News – World and UK

Membership of Reform UK has surpassed that of the Conservatives, Nigel Farage’s party has said. A digital counter on the Reform website showed a membership tally before lunchtime on Boxing Day ticking past the 131,680 figure declared by the Conservative Party during its leadership election earlier this year. Mr Farage said it was a “historic moment” as he posted on X: “The youngest political party in British politics has just […]

Two women have died and a man and a teenage boy suffered serious injuries after a suspected stabbing in Milton Keynes on Christmas Day. A 49-year-old man from the Buckinghamshire city was arrested on suspicion of murder and attempted murder and is in custody, Thames Valley Police said. Officers were called to a block of apartments in Santa Cruz Avenue, Bletchley, at about 6.30pm on Wednesday. The women, aged 38 […]

Taking the plunge at a Boxing Day swim meant more than just a dip in the sea for one happy couple. As hundreds of bathers dashed for the water in Tenby, a magical moment was happening between Victoria Tansey and Philip Frith. Mr Frith, 34, went down on one knee on the sand and asked Miss Tansey, 37, to marry him. She said an ecstatic yes to the carefully planned […]

The Government is under pressure over its manifesto pledge to ban trail hunting as hunts gather for the traditional Boxing Day meet. Anti-hunting campaigners are urging them to deliver on the promise to ban trail hunting – a practice in which a scent is laid across the countryside for hounds and riders to follow as an alternative to banned fox hunting, but which has been criticised as a “smokescreen” for […]

More than 360,000 train services across Britain were fully or part-cancelled in the past year as reliability is at a joint record low amid major staffing shortages. PA news agency analysis of the latest Office of Rail and Road data found 208,000 services were fully axed in the year to November 9. A further 161,000 were part-cancelled, meaning they did not serve at least one of their scheduled stops. The […]

The Monarch spoke from Fitzrovia Chapel, a former London hospital chapel The King has used his Christmas address to pay tribute to the “selfless” doctors and nurses who provided “strength, care and comfort” during cancer treatment for himself and the Princess of Wales. In his annual message to the nation and Commonwealth, Charles offered his “heartfelt thanks” to the medical teams who supported him and his family “through the uncertainties […]

A 39-year-old man was shot dead by armed police on Christmas Eve. West Mercia Police said officers were called by West Midlands Ambulance Service to an address in Redditch, Worcestershire, at around 2pm on Tuesday after concerns were raised for the safety of a man with a knife. The force said attempts were made over “several hours” to deal with the incident but the man was shot at around 7.40pm. […]

Britons are enjoying a “remarkably mild” Christmas Eve as shoppers dash to buy last-minute gifts and travellers head home for the festive season. Although conditions on Tuesday are expected to be “grey and gloomy”, it will be the warmest day of the week, with highs of up to 15C in north east Wales, according to the Met Office. This is slightly lower than the warmest Christmas Eve on record – […]

More than 10,000 people in the armed forces are “not medically deployable”, figures from the Ministry of Defence (MoD) have shown. In a written parliamentary question, Defence minister Al Carns revealed that across the various branches of the armed forces, 99,560 are medically fully deployable, with 14,350 limited deployability and 13,522 medically not deployable. The Royal Navy has 2,922 members medically not deployable , the army 6,879 and the Royal Air Force […]