United Kingdom

    Six people have been killed and another critically injured in a "very difficult and upsetting" crash in Birmingham. The collision, which involved six vehicles, happened shortly after 1am at the entrance to the underpass on Lee Bank Middleway near Edgbaston. West Midlands Police have warned the road is likely to remain closed "for a very long time", with detectives describing the circumstances of the "serious collision" as "very difficult and upsetting". Three men died after being thrown out of their car, while a black cab driver and his two passengers also died. Three other cars collided as they tried to avoid the initial crash. Birmingham car crash Police have launched an investigation. West Midlands Ambulance Service, which dispatched five ambulances and three paramedics...

    You’ve seen it in movies, in The Crown and on countless postcards, but how much do you really know about the most famous palace in the world? Buckingham Palace. Say it out loud. It sounds very commanding, doesn't it? And so it should. It is the working headquarters of Her Majesty The Queen. Grand and magisterial, the palace's origins can be traced all the way back to the reign of James I, who established a mulberry plantation in the palace grounds for the rearing of silkworms. Since then George III, George IV, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, King Edward and Queen Alexandra, King George V and Queen Mary, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth and our current Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh have all left their marks on the regal house. Fall back in love with the tourist hotspo...

    MPs have been warned Brussels will not re-negotiate a Brexit deal if Parliament rejects it, as EU leaders reacted to Theresa May's defeat on key legislation. A group of Tory rebels forced an amendment to the EU Withdrawal Bill on Wednesday night, as they secured their demand for a meaningful vote on any Brexit deal. But, despite MPs celebrating their victory over the Government, EU leaders gathering in Brussels warned the vote will complicate the Brexit process. Luxembourg's president Xavier Bettel suggested the UK will not be able to return to Brussels asking for a different exit deal, if it is voted down by the House of Commons. Speaking at a European Council summit on Thursday, he said: I really believe that to think that Theresa May will negotiate something, we will ne...

    Theresa May has been warned by Tory rebels she faces a second embarrassing Commons defeat over Brexit before Christmas . The threat was delivered to the Prime Minister as she jetted to Brussels for a critical EU summit on Thursday night which could derail her plans to exit the EU by the deadline of March 2019. She was still reeling from the humiliation of losing her first Brexit vote after MPs won the power to amend the final divorce deal by four votes after members of her own party rebelled. With Tory infighting threatening to engulf her, the PM desperately tried to launch a fight back on Thursday night. She insisted she was on course to deliver on Brexit and told EU leaders at a private dinner she was personally committed to working with them to ensure a smooth and order...

    Justin Welby has said Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s wedding is no tick-box exercise and their love provides a model for the rest of the nation. Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, the Archbishop of Canterbury said: I am very, very sure after conversations that this is no tick-box exercise, we ought to get married in a church. They are due to marry at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, in May. What Harry and Meghan Can Learn from the Queen’s Marriage There is a profound sense of commitment, of seriousness, both about faith and their lives together, which is quite inspirational. It’s important because people look at it and see a model of how two people commit their lives to one another before God in the presence of millions of people. It’s always a beautiful momen...

    The full list of the 11 Tory MPs who dealt Theresa May her humiliating first Commons defeat over Brexit has been revealed. The Prime Minister gas lost a crunch vote by 309 to 305, a majority of just four, to give MPs a meaningful vote on her final deal with Brussels. It is a blow to May as she jets to Brussels to meet 27 EU leaders as they are set to sign off the first-round deal she struck with the EU Commission on citizens’ rights, Northern Ireland and the divorce bill on Friday. The MPs included veteran Europhile Ken Clarke and ex-ministers Nicky Morgan and Anna Soubry alongside usually loyal MPs such as Antoinette Sandbach. Labour Brexiteers Dennis Skinner and Ronnie Campbell then pushed the vote over the line by backing the pro-Europeans’ amendment. The furious row ex...

    Theresa May is heading to Brussels for the third time in 10 days just hours after the embarrassment of her first Commons defeat on Brexit. After last week's Brussels deal, the Prime Minister will urge leaders of the other 27 EU countries to move on as quickly as possible to talks on post-Brexit trade deals. But the latest talks with EU leaders come at the end of a week of setbacks since the success of her early morning dash to Brussels and Brexit breakthrough last Friday. First the Government was hit by a backlash against David Davis's claims on Sunday that the deal was a "statement of intent" and a trade deal could be signed immediately after the UK leaves the EU. And now a Commons defeat which forces the Government to amend its EU (Withdrawal) Bill - a move which ministe...

    David Davis on the BBC’s Andrew Marr show at the weekend when he made the comments about the UK’s agreement with the EU which will allow Brexit talks to progress to the next stage. David Davis has scrambled to salvage relations with Brussels after he was accused of damaging trust in the Brexit talks by making inflammatory comments. EU leaders have warned the British government against backtracking on promises made in Brussels after Davis suggested a Brexit breakthrough reached last week had no legal status. Senior EU figures voiced irritation on Tuesday with Davis’s claim over the weekend that the UK’s concessions in an agreement struck last week to move talks on were merely a statement of intent without legal backing. Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief negotiator, warned that...

    Theresa May has insisted Britain's offer of a Brexit fee around £40bn will be off the table if there is no final deal on a future UK partnership with the EU. Having returned from Brussels last week with a draft agreement on initial divorce matters, the Prime Minister faced a 105 minute grilling by MPs on the terms of the deal struck on the first phase of Brexit negotiations. Mrs May confirmed the UK has consented to a financial settlement worth between £35bn-39bn; agreed measures to protect the rights of EU citizens in the UK; and made a commitment to there being no hard border on the island of Ireland. The Prime Minister hailed a new sense of optimism in Brexit negotiations, with good news for both Leavers and Remainers who want a smooth and orderly departure from the EU....

    The UK has shivered through the coldest night of the year so far, with temperatures plunging as low as -13C. Large swathes of the country saw temperatures fall below freezing, and the Met Office says the village of Shawbury in Shropshire was coldest of all. Severe weather warnings for snow and ice are in place until 11am on Tuesday across much of the UK as forecasters warned the icy conditions could bring further travel disruption. Hundreds of schools are also staying closed for the day - including in Staffordshire, Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Shropshire and parts of Wales - amid concerns of treacherous conditions on untreated paths, and fears that snow will have compacted into ice. The Met Office said: "Some roads and railways are likely to be affected with some journ...