BBC One announces Queen’s death and plays national anthem

Broadcaster had earlier cut short Bargain Hunt with Buckingham Palace statement and switched to special coverage

News of the Queen’s death was announced by Huw Edwards at 6.30pm on BBC One, breaking into programming on the BBC’s other channels. The broadcaster then played the national anthem, in line with a well-rehearsed plan that has been practised regularly in recent years.

Earlier, the BBC’s main channel had interrupted Bargain Hunt just after 12.30pm to deliver a statement from Buckingham Palace that said doctors were concerned for her health, and it continued with a BBC News special.

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Prince Charles is king after death of mother, Queen Elizabeth II

Courtiers say Charles, 73, never wanted to think of accession as it meant death of beloved mother

Prince Charles was with the Queen at Balmoral facing the sad reality the death of his beloved mother would lead to the greatest transition of his life: from heir to king.

And then, on Thursday afternoon, it happened: Buckingham Palace announced she had passed away.

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Bank of England to lend UK energy companies as much as £40bn

Bailout fund provided amid soaring market prices and fears of another wave of collapses

The Bank of England will lend UK energy companies as much as £40bn to deal with soaring market prices amid fears of another wave of energy company collapses.

Prime minister Liz Truss, on her third day in office, said she wanted to make sure energy companies have the cash they need to buy energy if prices jump. Reports this week said British Gas owner Centrica was in talks with banks to secure extra cash as Vladimir Putin continues to choke off Europe’s supply of gas.

A review of the UK’s energy regulation that promises to deliver “fundamental reforms to the structure and regulation”

An energy supply taskforce, led by Madelaine McTernan, who currently heads the government’s vaccines taskforce, that will seek to agree long-term contracts for energy supply at steady prices

A review of the UK’s 2050 net zero target to ensure it is “not placing undue burdens on businesses or consumers”

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Royals rush to Balmoral as Queen’s health deteriorates – as it happened

This live blog has closed. News of the Queen’s death can be found on our new live blog

Ian Blackford, the SNP’s Westminster leader, said he is “saddened” to hear about the Queen’s ill health.

He told the Commons:

I’m sure on behalf of all colleagues that we’re saddened to hear the announcement that has been made, and the thoughts and prayers of all of us will be with her majesty the Queen and indeed with the royal family.

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Cazoo to abandon its business operations in Europe and cut 750 jobs

UK online car retailer will make all of its employees in France, Germany, Italy and Spain redundant

Online car retailer Cazoo has announced it will abandon its business in Europe and cut 750 jobs in the latest sign of retreat by a business that had hoped to transform its sector.

The company will make redundant all of its employees in France, Germany, Italy and Spain as it closes the operations, leaving it operating in only the UK as it tries to preserve cash.

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Babel: the BookTok sensation that melds dark academia with a post-colonial critique

Set at Oxford in the 1800s, Rebecca F Kuang’s new novel is a magic-infused allegory for structural oppression – and social media can’t get enough of it

A boy lies still beside the body of his mother. Her skin is blue and her eyes are open, wet and glassy. It is 1828, and a cholera epidemic has swept through Canton, China.

The boy is the only one left alive in the house and is on the brink of death when a quiet white Englishman brings him to London. There, the young Chinese boy is named Robert Swift and grows up in solitude, trained in English, Latin, ancient Greek and Chinese. For what reason, he does not yet know.

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White House warns Truss over efforts to ‘undo’ Northern Ireland protocol

Biden administration says undoing the protocol would not be ‘conducive’ to a trade deal between the UK and US

The Biden administration has sent Liz Truss a message on her second day in office warning against “efforts to undo the Northern Ireland protocol”.

The warning came from the lectern in the White House briefing room, where spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre was asked about new British prime minister Truss’s first phone call with Joe Biden and whether a US-UK trade deal was discussed.

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UK watchdog to examine whether telecoms companies mislead customers

Cap says mobile and broadband users must get clear information about inflation-busting bill increases

The UK advertising watchdog has launched an investigation into whether telecoms companies are misleading consumers about inflation-busting bill increases when promoting deals in their marketing campaigns.

Telecoms companies make billions of pounds annually by instituting price rises to mobile and broadband bills midway through contract periods – increases that will add to the biggest squeeze on the cost of living facing households in generations.

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Tory MP begins ‘net zero tour’ of UK to highlight benefits of action

Chris Skidmore urges new PM to ignore ‘tiny vocal minority in Westminster’ arguing against climate target

Top green Conservative Chris Skidmore is to embark on a net zero tour to show that “normal people are getting on with” decarbonisation, and urge the new prime minister to ignore the “Westminster bubble” that is pouring scorn on the climate target.

Skidmore, a former energy minister, will on Thursday visit green schemes across north-west England, including a home insulation demonstration in Salford and a peat restoration project in Oldham.

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Malaria vaccine a step closer as experts urge Truss not to ‘turn off the tap’ on funding

Chance to eradicate diseases such as malaria could be lost and UK innovation squandered if global health investment is cut, jab co-creator tells PM

The co-inventor of a groundbreaking vaccine that could eradicate malaria has implored Liz Truss not to squander cutting-edge UK innovation by “turning off the taps” on global health funding.

