General news

• British woman dies in Majorca on Edinburgh-bound Ryanair flight

  22-05-2019 23:50
  A British woman has died on a Ryanair flight as it was due to take off from Majorca's Palma Airport.The 58-year-old is believed to have fallen ill after taking her seat on the plane, which was bound for Edinburgh.Emergency services went to the scene but she died on the aircraft, according to local media reports.
  
  Read more

• Brexiteer minister Andrea Leadsom quits cabinet as Theresa May hangs on

  22-05-2019 23:49
  A senior Brexiteer minister has resigned from the cabinet, in what could prove to be a fatal blow to Theresa May's premiership.Andrea Leadsom, who was supposed to introduce the flagship legislation paving way for the Brexit deal becoming law on Thursday, quit saying the government's new approach would not "deliver on the referendum result".It came at the end of a day that saw Tory MPs decide against changing party leadership rules that could have spelt Mrs May's imminent demise.
  
  Read more

• Captain of HMS Queen Elizabeth will not return to Portsmouth on board ship

  22-05-2019 23:48
  The Royal Navy said the decision surrounding Captain Nick Cooke-Priest has been taken as 'a precautionary measure'.
  
  Read more

• Pressure intensifies on Theresa May to resign as Andrea Leadsom quits Cabinet

  22-05-2019 23:47
  Downing Street said the Brexiteer MP had 'served with distinction and great ability' in Government.
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Theresa May’s future: What the papers say

  22-05-2019 23:33
  The Telegraph said the longer Mrs May stayed as leader the 'greater the contamination' of the Tory party brand.
  
  Read more

• Leadsom's resignation helps steal a march on Tory leadership rivals

  22-05-2019 23:33
  Andrea Leadsom resigned on Wednesday evening over Theresa May’s Brexit approach. Photograph: Peter Summers/Getty ImagesAndrea Leadsom’s resignation has, her friends believe, pushed her to the front of the cabinet Brexiters jockeying for position to replace Theresa May.Her decision to resign as leader of the House of Commons may have stolen a march on other members of the so-called “pizza club”, such as the defence secretary Penny Mordaunt and the home secretary Sajid Javi
  
  Read more

• Man jailed for blowing up home while wife was inside

  22-05-2019 22:30
  Elaine Clowes was downstairs when the "almighty explosion" happened but managed to escape without injury as the property "collapsed around her", Bournemouth Crown Court heard.The estranged couple had separated after Mr Clowes accused his wife of being unfaithful.Prosecutor Stuart Ellacott said Mr Clowes was not happy with the sale and "didn't engage with the family court proceedings".
  
  Read more

• Manchester Airports proposes to build stadium as part of bid for Sofia airport concession

  22-05-2019 22:15
  Britain's largest airport operator, Manchester Airports Group (MAG), said it has proposed building a 600-million-euro (528 million pounds) stadium as part of its bid for a 35-year concession to operate Sofia Airport, Bulgaria's biggest hub.It said in a statement on Wednesday that a multifunctional arena would boost Bulgaria's chances of staging the 2024 Youth Winter Olympics as the country prepares a bid to host the Games.Bulgaria, Greece, Serbia and Romania have already announced a joint bid to
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Theresa May’s future: What happens now?

  22-05-2019 22:07
  Even the most optimistic onlookers will conclude that Theresa May’s premiership is entering its final weeks, if not days.
  
  Read more

• Brexit crisis - Minister quits, piling pressure on May

  22-05-2019 22:07
  Prominent Brexit supporter Andrea Leadsom resigned from Prime Minister Theresa May's government on Wednesday, piling pressure on the British leader after a new Brexit gambit backfired and fuelled calls for her to quit.Almost three years since Britain voted to leave the European Union, it is not clear when, how or even if Brexit will happen.
  
  Read more

• Sacked captain still in command despite being flown off aircraft carrier

  22-05-2019 22:05
  The captain of the UK's aircraft carrier has been dramatically flown off the ship following his sacking last week.Nick Cooke-Priest was helicoptered off HMS Queen Elizabeth "as a precautionary measure", according to an official Royal Navy statement.Bizarrely though, he remains in official command of the ship until a successor takes over next week.
  
  Read more

• The right thing to do: MPs react to Andrea Leadsom’s decision to quit

  22-05-2019 21:59
  While Tories praised her decision to leave, Labour's deputy leader criticised her timing.
  
