‘Wagatha Christie’ trial: Rebekah Vardy accused of throwing friend ‘under bus’

Lawyer for Coleen Rooney suggests Vardy is trying to shift blame for leaking of information to Sun newspaper

Rebekah Vardy has been accused of throwing her former agent and friend “under a bus” in a last-ditch attempt to save her reputation in the “Wagatha Christie” libel trial.

The footballer’s wife was accused – during the third day of a libel trial at the high court on Thursday – of deliberately destroying evidence, habitually leaking stories to the Sun newspaper, and trying to shift the blame on to her adviser Caroline Watt.

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Levi Bellfield: Raab says granting marriage request ‘inconceivable’

Justice secretary says safeguarding concerns must be addressed, and criticises Human Rights Act

Granting Levi Bellfield’s request to get married in prison is “inconceivable” unless serious safeguarding concerns are addressed, Dominic Raab has said.

Bellfield, who murdered Marsha McDonnell, Amelie Delagrange and Milly Dowler, is engaged and has requested a prison wedding, the Ministry of Justice has confirmed.

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US congressmen to fly to London as Northern Ireland protocol concerns grow

Exclusive: Influential delegation likely to underline Biden’s commitment to defend Good Friday agreement

A delegation of influential US congressmen will fly to London within days amid growing concern in the White House about spiralling tensions over the Northern Ireland protocol, the Guardian can reveal.

With the UK government poised to table legislation next week which could revoke parts of the protocol, arrangements are being made for at least half a dozen representatives from the US Congress to fly to Europe for a series of meetings in Brussels, Dublin, London and Belfast.

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Too many first-class degrees awarded in England, regulator says

Minister calls for universities to restore pre-pandemic award levels by next year

Universities in England have been for rebuked for awarding “excessive” numbers of first-class degrees during the pandemic, with ministers and regulators accusing the sector of undermining its own reputation.

The Office for Students (OfS) published analysis claiming that more than half of first-class degrees awarded in 2021 could not be explained by “observable factors” such as prior results or social background of students.

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Rishi Sunak: windfall tax an option if oil firms fail to invest in UK

Chancellor says he is ‘pragmatic’ about introducing a levy on energy companies to ease cost of living crisis

Rishi Sunak has insisted he is “pragmatic” about the idea of a windfall tax on energy companies, claiming “no options are off the table” in the clearest sign yet that the government is planning measures to tackle the cost of living crisis.

Labour has been calling for a windfall tax on oil firms, which have benefited from rocketing global prices, with the shadow chancellor, Rachel Reeves, suggesting the proceeds be used to cut domestic energy bills.

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Experts scorn UK government claim it can ditch parts of NI protocol

Lawyers reject Liz Truss’s claim that UK is able to dump parts of treaty with EU without its agreement

Claims that the UK government has discovered a legal justification for tearing up large parts of Brexit arrangements in Northern Ireland have been greeted with scorn by expert lawyers.

The attorney general, Suella Braverman, has reportedly approved overriding the Northern Ireland protocol on the grounds that it is being unfairly enforced by the EU. Her submission, understood to be based on external advice, claims the EU’s “disproportionate and unreasonable” implementation is undermining the Good Friday agreement (GFA), according to the Times.

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GB News chairman has history of dismissing threat of climate crisis

Revelation Alan McCormick has tweeted articles denying climate science fuels fears of GB News’s role as climate sceptic platform

The new chairman of GB News has a history of sharing articles that dismiss the threat of climate breakdown, it can be revealed, sharpening concerns about the TV channel’s role as a platform for advocates of the continued burning of fossil fuels.

Alan McCormick, a co-founder of Legatum Group, a Dubai-based investment firm and one of the channel’s key funders, tweeted several articles by climate science deniers, an investigation by DeSmog found, including one claiming there was “no scientific proof” that humans were causing the climate emergency.

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Boris Johnson refuses to rule out U-turn to impose windfall tax on energy firms – UK politics live

Latest updates: sources suggest idea of windfall tax on energy firms ‘back on the table’ as cost of living crisis continues to bite

Ministers do not expect to reach an agreement with the EU over the Northern Ireland protocol, Sky’s Beth Rigby reports. She is quoting “senior government figures” close to the talks between Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, and Maroš Šefčovič, the European Commission vice-president in charge of Brexit. Truss and Šefčovič have been talking this morning.

Victoria Atkins, the prisons minister, was the government’s representative on the airwaves this morning. She told Sky News that she thought her Tory MP colleague Lee Anderson was wrong when he told the Commons yesterday that there was no great need for food banks in Britain and that the real problem was people not being able to cook properly. She said:

This is not the view of me or anyone else in government. We want to give not just immediate help but longer-term support as well.

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Boris Johnson says windfall tax ‘not the right thing’ but refuses to rule out U-turn

The prime minister claimed ‘these kinds of taxes’ deterred investment, contrary to BP boss saying it would not

Boris Johnson has refused to rule out the introduction of a windfall tax which would help to relieve pressure on the cost of living crisis.

Speaking to LBC’s Nick Ferrari, Johnson said that while he believed a disadvantage of windfall tax would be the impact it would have on investment, the prospect of such a taxwas still something to be looked at.

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John Lewis boss calls for Covid-style cost of living aid package

Dame Sharon White follows Tesco chief in urging UK government to help with rising energy and grocery bills

The boss of John Lewis has urged the governmentto intervene with a financial package of support to protect families from the cost of living crisis on the same scale as it did to help the nation deal with the Covid pandemic.

