Leslie Garrett was arrested by armed response officers after a stun gun was deployed and remains in custody
A man has been charged after shots were fired at three locations in Liverpool on Wednesday night, the Crown Prosecution Service has said.
Leslie Garrett, 49, has been charged with one count of possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life, two of possession of a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence and one count of attempted robbery.
Continue reading...PM insists government is responding, as some residents are told to expect five more days of misery and colder weather
Large swathes of England ended the week devastated by flood water as rivers reached record highs, provoking a bitter political row over funding for the country’s most vulnerable areas.
Labour accused Rishi Sunak of being “asleep at the wheel” over flood warnings at the end of a week in which at least 1,000 properties were flooded and some villages were totally cut off, with parts of Nottinghamshire, Shropshire, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire worst affected.
Continue reading...Former lobbyist and Labour insider reinvented himself as a therapist after twice withdrawing from politics
By his own admission Derek Draper could be a “cocky know-it-all”. His self-confidence was, on occasions, his undoing.
Yet even those who had some reason to be embarrassed by his behaviour recognised he had a rare ebullience. Two former prime ministers led the political tributes, with Tony Blair saying Draper was “someone you always wanted on your side”.
Continue reading...Scotland Yard suggest recently unsealed documents containing allegations of sexual assaults do not provide new information
The Metropolitan police has rejected calls to launch an investigation into Prince Andrew, after the release of court documents relating to the late child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Accusations against Prince Andrew, including allegedly groping a woman’s breast during an encounter involving a puppet version of the prince and claims he sexually assaulted Virginia Giuffre when she was 17, were given a new airing in the unsealing of 1,200 pages by a US court.
Continue reading...Former minister also resigns as an MP, which will trigger byelection in his Kingswood constituency
A former Conservative minister has announced he is resigning as an MP in protest at the party’s dash for oil and gas, setting up an awkward vote for the prime minister on the issue on Monday and an even more difficult byelection within weeks.
Chris Skidmore, a leading voice within the Tory party on green issues, said on Friday he would resign from parliament as soon as it returns next week over Rishi Sunak’s bill to allow new oil and gas licences to be issued.
Continue reading...Swedish music stars profit from blockbuster year for Mamma Mia! production company Littlestar Services
Abba stars Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus have shared in a dividend of nearly £1m after a surge in profits at the production company behind the Mamma Mia! stage musical and film adaptations.
The Swedish music legends received the payout after a blockbuster year for Littlestar Services, the licensing and production company behind the musical based on the pop group’s hits.
Continue reading...Environment agency says ‘significant surface water and river flooding impacts are possible’ on Friday
The highest rainfall totals recorded on Thursday were 35.2mm at Otterbourne in Hampshire, with a wide range of 20-30mm across much of the southern counties of England.
The Environment Agency said the impact of surface water and river flooding would continue to be “significant” across parts of England over the next five days.
Continue reading...Warning of ‘significant’ impact of surface water and river flooding across England, as showers forecast for Friday
Hundreds of flood warnings are in place after widespread heavy rainfall across the UK.
Homes across the Midlands were inundated on Thursday while parts of southern England including Gloucestershire were also submerged. On Friday morning, 302 flood warnings were in place in England, as well as 13 in Wales, with forecasters predicting showers could continue.
Continue reading...Climate thinktank says Britain could be left trailing in global race to develop low-carbon energy
Labour’s independent energy advisers have warned the party against watering down its £28bn green spending plans in advance of its promise to create a zero carbon electricity system by 2030.
Experts at the climate thinktank Ember, which provided the independent analysis underpinning Labour’s green targets, said growing international competition for low-carbon investment from the US and EU could leave the UK lagging in the global race for low-carbon energy.
Continue reading...Stalled growth in electric vehicles comes despite government goal to phase out petrol, diesel and hybrid vehicles by 2035
The number of new cars registered in the UK has jumped by nearly 18% but electric vehicle demand is flatlining, prompting the industry to call for a VAT cut to stimulate sales.
Annual figures released by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) on Friday show 1.9m new cars were registered last year, well up on the previous year’s figure of 1.6m and the highest level since the 2.3m registrations of 2019.
Continue reading...Latest attempt to tackle pupil absences criticised as failing to tackle the magnitude of the problem
The government is to make a new effort to repair sagging school attendance figures in England, with the education secretary to announce funding for “attendance mentors” in some of the worst-affected areas.
