Tag: News Story

STORY

The new Cambridge South railway station will open to passengers on Sunday 28 June 2026, the Government has announced. The station, which has been backed by £250 million of Government funding, will serve the Cambridge Biomedical Campus and provide direct rail access to one of Europe’s largest medical research facilities.

The Department for Transport said the station is expected to handle around 1.8 million passengers a year. It will offer up to nine trains an hour to Cambridge city centre, as well as services to London, Birmingham and Stansted Airport. The Government said up to 20 services will call at Cambridge South during peak hours, improving access for workers, visitors and businesses linked to the Biomedical Campus.

The station will be the first new station to carry Great British Railways branding, as the Government continues its rail reform and public ownership programme. Rail Minister Lord Peter Hendy said the project would improve access to jobs, homes and “world-class facilities”, while Network Rail chief executive Jeremy Westlake said the station would provide better connections across the UK and beyond.

STORY

Angela Rayner has warned that Labour must urgently change direction after what she described as a “historic defeat” in the local elections, saying the party is in danger of becoming “a party of the well-off, not working people”.

The former Deputy Leader of the Labour Party said many Labour councillors had lost their seats despite working hard for their communities, while the party had also lost council administrations and missed opportunities for further gains. She said the results showed that the Government’s current approach was not working and that Labour may now be facing its “last chance” to respond.

Rayner said the cost of living had been the dominant issue raised by voters, arguing that people had turned to “populists and nationalists” because Labour had not done enough to address pressure on household finances. She said living standards were barely higher than they had been a decade and a half ago, while ordinary people continued to feel that the economic system was “rigged against them”.

Her comments represent a direct challenge to the Prime Minister and the direction of the Government. Rayner criticised decisions such as cutting winter fuel allowance and said the Peter Mandelson scandal had exposed what she called a “toxic culture of cronyism”. She argued that Labour needed to return to its purpose as the party of working people and take faster action to make voters materially better off.

STORY

Journalist Kevin Schofield has reported that Reform UK have not suspended Glenn Gibbins following the serious allegations made against him, distancing themselves from the comments made by Darren Grimes that he had been.

Schofield posted on X:

“Glenn Gibbins has NOT been suspended, despite claims by Reform councillor Darren Grimes. Party spokesman: “The investigation is still ongoing. No decision has been made yet.”“

Further allegations have now been made against Gibbins for engaging in hate speech, with Reform UK saying that they will investigate the matter. Darren Grimes has yet to comment on the snub from Reform UK.

STORY

Serious allegations of racism and hate speech have been made against new Reform councillor Glenn Gibbins, representing Hylton Castle Ward on Sunderland City Council. Reform UK confirmed that the allegations were so serious that the councillor has been suspended from the party pending investigation and will now sit as an independent.

Gibbins also faces allegations of hate speech, misogyny and Darren Grimes, the deputy leader of Durham County Council, has said that there had been “a failure of the vetting process” in selecting him.

Gibbins has yet to comment on the allegations.

STORY

The UK military has carried out an emergency parachute drop onto Tristan da Cunha to deliver medical personnel, oxygen supplies and equipment after a British national on the island was suspected of contracting Hantavirus.

The Ministry of Defence said six paratroopers and two military clinicians from 16 Air Assault Brigade jumped from an RAF A400M transport aircraft onto the remote South Atlantic island. Oxygen supplies and other medical aid were dropped almost simultaneously. It is the first time the UK military has inserted medical personnel by parachute to provide humanitarian support.

Tristan da Cunha is Britain’s most remote inhabited overseas territory, has no airstrip and is normally accessible only by boat. The island has a population of 221 people. The Government said oxygen supplies on the island had reached a critical level, leaving an airdrop with medical staff as the only way to get urgent care to the patient in time.

The operation involved a flight of 6,788km from RAF Brize Norton to Ascension Island, followed by a further journey of more than 3,000km to Tristan da Cunha. The A400M was supported by an RAF Voyager aircraft, which provided mid-air refuelling. Weather conditions around the island are often difficult, with average wind speeds frequently exceeding 25mph.

Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said the mission reflected the Government’s commitment to people in the Overseas Territories and to British nationals wherever they are. Armed Forces Minister Al Carns described it as an “extraordinary operation” in challenging circumstances and paid tribute to the personnel involved.