Dame Sharon White, a former second permanent secretary at the Treasury, said the government needed to act urgently as families struggle to pay utility and food costs as energy bills and inflation soars.

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Liz Truss to hold talks with EU amid threats to tear up NI protocol

Foreign minister will meet Maroš Šefčovič as attorney general said to approve overriding Brexit deal

The foreign secretary, Liz Truss, is to hold talks with the vice-president of the European Commission, Maroš Šefčovič, in the first meeting since the UK threatened to remove parts of the Northern Ireland Brexit protocol.

The attorney general for England and Wales, Suella Braverman, is said to have approved the scrapping of large parts of the Northern Ireland Brexit deal, according to reports.

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Special delivery: Royal Mail to expand drone drops with 50 new routes

The new ‘postal drone routes’ will improve the reliability of mail services to remote communities, the company said

Royal Mail has announced plans to increase its use of drones for deliveries with the creation of 50 new “postal drone routes” over the next three years.

Under a partnership with logistics drone company Windracers, and subject to Civil Aviation Authority approval, the move will provide faster and more convenient services for remote communities, Royal Mail said.

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‘Unacceptable’: Aviva CEO hits back at shareholder sexism

Amanda Blanc says sexism in business has actually got worse after being told she is ‘not the man for the job’

The chief executive of the insurer Aviva has hit out at sexism in the industry, saying “unacceptable behaviour” has only increased since she took more senior roles in the sector.

Amanda Blanc, who became the company’s first female chief executive in 2020, published a LinkedIn post thanking people for their support after shareholders made sexist remarks at the company’s annual general meeting on Monday. Investors said Blanc was “not the man for the job” and should be “wearing trousers”.

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Queen’s A Night at the Opera inspires Japanese take on Romeo and Juliet

A Night at the Kabuki, which shifts the star-crossed lovers to 12th-century Japan, will visit London on an international tour

A Night at the Opera, the classic rock album by Queen, has inspired a Japanese theatre production that will visit London this autumn as part of an international tour.

Created by Hideki Noda, A Night at the Kabuki includes songs from the British band’s 1975 album which is best known for its singles Bohemian Rhapsody and You’re My Best Friend. The master tapes from the studio recording of the album are used in the show, which has a storyline set in 12th-century Japan and is inspired by Romeo and Juliet.

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Sadiq Khan launches commission to examine cannabis legality

Mayor of London says panel of experts will consider effectiveness of UK policies on non-class A drugs

Sadiq Khan has announced a commission to examine the effectiveness of the UK’s drug laws, with a particular focus on those governing cannabis.

The London drugs commission, to be chaired by Lord Charlie Falconer QC, a former lord chancellor and justice secretary, was one of Khan’s manifesto pledges in his re-election bid last year.

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Police believe girl, 15, who went missing in Bristol has been abducted

Public urged to get in contact about vulnerable child Maddie Thomas, who disappeared on 26 April

Police believe a 15-year-old girl who disappeared from Bristol more than a fortnight ago after saying she was going to the shops has been abducted.

Maddie Thomas went missing from the Southmead area, north of the city centre, where she lives with a foster family, on 26 April.

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Tory MP says no massive need for food banks in UK and real problem is people’s cooking skills – live

Latest updates: Conservative Lee Anderson says people just need to be shown how to cook nutritious meals that cost less

Michelle O’Neill, Sinn Féin’s leader in Northern Ireland, has criticised the DUP for refusing to commit to backing the election of a speaker for the Northern Ireland assembly. (See 11.25am.) She said:

What we need to see is the positions filled - first minister, deputy first minister, all the ministerial positions filled, and let’s get down to doing business.

I don’t think it is good enough. It is not good enough for the people here that the DUP is holding society to ransom, punishing society, preventing the establishment of a speaker and an executive to actually respond to the things people are worried about.

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Gaia Pope: jury hears family repeatedly told police to search Dancing Ledge

The 19-year-old’s body was finally found at the clifftop spot in Dorset 11 days after she vanished

The family of the Dorset teenager Gaia Pope repeatedly urged police to search the clifftop spot where her body was finally found 11 days after she vanished but felt officers focused on other places, an inquest jury has heard.

Relatives of Pope, who had severe epilepsy and was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder after revealing she had been raped when she was 16, told police they thought she would have gone to a spot of great sentimental importance to her called Dancing Ledge.

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Author of review into aborted GP data sharing in England opted out of scheme

Prof Ben Goldacre cited risks of deanonymisation as his main reason for withdrawing his consent

The author of a government review into medical data sharing personally opted out of the aborted plan to share GP health data, a parliamentary committee has heard.

Prof Ben Goldacre, a former Guardian columnist and the author of the Goldacre Review, exercised his right to opt out of the Government’s General Practice Data for Planning and Research scheme, he told the Commons Science and Technology committee, because he was concerned about the risks of deanonymisation.

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BBC to invest £10m and double comedy pilots in bid to find next Fleabag

BBC Comedy development drive to fuel search for ‘relatable British characters’

The BBC will double the number of half-hour comedy pilots it makes and invest an extra £10m in the genre in a bid to find the next Fleabag or Motherland.

Sharing plans for the future of comedy at the corporation, the director of BBC Comedy, Jon Petrie, said his department was investing in its “development process”.

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