Category Archives: UK news

Ministers yet to finalise Covid testing plans for travellers from China

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Officials confirm new policy for England will begin on Thursday but say they are still working on final details

Ministers are yet to set out details of a Covid testing regime for arrivals from China that comes into force this week, including whether it will apply to people flying from Hong Kong or to those who travelled to the UK indirectly from China.

Downing Street confirmed that people flying to the UK from China would need to take a Covid test before travelling, and would not be allowed to travel if they tested positive for the virus.

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Two Britons among four killed in helicopter collision in Australia

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Mid-air collision near Sea World on the Gold Coast also left three people critically injured

Two British people were among four killed after two helicopters collided in mid-air near a marine theme park on Australia’s Gold Coast, it has been confirmed.

A UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) spokesperson said: “We are supporting the family of two British nationals who died in Australia and are in contact with the local authorities.”

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‘Intolerable’ NHS crisis to continue until April, health leaders warn

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Ministers urged to recall parliament amid warnings patients are dying needlessly due through inaction

The crisis engulfing the NHS will continue until Easter, health leaders have warned, as senior doctors accused ministers of letting patients die needlessly through inaction.

More than a dozen trusts and ambulance services have declared critical incidents in recent days, with soaring demand, rising flu and Covid cases and an overstretched workforce piling pressure on the health service.

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Spain ‘ready for any scenario’ as Gibraltar talks with UK falter

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Spanish foreign minister says he does not want ‘no deal’ relationship, but EU is prepared for hard Brexit for territory

Spain and the EU are prepared for all possibilities – including a hard Brexit – when it comes to the bloc’s relationship with Gibraltar, Spain’s foreign minister has said, adding that the ball was now in London’s court after 11 rounds of negotiations.

“Spain doesn’t want a ‘no deal’ scenario,” the Spanish foreign minister, José Manuel Albares, told Europa Press. “The government of Spain and the EU, which is ultimately the signatory on the agreement with the UK, are ready for any scenario.”

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Walrus swims north to Northumberland after Yorkshire recuperation

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Thor, seen in Hampshire and Scarborough – where fireworks were cancelled to spare him distress – has now been spotted in Blyth

A wandering walrus who delighted thousands in Scarborough on New Year’s Eve has continued his English tour and turned up 100 miles further up the coast.

A large crowd quickly gathered in the Northumberland town of Blyth on Monday lunchtime after a walrus was spotted resting on a wooden pontoon at the yacht club.

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Insulate Britain and Just Stop Oil vow to continue disruptive action

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Commitment to ‘civil resistance’ comes after Extinction Rebellion said it would prioritise ‘relationships over roadblocks’

Insulate Britain and Just Stop Oil have doubled down on their commitment to disruptive climate “civil resistance” after Extinction Rebellion announced new tactics prioritising “relationships over roadblocks”.

“It’s 2023 and XR has quit,” Just Stop Oil said in a statement. “But it’s 2023, and we are barrelling down the highway to the loss of ordered civil society, as extreme weather impacts tens of millions, as our country becomes unrecognisable … there is now a need to face reality.

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Strikes, elections and Dominic Raab: Rishi Sunak’s headaches to come in 2023

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PM has reinstated ‘boring government’ but smooth relations with backbenchers are unlikely to last

At the end of one of the most tumultuous years of politics in decades, Rishi Sunak is confident he has successfully managed to calm Tory MPs and – in the words of one senior aide – “bring back boring government”.

He has sought to kick some controversial pieces of legislation into the long grass, performed quick U-turns and managed to satiate a parliamentary party with a seemingly unquenchable thirst for regicide.

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Chagos Islanders demand say as UK-Mauritius sovereignty talks begin

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Lobby group says future being decided ‘without the involvement of the actual community itself’

Descendants of the people of the Chagos Islands have claimed their views are being ignored as the prime minister of Mauritius announced the start of talks with Britain over the territory’s sovereignty.

Pravind Jugnauth, who has led the Mauritian government since 2017, used a new year’s address to reveal that talks with London were under way over the disputed Indian Ocean archipelago.

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Unions expected to take legal action against Rishi Sunak’s anti-strike laws

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Proposed law requiring 20% of rail service during strikes could extend across public sector including NHS

Unions are expected to take legal action against anti-strike laws being prepared by Rishi Sunak amid reports the curbs will be unveiled when parliament returns this month.

The legislation being looked at by Sunak would extend plans already announced by ministers to enforce minimum service levels on public transport – meaning 20% of regular rail services would need to continue during strike action.

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Almost 50 UK shops closed for good every day in 2022, says report

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Centre for Retail Research says 17,145 stores shut in total, up almost 50% on 2021, during pandemic

Last year was a “brutal” one for Britain’s retail sector, with more shops shutting down than at any other point in the last five years, and 2023 will be similarly challenging, according to industry groups.