The mission follows the UK Government’s wider response to a Hantavirus outbreak linked to the MV Hondius cruise ship. British nationals are being repatriated from the vessel to the UK on a special chartered flight. The Government said none of those returning had reported symptoms, but all British passengers and crew on board are being isolated for 45 days and monitored by the UK Health Security Agency.

STORY

Sir Keir Starmer has appointed Gordon Brown as the Prime Minister’s Special Reviewer on Global Finance and Cooperation, with a brief to advise on international finance partnerships and the UK’s security and resilience.

The former Prime Minister will report directly to Starmer in an unpaid, part-time role. Downing Street said Brown would examine how global finance cooperation can help build a stronger Britain, including through investment connected to defence and security.

The appointment comes ahead of the UK taking on the G20 presidency next year. Brown will be tasked with developing new international finance partnerships, including measures linked to the UK’s relationship with Europe.

As part of the role, he will engage with international leaders, finance institutions and private finance partners to help establish multilateral finance mechanisms. The work is expected to focus on ways of bringing together public and private funding to support strategic investment.

STORY

Sir Keir Starmer has appointed Harriet Harman as the Prime Minister’s Adviser on Women and Girls, with a brief to push forward work across Government on violence, economic opportunity and representation. Baroness Harman will report directly to the Prime Minister in an unpaid, part-time role. Downing Street said she will work with ministers across Government to help deliver policies for women and girls, including efforts to tackle violence against women and girls, improve economic opportunities and strengthen representation in public life.

The role will also involve working with women across Parliament to identify further action on misogyny and barriers to opportunity. Harman will work with the Cabinet Secretary on culture across the Civil Service and ministerial offices, with the aim of improving opportunities for women within Government and improving delivery for women more widely.

Harman, a former Labour deputy leader and Solicitor General, has long been associated with campaigns on women’s political representation, maternity rights and domestic abuse. Downing Street said that, as Solicitor General, she helped make domestic violence a Government priority, contributing to the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act and the creation of specialist domestic violence courts.

STORY

Eluned Morgan has resigned as leader of Welsh Labour after losing her seat in the Senedd, bringing a dramatic end to her time at the top of Welsh politics on a disastrous day for the party.

The First Minister of Wales failed to be re-elected in Ceredigion Penfro, where she had stood as Welsh Labour’s lead candidate. The constituency returned three Plaid Cymru members, two Reform UK members and one Conservative, with Labour failing to win a seat there.

Morgan said Welsh Labour had suffered a “catastrophic result” and accepted responsibility for the party’s performance. She said “I’ve lost my seat here in Ceredigion Penfro and I will be standing down as leader of Welsh Labour. I take responsibility for the Labour result in Wales.”

STORY

The King has approved the nomination of the Venerable Dr Alexander James Hughes as the next Suffragan Bishop of Brixworth in the Diocese of Peterborough.

Dr Hughes, who is currently Archdeacon of Cambridge in the Diocese of Ely, will take up the role following the retirement of the Right Reverend John Holbrook. The appointment was announced by Downing Street on 8 May 2026.

Dr Hughes was educated at Greyfriars Hall, Oxford and St Edmund’s College, Cambridge, before training for ministry at Westcott House, Cambridge. He served his title at Holy Trinity, Headington Quarry in the Diocese of Oxford and was ordained priest in 2001.

He became Chaplain to the Bishop of Portsmouth in 2003, before serving from 2008 as Priest in charge and then Vicar at St Luke and St Peter, Southsea. In 2014 he was appointed Archdeacon of Cambridge, the post he has held for more than a decade.

STORY

The Conservatives have lost control of Hampshire County Council, ending almost three decades of dominance at one of England’s largest local authorities. The result is a setback for the party in what had long been regarded as secure Conservative territory. Hampshire had been under Conservative control since the late 1990s, but early results from the 2026 local elections showed the party no longer able to command a majority.

All 78 seats on Hampshire County Council were up for election, with 40 required for an overall majority. Before the election the Conservatives were defending a commanding position, having won 56 seats at the previous county contest in 2021 and holding 49 seats immediately before polling day.