Category Archives: UK news

Woman, 86, told she no longer has to repay £13,000 in benefits in DWP U-turn

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Exclusive: Case of Sia Kasparis, who has dementia, had been highlighted in Guardian investigation into unpaid care

An 86-year-old woman with advanced dementia has been told by the government she no longer has to repay a £13,000 benefit debt after her case was highlighted by the Guardian.

Sia Kasparis, who is partially blind and has been bed-bound for two years, was ordered to repay the huge sum after officials said she had failed to notify them her son had taken up caring duties.

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Keir Starmer offers apology ‘on behalf of British state’ to victims of Grenfell Tower fire – as it happened

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Prime minister says country failed its most fundamental duty to protect those affected by fire as he apologises to families affected. This live blog is closed

Sir Martin Moore-Bick will be giving a statement as the final inquiry report is published at 11am. You can watch the inquiry’s chair give the address here …

We will bring you the key lines that emerge.

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Banks warned over denying sex workers business accounts

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FCA gives detailed guidance to lenders after hearing lack of access could lead to ‘significant harm’ for individuals

The City regulator has warned UK banks over denying accounts for sex workers, after hearing that a lack of access to business banking could lead to “significant harm” for individuals.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said that while banks said they were able to provide accounts for the adult entertainment industry in theory, they were often denying or shutting down business accounts in practice.

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Priti Patel knocked out of Tory leadership contest in first round

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Former home secretary got two fewer votes than Mel Stride, while Robert Jenrick leads race to succeed Rishi Sunak

Priti Patel has been knocked out of the race to succeed Rishi Sunak as Conservative party leader in the first round of voting by Tory MPs.

The former home secretary received 14 votes from her colleagues, leaving her two behind the fifth-placed candidate, Mel Stride.

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Family of British aid worker killed in Gaza call for independent inquiry

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James Kirby was among seven WCK staff killed when an Israeli airstrike targeted their marked vehicle in April

The family of James Kirby, a World Central Kitchen aid worker killed in Gaza, have called for an independent investigation into his death and said neither British nor Israeli diplomats had been in touch, even though an internal Israeli inquiry said his death had been a tragic accident.

Kirby was among seven aid workers, including Britons John Chapman and James Henderson, who were killed when an Israeli airstrike targeted their clearly marked vehicle on 1 April. The Israeli inquiry led to the dismissal of two officers.

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NHS faces ‘tipping point’ in England where most appointments will not be with GPs

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Rapidly falling number of family doctors will harm ‘continuity and quality’ of care according to new research

The NHS in England is heading towards a “tipping point” after which GPs will no longer provide the majority of appointments because their numbers are falling so fast.

That is the conclusion of an extensive piece of new research that also shows one in five surgeries has shut and the number of patients each family doctor looks after has soared over the last decade.

1,625 GP surgeries closed between 2013 and 2023 – a fall of 20% or 178 a year – reducing the total number from 8,044 to 6,419.

The average number of patients on each surgery’s books rose by 40% – or 291 a year – over the same period, from 6,967 to 9,724.

Total patient numbers have grown from 56 million to 62.4 million.

Although the overall number of GPs working in the NHS rose, after taking changes in working hours into account those working the equivalent of full-time fell from 27,948 to 27,321.

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Councils in England draining reserves to stay afloat, leaders say

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Survey of 24 city authorities finds two in five plan to sell off assets and reduce services

Local authority leaders say they are having to drain their financial reserves to keep services afloat and avoid effective bankruptcy.

A survey of the mid-tier group of English city councils, which includes Southampton, Hull, Sunderland and Norwich, found that many that had previously avoided financial difficulties during periods of austerity were close to running out of funds.

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Pension pot amount needed for ‘basic’ retirement rises 60% in three years

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Research shows ‘alarming’ rise in essential living costs during retirement, with low-paid workers worst affected

The average pension pot needed for a “basic” retirement has risen by almost 60% in three years, according to research that highlights how the UK cost of living crisis has left many workers fearing they will never be able to retire.

The study from the Resolution Foundation thinktank and the Living Wage Foundation found that a number of price rises across housing, energy, food and transport had helped “significantly” increase the cost of securing an adequate income in retirement.

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Starmer to face test next week as MPs vote on limiting winter fuel allowance

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Plan to means-test benefit for pensioners criticised by opposition parties and some Labour backbenchers

Keir Starmer faces a test of his authority next week after promising a vote on the government’s plans to limit winter fuel allowance to the poorest pensioners.

MPs will get the chance to vote on secondary legislation on Tuesday that will introduce means-testing of the benefit after pressure from opposition parties and Labour backbenchers.

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Boy, 14, held on suspicion of murdering 80-year-old man in Leicestershire

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Bhim Kohli died in hospital after alleged attack while walking his dog in Franklin Park 20 metres from his home

A 14-year-old boy is being held on suspicion of murdering an 80-year-old man, named by police as Bhim Kohli, who died on Sunday after being allegedly attacked while walking his dog just 20 metres from his home.

