Category Archives: Yorkshire

Labour candidate Kim Leadbeater wins narrow victory in Batley and Spen byelection

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Sister of murdered MP Jo Cox holds West Yorkshire seat for party, easing pressure on leader Keir Starmer

Labour has narrowly won the Batley and Spen byelection, holding on to the West Yorkshire seat after a hotly contested campaign.

Labour won 13,296 votes with the Tories recording 12,973, according to official results. Kim Leadbeater defeated Ryan Stephenson, the Conservative candidate, by 323 votes. George Galloway, representing the Workers Party of Britain, came third with 8,264 votes.

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‘Accidental meat’: should carnivores embrace eating roadkill?

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My parents have been eating pheasants killed on the roads for years and encouraging me to try them. Is this the most ethical approach to meat-eating?

Motorists shoot me funny looks as I sheepishly cross a scrubby verge, trying my best to conceal the dead pheasant under my arm. I am in a part of Saddleworth Moor called the Isle of Skye by locals, and have just collected a free meal from the middle of the road.

Nobody can agree on how this area of moorland, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, earned its nickname. Some think it comes from a Victorian navvy, who exclaimed in a broad Irish brogue: “Look, there’s an ’ole in the sky,” as he considered a parting in the thick mist above him. Others think it was named after an inn of the same name. But either way, the area should be immediately renamed Pheasant Cemetery. Because, before I picked up my own bird, I counted 46 pheasant carcasses in various stages of decomposition, scattered and splattered on the road over several miles as I drove to Holmfirth for a day out.

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It’s cold and wet, but Scarborough is a beacon of normality for families

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The weather couldn’t dampen spirits as the Yorkshire resort’s hoteliers and guests celebrated the return of domestic travel

The sky was overcast, a chill wind blew in from the sea, and everyone was wearing coats. But for four-year-old Caitlin and two-year-old Jim, there was little to complain about – they were on a beach and they were building sandcastles.

For their parents, Lindsay and Jim Roger, a week’s holiday in the North Yorkshire seaside town of Scarborough was a blessed relief. Lindsay is a nurse who has been working on Covid wards, while Jim works in construction. As key workers with young children, lockdown has been difficult but they were “really pleased” to be able to travel again. “It’s just nice to get out and nice to see the sea,” Jim said. “It makes such a change from the house and the garden.”

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Yorkshire lobster exporter says Brexit costs have forced it to close

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Government has not been straight with fishing industry, says Sam Baron of Baron Shellfish in Bridlington

A lobster exporter who is winding up his 60-year-old family business has blamed the government for failing to be honest about Brexit red tape and hidden costs.

Sam Baron, who worked alongside his father to set up Baron Shellfish in Bridlington, east Yorkshire, said the government had failed to be straight with the fishing industry.

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Covid infections in England down by nearly a third since second lockdown

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R number now stands below 1 after 30% drop in cases across country over almost a fortnight

Coronavirus infections in England have fallen by nearly a third since the country entered its second lockdown, swab tests on 105,000 volunteers have shown.

There was a 30% drop in cases across the country over almost a fortnight this month, with 96 people infected per 10,000 between 13-24 November, down from 132 per 10,000 between 26 October and 2 November.

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‘Treasure trove’ of unseen Ted Hughes and Seamus Heaney writing found

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Affectionate friendship between the two poets and artist Barrie Cooke, united by a love of fishing, revealed in a collection of correspondence that was believed lost

A “treasure trove” of unseen poems and letters by Ted Hughes, Seamus Heaney and the artist Barrie Cooke has revealed the depth of a close three-way friendship that one Cambridge academic has described as a “rough, wild equivalent of the Bloomsbury group”.

Cooke, who died in 2014, was a leading expressionist artist in Ireland, and a passionate fisherman. Fellow fishing enthusiast Mark Wormald, an English fellow at Pembroke College, Cambridge, came across his name while reading Hughes’s unpublished fishing diaries at the British Library. He visited Cooke in Ireland, and discovered the close friendship between the three men.

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Peter Sutcliffe, Yorkshire Ripper, dies aged 74

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Serial killer was serving 20 life terms for murder of 13 women across north of England in late 1970s

Peter Sutcliffe, the serial killer known as the Yorkshire Ripper, has died in hospital, a Prison Service spokesman said.

Sutcliffe, 74, was serving 20 life terms at Frankland prison in County Durham for murdering 13 women and attempting to kill seven more in the late 1970s.

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UK coronavirus live: Gove says lockdown could be extended; Starmer rejects union calls to close schools

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Latest updates: Cabinet Office minister says easing depends on R value coming down; Labour leader says schools should stay open

Sir Desmond Swayne, one of the Conservative MPs most opposed to a second lockdown, told Sky News that the policy announced by the PM yesterday would have “disastrous consequences”. He said:

I’m worried about the disastrous consequences for unemployment, for wrecked businesses, for years of under-investment while we try and pay this off, when the reality is that the number of deaths for the time of year is normal and expected.

It is very difficult to believe scientists who tell you that there is a deadly pandemic taking place when there are no excess deaths beyond the normal five-year average.

Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, has called for schools in his region to close for a period during the lockdown to help drive down the virus. He was speaking at a joint conference with Steve Rotheram, the mayor of Liverpool city region, who also backed the proposal. Burnham said:

It’s my view, and it’s shared by Steve, that we do need to see a period of closure in our schools if we are to get those cases right down, and if we are to avoid a scenario where large parts of the north-west are simply put back in tier 3 coming out of this.

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UK coronavirus live: Sheffield city region mayor says ‘inaction not an option’ as he agrees tier 3 restrictions

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Latest updates: South Yorkshire third region in England to get strictest measures after local leaders agreed a deal with government

This is from Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, this morning.

