Tag: News Story

STORY

The UK Health Security Agency has warned that Salmonella cases in England have reached their highest level in a decade. New data showed cases rose slightly from 10,389 in 2024 to 10,406 in 2025, while Campylobacter cases remained high, falling only slightly from 70,392 to 69,394 over the same period.

UKHSA said both infections are usually caught through contaminated food, including poultry, meat, eggs, raw fruit or vegetables and unpasteurised milk products. The agency is urging the public to practise good food hygiene, particularly when preparing raw and cooked foods, and said young children, older adults and people with weakened immune systems were at higher risk of serious illness.

The figures also showed listeriosis remained broadly stable, with 181 cases reported in England and Wales in 2025, compared with 179 in 2024. UKHSA said listeriosis could cause serious illness in older people, immunocompromised people and pregnant women, with pregnancy-associated cases continuing to pose a risk of stillbirth or miscarriage.

STORY

The Intellectual Property Office has issued new guidance designed to help consumers avoid counterfeit goods when buying second-hand fashion online. The Government said figures released today showed one in four buyers of second-hand clothing had unknowingly purchased a counterfeit item online in the past year.

The guidance, developed with support from Vinted, forms part of wider work between Government, online marketplaces and enforcement bodies to tackle counterfeit sellers. Officials said one in three second-hand clothing buyers admitted they did not check authenticity before making a purchase, while nearly 60% of those who bought fakes had experienced negative consequences such as poor quality, refund disputes or rapid deterioration.

The Government said younger shoppers were particularly exposed, with almost half of 18 to 24-year-olds having encountered counterfeit designer goods on resale platforms. The announcement follows police and Trading Standards raids in which more than £4 million worth of luxury designer goods were seized.

STORY

British food and farming businesses are being told to prepare for changes under the planned UK-EU sanitary and phytosanitary agreement, with ministers expecting the new arrangements to take effect from mid-2027. The agreement is intended to reduce routine paperwork and checks on agrifood products moving between Great Britain, Northern Ireland and the European Union.

The Government has updated guidance for businesses on how to prepare for the SPS agreement, which covers areas including animal and plant products, food and feed safety, organics, pesticides, marketing standards and food labelling. The deal is expected to ease the movement of meat, dairy, fish, eggs and other regulated products, though not all technical details have yet been finalised.

The issue is politically significant because it forms part of Keir Starmer’s wider attempt to reset relations with the EU while staying outside the single market and customs union. Supporters of closer alignment argue that reducing border friction will help exporters and food producers, while critics are likely to scrutinise the extent of any continuing regulatory alignment with Brussels.

STORY

Thousands of patients with musculoskeletal conditions are to receive faster treatment and employment support under an England-wide expansion of an NHS pilot scheme. The Government said £3.2 million would be used to roll out the Getting It Right First Time musculoskeletal community programme, following a pilot that cut 18-week waiting lists by around 20% in participating areas.

The programme will support community appointment days and specialist clinics bringing together clinicians, mental health support, physical activity services and employment advice. Ministers said the approach was intended to help people receive diagnosis and treatment more quickly while also supporting those whose health problems are keeping them out of work.

Musculoskeletal conditions affect nearly 18 million people in England and are among the leading causes of health-related economic inactivity. Sharon Hodgson, the Minister for Public Health and Prevention, said the NHS should support economic growth by helping people get care more quickly and return to normal life

where possible.

STORY

The Government has said Britain recorded its strongest year for solar deployment in 2025, with 269,000 installations completed across the UK. The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero said around 255,000 of those installations were rooftop solar, meaning that homes, businesses and other buildings accounted for at least 95% of new solar deployment.

Ministers said the figures showed households and businesses were responding to energy security concerns and volatile fossil fuel prices, particularly following the war in Iran. Official figures also showed nearly 23,000 new installations in April 2026, with nine of the ten strongest months for solar deployment having taken place within the past year.

Ed Miliband, the Energy Secretary, said the figures showed Britain was generating more clean power and reducing exposure to international fossil fuel markets. The announcement comes as the Government continues to argue that its clean power programme is central to energy security, lower bills and industrial growth, despite continued political pressure over the cost and pace of net zero policies.

