Petrol is up 3.2p a litre and diesel 4p a litre as fuel tankers are forced to avoid the Suez canal
The cost of filling up a family car in the UK increased by about £2 this month as the jump in the oil price caused by the Red Sea attacks is felt at the pumps.
In the three weeks to 18 February petrol increased by 3.2p to 143.4p a litre, while diesel rose by 4p to 152p, according to the RAC, which said this was “worrying” for motorists.
Continue reading...Initiative before national rollout will allow review of care for patients whose condition is deteriorating
Patients whose health is failing will be granted the right to obtain an urgent second opinion about their care, as “Martha’s rule” is initially adopted in 100 English hospitals from April at the start of a national rollout.
The initiative will allow patients and their loved ones to get a review of their condition and treatment directly from doctors and nurses not involved in the medical team treating them.
Continue reading...People who tick at least three out of five boxes including not smoking and good sleep are found to have 42% lower risk
Combining three healthy behaviours can reduce the risk of irritable bowel syndrome by 42%, a study suggests.
IBS affects the digestive system and its symptoms include stomach cramps, bloating, diarrhoea and constipation. People can suffer for days, weeks or months at a time, and symptoms can come and go. IBS is thought to affect up to one in 10 people worldwide.
Continue reading...Campaigners to appeal after court declines to block export licences despite concerns about human rights breaches in Gaza war
The high court has dismissed a case urging the suspension of UK arms sales to Israel.
The legal challenge against the UK Department for Business and Trade was launched in December by the Palestinian human rights organisation Al-Haq and the UK-based Global Legal Action Network (Glan).
Continue reading...Crucial vote on party’s new call for ‘humanitarian ceasefire’ goes before MPs on Wednesday as thousands of protesters expected in Westminster
Keir Starmer’s attempt to head off a damaging rebellion over Gaza was hanging by a thread last night, despite bowing to pressure by finally calling for an immediate ceasefire in the region.
Labour explicitly backed an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire” for the first time since fighting broke out in October, in a bid to ward off another party split in what is likely to be a tense Commons vote on Wednesday.
Continue reading...Johnny Mercer tells UK inquiry of reports SAS had killed civilians between 2010 and 2013
The UK’s minister for veterans, Johnny Mercer, has effectively admitted in front of a public inquiry that he believed members of the SAS had engaged in dozens of unlawful killings of Afghan civilians between 2010 and 2013.
Mercer told the inquiry on Tuesday that at one point, shortly after first becoming a minister in 2019, Mercer said he told the then defence secretary, Ben Wallace, that “something stinks”. His boss replied: “There is no new evidence, Johnny,” and the cabinet minster chose not to take any further action.
Continue reading...Attorney general Victoria Prentis asks court of appeal to review hospital order handed to Calocane, who killed three people
The families of the three people stabbed to death in the Nottingham attacks last year have welcomed a court of appeal review of the “unduly lenient” sentence of the perpetrator, Valdo Calocane.
The killer was sentenced to an indefinite hospital order last month for the attacks on university students Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar, both 19, and a school caretaker, Ian Coates, 65, in the early hours of 13 June last year.
Continue reading...Scott Benton loses appeal against recommendation he should be suspended for 35 days for offering to lobby for gambling industry
Here is an extract from the independent expert panel’s report explaining why it has rejected Scott Benton’s appeal against his 35-day Commons suspension.
For the purpose of deciding the appropriate sanction for breaches of the code, the [standards] committee is well-placed for these purposes as an informed and expert body. We will not lightly interfere with their decision on sanction. Under the procedural protocol, we will do so only if the committee’s decision is unreasonable or disproportionate. We do not find that to be the case here.
Continue reading...Sunak becomes first PM to address conference since Gordon Brown in 2008, as Tories court farming sector
Rishi Sunak has told farmers “I have your back”, at the National Farmers Union conference, as he promised to “change the culture” in government around farming.
Sunak was the first prime minister to address the NFU conference since Gordon Brown in 2008, and took three Defra ministers with him to put the Conservative case to farmers.
Continue reading...Police had been searching Thames for Abdul Ezedi after attack on a mother and her two daughters in south London
A body has been found in connection with the hunt for a suspect who severely injured a “vulnerable” mother and her two young daughters in a chemical assault, Scotland Yard have said.
Abdul Ezedi has been sought by police since the attack on 31 January in Clapham, south London, with officers appealing to the public to call 999 if they saw him.
