Category Archives: UK news

Manchester Arena attack: families accuse MI5 of ‘devastating’ failure

Posted on by

Comments come as official inquiry finds agency missed ‘significant opportunity’ to prevent 2017 atrocity

The families of victims of the Manchester Arena attack accused MI5 of a “devastating” failure after an official inquiry found the agency missed a “significant opportunity” to stop the deadliest terror plot in Britain since the 7 July 2005 attacks in London.

A public inquiry led by Sir John Saunders concluded that there was a “realistic possibility” that the bomber could have been thwarted if the security services had acted more decisively on intelligence.

Continue reading...

How family and Libya conflict radicalised Manchester Arena bomber

Posted on by

Parents’ extremist views and civil war in the country of their birth set Salman Abedi on path to terrorism

Although Salman Abedi was born in Manchester, on New Year’s Eve in 1994, his path to becoming one of the UK’s most deadly terrorists began in Libya, the country of his parents’ birth.

It was from there that Ramadan Abedi and Samia Tabbal fled in 1993, claiming asylum in the UK on the basis that they faced persecution under the regime of Muammar Gaddafi. The couple went on to establish new lives in Fallowfield, south Manchester, with their children attending local schools.

Continue reading...

Manchester Arena inquiry: MI5 braced for criticism in final report

Posted on by

Victim’s mother expects ‘catalogue of mistakes’ to be exposed in Sir John Saunders’ report on 2017 atrocity

The mother of a victim of the Manchester Arena attack has said she expects “a whole catalogue of mistakes” to be laid bare when a landmark report on the atrocity is published on Thursday.

MI5 is braced for criticism from the report, which will examine whether the deadliest terror attack in Britain since 7/7 could have been prevented.

Continue reading...

Nearly half of English neighbourhoods ‘have less than 10% tree cover’

Posted on by

Analysis for Friends of the Earth also finds lower-income areas have far fewer trees than wealthier ones

Nearly half of English neighbourhoods have less than 10% tree cover, with lower-income areas having far fewer trees than wealthier ones, analysis has found.

England’s tree cover is just 12.8%, according to the research by Friends of the Earth, with only 10% made up by woodland – paling in comparison with the EU, where woodland cover stands at 38%.

Continue reading...

Hundreds of trafficking victims in UK missing after referral to support scheme

Posted on by

Home Office data shows 566 people were categorised as missing between 2020 and 2022

Hundreds of trafficking victims in the UK have gone missing after being referred to the government’s scheme to protect them, the Guardian has learned.

The news comes after the immigration minister, Robert Jenrick, admitted in January that since 2021 about 200 child asylum seekers had gone missing from hotels where they had been in the care of the Home Office and its contractors.

Continue reading...

Services in England for children with special needs to be ‘transformed’

Posted on by

Government’s long-awaited plan promises thousands more specialist school places and new national standards

Services for children with special educational needs and disabilities (Send) in England are to be “transformed”, with the introduction of new national standards and thousands more specialist school places, ministers have announced.

The long-awaited changes are being introduced to end the postcode lottery that families currently face and ensure that children and young people with Send get “high-quality, early support” wherever they live, the government says.

Continue reading...

Spears stolen by Captain Cook from Kamay/Botany Bay in 1770 to be returned to traditional owners

Posted on by

Held by Cambridge University for more than 250 years, the spears mark ‘first point in shared history’

Four spears stolen from Kamay, now known as Botany Bay in Sydney, by Captain James Cook, a then Lieutenant, and his crew, are to be returned to their traditional owners after more than 250 years.

The Kamay spears were among 40 recorded as being taken on to the HMB Endeavour in 1770, at the time of first contact between those aboard the ship and the local Gweagal people.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Half of people trying to get permanent UK residency by 10-year route struggle to afford food

Posted on by

Effects of ‘devastating and punishing’ Home Office system introduced in 2012 now being felt, experts say

More than half the people trying to secure permanent residency in the UK through the Home Office’s “devastating and punishing” 10-year route struggle to afford food and pay bills, a survey has indicated.

The 10-year route to settling permanently in the UK was one of a series of deliberately tough measures introduced in 2012 by Theresa May when she was home secretary, as part of drive to cut net migration. Researchers say the full effects of the policy are only now starting to be felt.

Continue reading...

Spending on British libraries falls 17% as in-person visits soar

Posted on by

Official figures show £9,982 was spent per 1,000 people on libraries by central and local government in England, Scotland and Wales last year, down from £11,970 the year before

Spending on libraries in Britain has fallen by 17%, according to new statistics, despite in-person visits increasing by 68% since the pandemic.

Figures released by CIPFA, the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy, show that in 2021/22 £9,982 was spent per 1,000 people on libraries by central and local government in England, Scotland and Wales. This was down from £11,970 in 2020/21 and £12,646 in 2018/19.

Continue reading...

Misplaced tube may have contributed to London boy’s Covid death, inquest hears

Posted on by

Doctor who treated Ismail Mohamed Abdulwahab in March 2020 says breathing tube was in wrong position

An incorrectly placed breathing tube could have contributed to the death of a 13-year-old boy who became the UK’s first known child victim of Covid-19, a doctor has told the inquest into his death.

Ismail Mohamed Abdulwahab, of Brixton, south London, died of acute respiratory distress syndrome caused by coronavirus pneumonia in the early hours of 30 March 2020, three days after testing positive for the virus.

Continue reading...

Peer urges unionists to ignore ‘communal rhetoric’ in assessing Brexit deal

Posted on by

Paul Bew calls on people to respond to substance of Rishi Sunak’s revised Northern Ireland deal alone

A peer and Northern Ireland expert has urged unionists to respond to the substance of Rishi Sunak’s revised Brexit deal alone, rather than the “communal rhetoric” that has been whipped up by others.

