Category Archives: UK news

UK weather: temperatures to reach up to 14C as cold snap ends overnight

Posted on by

Met Office issues amber warning for ice in north of England and says warmer weather also brings risks of flooding

Temperatures could rise as high as 14C (57F) in parts of the UK on Monday, the Met Office has predicted, but the warmer weather will bring a risk of flooding.

Most of south Wales, the south-west of England and some of the south-east is under a yellow warning for rain, with a chance of some flooding. Surface-level flooding may also occur in other parts of the UK as snow and ice on higher ground melt overnight.

Continue reading...

Hamza Yassin: Strictly winner being touted as next David Attenborough

Posted on by

Wildlife TV presenter tipped for success after capturing country’s heart on path to Strictly victory

He may have come from relative obscurity but 2023 is predicted to be a big year for the Strictly Come Dancing champion Hamza Yassin, who lifted the glitterball trophy with his dance partner Jowita Przystał on Saturday night.

He pipped fellow finalists Helen Skelton, Fleur East and Molly Rainford to the title in a tense final and insiders are now predicting big things for the wildlife expert, who said he was “over the moon” to win.

Continue reading...

Film-maker revisits her homeless past to show rough sleepers’ plight

Posted on by

Lorna Tucker says not enough is being done to help Britain’s homeless people, and what is being done is not working

The film-maker Lorna Tucker was once a teenage runaway, sleeping rough in London for 18 months. Twenty-five years later, she has relived the harrowing experience for a documentary, returning to her former haunts and speaking to homeless people at a time when record numbers are living on Britain’s streets.

She was reunited with some of those she left behind, including “Darren”, who has been on the streets since his alcoholic mother was unable to care for him. “Darren sleeps where I used to sleep under Waterloo Bridge,” she said. “He still has the same eyes he had as a 15-year-old boy. He’s still got this beauty, but obviously he’s been very affected by it.”

Continue reading...

‘I am very scared’: refugees await judgment on UK’s Rwanda policy

Posted on by

Law courts will deliver their verdict on Monday on whether plans to export asylum seekers are lawful

It has been more than three months since two of the UK’s most senior judges sifted through thousands of pages of evidence and heard opposing arguments from some of the country’s lawyers about whether or not the government’s controversial plans to send asylum seekers to Rwanda are lawful. On Monday at 10.30am, at the Royal Courts of Justice, they will deliver their judgment.

The government’s plan to export asylum seekers from one of the world’s richest countries to one of the world’s poorer nations, 4,000 miles away, is so radical that no other country has attempted anything like it.

Continue reading...

Military not ‘sufficiently trained’ to cover NHS strikes, unions say

Posted on by

Government accused of prioritising contingency planning ahead of securing a deal with workers

Unions have lashed out at plans for the armed forces to cover for striking public sector workers in the run-up to Christmas, claiming the military are not “sufficiently trained” to plug staffing gaps on the frontline.

The government is deploying 1,200 troops from the army, navy and RAF to fill in for ambulance drivers and border staff during widespread strikes over the festive period, with more than 1,000 civil servants also drafted in to help.

Continue reading...

Suella Braverman feeding Farage politics, says outgoing government adviser

Posted on by

Nimco Ali says Rishi Sunak should sack the home secretary, or risk losing the next election

An outgoing government adviser has criticised Suella Braverman for allegedly encouraging an increase in racism in Britain and “normalising” the politics of Nigel Farage.

Nimco Ali, who is stepping down from her role as the government’s adviser on tackling violence against women, added that Rishi Sunak should sack Braverman, warning that keeping her on as home secretary will see him lose the next election.

Continue reading...

How will the NHS strikes affect you?

Posted on by

Ambulance workers and nurses are taking action in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Here’s what to expect

• Nurses pledge tougher strikes

Nurses will hold their second day of strike action on Tuesday in more than 70 trusts and health organisations in England, Wales and northern Ireland. On Wednesday, three unions, the GMB, Unison and Unite, will take strike action at ambulance trusts across the country. More than 10,000 ambulance workers in the GMB have voted to strike at nine trusts in England and Wales.

Continue reading...

Nurses pledge tougher new strikes as NHS crisis deepens

Posted on by

Nursing union gives ministers until Thursday to open pay talks as first signs emerge of bid to end dispute and prevent NHS collapse

• How will NHS strikes affect you?

Union leaders threatened on Saturday night to order a fresh wave of more severe strikes in the new year in which nurses would offer “less generous” support inside hospitals, in a dramatic escalation of their pay dispute with the government.

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN), in a marked hardening of its line, said there would be “more hospitals and more nurses taking part than at present” in strikes throughout January, unless ministers backed down by Thursday.

Continue reading...

Tories ‘at risk from rightwing insurgency’ warns donor Lord Cruddas

Posted on by

Peer says Conservatives no longer party of centre right and are threatened by Reform UK, Brexit party successor, if Nigel Farage takes leadership

The Conservative party is under threat from a rightwing insurgency after a “drag to the left” under Rishi Sunak, one of its biggest recent donors has warned, amid growing tensions on the Tory right.

Peter Cruddas, the peer who has given the party more than £3.5m, said the Conservatives were “no longer a centre-right party” under Sunak, adding that he refused to back it financially until it changed course.

Continue reading...

