Cutlery, plates and polystyrene cups reportedly set to be banned in England after a consultation Single-use plastic items including cutlery, plates and polystyrene cups are reportedly set to be banned in England by the UK government after a consultation. Thérèse Coffey, the environment secretary, is poised to unveil plans to phase out the items and replace them with biodegradable alternatives in the coming weeks, the Financial Times reported. Continue reading… ​Cutlery, plates and polystyrene cups

Eleanor Williams tells jury she was given drugs and alcohol at ‘parties’ where she was paid for sex A woman accused of lying about being raped and trafficked by an Asian grooming gang claimed she was forced to get engaged to one of her abusers to help him get a visa. Eleanor Williams, 22, said the man, Muhmun, was from Bangladesh and that they met in her home town of Barrow when she was a

Move comes after cross-party push and means major housebuilders could be obliged to pay towards new facilities Ministers have backed down in the face of a cross-party push for childcare to be treated as an infrastructure issue like schools, GPs and public transport, meaning major housebuilders could be obliged to pay towards new childcare facilities. The campaign was led by the Labour MP Stella Creasy, who argued that the issue of new homes being built

Fire service says it handed over reported gas leak to Island Energy seven hours before explosion Jersey’s energy company is facing questions over the deaths of up to nine people after the island’s fire chief said his officers handed over a reported gas leak to the firm seven hours before a block of flats blew up. Paul Brown, Jersey’s chief fire officer, said his service attended the Haut du Mont flats in St Helier on

Chair of Police Federation says request to drive ambulances comes as forces already overstretched Rank and file police officers have expressed “grave concern” at being asked to cover ambulance workers during strikes this month, at a time when they say law enforcement is already facing unprecedented pressure. Steve Hartshorn, the chair of the Police Federation, has issued a strongly worded warning to the government that requiring police to drive ambulances would push over-burdened officers “closer

Just 7% of people working in sector identify as people of colour, compared with 14% in workforce at large Half as many people from ethnic minorities work in the environment charity sector in the UK as do proportionally across the general workforce, new research has found. Just 7% of people working across environmental charities identified as people of colour, compared with 14% in the workforce at large, according to the data from the Racial Action