National News
Campaigners have made renewed calls to scrap the two-child benefit limit after the latest figures showed the number of children in affected households is approaching 1.7 million across Great Britain. The new data will likely ramp up pressure on the Government to ditch the controversial policy, which came into effect eight years ago under the […]
Suspensions and exclusions from schools in England have risen to a record high for recent times, Government figures show. There were 954,952 suspensions in the 2023/24 academic year, compared with 786,961 in 2022/23 – an increase of more than a fifth (21%) in a year. There were 10,885 permanent exclusions in 2023/24, compared with 9,376 the year […]
Health Secretary Wes Streeting has called for resident doctors to “abandon their unreasonable rush to strike” after warning NHS recovery is “fragile”. It comes as new data shows the waiting list for routine hospital treatment in England has fallen for the second consecutive month to its lowest in more than two years. However, the number […]
Four young people have been arrested for their suspected involvement in the damaging cyber attacks against Marks & Spencer, the Co-op and Harrods. The National Crime Agency (NCA) said the individuals were arrested early on Thursday morning on suspicion of blackmail, money laundering, offences linked to the Computer Misuse Act and participating in the activities […]
The threat of physical attacks by Iran on people living in the UK has increased “significantly” since 2022, Parliament’s intelligence watchdog has warned. In a report published on Thursday, Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee described the threat from Iran as “persistent” and “unpredictable”. The committee found the “physical threat” from Iran had “significantly increased”, focused on Iranian dissidents and […]
Sir Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron will engage in crunch talks to hammer out a migration deal The Prime Minister hopes the French president will sign up to a “one in, one out” deal when they hold a Franco-British summit at Downing Street on Thursday, the last day of Mr Macron’s state visit to the […]
The equivalent of more than one pub a day is set to close this year across Great Britain, an industry body has warned. The British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) has estimated that 378 pubs will close this year across England, Wales and Scotland, which it said would amount to more than 5,600 direct job […]
Royal Mail have been given permission by OFCOM Royal Mail will be allowed to scrap Saturday deliveries for second class post and switch to an alternate weekday service instead from later this month, regulator Ofcom has announced. The regulator said that from July 28, Royal Mail will axe the six-days-a-week service for second class letters, […]
Britain and France have signed a raft of agreements to work more closely on protecting critical infrastructure and on AI, dubbed the “Entente Technologique”. As part of the flurry of collaborations, researchers from both countries will work together on ground-based positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) technology, which will act as a back-up to satellite-based tech […]
MPs have warned of a “long road ahead” to improve the children’s social care sector amid rising need and a “severe” shortage of appropriate placements for young people. The Education Committee noted a steep increase in the number of looked-after children in England in the past decade, up by a fifth since 2014 to 83,630 […]