Continue reading...Competition and Markets Authority launches full-scale investigation after finding costs have risen
The cost of infant milk remains at “historically high” levels despite some price falls in recent months, Britain’s competition watchdog has said, as it launched a full-scale investigation into baby and toddler formula.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) found in November that the average price of infant formula had risen by 25% in the past two years and families could save more than £500 over the first year of a baby’s life by switching to cheaper powders. The findings were part of an analysis of pricing in 10 food categories, which also included milk and ready meals.
Continue reading...MP for Blackpool South, who offered to lobby for gambling industry, loses appeal against 35-day Commons suspension
Rishi Sunak may face another difficult byelection after an MP lost his appeal against a 35-day suspension from parliament for lobbying ministers on behalf of the gambling industry.
Scott Benton, the MP for Blackpool South, formerly a Conservative, had asked for a reconsideration of the standards committee verdict that he had committed an “extremely serious breach of the rules”.
Continue reading...How Assange went from being questioned in Sweden to living for years in Ecuador’s embassy in London
Julian Assange is to make his final bid for an appeal against a UK judge’s ruling over his extradition to the US.
The WikiLeaks founder is wanted in the US over an alleged conspiracy to obtain and disclose national defence information after the publication of hundreds of thousands of leaked documents relating to the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.
Continue reading...Leo Docherty, Foreign Office minister, says government ‘working at pace’ to hold those responsible for Russian opposition leader’s death to account
No 10 has declined to repeat Kemi Badenoch’s claim that the former chair of the Post Office gave an interview “full of lies” about the conversation she had when she sacked him.
At the morning lobby briefing, the PM’s spokesperson would not adopt the language used by Badenoch in a post on X yesterday and instead claimed that Badenoch believes that the account of what she said given by Henry Staunton is a “misrepresentation”.
Obviously this referred to a conversation that she had with Henry Staunton, and you’ll have seen her words on this; she’s very clear that the interview that he gave was a misrepresentation of her conversation with him and the reasons for his dismissal.
And the government has being clear, and will refute the allegations [that it wanted to slow down compensation to victims]. The government has taken action to speed up the compensation to victims, and we’ve consistently encouraged postmasters to come forward with their claims. Any suggestions otherwise [are] not correct.
Continue reading...Business minister criticises Henry Staunton after he claimed the government wanted to stall payouts to scandal victims
Kemi Badenoch has accused the Post Office chair she sacked of a “blatant attempt to seek revenge” after he made explosive allegations about the government’s handling of the Horizon scandal.
The business secretary launched an extended attack on Henry Staunton in the Commons on Monday, and claimed that he was under investigation for bullying when she fired him.
Continue reading...Huge amounts of raw sewage were discharged into the river between November 2019 and February 2020
Severn Trent has been fined more than £2m for polluting the River Trent near Stoke, with the Environment Agency calling its storm contingency plans “woefully inadequate”.
Huge amounts of raw sewage were discharged into the river from Strongford wastewater treatment works near Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, between November 2019 and February 2020.
Continue reading...Foreign Office says it will not trade Putin opponent for spies in jail in Britain, despite fears for his life after Navalny’s death
A Foreign Office minister has ruled out a prisoner swap for the imprisoned Russian opposition figure Vladimir Kara-Murza, a British citizen, who MPs have expressed concern about after the death of Alexei Navalny.
Kara-Murza’s wife was now adamant that she wanted everything to be done to get her her husband out of Russia, said the Conservative backbencher Bob Seely, who urged the government to countenance swapping imprisoned spies for the pro-democracy activist who was now the most high-profile Russian political prisoner.
Continue reading...Government defends decision that opposition politicians say could put vulnerable people at risk
A scheme allowing Ukrainians to join family members taking sanctuary in the UK has been unexpectedly closed, in what opposition politicians described as a cruel and “below the radar” move days before the two-year anniversary of Russia’s full invasion.
The Ukraine family scheme is being shut but government officials said a separate Homes for Ukraine scheme would continue to fulfil people’s needs as a way of “simplifying” the process.
Continue reading...42-year-old woman held on suspicion of their murder sustained non-life-threatening injuries
A woman has been arrested on suspicion of murder after three children were found dead at a property in Bristol, police have said.
Avon and Somerset police said the discovery on Sunday was made after officers attended a concern for welfare call in Blaise Walk, Sea Mills, at about 12.40am. The three young children died at the scene, the force said. The suspect, 42, is in police custody at a hospital.
Continue reading...Avon and Somerset police confirm ages of children found at property in early hours of Sunday
Three children found dead at a suburban semi-detached house in Bristol were siblings aged nine months to seven years, police have confirmed.
Avon and Somerset police said a 42-year-old woman arrested on suspicion of their murder sustained injuries but that they were not life-threatening. She remained in hospital and in police custody on Monday evening.
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