Caravan parks have recorded a boom in demand as lockdown measures are relaxed, providing an unlikely source of economic growth as overseas travel remains largely off-limits. Figures from the Office for National Statistics show activity in the UK’s accommodation and food services sector grew by 68.6% in April, with the biggest driver being caravan parks...
England is braced for a four-week extension of coronavirus restrictions to 19 July, after Boris Johnson said he will take a “cautious” approach to the final removal of lockdown. Hospitality chiefs told The Independent that the extra month of curbs will cost the sector £3bn and put 200,000 jobs at risk, and there were warnings...
You’ve taken delivery of a shiny new electric car, and the plug-in charger is being installed next week. You’re almost ready to go – just don’t forget to switch to a specialist electricity tariff. If you don’t, your bills could end up at least £300 a year higher than they need to be. Over the...
The 15-year-old boy stabbed to death in the street on his way to school in Hayes has been named by police. The Metropolitan Police has named the victim as Jalan Woods-Bell. Another 15-year-old boy has appeared in court today (Saturday, June 12) charged with his murder. Police were called to reports of a fight on Blyth...
Peru was on a knife-edge on Friday as its electoral board reviewed ballots cast in the presidential election, after a challenge to the tally by the losing candidate Keiko Fujimori. The final tally gave the leftist teacher Pedro Castillo a razor-thin 50.17% to 49.83% advantage over his rightwing rival Fujimori, which amounts to about 60,000...
The government is cutting the funding it gives to councils in England and Wales to help struggling tenants by more than a fifth, with critics warning the move will drive up homelessness following the recent end of the Covid evictions ban and the end of the furlough scheme in September. Discretionary housing payments (DHPs) provide...
The scion of a jailed autocrat and the son of illiterate peasant farmers are fighting vote by vote for the presidency of Peru in an election which has thrown into sharp relief the Andean country’s deep fault lines of class and geography. With more than 94% of the official vote counted, hard-left candidate Pedro Castillo holds...
Dozens of secondary schools in England have reintroduced mask requirements in the classroom, despite government guidance dropping the rule in May. As many pupils returned from the half-term break, schools in areas with high Covid infection rates, including many in the north-west such as Tameside, Cheshire and Oldham, as well as Bedford, Kent and Staffordshire,...
The former Catalan regional vice-president jailed for his role in the failed attempt to secede from Spain almost four years ago has signalled his support for a pardon from the Madrid government and suggested that unilateral efforts to secure independence are now “neither viable nor desirable”. Oriol Junqueras, who leads the Catalan Republican Left party (ERC), said...
House prices are likely to continue rising for some time despite hitting a new record high in May, one of Britain’s biggest mortgage lenders has said. The monthly snapshot of the property market from Halifax showed a 1.3% jump in the cost of a home in May, taking the average selling price to a record...