Speaking as successful results from the latest trials of the R21 vaccine were revealed, Prof Adrian Hill, director of Oxford University’s Jenner Institute, said it would be tragic if Britain cut funding just as scientists were poised to make “a real impact” against malaria.

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Government admits 50 firms were in VIP lane for test and trace contracts

Health department had denied Covid testing priority lane but new disclosure lists firms including lab behind false negatives

The government has admitted that 50 firms were put in a “priority” lane for securing test and trace contracts worth billions, including Immensa, the company involved in a scandal over 43,000 false negative results.

The UK Health and Security Agency revealed the names of the 50 companies to the Good Law Project, the campaigning organisation that successfully challenged the government’s VIP lane for personal protective equipment (PPE) contracts in the courts.

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PM expected to reverse fracking ban as campaigners call for review’s release

BEIS has been sitting on report delivered in early July into possible effect of fracking in UK

Liz Truss must publish a recently completed review on fracking in the UK, green campaigners have urged, amid expectations the new prime minister will lift the moratorium on shale gas drilling immediately.

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has been sitting on a report delivered in early July by the British Geological Survey into the possible effects of fracking in the UK, including the danger of Earth tremors.

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Liz Truss set to announce £130bn energy bill bailout

New PM expected to promise ‘immediate action to help people and businesses’ and end to fracking ban

Liz Truss will finally present her long-awaited plans to tackle soaring energy bills on Thursday, with some Tory MPs conceding this is already a make or break moment for her entire premiership.

The new prime minister is expected to announce to MPs that bills will be frozen at about £2,500 a year until 2024 as part of a package of support costing up to £130bn, funded by the taxpayer, as she tries to address the most significant economic crisis in a generation.

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Boris Johnson accused of intelligence tipoff that led to British Sikh’s alleged torture in India

Labour raises questions in the Commons over Johnson’s alleged actions as foreign secretary in the case of activist Jagtar Singh Johal

Labour has accused Boris Johnson of authorising the sharing of intelligence that led to the imprisonment and alleged torture of a UK-based Sikh activist in India.

A Foreign Office minister refused to confirm or deny Johnson’s alleged involvement – during his time as foreign secretary – in the case of Jagtar Singh Johal, who has been detained for five years without trial.

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Hong Kong journalist union chair arrested weeks before Oxford fellowship

Ronson Chan was preparing for stint in UK before being arrested for allegedly obstructing a police officer

The head of Hong Kong’s journalist union has been arrested, weeks before he was due to leave for an overseas fellowship at Oxford University.

Ronson Chan, the chair of the Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA), was arrested for allegedly obstructing a police officer and disorderly conduct in a public place.

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Ryan Giggs to be retried next summer accused of assaulting ex-girlfriend

Former Manchester United footballer to go on trial for second time from 31 July 2023

Ryan Giggs is to go on trial for a second time accused of assaulting his former girlfriend after three years of allegedly coercive and controlling behaviour.

The former Manchester United and Wales footballer will face a retrial from 31 July 2023 after jurors in his first trial were unable to reach verdicts last week.

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Liz Truss holds first cabinet meeting as Thérèse Coffey denies claim PM put loyalty before competence – UK politics live

Health secretary says Truss did not focus too much on rewarding friends as new ministers attend first cabinet meeting

According to a report by Jason Groves in the Daily Mail, Liz Truss may announce an end to the ban on fracking this week. During the leadership campaign she said she wanted to allow fracking, but only in areas where there was a clear public consensus in favour.

On the Today programme this morning Lord Deben, the Tory peer who chairs the Committee for Climate Change, said fracking was not a solution to the UK’s energy problems. He explained:

The price of gas is not affected by the relatively small amount that we can get, in addition to the North Sea or indeed from fracking.

This is an international price and we would be paying the same price we got out of the fracked gas as we are for the gas we’re using now.

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Liz Truss cabinet: who are the other key players in PM’s top team?

The prime minister has appointed ministers for the great offices of state. Here are some of the other members of her new government

Liz Truss has started to assemble her government, with the top posts going to Kwasi Kwarteng (the chancellor), Suella Braverman (home secretary), James Cleverly (foreign secretary) and Thérèse Coffey (health). Here are some of the other members of the new cabinet.

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Thérèse Coffey defends Truss against ‘cabinet of chums’ charge

Deputy PM says newly appointed ministers will show ‘they’ve been considered, they’ve been competent’

The new health secretary and deputy prime minister, Thérèse Coffey, has defended Liz Truss from criticism that she has appointed a “cabinet of chums”.

The new prime minister is accused of making appointments to reward longstanding friendship and loyalty in the leadership contest, rather than competence.

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Putin says Truss victory in Tory leadership vote ‘far from democratic’

Russian president alludes to fact prime minister was chosen by party members, not by whole country

Vladimir Putin has said the way Britain chooses its leaders is “far from democratic”, a day after Liz Truss replaced Boris Johnson as prime minister.

In his first public comments on Truss’s appointment, the Russian president alluded to the fact she was chosen in a leadership ballot by members of the Conservative party, not by the whole country.

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