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Concerns about a spike in baby deaths were not discussed at hospital board level until after the year-long attack spree of “elephant in the room” Lucy Letby had ended, a public inquiry has heard. The nurse was removed from non-clinical duties after the deaths of two triplet boys and the suspected collapse of another boy at the Countess of Chester Hospital’s neonatal unit on three successive days in June 2016. […]

Sir Keir Starmer has been accused of “hiding” the impact of the Government’s winter fuel payment cuts amid fears the policy will cause an increase in pensioner deaths. Former prime minister Rishi Sunak highlighted Labour research from 2017 which claimed Conservative plans to scrap the winter fuel payment for better-off pensioners could lead to almost 4,000 additional deaths over winter. Outgoing Tory leader Mr Sunak asked whether the Government believes […]

Israeli strikes on Palestinian territories have killed more than two dozen people, according to local officials. They say an Israeli air strike killed five Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, and at least 20 people, including 16 women and children, were killed in the Gaza Strip. Gaza’s health ministry said Tuesday’s strike on a tent camp in an Israeli-designated humanitarian zone killed at least 19 people. The ministry says more […]

The Ukrainian prime minister has asked the UK for “help and support” in using long-range missiles to strike Russian territory as he met the Foreign Secretary in Kyiv. David Lammy and his US counterpart Antony Blinken are on a joint visit to the Ukrainian capital to show support for Kyiv. Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly pushed for permission to use Western missiles to strike at targets within Vladimir Putin’s Russia, and […]

The UK economy flatlined in July for the second month in a row, according to the latest official figures, as the Chancellor said she was “under no illusion about the scale of the challenge” the country faces. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said gross domestic product (GDP) recorded no growth in July. Economists had been expecting GDP to edge up by 0.1% in the month, according to a consensus […]

Mel Stride has been eliminated from the Conservative leadership contest as Robert Jenrick topped the second round of voting by MPs. The second ballot in the Conservative leadership contest put Mr Jenrick first with 33 votes, followed by Kemi Badenoch with 28. James Cleverly and Tom Tugendhat tied with 21 votes. Mr Stride came in last with 16, knocking him out of the race. Dame Priti Patel was eliminated in […]

The case of serial killer Beverley Allitt formed part of nurse Lucy Letby’s training, a public inquiry has heard. The Thirlwall Inquiry, which will probe how Letby was able to attack babies on the Countess of Chester Hospital’s neo-natal unit in 2015 and 2016, opened on Tuesday with a statement which referenced nurse Allitt, who attacked children at the Grantham and Kesteven Hospital, Lincolnshire, in 1991, and killer GP Harold Shipman. Chairwoman […]

Sir Keir Starmer has seen off a backbench rebellion over plans to cut the winter fuel allowance but the Government’s majority fell to 120. MPs voted 348 to 228 against the Tory motion for the controversial policy to be blocked. A list of how MPs voted will be available shortly, though it will not be immediately clear how many actively chose to abstain as it will only show who voted […]

The United States and the UK have formally accused Iran of supplying short-range ballistic missiles to Russia to use in the war in Ukraine, and plan to take measures to punish those involved. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, speaking alongside British Foreign Secretary David Lammy during a visit to London, said sanctions will be announced later on Tuesday. “Russia has now received shipments of these ballistic missiles and will […]