Southport stabbings: children among victims, say witnesses – latest updates

Youngsters attending a dance workshop were being treated at the scene according to those nearby

At least eight people, feared to include several children, have been stabbed in Southport, where a man with a knife was arrested.

Armed police arrested a man and seized a knife after being called to the “major incident” at a property on Hart Street, in Southport, north of Liverpool, at about 11.50am on Monday.

The man has been taken to a police station and there was no wider threat to the public, police said.

North West ambulance service said it had so far treated eight patients with stab injuries, who have been taken to Alder Hey children’s hospital, Aintree university hospital and Southport and Formby hospital.

Alder Hey children’s hospital declared a major incident and asked parents not to bring their children to the emergency department unless it was urgent.

The home secretary, Yvette Cooper, has said she is “deeply concerned” over the major incident in Southport.

Patrick Hurley, MP for Southport, said:

I am deeply concerned by the reports coming from Merseyside police about a major incident on Hart Street in the constituency.

I am hoping for the best possible outcomes to the casualties affected. My thoughts go out to all those affected, their loved ones and to the entire community.

Continue reading...

Man held after at least eight people injured in Southport stabbing

Armed officers seize knife after a number of people hurt in ‘major incident’, say Merseyside police

Southport stabbings: man detained – updates

At least eight people, feared to include several children, have been stabbed in Southport, where a man with a knife was arrested.

Merseyside police said they were responding to a “major incident” at a property in the seaside town in north-west England, where there were “a number of reported casualties”.

Continue reading...

Hospital and road projects face cuts to plug £22bn fiscal hole, Reeves says

Social care and winter fuel payments also targeted as chancellor accuses Tories of covering up scale of fiscal shortfall

Rachel Reeves has scrapped the social care cap and curbed winter fuel payments, as well as announcing big cuts to hospital and road projects, as she seeks to plug what she called a £22bn hole in public spending that was “covered up” by the Conservative government.

In a statement to the Commons that mixed detailed economics and partisan politics, the chancellor justified the cuts with the repeated mantra: “If we cannot afford it, we cannot do it.”

Continue reading...

Police appeal for information after death of Suffolk woman attacked while walking dog

Anita Rose, 57, was found near the railway line at Brantham early on Wednesday morning

Detectives investigating the murder of a woman who died after she was attacked while taking her dog for a walk are appealing for information from rail passengers who may have seen something.

Anita Rose, 57, left her house to take her springer spaniel Bruce for a walk in Brantham at about 5am on Wednesday, Suffolk police said.

Continue reading...

UK should stop arming Israel after ICJ advisory ruling, top lawyer says

Exclusive: Philippe Sands KC says non-binding opinion will nevertheless be seen as ‘authoritative statement of law’

The UK should stop arming Israel in order to comply with the historic advisory opinion by the UN’s top court that member states should not “render aid or assistance” to the occupation of the Palestinian territories, a lawyer who represented Palestine has said.

In a broad and damning ruling published this month, the international court of justice (ICJ), found that Israel’s settlement policies and occupation of the territories were in breach of international law. It also said UN member states were under an obligation to neither recognise the occupation as lawful nor abet it.

Continue reading...

Number of plastic bags found on UK beaches down 80% since charge introduced

Hailing the success of carrier bag laws, the Marine Conservation Society urges nations to push forward with plans for other single-use items

The number of plastic bags washed up on UK beaches has fallen by 80% over a decade, since a mandatory fee was imposed on shoppers who opt to pick up single-use carrier bags at the checkout.

According to the Marine Conservation Society’s (MCS) annual litter survey, volunteers found an average of one plastic bag every 100 metres of coastline surveyed last year, compared to an average of five carrier bags every 100 metres in 2014.

Continue reading...

Man graduates 41 years after being denied ceremony by parrot problem

Jonny Clothier was refused graduation at Bristol University over unpaid bill relating to flatmate’s bird

A man who was denied his graduation for 41 years because of an unpaid bill of £64.80 relating to a parrot has finally donned his cap and gown on the same day as his son.

Jonny Clothier studied architecture at the University of Bristol and was meant to graduate with his peers in 1983. But his old flatmate had a parrot which, after being left unsupervised, had free run of their university accommodation and was said to have wrecked the place.

Continue reading...

Tommy Robinson arrested in Kent under Terrorism Act

Far-right activist detained by police at Channel tunnel in Folkestone and later released on bail

Tommy Robinson has been arrested a day after organising a major demonstration in central London, according to his X account.

Thousands of people marched in the city on Saturday as part of an event organised by Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, while many others took part in a counterprotest.

Continue reading...

Woman dies four days after being attacked walking her dog in Suffolk

Man, 45, has been arrested on suspicion of murder following early-morning assault on Anita Rose in Brantham

A 57-year-old woman has died in hospital four days after she was attacked while walking her dog in Suffolk, police have said.

Anita Rose was found unconscious with a serious head injury by a member of the public at about 6.25am on Wednesday in the village of Brantham. She had left her house at about 5am to take her springer spaniel, Bruce, for a walk and was discovered on a track near Rectory Lane.

Continue reading...

