Full list of site closures, which will start in April and carry on through into June this year
Lloyds and Halifax have become the latest high street banks to announce a series of branch closures across England and Wales.
Lloyds Banking Group, which owns both banks, is to close 18 Halifax sites and 22 Lloyds branches, starting in April and through into June this year.
Continue reading...First minister says Alister Jack’s block on gender law marks ‘new and more dangerous phase for devolution’
Nicola Sturgeon has accused the Scotland secretary of acting “like a governor general” in a further escalation of hostilities between the Westminster and Holyrood governments.
Scotland’s first minister said Alister Jack’s decision to block her government’s gender recognition law marked “a new and more dangerous phase for devolution”, hours after he refused an invitation from the Holyrood equalities committee to discuss the move.
Continue reading...Ireland’s taoiseach regrets Brexit arrangement imposed without agreement of unionists and nationalists
Ireland’s taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, has said he regrets that the Northern Ireland protocol he agreed with Boris Johnson to end a Brexit impasse was signed without the agreement of unionists and nationalists.
The admission came as the latest deadline to restore powersharing in Northern Ireland passed with the Democratic Unionist party continuing to refuse to take part in protest against the protocol.
Continue reading...Latest updates: West Midlands mayor Andy Street says it should be for local decision-makers to determine where money is spent
Rishi Sunak has defended the distribution of levelling up funds, saying that the north of England has received more per head than the south.
Speaking on a visit to Accrington, in Lancashire, he said:
The region that has done the best in the amount of funding per person is the north. That’s why we’re here talking to you in Accrington market, these are the places that are benefiting from the funding.
If you look at the overall funding in the levelling-up funds that we’ve done, about two-thirds of all that funding has gone to the most deprived part of our country.
With regard to Catterick Garrison, the thing you need to know is that’s home to our largest army base and it’s home to actually thousands of serving personnel who are often away from their own families serving our country.
Continue reading...Prosecution argue state of room and Kaylea’s physical deterioration reveal serious breach of parental duties
A 16-year-old girl who died from complications of obesity was surrounded by food wrappers and had a dirty deep-fat fryer in her bedroom when her body was found, a court has heard.
Kaylea Titford, from Newtown in Powys, Wales, was 146kg (22st 13lbs) when she died on 9 or 10 October 2020. She was born with spina bifida, a spine condition that meant she could not use her legs, and had hydrocephalus, a buildup of fluid in the brain.
Continue reading...PM suggests public understands what is affordable, but his stance could trigger fresh backlash from Tory MPs
Rishi Sunak has suggested the government cannot afford any immediate tax cuts, saying people are “not idiots” and understand what is unaffordable.
But the comments risked opening a fresh conflict with Conservative MPs who have been making the case for tax cuts in the spring budget, in light of improving economic forecasts and as a way to increase growth.
Continue reading...Companies have made a ‘final offer’ to union including pay rise of 9% over two years
The RMT has received a fresh offer from train operators, the union said, raising hopes of a breakthrough in the long-running pay dispute.
Talks have been ongoing in London this week with the RMT and the Rail Delivery Group (RDG), representing train firms, as well as separately with Network Rail.
Continue reading...Labour hits out at PM’s ‘recklessly expensive habits’ after latest flight to event in Lancashire
Rishi Sunak has been criticised for taking a domestic flight in an RAF jet for the third time in 10 days.
The prime minister flew on a 14-seat aircraft to an event in Lancashire to hold the first of what is due to be a series of events where he will take questions from the public.
Continue reading...Patients in England, Scotland and Wales missed out on starting blood pressure-lowering drugs, British Heart Foundation says
Thousands of people are at risk of avoidable heart attacks and strokes, experts have warned, after nearly 500,000 people in England, Scotland and Wales missed out on starting blood pressure-lowering drugs during the pandemic.
Researchers said that thousands of people could suffer a preventable cardiovascular event because they did not start taking vital medications known to stave off deadly heart and circulatory diseases amid the Covid related disruption to healthcare.
Continue reading...Mild weather in Europe reduces gas demand but bills will remain higher than 2021 energy price cap
Annual energy bills are expected to fall to about £2,200 from July in a fillip for the government and households struggling with ballooning costs.
The energy consultancy Cornwall Insight has predicted that, excluding government subsidies, typical annual household energy bills will have fallen from £4,279 now to £3,208 from April, and then will ease to roughly £2,200 for the remainder of the year.
