Lead News

Queen Elizabeth II has made a video conferencing call as part of her royal duties for the first time ever. The 94-year-old British monarch and her daughter Princess Anne spoke to a group of carers to mark Carers Week, according to a post from the official Royal Family Twitter account on Thursday. The initiative is designed to raise awareness about ...

Britain’s economy shrank by a record 20.4% in April from March as the country spent the month in a tight coronavirus lockdown, official data showed on Friday in what is likely to be the bottom of the crash before a long and slow recovery. In a slump that dwarfed previous downturns in Britain’s recent history, the Office for National Statistics ...

The number of coronavirus patients to die in the UK has risen by 151 to 41,279 – the lowest Thursday increase since lockdown began. This number includes 95 fatalities in hospitals, with the youngest in England aged just 26. Health authorities have confirmed 83 deaths in England, six in Wales, five in Scotland and one in Northern Ireland. It brings ...

Public Health England (PHE) published a review last week confirming coronavirus kills people from ethnic minorities at disproportionately high rates. But a senior academic told BBC News a second report, containing safeguarding proposals to tackle this, also existed. And PHE now says this report will be published next week. The already published PHE review found people of Bangladeshi heritage were ...

The government is facing calls from Tory backbenchers to drop the 2m (6ft) social distancing rule in England. MPs, including former cabinet ministers Sir Iain Duncan Smith and Damian Green, say it is essential for the economy. The government has said it is constantly reviewing its coronavirus lockdown guidance, BBC reported. It follows the announcement of a further easing of ...

Plans for all England’s primary children to return for a month before the summer break have been dropped by Education Secretary Gavin Williamson. Confirming the move, he told MPs he wanted all children back to school in September and that “exams will take place next year”. Labour’s Rebecca Long-Bailey expressed “dismay” at how the plans for bringing back pupils had ...

All non-essential shops will be allowed to reopen in England on Monday, the business secretary has confirmed. Alok Sharma said “we continue to meet” the government’s five tests to lifting coronavirus lockdown restrictions. He said retailers can open as long as they follow safety guidelines, or they could face enforcement notices. But asked about the possibility of reducing the 2m ...

More than 50,000 people in the UK have now died after contracting coronavirus, according to the respective national statistics offices of England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. At least 50,413 people had died, as of late May, with Covid-19 listed on their death certificate, according to England and Wales’ Office for National Statistics (ONS), the National Records of Scotland, ...

The UK and Japan are set to begin talks on Tuesday aimed at reaching agreement on a post-Brexit trade deal. The negotiations come as London and Tokyo work towards replacing the agreement Britain currently has with Japan through the European Union. Without a new deal by 1 January 2021 the two countries will default to World Trade Organization trading terms, ...

A further 55 people have died of Covid-19 in the UK, the lowest increase since lockdown began. In all settings including hospitals, care homes and the community 40,597 people have now lost their lives having caught the coronavirus. The daily increase is less than 100 for the second day running, although a weekend reporting lag means numbers are typically lower ...