Category Archives: North of England

Internal government briefing admits HS2 delays will increase costs

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DfT document appears to undermine ministers’ claims, saying jobs are likely to go and construction firms could be at risk

An internal Department for Transport briefing on the HS2 project has admitted delays to the high-speed railway will increase costs, appearing to undermine ministers’ claims.

The document seen by the Guardian says the decision to delay the project is also likely to cost jobs, put construction firms at risk of going into administration and that the department could face compensation claims.

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Eleanor Williams jailed for eight and a half years after rape and trafficking lies

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Twenty-two-year-old from Barrow posted photos on Facebook falsely claiming she had been abused

A woman has been jailed for eight and a half years after being found guilty of lying about being raped and trafficked by an Asian grooming gang, and making false rape claims against a series of other men.

Eleanor Williams, 22, from Barrow-in-Furness was convicted in January of nine counts of perverting the course of justice.

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UK weather: Tuesday night could be coldest of year so far, Met Office warns

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Temperatures could plummet to -15c in some sheltered Scottish areas with snow cutting off some rural areas

Tuesday night could be the coldest this year so far, the Met Office has warned, with fears that Arctic air could cut off some rural communities and cause power and transport chaos.

Temperatures could fall as low as -15c in some sheltered Scottish areas, with locations that have seen snowfall especially vulnerable.

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Labour wins West Lancashire byelection with 10% swing

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Ashley Dalton retains constituency for Labour after resignation of Rosie Cooper last autumn

Labour has retained the West Lancashire constituency in a byelection called after its MP, Rosie Cooper, resigned last autumn.

Ashley Dalton, a part-time charity worker, won with 14,068 votes. Her comfortable win, securing a 10.2% swing from the Tories, marks Labour’s third byelection victory since Rishi Sunak became prime minister.

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Fraudulent travel agent who pretended to have terminal cancer jailed

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Durham court heard Lyne Barlow’s £1.2m fraud also involved stealing financial identity of her mother

A rogue travel agent who defrauded 1,400 holidaymakers and pretended to have terminal cancer to deflect complaints has been jailed for nine years.

Durham crown court heard how the scale of Lyne Barlow’s fraud, which also involved stealing the financial identity of her mother and borrowing money from neighbours and friends that was not paid back, had been estimated at £1.2m.

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Nicola Bulley: partner of missing woman talks of search ‘brick wall’

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Paul Ansell says mystery impossible to comprehend as potential witness says she does not know anything

The partner of the missing woman Nicola Bulley has said every scenario has come to a “brick wall” as he pledged to “stay strong” for their daughters.

Speaking near the scene where she was last seen, Paul Ansell said the mystery of her disappearance was “absolutely impossible” to comprehend.

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Rishi Sunak has never paid a penalty to HMRC, No 10 says, amid growing pressure over Nadhim Zahawi – as it happened

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Rishi Sunak has welcomed Germany’s decision to send Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine.

There is more coverage of the German decision on our Ukraine live blog.

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Leeds 2023: city to kick off year-long festival with ‘epic’ opening ceremony

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Organisers plough on with plans after Brexit meant Leeds missed chance to be European capital of culture

When Leeds was denied its chance to become European capital of culture in 2023 due to Brexit, it should have been the killing blow to what it had been hoped would be a massive year-long cultural celebration.

But, refusing to be beaten, cultural leaders ploughed ahead regardless, and now almost a decade of planning and ideating will culminate on Saturday in the launch of Leeds 2023, the city-wide cultural festival.

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More travel delays expected with UK cold snap set to continue

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Yellow weather warnings in place with snow and ice across country as residents of Cornwall advised not to travel

Further travel disruption is expected this week with temperatures forecast to stay well below freezing overnight, and up to 10cm of snow forecast in the south-east of England.

Met Office yellow warnings were in place from Sunday until Monday morning for northern and south-western Scotland, Northern Ireland, north-eastern England, the Midlands and south-west as well as London and the south-east.

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North of England mayors urge ministers to tackle rail misery

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Five metro mayors meet transport secretary saying action needed to avoid ‘Christmas chaos’

Mayors in the north of England have called for immediate government action to tackle continuing rail misery, warning time is running out to avoid a Christmas of chaos.

The five metro mayors for Greater Manchester, Liverpool City Region, West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire and North of Tyne met Mark Harper, the transport secretary, in offices near to Manchester Piccadilly station on Wednesday.

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Claw back £12m ‘failing’ rail firm paid out in dividends, Labour urges

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Avanti West Coast, which received £343m subsidy, had worst punctuality performance among train operators

Labour has called on ministers to claw back £12m in dividends paid by Avanti West Coast to its shareholders last year, when it was subsidised by £343m by the taxpayer.

