United Kingdom

    These Birmingham schoolchildren were stood on the site of a terrorist incident just minutes before disaster struck. The children, who were on Westminster Bridge ahead of today's attack, are safe and well it has been confirmed. Police officer among five dead in sick and depraved incident They were safely inside Parliament with their MP Jess Phillips as the afternoon's tragic events unfolded. An image of the group from Holy Family Catholic Primary School in Small Heath posed happily on the bridge was posted on social media just 20 minutes before a car mounted the pavement and mowed down several people. They had been sightseeing in London and the school’s Twitter account posted photographs of them smiling at Buckingham Palace and Big Ben. Head Teacher for Holy Family Catholic...

    Furious Conservative MPs have urged Theresa May to stand firm against an EU threat to take Britain to the International Court of Justice to enforce a £50bn Brexit divorce bill. A draft plan obtained by a Dutch newspaper revealed the EU is readying for a long legal battle at The Hague if Britain tries to walk away without meeting its huge liabilities. In that case it is: see you in The Hague! it quoted an EU official in response to the Prime Minister’s vow to leave with no deal if necessary, perhaps seeking to avoid any exit bill. Neither Downing Street nor the European Commission denied the prospect of a court fight if the negotiations break down, both declining to comment on a leaked document. A Government source told The Independent that it recognised the divorce bill as...

    Theresa May is about to trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon treaty, officially informing the EU of the UK’s intention to withdraw. The issue gripping London and Brussels is what happens after the British prime minister notifies the bloc of the country’s plans on Wednesday March 29. Unless both sides agree on an extension, the UK and the EU have two years to agree a divorce deal before the bloc’s treaties cease to apply to Britain. This is the timeline set out in Article 50 itself 262 words that were scrawled at the kitchen table of John Kerr, a veteran UK diplomat, and which will shape the UK’s future. March-April 2017: EU-27 adopt guidelines After Mrs May activates Article 50 on March 29, the EU will draw up “guidelines” on handling Britain’s withdrawal. Donald Tusk, preside...

    She's the beautiful actress and activist who's not only won the heart of a prince, but is also said to be winning over the entire Royal family, one member at a time. The Suits actress is reportedly set to meet the Queen for the first time this Mother's Day, having already met Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cambridge. The reports that Meghan is set to meet the Queen obviously adds heat to already feverish speculation that Harry is intending to pop the question. Then there's the rumours she's set to leave Suits, plus her accompanying Harry to the wedding of one his closest friends. All of which piles fuel on to the engagement theories. So, if that was to happen, would the UK be getting another princess? After all, when Kate Middleton got her prince, she became one. Prince...

    Theresa May will face demands from the leaders of the UK’s devolved governments to radically rethink her approach to the union as she begins a four-nation tour before beginning Britain’s exit from the EU. Downing Street said the visits, which will begin on Monday in Swansea with the Welsh first minister, Carwyn Jones, would ensure the government was engaging and listening to people from right across the nation before triggering article 50. Jones, however, told the Guardian that May’s tin ear on issues of devolution would mean Westminster will soon replace the EU at the heart of voters’ frustrations at having their affairs managed from afar. The first minister of Wales, Carwyn Jones. Theresa May will begin her tour by visiting Jones in Swansea. He said there was a battle lo...

    It was a marriage doomed from the start as letters sent by Princess Diana reveal she spent her honeymoon catching up on sleep. In a rare insight into Prince Charles's marriage to Diana it appears the spark disappeared early on according to a letter sent by his former wife on their honeymoon to her lady-in-waiting. Written on Royal Yacht Britannia crested paper and dated August 15, 1981, she wrote: The honeymoon was a perfect opportunity to catch up on sleep.... The couple married at St Paul's Cathedral in July 1981, before separating 11 years later in 1992 and finally divorcing in 1996. The letter is included in a rare batch of correspondence between Diana and the Royal household which is set to be auctioned in Gloucestershire next month. Sent to her personal secretary Jan...

    When the Queen dies a highly detailed plan of how the nation will be told and what happens in the next days and hours will swing into action. It includes a special codeword for the Queen and a detailed plan with everything from her undertakers name to the number of pall bearers and the length of gunfire salute in her honour. Her last hours are likely to be overseen by her senior doctor, gastroenterologist Professor Huw Thomas, who will control access to her room and help decide what information should be made public. According to a report, when she dies it will be Sir Christopher Geidt, the Queen’s private secretary, who will spread the news, first contacting the prime minister. The Queen will be known by the codeword London Bridge and civil servants will say London Bridge...

    Gordon Brown will propose a third option of giving Scotland vast new powers in exchange for remaining in the UK. During a speech in Fife the former PM will suggest giving Holyrood the authority to sign treaties with other European countries and set VAT. He will also call for EU powers to be repatriated to the Scottish Parliament, Welsh Assembly and the regions not Westminster. Gordon Brown That would give Scots control after Brexit of the £800m they currently contribute to the EU. As Nicola Sturgeon prepares to ramp up her rhetoric at the SNP spring conference, Mr Brown will outline a compromise he believes suits everyone. He will say: With these proposed new powers let us send a message today and I will fight for this in the weeks and months ahead that from now on the deb...

    Theresa May has said now is not the time, for a second Scottish independence referendum, while the government puts all its energies in to negotiating Brexit. Nicola Sturgeon stunned Downing Street on Monday by announcing she would seek to call a vote before Britain leaves the European Union, and suggested it should be held between autumn 2018 and spring 2019. May gave her formal response in a television interview, in which she did completely not rule out a referendum in the future; but rejected Sturgeon’s timing, and suggested if a vote was held it would it would have to take place after Brexit. Theresa May said the UK should be working together, not puling apart. With article 50, which starts the two-year process for leaving the EU, due to be triggered by the end of this ...

    SNP deputy leader Angus Robertson is to accuse the UK Government of running scared of a second independence referendum. The party's leader in Westminster will also accuse the Conservatives of having a desperate desire to prevent anyone rejecting hard Brexit. It comes as Prime Minister Theresa May said it would it be fundamentally unfair to hold a second Scottish independence referendum in the next two years, as she prepares to outline plans for a more united UK. Mr Robertson is expected to tell the SNP spring conference in Aberdeen that it is for the people of Scotland to decide the country's future. He will say: It is clear from the PM's panicked response to the Scottish Government's decision to, rightly, give people in Scotland a choice over Scotland's future, that the T...