UK News

Angela Rayner will promise to make devolution the “default setting” for councils across the country after senior Government figures warned they could overrule local authorities’ objections to push through key building plans. In a speech to regional leaders, the Deputy Prime Minister will vow to push power out of Whitehall and into the hands of people with “skin in the game” across a range of policy areas including housing. The […]

The businessman accused of being a Chinese spy was invited to Buckingham Palace by the Duke of York, it has been reported. The businessman accused of being a Chinese spy was invited to Buckingham Palace by the Duke of York, it has been reported. The man – who was banned from Britain by the Government on national security grounds – visited Buckingham Palace twice, and also entered St James’s Palace […]

South Korea’s parliament has voted to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol over his short-lived martial law declaration this month. The National Assembly passed the motion in a 204-85 vote on Saturday. Mr Yoon’s presidential powers and duties will be suspended after the copies of a document on the impeachment are delivered to him and to the Constitutional Court. The court has up to 180 days to determine whether to dismiss […]

More than one in four Britons would ask Christmas Day guests to contribute to the cost of the festive meal, a survey suggests. Some 27% agreed they would feel comfortable asking their guests to make a financial contribution to the dinner, according to the poll for NatWest. It found that £17 per head is the average going rate that Britons expect to charge friends and family for Christmas dinner this […]

Thousands of people are having NHS funding for their care withdrawn after living longer than expected, new research suggests. People given fast-track NHS Continuing Healthcare (CHC) to provide support at the end of their lives can have it removed following a review, leaving them needing to find the money for their own care. A report from Age UK found huge variation in who can access CHC, even for longer-term conditions, […]

The Government has unveiled a clean power action plan to decarbonise the electricity grid by the end of the decade to protect households from future energy price spikes, boost growth and tackle the climate crisis. The extensive plan released on Friday sets out how Labour intends to lay the foundation for achieving its target of 95% clean power across the UK by 2030. Developed over the last few months in […]

Documents offering insight into the break-up of The Beatles have sold at auction for £9,000, without buyer’s premium, beating their estimate of between £4,000 and £8,000. The typescript copy documents, which include more than 300 pages, were bought by a private buyer online on Thursday. They were compiled by the advisors and legal representatives of The Beatles and discovered in a cupboard, where they had been stored since the 1970s, […]

Idris Elba has said tackling serious youth violence is a marathon, not a sprint but feels progress is “moving in the right direction”. The 52-year-old Luther actor launched a campaign earlier this year calling for an immediate ban on machetes and so-called zombie knives and met Sir Keir Starmer in September to launch a new anti-knife crime coalition. To celebrate the progress made this year, Elba has opened a Christmas […]

Lucy Letby was not referred to the nursing regulator after concerns about her were raised to hospital bosses because there was a “lack of evidence” she may be killing babies, a public inquiry has heard. Consultant paediatricians on the neonatal unit at the Countess of Chester Hospital flagged up their increasing worries over Letby in late June 2016 following the deaths of two triplet boys. Senior managers opted to commission […]