Category Archives: England

Wales and north of England face disability cuts ‘double whammy’

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Policy in Practice analysis shows twice as many people affected in north-east, north-west and Wales than in London and south-east

A £5bn programme of disability benefits cuts planned by the UK government will disproportionately hit people living in Wales and northern England “entrenching deprivation”, according to new analysis.

The consultancy Policy in Practice has looked at how the proposed changes would affect individual regions and local authorities, and found the impact across the UK starkly uneven.

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Norfolk bird surveyors find Britain’s oldest known oystercatchers

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Birds in their 40s wintering on mudflats of the Wash received leg rings in early 1980s

If your ears are assaulted by the shrill piping calls of an excitable bird on the east coast of England, fear not: it’s probably an oystercatcher experiencing a midlife crisis.

Two of the handsome black and white birds with bright red-orange bills have been found to be the oldest known oystercatchers ever recorded in Britain, clocking up at least 41 and 43 years on the mudflats of the Wash.

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Badenoch declines to criticise Jenrick over Reform coalition comments – as it happened

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Spokesperson for Tory leader says she agrees with colleague that ‘we need to bring centre-right voters together’. This blog is closed

Rosie Duffield, the independent MP who left Labour after the election in part because she felt her gender critical views made her unwelcome in the party (although her resignation letter focused on welfare issues), has claimed that Keir Starmer no longer arguing a trans woman is a woman shows he is a “manager rather than a leader”.

Speaking on LBC, Duffield said:

It’s just another sign of the prime minister’s lack of leadership skills. I’m bound to say that, he’s a manager rather than a leader. He responds and reacts rather than leads from the front, and this is what we’re seeing again from him.

Nigel Farage is peddling a dangerous fantasy by claiming the UK can be self-sufficient in gas.

After sixty years of drilling, the truth is the UK has already burned most of its gas. That’s down to geology, not politics, and no amount of hot air from Farage will change that.

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Three men charged with manslaughter after death of woman on golf course

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Suzanne Cherry, 62, was fatally struck by a van that was being pursued by police in Staffordshire

Three men have been charged with manslaughter after a woman was fatally struck on a golf course by a van following a police pursuit.

Suzanne Cherry, 62, died in hospital on 15 April, four days after she was struck by a van at Aston Wood golf club in Lichfield, Staffordshire.

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Second teachers’ union vows to strike if pay award fails to fund schools in England

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NASUWT conference votes to launch strike ballot if spending review does not top up school budgets in full

A second teaching union in England has vowed to strike if the government fails to compensate schools in full for next year’s teachers’ pay award.

The NASUWT union’s annual conference voted to reject any pay offer from the government that did not top up school budgets in June’s spending review, and to “move immediately to ballot members for industrial action”.

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Pubs in England and Wales allowed to stay open later for VE Day anniversary

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Venues to remain open until 1am as PM urges UK to come together to mark 80th anniversary on 8 May

Pubs will be allowed to stay open until 1am to celebrate the 80th anniversary of VE Day, the UK prime minister has announced.

The government will allow pubs in England and Wales to close at 1am on 9 May to allow drinkers to continue celebrating into the early hours.

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Green party candidate tries to evict Labour opponent from property

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Labour says move is hypocrisy since Greens support ban on no-fault evictions such as one served on Labour candidate and her family

A Green party council candidate is attempting to evict his Labour opponent from a house he owns using a no-fault notice, despite his party supporting a ban on exactly such kinds of eviction.

William Pedley, who is standing for the Greens in the Victoria ward of North Northamptonshire council, has served a section 21 notice on his tenant and political rival Kelly Duddridge, who has lived in the property for 10 years.

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‘The posh areas get cleared’: bin strikes illustrate Birmingham’s wealth gap

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People in poorer areas feel frustrated rubbish piles up during strikes, while wealthy households pay for removal

“It’s very frustrating that the posh areas get cleared and we’re just left, very frustrating but we expect it,” said Peter Thomas, outside his home in Ladywood, against a backdrop of overflowing bins.

Across neighbouring postcodes in Birmingham, the gap between wealthy and deprived parts of the city has been noticeable for residents ever since the bin strikes began last month.

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Eyesight rules for UK motorists ‘ineffective and unsafe’, inquest finds

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Coroner calls for action to avoid future deaths after four killed by drivers with failing eyesight in northern England

An inquest into the deaths of four people killed by drivers with failing eyesight in northern England has found enforcement of visual legal standards for motorists is “ineffective and unsafe”.

The HM senior coroner for Lancashire, Dr James Adeley, has sent a report to the transport secretary, Heidi Alexander, calling for action to be taken to prevent future deaths.

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Spurs contractors judged felled Enfield oak to be ‘fine specimen’

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Toby Carvery owner apologises over tree’s felling as football club faces questions about whether it knew of decision

An ancient London oak controversially felled earlier this month was assessed to be a “fine specimen” last year by tree experts working for Tottenham Hotspur as part of the football club’s plans to redevelop parkland next to the site.

Mitchells & Butlers Retail (MBR), which owns the Toby Carvery in Whitewebbs Park, Enfield, apologised on Thursday for the “upset” caused by the felling of the tree.

