Suppressed DWP study told of hardship endured by carers forced to repay thousands after minor allowance breaches

Ministers were warned three years ago that unpaid carers were being treated unfairly and forced to repay huge sums for minor benefit breaches, a long suppressed government report has revealed.

A Department for Work and Pensions document presented to politicians in 2021 detailed how carers – the majority of whom were on low incomes and spending 65 hours a week caring for loved ones – endured financial hardship, stress and anger after being heavily penalised for falling foul of strict carer’s allowance eligibility rules.

Graham King, whose firm is paid £3.5m a day to accommodate arrivals in the UK, listed among country’s 350 richest people

An Essex businessman who won government contracts paying his firm £3.5m a day for transporting and accommodating asylum seekers has been named among the 350 richest people in the UK.

Graham King, the founder and majority owner of a business empire that includes Clearsprings Ready Homes, which won a 10-year Home Office contract for housing thousands of asylum seekers, was on Friday named alongside King Charles III, the prime minister and Sir Paul McCartney on the Sunday Times rich list of the wealthiest people.

The attacker was carrying a knife and iron bar, according to local authorities

Chmouel Lubecki, a rabbi in Rouen, said today’s incident was “shocking.”

“It is important to light the candles of Shabbat to exactly show that we are not afraid,” he said.

John Woodcock, whose review proposes bans for protest groups, has lobbying links to firms in arms and fossil fuel sectors

Activists have accused the government’s independent adviser on political violence of a conflict of interest, after it emerged that he had lobbying links to companies that would benefit from curbs to protesting.

John Woodcock, formerly a Labour MP and now a crossbench peer, has prepared a review of “far-left” involvement in disruptive protest, which includes activism against climate change and war. At the same time, he has been chairing and advising lobby groups representing arms manufacturers and fossil fuel firms.

Exclusive: Royal College of GPs says constitution guarantee would just pile on pressure given loss of 1,000 practices in past 10 years

Seven in 10 people want to be able to see a GP urgently within 24 hours, research by the NHS’s patient watchdog has found.

Almost three-quarters (71%) of voters in England support automatic access to a family doctor within one day of requesting an appointment for a health problem they consider cannot wait.

Days of unrest in the French Pacific territory – sparked by a plan to change voting rules – have left five dead

Tensions remained high in Nouméa, the capital of New Caledonia, on Friday after days of riots as the French government’s representative said areas of the Pacific territory have “escaped” state control.

Louis Le Franc, high commissioner of the Republic in New Caledonia, announced new security deployments. The number of police and gendarmes on the island will rise to 2,700 from 1,700 by Friday evening.

The chancellor is expected to attempt to draw up an election battle line between the Conservatives and Labour over tax

Jeremy Hunt accuses the Labour party of “taking people for fools” when they say that “living standards have fallen this parliament” without mentioning the pandemic or the energy crisis.

He said when he became chancellor in October 2022 “The Bank of England said we faced the longest recession in a century. The OBR said we would see the biggest fall in living standards on record. Families were worried about their future. But what actually happened, inflation has fallen to just 3.2% and is expected to fall further next week.”

Israel to appear at international court of justice in response to request that judges issue emergency order to stop offensive into Gaza’s southernmost city

• See all our Middle East coverage

Yemen’s Houthis said they downed a US MQ9 drone on Thursday evening over the south-eastern province of Maareb, the group’s military spokesperson said on Friday.

According to Reuters, the Iran-aligned group said they would release images and videos to support their claim and added that they had targeted the drone using a locally made surface to air missile.

Scientists point to loopholes in new legislation that have been closed under European Union regulations

New rules intended to reduce the use of antibiotics in farming in the UK have been criticised as too lax and weaker than their equivalent under EU laws.

The updated regulations come into force on Friday. They ban the routine use of antibiotics on farm animals, and specifically their use to “compensate for poor hygiene, inadequate animal husbandry, or poor farm management practices”.

Owners of historic buildings used in likes of Bridgerton warned of potential damage to possessions and reputations

When the owner of Drayton House in Northamptonshire was approached to allow his 127-room mansion to be the location of a film called Saltburn, it was “100%” the generous fee on offer that swayed his decision, he said, adding: “These houses don’t run on water.”

But there were unintended consequences of Charles Stopford Sackville’s decision after the movie’s release last year. The popularity of Emerald Fennell’s class satire led to a rush of selfie-taking trespassers after TikTok videos giving directions to the estate went viral.