UK

An amber warning for heavy rain has been issued by the Met Office – warning of further flooding and travel disruption across large swathes of the UK. The new weather alert covers central England from 6pm on Thursday until 6am on Friday. Nearly three inches of rain could fall over several hours in the worst-affected

Sir Keir Starmer accepted a £20,000 donation for the use of a flat during the election after promising his family he would protect them. The prime minister‘s register of interests shows a declaration for accommodation provided by Lord Waheed Alli to the value of £20,437.28 from 29 May to 13 July this year. The election

A new weather warning for heavy rain has been issued by the Met Office which could cause further widespread flooding and travel disruption. The yellow warning has been issued for much of England and Wales, apart from North Wales, parts of the West Midlands and the North West, between 5pm on Thursday and 10am on

Around 700 UK troops are deploying to Cyprus to be ready to help evacuate British nationals from Lebanon as fears grow of all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah. Defence Secretary John Healey – who chaired a meeting of the UK’s emergency Cobra committee earlier – has urged all Britons to leave the crisis-torn country “now”.

A fresh weather warning has been issued – bringing the potential for heavy rain, strong winds and the risk of yet more flooding. Some areas have been struck by more than a month’s worth of rain in the past 24 hours – with rising waters damaging homes and making roads impassable. Earlier on Tuesday commuters

Nurses have rejected the government’s offer of a 5.5% pay rise, the Royal College of Nursing has said. Two thirds of nursing staff voted against the current year’s pay award, with a record high 145,000 members of the union casting a vote. In a letter to Health Secretary Wes Streeting MP, RCN general secretary Professor

An amber warning for heavy rain is in force for millions of people in England until 9pm tonight. Many places could see between 60mm and 80m (2.36in and 3.15in) – with up to 120mm (4.72in) possible in a few locations, said the Met Office. A broad area from Gloucester through the Midlands and up to

Sir Keir Starmer will defend focusing on “short-term pain” for “long-term gain” as he reiterates the need for “tough decisions” during his keynote speech at the Labour Party conference. Speaking on Tuesday, the prime minister will again point to the £22bn “black hole” in public finances he claims was left by the Conservatives, saying there

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has acknowledged it had twice failed to bring charges against Mohamed al Fayed for sexual abuse. The former Harrods owner, who died last year at the age of 94, was described as a “monster” earlier this week by lawyers representing alleged sexual abuse victims. Women say he raped and sexually

The former head of royal protection says he warned the Royal Family about Mohamed al Fayed’s reputation before Princess Diana took her sons on holiday with him. The former Harrods owner, who died last year at the age of 94, was described as a “monster” earlier this week by lawyers representing 37 alleged sexual abuse

Fewer police officers are working on unsolved murder cases amid warnings the Metropolitan Police is dangerously stretched. Five officers from the force are moving from a specialist cold case department investigating the 30-year-old murder of Atek Hussain to instead bolster basic command units. Mr Hussain, 32, was stabbed in the heart as he returned from

A former member of the Harrods management team has told how Mohamed al Fayed would “cherry pick” women from the shop floor. Speaking to Sky News anonymously, the woman described the billionaire, who died last year aged 94, as “demonic” and said he “controlled everything with fear”. Lawyers representing 37 alleged victims of sexual abuse

The family of an NHS pharmacist who took his own life after suffering paralysing complications from a COVID jab are calling for urgent reform of the government’s compensation scheme for vaccine damage. John Cross was told by the official medical assessor for the scheme that the jab had caused his rare neurological effects, but that

Sir Keir Starmer has insisted it would “cost the taxpayer a fortune” if he were to watch Arsenal from the stands after it emerged he had accepted thousands of pounds worth of free football tickets. The prime minister has faced criticism after Sky News’ Westminster Accounts project revealed he had received two-and-a-half times more gifts

A serving prison governor from one of the country’s crowded jails has spoken anonymously to Sky News about conditions inside, the reality of early release and why we should rethink who is sent to jail. Here is what he told us. There is a smell you always associate with prison – the smell of unwashed

Police have dropped the case against a woman arrested for sharing false information about the identity of the Southport stabbing suspect. Bernadette Spofforth was arrested at her Chester home in August on suspicion of publishing written material to stir up racial hatred and false communications. In the hours after the killing of the three children,