David Beckham makes first statement on his Qatar World Cup involvement

Posted on by

Former England captain, whose role as ambassador was criticised by LGBTQ+ community, said he believes sport is ‘force for good’

David Beckham has made his first public statement on his controversial involvement with the World Cup host nation Qatar, telling a US newspaper through a spokesperson that he “has always believed that sport has the power to be a force for good in the world”.

“We understand that there are different and strongly held views about engagement in the Middle East but see it as positive that debate about the key issues has been stimulated directly by the first World Cup being held in the region,” the statement continued.

Continue reading...

Rail strikes: passengers face fresh wave of weekend disruption

Posted on by

People urged only to travel if absolutely necessary on last weekend before Christmas

Rail passengers face another day of reduced services on Saturday as thousands of Rail, Maritime and Transport workers’ union (RMT) staff continue a 48-hour strike.

People have been urged to only attempt travel if absolutely necessary on the last full weekend before Christmas, with only a skeleton service running and all train journeys ending by early evening.

Continue reading...

Pressure on ministers to avert NHS strikes ahead of ‘very challenging’ week

Posted on by

NHS Providers boss says nurses’ strike had ‘significant impact’ as senior Tories urge government to negotiate

Planned strikes next week will be “very challenging” for the health service, hospital bosses have warned, after they conceded that Thursday’s nurses strikes had had a “significant impact”.

The comments from NHS Providers came amid mounting pressure on the government from senior backbenchers and usually supportive newspapers to try to resolve the dispute.

Continue reading...

Three people still in critical condition after suspected crush at Asake gig in Brixton

Posted on by

Met police begin investigation into ‘extremely distressing’ incident after large crowd gathered outside O2 Academy

Three people were still in a critical condition on Friday night after an apparent crowd crush at a concert at the O2 Academy Brixton in London on Thursday.

The Metropolitan police launched an investigation into what they said was an “extremely distressing” incident at a performance by the Nigerian Afrobeats singer and songwriter Asake.

Continue reading...

Avanti West Coast rewarded with over £4m in taxpayer-funded bonuses

Posted on by

Payout awarded for period in which Avanti was UK’s worst train operator for delays, Labour analysis found

Avanti West Coast was handed millions of pounds of taxpayer-funded bonuses for a period in which it was Britain’s worst train operator for delays, according to Labour party analysis.

The analysis, which used Department for Transport (DfT) figures published on Thursday, found the company was awarded the highest possible rating for “operational performance” and “customer satisfaction” between 1 April and 18 September last year. Those ratings contributed to a bonus payout of £4.1m.

Continue reading...

Family pay tribute to British man who died in incident on Qatar oil rig

Posted on by

A second Briton was injured and treated in hospital, while a third was detained following the ‘non-work related incident’

The family of a 38-year-old man who died after a “non-work related incident” involving three Britons onboard an oil rig in Qatar have paid tribute to a “one-of-a-kind, beautiful soul”.

Robert Robson, of Tyne and Wear, was working on the Seafox Burj oil rig off the coast of Qatar when he died after an incident in the early hours of Monday.

Continue reading...

Man and woman arrested after bodies of two young boys found in Dagenham

Posted on by

Two-year-old and five-year-old found dead at home in east London

A man and a woman have been arrested after two young boys were found dead at a home in east London, the Metropolitan police has said.

Emergency services were called to an address in Cornwallis Road, Dagenham at 2pm on Friday, where the bodies of a two-year-old and a five-year-old were discovered.

Continue reading...

Rishi Sunak says not to expect imminent breakthrough in talks to resolve Northern Ireland protocol issues – UK politics live

Posted on by

Prime minister says he is ‘committed’ to fixing issues but says there is no deadline on talks

In his latest column, Simon Jenkins argues that instead of fighting for the centre ground, Keir Starmer should look to the radical changes pushed through under Harold Wilson.

Wes Streeting has declined to say whether a Labour government would agree to a pay rise for nurses.

Continue reading...

Traces of suspected cocaine found after parties in Liz Truss’s grace-and-favour house, say staff

Posted on by

Exclusive: White powder residue found after events held at Chevening and Downing Street, say sources

Traces of a suspected class A drug were found at a government grace-and-favour home after parties attended by political allies of Liz Truss, the Guardian has been told.

The white powder was discovered at the Chevening estate last summer in the days before Truss won the Tory leadership contest and became prime minister, according to sources.

Continue reading...

RMT boss says no new offers but deal achievable as rail and road passengers face strike disruption – live

Posted on by

Mick Lynch speaks after talks with minister on Thursday as one in five trains expected to run today and some National Highways workers strike


RMT leader Mick Lynch has said there are “no new proposals on the table” after talks convened by rail minister Huw Merriman on Thursday.

Speaking from the picket line at London Euston station, the union chief told Sky News:

“We had an exchange about what might be possible and some ways forward and ideas that all the parties shared, and the rail minister requested that all the parties get down to some more discussions in the next period.

“We’ll look to arrange those meetings with the employers and see if we can develop some solutions to the issues that hopefully all the parties can support.

If we get a set of documentation and a pay proposal that our members want to support, it will resolve the dispute and we can take all the action away.

I hope we can do that as quickly as possible.

“We started today with 46 organisations.

And why did we do that? We did that because we wanted to make sure that we manage this strike safely and effectively for every patient, the people that I’m speaking with here tonight in this room, and every other patient in England and Wales and Northern Ireland.

Continue reading...