Category Archives: UK news

Ed Miliband abandons plan to charge less for electricity in Scotland

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Energy minister decides against ‘zonal pricing’ backed by Octopus founder but opposed by many other energy firms

Ed Miliband has abandoned plans to charge southern electricity users more than those in Scotland, after senior officials warned it could put off investors and make it more difficult to build renewables.

Sources have told the Guardian that the government has decided not to proceed with the scheme, known as “zonal pricing”, and that the decision will be announced once it has been signed off by the cabinet.

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Liverpool mobile greengrocer to reach ‘food deserts’ with aid of mapping tool

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Exclusive: Government-funded pilot in areas where it’s ‘easier to buy a vape than an apple’ may be extended across UK

A mobile greengrocer will deliver fresh fruit and vegetables in areas of Liverpool where it is “easier to buy a vape than an apple” as part of a new government scheme to tackle food inequality.

Families in social housing will receive visits from the Queen of Greens, a mobile greengrocer in the city, which will be directed to the areas of highest need.

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‘They rewrite the ending’: the knife crime play with its own outreach scheme

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Sam Edmunds hopes to help young people with his play The Chaos That Has Been and Will No Doubt Return

Growing up in Luton in the late 90s and early 00s, the playwright Sam Edmunds witnessed an abundance of knife violence that has stayed with him to this day.

“Me and my friends had knives pulled on us on numerous occasions. We once saw someone being chased with a machete at the back of the field by our school. In drama class, I remember a boy went into his bag to get his notebook out and a massive knife fell out. A boy in my brother’s year was stabbed over 10 times on a night out.”

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More trials with no jury will disadvantage people of colour, campaigners warn

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Charities say more judge-only trials in England and Wales could lead to more miscarriages of justice

Removing the right to a jury trial for more offences would disadvantage people of colour and other minorities and lead to more miscarriages of justice, reformers have warned.

Sir Brian Leveson’s independent review of the criminal courts in England and Wales is expected to be published this week and recommend the creation of intermediate courts, sitting without a jury, to try some offences.

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‘Like an academic’: private papers reveal John le Carré’s attention to detail

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Exclusive: Oxford’s Bodleian libraries to put archive items on display for first time, celebrating spy author’s ‘tradecraft’

The extent of John le Carré’s meticulous research and attention to detail are among insights into his working methods that will be revealed when the master of spy thrillers’ private archive goes on display for the first time this autumn.

His classic cold war-era espionage novels have sold tens of millions of copies worldwide and inspired acclaimed films and television adaptations.

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Tony Blair thinktank worked with project developing ‘Trump Riviera’ Gaza plan

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Staff at former UK PM’s institute took part in calls as proposal led by US consulting firm and Israeli business people evolved

Tony Blair’s thinktank worked with a project developing a postwar Gaza plan that included the creation of a “Trump Riviera” and a manufacturing zone named after Elon Musk.

The project, led by Israeli business people and using financial models developed by the US consulting firm Boston Consulting Group (BCG), was developed against the backdrop of Donald Trump’s vision of taking over the Palestinian territory and transforming it into a resort.

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Apple appeals against ‘unprecedented’ €500m EU fine over app store

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iPhone maker accuses European Commission of going ‘far beyond what the law requires’ in ruling

Apple has launched an appeal against an “unprecedented” €500m (£430m) fine imposed by the EU on the company, in the latest clash between US tech companies and Brussels.

The iPhone maker accused the European Commission – the EU’s executive arm – of going “far beyond what the law requires” in a dispute over its app store.

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Minister won’t rule out support cuts for children with EHCPs amid Send overhaul – UK politics live

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Stephen Morgan, the early education minister, would not confirm every child who has an EHCP would continue to keep the same provisions

The Conservatives will try to change the government’s welfare Bill to tighten up access to personal independence payments (Pip) and universal credit, PA Media reports. PA says:

Kemi Badenoch will pledge that the Tories are “now the only party committed to serious welfare reform” after Keir Starmer shelved plans to restrict eligibility for Pip in the face of a backbench revolt this week.

The Tories will look to lay amendments to the legislation – set to be renamed the universal credit bill – and party leader Badenoch is due to deliver a speech on welfare on Thursday.

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Kew Gardens to host largest outdoor exhibition of Henry Moore’s sculptures

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Show will include 30 monumental pieces displayed across gardens and 90 works filling Shirley Sherwood Gallery

Henry Moore believed “sculpture is an art of the open air” and that his works should be seen in “almost any landscape, rather than in or on the most beautiful building”.

Now the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, is planning the world’s largest outdoor exhibition devoted to the miner’s son who became one of the most important sculptors of the 20th century, it will announce on Monday.

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7/7 London terror attack victims remembered at 20th anniversary service

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Keir Starmer and Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh join survivors and emergency workers at St Paul’s Cathedral

The prime minister and the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh joined survivors and emergency workers at St Paul’s Cathedral to mark the 20th anniversary of the 7 July London bombings.

Four coordinated attacks on three tube trains and a double-decker bus killed 52 people and left several hundred injured in the worst single terrorist atrocity on British soil.

