Haigh tells PM she is ‘totally committed’ but leaves role after incorrectly telling police a work mobile phone was stolen in 2013
Louise Haigh has resigned as transport secretary only 12 hours after it emerged she had been convicted of fraud over a missing work phone.
Haigh quit the cabinet with a letter to Keir Starmer saying that “whatever the facts of the matter, this issue will inevitably be a distraction from delivering the work of this government”.
Continue reading...Former Liverpool manager’s rented home fends off 27-bedroom manor house as website’s most-viewed property
A home fit for football royalty and a grade-I listed abbey are among this year’s most-viewed properties on the listing website Rightmove.
Jürgen Klopp left his job as manager of Liverpool in May, and in October the six-bedroom home he was renting from the Merseyside club was put on the market at an asking price of £4.25m.
Continue reading...‘Trees of hope’ will be planted across the UK, including at a prison and a children’s hospital, in National Trust scheme
Saplings from the felled Sycamore Gap tree are to be planted across the UK, including next to one of London’s most famous roads, at a rural category C prison and at a motor neurone disease centre opening in the name of the late rugby league star Rob Burrow.
The National Trust on Friday announced the recipients of 49 saplings it has called “trees of hope”.
Continue reading...Vote expected on Friday afternoon, as those running campaigns for and against say it is too close to call
MPs are hours away from deciding whether to legalise assisted dying for those with less than six months to live, in a knife-edge historic vote.
The private member’s bill, brought by the Labour backbencher Kim Leadbeater, will be debated from 9.30am on Friday in the House of Commons with a vote expected at about 2.30pm.
Continue reading...Researchers say supermarket customers are more likely to buy a piece of fruit labelled as a ‘sad single’
If seeing a lone, desolate banana on a supermarket shelf leaves you feeling a little blue, you are not alone.
Researchers have found that labelling unsold loose fruits as “sad singles” tugs on shoppers’ heartstrings and increases the likelihood that they’ll be sold.
Continue reading...Departments ready to work on assessment of its workability as critics say it is proceeding the ‘wrong way round’
Civil servants and ministers will begin work on implementing the assisted dying bill if it passes its first stage in parliament on Friday, but the Guardian understands it will not be adopted as a government bill.
MPs will have a free vote on the bill to legalise assisted dying in the case of terminal illness. It is a private member’s bill, brought by the Labour MP Kim Leadbeater, which means the government is technically neutral on the issue.
Continue reading...Prime minister holds press conference to announce plans as ONS announces net migration figures
Here is a chart from the ONS report illustrating the latest figures.
Here is the PA Media story on the figures.
Net migration to the UK hit a higher than previously thought record of 906,000 in the year to June 2023, revised official estimates show.
The measure for the difference between the number of people arriving and leaving the country then dropped by 20% in the latest period, the 12 months to June 2024, and now stands at 728,000.
Continue reading...PM says previous government ‘deliberately liberalised’ post-Brexit immigration as he announces deal with Iraq
Keir Starmer has accused the Conservatives of running an “open borders experiment” after new figures showed that net migration to the UK hit a record high of nearly 1 million in a period covering Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak’s administrations.
The prime minister announced a deal with Iraq to tackle people-smugglers and a white paper to overhaul the visa system, before demanding “an explanation” from Kemi Badenoch for her party’s decision to “deliberately liberalise immigration” after the Brexit vote.
Continue reading...Tamzin Hall, 17, was hit by car after fleeing police vehicle which had pulled over on M5 in Somerset
Two police officers have been served with misconduct notices after the death of a 17-year-old girl who fled a police car and was killed by a vehicle on the M5 in Somerset, the Independent Office for Police Conduct has said.
Tamzin Hall was being taken to custody on the night of 11 November when officers pulled over for “safety reasons”, the IOPC said, adding that she had been handcuffed with her hands in front of her and had an officer sitting beside her.
Continue reading...Louise Haigh plans to focus on poorer areas, healthy methods and ability to ‘tap in and tap out seamlessly’
Transport across towns and cities could become integrated using dedicated apps, with investment focused on poorer areas and healthier methods, as part of what ministers are calling a “people-first” revolution in local travel.
Louise Haigh, the transport secretary, described the plans in a speech in Leeds as “a revolution to wrestle back power over transport”. She said powers would be heavily devolved to mayors and councils across England, who would be encouraged to devise their own priorities.