Paul Bew told MPs on Wednesday it was “important” that people recognised the tricky political task facing the Democratic Unionist party leader, Jeffrey Donaldson, who must balance the views of the party and its base when making a decision on whether to support the Windsor framework.

Continue reading...

Thousands of pupils in England lose out on first-choice secondary school place

Posted on by

Of 33 councils polled, 18 reported a decline in the proportion of families getting their first preference

Thousands of 10 and 11-year-olds have failed to get into their first choice of secondary school as offers were made across England, but the expected increase in demand for year 7 places in some big cities once again failed to materialise.

There were predictions that the proportion of children awarded a place at their top choice could hit a record low nationally this year as a result of a baby boom 11 years ago, but in London and Birmingham the number of applications and success rates were similar to last year.

Continue reading...

UK weather: snow and frost forecast as March temperatures set to fall

Posted on by

Met Office says start of spring will be colder than usual, after provisionally driest February in 30 years

March may be the first month of meteorological spring but switching the woolly coat for a lighter jacket may have to be put on hold. Forecasters have said temperatures are likely to be slightly colder than usual this year in the UK.

As February drew to an end, the Met Office said parts of the country had increased chances of snow, frost and fog in the coming weeks. The odds of wintry showers were particularly short in the first week of March, it said, with coastal areas in the northern and eastern areas of the UK likely to feel it first, before the cold weather moves southwards.

Continue reading...

UK government made £2.4bn from ‘mortgage prisoner’ loan sales, says Martin Lewis

Posted on by

Tens of thousands of borrowers had their loans sold on to providers at which they were unable to switch

The UK government made a £2.4bn “profit” when it pushed tens of thousands of mortgage borrowers “into poverty” after selling their loans on to new lenders, the campaigner Martin Lewis has claimed.

The MoneySavingExpert founder was speaking at the launch of a report, which he funded, into the plight of “mortgage prisoners”: a group of borrowers caught up in the fallout from the 2007-08 financial crisis.

Continue reading...

Labour challenges Hunt to adopt NHS training policy he wanted to ‘nick’

Posted on by

Rachel Reeves tasks chancellor with finding money to double England’s doctor and nurse training places

Rachel Reeves has challenged Jeremy Hunt to find the money for Labour’s plan to double training places for doctors and nurses – pointing out he said he wanted to “nick” the opposition’s policy just two weeks before becoming chancellor.

The shadow chancellor said NHS shortages were causing 1.5 million people in need of medical treatment to say their work was suffering, with new analysis showing it was costing the economy about £700m a year.

Continue reading...

Kemi Badenoch dismisses idea of trialling menopause leave because it was proposed ‘from a leftwing perspective’ – as it happened

Posted on by

Minister for women and equalities dismisses suggestion government should pilot menopause leave for women

PMQs is about to start.

Sammy Wilson, the DUP’s chief whip, has said that he thinks the Stormont brake – the mechanism at the heart of Rishi Sunak’s deal to revise the Northern Ireland protocol – will turn out to be “fairly ineffective”.

Let’s not underestimate the fact that when the EU introduces new laws in the future, it will have an impact on Northern Ireland. And the point of the brake was meant to be to give a means for unionists to oppose that. I think it will have to be used on lots of occasions, though I suspect to be fairly ineffective.

As long as it takes us to get, first of all, the analysis, and secondly, the answers from the government, before we make that decision, that’s the time we’ll take.

But the one thing I’ll say to you is that we will not have a knee-jerk reaction to this deal. It means too much to us. And we have got to give it real consideration.

Continue reading...

Foreign Office scaling back support for UK Sikh activist held in India, Keir Starmer says

Posted on by

Sunak’s government has refused to echo assertion that Jagtar Singh Johal is being arbitrarily detained

Rishi Sunak and the Foreign Office appear to be scaling back the UK’s support for Jagtar Singh Johal, the British Sikh activist held in an Indian jail for five years, his family and Keir Starmer have said.

Sunak’s government has refused invitations to echo Boris Johnson’s assertion that the Indian government has arbitrarily detained Johal, a term seen as significant because it means the UK does not recognise there is a proper legal basis to hold him.

Continue reading...

Number of UK children in food poverty nearly doubles in a year to 4m

Posted on by

Support grows for expansion of free school meals to struggling families in face of rising hunger

The number of UK children in food poverty has nearly doubled in the last year to almost 4 million, new data shows, ramping up pressure on ministers to expand the provision of free school meals to struggling families.

According to the Food Foundation thinktank, one in five (22%) of households reported skipping meals, going hungry or not eating for a whole day in January, up from 12% at the equivalent point in 2022.

Continue reading...

Starmer makes it his ‘personal mission’ to tackle domestic violence

Posted on by

Labour leader tells Women’s Aid conference he will use his own experience as DPP after collapse in number of charges

Keir Starmer has vowed to make it his “personal mission” to stand up for victims of domestic violence, after a collapse in the number of charges brought for the crime.

The Labour leader said that as the director of public prosecutions he had witnessed “the devastating impact domestic violence has on victims and their families”, and how abuse often escalated into other forms of serious violence.

Continue reading...

AI could help NHS surgeons perform 300 more transplants every year, say UK surgeons

Posted on by

Researchers have secured £1m to refine method of scoring potential organs by comparing images

Artificial intelligence could help NHS surgeons perform 300 more transplant operations every year, according to British researchers who have designed a new tool to boost the quality of donor organs.

Currently, medical staff must rely on their own assessments of whether an organ may be suitable for transplanting into a patient. It means some organs are picked that ultimately do not prove successful, while others that might be useful can be disregarded.

Continue reading...