Category Archives: Wales

Ministers speaking out against assisted dying ‘are giving false impression’, says peer

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Labour’s Charlie Falconer says vocal opponents are leading voters to think government is against change

Senior ministers who have spoken out against assisted dying are giving voters a “false impression” about the government’s position, a leading proponent of changing the law has said.

Charlie Falconer, a Labour peer and former justice secretary, said opponents to the change were “getting more coverage” because ministers in favour of legalising assisted dying were “playing by the rules”.

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Snow closes roads and railway lines as Storm Bert hits UK

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Weather warnings for wind, rain and snow cover much of country, with 16 flood alerts in place

Storm Bert has hit the UK, with snow closing roads and strong rains and winds expected to cause further travel disruption and potential flooding.

Weather warnings and 13 flood alerts have come into effect across much of the country.

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Prison blueprints leak sparks security alert in jails in England and Wales

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Plans are understood to show where cameras and sensors are, triggering fears of weapon smuggling and escapes

Detailed prison blueprints have been leaked, triggering a security alert at jails in England and Wales, it has emerged.

The leak, first reported by the Times, involves prison layouts being shared on the dark web in the last fortnight, prompting an investigation by the National Crime Agency.

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UK weather: Met Office warnings as ‘multi-hazard’ Storm Bert approaches

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Several weather warnings in place for weekend, with snow, wind, rain and ice predicted

Storm Bert is expected to bring wind, rain, ice and snow to much of the UK over the weekend in what forecasters have called a “multi-hazard event”.

The Met Office has issued several weather warnings – mostly yellow, but also including the more severe amber in Scotland – for Saturday and Sunday.

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Regulator stops customers from being billed for ‘undeserved’ bonuses

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Ofwat uses new powers to ensure investors pay at Thames, Yorkshire, and Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water

Investors at Thames Water, Yorkshire Water, and Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water will be forced to pick up the tab for executive bonuses after the regulator determined that the sector had awarded “undeserved” extra payments, worth £6.8m.

Ofwat said on Thursday it had used new powers to ensure that shareholders and bondholders at the three companies paid for bonuses because they had not “adequately reflected overall company performance issues”.

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UK failing animals with just one welfare inspector for every 878 farms – report

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Only 2.5% of more than 300,000 farms were inspected at least once in 2022 and 2023, researchers find

There is just one local authority inspector for every 878 farms in England, Scotland and Wales, according to a report, which says that the current welfare system is continuing to fail animals.

Researchers for the Animal Law Foundation found that only 2.5% of the more than 300,000 UK farms were inspected at least once in 2022 and 2023, a marginal decrease from 2018-21 when Covid-19 might be expected to have affected inspection rates.

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Welsh Lib Dems leader under pressure after criticism over C of E abuse case

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Ed Davey says Jane Dodds should reflect on her position after failing to take action over allegations of abuse by late bishop of Chester

Ed Davey has said the leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats should reflect on her position because of her failure to take action over an abuse case when she was a manager in the Church of England.

Jane Dodds, who was briefly the MP for Brecon and Radnorshire and is now the only Lib Dem member of the Senedd, was criticised in a C of E report about abuse carried out by the late bishop of Chester, Hubert Victor Whitsey.

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Houses in national parks in England and Wales sell for 25% more, study finds

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Nationwide says New Forest is most expensive national park with an average property price of £576,000

Buying a home in a national park comes at a 25% price premium, with the New Forest the most expensive of the 13 parks in England and Wales, according to Britain’s biggest building society.

Nationwide said properties in a national park enjoy a valuation almost £67,000 more than a similar property elsewhere, based on the average UK house price of £266,640.

New Forest – £576,000

South Downs – £400,000

Peak District – £375,000

Yorkshire Dales – £353,000

Lake District – £333,000

Dartmoor – £310,000

Bannau Brycheiniog (Brecon Beacons) – £274,000

Eryri (Snowdonia) – £173,000

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With the Tories beaten, Labour’s next threat comes from even further right

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Reform may well be Labour’s new main opponent, and the next battleground may not be where anyone expected

Two key rules of politics are to always look ahead, and to understand your opponent. And so it is that just months after crushing the Conservatives in a general election, many Labour MPs are bracing for fresh challenges and a new foe – Reform UK.

Nigel Farage’s party is in parliamentary terms a minnow, its five MPs giving it little more than 1% of the Commons strength enjoyed by Keir Starmer. But many within Labour believe that by the time of the next election, things could be very different.

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Many NHS staff would use conscience clause if assisted dying is legalised, say doctors

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Christian and Muslim groups say medics who refuse to help patients die not protected in England and Wales bill

A significant proportion of NHS medical staff are likely to exercise a conscience clause if assisted dying is legalised by parliament.

Labour MP Kim Leadbeater’s private member’s bill stipulates that no doctor would be under any obligation to participate in assisted dying.

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Woman from Wales died after gastric sleeve surgery in Turkey, inquest hears

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Janet Savage went into cardiac arrest after injury to abdominal aorta during operation in August last year

A woman died during an operation after travelling to Turkey for slimming surgery, an inquest heard.

