The Department for Health and Social Care has confirmed a further 174 people had died within 28 days of testing positive for COVID-19 as of 9am on Tuesday. The figure represents the biggest daily spike in coronavirus deaths since March 12. There had also been a further 30,838 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the UK. The increase...
Labour faces potential strike action among its staff following plans to cut about a quarter of its workforce amid a funding crisis and a restructuring of the party’s organisation. The Unite and GMB unions said they would hold indicative ballots of staff this month over possible strike action after the announcement to staff on Tuesday of detailed...
Nearly 45% of A-level entries across the UK have been awarded top grades in A-level results, a record-breaking return for students after more than a year of disruption and school closures during the pandemic. The 44.8% in top grades in England, Wales and Northern Ireland matched earlier predictions by university admissions officers but was lower...
Covid vaccines are expected to be offered to children in the UK aged 16 and 17, in line with many other countries, after a minister confirmed government experts will update their advice “imminently”. Michelle Donelan, the universities minister, said the government was expecting an announcement from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) on...
The government will spend a record £5.2bn on reducing flooding in England over the next six years, as the climate crisis increases the risk to homes and businesses. The Environment Agency will spend £860m next year to support more than 1,000 schemes, with significant funds for Yorkshire and the Humber and the north-west, regions that have been...
Keir Starmer is preparing to support a purge of far-left factions that were vocal supporters of Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership. After 15 months of being party leader, Starmer is expected to support a proposal before the party’s governing body on Tuesday to proscribe four named groups. The proposal, first reported in the Daily Mirror, has angered leftwing...
The government has denied that its controversial new free speech legislation will provide a platform for Holocaust deniers on campuses, arguing that the bill is vital in order to tackle a “growing intolerance” in universities. The higher education (freedom of speech) bill came under sustained attack from Labour, which claimed the legislation amounted to nothing more...
Ministers are planning to remove all mandatory mask and social distancing restrictions in England on 19 July, but national guidance may still encourage caution in high-risk areas such as public transport. A number of key scientific advisers including England’s chief medical officer, Chris Whitty, and the government’s chief scientific adviser, Patrick Vallance, are said to be behind ministers’...
It has been a testing few weeks for Kim Leadbeater, the Labour candidate in Batley and Spen, and her campaign team is looking for some light relief. Leadbeater is the sister of the area’s former MP Jo Cox who was murdered in the constituency by a rightwing extremist in 2016, a few days before the EU referendum. Now she...
Conservative MPs are growing concerned that their party conference will be cancelled this year due to Covid, with tickets for the get-together still yet to become available. Raising a point of order in the Commons William Wragg said it was “a little strange” that Tory head office was unable to say with “certainty” that the event...