Continue reading...Actor, known for roles in Leaving Las Vegas and Warlock, was reported missing on Friday evening
A hiker reported as missing in southern California has been named as the British actor Julian Sands.
The 65-year-old was reported missing in the Baldy Bowl area of the San Gabriel mountains on Friday evening, with searches by local authorities continuing over the weekend.
Continue reading...MPs and peers say draft mental health bill must go further to strengthen patients’ choices
Ministers must use legislation to address an “unacceptable and inexcusable” failure to address racial disparity in the use of the Mental Health Act, MPs and peers have said.
The joint committee on the draft mental health bill says the bill does not go far enough to tackle failures that were identified in a landmark independent review five years ago, but which still persist and may even be getting worse.
Continue reading...Wind energy agreements have generated windfall that would normally go towards monarchy
The King has asked for profits from a £1bn-a-year crown estate windfarm deal to be used for the “wider public good” rather than as a funding boost for the monarchy.
Under the taxpayer-funded sovereign grant, which is currently £86.3m a year, the King receives 25% of the crown estate’s annual surplus, which includes an extra 10% for the refurbishment of Buckingham Palace.
Continue reading...Comments range from ‘the monarchy is valuable’ to ‘Harry and Meghan are having their cake and eating it’
Last week, the tell-all autobiography by Prince Harry, Spare, was released and sold a combined 1,430,000 copies on its first day on sale in the US, Canada and the UK.
Here, readers from Commonwealth countries share their thoughts on Prince Harry, his new book and whether the controversies surrounding the royal family have changed their views towards the monarchy.
Continue reading...Ex-prime minister used £800,000 facility backed by a relative, wealthy Canadian businessman Sam Blyth, while at No 10
Labour is calling for an investigation into an alleged arrangement by which Boris Johnson used a relative to act as a guarantor for an £800,000 credit facility when he was prime minister.
The party has written to the parliamentary standards commissioner after the Sunday Times reported Canadian businessman Sam Blyth, a distant cousin, had agreed to act as a guarantor for a credit facility for Johnson.
Continue reading...Town in prime minister’s Yorkshire constituency to receive £19m from latest £2.1bn package, which Labour says overlooks neediest
Rishi Sunak’s wealthy rural constituency is receiving £19m of funding from the government’s latest round of levelling up funding, prompting accusations of favouritism towards Conservative seats.
Catterick Garrison, a small army town in the prime minister’s Richmond constituency in North Yorkshire, will receive money to regenerate its town centre as one of 100 projects awarded a share of the £2.1bn package after months of delays.
Continue reading...Prime minister facing questions from leader of the Labour party and other MPs
Huw Merriman, the rail minister, told MPs this morning that the government has lost more money due to the impact of rail strikes than it would have cost to settle the disputes months ago, PA Media reports. PA says:
Merriman told MPs the row has “ended up costing more” but insisted the “overall impact” on all public sector pay deals must be considered.
Ben Bradshaw, a Labour member of the committee, put it to Merriman that “we’re talking of a cost to the government of over a billion (pounds) so far” from the impact of strikes, which have repeatedly decimated services for several months.
Continue reading...British luxury goods firm reports 1% increase in global sales in last quarter of 2022
Burberry offset a plunge in Chinese sales of more than a fifth amid Covid disruption, thanks to the return of tourists to Europe who snapped up bags, scarves and trenchcoats in the run-up to Christmas.
The British luxury goods firm reported a 1% increase in global sales in the three months to the end of December, below its 2% target and sharply down compared with the 11% growth reported in the previous quarter.
Continue reading...Group representing trusts in England warns of disruption to patient care as two days of stoppages begin
NHS bosses have implored ministers to “do all you can” to end the strikes that are disrupting care for patients and help rescue the service from its “vicious cycle” of overload and delays.
The NHS Confederation issued its plea on the day nurses in England went on strike for the third time as they seek a bigger pay rise for 2022/23 than the £1,400 on offer.
Continue reading...Regulator fines online betting firm £442,750 for imposing unfair terms and failures in anti-money laundering measures
An online betting firm has been fined £442,750 for demanding ID from winning punters before it would give them the cash, while failing to carry out similar checks on potentially vulnerable people depositing money.
The Gambling Commission punished TonyBet, which is based in Estonia but has a licence to operate in Great Britain, for imposing unfair terms and failures in anti-money laundering and social responsibility measures.
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