United Kingdom

    The Duchess of Cambridge is as many as four days overdue with her second child, raising the possibility that her labour may be induced in the next week. Several reports have suggested that the Duchess's due date was on Saturday, but Whitehall sources have told The Telegraph they were briefed that the due date was actually Thursday, April 23. The Duchess may already have discussed the option of being induced with her doctors, particularly if she is becoming uncomfortable.  Doctors at the Lindo Wing, the private maternity ward at St Mary’s Hospital, Paddington, where the Duchess will give birth, may already have carried out a scan to make sure the baby is thriving inside the womb. If they are happy that everything is normal, they could wait up to two weeks after the due d...

    David Cameron has donned an orange "patka" headscarf as he visited a Sikh gurdwara - or temple - while campaigning in Kent. The Prime Minister took along his wife, Samantha, who was celebrating her 44th birthday, for the visit to the temple in Gravesend, where they joined around 3,000 worshipers on a parade to celebrate Vaisakhi, a spring festival. The start of the Camerons' visit was delayed slightly after a scuffle appeared to break out among worshipers when a priest objected to speeches being made while prayers were taking place. Mr and Mrs Cameron were taken to a side room in the temple until the dispute was resolved. The Tory leader told the audience the Vaisakhi festival was a "big, bold" sign of their devotion. "I wanted to make sure Downing Street was part of t...

    Ed Miliband has attempted to convince voters he can be trusted with the economy pledging to cut the deficit year on year and saying: "I am ready" to lead the country. The Labour leader promised to get the Budget back into surplus "as soon as possible" with a programme that would be independently vetted by the Office for Budget Responsibility. The manifesto, launched by Mr Miliband on the set of Coronation Street and titled Britain Can Be Better, promised to "secure the family finances of the working people of Britain". Mr Miliband opened his speech by saying Britain could be better but said "rebuilding" the country would not be easy and it would "require change". He said the manifesto was not a "shopping list of proposals" he said it started with a clear commitment t...

    Thousands of law-abiding motorists are having their cars towed away and having being charged fines of as much as £800 after unwittingly falling foul of car tax rule changes introduced by the DVLA. Figures obtained by Guardian Money reveal that DVLA clampings have risen dramatically since October, when the agency did away with paper vehicle excise duty discs. Before the changes DVLA was clamping about 5,000 vehicles a month, but this has surged to more than 8,000 – with motorists horrified to discover their cars being towed away without even a warning letter from the agency. In total, more than 100,000 vehicles are likely to be clamped this year compared with 60,000 the year before. While most motorists know that tax discs are no longer required, what is catching out man...

    A poll for the Daily Mail revealed that if the Prince of Wales succeeds to the throne, 55% of the British public would not want to see Camilla become queen. The nation is also divided on whether Charles should become king at all, with only 43% believing he should ascend to the throne, while a similar number feel he should make way for his eldest son William. The poll revealed that 67-year-old Camilla, who was once reviled as the woman whose affair with Charles destroyed his marriage to Diana, is still among the least popular members of the royal family. She is, however, more popular than she was at the time of her wedding to Charles in April 2005 when 73% of the public opposed her becoming queen - 15% now say that the marriage strengthened the royal family. But the p...

    George Osborne has moved to address concerns that the Tories have abandoned compassionate Conservatism by pledging to protect the “precious” NHS with a guarantee of an £8bn increase in spending per year above inflation by 2020. In a week that has seen signs of a slip in Tory poll ratings and claims that the Conservative party is running a highly personalised campaign against the Labour leader, Ed Miliband, the chancellor has moved to issue an “absolute commitment” to deliver the resources required by the NHS. Writing in the Guardian, the chancellor claims the Conservatives will pledge in their general election manifesto, to be launched next week, to meet a £30bn per year funding gap by the end of the decade identified by Simon Stevens, the chief executive of NHS England. ...