Police investigate after images show roof of building destroyed in Washington, Tyne and Wear
A man in his 20s has been arrested by police after a suspected arson attack wrecked the constituency office of the Labour MP Sharon Hodgson.
There is little left of the first floor office in the Concord area of Washington, Tyne and Wear, after a fire that took place when it was unoccupied in the early hours of the morning.
Continue reading...Labour and Lib Dems say Reform leader has questions to answer on who paid for £885,000 property owned by his partner
Labour and the Liberal Democrats have called for Nigel Farage to clarify whether he saved tax on a house in his constituency, after a BBC investigation questioned whether his partner did, as Farage has said, buy the home with her own money.
The Guardian first reported in May that the house in Clacton, which Farage initially said he had bought himself, is in fact wholly owned by Laure Ferrari, his long-term partner.
Continue reading...PM and foreign secretary were nowhere in sight as hapless Stephen Doughty faced the Commons over Peter Mandelson
If only there had been some kind of clue. The tiniest of hints that Peter Mandelson might not have been a suitable candidate to act as the UK ambassador in Washington.
Like being forced to resign from the cabinet over a failure to disclose a loan from Geoffrey Robinson. Like being forced to resign from the cabinet a second time over allegations of trying to procure a passport for the Hinduja brothers. Like his financial arrangements with the Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska. Like his friendship with the convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Continue reading...Caesareans drive rise in assisted deliveries as experts warn of complex pregnancies linked to age, obesity and other conditions
More than half of women having a baby in Britain now do so with the help of medical intervention, an audit of NHS maternity care has revealed.
Of the 592,594 births that took place in 2023, 50.6% involved either a caesarean section or the use of instruments such as forceps or a ventouse suction cup.
Continue reading...New blow to UK’s key life science sector as industry body says country is losing ground on investment and research
The US drugmaker Merck has scrapped a £1bn London research centre and is laying off 125 scientists in the capital this year, in a big blow to the UK’s important life science sector.
Keir Starmer’s government has described life sciences as “one of the crown jewels of the UK economy” and the previous Conservative government had vowed to turn the country into a “global science and technology superpower” by 2030.
Continue reading...Isaac Herzog says ‘when allies meet they can argue’ after some Labour MPs condemn Downing Street meeting
The British prime minister, Keir Starmer, and the Israeli president, Isaac Herzog, had a “tough” set of exchanges over humanitarian aid in Gaza at a Downing Street meeting, amid street protests demanding Herzog’s arrest as a war criminal.
Herzog, speaking to the Chatham House thinktank immediately after the meeting, said he had offered the British government a fact-finding mission to look at the levels of aid entering Gaza. He denied there was any famine and blamed the high civilian death toll on Hamas placing missiles in living rooms.
Continue reading...Education secretary and Manchester MP look destined for face-off as three other candidates struggle for MP nominations
Labour’s deputy leadership contest is set to be a race between the education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, and the ousted cabinet minister Lucy Powell, as three other candidates in the race struggled to make nominations.
Phillipson comfortably cleared the hurdle of 80 nominations on Wednesday evening with backing from 116 MPs, but Powell was not yet at the threshold with 77 nominations.
Continue reading...PM was grilled by Kemi Badenoch on suitability of Mandelson for job as US ambassador
Helena Horton is a Guardian environment reporter.
Emma Reynolds, the new environment secretary, had a difficult job this morning: meeting a group of farmers after Labour caused fury in the rural community by introducing a new inheritance tax.
The Treasury reserve, designed to be used for “genuinely unforeseen, unaffordable and unavoidable pressures” has recently been used to fund higher public sector pay and compensation payouts.
In a letter to ministers, the chancellor said Treasury would only consider providing reserve funds to departments that have already maximised their savings …
Continue reading...Data breach at third-party supplier involves contact details and some information about previous journeys
The train operator LNER has urged customers to be wary of unsolicited communications after revealing some passengers’ contact details and journey records have been accessed in a cyber-attack.
The data breach took place at a third-party supplier, and LNER said no bank or payment details or password information had been accessed.
Continue reading...Two leaders have competing visions for Israel’s security and Palestinian self-rule with little chance of finding common ground
A meeting in London between Keir Starmer and the Israeli president, Isaac Herzog, could not come at a more difficult time for either leader, and far from easing British-Israeli relations, the encounter risks setting them back yet further.
