Tag: Featured

    House prices in the North West of England are forecast to surge at nearly double the rate of that in London over the next five years, according to a report. Between 2018 and 2022, house prices across Britain are projected by real estate adviser Savills to grow by 14.2%. Savills expects different pockets of Britain will see marked differences in house price growth over the period. Its projections range from an average 18% increase in the North West a home to the northern powerhouse to about 7% in London. House price growth: five year forecast (2018-22) (PA). The report said the North West region in particular has a robust economic outlook and strong employment growth. It said house prices in the North West are relatively modest compared with incomes, at around 5.6 times wag...

    This supermarket will now accept your old £1 coins until New Year's Eve If you still find yourself coming across old £1 coins at home, then fear not, because Iceland has just announced that it will accept the old round pound coins until 31st December. The old coins ceased to be legal tender on 15 October 2017, but supermarket chain Iceland had already joined a handful of retailers including Poundland and Tesco in making the decision to continue accepting the coins, despite it going out of circulation. Initially, Iceland told customers they would be able to spend their old one pound coins until 31st October. And now that time has passed, the supermarket chain has issued a new statement, announcing that it will now accept the old coins for a further two months until the end ...

    The Government has lost an opposition vote calling on it to publish impact assessments of Brexit on over 50 key industries. There was no official division as only Labour MPs backed it and no Tory MPs objected. Speaker John Bercow said he expects the Government to respect the decision - despite confusion over whether the result is binding. Opposition day debate motions are traditionally non-binding, but Labour had tabled a special 'Humble Address' motion. It is a centuries-old and infrequently used procedure that asks the Queen directly to request documents from the Government. Mr Bercow had only advised: "Motions of this kind have in the past been seen as effective or binding. But he warned ministers could be in contempt of Parliament if they ignore the call. SNP MP Peter ...

    British Prime Minister Theresa May was forced to appoint a new defence minister on Thursday after her loyal ally  quit in a sexual harassment scandal that has prompted calls for an end to the locker room culture in parliament. Just hours after Fallon resigned over past behaviour he said had fallen ‘below the high standards we require of the armed forces’, May appointed Gavin Williamson, 41, a rising star in her ruling Conservative Party. Weakened after losing her party’s parliamentary majority in a June election, May had to move swiftly to plug the hole in her divided cabinet. Fallon’s departure was another blow for her as she has struggled to hold the cabinet together since the vote, which many Conservative Party members blamed on her. The growing harassment scandal could...

    Joel Goodman More than 170 children were in the foyer of the Manchester Arena when the bomb was detonated, police have revealed. Senior officers released new information about the May 22 attack, including the horrific nature of the injuries, as part of an update on their investigation. They said 512 people were directly impacted by the blast that night, either through ‘injury or profound trauma’. Police are confident the brother of the Manchester Arena bomber will be brought to the UK from Libya to face charges Two people remain in hospital more than five months on from the attack, with dozens more coming to terms with life-changing injuries. GMP’s Assistant Chief Constable Russ Jackson said that some of the most seriously hurt suffered paralysis, loss of limbs, internal i...

    House builders are using a legal loophole to wriggle out of developing thousands of affordable homes in order to maximise profits, a housing charity has claimed. Shelter has released a dossier it claims shows the number of affordable homes in new-builds drops drastically after developers submit a viability assessment when applying for permission to build. These assessments allow developers to put in planning applications which do not hit council targets for affordable homes – claiming if they were to build those houses it would mean profits would be severely reduced. One council told HuffPost UK it feels it has no choice but to accept the lower affordable housing figure, or risk no development happening at all. According to Shelter, at least 2,500 affordable homes across E...