Continue reading...Former medical director of Countess of Chester hospital says he is ‘truly sorry’ if he failed bereaved families
A boss at the hospital where Lucy Letby murdered babies has said he “sincerely regrets” not calling police sooner and is “truly sorry” if he failed the bereaved families.
Ian Harvey, a former medical director at the Countess of Chester hospital, told the Thirlwall inquiry he wished he had contacted the police nearly a year before they were informed.
Continue reading...Pop-up Frakta shop offering blue candy floss and mirrored room opens on site of delayed larger store
Glass cases house beautifully displayed arm-candy at the latest new entry on a reviving Oxford Street in central London.
This is not a designer handbag purveyor but a store dedicated to Ikea’s signature bright blue Frakta carrier bag – a pop-up shop paving the way for the home furnishing retailer’s delayed move into a larger store on-site, which is due to open next year.
Continue reading...London-listed company strikes deal with Fortress Investment Group, although shareholder approval needed
The cafe bar business Loungers has agreed to be bought by a US investment group in a deal that values it at about £338m.
Fortress Investment Group said it had made an offer for the UK hospitality group through a newly formed investment vehicle.
Continue reading...Discussion platform takes fifth place in rankings and is the fastest growing large social media platform in the UK
Reddit, the American online discussion platform, has overtaken X to become the fifth most popular social media platform in the UK, according to the communications watchdog.
Ofcom said Reddit, where users post on discussion threads within topic-based communities, was visited by 22.9 million UK adults in May this year, compared with 22.1 million on X.
Continue reading...Health Services Safety Investigation Body reveals difficulties inmates have when they leave jail for treatment
A female inmate remained handcuffed to a male prison officer while she had a mammogram, in an example of prisoners being denied their dignity while receiving NHS care, a watchdog has revealed.
The incident is highlighted in a report by the Health Services Safety Investigation Body (HSSIB) into the difficulties prisoners can face when they leave jail to see a GP or visit a hospital.
Continue reading...Kurdish Community Centre in Haringey among properties being searched by officers investigating banned group
UK-based Kurdish advocacy groups have condemned the arrest of seven people by counter-terrorism police in London as part of an investigation into the banned Kurdistan Workers’ party, known as the PKK.
Four men aged 23, 27, 56 and 62, and two women aged 31 and 59, were arrested at separate addresses during dawn raids in the capital on Wednesday and remain in custody, the Metropolitan police said. A 31-year-old man was arrested Wednesday afternoon in west London. All are yet to be charged.
Continue reading...Results of trial of benralizumab injection could be ‘gamechanger’ for millions of people around the world
Doctors are hailing a new way to treat serious asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease attacks that marks the first breakthrough for 50 years and could be a “gamechanger” for patients.
A trial found offering patients an injection was more effective than the current care of steroid tablets, and cuts the need for further treatment by 30%.
Continue reading...Scale of the criminality would make Fayed, who died last year at the age of 94, one of Britain’s most notorious sex offenders
Police believe Mohamed Al Fayed may have raped and abused more than 111 women over nearly four decades, with his youngest victim said to have been just 13 years old.
The scale of the criminality would make Fayed, who died last year at the age of 94, one of Britain’s most notorious sex offenders, and raises urgent questions about how he got away with his crimes.
Continue reading...Exclusive: absence of good transport links now an emblem of areas that feel ‘left behind’ and failed by major parties, report claims
Every constituency that elected a new Reform UK candidate at the general election has experienced long delays to road improvement schemes and resulting congestion, a report has found, in a possible clue to the growing appeal of populist parties.
A series of other places where Nigel Farage’s party is now polling well are also lacking transport infrastructure, the report added, as well as a perception among locals that decisions were being made in London that made their lives more difficult could push them to abandon major parties.
Continue reading...Intelligence agency has been trying to entice Russians disaffected by invasion of Ukraine but president-elect is likely to want to make an ally of Kremlin
For the past three years, the CIA has run an unusually bold outreach programme. It targeted Russians within the country’s government and security services, attempting to turn them into double agents.
Slickly produced recruitment videos portrayed cooperation with the US secret agency as the patriotic choice for officials disaffected with Vladimir Putin’s regime and the war in Ukraine. The videos ended with instructions on how to contact the CIA in a secure manner.
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