News 24/08/26

The government has told social media companies to remove content that celebrates appalling driving following a fatal weekend crash on the A66.

Minister Luke Pollard expressed shock over the deaths of two police officers and others, offering his thoughts to those affected while calling for time for investigations to conclude. Mr Pollard accused platform bosses of allowing dangerous footage that puts lives at risk.

A Treasury review has been launched into business rates for pubs and hotels across England and Wales.

Expert Jerry Schurder will lead the study into valuations, reporting back in March 2027. Landlords and business owners are invited to contribute views. It follows Andy Burnham’s announcement of a twenty per cent rates cut for pubs and venues, set for April, as publicans push for reform.

More than £250,000 has been raised for the families of PC Matthew Blades and PC Tom Clough, who died when a car driving the wrong way on a dual carriageway crashed into their vehicle.

A fundraiser created by the Cleveland Police Federation reached £228,000 early on Monday. Organisers said funds raised will be split equally between the two officers’ families and the federation will continue providing support. On the GoFundMe page, a donor wrote: “As a retired copper my heart goes out to my two brothers in blue.”

Andy Burnham has arrived in Kyiv on his first international visit as prime minister.

He was pictured shaking hands with Ukraine’s foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, at a train station. Mr Burnham is expected to meet Volodymyr Zelenskyy later and attend events marking thirty-five years of Ukrainian independence. Alongside the milestone celebrations, the prime minister will announce new support to help Ukraine assemble its own long-range missiles.

Hundreds of dentist practices are abandoning NHS work as the service drifts towards a two-tier system, new analysis suggests.

Data analysed by the Nuffield Trust found that nearly six hundred practices in England have withdrawn from NHS dentistry over the last decade. The decline has been sharpest in the South West and East of England, leaving it near impossible for some communities to secure appointments. Activity remains eight per cent below pre-pandemic levels, with six in ten adults not seeing an NHS dentist in two years.

Andy Burnham will mark his first foreign visit as prime minister with a trip to Kyiv on Monday to reiterate the UK’s support for Ukraine and honour the country’s independence day.

The prime minister will chair his first meeting of the coalition of the willing, set up under Sir Keir Starmer, and accept an award on behalf of the British people.

A group of twenty-one former cricket captains, including Sir Alastair Cook and Sunil Gavaskar, have called on Pakistan to ensure ex-PM Imran Khan receives proper care in custody.

The seventy-three-year-old has been jailed since 2023 on corruption charges which he denies. In a letter to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, the skippers raised concerns over his limited access to his own medical doctors.

Two police officers who died when a car travelling the wrong way down a dual carriageway crashed into their vehicle have been hailed as heroes by their families.

PC Tom Clough and PC Matthew Blades died on the A66 near Middlesbrough alongside five young men inside a Volkswagen Passat, which officers had been pursuing until seconds before the fatal head-on collision occurred.