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Michael Gove has announced he will not stand at the general election, bringing the number of Conservative MPs quitting the Commons instead of standing to 77, beating the previous record of 72 from 1997.

“Furious” Conservative MPs are “plotting” to call off the general election and replace Sunak as leader before parliament is dissolved next Thursday, according to Christopher Hope, a political editor on GB News. He tweeted on X that a rebel Tory MP told him he believes “several” more letters of...

Severn Trent has increased its payout to shareholders despite being responsible for 60,000 sewage spills last year. Severn hiked its final dividend by 9% to 70.1p a share after pre-tax profits swelled almost 20% to £201.3m in the year to the end of March.

Water companies in England and Wales want bills to increase by between 24% and 91% over the next five years, according to figures compiled by the consumer watchdog. Southern Water is asking for the biggest jump of 91%, according to the Consumer Council for Water (CCW), with South Staffordshire...

Post-Brexit border checks will cost UK businesses £470m a year, the government’s public spending watchdog has said. Plans to bring in border checks on goods coming from the EU faced “significant issues” including critical shortages of inspectors before their introduction last month, the...

Vice-chancellors and former ministers are warning that the cash crisis facing universities is so serious that the next government will have to urgently raise tuition fees or increase funding to avoid bankruptcies within two years. They said the state of university finances was more dire than...

Some schools in England are sending police to the homes of children who are persistently absent, or warning them their parents may go to prison if their attendance doesn’t improve, the Observer has learned. Headteachers say they are now under intense pressure from the government to turn around...

The British digger maker JCB, owned by the billionaire Bamford family, continued to build and supply equipment for the Russian market months after saying it had stopped exports because of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, the Guardian can reveal. Russian customs records show that JCB, whose...

Millions of litres of raw sewage were illegally pumped into one of England's most famous lakes after a fault, documents seen by the BBC have revealed. United Utilities failed to stop the illegal pollution of Windermere, in the Lake District, for 10 hours in February and did not report the...

Nearly 40% of the dirty money in the world is going through the City of London and other crown dependencies, the UK’s deputy foreign secretary has said. Andrew Mitchell added the crown dependencies and overseas territories will face fresh demands from the Foreign Office to comply with UK laws...

The cornerstone of Rishi Sunak’s Rwanda deportation policy should not apply in Northern Ireland because it undermines human rights protections guaranteed in the region under post-Brexit arrangements, a high court judge has ruled. Parts of the UK’s Illegal Migration Act were also incompatible...

The government has formally triggered a crisis measure to ease prison overcrowding by using police cells to house inmates. The confirmation of Operation Safeguard by the Ministry of Justice follows a decision to consider releasing some prisoners 70 days before their sentences were due to end.

Keir Starmer will promise to rip up the government’s Rwanda scheme and divert £75m to fund hundreds of new specialist officers to tackle people-smuggling with new counter-terror powers.

A gold medal-winning elite cyclist who is seeking asylum in the UK fears his career will be derailed because he has been told by the Home Office he must move to the Bibby Stockholm barge and cannot take his bike on board. Mohammad Ganjkhanlou, 26, an Iranian, has won four gold, two silver and...

Drug shortages in England are now at such critical levels that patients are at risk of immediate harm and even death, pharmacists have warned. The situation is so serious that pharmacists increasingly have to issue “owings” to patients – telling someone that only part of their prescription can...

Labour’s Richard Parker beat Conservative Andy Street by 1,508 votes to become mayor of the West Midlands.

The Liberal Democrats now have 520 councillors, and the Conservatives have 508. It is now clear to us with just the one council to go that the Liberal Democrats will end up having won more council seats than the Conservatives in these local elections.

The Liberal Democrats have gained overall control of Tunbridge Wells as the Conservatives lost four seat, leaving them on seven and the Liberal Democrats with 22 of the 39 seats. Labour and independents have five each. A Liberal Democrat source said “the disgusted of Tunbridge Wells have spoken.”

Labour gained Adur in West Sussex from the Conservatives after gaining eight seats – the first time the party has controlled the council, PA reports. The Conservatives lost seven seats, and independents one, leaving the new council as Labour 17, Conservatives eight, Green two and independents two.