Figures released by the rail watchdog on Tuesday showed that Avanti paid out £12m in 2021-22 from management and performance fees.

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Train cancellations in Great Britain hit highest level on record

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One in 26 journeys disrupted with government accused of ‘abject failure’ to tackle worst offenders such as Avanti West Coast

Rail cancellations have reached their highest level on record with more than 314,000 trains fully or partly cancelled across Great Britain in a year, a Guardian analysis reveals.

Figures from the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) show that the proportion of cancelled services has more than doubled since 2015, rising to one in 26 of all train journeys being disrupted in the year to 15 October, the latest date for which figures are available.

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Burnham: poor leadership left Manchester emergency crews unready for attack

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Greater Manchester mayor says report into 2017 atrocity raises serious questions for whole of UK

The “poor leadership” of emergency services meant Manchester was not ready for the terrorist attack that killed 22 people in 2017, the region’s mayor, Andy Burnham, has said.

A damning inquiry report on the Manchester arena bombing identified significant failings by police, fire and ambulance services. At least one of those killed would probably have survived were it not for a response that was described as badly prepared, delayed and chaotic, it was found.

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Three girls died after major failings in NHS mental health care, inquiry finds

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‘Systemic’ failures at Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys trust found to have contributed to self-inflicted deaths

Three teenage girls died after major failings in the care they received from NHS mental health services in the north-east of England, an independent investigation has found.

“Multifaceted and systemic” failures by the Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys (TEWV) NHS trust contributed to the young women’s self-inflicted deaths within eight months of each other, it concluded.

In the UK, the youth suicide charity Papyrus can be contacted on 0800 068 4141 or email pat@papyrus-uk.org, and in the UK and Ireland Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or by email at jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is at 800-273-8255 or chat for support. You can also text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis text line counsellor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org

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UK-backed battery firm Britishvolt considers entering administration

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Company struggling to find investors willing to fund effort to build giant £3.8bn ‘gigafactory’ in north-east

The UK government-backed battery startup Britishvolt is on the brink of entering administration with the potential loss of almost 300 jobs, after it struggled to find investors willing to fund its effort to build a giant £3.8bn “gigafactory” in north-east England.

The company had considered an administration as early as Monday, two sources with knowledge of Britishvolt’s operations told the Guardian. Britishvolt has lined up the accountancy firm EY to carry out the administration if it goes ahead.

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Redcar steelworks demolished in massive controlled explosion

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Basic Oxygen Steelmaking, which shut seven years ago, blown up using 1.6 tonnes of explosives

A former steelworks in Redcar has been pulled down in what is believed to be one of the biggest explosive demolitions in the UK.

In dramatic scenes – in which the structure disappeared in a cloud of dust and smoke with a blast that could reportedly be heard eight miles away – the 65-metre-high Basic Oxygen Steelmaking plant was blown up on Saturday morning.

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More than 100 hen harriers fledge in England for first time in a century

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Conservationists welcome successful breeding season but say birds remain at risk of being illegally killed

Nearly 120 rare hen harrier chicks have fledged in England this year, the highest number for more than a century, England’s conservation agency has said.

Natural England and its partners recorded 119 hen harrier chicks successfully fledging from nests across uplands in County Durham, Cumbria, Lancashire, Northumberland and Yorkshire. A fledgling is a young bird that has grown enough to acquire its initial flight feathers and is preparing to leave the nest and care for itself.

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GCSE results expected to confirm widening of north-south attainment gap

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Tory leadership candidates called on to commit to fixing growing regional disparities in education

This year’s GCSE results for England and Wales are expected to confirm a widening north-south education gap, prompting a prediction that the government will miss one of its key levelling-up targets if it continues to hold back pupils in the north of England.

A coalition of school leaders, charities and the Northern Powerhouse Partnership has written to the Conservative leadership candidates urging them to commit to fixing growing regional disparities in education.

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Power station owner Uniper posts £10bn loss as gas shortages bite

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German energy firm, which operates many UK power stations, has been bailed out by federal government

The owner of the Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station in Nottinghamshire has posted a €12bn (£10bn) loss weeks after agreeing a bailout package with the German government, in a set of results that signal the deepening energy crisis across Europe.

Uniper received a €15bn lifeline from the German state in return for a 30% equity stake in a deal agreed in July.

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Cumbria coalmine decision delayed again as critics condemn ‘zombie’ No 10

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Campaigners told new deadline for decision on first new deep coalmine in more than 30 years is 8 November

A much-anticipated decision on whether the UK’s first new deep coalmine in more than 30 years should go ahead has been delayed again.

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (LUHC) has written to Friends of the Earth to inform the organisation that the new secretary of state, Greg Clark, has set a new deadline of 8 November to rule on whether the coalmine should be granted planning permission.

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