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GPs in England will be able to claim £20 for every time patient is not sent to hospital

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Surgeries will be able to claim money if doctors refer patients to an out-of-hospital setting in bid to cut waiting lists

GPs in England will be paid £20 each time they decide not to send a patient to hospital under a government scheme to help reduce the NHS waiting list.

Family doctors will be able to claim the money if they instead refer patients for tests and treatment in an out-of-hospital setting, such as a health clinic, or to see a community-based specialist.

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UK government report calls for taskforce to save England’s historic trees

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Exclusive: Ancient oaks ‘as precious as stately homes’ could receive stronger legal safeguards under new proposals

Ancient and culturally important trees in England could be given legal protections under plans set out in a UK government-commissioned report.

Sentencing guidelines would be changed so those who destroy important trees would face tougher criminal penalties. Additionally, a database of such trees would be drawn up and they could be given automatic protections, with the current system of tree preservation orders strengthened to accommodate this.

In 2020, the 300-year-old Hunningham Oak near Leamington was felled to make way for infrastructure projects.

In 2021, the Happy Man tree in Hackney, which the previous year had won the Woodland Trust’s tree of the year contest, was felled to make way for housing development.

In 2022, a 600-year-old oak was felled in Bretton, Peterborough, which reportedly caused structural damage to nearby property.

In 2023, 16 ancient lime trees on The Walks in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, were felled to make way for a dual carriageway.

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Wealthiest English private schools spend below 6% on means-tested bursaries, research finds

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Data shows 200 independent schools devote fraction of fee income to support disadvantaged pupils based on family income

England’s wealthiest private schools devote only a fraction of their income towards means-tested bursaries, according to research that undermines claims that adding VAT to school fees would decimate support for poorer pupils.

The Private Education Policy Forum (PEPF), a thinktank campaigning for greater equality and transparency among independent schools, gathered data from more than 200 leading schools and found they spent less than 6% of their total fee income on supporting pupils based on family income.

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UK weather: heavy rain warning issued for western England and Wales

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Met Office expects a month’s worth of rain in 48 hours to end warm and dry spell

A month’s worth of rain is expected to fall on parts of the UK within 48 hours as the good weather the country has basked in for weeks comes to a soggy end.

Western England and the whole of Wales have been warned of possible flooding as the Easter weekend approaches.

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Attack on officers raises questions about separation centres at jails in England

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The country’s three special units at high-security prisons are in spotlight after Hashem Abedi’s assault against staff

With its high, ugly, grey concrete perimeter walls HMP Frankland looks as grim from the outside as you would expect for a place nicknamed “Monster Mansion”.

Since it was opened in 1983 on the leafy outskirts of Durham – near a 13th-century priory used for centuries as a holiday retreat for Benedictine monks – its inmates have included Peter Sutcliffe, Harold Shipman and Charles Bronson.

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Prison Service bans dangerous inmates from kitchens after officers attacked

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Move comes after Hashem Abedi injured three officers with hot oil and improvised blades at HMP Frankland

The Prison Service is to suspend the use of kitchens for the most dangerous inmates after the brother of the Manchester Arena bomber attacked three officers at HMP Frankland.

Hashem Abedi, a convicted terrorist who was jailed for life after helping his suicide-bomber brother Salman Abedi carry out the Manchester Arena attack in 2017, set upon staff with hot cooking oil and blades made out of cooking trays.

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British Steel to deploy emergency measures to save Scunthorpe furnaces

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Firm in race against time to get key materials as business secretary says no guarantee it will get what it needs

British Steel is to deploy emergency measures in a race against time to save the blast furnaces at Scunthorpe, as the business secretary refused to guarantee the plant could get what it needed in time.

The company is understood to be looking at offers of help from more than a dozen businesses to obtain materials such as iron ore and coking coal, potentially allowing it to avoid the temporary shutdown of one of the two furnaces.

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Melanoma patients in England get fast-track access to cancer vaccine

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NHS Cancer Vaccine Launch Pad expanded to include trial for patients with advanced type of skin cancer

Patients with an advanced type of skin melanoma in England will be given fast-track access to a “revolutionary” new cancer vaccine as part of an NHS trial.

The vaccine, known as iSCIB1+ (ImmunoBody), helps the immune system recognise cancer cells and therefore better respond to immunotherapy treatment.

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Travellers arriving in Great Britain face import ban on EU meat and dairy

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Government introduces measure to prevent spread of foot-and-mouth disease after rise in cases across Europe

Tourists from Great Britain who travel to the continent to satisfy their epicurean desires for cured meats and fragrant cheeses will be frustrated in their attempts to bring home some of their favourite foods after a ban on meat and dairy imports from EU countries came into force this weekend.

From Saturday, holidaymakers will no longer be able to bring meat from cattle, sheep, goats or pigs, or dairy products, from EU countries into Great Britain for personal use, in a move aimed at preventing the spread of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) after a rise in cases across Europe.

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National Trust bans coaches from East Sussex beauty spot to cut visitor numbers

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More than 600,000 people a year visit Birling Gap, part of Seven Sisters cliffs, which are vulnerable to coastal erosion

The National Trust has banned coaches from one of Britain’s most popular beauty spots in an attempt to reduce the growing numbers of people visiting the site.

Up to 600,000 people a year visit Birling Gap which is part of the Seven Sisters cliffs in East Sussex on England’s south coast.

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