  Read more

• British protesters inflate snarling orange 'Trump baby' blimp ahead of visit

  22-05-2019 21:59
  British protesters inflated a blimp depicting Donald Trump as a snarling, nappy-wearing orange baby on Wednesday, a trial run ahead of a planned flight during the U.S. president's state visit to Britain next month.At the invitation of Queen Elizabeth, President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump are due in Britain on June 3-5 for a state visit - a pomp-laden affair involving a carriage trip through London and a banquet at Buckingham Palace.
  
  Read more

• In latest blow to May, Leadsom resigns over new Brexit approach

  22-05-2019 21:42
  Prominent Brexit supporter Andrea Leadsom resigned from British Prime Minister Theresa May's cabinet on Wednesday, saying she could no longer support the government's approach after May's latest gambit to pass her Brexit deal backfired."I no longer believe that our approach will deliver on the referendum result," Leadsom, who served as Leader of the House of Commons, said in a resignation letter to May.May's new Brexit plan includes a vote on whether to hold a second Brexit referendum -- once he
  
  Read more

• Commons Leader Andrea Leadsom resigns from Government over Brexit

  22-05-2019 21:36
  Mrs Leadsom said she had stayed in the Cabinet to 'shape and fight for Brexit' despite some 'uncomfortable compromises along the way'.
  
  Read more

• Venice In Oil: Banksy creates artwork for Biennale festival

  22-05-2019 21:18
  The paintings appear to satirise the anchoring of large cruise liners next to Venice's Grand Canal.
  
  Read more

• Steel firm is a shadow of its technicolour past

  22-05-2019 21:10
  Sky's business correspondent Adam Parsons reports on the demise of a company whose name carries a reminder of a proud industrial past.
  
  Read more

• May clutches at final straws of pretence as Leadsom resigns

  22-05-2019 21:04
  Theresa May, who is to met the 1922 Committee chair, Sir Graham Brady, on Friday. Photograph: Toby Melville/ReutersA truly bad day for Theresa May, one which would certainly count as the worst-ever for many other prime ministers, actually began very late the previous night as the newspaper front pages dropped on social media. Probably the most brutal of a scathing bunch was the Telegraph, traditionally the bible of Conservative thought: “Desperate, deluded, doomed,” it read, above a
  
  Read more

• 'You can't cheat?' asks Queen at check-out

  22-05-2019 20:59 via bbc.co.uk
  The Queen visited a replica of the first Sainsbury's shop to mark the chain's 150th anniversary.
  
  Read more

• Andrea Leadsom resigns from British government over new Brexit approach

  22-05-2019 20:57
  LONDON (Reuters) - Prominent Brexit supporter Andrea Leadsom resigned from British Prime Minister Theresa May's cabinet on Wednesday, saying she could no longer support the government's approach after May's latest gambit to pass her Brexit deal backfired.
  
  Read more

• Boy, 11, dies after being 'taken unwell' at school

  22-05-2019 20:53
  An 11-year-old boy has died after falling ill at his school in west London.A statement from the Metropolitan Police said officers were called to the primary school in West Drayton at 11:50am on Wednesday after a child had been "taken unwell".It said: "Officers and the London Ambulance Service attended.
  
  Read more

• Andrea Leadsom quits over Theresa May's Brexit bill

  22-05-2019 20:42
  Andrea Leadsom published a letter of resignation. Photograph: Yui Mok/PAAndrea Leadsom has resigned as the leader of the House of Commons, saying she no longer believed the government’s approach would deliver Brexit. Leadsom, who has signalled she expects to launch a leadership bid, published her resignation letter after Theresa May resisted intense pressure to step aside. She was one of several cabinet ministers, including Penny Mordaunt and Sajid Javid, who were known to be unhappy with
  
  Read more

• Andrea Leadsom Resigns From Cabinet Over Theresa May's Brexit Plan

  22-05-2019 20:40
  Andrea Leadsom has resigned from the cabinet in protest at Theresa May'slatest Brexit plan as the Prime Minister was fighting for her political life
  
  Read more

• Charles rounds off NI public engagements meeting young people from across divide

  22-05-2019 20:39
  The prince travelled to Brownlow House in Lurgan, Co Armagh, where school children from across the divide sang and danced for him.
  
  Read more

• Maybot plods on, each day a greater torment than the last

  22-05-2019 20:37
  When the chips are down, put your fingers in your ears. Photograph: Dylan Martinez/ReutersMany believe that hearing is the last sense to be lost. If true, Theresa May must have been a goner for some time now. She hasn’t heard a word anyone has said to her for months. Her cabinet ministers have all but given up trying to explain to her why her Brexit deal won’t pass through parliament and have instead taken to communicating with her through a series of placards. All of which say: what
  
  Read more

• Man held after graffiti sprayed on mosque

  22-05-2019 20:35
  The vandalism at Elgin Mosque happened at around 11pm on Monday.
  
