The former health secretary was speaking during a show on the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. He had previously admitted there was some “arrogance” around the party’s campaign in 1997, on which he worked, but told host, and former MSP, Neil Findlay that he was not sure if the current party hadContinue Reading
O ne of the most prestigious private schools in the country has been given the green light to open free selective sixth form colleges in disadvantaged areas. Eton College, a boarding school near Windsor in Berkshire, and academy trust Star Academies will set up three state sixth forms in Dudley,Continue Reading
A sylum seeker accommodation costs will eventually exceed £5 billion annually even if the Government’s Rwanda deportation plan is ruled lawful by the Supreme Court, a report reveals. Housing costs will balloon as a “perma-backlog” of asylum seeker cases grows, even if the Government were to remove hundreds of peopleContinue Reading
N adine Dorries is facing increasing pressure to step down as an MP as a second council has demanded her immediate departure from office. The Tory former cabinet minister announced her intention to quit in June after she failed to receive a peerage in Boris Johnson’s resignation honours list butContinue Reading
A round 300,000 fewer top GCSE grades could be awarded this week in a “shock” to pupils and their parents, it has been suggested. Exams regulator Ofqual has said a return to pre-pandemic grading means this year’s national GCSE results in England will be lower than last year and similarContinue Reading
L ondon mayor Sadiq Khan has been accused of attempting to “squash dissent”, after his deputy asked a City Hall-funded expert to counter science that questioned the benefits of a charge on polluting vehicles. Shirley Rodrigues asked an academic, who was in receipt of funding from Mr Khan’s office, onContinue Reading
A Cabinet minister has ruled out adding an extra bank holiday to the calendar to allow the public to celebrate should England win Sunday’s World Cup final. There had been calls from Opposition politicians, including Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, for a national day off in the Lionesses’ honour ifContinue Reading
T he family of Victorian-era prime minister William Gladstone are due to travel to the Caribbean to apologise for the historical part an ancestor played in the slave trade. William, who was Liberal prime minister on four occasions in the 19th century, was son of John Gladstone – one ofContinue Reading
L awyers representing exonerated prisoner Andrew Malkinson have called for the chairmanship of the body responsible for investigating potential miscarriages of justice to be made full-time. Emily Bolton, the solicitor for Mr Malkinson – who served 17 years behind bars after being wrongly convicted of rape, said the position ofContinue Reading
S cotland’s Deputy First Minister has rejected calls to field a single pro-independence candidate in Rutherglen and Hamilton West. Former first minister and Alba Party leader Alex Salmond said his former party was heading for “electoral disaster” if the pro-independence vote is split. In an open letter to First MinisterContinue Reading
