Committee calls on government to heed widespread concern and consider a more nuanced inspection system The government should stop the use of single-word judgments such as “inadequate” or “outstanding” in Ofsted’s headline grades of schools in England, a committee of MPs has urged. MPs on the education committee said relations […]

Draft of former speaker’s final speech said prime ministers should not give peerages to friends or people with ‘fat bank accounts’ Betty Boothroyd wanted to use her valedictory speech in the House of Lords to criticise prime ministers for giving too many peerages to friends and those with “fat bank […]

Home Office said refugees’ fear of persecution was ‘well-founded’, undermining Rishi Sunak’s claims about East African country Four Rwandans were granted refugee status in the UK over “well-founded” fears of persecution at the same time as the government was arguing in court and parliament that the east African country was […]

Business secretary Kemi Badenoch tells Henry Staunton he is to be replaced, feeling ‘a need for new leadership’ The chair of the Post Office has been dismissed by the government as the state-owned company reels from the Horizon IT scandal. Henry Staunton was this weekend told by the business secretary, […]

Government follows example of US after allegations that staff took part in attacks on Israel last year Middle East crisis – live updates The decision by the US, UK and other western nations to freeze ­funding for the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees will significantly worsen the humanitarian crisis in […]

Four-storey building ‘showing signs of collapse’ with smoke plumes visible across city A major incident was declared on Saturday after a large fire broke out in a building in Liverpool city centre. The fire service said it had evacuated neighbouring properties as the building was in danger of collapsing. Continue […]