Our aim in this negotiation was simple: to agree a deal based on what people will actually need to get through this rather than the arbitrary sum being forced on us all one by one.

We hoped to set a template for others to use. Presumably that’s why the Government walked away. https://t.co/DirwF8dvua

Here are some more lines from Robert Jenrick’s interview with the Today programme this morning.

The mayor of Greater Manchester was never willing to draw this to a conclusion. The public health situation was deteriorating. It would have frankly been irresponsible of the government to allow this to continue for many more days without bringing it to a conclusion.

In a meeting with the prime minister, the prime minister offered £55m, Andy Burnham asked for £65m. The prime minister said: ‘Look, let’s just compromise, and get this done for the sake of people in Greater Manchester.’

The money is still there. It’s got Greater Manchester’s name on it.

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Conservatives turn on Boris Johnson over handling of UK’s Covid-19 crisis

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As virtual party conference gets under way, Tories rebel on both wings and PM’s popularity plunges to a record low


Boris Johnson’s reputation among Conservative members has plunged to a record low, it has emerged, as the party enters its annual conference facing accusations of a “chumocracy” at the top of government.

With Tory MPs restless over the government’s performance, which has seen it lose a huge poll lead over Labour since the start of the pandemic, the prime minister has recorded his first ever negative satisfaction rating among a survey of Tory members on the ConservativeHome website. He recorded the second-lowest score of any cabinet member, with only education secretary Gavin Williamson performing worse.

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Preston faces fresh coronavirus lockdown, health official says

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Strict rules could be reimposed in days after cases double in a week in Lancashire city

Preston is facing a fresh lockdown within days after local coronavirus infections surged, a public health official has said.

Cases of the disease in the Lancashire city have doubled in a week, and Preston could follow in the footsteps of nearby east Lancashire, Greater Manchester and parts of West Yorkshire by reintroducing stringent lockdown rules.

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What are the new lockdown rules in northern England?

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All you need to know about the updated coronavirus measures affecting more than 4m people

More than 4 million people across swathes of northern England were given less than three hours’ notice on Thursday night that they must endure tighter lockdown restrictions to stem a resurgence of Covid-19 cases.

But what what exactly do the new measures mean for those living in affected areas in the north and elsewhere in England?

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Boris Johnson confirms plans for ‘government hub’ in York

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PM says city should be in frame if Commons or Lords have to move during restoration work

Boris Johnson has confirmed that Downing Street is thinking of setting up a “government hub” in York, telling officials drawing up restoration plans for the Palace of Westminster that they should consider the city if the Commons or Lords have to be moved.

Restoration of the parliamentary estate, which is crumbling in many places and viewed as a significant fire risk, could cost an estimated £6bn, and the plans are still being debated.

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Bakery known for anti-Tory slogans appears in government ad campaign

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Ads pulled after Haxby Bakehouse owner and Labour member Phil Clayton complains

There are thousands of bakeries from which the UK government had to choose to star in its latest public information campaign. The Haxby Bakehouse was probably the only one to have produced loaves flour-stencilled with “F*ck Boris” during last year’s general election.

Nonetheless, a photograph of its owner, Phil Clayton, dusted with flour and carrying a tray of freshly baked goods appeared in national newspapers on Saturday with the headline “Welcome back to freshly baked bread”, to promote the government’s “Enjoy summer safely” campaign.

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Supply teacher jailed for sexually assaulting six girls at primary school

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Jonathan Philip Clayton found guilty of 13 sexual assaults at North Yorkshire school in 2019

A supply teacher has been jailed for eight and a half years for sexually assaulting six girls at a primary school in North Yorkshire, two years after similar allegations were dropped.

Jonathan Philip Clayton was convicted of 13 counts of sexually touching girls aged between seven and 11 over a period of six weeks last year.

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UK police chiefs: coronavirus could bring out worst in humanity

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Warning after crimes including theft of oxygen canisters and puncturing of ambulance tyres

Police chiefs have warned the coronavirus pandemic could “bring out the worst in humanity” after a spate of opportunistic crimes hindered efforts to control the crisis.

The theft of oxygen canisters from a hospital, the puncturing of ambulance tyres and the raiding of food banks by thieves were among the “worrying isolated incidents” in recent days raised by the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC).

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Burning calories: pig starts farm fire by excreting pedometer

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Seventy-five square metres of farm near Leeds set alight after copper in pedometer battery reacted with dung and dry hay

Firefighters in North Yorkshire have tackled a blaze that broke out after a pig swallowed a pedometer which then combusted in its pen after excretion.

The fire crews were called to a blaze covering 75 square metres at four pigpens in Bramham, near Leeds, on Saturday afternoon.

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Severe flood warnings remain as Johnson’s response is criticised

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Labour says PM’s decision not to visit flood sites or call Cobra meeting is ‘a disgrace’

Severe flood warnings remain in place and rescue operations were continuing in stricken communities on Monday evening, as the government faced criticism for its response to what has been described as unprecedented flooding in parts of the country.

With thousands of properties flooded after a month’s worth of rain fell on parts of Britain over the weekend, and more than 200 flood warnings still in place, Labour said it was “a disgrace” that the prime minister was not visiting affected towns and villages and was resisting calls to convene the Cobra emergencies committee.

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‘It’s a monster’: the Skipsea homes falling into the North Sea

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Residents on fastest-eroding coastline in northern Europe told of ‘imminent risk’

For those who long to live by the sea, the thought of gently breaking waves and waking by the beach sums up the irresistible charm of coastal life. But not, perhaps, in the Yorkshire village of Skipsea.

Residents in the tiny seaside parish were warned this week that a large number of homes are at “imminent risk” of tumbling into the North Sea within 12 months because of the rapid erosion of the East Yorkshire coast.

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