Category Archives: UK news

High-mileage electric cars are more reliable than petrol ones, study finds

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EVs with 90,000 to 120,000 miles on the clock are more likely to pass MOTs than petrol models of the same age

Motorists buying a secondhand car with a lot of miles on the clock are likely to find an electric vehicle (EV) ultimately more reliable than a petrol vehicle, according to a study.

An analysis of 47.4m MOT tests found that after cars were driven 90,000 to 120,000 miles, EVs were about 25% less likely to fail than petrol models of the same age (based on a failure rate of 16.5% versus 22.1%).

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Andy Burnham does not rule out Brexit reversal being in next Labour manifesto

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PM says immediate focus is on rebuilding bridges with EU as he prepares for first meeting with Ursula von der Leyen

Andy Burnham has opened the door to fighting the next election on the UK rejoining the EU, but said his immediate priority was continuing to rebuild bridges with European allies.

The prime minister, who will hold his first meeting with the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, on Tuesday, did not rule out including reversing Brexit in Labour’s next manifesto – but suggested the country should focus on securing closer trading ties first.

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Cut NHS red tape and boost productivity to prevent 20,000 early deaths a year in England, report urges

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Changes could save £33bn and result in average of four extra years of good health for people, report says

The NHS in England could prevent 20,000 deaths and save £33bn a year by cutting red tape and boosting productivity, a report says.

Research by the Health Foundation found the health service has been held back for decades by excessive regulation, short-term planning and insufficient capability to deliver major change.

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Celia Birtwell ‘humanises’ Burberry in London fashion week closing show

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Textile designer brings florals, vines and smiley doodles to brand’s luxury checks for one-off paired collection

Burberry and Celia Birtwell are both national treasures of sorts. One is Britain’s grandest luxury name, the other the textile designer who dressed bohemian 1960s London in her prints and has a place in art history as David Hockney’s favourite muse.

Burberry’s designer, Daniel Lee, has always loved Birtwell’s prints. When the two met this spring, he fell for “her energy, and her zest for life”, and a one-off Burberry meets Birtwell collection that closed London fashion week was born.

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Airlines urge action after UK flights delayed and cancelled again

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Nats says fault at Prestwick has been ‘fixed’ after airports in Scotland, northern England and Northern Ireland are hit

Airlines have called for “action and accountability” over the UK’s air traffic control services after a technical issue led to flights being disrupted for the second time in a fortnight.

Dozens were cancelled and others severely delayed after a fault on Monday morning at National Air Traffic Services (Nats), this time at its second control centre at Prestwick in South Ayrshire.

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UK urged to strengthen financial muscle of national wealth fund to aid economy

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Unions, thinktanks and others say overhaul could provide investment Britain needs

Unions, thinktanks, environmental groups and charities have come together to call on ministers to boost the financial firepower of the national wealth fund to empower it to invest more in Britain and rebalance the country’s economy.

Lower energy bills, the revitalisation of the UK’s industrial heartlands and the provision of more high-quality jobs could all be unlocked by scaling up the NWF, according to a statement from organisations including the TUC, Greenpeace, WWF and the New Economics Foundation.

Turbocharging the retrofitting of homes and buildings.

Giving the public a bigger stake in critical infrastructure through taking part-ownership stakes in key projects.

Launching a targeted investment programme to bring new green industries to communities hit hardest by deindustrialisation.

Supporting a network of regional banks to funnel money into the small businesses that hold up local economies.

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Specialist courtrooms to prioritise rape cases in England and Wales

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Funding boost for facilities and fixed dates for trials designed to encourage more survivors to come forward

Specialist courtrooms prioritising cases of rape and other serious sex offences are to be introduced across England and Wales, with campaigners welcoming the move as potentially transformative.

The changes, designed to encourage more survivors to come forward, will include the provision of private entrances and waiting rooms, and facilities equipped for recording evidence in advance and observing sentencing remotely.

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‘It’s transformed the village’: the volunteers greening up Britain’s train stations

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Exclusive: Five gardening teams shortlisted for Royal Horticultural Society’s new Railway Stations in Bloom award

Every year since 1964, towns across the UK have bloomed with hanging baskets and brightly coloured flowerbeds planted by residents.

They wield their trowels in aid of the Royal Horticultural Society’s Britain in Bloom competition, a coveted accolade for the 1,600 communities that enter each year.

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UK minister warns of impact of Trump’s Iran war on next month’s budget

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Bridget Phillipson says Burnham’s past criticisms of US president not an issue as PM prepares to meet Trump at UN

Next month’s budget will be made more difficult by Donald Trump’s war with Iran, one of Andy Burnham’s cabinet ministers has said, while adding she did not expect the prime minister’s previous disparaging comments about the US president to be an issue.

Burnham is expected to meet Trump early next week at the UN general assembly summit in New York, the pair having previously spoken twice by phone since Burnham entered No 10.

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Victims say Home Office attempt to curtail spycops inquiry will result in a ‘cover-up’

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Shabana Mahmood is concerned about length and £144m cost of inquiry into intrusive police surveillance

Victims of intrusive police surveillance have accused the government of seeking to cut short the spycops public inquiry that has been examining widespread misconduct committed by undercover officers.

The independent judge-led inquiry is scrutinising how officers, who spied on tens of thousands of political activists over more than four decades, carried out abuses such as deceiving women into sexual relationships and fathering children.