Leicestershire police said Kohli was found at about 6.30pm in Franklin Park, Braunstone Town. Four other children who had been arrested have been released.

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New Titanic expedition finds lost bronze ‘Diana of Versailles’ statue

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First salvage expedition in years captures more than 2m high-resolution images of 1912 shipwreck

A bronze statue from the Titanic – not seen in decades and feared to be lost for good – is among the discoveries made by the company with salvage rights to the wreck site on its first expedition there in many years.

RMS Titanic Inc, a Georgia-based company that holds the legal rights to the 112-year-old wreck, has completed its first trip since 2010 and released images from the expedition on Monday. The pictures show a site that continues to change more than a century later.

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Pregnant woman and six children among 12 victims after migrant boat capsizes in Channel, French official says – as it happened

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Victims ‘primarily of Eritrean origin’, French prosecutor says, as France mobilises helicopters, fishing boats and military vessels

La Voix du Nord’s Florent Caffery has shared footage from the scene where emergency services are gathering.

French authorities have confirmed at least five people died in a Channel crossing attempt, AFP reported.

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Robert Jenrick inquired into revoking Palestinian student’s visa, emails reveal

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Court documents show then immigration minister wrote to Home Office after Dana Abu Qamar spoke at university demonstration

The former immigration minister and Conservative leadership hopeful Robert Jenrick inquired into revoking a Palestinian student’s visa, court documents have revealed.

Dana Abu Qamar, 20, a law student who led the Friends of Palestine society at the University of Manchester, was stripped of her visa in 2023 after speaking at a university demonstration on Gaza’s historical resistance to Israel’s “oppressive regime” and a subsequent interview with Sky News.

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European Commission to examine Ticketmaster’s ‘dynamic pricing’

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Review follows UK competition watchdog’s announcement of ‘urgent review’ into Oasis concert tickets fiasco

Ticketmaster’s ability to raise the price of concert tickets based on demand is being scrutinised by the European Commission, the Guardian has learned, as the UK’s competition watchdog launches an “urgent review” into the Oasis concerts fiasco.

The US-owned ticketing giant has been told it may have breached laws in the UK and Europe for inflating the price of some Oasis tickets from £135 to £350, leaving many fans devastated.

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Scottish government announces spending cuts worth £500m – as it happened

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Shona Robison, Scottish finance secretary, says current financial situation facing Scottish government is ‘not sustainable’

Tom Tugendhat, the former security minister, is launching his campaign for the Tory leadership. There is a live feed here.

Tugendhat started by saying that he did not actually want the job, because he does not want to be leader of the opposition. He wants to be prime minister, he said.

Politics is not a game, and we all know the cost when government isn’t sober and serious. We saw it in the lives lost in Afghanistan and then in that wasted chaos of that withdrawal. We saw it during Covid, not just in the lost years of education that cost so many or the opportunities missed, or even in the grief for lost loved ones or those left to cope alone, but through the disrespect.

That’s why I’m standing before you today, because this country can change. We must change, and Britain deserves better, and we need a different government.

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Civil service chief backs UK government claim of £22bn shortfall

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Simon Case criticises Tory government’s failure to hold regular spending reviews in letter to Jeremy Hunt – who had challenged figure

Simon Case, the head of the civil service, has backed the government’s figures showing that a £22bn shortfall was left by the previous Conservative administration.

The cabinet secretary said the Tories’ failure to hold regular spending reviews had contributed to the financial uncertainty.

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Renewable energy auction secures enough power for 11m UK homes

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£1.5bn auction awards record funding for new windfarms, solar farms and tidal power projects

Great Britain’s renewable energy auction has secured enough new clean electricity projects to power 11m UK homes after the Labour government made record funding available to suppliers.

The £1.5bn auction will support 131 new projects including windfarms, solar farms and tidal power projects after ministers increased the amount of funding available to seven times the sums offered last year.

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Danger Mouse writer Brian Trueman dies aged 92

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Tributes paid to writer, actor and presenter, who also worked on Chorlton and the Wheelies and The Wind in the Willows

The Danger Mouse writer Brian Trueman has died at the age of 92, his representative confirmed to the PA news agency.

His son Jonathan announced the death in a Facebook post, saying he died in Stepping Hill hospital in Stockport on Sunday night “after a short illness”.

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Jack Reacher would not exist without Birmingham’s libraries, says writer

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Lee Child says childhood visits to city’s libraries helped him to create protagonist as he laments proposed closures

It is said that heroes are made, not born.

In the case of the fictional ex-military action man Jack Reacher, it has emerged he was made in a library in Birmingham.

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Netanyahu condemns ‘shameful’ UK suspension of some Israel arms sales

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Israeli PM says move will embolden a genocidal Hamas as British government faces growing backlash

Benjamin Netanyahu has condemned the UK government’s decision to suspend some arms export licences to Israel, describing it as a shameful decision that would embolden a genocidal Hamas.

The Israeli prime minister said his country was at war to also protect British hostages and vowed the UK measures would not prevent it from winning the conflict in Gaza.

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