Rachel Reeves paves way for cuts and tax rises to fill shortfall left by Tories

Chancellor will announce pause in work on a number of infrastructure projects, saying Conservatives ‘covered up’ true state of finances

Rachel Reeves will lay the ground for cuts to public spending, tax rises and delays to some major infrastructure projects on Monday as she sets out the toxic inheritance the Labour government inherited from the Tories.

She is expected to pause work on a string of infrastructure projects, including Boris Johnson’s flagship plan to build 40 new hospitals and the proposed two-mile road tunnel bypassing Stonehenge.

Continue reading...

Heartbreak for Adam Peaty on disappointing day two for Team GB

Swimmer narrowly misses third successive Olympic gold, as Andy Murray keeps tennis alive in doubles comeback

World record-holding swimmer Adam Peaty was left in tears after being beaten to gold by the smallest of margins on a day of disappointment for Team GB at the Paris Games.

The 29-year-old had been seeking to join American legend Michael Phelps as only the second man to win three successive Olympic golds in the same discipline, but trailed Italy’s Nicolò Martinenghi by just 0.02 of a second in the men’s 100m breaststroke.

Continue reading...

One dead and dozens rescued in latest attempt to cross Channel

French authorities say they received call for help from overcrowded dinghy in early hours of Sunday

A woman has died trying to cross the Channel in an overcrowded dinghy, as a number of small boats made the dangerous journey over the weekend.

Thirty-four others were rescued from what was described as a “migrant boat” off the northern French port of Calais, after a call for help was made in the early hours of Sunday morning, according to French authorities.

Continue reading...

Tories ‘deliberately covered up’ true state of public finances, says minister

Steve Reed hits out at Conservatives’ handling of public services as chancellor prepares to detail ‘£20bn black hole’

The last Conservative government “deliberately covered up” the true state of public finances, a cabinet minister has said, as the chancellor prepares to detail a “£20bn black hole” in the public finances.

The environment secretary, Steve Reed, said his cabinet colleagues “always knew” the inheritance from the Tories was “going to be bad”, but that since coming to office they had found “additional pressures” that had not been disclosed by the Tories.

Continue reading...

‘We got failed by the police’: how veterans of Leeds riots stepped in to defuse disorder

A group of Muslim men put themselves in danger to calm unrest in Harehills over children being taken into care

Nadsy Qurban bent his neck to show how the crown of his head was ­covered in a number of burns, each the size of coins. “The smell was like I’m burning some goat or something, like I’m cooking some goat. That’s how bad it was,” he said.

Needless to say, it hurt. But a week on, the burns he gained while putting out fires during unrest in the Harehills area of Leeds are ­starting to heal.

Continue reading...

Call to ban gambling sponsors from UK sport as hidden harms are revealed

Eleven Premier League teams start season with major bookmaker backing as industry watchdog report says stats can ‘mask’ scale of problem betting

Official figures on rates of problem gambling in Britain – which have been put as low as 0.3% – can “mask” the scale of harms by including people who never bet, a report published by the industry regulator has warned.

Various surveys suggest a problem gambling rate in Britain in a range of between 0.3% to 2.5%. But in the new report that figure rose sharply when non-gamblers were excluded – and was even higher among those who gambled on online casinos.

Continue reading...

‘Will the kids eat or not?’ In Keir Starmer’s constituency, families struggle with poverty

Alongside prosperity in Holborn and St Pancras are thousands of households for whom lifting the two-child benefit cap could mean an end to hunger

The two-child benefit cap: what is it, does it work and how much would it cost to scrap it?

It’s been one of Cat Onyac’s better days. Her two children are concentrating on their crochet project, sitting in the sunshine at HvH Arts in north London. And they’ve eaten. “All the children get a hot meal,” she says.

The family is at a summer scheme for children in Camden on the edge of Keir Starmer’s constituency, and food is just as important as learning photography, painting or music.

Continue reading...

Wealth taxes could raise £10bn to help plug Tory budget hole, say economists

Reforms to inheritance and capital gains taxes could reduce £20bn shortfall and combat UK’s widening wealth gap

Rachel Reeves could quickly find around £10bn a year to plug half of the fiscal hole left by the Conservatives if she were to raise taxes on soaring levels of unearned wealth, according to leading economists.

New research by the independent Resolution Foundation published today finds that Britain is a country of “booming wealth” but “busted wealth taxes”, leaving ample potential for the chancellor of the exchequer to raise desperately needed funds by raising taxes on the richest.

Continue reading...

Greater Manchester mayor urges restraint after new airport footage emerges

New video apparently shows violent build-up to incident in which officer allegedly stamped on man during arrest

The mayor of Greater Manchester urged people “not to rush to judgment” over the Manchester airport incident after new footage appeared to show a violent and frenetic lead-up.

Protests erupted in Rochdale and Manchester city centre after a video circulated of an officer allegedly kicking and stamping on a man as he lay face-down during an arrest at the airport on Tuesday.

Continue reading...

How bad are Britain’s finances? Five questions on the state of the UK economy | Phillip Inman

Several factors restrict the Labour government’s room for manoeuvre in its agenda for growth

The economic outlook is improving, but a recovery from last year’s recession will be long and arduous without a boost to public investment.

Continue reading...