The rat man from the council has just turned up. He is back at James and Oscar’s home laying more poison that the rats keep eating. “I woke up the other night at three in the morning and one was biting my nose,” James says. It’s the stuff of nightmares but it has become James and

Two young women who claim to have been repeatedly raped as part of an organised child sexual abuse ring have complained to Humberside Police after being told officers from their investigation have been diverted to deal with cases from the summer riots. ‘Anna’ and ‘Sarah’ – not their real names – were teenagers when Sky

Huw Edwards has been given a six-month jail sentence suspended for two years for accessing indecent images of children as young as seven. The former BBC presenter had pleaded guilty to three counts of “making” indecent images of children. While the judge called his crimes “extremely serious offences,” he concluded that Edwards didn’t present a

In a photo her sister treasures, Paula Parretti smiles brightly. It was taken soon after she had decided to colour half of her hair bright pink. “She was an amazing auntie, like the fun aunt,” Sam Cook recalls. “She’d always be there for my children. Laughing, joking, buying them the noisiest toys, all that fun

A man has been charged with murdering a wife and two daughters in a crossbow attack at their home in Hertfordshire. Kyle Clifford, 26, from Enfield, will appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court today, Bedfordshire Police said. He is also charged with false imprisonment and two counts of possession of offensive weapons. Clifford is suspected of

At least eight migrants have died off the coast of France while attempting to cross the English Channel as new data reveals 801 people arrived on the UK’s shores yesterday. The latest government figures show those who arrived made their journey on Saturday in 14 boats. The current record for the highest number of arrivals

The number of second homes being put up for sale in one part of Wales has increased by more than 250% – as homeowners and businesses criticise the Welsh government’s council tax premium. Many councils in Wales now charge an inflated tax rate for second homes, up to 300%, with the aim of freeing up

A man allegedly sexually assaulted a woman on the same day he was released from prison under the government’s early release scheme. He allegedly reoffended in Sittingbourne in Kent and was later arrested at an address in south London. He was among more than 1,700 inmates released from prison last week in a bid to

Families of more than 300 victims of the infected blood scandal are calling on the government to make changes to the compensation scheme, claiming they are being “excluded” from the current guidelines. Thousands became infected with HIV and hepatitis C through contaminated blood products in the 1970s and 1980s, with more than 3,000 known to

BBC presenter Jay Blades – who appears on The Repair Shop – has been charged with engaging in controlling and coercive behaviour against his estranged wife, police have said. The 54-year-old appeared at Kidderminster Magistrates’ Court earlier today and was bailed to appear again at Worcester Crown Court on 11 October. The alleged coercive behaviour

Sir Keir Starmer has said that Russia started the Ukraine war and “could end the conflict straight away”. The prime minister is heading to Washington DC for talks with President Joe Biden at the White House on Friday over the ongoing conflict. Sir Keir has backed Kyiv’s right to defend itself after Russian leader Vladimir

A 17-year-old male has been arrested as part of the investigation into a cyber security incident affecting Transport for London (TfL). The teenager was detained in Walsall on suspicion of Computer Misuse Act offences in relation to the attack, which was launched on TfL on 1 September. He has been questioned by officers from the

Sir Keir Starmer will warn the NHS must “reform or die”, as the government publishes an independent investigation into the state of the health service. The report – ordered by Health Secretary Wes Streeting days after he took on the role – was carried out by peer and surgeon Lord Darzi. Politics live: Starmer and

If you want a sense of the “change” government, Sir Keir Starmer becoming the first prime minister in 15 years to address the Trade Union Congress is it. The Tories out and Labour in is what the trade union movement has yearned for. This has been a patient base, waiting for a new deal. But

A mum who decided to go to Ibiza rather than attend the sentencing of her 12-year-old son involved in the summer’s riots has been ordered to pay compensation amounting to the cost of her holiday. The boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons because of his age, was previously due to be sentenced on

MPs have voted to cut the winter fuel payment for all but the country’s poorest pensioners. A Tory move to block the measure was defeated by 348 to 228 votes – a majority of 120. Labour has a working majority in the Commons of 167. The division list showed Labour MP Jon Trickett supported the

The chief inspector of prisons for England and Wales has warned that today’s early release of around 1,750 offenders is going to be “risky”. It is being done to create space in the country’s overcrowded prisons and the government insists the alternative was “unthinkable” and would have led to a “total collapse of the criminal