Arrest of 57-year-old follows new evidence surfacing during cold case review by Northamptonshire police
A woman has been arrested on suspicion of murdering a newborn baby girl who was found in Northampton more than 40 years ago, police said.
The 57-year-old suspect was arrested in Northampton on Tuesday morning and taken to a location in the county for questioning by detectives.
Continue reading...Relatives of motorcyclist killed in 2019 are looking forward to ‘working with next government’ on public inquiry
The parents of Harry Dunn, a teenage motorcyclist killed in a road collision, have accused the US of “obstructing” their son’s inquest, as they said they were looking forward to working with the next Westminster government to establish a public inquiry.
No representative of the US embassy nor the driver responsible, Anne Sacoolas, attended the four-day inquest, which concluded on Thursday, prompting the Dunn family’s spokesperson, Radd Seiger, to say Washington’s position was that “lives of UK citizens like Harry ultimately do not matter”.
Continue reading...Retirees or those on disability benefit are biggest annual winners, while large families are £4,600 worse off, says Resolution Foundation
Pensioners and people on disability benefits are the winners from radical changes to the welfare system made by the Tories over the last decade, while working-age families are losing out by thousands of pounds every year, according to a report by the Resolution Foundation.
The Conservatives’ 14-year overhaul of social security has shifted spending away from children and housing to supporting elderly people, and broken the link between entitlement and need for some of the poorest households in the country, the report says.
Continue reading...Tories struggling in some areas from chronic lack of supporters to canvass and deliver leaflets, say sources
The Conservative on-the-ground election campaign is descending into “disarray” amid a chronic lack of volunteers and strategy and an increasing sense of panic in formerly ultra-safe seats, insiders and opponents have told the Guardian.
Some areas have struggled to muster people to knock on doors and deliver leaflets due to a combination of a shrinking and ageing membership, a calamitous fall in the number of Conservative councillors and disillusionment with the election campaign.
Continue reading...Lack of maintenance support is creating two-tier higher education system, say experts
More than half of full-time students are working long hours in jobs to support themselves at university, spending nearly two days a week in paid employment during term time, owing to the cost of living crisis.
A survey of 10,000 full-time UK undergraduates by the Higher Education Policy Institute (Hepi) found a record 56% had paid employment while they were studying, working an average of 14.5 hours each week.
Continue reading...Relatives of Grace O’Malley-Kumar, Barnaby Webber and Ian Coates instruct legal team to investigate police and health trust
The families of the victims of the Nottingham attacks have vowed to take their fight for accountability “to the next level” on the one-year anniversary of the killings.
In a joint statement, the families of Grace O’Malley-Kumar, Barnaby Webber and Ian Coates, who were killed by Valdo Calocane in the early hours of 13 June last year, said they had instructed a legal team to help them “leave no stone unturned on our quest for answers”.
Continue reading...Labour puts economic policy and wealth creation at heart of pitch to win over former Conservative voters
Keir Starmer will put economic growth and wealth creation at the heart of Labour’s offer to voters as he launches a business-friendly manifesto targeted at former Conservative voters.
The Labour leader will launch his election manifesto in Greater Manchester on Thursday, promising to emphasise economic stability in a deliberate contrast to the Conservatives’ more policy-heavy offering earlier this week.
Continue reading...Studies sound alarm at state of cancer care with hundreds of thousands waiting months to start essential treatment
Hundreds of thousands of people are being forced to wait months to start essential cancer treatment, with deadly delays now “routine” and even children struck by the disease denied vital support, according to a series of damning reports.
Health chiefs, charities and doctors have sounded the alarm over the state of cancer care in the UK as three separate studies painted a shocking picture of long waits and NHS staff being severely hampered by a worsening workforce crisis and a chronic lack of equipment.
Continue reading...The result of tests to determine the cause of death could take months, but an autopsy has ruled out any criminal action
The body of Dr Michael Mosley is likely to be released to his family and repatriated by the weekend, forensic pathologists have said.
But tests revealing the precise cause of his death could take months because of a lack of certified laboratories to conduct advanced analysis.
Continue reading...The Greens’ spending commitments include £50bn for the NHS and £29bn to insulate homes
In an interview with ITV due to be broadcast on Wednesday evening, Rishi Sunak says he went without “lots of things” as a child, including Sky TV.
Sunak was pressed in the interview by the ITV journalist Paul Brand to give examples of things he didn’t have a child to which he replied: “There’ll be all sorts of things that I would’ve wanted as a kid that I couldn’t have. Famously, Sky TV, so that was something that we never had growing up actually.”
