A Tory MP faces trial accused of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy in 2008. Imran Ahmad Khan, 47, the Conservative MP for Wakefield, West Yorkshire, is alleged to have groped the teenager in Staffordshire. Ahmad Khan, who was elected at the 2019 general election, appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Thursday by video link from
UK
Schools and universities are the most common setting for COVID-19 outbreaks, according to the latest report from Public Health England (PHE). Total outbreaks continued to increase in the week starting 26 May, the latest available data shows, despite a 39% drop in the number occurring in education. The PHE report says this coincides with the
The Delta variant now accounts for almost all of the UK’s coronavirus cases, according to Public Health England. Some 33,630 cases of the strain were recorded in the last week and PHE said “the most recent data show 99% of sequenced and genotyped cases across the country are the Delta variant”. Last week, the Delta
The UK is set to enjoy more warm weather this week – and today could be the hottest day of the year so far. Temperatures in some parts of the South East could reach as high as 29C (84.2F). The previous hottest day of the year was on 2 June, when temperatures reached 28.3C (82.9F)
It is “possible” that putting India on the red list earlier might have prevented the widely anticipated delay to easing England’s coronavirus lockdown that is set to be announced later, a minister has said. Boris Johnson is preparing to announce a delay of four weeks to step four of the country’s roadmap out of COVID-19
A survivor of the Grenfell Tower disaster has said ex-residents are still being “denied swift justice” four years on from the catastrophic fire. Tiago Alves, his father, mother and younger sister all escaped from their home in Flat 105 on the 13th floor in the early stages of the deadly blaze on 14 June, 2017.
More gay and bisexual men will be allowed to donate blood, platelets and plasma after “historic” new rules came into effect. The new eligibility rules came into force today on World Blood Donor Day and mean that donors in England, Scotland and Wales will no longer be asked if they are a man who has
Boris Johnson will plead with the nation to make “one last heave” to freedom as he announces a delay of up to four weeks in lifting lockdown restrictions in England. A government source has told Sky News the prime minister will dash hopes that Freedom Day will come in two weeks’ time, on 21 June,
A teenager has been charged with murder after a 16-year-old boy was stabbed to death outside a school in Luton. Humza Hussain, 16, was found with multiple knife wounds near Challney High School for Boys in Stoneygate Road at around 4pm on 8 June. He was taken to hospital but pronounced dead two hours later. A
A home video of a teenage Ed Sheeran singing in his school production of the musical Grease is going up for auction. The film, which is nearly two hours long, shows Sheeran as a 15-year-old playing the character Roger or ‘Rump’. Wearing a leather jacket and his hair slicked back, he gives the audience a
A woman whose employment contract was not renewed after expressing views that sex cannot be changed and transgender women are “not women” has won an appeal against an employment tribunal. In 2018, Maya Forstater posted a number of tweets expressing her beliefs about sex and gender, including her opposition to proposed reform of the Gender
A 25-year-old woman has died after being struck by a police car responding to an emergency call. The fatal collision happened on Stockwell Road in Lambeth, south London, at around 11.20pm on Wednesday. The Metropolitan Police said the marked car was responding to a 999 call at the time of the incident. The pedestrian was
The number of people waiting for routine hospital treatment has topped five million – the highest number ever recorded. In total 5,122,017 million people were waiting to begin treatment at the end of April, 2021, NHS England figures show – the highest number since records began in August 2007. The figure has increased every month
A healthcare assistant working on a COVID ward has been convicted of using a dead patient’s bank card to buy crisps, fizzy drinks and sweets from a hospital vending machine. Ayesha Basharat, 23, took the card from an 83-year-old woman who had recently passed away at Heartlands Hospital in Birmingham. A doctor recorded her time
Former Metropolitan Police officer Wayne Couzens has admitted to the kidnap and rape of Sarah Everard at the Old Bailey. Sarah, 33, vanished while walking home from a friend’s house in Clapham, south London, in March. Couzens, 48, appeared at the Old Bailey on Tuesday morning when he entered the guilty pleas. Appearing via video
A total of 16 candidates will stand in the Batley and Spen by-election next month, it has been confirmed. The full list of those nominated to contest the constituency has been published, in what is expected to be a straight two-way battle between Labour and the Conservatives. Tracy Brabin, who first won the seat for
Hospitalisations for COVID-19 remain “broadly flat” despite a rise in the Indian variant in parts of the UK, the health secretary has said. Matt Hancock told the House of Commons that the majority of people in hospital “appear to be those who haven’t had the vaccine at all”. He also said that only about 1%
The UK has reported another 5,683 coronavirus cases and one additional death within 28 days of a positive test. Yesterday, official figures showed there were 5,431 new cases of COVID-19 and four deaths. The number of cases recorded has risen by 2,300 in comparison to the same time last week, which saw 3,383 coronavirus cases
Boris Johnson has narrowly avoided a rebellion by some of his own Conservative Party MPs over cuts to the foreign aid budget. Thirty Tories, including former prime minister Theresa May and four other cabinet ministers, had backed a rebellion against the £4bn reduction and had hoped to force a vote on the matter. But Commons
People aged 25 to 29 in England will be able to book their coronavirus vaccination from tomorrow morning. Health Secretary Matt Hancock announced the extension to the country’s COVID-19 vaccination programme in a statement to MPs in the Commons. Will England’s ‘freedom day’ go ahead? Live updates on the COVID-19 pandemic A total of 40,333,231