UK news

UK news

A yellow warning for snow and ice is in place all day on Wednesday in northern Scotland, with residents there told to expect a further 5-10cm of snow. Temperatures are expected to drop as low as minus 6C in parts of rural Scotland and just below freezing more widely overnight, the Met Office said. In England and Wales, a yellow warning for ice will be in place until 10am. The same warning will apply in Northern Ireland until 11am.

To help support people during cold snaps like what we are currently experiencing, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) runs the cold weather payment scheme for qualifying households. This is a one-off payment of 25 that is triggered for every seven-day period where the temperature in an area is at or below zero degrees. An estimated 674,000 households across over 441 postcode areas can now expect a payment.

A shake-up of the government's defence science powerhouse at Porton Down has severely damaged morale and harmed work on critical science that supports national security, a senior whistleblower has told the Guardian. The whistleblower said they were raising concerns in the public interest that the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL), based largely at Porton Down in Wiltshire, had been left in a paralysing limbo because of the changes.

After a turbulent start to 2025, marked by heightened geopolitical uncertainty and volatile market reactions to the introduction of trade tariffs, IPO activity gathered momentum towards the end of the year. The final quarter saw a notable acceleration in listings as companies moved ahead with postponed floatation plans, encouraged by stabilising market conditions and improving investor sentiment. Looking ahead, the pipeline of prospective IPOs remains strong, supporting expectations of a renewed uptick in activity in the first half of 2026.

Large parts of the UK have already seen snow this week and while it there hasn't been any snow in the capital city yet, it certainly feels like there should be. Last night (Jan 5-6) was this winter's coldest so far in the UK, with London hitting an extreme low of -8C. Snow is notoriously the most difficult weather phenomenon to accurately predict, but according to weather forecasters, there is a chance we could see the white stuff over the next few days.

Your support makes all the difference. Families impacted by the Manchester Arena bombing have accused MI5 of failing them, calling for increased scrutiny of the security service. In a letter to the Prime Minister, seen by the BBC, they demand MI5's full inclusion in new legislation designed to prevent public life cover-ups. An inquiry previously concluded the attack could have been stopped had MI5 acted on key intelligence.

Brian Mitchell, 72, was killed by a train terminating at Stratford on 26 December 2023. The emergency brakes were not applied by any of the four incoming train operators, the inquest into his death heard. Mitchell had spent almost an hour at the end of the platform before he fell on to the track. He had 272mg of alcohol in his system, more than three times the legal driving limit.

London City Airport has introduced a drop-off fee, ending its status as the last London airport without such a charge. The fee will be 8 for up to five minutes, then 1 per additional minute, with a maximum stay of 10 minutes. London City Airport said Blue Badge holders would be exempt, and the fee for black cabs would be included in the meter fare, in line with Transport for London's agreement with other major airports.

The U.S. version lists 73 grams of sugar per 20-ounce bottle. The U.K. version lists 4.5 grams of sugar per 100 milliliters. Crunch the numbers, and you'll find the American Fanta has nearly three times the sugar as its counterpart across the pond - 12.4 grams per 100 milliliters versus 4.5. The thing is, the British version doesn't taste like it's missing anything.

Avon and Somerset Police said they had received reported sightings of Matthew Armstrong and Daniel Washbourne, who absconded from HMP Leyhill, South Gloucestershire. Armstrong, 35, was convicted of murdering someone during a robbery in Warwickshire in 2009, while Washbourne, 40, has previous convictions for violence against a person and false imprisonment. The force said that two men matching their descriptions were pictured in Ashley Road, Bristol, at 10.35am on Saturday, and were seen walking towards the Stokes Croft area.

The IoD's Directors' Economic Confidence Index, which tracks business leader optimism about the wider UK economy, rose to -66 in December, up from -73 in November, which had been measured immediately before the Budget.

Less than half of responding firms (46%) are expecting increased turnover over the next 12 months (compared with 48% in Q3), while nearly a quarter (24%) expect a decrease (21% in Q3). Meanwhile, only 19% have increased investment and 27% have scaled back plans. The survey was carried out by the BCC Insights Unit and the UK-wide Chamber network, before and after the Budget, with the fieldwork conducted between 10 November and 8 December.

One of the UK's most complete collections of cast-iron street lamp posts are at risk of being chucked and replaced with banal and ugly alternatives, campaigners are warning. There are approximately 270 historic lampposts in Canterbury's collection, many of which were cast in a foundry in the city, which are at risk of being replaced with generic steel poles fitted with standardised heritage-style embellishments.

New data from Bristol-based hospitality recruitment platform Limber shows that average shift hours posted by hospitality businesses in 2025 are down 30% compared with 2022, underlining the depth of pressure facing operators across the industry. According to Limber, average monthly shift hours per business have fallen from 112 hours in 2022 to just 79 hours in 2025, as venues attempt to control costs by running leaner rotas and reducing reliance on flexible labour.

His daughter, Ms Z, was his main carer. Miss X, his granddaughter, is a qualified BSL interpreter. In March 2024, Mr Y was discharged from hospital following which he received a care plan. It noted that his first language was BSL and that he required a BSL interpreter although, because of difficulties finding carers with such skills, Ms Z was asked to help them communicate with Mr Y.

A teenager has been charged with the murder of a man stabbed to death in south London on New Year's Eve. The boy cannot be named for legal reasons because of his age. At around 12:35am on Wednesday, December 31, police were called to reports of a fatal stabbing on Grove Street in Lewisham. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

The police force said in a statement: Following reports of concerns for safety for people in the water in Withernsea, with the permission of the family, Humberside Police can now confirm that a mother and daughter, 45-year-old Sarah Keeling and 15-year-old Grace Keeling, were involved in this tragic incident, alongside 67-year-old Mark Ratcliffe, a member of the public who died trying to assist with the rescue.

Few sports stars in history are so precocious that their place in the pantheon is assured by the time they are 18. Pele was one. Nadia Comaneci another. Boris Becker too. Now you can add Luke Littler to that list. Most experts had expected Gian van Veen to give Littler a proper test. He did. For three sets. Then this final became a rout. After his 7-1 dismantling, Van Veen was asked whether Littler was unstoppable. It felt like it, came the sad reply.

A man who died trying to save two people from the sea in East Yorkshire on Friday was attempting to rescue a mother and her teenage daughter, Humberside police have said. The body of Sarah Keeling, 45, was recovered from Withernsea on Friday, while Grace Keeling, 15, remains missing after being washed away. Mark Ratcliffe, who tried to save them, was pulled unconscious from the water and died at the scene.

BBC The UK was not involved "in any way" in the US-led strike on Venezuela, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has said. Sir Keir said he had not spoken to US President Donald Trump about the US operation to seize President Nicolas Maduro in the country's capital, Caracas. Asked if he condemned the US action, as a number of other UK politicians have, he told reporters he wanted to "establish facts" and speak to Trump first about the "fast moving situation".

Rough sleepers in London are getting extra help after the capital's severe weather emergency protocol (SWEP) was activated. It means that emergency accommodation opens up to give people a bed for the night indoors in the warm after temperatures dropped below zero (32F). The Mayor of London Sir Sadiq Khan said the cold could be "dangerous and it can often be fatal" for people sleeping on the streets.