Pupil absences remain stubbornly higher than before the Covid pandemic, and during a visit to Liverpool on Monday Gillian Keegan is expected to announce plans for caseworkers to offer one-to-one support for pupils in 10 areas including Blackpool and Walsall, where rates of unauthorised absences remain far above national levels.
Continue reading...ONS data also reveals working mothers spend on average an hour and a quarter more a day on household chores than male partners
You may not catch them on TikTok or Snapchat, but the latest data shows that the over-70s are spending more time online than any generation besides Gen Z.
According to figures from the Office for National Statistics detailing how different Britons report spending their time, the 70-plus age group is second only to those in their 20s when it comes to the average amount of time using a computer or device as a primary activity (separate from working or watching streamed video).
Continue reading...Independent French auditors say UK information on people crossing Channel is ‘very patchy’
The UK is not coordinating sufficiently with France to reduce the number of people crossing the Channel in small boats or providing enough detailed information, French state auditors have said.
The cour des comptes, an independent French body that examines the use of public funds, has published a report on the efficiency of French policy on illegal migration, in which it said France was “struggling to develop operational cooperation arrangements” with its neighbours, including the UK.
Continue reading...PM appears to rule out spring election after recent speculation it could be held in May
Starmer says being in opposition is frustrating, and he accuses the Tories of treating it as performance art.
He is now on the passage about his career in public service that was posted earlier. See 9.12am.
If you’ve been breaking your back to keep trading, steering your business through the pandemic, the cost-of-living crisis, the challenge of Brexit and the chaos of Westminster.
If you’ve been serving our country, whether in scrubs or the uniform of your regiment and what you want now is a politics that serves you, then make no mistake - this is your year.
Continue reading...The teenage sensation may have lost his world final showdown but has helped bring a fresh audience to the sport
When Eilidh Milne was visited by her dad and brother on Tuesday, she initially protested against their insistence on watching the darts world championship on television.
But Milne soon found herself on the edge of her seat, yelling at the TV and leaping into the air when the 16-year-old Luke Littler, who had taken the tournament by storm, defeated the 2018 world champion Rob Cross in the semi-finals.
Continue reading...Statement is clearest sign yet party is willing to drop one of its flagship policies in face of Conservative attacks
Keir Starmer has ruled out breaking Labour’s fiscal rules to meet its green investment targets if it wins the election this year, in the clearest sign yet that the party is willing to scale back one of its flagship policies in the face of Conservative attacks.
The Labour leader told an audience in Bristol on Thursday that he would not borrow £28bn to spend on green projects if it meant breaking a separate promise to reduce government debt as a proportion of economic output.
Continue reading...Paul Harwood, 42, and Zara Kasory, 32, charged with arson with intent over fire in shed at constituency office in Finchley, say police
Two people have been charged with arson over a fire at the constituency office of the Conservative MP Mike Freer, police said.
Paul Harwood, 42, and Zara Kasory, 32, both of no fixed address, were arrested on Wednesday and have been charged with arson with intent over the fire in a shed at the office in Ballards Lane in Finchley, north London, on 24 December, the Metropolitan police said.
Continue reading...PM says it is his ‘working assumption’ vote will be called in latter part of year, puncturing Labour hopes of earlier poll
Rishi Sunak has given his strongest indication yet that he will not call a general election until the second half of 2024, puncturing Labour hopes that it could come as early as the spring.
The prime minister told broadcasters on Thursday it was his “working assumption” the vote would be called in the latter part of the year, giving him more time to try to reverse the Conservatives’ deficit in the polls. The date of the election is solely in his hands after the repeal of the Fixed-term Parliaments Act in 2022.
Continue reading...Eco-friendly British produce could become unaffordable luxury if low quality imports still allowed, say farmers
Tightening environmental standards for British farmers while importing food produced to lower standards risks making eco-friendly food an unaffordable luxury item, farmers have said.
At the Oxford Farming Conference on Thursday, the environment secretary, Steve Barclay, announced that the government would consult on a new labelling scheme that would single out food produced to UK standards, allowing consumers to choose more environmentally friendly food.
Continue reading...Archaeologists surprised to find graves of ordinary locals in place known as final resting place of rich and powerful
In the heyday of the wonderful church, it was used as the final resting place for the rich and powerful: high-ranking clergy, wealthy landowners, lords who guarded the borderlands.
But excavation work carried out at Tintern Abbey has found that after the gothic masterpiece fell into ruin following the dissolution of the monasteries, ordinary local people took advantage of the chance to bury their dead within the sacred – and beautiful – grounds.
Continue reading...