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Campaigners have won a case against a station car park expansion in Constable Country, in what they say is an “important victory” for protected landscapes. The Dedham Vale Society and Campaign for National Parks brought a judicial review over the decision to approve a car park extension, lighting and fencing at the rail station at Manningtree, Essex, without observing a new legal duty to conserve and enhance national parks and […]

The Scottish Greens have called on the UK Government to remove the block on Scotland’s gender reforms. The Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill was passed at Holyrood in 2022, with MSPs backing the plans to make it easier for trans people to obtain a gender recognition certificate by removing the need for a medical diagnosis. The controversial legislation caused a political firestorm in Scotland, with opponents claiming it could endanger […]

Sir Keir Starmer has faced accusations of “fudging the facts” about his education, from the founder of a social mobility charity. Sutton Trust founder Sir Peter Lampl, who went to the same school as the Prime Minister, Reigate Grammar, made the claim as he attacked the Government’s plans to charge VAT on private school fees. The school was funded by the local council when the Prime Minister joined, but became […]

Nigel Farage has compared Reform UK’s rise in the polls with Donald Trump’s presidential victory in the US, as the party squared up to the Tories with a rally in Kemi Badenoch’s constituency. The North West Essex rally, which heard speeches from four of Reform’s five MPs, follows a spat between Conservative Party leader Mrs Badenoch and Mr Farage over party membership figures during the Christmas period. Mr Farage told […]

US President Donald Trump will put in place 25% tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico and 10% tariffs on goods from China effective on Saturday, the White House said. But it provided no word on whether there would be any exemptions to the measures that could result in swift price increases to US consumers. Mr Trump had been threatening the tariffs to ensure greater co-operation from the countries on […]

AstraZeneca has cancelled a planned £450 million investment in a vaccine manufacturing plant in Merseyside, saying Labour failed to match the previous government’s offer of support. The decision reverses an announcement made by then-chancellor Jeremy Hunt at last year’s March budget that would have seen the pharmaceutical company expand its existing facility in Speke. At the time, the Conservative government said the investment would both boost the UK’s life sciences […]

Kemi Badenoch has dismissed Reform UK as a “protest party” as Nigel Farage prepares to hold a rally in her constituency. The Conservative leader told broadcasters she was “not at all” worried about Reform’s presence in her North West Essex constituency, adding that talking about Labour’s farming policy was “much more important than having a rally about myself”. The rally, which is expected to see speeches from all five of […]

A senior adviser to the Duke of York told an alleged Chinese spy later banned from the UK that Andrew’s Newsnight interview had been “ill advised”, newly released documents show. Tribunal documents made available on Friday show that aide Dominic Hampshire thanked Yang Tengbo for standing by Andrew following the 2019 interview over his relationship with late billionaire sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. “We have dealt with the aftermath of a […]

Consumers will see the price of alcohol rise from Saturday when a hike in tax and duties comes into effect. The alcohol tax itself will rise in line with the Retail Price Index at 3.6%, but a new system to tax wines and spirits based on strength will be introduced at the same time. This means the duty on a bottle of gin will rise by 32p, while wine at […]