United Kingdom

    Theresa May has announced an inquiry into the use of contaminated blood products in the NHS that killed thousands of people in the 1970s and 80s. At least 2,400 people throughout the UK are thought to have died after being given blood products infected with hepatitis C and HIV. The announcement from Jeremy Hunt follows a campaign from former Labour minister Andy Burnham and a joint letter calling for a public inquiry from the leaders of the six opposition parties. Earlier this week, Andy Burnham said he was prepared to go the police if the Government failed to act on the scandal. He said: I’ve got extensive evidence that’s been sent to me by many victims of serious crimes in my view falsification of medical records, people being tested for hepatitis C, HIV without their kn...

    Theresa May has suspended a Eurosceptic Conservative MP who described leaving the EU without a deal as the “real n----r in the woodpile. The decision means that the Conservative party's working majority – which includes the backing from the Democratic Unionist Party - in the House of Commons falls to 12. Anne Marie Morris, the MP for Newton Abbott, in Devon, made the remark during a meeting of Eurosceptics in central London. The Prime Minister, who is holding onto a fragile Tory majority, acted three hours after the comments were published on the Huffington Post's website. Inconceivable for an MP using tht expression 2 be incognisant of its history, impact & complete unacceptability.So ashamed! #AnneMarieMorris She said: I was shocked to hear of these remarks, which ar...

    Campaigners have lost a high-profile case calling for UK arms sales to Saudi Arabia to be stopped over humanitarian concerns as the high court ruled exports could continue. Campaign Against the Arms Trade (CAAT) launched the high profile judicial review of the government’s decision to continue granting weapons export licences to the country despite widespread concern over the civilian death toll of its campaign in Yemen. Delivering an open judgment in the high court in London, Lord Justice Burnett, who heard the case with Mr Justice Haddon-Cave, said: “We have concluded that the material decisions of the secretary of state were lawful. We therefore dismiss the claim. The judgment was necessarily long and rather dense, he said. The court is also handing down a closed judgme...

    Theresa May has been accused of offering EU workers in the UK second class citizenship in a stark warning from the European parliament that it would reject her damp squib opening offer on the Brexit negotiations. The prime minister, who will on Monday attempt to relaunch her struggling tenure in Downing Street, was told that the EU legislature would reserve its right to reject any agreement that treats EU citizens less favourably than they are at present. Writing in the Guardian, the parliament’s Brexit coordinator Guy Verhofstadt and eight other leading MEPs say the UK’s opening offer on citizens’ rights falls short of both the EU proposal and Vote Leave’s campaign pledges. The European Union has a common mission to extend, enhance and expand rights, not to reduce them, t...

    Theresa May will ask Jeremy Corbyn for his support in delivering Brexit and pushing through legislation as she faces up to the reality I now face as Prime Minister. Mrs May will on Tuesday make a direct appeal to opposition parties to contribute, not just criticise and help clarify and improve her policies in the Commons instead of undermining them. It comes at a time Mrs May's leadership is at its weakest, amid open calls by Tory MPs for her to stand down following her failure to secure a majority at the election. Her comments are likely to spark fear among pro-Brexit Conservatives that Mrs May is willing to compromise on their ambition for a hard Brexit. However the Prime Minister is determined not to soften her position on Brexit and insists that ending the jurisdiction...

    Theresa May is planning to relaunch her political mission to deliver Brexit and help ordinary working people, as she tries to put last month’s disastrous election result behind her, according to a senior government official. May is lining up significant interventions in the next week, including a major speech, setting out her commitment to social and economic reform that will make Britain’s exit from the European Union a success, the person said on condition of anonymity because the plans are not public. The reboot of May’s premiership comes after the electoral fiasco put her under intense scrutiny, with many in her own team convinced she must be replaced sooner or later. By losing the government’s majority, she’s reopened the debate over how Brexit should unfold, with som...

    At least one man trapped in a tower block blaze in El Salvador leapt from the top floor and survived. The horrific fire at the Ministry of Finance in the capital San Salvador left one dead from smoke inhalation and injured 23 others. The fire, possible sparked by a fault in the air conditioning, engulfed four floors of the government building on Friday afternoon. At least 50 people were evacuated. But in disturbing scenes reminiscent of the recent Grenfell tragedy in London, one man in a white t-shirt and jeans was left clinging to the outside of the building in a desperate bid to evade the flames. Onlookers were left screaming when he decided to jump. But authorities later said he had survived with serious injuries. There were also reports that two more people may have ju...

    A schoolgirl has been killed after a minibus carrying pupils from a high school near Burton-on-Trent collided with a bin lorry. Twenty-one pupils from Year 9 and Year 12 at John Taylor High School in Barton-under-Needwood were on an art trip with three teachers when the accident happened on the A38 Kingsbury Road in Castle Vale this morning. One of whom, a teenage girl, had suffered serious injuries in the collision and unfortunately it immediately became apparent that nothing could be done to save her and she was confirmed dead at the scene, a West Midland Ambulance Service spokesman said. The children were on an art trip when the collision happened One pupil was taken to hospital with "superficial injuries, while several others were treated at the scene. Superintendent D...

    A mayor has complained that her prosperous Devon town has become a magnet for begging tourists who police claim could be earning up to £35,000 a year. Rosie Adams, the mayor of Totnes, said that people are coming from other places to beg. I hate to say it but we have begging tourists, she said. They are coming in from other places and actually spoiling it for our local people. There is no need in Totnes for anyone to go hungry. They should not feel in any way scared. It's obviously an ideal place for beggars to come to. Police have confirmed that aggressive beggars have been harassing passersby in the town. They said that beggars in the town raise up to £100 a day - the equivalent of up to £35,000 a year. The local police said in a statement: Historically we have taken a f...

    An 11-year-old girl who died after falling from a water ride at Drayton Manor Park stood up and tried to rejoin her friends before being sucked under by the current, a MPs have heard. Evha Jannath, 11, died at the Staffordshire theme park when she fell from the Splash Canyon ride on May 9. MP Keith Vaz has claimed after falling in the water, she stood up and, for several minutes, tried to return to the ride - but received no help. The heartbreaking details were revealed in a special debate looking into child safety at theme parks. Mr Vaz told MPs: "Evha got on the Splash Canyon ride at just after 2pm with her school friends. According to eyewitness accounts, as the Splash Canyon ride went around its circuit, Evha fell into the water as the vessels bumped into one of the si...