United Kingdom

    Investigators have smashed an organised crime gang smuggling hundreds of illegal immigrants a year into the UK. Twenty-one suspects were arrested in a wave of early morning raids across Cleveland in the North East, London and East Sussex. The gang is believed to have charged immigrants up to 10,000 euros to be hidden in trucks and brought across the English Channel. Most of the trafficked immigrants are Iraqi Kurds, mostly men but some families have also been brought into Britain. Among those arrested were two men suspected of being organisers of the gang, which has been operating in France, Belgium and Holland. More than 350 police officers were involved in the raids co-ordinated by the National Crime Agency after a year-long investigation. Investigators were a...

    The Tories have awarded a lucrative rail franchise to Virgin Trains just two minutes after revealing another franchise part-run by the firm was set to collapse within months Virgin Trains East Coast is a partnership between Stagecoach and Sir Richard Branson's empire. The government had already decided to end the franchise three years early in 2020 which could cost taxpayers up to £2bn in lost payments to the Treasury. But today Transport Secretary Chris Grayling admitted to the commons that the franchise only had enough cash to operate in its current form for a matter of a very small number of months and no more. And in a move branded outrageous by a rail union leader Virgin Trains was given an extension to run services on the London to Glasgow route. He called ...

    US President Donald Trump has triggered another extraordinary spat with Theresa May’s government after claiming the NHS was going broke and not working. Health and Social Care Secretary Jeremy Hunt hit back by saying he was proud of the British system despite the challenges it faced. The US president said thousands of people are marching in the UK because of concerns about the state of the NHS. Mr Trump made the attack as he targeted Democrats pushing for a British-style universal health system in the US. But Mr Hunt responded to Mr Trump’s Twitter attack with a post of his own, saying no-one protesting about the state of the NHS wanted a US-style system. NHS may have challenges but I’m proud to be from the country that invented universal coverage – where all get...

    Another blast of heavy snow and ice is set to cause travel chaos across large parts of the UK with the country shivering through the coldest week of winter. Severe weather warnings are place from Monday night - with more than 2ins of snow possible through Wales, Northern Ireland, most of Scotland, northern England and the Midlands before Tuesday afternoon. Hail and thunder are possible in western Scotland and parts of Northern Ireland. A further 4ins of snow may fall by Wednesday morning in parts of Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Drivers have been told to prepare for hazardous driving conditions due to heavy snow and ice that is expected to cover many routes. Here is what the forecast looks like in your area. Central, Tayside and Fife Rain and snow will ...

    Downing Street has moved to reassure Tory Brexiteers that Theresa May is committed to taking Britain out of the EU customs union, amid growing dissent on her backbenches and speculation she could face a leadership challenge over the issue. With anger rising among Tory Eurosceptics over suggestions the Prime Minister was considering softening her Brexit stance, Number 10 sources insisted the UK would categorically [be] leaving the customs union. It came after warnings from senior Brexiteers and reports that anti-EU Tory backbenchers could launch a bid to topple Ms May if she joined pro-EU Cabinet ministers including Philip Hammond, the Chancellor, and Amber Rudd, in advocating an ongoing customs union with the EU. The confusion deepened on Friday, when a Downing Str...

    The actress-turned-royal bride's half-brother, Thomas Markle Jr., 50, has spoken out to reveal that he doesn't think his own sons should be asked to attend their aunt's wedding when she marries Prince Harry, 33, on May 19. Tom Jr. who shares a father with Meghan, 36 told Britain's Sunday Mirror that his boys, Thomas, 26, and Tyler, 25, and their mother, his ex-wife Tracy Dooley, "should not be getting any invite to the wedding. His comments come, reports the Sunday Mirror, after Tracy and their sons gave a TV interview in which they said they would be "honored" to attend Meghan and Harry's wedding. It's got to stop. The boys were babies when they met Meghan last and Tracy has never even met Meghan, ever, Tom Jr. told the newspaper. He explained of Tracy, whom he d...

    Queen Elizabeth II, In a bid to avoid any unforeseen mishap or collision with a drone, full details of the British royal family's helicopter flights have been made public, which in turn has raised a fear of terror attacks, security experts claimed. The flight plans, which include exact time and routes to be taken by the Queen and other royals during their trips, were published by NOTAM - Notice To Airmen a safety alert system managed by UK's air traffic control body. A newsletter from the Civil Aviation Authority further explained the reason behind this latest security move, as per the Mail Online. "For flight safety reasons, the details of Royal helicopter flights are now being published by NOTAM and so will also be depicted on airspace mapping apps," read a newsl...

    Theresa May must defy Chancellor Philip Hammond and deliver a “clean Brexit” if she is to hold the Conservative Party together, a leading Tory backbench Brexiteer has warned. As senior ministers prepare for two days of discussions on Britain future relationship with the EU, Bernard Jenkin said Tory MPs “overwhelmingly” wanted an end to the current uncertainty. Writing in The Sunday Telegraph, he warned the Prime Minister would only continue to command a majority in Parliament if she stuck to her present policy which includes leaving the single market and the customs union. His intervention came as a former Whitehall mandarin accused Brexiteers who blame civil servants for trying sabotage Britain’s withdrawal from the EU of using tactics similar to those adopted by ...

    Affordability in UK cities is at its worst level since 2007 but buyers who head to Scotland, the North of England and Northern Ireland should ease their purse strings a little. While the average price of a city home has risen 36 per cent in the past five years to £233,000, average annual earnings rose just nine per cent to £33,420 in the same period, according to a report from Lloyds bank. However, although Greater London recorded the highest average property price at £480,800, with Brighton and Hove it was joint third least affordable UK city thanks to marginally higher wages in the capital. The least affordable city was Oxford, where the average house price of £430,000 was found to be 11.5 times average earnings. Since the 2014 mortgage market review, which impo...

    Health workers, activists and unions are marching in central London on Saturday to protest against government inaction over the NHS winter crisis. Hospitals have been overwhelmed in recent weeks by a surge in admissions that has led to delays of up to 12 hours on emergency wards, patients left on trollies for hours and thousands of patients forced to wait in ambulances before receiving urgent care. Two pressure groups, the People’s Assembly and Health Campaigns Together, have organised the rally to call on the government to plug funding and resource gaps in the health service. The actorRalf Little joined hundreds of nurses, doctors and campaigners, and called on the health secretary, Jeremy Hunt, to attend the demonstration as well. The Royle Family actor, who was...