  Read more

• Timeline: Theresa May - three tumultuous Downing Street years

  22-05-2019 20:34
  Theresa May took over as prime minister when David Cameron bowed out, defeated in the Brexit referendum of June 2016.Since then May's time in Downing Street has been defined by her attempts - frustrated time and again - to get Britain out of the EU.July 13, 2016 - In her first speech as prime minister, May appears in Downing Street, pledging to fight the "burning injustices" that hold people back.
  
  Read more

• May clings on as calls for her to quit gather momentum

  22-05-2019 20:32
  Theresa May faces mounting anger after unveiling her latest attempt at a Brexit deal.
  
  Read more

• Barrister misled court to block abuse trial, claims Tory MP

  22-05-2019 20:30
  Cheryl Gillan, the MP for Chesham and Amersham, alleged that a QC misled a court over a headmaster accused of abusing boys at a school. Photograph: David Jones/PAA former cabinet minister has accused a barrister of deceiving a court to successfully block the prosecution of a headmaster who had been accused of sexually abusing five boys.In a debate in the House of Commons on Wednesday, the Conservative MP Cheryl Gillan alleged that the QC, Andrew Bright, “gravely” misled the court whi
  
  Read more

• Having sepsis 'was like dying and coming back to life'

  22-05-2019 20:28
  A former banker has spoken of becoming a quadruple amputee at the age of 38 after being struck down with sepsis, or blood poisoning, following a slow diagnosis at hospital.Tom Ray is calling for mandatory sepsis checks for everyone going into A&E. Here he tells Sky News how he has head to relearn how to feed himself.
  
  Read more

• UK Conservative 1922 chairman to consult with committee after PM May meeting on Friday

  22-05-2019 20:27
  The head of the Conservative Party's 1922 Committee, Graham Brady, said on Wednesday he would consult with the committee's executive following a meeting with Prime Minister Theresa May on Friday."I will be meeting the prime minister on Friday following her campaigning in the European elections tomorrow and following that meeting I will be consulting with the 1922 executive," Brady told reporters.
  
  Read more

• Heidi Allen threatened to quit as Change UK leader over Lib Dem row

  22-05-2019 20:18
  ‘Had it been left to me, I would have absolutely advised tactical voting,’ Allen told Channel 4 News. Photograph: Jonathan Brady/PAThe Change UK leader, Heidi Allen, has said she threatened to resign during an internal party row over whether to endorse voting tactically for the Liberal Democrats in the EU elections. In a Channel 4 News interview, Allen said she had wanted to advise remain supporters to vote for the Lib Dems outside of London and the south-east but she was overruled b
  
  Read more

• Nigel Farage shelters on campaign bus to avoid milkshake attack

  22-05-2019 20:16
  Nigel Farage on the campaign trail for the European elections.Photograph: Scott Heppell/ReutersNigel Farage has been forced to seek refuge on his campaign bus after being stalked by people carrying milkshakes in Kent, according to reports.The Brexit party leader and his campaign team seemed keen to avoid a repeat of events in Newcastle on Monday, when he was doused in banana and salted caramel milkshake after making a speech.Following a tour of Dartford and Gravesend before Thursday’s EU e
  
  Read more

• 520 jobs at risk as Sir Philip Green plans 23 store closures

  22-05-2019 20:04
  Sir Philip Green is on course for a fresh clash with regulators after his Arcadia retail empire launched a rescue plan which would see 23 stores shut and its pension scheme contributions slashed.
  
  Read more

• May to meet 1922 Committee chair on Friday - lawmaker

  22-05-2019 20:03
  British Prime Minister Theresa May will campaign in European elections on Thursday before meeting with the chair of her party's 1922 Committee on Friday, senior pro-Brexit Conservative lawmaker Steve Baker said on Wednesday.Some had been pushing for the executive of the party's 1922 Committee to change the rules over when she can be challenged for the leadership."People are rather impatient but equally I think most colleagues do appreciate this is a very difficult time for everybody on the execu
  
  Read more

• Sir Philip Green’s retail empire to shut 23 stores, putting 520 jobs at risk

  22-05-2019 19:56
  Dorothy Perkins, Burton, Topshop and Topman stores have been earmarked for closure as part of a company voluntary arrangement.
  
