduction and torture by gang on Irish border

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Kevin Lunney says kidnappers had sadistic ‘checklist’ in latest and most brutal act against QIH executives

The business executive who was abducted and tortured near the Irish border has spoken for the first time about a crime that has shocked and bewildered Ireland.

Kevin Lunney said the gang that kidnapped him went through a checklist of sadistic acts which left him in agony.

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Doctors call for tighter control of traditional Chinese medicine

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Exclusive: European experts fear WHO recognition will encourage use of unproven therapies

Europe’s leading doctors are to call for tighter regulation of traditional Chinese medicine, anxious that recent recognition by the World Health Organization will encourage the use of unproven therapies that can sometimes be harmful.

The Federation of European Academies of Medicine (FEAM) and the European Academies’ Science Advisory Council will issue a joint statement on Thursday urging the WHO to clarify how traditional Chinese medicine and other complementary therapies should be used.

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John Bercow: Brexit is UK’s biggest mistake since second world war

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Former Speaker tells foreign media UK is better off as part of EU power bloc

Days after bowing out as Speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow has described Brexit as the biggest mistake Britain has made since the second world war.

Bercow, who was persistently accused of bias by Brexit-backing MPs during his term as Speaker, gave a valedictory speech to the Foreign Press Association, revealing himself to be a remainer.

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Fleetwood manager Joey Barton to stand trial for alleged assault

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Former England international denies assaulting ex-Barnsley manager in stadium tunnel

Joey Barton, the manager of Fleetwood Town football club, will go on trial next year accused of assaulting the former Barnsley manager Daniel Stendel during an incident following a match.

Barton, 37, is alleged to have pushed Stendel at Barnsley’s Oakwell stadium on 13 April, leaving him with a damaged tooth.

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Extinction Rebellion protesters may sue Met as ban ruled unlawful

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Section 14 order issued to halt protest across London was not legitimate, high court rules

Hundreds of Extinction Rebellion protesters may sue the Metropolitan police for unlawful arrest after the high court quashed an order banning the group’s protests in London last month.

In a judgment handed down on Wednesday morning, Mr Justice Dingemans and Mr Justice Chamberlain said the section 14 order imposed during XR’s “autumn uprising” in October was unlawful.

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‘She had one sweet left’: woman survives three days lost in Aegean

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Officer Giorgios Marietakis describes sailor Kushila Stein’s rescue after she lost an oar

On a rescue mission, Capt Giorgos Marietakis only ever has one rule: to tune into his senses and envision the person he is out to save. On Sunday, he put himself into what he imagined would be the mindset of Kushila Stein, a 45-year-old New Zealand woman lost at sea for close to three days.

“I had an image of her being hungry and thirsty,” he said. “I tried to get into her head and think of what she would do. I imagined her beginning to despair and I thought of her doing whatever she could to survive.”

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Hummus firm in salmonella scare was fined for egg contamination

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Zorba fined £93,000 in Wales for supplying egg-free branded tzatziki dip containing egg

The food company at the centre of a hummus salmonella scare received a substantial fine less than a month ago for food standard offences involving another dip, it has emerged.

Zorba Delicacies, which has been forced to extend a recall of 80 types of hummus products supplied to various supermarkets, was found to have supplied an egg-free branded tzatziki dip which contained egg protein.

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Staff at ‘Brexit HQ’ Mayfair members’ club strike for living wage

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Migrant workers at club owned by Boris Johnson-backer Robin Birley, asking for £10.55 an hour

Staff at an exclusive private members’ club owned by a high-profile, Brexit-supporting backer of Boris Johnson are to go on strike.

Celebrities coming to 5 Hertford Street, which has hosted figures including George and Amal Clooney, Margot Robbie, Alexa Chung, Bella Hadid and royals such as Prince William, will have to consider whether they want to cross a picket line at the Mayfair property.

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