UK News

Labour will lift “the Conservatives’ onshore wind ban in England” within days of coming to power, Ed Miliband told an industry conference in Manchester earlier. It is part of a massive deregulation of the UK’s planning system that lies at the heart of Labour’s growth strategy. At the top of the list of the projects Labour wants to usher through ...

Millions of people not yet registered to vote are being urged to sign up ahead of the deadline later. Tuesday is the last day for voters to register in time for the general election, with the deadline 23:59 BST on 18 June. Just over 2.1 million people have registered since the election was called in May, government data shows. Registering takes ...

Except for some torrential downpours, King Charles III’s highly choreographed offical birthday parade passed off successfully on Saturday, as Catherine, Princess of Wales, made a well-received partial return to public duties. But a small band of anti-monarchists did not keep to the meticulously planned script, booing the royals as they appeared on the Buckingham Palace balcony, waving their protest placards ...

The moods of the two main parties’ general election campaigns do not tell us what will happen on 4 July. But as we pass the halfway stage in the long slog to polling day, they do give us a strong flavour of how candidates, strategists and officials think this election is going for them. And right now, the moods of ...

Conservative candidate Dame Andrea Jenkyns has defended her decision to feature a picture of Reform UK leader Nigel Farage on an election leaflet. The picture of a grinning Mr Farage next to Dame Andrea was taken at the Reform UK leader’s 60th birthday party in April. It features on an A5 leaflet sent to voters in the Leeds South West ...

The Green Party has pledged to raise taxes on top earners in its manifesto, claiming the plans will generate £70bn a year to mend “broken Britain”. The plans include raising the National Insurance (NI) rate to 8% on annual wages above £50,270 – equivalent to an extra £283.74 per year in tax for someone earning £55,000. They will also introduce ...

Labour and the Conservatives have been challenged over how they would fund their election pledges, ahead of their manifestos being launched next week. The independent Institute for Fiscal Studies has warned the next government would have to cut the scope of what the state provides or increase taxes to maintain levels of departmental spending. Both parties have said they will ...

King Charles paid a heartfelt tribute to those who had taken part in the D-Day landings, praising them for “replacing tyranny with freedom”. “We are eternally in their debt,” the King told an 80th anniversary commemoration. He was speaking in Portsmouth, one of the key departure points for the Normandy landings in June 1944. The King hailed the “courage, resilience ...

Barking council leader Darren Rodwell has been removed from the list of election candidates being approved today by Labour’s National Executive Committee (NEC). An internal process into allegations concerning Mr Rodwell is under way, the BBC understands. The NEC will likely make a decision over who will be Labour’s candidate in the seat in the next 48 hours. Darren Rodwell ...

The number of visas available to migrants would be reduced each year under a new Conservative government, the prime minister has promised. For the first time, MPs would get a vote on annual government proposals aimed at regularly reducing numbers, which would be based on recommendations from the expert Migration Advisory Committee (MAC). Although no figures were suggested for a ...