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Parents in Britain to be granted bereavement leave after miscarriage

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Mothers and partners will gain the legal right if they lose a baby before 24 weeks, in Labour workers’ rights reform

Parents in Britain will be granted the right to bereavement leave after suffering a miscarriage as part of Labour’s changes to workers’ rights, it has been confirmed.

In a change to the law made via amendments to the employment rights bill, mothers and their partners will be given the legal right to at least one week’s bereavement leave if they have suffered a pregnancy loss before 24 weeks’ gestation.

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Police chiefs call for cuts to number of forces in England and Wales

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Reduction from 43 forces to as few as 12 could save money and end ‘postcode lottery’ for crime victims, leaders say

Police chiefs in England and Wales have told ministers that the number of forces should be cut to end “the postcode lottery for victims of crime”, the Guardian has learned.

They believe a reduction from the current 43 forces would save money, cut overheads and boost crime-fighting efforts.

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UK carmakers on track to meet EV sales target despite intense lobbying to lower quota

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Electric car sales made up 21.6% of sales in first half of 2025, only just below the effective 22% share needed to meet rules

Carmakers are on track to meet existing UK electric car sales targets despite having successfully lobbied the government to water them down.

Electric car sales made up 21.6% of sales in the first half of 2025, only marginally below the 22.06% share needed to meet existing rules once concessions are taken into account, according to an analysis by New AutoMotive, a thinktank.

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Yvette Cooper hails new French tactics to reduce Channel crossings

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Home secretary says working with French is vital to stop boats crossing, as UK prepares for Emmanuel Macron visit

Yvette Cooper has lauded new tactics used by the French to reduce the number of people crossing the Channel in small boats, before Emmanuel Macron’s visit to the UK this week, during which new initiatives are likely to be announced.

It is understood that a French review of how police could intervene to block boats that are already in the water has been completed, and French and British officials were continuing talks this weekend about what more could be done.

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Anger as Nationwide refuses members a binding vote on boss’s 43% pay hike

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Lender says Debbie Crosbie’s package ‘should compete with banks’ but critics say building societies are ‘supposed to be the good guys’

Nationwide is under fire for refusing to give members a binding vote on a controversial 43% pay rise for its chief executive, Debbie Crosbie, which could total up to £7m.

Campaigners say it leaves the mutual’s members with fewer rights than shareholders of listed UK banks and exposes a worrying “loophole” in building society rules.

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‘We’ve made progress’: environment secretary is upbeat despite Labour’s struggles

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Steve Reed says changes to living standards are happening and will make a big difference to trust in government

It was probably easier for Steve Reed to feel more cheerful about Labour’s most torrid week in government while sitting on bales of hay in the blazing sunshine about 40 miles from Westminster.

The environment secretary might have sympathised with Rachel Reeves and Liz Kendall – he has experience of bearing the flak for some of the government’s most controversial decisions on family farm taxes – but at Hertfordshire’s Groundswell festival, named the Glastonbury for farms, he may simply have been happy not to be pelted with manure by unhappy farmers.

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Keir Starmer should be bold and consider a wealth tax, Neil Kinnock says

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Former Labour leader says government needs a better narrative and risks being bogged down by ‘imposed limitations’

Keir Starmer’s government is suffering from a “lack of narrative” about what it is trying to achieve and should be more fiscally bold and consider a tax on wealth, Neil Kinnock has said.

The former Labour leader said too many of the government’s achievements were being overshadowed. A year after a landslide election win, the party is struggling in the polls and has U-turned on policies including cuts to winter fuel payments and welfare.

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‘I was naive in being hopeful’: Labour voters feel let down after first year

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Party’s supporters tell of dissatisfaction, but many feel the Starmer government’s good points have been overlooked

Labour supporters have told the Guardian of their dissatisfaction with the party’s first year in government, as Keir Starmer marks 12 months since becoming the first Labour prime minister since Gordon Brown.

Members and voters said initial optimism had given away to unhappiness about the government’s record, although many were keen to state the positives they felt had been forgotten under the weight of recent events.

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‘We are in a dangerous place’: British Muslims on the fallout from 7/7 attack 20 years on

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Many feel counter-terrorism policies and brazen Islamophobia have increased hostility and isolation experience by community

For many in the British Muslim community, the tragedy of 7 July 2005 lives long in the memory. The bombings sent shockwaves through the nation but also marked a turning point that left many grappling with grief, fear and a new scrutiny of their identity.

Twenty years on, feelings of suspicion, isolation and hostility experienced in the aftermath of the attacks have, for some, only worsened after decades of UK counter-terrorism policies, and a political landscape they say has allowed Islamophobia to flourish.

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Britain re-establishing relations with Syria, announces David Lammy

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Foreign secretary says it is in UK’s ‘interests to support new government’ in first visit by British minister for 14 years

Britain is re-establishing diplomatic relations with Syria after the country’s years-long civil war, the foreign secretary, David Lammy, has announced during a visit to the capital, Damascus.

“There is renewed hope for the Syrian people,” Lammy said in a statement. “It is in our interests to support the new government to deliver their commitment to build a stable, more secure and prosperous future for all Syrians.”

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