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Earl Spencer says media treatment of Harry and Meghan ‘echoes’ Diana’s experience

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Comments come after he accused King Charles of gaslighting him in response to claims made in new memoir

Earl Spencer has said the relationship between the press and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex “echoes” the way the media treated his sister Diana, Princess of Wales.

In an interview with the BBC to be aired on Sunday evening, Spencer described the press’s coverage of Harry and Meghan as having a “cancerous influence”, adding it would be “beholden on people to learn from Diana’s example”.

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Thousands of pregnant women in England are reporting domestic abuse. Midwives are struggling to cope

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Exclusive: Analysis ‘lays bare’ something midwives already know from their day-to-day work

About 20,000 disclosures of domestic abuse are estimated to be made to maternity services in England every year, analysis has found.

The figures are likely to be an underestimate of the true scale of disclosures, according to experts, highlighting the role maternity professionals play in identifying abuse.

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Scottish Labour’s new leader backs Rosebank and Jackdaw oil and gasfields

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Michael Marra supports development of the North Sea sites, calling for a ‘more rational’ approach to energy policy

Scottish Labour’s new leader Michael Marra has backed the development of the Rosebank and Jackdaw oil and gasfields in the North Sea in one of his first acts after being elected, calling for a “more rational” approach to energy policy.

On Saturday, the MSP for North East Scotland won a near two-thirds majority to lead the party in Holyrood, becoming Scottish Labour’s 11th leader. He replaces Anas Sarwar after his shock decision to resign in July to join Andy Burnham’s new government as a trade minister.

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Earl Spencer doubles down on claims about ‘monstrous’ call with Charles after Diana’s death

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Buckingham Palace has rebutted claim by Charles Spencer, Diana’s brother, that then prince told him ‘we’ll forget her soon enough’

Earl Spencer has doubled down on his bombshell claim that King Charles said of Diana, Princess of Wales, “rest assured, we’ll forget her soon enough” days after her death, saying he is telling the truth.

The alleged comments, revealed in Charles Spencer’s memoir, Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, which is being serialised in the Daily Mail, prompted Buckingham Palace to issue an extraordinary statement suggesting Diana’s brother had misremembered events, saying “the pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason, affect judgment and colour memory in ways others do not recognise”.

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Polanski request to postpone Greens’ conference to focus on byelection refused by party

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Exclusive: Leader understood to have wanted to concentrate on Holborn and St Pancras campaign in London but executive committee voted against plan

Zack Polanski requested that the Greens’ ruling executive committee postpone the party’s imminent annual conference so they could focus on the Holborn and St Pancras byelection but was refused.

While party officials say the formal request came from staffers worried about diluting resources by staging a conference a week before Polanski tries to win Keir Starmer’s former Commons seat, the Guardian understands the party leader wanted this to happen.

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Stephanie Cole, Coronation Street and Open All Hours actor, dies aged 84

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Cole, described as an ‘extraordinary talent’, also appeared in Waiting for God, Tenko and had an extensive theatre career

The actor Stephanie Cole, best known for roles in Coronation Street, Waiting for God and Open All Hours, has died aged 84.

She also appeared in the prisoner-of-war drama Tenko, A Bit of a Do and Doc Martin.

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Flight chaos for hundreds of thousands was caused in ‘millisecond’ by software error

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Error first occurred at 10am but major incident was not declared until 12.30pm, says report

A software defect in part of the UK’s air traffic control system corrupted flight data “in the space of a millisecond”, leading to a six-hour outage and mass airline cancellations and delays across the UK last week, National Air Traffic Services has said.

But ministers said the Nats report into the incident still left questions unanswered, saying they needed “to urgently understand why this issue was not discovered and fixed before it caused chaos”.

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Marks and Spencer’s first LFW catwalk gamble pays off with compelling looks at affordable prices

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Retailer’s message is ‘fashion with a small f’ as it picks up on trends and brings styles for everyone to debut runway show

Joan Collins declared the coats “very chic”, and has her eye on a graceful ivory evening dress with caped shoulders. Kemi Badenoch plans to snap up the classic black tuxedo jacket. If the British public are as enthusiastic as the celebrity front row, Marks & Spencer’s first ever London fashion week catwalk looks like a hit.

The show, held at the Design Museum for 310 guests including Ian Wright and Jamie Carragher, was a gamble on both sides. Would snobby fashionistas be traumatised by elasticated waistbands and practical rainwear? Would M&S customers be alienated by a world of £2,000 handbags and shoes you can’t walk in?

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British Sikh man granted bail in India nine years after arrest

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Jagtar Singh Johal, from Scotland, was arrested after wedding in Punjab on alleged terrorism offences

Jagtar Singh Johal, a British Sikh man who was arrested in India in 2017 in connection with alleged terrorism offences, has been granted bail by a Delhi court.

Johal, from Scotland, was arrested for his alleged role in funding the Khalistan Liberation Force, which had carried out targeted killings in India’s Punjab region.

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British woman who was kidnapped in Malawi rescued by police after shootout

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Four of Nurat Osman’s alleged abductors were killed during rescue after she was taken from outside her home last week

A British woman kidnapped in Malawi last week has been rescued by police after a shootout in which four of her alleged abductors were killed.

Nusrat Osman was abducted outside her home in the southern city of Blantyre on 11 September at about 12.30pm. Police had offered a reward of 30m Malawi kwacha (£12,950) for information leading to her rescue and the arrest of the perpetrators.

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