National News

Children are heading back to the classroom with questions remaining over concrete fears Ministers are under pressure to spell out their plans to make schools safe from aerated concrete as pupils start the new term. Children’s summer holidays are coming to an end and Parliament is returning from recess against a backdrop of uncertainty about how long disruption will last as any risks are mitigated. Chancellor Jeremy Hunt moved to reassure parents […]

Tesco chief executive Ken Murphy has called for a change in the law to make abuse or violence towards retail workers an offence across the UK. Writing in the Mail on Sunday, Mr Murphy revealed the supermarket chain has offered body-worn cameras to members of staff who need them after seeing physical assaults rise by a third in a year. He said Tesco has invested £44 million in four years […]

Education Secretary Gillian Keegan has told parents the closure of classrooms due to fears over crumbling lightweight concrete is “not a return to the dark days of school lockdowns”. More than 100 schools and colleges have been told by the Department for Education to fully or partially shut buildings due to the presence of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (Raac), following the collapse of a beam last week. Schools minister Nick […]

Plans for a permanent memorial to the late Queen and a national legacy programme in her honour will be unveiled in 2026 to mark what would have been Elizabeth II’s centenary year. The Queen Elizabeth memorial committee will consider and recommend proposals for a “fitting tribute” to the nation’s longest-reigning monarch following her death in September 2022. It will be jointly supported by the UK Government and the Royal Household, […]

Labour aims to cut the cost of school uniforms by limiting the number of branded items parents are forced to buy. The party has pledged to strengthen existing statutory guidance in an effort to reduce the burden on families struggling with the cost-of-living crisis. It proposes parents would only have to buy a maximum of three branded items of uniform and PE kit. Statutory guidance introduced in 2021 states schools […]

Jeremy Hunt has renewed his commitment to halving inflation as families grapple with the cost-of-living crisis after figures suggested the UK economy recovered from the pandemic faster than expected. In a message aimed at reassurance ahead of the next fiscal event, the Chancellor acknowledged the lingering pressure on household budgets but insisted the Government’s plan to cut Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation is working. Labour said the comments were “completely […]

Clive Myrie has spoken of how the Windrush scandal hit his family as he called the Home Office policy an “utter disgrace”. The newsreader, 59, talked in an upcoming book Everything Is Everything: A Memoir Of Love, Hate & Hope, about how his two half-brothers were affected. Born and raised in Bolton, Greater Manchester, Myrie grew up the son of Windrush generation parents from Jamaica. He claimed in extracts, published […]

The King wore a new tartan for his visit to the Braemar Royal Highland Gathering, a short distance from his summer residence at Balmoral in Aberdeenshire. The King Charles III tartan, named after the monarch, is green, blue and red and was designed by the Scottish Tartans Authority earlier this year to mark the coronation. The King was accompanied by the Queen, wearing an outfit by Mr Roy, with his […]

Hundreds of families and well-wishers have waved off the Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales as it set sail for exercises off the US – a year after it broke down a few miles into a similar trip across the Atlantic. The £3 billion warship suffered a broken propeller shaft after it sailed from Portsmouth Naval Base in August 2022 for a diplomatic mission to carry out exercises […]