Once the meeting on Wednesday was in the diary, there was a faint hope within Downing Street that the two men would at least listen to each other about their competing visions for Israel’s future, including a two-state solution to the Palestinian conflict, a vision Herzog once shared.
Continue reading...Carmaker has informed relevant regulators and ‘will contact anyone as appropriate’ as investigation progresses
The cyber-attack on Jaguar Land Rover has affected data held by the carmaker, it has said, as its factories in the UK and abroad face prolonged closure.
JLR, Britain’s biggest carmaker, said on Wednesday that in its investigations into the hack, which first emerged last week, it had now discovered data had been breached.
Continue reading...Number of attempts to cross Channel has been particularly high for several days, say French authorities
Four people including two children have died in two separate incidents while trying to cross the Channel to the UK in the last 24 hours, while three others are missing in a third incident.
On Tuesday night off the coast of Sangatte, France, three people lost their lives while travelling on a dinghy with 38 people onboard. Three others are missing after an incident in Neufchâtel-Hardelot, France, on a boat with 115 people onboard.
Continue reading...More than 1,000 patients to take part in trial to see if the approach leads to faster and more reliable diagnoses
Doctors have launched a clinical trial of a £100 blood test for Alzheimer’s disease in the hope of transforming diagnosis of the devastating condition in the NHS.
More than 1,000 patients with suspected dementia are being recruited from memory clinics across the UK to see whether the test leads to faster and more reliable diagnoses and better care for those found to have the disease.
Continue reading...Andy Cooke says the cases take up little time for forces in England and Wales but create intense controversy
Police should no longer record or investigate non-crime hate incidents, the chief inspector of constabulary has said.
Sir Andy Cooke said handling the incidents took up a minuscule amount of time but drew vehement criticism.
Continue reading...‘Immediate ceasefire, the release of hostages and a huge surge in aid into Gaza’ only route to peace, says PM
Keir Starmer has condemned Israel’s strike on Qatar before a meeting with the Israeli president in London on Wednesday.
The UK prime minister said the military strike, which targeted Hamas leaders stationed in Doha, was a violation of Qatar’s sovereignty and risked “further escalation across the region”.
Continue reading...The new system resembles Tony Blair’s star-rating regime, which was eventually scrapped. Whether naming and shaming leads to improvements remains to be seen
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) was glowing in its description of the league tables by which all of England’s 205 NHS trusts are now being judged: a “landmark” moment, a “pioneering new system” and “a new era of transparency”.
Wes Streeting, the health secretary, said that “sunlight is the best disinfectant” in his zeal to expose, and drive out, poor care.
Continue reading...Loughborough University and ONS study of 1 million school-age children reveals risks increase with longer absence
School absences “significantly contribute” to children’s mental ill health, according to research backed by the Office for National Statistics that shows the risks increase the longer a child is absent.
“Our research shows that the more times a child is absent from school, the greater the probability that they will experience mental ill health,” the authors, from Loughborough University and the ONS, concluded.
Continue reading...Thornberry joins Bridget Phillipson and Bell Ribeiro-Addy in having said she will stand
Kemi Badenoch has just delivered a speech offering to help Labour with legislationg for welfare cuts. I will post key points soon.
She is now taking questions.
Continue reading...Campaigners fear plans to make people wait longer for leave to remain could cost tax-paying skilled workers dearly
Every two-and-a-half years, Uche and her husband pay more than a combined £5,000 for NHS care, on top of the tax and national insurance deducted from their salaries as a care worker and an IT worker.
Now, thousands more skilled workers face having to “pay twice” for services for 10 years or more, campaigners fear, as the government considers extending the qualifying period for indefinite leave to remain (ILR) – and eventually citizenship – in an immigration crackdown.
Continue reading...Those on typical £200,000 mortgages taken out between October 2020 and February 2023 may see costs jump by £3,996 a year this winter
More than 350,000 households who locked in to low-interest fixed-rate mortgages five years ago are expected to see their costs jump this winter as they reach the end of their deals.
Analysis by the bill management app Nous found almost half of mortgages taken out between October 2020 – as the housing market revived after an initial Covid shock – and February 2023 were five-year fixed-rate deals.
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