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Local devolution decisions rest solely with Scotland and Wales, first ministers tell Burnham

John Swinney and Rhun ap Iorwerth say devolving power further is up to Holyrood and Senedd – not Westminster

Scotland and Wales’s first ministers have told Andy Burnham that decisions on local devolution rest solely with their parliaments, in response to the prime minister’s push to extend English-style regional powers across the UK.

After Burnham held discussions in Glasgow with John Swinney and Rhun ap Iorwerth about localised employment and reindustrialisation powers, Downing Street characterised the talks as constructive.

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© Photograph: Russell Cheyne/PA

© Photograph: Russell Cheyne/PA

© Photograph: Russell Cheyne/PA

Hitting the fan: London council angers residents with removal of 700 dog-waste bins

30 October 2026 at 09:00

Conservative-run Hillingdon aims to save £100,000 but local people fear dog poo will ‘be dumped everywhere’

People in a west London borough fear it will become covered in dog poo after their cash-strapped council decided to remove 700 dog-waste bins to save money.

“People are worried there’s going to be dog shit everywhere,” said Daniel O’Neill, the chief road steward at Ruislip Residents’ Association.

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© Photograph: Daniel O'Neill

© Photograph: Daniel O'Neill

© Photograph: Daniel O'Neill

Hitting the fan: London council angers residents with removal of 700 dog-waste bins

30 October 2026 at 09:00

Conservative-run Hillingdon aims to save £100,000 but local people fear dog poo will ‘be dumped everywhere’

People in a west London borough fear it will become covered in dog poo after their cash-strapped council decided to remove 700 dog-waste bins to save money.

“People are worried there’s going to be dog shit everywhere,” said Daniel O’Neill, the chief road steward at Ruislip Residents’ Association.

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© Photograph: Daniel O'Neill

© Photograph: Daniel O'Neill

© Photograph: Daniel O'Neill

UK politics: Burnham denies preventing ministers from speaking about plans for closer relationship with EU – as it happened

29 October 2026 at 20:30

Prime minister wrote to ministers saying he did not want them to ‘advocate for specific options or opine on the likely outcome of the process’

Selling nicotine-free vapes to children under the age of 18 has become illegal from today, the government has said.

Children were already banned from buying vapes containing nicotine. But, under the Tobacco and Vapes Act, shops across the UK will now be banned from selling nicotine-free vapes, and nicotine pouches, to children.

Vaping can be a way to help established adult smokers who are already addicted to nicotine from tobacco to swap to a less dangerous product. Vaping is considered safer than smoking, but that is a low bar. Vapes should therefore never be used by children or non-smokers.

Some children have already come to harm from bad reactions to vapes. The long-term health harms of vaping in today’s children will only become clear over time. They are however unlikely to be good; inhaling multiple, often heated, chemicals into the lungs may well do irreversible harm.

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© Photograph: Darren Staples/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Darren Staples/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Darren Staples/AFP/Getty Images

Neighbour of new Montenegro embassy in London sues council over impact on mental health

Exclusive: Case in Pimlico is latest instance of tensions between small countries seeking a space in capital and residents

It is not a classic neighbour-from-hell dispute, what with the protagonist inviting everyone over for evening drinks and canapés. But the sudden conversion of a five-bedroom family home in Pimlico, central London, into the embassy of Montenegro has triggered a neighbourhood row that has gone all the way to the desk of a high court judge.

The first stirrings of trouble came when one resident argued in a submission to the council this spring that the new embassy’s “flagpole and rather tacky-looking flag stick out like a sore thumb” among Cambridge Street’s Grade II-listed homes.

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© Photograph: Linda Nylind/The Guardian

© Photograph: Linda Nylind/The Guardian

© Photograph: Linda Nylind/The Guardian

Neighbour of new Montenegro embassy in London sues council over impact on mental health

29 October 2026 at 09:00

Exclusive: Case in Pimlico is latest instance of tensions between residents and small countries seeking a space in the capital

It is not a classic neighbour-from-hell dispute, what with the protagonist inviting everyone over for evening drinks and canapés. But the sudden conversion of a five-bedroom family home in Pimlico, central London, into the embassy of Montenegro has triggered a neighbourhood row that has gone all the way to the desk of a high court judge.

The first stirrings of trouble came when one resident argued in a submission to the council this spring that the new embassy’s “flagpole and rather tacky-looking flag stick out like a sore thumb” among Cambridge Street’s Grade II-listed homes.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Linda Nylind/The Guardian

© Photograph: Linda Nylind/The Guardian

© Photograph: Linda Nylind/The Guardian

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