Lead News

The Army has been called in to support efforts to protect parts of Cumbria amid fears of further flooding. Troops have been helping put out sandbags in preparation and flood defence gates have been closed in Cockermouth, Carlisle and Keswick. Heavy rainfall in the area is feeding already-swollen rivers and saturated ground. Cumbria has suffered severe flooding three times this ...

 The Queen has used her Christmas Day address to speak of light triumphing over the dark in a year that has seen “moments of darkness”. It comes after a year which has seen a number of terror attacks, including mass shootings in Paris and the killing of 39 people at a Tunisian resort. During the broadcast, the Queen acknowledged the ...

A three-year-old girl helped her heavily-pregnant mother call 999 after she fell down the stairs. In the call, Emma, who was alone in the house in Somerset with her mother Catherine Bazzard told the operator what had happened and where they lived. She told call handler Sarah Morris her “mummy was not bleeding but banged her head” and “has a ...

Spending will continue into Christmas Day when shoppers are expected to splash out £728m online: 11% more than last year The presents may still be under the tree, but retailers are already launching their end-of-year sales.. Currys PC World started its sale online at noon on Christmas Eve, and will be followed by Amazon at 4pm, then John Lewis at ...

Rail passengers have been hit by signal problems and flooding, as engineering work is due to disrupt train services over the festive period. Signalling problems at Gillingham disrupted Southeastern commuter trains from London, while flooding caused all trains to be cancelled between Folkestone Central and Dover Priory. Network Rail said 13% of journeys had been delayed across the entire network. ...

GDP estimate for third quarter cut from 0.5% to 0.4% after sharp slowdown in services, meaning UK chancellor is unlikely to hit growth forecasts George Osborne has received a second pre-Christmas setback after official figures showing a a stuttering performance by the economy in the months following the general election put the government’s 2015 growth forecast at risk. Following much ...

Labour MP Stella Creasy has called on the prime minister to challenge the US after a UK Muslim family was barred from boarding a flight to Los Angeles. The family of 11, from Ms Creasy’s Walthamstow constituency, had planned a holiday to Disneyland but were stopped at Gatwick Airport on 15 December. Mohammad Zahid Mahmood said his family was given ...

The Government has admitted that families receiving in-workbenefits will lose out from April next year – but suggested they could make up the shortfall themselves if they worked harder. In what Labour has called Iain Duncan Smith’s “Christmas message”, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) proposed people “recoup the loss” from welfare reforms by doing three or four hours ...

Government borrowing figures were worse than expected in November, casting doubts over whether the chancellor will meet forecasts for this financial year. Borrowing for the month was £14.2bn, up by £1.3bn compared with November 2014. The Offfice for National Statistics (ONS) said last November’s figure was boosted by a one-off gain of £1.1bn in fines for foreign exchange rigging. Total ...

Outer London continues to outperform inner London in terms of house price growth, with Merton leading the way as the capital’s fastest rising borough… Wimbledon village, one of south-west London’s most exclusive enclaves,  is located in the borough of  Merton. House prices have shot up by almost 30 per cent in Merton this year. The south-west London borough, home to ...