Continue reading...Labour is fighting its former candidate in Iain Duncan Smith’s long-held seat, but local residents don’t appear bowled over by their election options
“The Tories really don’t deserve to be in but I’ll struggle to support Labour. I will have to vote. But it will be a struggle to vote.” David Cherry is out walking his dog, Bella, in the spring sunshine in Chingford Green park.
“It’s quite a depressing state, to be honest,” Cherry continues. “Neither of them give you a clear indication. They all talk, we all know nothing’s going to happen.”
Continue reading...US wants show of strength with planned sanctions for helping Russia, but group will also discuss migration, Middle East and AI
A dramatic expansion of entities exposed to US sanctions for helping the Russian economy and an EU-led $50bn loan to ease the financial burden on Ukraine will be at the centre of discussions at a summit of the leaders of wealthy G7 nations in Puglia, Italy, starting on Thursday.
The leaders, facing unprecedented challenges from discontented electorates, will be under heightened pressure to provide concrete results as their three days of discussion range across an interlinked agenda encompassing the war in Ukraine, migration, Africa, the Middle East, the climate crisis and harnessing artificial intelligence (AI).
Continue reading...Leaders outline ideas including wealth levy, rent controls, house-building, and water and energy firm nationalisation
The Greens have launched their election manifesto with an appeal to voters to help them into parliament as a challenge to what they termed the unambitious, “more of the same” policies of Labour.
Setting out their plans in Brighton and Hove, the location of one of the party’s key target seats, the co-leaders, Carla Denyer and Adrian Ramsay, said their proposals for higher taxes – mainly on wealthier people – were the only realistic way to improve public services and undertake vital environmental policies.
Continue reading...Plans for the £1.9bn Smithfield scheme include a park that is smaller than a football pitch, falling short of the council’s own guidelines
Campaigners are warning that a major development project that will be approved by Birmingham city council falls far short of the city’s own guidelines for open green space.
The £1.9bn Smithfield scheme will bring 3,500 new homes as well as restaurants and offices to 17 hectares (42 acres) of fenced brownfield land in the centre of the city. But the new park – Smithfield Park – will be only 0.8 hectares, smaller than a football pitch.
Continue reading...US government employee provides hearing into teenager’s death with written statements but declines to attend
Anne Sacoolas said she “drove like an American”, on the wrong side of the road, as she told an inquest about the crash in which Harry Dunn, a 19-year-old motorcyclist, was killed.
The US government employee declined to give live evidence at the inquest, on Wednesday, providing two written statements that were read to the court.
Continue reading...The vessel, which sank off the coast of Canada in 1962, was used by the explorer on his final voyage to the continent
The wreck of the ship on which renowned Antarctic explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton died has been found off the coast of Labrador, Canada, searchers have announced.
Locating the Quest – a schooner-rigged steamship which sank on a 1962 seal hunting voyage – represents a last link to the “heroic age of Antarctic exploration”, said search leader John Geiger.
Continue reading...Attacks on shipping leading to delays to deliveries and higher shipping costs, says retailer
The furniture retailer DFS has issued its second profit warning of the year, blaming much of the drop on delays to deliveries and higher shipping costs caused by the Red Sea crisis.
The retailer, which owns 118 shops across the UK, said it expected pre-tax profits of £10m-£12m for the year ending 30 June 2024, well down on the £20m-£25m predicted in March, amid supply chain disruption and weaker consumer demand.
Continue reading...Leaders of Scotland’s five main political parties clash during live TV debate
Momentum, the leftwing Labour group set up when Jeremy Corbyn was leader, is not happy about Keir Starmer’s jibe about Corbyn’s manifesto.
Labour’s 2019 manifesto was fully costed.
Keir should know, he stood on it as a member of the shadow cabinet.
How about stopping attacking your own side during an election @Keir_Starmer?
Critics say funding of Tory manifesto’s policies is ‘implausible’ and they would mainly benefit wealthier voters
Rishi Sunak has presented a £17bn tax giveaway as the centrepiece of the Conservative manifesto, an offer that was immediately condemned for being “implausible” and mainly benefiting wealthier voters.
The policy programme set out by the prime minister, seen by many Tory MPs as probably the party’s last big chance to win over voters, contained few big surprises and was centred on cuts to national insurance and stamp duty, higher thresholds for child benefit and help for pensioners.
Continue reading...Kim Johnson said city, much of which still boycotts paper over false Hillsborough reporting, would be disappointed in Labour
Labour has been criticised by one of its own parliamentary candidates for paying the Sun to advertise Keir Starmer’s policies to its readers.
Visitors to the Sun’s homepage on Monday afternoon were greeted with full-site takeover adverts featuring Starmer’s face, urging readers to “vote for change” and listing his “first steps”.
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