News 30/07/26

Veteran MP Diane Abbott has been readmitted to the Labour Party after a year-long suspension.

She has also been issued with a formal warning. The party confirmed she has got the Labour whip back to sit as a Labour MP. In her statement, Abbott apologised for inadvertently referring to the Israeli Defence Force as the Jewish Defence Force.

European nations have agreed to boycott the World Cup if Gianni Infantino proceeds with selling off part of the tournament to private investors.

UEFA member nations held an emergency meeting following plans by FIFA to launch a fifteen-billion-pound subsidiary and sell over twenty per cent to external investors. The proposals and how they emerged have sparked renewed fury within UEFA over Infantino’s running of the organisation.

A man has died after getting into difficulty in the sea off Frinton, Essex Police have confirmed.

Emergency services were contacted shortly before two-ten on Thursday afternoon by the ambulance service, following reports that the man had been brought ashore. He was pronounced dead at the scene, with eyewitnesses reporting around ten emergency vehicles, including an air ambulance, attending the incident.

The Supreme Court will review the controversial terrorism ban on protest group Palestine Action in a major blow to the Home Office.

Co-founder Huda Ammori was granted permission to appeal the ban, which came into effect in July 2025, arguing it breaches human rights. Court officials confirmed the expedited case will be heard after the summer break, with potential major implications for UK terror laws.

A British Airways flight issued a mayday distress call on its approach to Heathrow Airport earlier this month following two stall warnings.

France’s accident investigation authority confirmed the incident occurred on an Airbus A-three-twenty flying from Dusseldorf on July 6th before landing safely. The Air Accidents Investigation Branch is investigating, while British Airways confirmed it is fully assisting with the ongoing inquiry.

The Sussex wildfire is continuing to develop and progress, according to Suffolk’s chief fire officer.

Jon Lacey warned that crews face a challenging environment to extinguish the blaze, estimating that operations could take up to thirty-six hours. He added that even if the main fire front slows down, firefighters will still need to damp down persistent hotspots over the coming hours.

The United States military says it has completed a heavy wave of retaliatory strikes against dozens of targets in Iran.

Central Command confirmed hitting Revolutionary Guard locations following recent attacks on American bases in Jordan and shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. Iranian state media reported three deaths, including a two-year-old child, as hostilities continue to expand across the region.

Four people have died attempting to cross the English Channel overnight, following the busiest day for small-boat arrivals so far this year.

One man died and a child was injured after a vessel capsized off northern France, while three others were found dead on a second boat from Dunkirk. It comes as official figures show seven hundred and fifty-two people reached the UK on Wednesday.

The Governor of the Bank of England has warned that inflation is expected to rise in the coming months, despite recently falling below predictions.

Speaking at a news conference, Andrew Bailey said there is little evidence that higher energy prices are becoming embedded in broad-based inflationary pressures across the UK economy, but warned the country cannot draw too much comfort from that yet.

A woman and her boyfriend have been jailed for life for murdering her two-year-old daughter following weeks of abuse.

Alexandra Walker, aged twenty-six, and Harrison Simpson, aged twenty-two, received minimum terms of twenty-two and twenty-eight years respectively at Teesside Crown Court. Isabelle Welsh collapsed at home last September after suffering a massive head injury. Simpson was also convicted of sexual assault.

Former New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming has been appointed as England Test coach, with Joe Root returning as captain.

Fleming, aged fifty-three, led Chennai Super Kings to five Indian Premier League titles during seventeen years as head coach. Previous coach Brendon McCullum was sacked earlier this month following poor results and off-field incidents, but remains white-ball coach. Root previously captained England to twenty-seven Test wins between 2017 and 2022.

Bosses should not rely heavily on virtual job interviews as they fail to capture a candidate’s passion and personality, Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said.

Speaking on a podcast, Mr Burnham criticised interviewing via Zoom or Teams, questioning how young people can shine. With vacancies at a five-year low and automated recruitment growing, young jobseekers told the BBC that applying for hundreds of roles online is robotic and brutal.

A driver has been arrested in Windsor for drug driving and other offences.

Thames Valley Police officers were patrolling anti-social behaviour hotspots around Hanover Way and Vale Road when they stopped a vehicle suspected of having no insurance. A search revealed cannabis in the driver’s door, and roads policing officers subsequently carried out a roadside drugs wipe which tested positive for the substance.Homes and a caravan park have been evacuated after a large wildfire broke out on heathland on the Suffolk coast.

A major incident was declared due to the size and complexity of the wind-driven blaze, which began on Wednesday afternoon. Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service urged people to avoid the area and keep windows shut as around ninety firefighters tackled the fire.

A parliamentary inquiry has found that a data breach exposing personal details of thousands of Afghans fleeing the Taliban was a foreseeable failure.

The Defence Committee said the Ministry of Defence lacked expertise to run the relocation scheme and used secrecy as a shield. Hidden by a super-injunction until July 2025, the Ministry admitted that the leak should never have happened.

Several areas across Ukraine have been targeted by Russian strikes overnight, just hours after Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that a massive attack from Moscow was imminent.

A number of people have reportedly been killed in the strikes, while several others have suffered injuries. As the bombardments took place, neighbouring Poland protectively scrambled fighter jets to safeguard its airspace, with military officials stressing the deployment was purely preventative.

Police chiefs have backed government proposals to reduce the number of forces in England and Wales.

The National Police Chiefs’ Council stated that having fewer, bigger forces would make tackling organised crime far easier. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood announced the planned shake-up in January to reform the forty-three force structure established in the 1960s. Former Met Commissioner Lord Hogan-Howe is currently conducting an independent review.

European football’s governing body is holding an emergency meeting today following FIFA’s controversial proposal to sell a stake in its competitions.

UEFA’s fifty-five member nations are gathering to form a unified response to plans to set up a fifteen-billion-pound commercial subsidiary, with potential options including a World Cup boycott. The lead investor in the project is reported to be American businessman Joshua Kushner.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham will announce eight point four billion pounds for continuing production of the next generation of nuclear submarines during a visit to Barrow-in-Furness today.

Mr Burnham is linking the existing spending commitment, which keeps HMS Dreadnought on track to enter service in the early 2030s, to education reforms that allow fourteen-year-olds to focus on technical skills tied to local employers.

UK interest rates are widely expected to be held at three point seven five per cent for a fifth consecutive time by Bank of England policymakers today.

Ongoing global economic uncertainty means the Monetary Policy Committee is set to maintain its cautious stance. Although the benchmark rate remains at its lowest level since February 2023, analysts predict no short-term changes.