News 19/05/26

Arsenal have been crowned Premier League champions for the first time in more than two decades.

The Gunners pipped Manchester City to the title after City failed to win at Bournemouth this evening. It is the first time the north London side have won the competition since their famous Invincibles squad of 2004, and comes after three consecutive second-place finishes.

Television presenter Emma Willis, comedian Josh Widdicombe and professional dancer Johannes Radebe are the new hosts of Strictly Come Dancing.

The BBC confirmed the trio will replace Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman, who left the dance competition last year. Willis described herself as a huge fan of the show, while Widdicombe said he was honoured and overawed to be stepping into the biggest shoes in television.

The government is urging UK supermarkets to limit food prices on key staples like bread, eggs and milk in return for easing regulations.

Retail industry sources believe the policy would be voluntary, with the Treasury offering to delay rule changes around healthy food and packaging policies. However, the British Retail Consortium warned the move would force retailers to sell goods at a loss.

The Metropolitan Police has urged potential victims of sexual assault on the reality television show Married At First Sight UK to contact them.

It follows media reporting after two women alleged they had been raped and another made claims of sexual misconduct. Scotland Yard confirmed they have not yet received any criminal reports but will approach the production teams to ensure individuals know how to report allegations.

Southampton Football Club have been thrown out of this weekend’s Championship play-off final by the EFL after an independent commission found them guilty of spying.

The club was charged this month over allegations they spied on a Middlesbrough training session before their semi-final. The commission upheld the charges this afternoon, forcing the Saints to forfeit their place in Saturday’s final and face a four-point deduction next season.

Andy Burnham has been selected as the Labour candidate for the Makerfield by-election after the party’s National Executive Committee shortlisted only one candidate, removing the need for a local vote.

Meanwhile, John Swinney has been re-elected as Scotland’s First Minister following a vote at Holyrood this afternoon.

The Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander has told the House of Commons that high-speed rail link HS2 is now expected to cost up to one hundred and two point seven billion pounds.

Speaking earlier, she stated that two-thirds of the increase from previous figures was caused by past underestimation, inefficiency and a misunderstanding of the work required, while the remaining third was linked to inflation.

Surrey Police are investigating two separate allegations of non-recent child sexual abuse following the release of files relating to Jeffrey Epstein by the United States Department of Justice.

One report relates to locations across Surrey and Berkshire between the mid-1990s and 2000, while the second relates to West Surrey in the mid to late 1980s. No arrests have yet been made.

The Metropolitan Police will confirm who is being charged over the Grenfell Tower disaster by the tenth anniversary of the fire.

Seventy-two people were killed when the blaze destroyed the north Kensington residential block in June 2017. Scotland Yard has revealed that up to fifty-seven individuals and twenty organisations are currently suspected of criminal offences.

A senior Iranian official has stated that the Strait of Hormuz will forever remain in the possession and management of Tehran.

Ebrahim Azizi, from the parliament’s national security commission, described the strait as an all-round economic, political and military lever. Iran blockaded the route, through which one-fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas passes, at the start of the war, prompting a United States naval blockade. Although Iran’s foreign ministry insists steps are being taken to restore shipping, most vessels remain stuck.

A fourth case of meningitis in an outbreak in Reading has been confirmed in a junior school pupil.

The child is part of a group of students who contracted Meningitis B, including Lewis Waters from The Henley College in Oxfordshire who died last week. On Friday, it emerged that two further patients being treated for the disease were pupils at separate local schools, Reading Blue Coat and Highdown Secondary.

The government has stated there must be consequences for criminality or wrongdoing, after two women alleged they were raped during the filming of Married at First Sight UK.

Channel Four confirmed very serious allegations have been made against a small number of past participants, and has removed all previous seasons of the reality television series from its streaming platforms following an external welfare review commissioned in April.

A bid to turn the former Adelphi Theatre in Slough into a banquet hall has been refused again following ongoing complaints regarding numerous unauthorised events causing noise at the site.

The historic Bath Road building dates back to the 1930s and famously hosted The Beatles before becoming a bingo hall in 1973. Slough Borough Council purchased the site for four point six million pounds in 2018 but sold it five years later to address ongoing financial pressures, leading to the closure of Buzz Bingo. Initial plans for the banquet hall conversion were rejected in 2025, although the building had already been altered several months prior.

An investigation has found that repeat drug-driving offenses are nearly five times more common than drink-driving, prompting calls for a national rehabilitation scheme.

Figures obtained by the RAC from the DVLA show that over twelve thousand drivers were caught driving over the drug limit at least three times over an eleven-year period. This compares to just over two and a half thousand repeat convictions for drink-driving. The motoring group says the data demonstrates an urgent need for an education and rehabilitation programme similar to the one currently used for alcohol offenses.

Manchester City are reportedly preparing for the departure of manager Pep Guardiola following Sunday’s final Premier League match against Aston Villa.

Sources indicate that the Spaniard is expected to leave the Etihad Stadium at the end of the current season. While the club maintains that Guardiola has a contract for next season and remains hopeful he will stay, internal work toward his anticipated exit is already under way, with club staff operating under the understanding that he will leave.