St James’s Park in central London records highest reading, with health alerts in place across the Midlands, eastern and southern England
UK temperatures have reached their highest point of the year so far, the Met Office has confirmed, with 31.9C recorded at St James’s Park in central London.
The high temperatures, which were recorded largely along the eastern half of the country, came as the majority of schools in England and Wales closed for the summer.
Continue reading...Northumbrian village was named as nation’s favourite, just ahead of Portmeirion and St Andrews
Bamburgh, the Northumbrian village known for its sprawling sand dunes and imposing castle, has retained its title as the UK’s best seaside destination for the fourth consecutive year.
A survey of 4,700 people by the consumer group Which? placed the Northumberland coastal village as the nation’s favourite, ahead of Portmeirion in Gwynedd and St Andrews in Fife.
Continue reading...Home secretary to host meeting of government’s Defending Democracy taskforce after reported rise in harassment during election campaign
More in Common, the group that campaigns to reduce polarisation in politics, published a good slideshow presentation last week, based on polling it carried out, giving an analysis of the general election results. It has followed that up today with the publication of a 129-page report on the election, based on the same polling and on what it learned from focus groups.
One of the main interesting points it makes is that the government will be judged, above all, on whether it can bring down NHS waiting lists and the cost of living, polling suggests. The report says:
How does the public plan to judge the government on its delivery of change and what benchmarks will they use to evaluate progress?
First and foremost, the public will look to NHS waiting lists and the cost of living to judge Labour’s success or failure. These are top performance indicators for every segment, with the elderly tending to be more concerned than average about waiting lists and younger generations more so about the cost of living. As inflation falls and interest rates seem set for a summer cut, waiting lists are arguably the new government’s key challenge in maintaining public support.
Continue reading...Rescuers including vets rush to save 12 survivors from 77-strong group lying on Sanday shore
Dozens of long-finned pilot whales have died after a 77-strong pod came ashore on an Orkney beach in what could be the biggest mass stranding in decades.
Twelve of the animals at Tresness beach, on the island of Sanday, were still alive, but according to rescuers from the British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR), it was thought unlikely they could be saved.
Continue reading...Shadow home secretary James Cleverly has urged the party to avoid descending into ‘bitter infighting and finger pointing’
Former education recovery commissioner Sir Kevan Collins, who resigned after Boris Johnson rejected his £15bn Covid catch-up plans, is to advise the new government on driving up school standards and finding solutions to teacher shortages and high absence rates.
The Department for Education confirmed on Tuesday that Collins, a widely respected figure in the sector, has been appointed a non-executive board member at the DfE. As such his role will be to support and challenge the department in its efforts to raise standards in England’s schools.
I’m delighted to be returning to the Department for Education. There are real challenges facing our schools and I am looking forward to being part of a renewed drive to ensure that we tackle these with bold and fresh new ideas, to deliver high and rising standards in every corner of the country.
Sir Kevan has been an outstanding force for good in schools, especially his work advocating for our teachers and children during the pandemic and he will play a crucial role in advising the department.
Continue reading...Labour’s election manifesto committed party to recognising Palestinian state as part of a process that results in a two-state solution with Israel
Reynolds says he is not supposed to pre-empt what will be in the king’s speech, but he says it is no secret that the government is going to prioritise its employment rights reforms.
Jonathan Reynolds is being interviewed by Laura Kuenssberg now.
I do want things in exchange for money we’ll co-invest with the private sector around jobs and technology.
I think that’s a reasonable way to make sure public money is being well spent and I believe there are things, capacities, the steel industry needs in future that could be part of that conversation and that’s what I’ll be having in the next few days …
Continue reading...Labour leader said he wanted to restore service and respect in politics and ‘end the era of noisy performance’
Clive Myrie is opening the BBC’s election night coverage. He is co-presenting with Laura Kuenssberg.
No 10 has also announced knightoods for four Tories in the dissolution honours – Oliver Dowden, the deputy PM; Julian Smith, the former chief whip and Northern Ireland secretary; Ben Wallace, the former defence secretary; and Alister Jack, the outgoing Scottish secretary – and one damehood, for Thérèse Coffey, the former deputy PM.
Continue reading...First Labour prime minister since 2010 promises to serve whole country as he speaks outside No 10
Keir Starmer pitched himself as a leader for “stability and moderation” who will rebuild Britain, as he reached out to those who did not vote for Labour with a promise to serve the whole country.
The Labour leader gave a speech on the steps of Downing Street after going to Buckingham Palace to accept the king’s invitation to form a new government.
Continue reading...Murray is due to compete in doubles at his last Wimbledon, yet fans are also ‘pretty excited’ to see younger players
Thursday marks a changing of the guard. While for many this might mean electing a new prime minister, at Wimbledon, tens of thousands queued for a chance to bid adieu to Andy Murray and cheer on the next generation of British tennis stars.
Murray is due to compete alongside his older brother, Jamie, in the men’s doubles this week in his final Wimbledon showing. There had been hope he would play in the tournament’s singles, but he pulled out on Tuesday after being unable to sufficiently recover from the back surgery he underwent 12 days ago.