Janet Savage, 54, was undergoing a gastric “stomach sleeve” operation but never came around from the procedure.

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Plans for a new national park in Wales met with opposition from local residents

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A proposal to protect part of rural Wales has sparked a furious debate over who the countryside is for

Plans to create a new Welsh national park stretching from the dunes of north-east Wales to the wild Berwyn mountains and the peaceful, wooded slopes of Lake Vyrnwy further south have captured the imagination of many ramblers, cyclists and other outdoor lovers.

But the Welsh government’s proposals to improve access to nature have been dismissed by an opposition group as creating “a play area for townies”, sparking a furious debate about who the countryside is for.

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British voters do not like Trump ‘because they don’t really know him’, Farage claims – as it happened

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Keir Starmer has hosted veterans and charities at Downing Street with defence secretary John Healey in the lead-up to Remembrance Day, PA Media reports. PA says:

The informal reception was held after Starmer pledged £3.5m in support for veterans facing homelessness.

Peter Kent, 99, the oldest veteran at the event, said he was pleased by the increase in funding and described Starmer as a “good guy”.

State visits take a while to organise. So in the next year, I’ve got to tell you, I think that would be a bit of a tall order. But [Trump] was genuine in his respect and his affection for the royal family.

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‘You have to disguise your human form’: how sea eagles are being returned to Severn estuary after 150 years

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Use of bird hand-puppets to rear young among innovative methods unveiled as part of project to restore species

Sea eagles were last seen soaring over the shimmering mud flats and brackish tidal waters of the Severn estuary more than 150 years ago. Now wildlife charities have unveiled innovative plans to bring the raptor back to the estuary, which flows into the Bristol Channel between south-west England and south Wales, by 2026.

“Sea eagles used to be common in these regions. But they were wiped out through human persecution,” says Sophie-lee Williams, the founder of Eagle Reintroduction Wales, which is leading the project. “We strongly believe we have a moral duty to restore this lost native species to these landscapes.”

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Crown court backlog in England and Wales ‘could hit 100,000 without radical overhaul’

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Chief inspector raises prospect of judge-only trials and greater use of magistrates to reduce prosecutors’ caseloads

The backlog of cases in crown courts in England and Wales could hit 100,000 unless radical action is taken to overhaul the criminal justice system, a watchdog has said.

Anthony Rogers, the chief inspector of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and Serious Fraud Office (SFO), said prosecutors’ caseloads were already beyond what had been seen before and he feared the situation could deteriorate.

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Change drug policy or risk more poisoning deaths, UK government warned

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Experts call for consumption rooms and wider testing of substances, as number of people dying hits new high

Experts in drug addiction have warned the government must take a different approach towards illegal substance use, or risk an increasing number of deaths from drug poisonings.

Data published by the Office for National Statistics last week showed that the number of people dying as a result of drug poisoning had reached the highest level on record.

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Investigation under way to establish cause of fatal train crash in Wales

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A man in his 60s died and 15 others were injured after a head-on collision between Talerddig and Llanbrynmair

Rail investigators are working to establish the cause of the first head-on train crash in the UK this century, which killed a passenger in his 60s on Monday evening.

A further 15 people were treated in hospital after the collision between the Welsh villages of Talerddig and Llanbrynmair on the largely single-track Cambrian line.

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Water companies raise bonuses to £9.1m despite record sewage discharges

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Third of total comprises bonuses at Severn Trent as indebted Thames nearly doubles payouts to executives

Bonuses for water company bosses in England and Wales rose to £9.1m this year despite record sewage discharges into rivers and seas.

More than a third of that total comprised bonuses at Severn Trent, which was fined £2m this year for “reckless” pollution but lifted its bonuses to £3.36m.

Thames Water almost doubled its payouts to executives, from £746,000 in 2021-22 to £1.3m in 2023-24, despite its CEO quitting halfway through the year.

Data from Companies House, analysed by the Liberal Democrats, show that overall bonuses increased from £9.013m last year to £9.127m this year.

The payouts pile further pressure on the regulator, Ofwat, to intervene in the decisions of water company boards. Last year, raw sewage was discharged for more than 3.6m hours into rivers and seas, a 105% increase on the previous 12 months.

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UK weather: Storm Ashley batters UK with strong winds and rain

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Met Office issues warnings for across the UK as the first named storm of the season sweeps in

Parts of the UK have been battered by strong winds and heavy rain, as Storm Ashley – the first named storm of the season – swept in.

The Met Office said the storm was likely to bring a threat of injuries and danger to life, with winds of up to 80mph and heavy rain expected in some areas.

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Storm Ashley: Great South Run cancelled over safety concerns

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Forecast of high winds and rain leads to cancellation of event that was due to take place in Portsmouth on Sunday

High winds and rain expected from Storm Ashley have caused organisers to cancel the Great South Run, which was due to take place on Sunday.

Great Run, which organises the annual 10-mile race in Portsmouth, said it had been monitoring weather conditions and they “haven’t improved to a point where we can safely stage Sunday’s event”.

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