About 47 shops on average pulled down their shutters for the final time every day last year, according to analysis from the Centre for Retail Research (CRR). It found a total of 17,145 shops on high streets and in other locations closed for good over 2022. This is up almost 50% on the 11,449 shops closed in 2021, during the Covid pandemic.

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Ministers studying plans for UK child-specific terrorism orders

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Exclusive: Official adviser recommends giving those arrested for low-level crimes a choice to accept help or face jail

New legal terrorism orders specifically for children should be brought in to tackle the growing numbers being arrested, the official adviser on terrorism law has told the government.

Ministers are studying plans that would result in children being compelled to accept help or face jail, devised by Jonathan Hall KC, the independent reviewer of terrorism legislation.

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Week of rail strikes to cause more travel disruption in UK

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RMT staging two 48-hour strikes from Tuesday and Friday and Aslef has called strike for Thursday

Rail passengers will face fresh travel disruption this week because of strikes by tens of thousands of workers in bitter disputes over pay, jobs and conditions.

Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) at Network Rail and 14 train operators will stage two 48-hour strikes from Tuesday and Friday, while drivers in the Aslef union will strike on Thursday.

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Suspect identified in only one in 10 bicycle theft cases in England and Wales

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Figures uncovered by Lib Dems show that only 1.7% of 74,421 cases over 12 months resulted in a charge

Almost 90% of all bicycle theft cases reported to police over the past year were closed without a suspect even being identified, and just 1.7% resulted in someone being charged, analysis of crime statistics shows.

The Liberal Democrats, who uncovered the data from statistics for England and Wales from July 2021 to June this year, said it was indicative of under-funded police forces being unable to properly investigate such crimes.

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People turning to DIY health treatment amid shortage of GP appointments

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Lib Dems say face-to-face GP bookings ‘almost extinct’ in some areas as their survey shows a rise in self-prescribing

Almost one in four people have bought medicine online or at a pharmacy to treat their illness after failing to see a GP face to face, according to a UK survey underlining the rise of do-it-yourself treatment.

Nearly one in five (19%) have gone to A&E seeking urgent medical treatment for the same reason, the research commissioned by the Liberal Democrats shows.

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A&E delays causing up to 500 deaths a week, says senior medic

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President of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine believes waiting times for December will be the worst he has ever seen

As many as 500 people could be dying each week because of delays to emergency care, a senior healthcare official has said.

The president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, Dr Adrian Boyle, believes waiting times for December will be the worst he has ever seen, with more than a dozen NHS trusts and ambulance services declaring critical incidents over the festive period.

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Netflix to lose 700,000 UK customers in two years, analysts predict

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Slow uptake of ad-supported offering has meant lower than expected viewing figures, made worse by UK cost of living crisis

Netflix is expected to suffer a second year of subscriber declines in the UK in 2023 as the cost of living crisis takes its toll and the streaming giant’s new cheaper, ad-supported service takes time to win over users.

The world’s biggest streaming service is expected to have lost around 500,000 UK subscribers in 2022 and to lose another 200,000 this year, as increasingly budget conscious consumers cut back on spending.

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Record number of public electric vehicle chargers installed in UK in 2022

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More than 8,700 chargers installed, bringing total to 37,000 in a 30% increase

British companies installed a record number of public electric car chargers during 2022 as they raced to dominate a fast-growing and potentially lucrative market.

There were more than 8,700 public chargers installed in the UK during the year to 22 December, bringing the total available to more than 37,000, according to Zap-Map, a data company. That represented a 30% year-on-year increase, slower than the 38% annual growth in sales of battery electric cars during the year to November.

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Takeaways in poor parts of England more likely to fail on hygiene

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One in five takeaways in some areas of UK did not satisfactorily meet required standards, data shows

Takeaways in poorer parts of England are twice as likely to need improvement in food hygiene as those in wealthier areas, with as many as one in five in some parts of the UK falling below required standards, according to Guardian analysis.

Almost one in 10 takeaways in England’s poorest neighbourhoods did not satisfactorily comply with food hygiene standards, compared with just one in 24 in the richest, according to an analysis of almost 600,000 inspection reports at the beginning of December, 64,000 of them takeaways.

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Man arrested over New Year’s Eve death of woman in London

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Woman, 39, found with serious injuries and pronounced dead at scene in Hayes, say police

A 29-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of murder after a woman was found dead in her home on New Year’s Eve.

Police and paramedics were called to an address in Willenhall Drive in Hayes, west London, at 10.13am on Saturday. They found a 39-year-old woman with serious injuries, and she was pronounced dead at the scene.

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Welsh Labour is readying for snap general election, says Mark Drakeford

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First minister claims Tories in Westminster are ‘staggering’ and could be months away from collapse

The Welsh first minister has told the Labour party in Wales to be prepared for a general election in the new year, believing the UK government could be months away from sudden collapse.

Mark Drakeford claimed the Conservative government in Westminster was “staggering”, and that at any moment it could be “overwhelmed” and forced to call a snap UK election.

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