  Read more

• Which of Sir Philip Green’s Arcadia stores are set for closure?

  22-05-2019 19:55
  The retail tycoon’s empire put forward a rescue plan which will see the closure of 23 stores.
  
  Read more

• Police step up patrols after firebomb attack on councillor’s car

  22-05-2019 19:50
  Police Scotland said they are carrying out extensive inquiries to establish what happened.
  
  Read more

• Theresa May Defies Tory Coup As Ministers Demand Referendum Axed From Brexit Plan

  22-05-2019 19:31
  Theresa May has defied a growing coup to oust her from Downing Street amidTory fury over plans for a second Brexit referendum vote
  
  Read more

• Cabinet Minister Andrea Leadsom Quits As Theresa May Survives Tory Coup

  22-05-2019 19:31
  Theresa May has defied a growing coup to oust her from Downing Street amidTory fury over Brexit referendum that has driven a Cabinet minister to resign
  
  Read more

• Time to resign? May's final Brexit gambit bombs

  22-05-2019 19:10
  British Prime Minister Theresa May was under growing pressure to resign on Wednesday after her final Brexit gambit was rejected across the board by lawmakers and even criticised by some of her own ministers.May's future, which she herself had curtailed by offering to resign to get her deal through parliament, was hanging by a thread after she softened her position on a second Brexit referendum and customs arrangements with the European Union.The calls for her resignation further deepened Britain
  
  Read more

• Nigel Farage ‘Refused To Get Off A Bus’ After Men With Milkshakes Spotted

  22-05-2019 19:10
  Nigel Farage was reportedly stuck on his campaign bus on Wednesday afternoon,after three men were were spotted holding milkshakes
  
  Read more

• May’s leadership in the balance after Brexit plan comes under fire

  22-05-2019 19:06
  Members of the Tory 1922 Committee have been meeting to discuss Theresa May's future.
  
  Read more

• Isis suspect Jack Letts' parents ignored warnings, court told

  22-05-2019 18:56
  John Letts and Sally Lane arrive at the Old Bailey on Wednesday. Photograph: Yui Mok/PAThe parents of a Muslim convert who left his Oxford home for Syria and was suspected of joining Islamic State sent or tried to send him money when they had “every reason” to suspect it could be used to fund terrorism, a court has heard. John Letts, 58, an organic farmer, and Sally Lane, 56, who worked in book publishing, allegedly ignored warnings about the behaviour of their son, Jack Letts, now 2
  
  Read more

• Niece urges ministers to ‘step in’ over NHS Tayside mental health services

  22-05-2019 18:55
  Gilliam Murray, whose uncle David Ramsay took his own life, said the health board cannot be trusted to learn the lessons from a critical report.
  
  Read more

• Finucane defies loyalist threat as he starts work as Belfast mayor

  22-05-2019 18:53
  Police warned him of the threat on Tuesday night.
  
  Read more

• Tory electoral law change that would threaten democracy

  22-05-2019 18:50
  Photograph: Rui Vieira/PAYour story (Tories consider electoral law to protect MPs if parties overspend, theguardian.com, 21 May) should worry anyone who values fair elections and a functioning democracy. If their initiative succeeds, only campaign spending explicitly authorised by a candidate or their agent will count towards their legally limited election expenses. Other spending – for example, by the candidate’s party headquarters, aimed at getting that candidate elected in that co
  
  Read more

• Contaminated blood: HIV-infected man left suicidal after 'sickening abuse'

  22-05-2019 18:49
  Army patrols subjected a haemophiliac infected with HIV by contaminated blood products to "sickening abuse", a public inquiry has heard.The man, one of two haemophiliac brothers who both died following HIV infection, was living in a rural Catholic community and feared the stigma associated with the disease in the 1980s.In a statement to the inquiry, the man's doctor said: "As a general note, living in a rural Catholic community with a diagnosis of HIV must have been terrible.
  
  Read more

• Firebombing of Tory councillor’s car condemned by First Minister

  22-05-2019 18:45
  Nicola Sturgeon hit out at the culprits as she responded to a question by Conservative MSP Liam Kerr at Holyrood.
  
  Read more

• Topshop Owner Sir Philip Green To Close 23 Stores, Putting 520 Jobs At Risk

  22-05-2019 18:38
  Sir Philip Green's Arcadia Group has announced plans to shut 23 stores as partof a rescue plan, putting 520 jobs at risk
  
  Read more

Follow @GeneralnewsUK on Twitter!