Continue reading...Final polls predict unprecedented Labour victory, with Starmer declaring Britain a ‘great nation, with boundless potential’
Keir Starmer has hailed a “new age of hope and opportunity” as millions of people prepare to vote in a general election that could deliver the biggest shake-up of British politics in a generation.
The Labour leader said he was “ready for government” and that his intended cabinet would “hit the ground running” if it wins Thursday’s election.
Continue reading...Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer out campaigning after Mel Stride says Labour likely to win a large majority
It has just gone 7am: let’s look at today’s stop stories. With 24 hours to go until polls open, the Guardian leads with Keir Starmer accusing the Conservatives of desperate tactics amid claims that Tory criticism of his defence of family time was insensitive and had antisemitic undertones.
The Times has Boris Johnson saying a Labour landslide would be “pregnant with horrors”:
Continue reading...Deputy PM says Victoria Atkins is ‘star’ and is one of only people he could see leading Tory party
Meanwhile Rishi Sunak is expected to tell voters today that “If just 130,000 people switch their vote and lend us their support, we can deny Starmer that supermajority,” PA reports.
Keir Starmer has said a big majority would be “better for the country”, as the Tories continue to urge voters to proceed with caution and not hand Labour a “blank cheque”.
Continue reading...As the election nears, we scrutinise how each of the main contenders would deal with problems around the world
Conflicts and environmental disasters are stretching humanitarian resources, and a new UK government will have to decide what role it will play on the world stage in dealing with global problems, especially after budget cuts and closure of the Department for International Development by the Conservatives, and with priorities so focused on Ukraine. We’ve talked to the main parties and looked at their manifestos to see what their plans are.
Continue reading...PM responds to comments by Reform activists, who were filmed by Channel 4 reporter while canvassing in Clacton
Here’s the latest in the Guardian’s series on The broken years: Tory Britain 2010-24:
Unless the polls are wildly inaccurate, the Conservative party is heading towards a catastrophic defeat in the coming election.
Continue reading...PM again declines to say whether he told Craig Williams in advance about his decision to hold the election in July
Rishi Sunak is returning to the campaign trail on Thursday, PA reports, after a two-day hiatus for the Emperor and Empress of Japan’s state visit and preparations for the final head-to-head debate with Sir Keir Starmer.
With one week to go until polling day, the deepening gambling scandal is still likely to feature heavily when he faces the media during a tour of the East Midlands and Yorkshire.
He is expected to visit a factory in Derbyshire and hold an evening campaign event in Leeds.
Keir Starmer accused Rishi Sunak of using transgender issues “as a political football to divide people” during their head-to-head debate on Wednesday.
Continue reading...Party says it acted after being contacted by the regulator about the candidate for Central Suffolk and North Ipswich
All along the course of the Thames, turning north, meandering south, passing through locks, historic landmarks, Richmond and Kew, swelling beneath the House of Commons with the turning tide, and on to Docklands and beyond – concern for the health of the Thames has led many other ordinary people, who live, work or play on the water, to take up the fight for the health of the river.
The last 15 years of decline in rivers suggests they have much to do. In 2009, a year before the Conservatives first took power in a coalition with the Liberal Democrats, a quarter of English rivers were judged as being of good ecological standard, a marker which examines the flow, habitat and biological quality; by 2022 not one river was in a healthy state.
Continue reading...Prime minister faces claim Tories are ‘stealing the candlesticks’ on the way out of government
After a passage in his speech attack Labour on familiar grounds, Rishi Sunak also hit out at Reform UK.
[Reform UK] are not on the side of who you think they are.
Reform are standing candidates here in Scotland that are pro independence and anti monarchy.
Continue reading...Author responds after shadow chancellor says party would be ‘really happy’ to ‘give her assurances’
JK Rowling has agreed to a meeting with Labour after Rachel Reeves said the party would be “really happy” to “give her assurances” over its plans to change the process through which people can legally change gender.
Speaking in Scotland, Reeves said protection for women-only spaces would “absolutely stay”, adding: “We’re not going to be changing anything around biological sex … We’re really happy to talk to JK Rowling to give her assurances about that.”
Continue reading...Candidates in key central belt hope to scoop up voters who have become disillusioned with their election rivals
Not for the first time, Blair McDougall, Labour’s candidate in East Renfrewshire on the outskirts of Glasgow, is telling a wavering voter that the election here is “so, so close”.
If predictions of a knife-edge outcome weren’t enough to motivate him, many people – including some in Barrhead, which he is visiting today – have just received their postal ballots. Their votes will be cast in the next few days.
Continue reading...Labour leader says he would refuse to participate in negotiations for another independence referendum if he is elected PM
Speaking of Nigel Farage: the Reform UK leader has praised the misogynist influencer Andrew Tate for being an “important voice” for the emasculated and giving boys “perhaps a bit of confidence at school” in online interviews that appear to be aimed at young men over the past year.
The Guardian’s Rowena Mason and Ben Quinn report:
Continue reading...