STORY

Alan Milburn has warned that the rising number of young people not in education, employment or training has become one of the most serious challenges facing the country. His interim report said more than one million young people are now in the NEET category, with the UK performing worse than comparable European countries and the problem increasingly linked to ill health, disability and poor access to vocational education.

Milburn said the issue should not be treated as a blame game about immigration, arguing that there was no evidence that migration levels had caused the increase. He said falling migration could instead create an opportunity for employers and Government to focus more seriously on helping young people into work, but warned that employers would need more support if they were to hire and train people with little work experience.

Debbie Abrahams, chair of the Work and Pensions Committee, said the findings underlined the scale of the challenge facing ministers. The report adds pressure on the Government to bring together welfare, skills, health and local labour market policy, particularly as the Treasury seeks ways to reduce long-term benefit spending without relying solely on cuts to eligibility.

STORY

The Council of the European Union has adopted conclusions setting out strategic guidelines for a more sustainable and competitive tourism sector. Ministers said tourism remains a major part of the EU economy, contributing around 7 per cent of gross value added, 10 per cent of jobs and supporting millions of businesses.

The conclusions call for tourism policy to take greater account of economic, social and environmental pressures. They include measures on resource efficiency, circularity, decarbonisation, protecting nature and cultural heritage, improving skills and working conditions and ensuring that tourism benefits local communities rather than simply adding pressure to already crowded destinations.

The Council also called for better coordination between the Commission, member states, regional authorities, destination management organisations and industry bodies. It said the EU should improve connectivity, strengthen crisis preparedness and make better use of tourism data and artificial intelligence, while asking the Commission to report every three years on implementation.

STORY

European Council President António Costa will visit the Western Balkans next week before co-chairing the EU-Western Balkans Summit in Tivat, Montenegro. The tour will take place from 1 to 5 June and is intended to underline the EU’s commitment to enlargement, regional cooperation, security and stability.

Costa is due to visit Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, North Macedonia, Kosovo, Serbia and Montenegro, meeting national leaders, opposition representatives, students and civil society groups. The summit on 5 June will focus on shared prosperity and stability between the European Union and the Western Balkans.

The trip comes as enlargement policy has returned to the centre of EU politics because of Russia’s war against Ukraine and concerns about influence from Moscow and Beijing in the region. Costa said the visit was intended to send a clear signal that the EU’s commitment to the Western Balkans is real and that the current momentum should be used to deliver progress.

STORY

Six European Union member states are resisting a Commission plan to reduce the number of free carbon permits given to heavy industry by 2030. Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Greece, Poland, Romania and Slovakia are arguing that current energy prices and geopolitical instability are putting energy-intensive sectors under severe pressure.

The dispute is part of a wider argument over the future of the EU Emissions Trading System and the pace at which free allowances should be phased down. Supporters of the existing approach say the system is essential to drive decarbonisation, while the six countries say a rapid reduction in free permits could damage competitiveness and encourage production to move outside the EU.

EU industry ministers are expected to discuss the issue as the Commission prepares further rules and wider revisions linked to the bloc’s 2040 climate targets. The debate shows how difficult it remains to reconcile climate ambition with the economic position of member states whose industrial bases are more exposed to carbon costs.

STORY

China has accused the European Union of using trade data selectively to justify tougher import restrictions on Chinese goods. The criticism followed comments from EU industry commissioner Stéphane Séjourné suggesting that Brussels could make wider use of quotas and tariffs to protect European industrial sectors.

Beijing said the EU was focusing too narrowly on the goods trade deficit while ignoring wider services and investment flows. Chinese officials described the proposed approach as protectionist and warned that China could respond if Brussels proceeds with broader measures affecting sectors such as chemicals, metals and clean technology.

The exchange reflects growing pressure inside the EU for stronger trade defence instruments as manufacturers complain about subsidised Chinese competition. France, Italy and Spain have been among those pressing for a tougher line, while Brussels is trying to balance industrial protection with the risk of escalating trade tensions with Beijing.