Industry

There are heavy delays on the southbound A12 in Essex due to gas works.

National Highways said there had been one emergency lane closure at junction 25 for Marks Tey "for gas utility works".

It reported about 50 minutes of hold-ups between junction 28, for Colchester, and junction 25.

Drivers are being warned to allow extra time for their journey.

The Conservatives have lost overall control of Worcestershire County Council after 20 years, with Reform UK the main beneficiary of a night the Tories would rather forget.

Going into Thursday's vote, the Tories held 45 seats on the authority from 2021's count – those have been whittled down to 12.

Reform – which already had three seats on the council, thanks to Tory defectors – now have 27, two short of an overall majority.

Their success mirrors the picture across England, where Reform has gained control of several councils.

Reform's first win was the first seat to be announced in Worcestershire, when Kidderminster gym owner Mark Crosby took St Georges in Wyre Forest.

He said he was "absolutely elated" for himself and the party – adding that the main takeaway from his campaigning was that people were ready for change.

Reform went on to win eight of the 10 seats in Wyre Forest, where the Tories only managed to keep hold of two.

Bill Hopkins, a former Conservative councillor who defected to Reform 18 months ago, kept hold of St Chads.

"The Conservatives have let us down; Labour are seemingly letting us down," he said. "People are so fed up. They want change, and we are the only party that can deliver change."

Reform picked up wins in each council area – including, notably, Redditch, where every single one of the eight previously Conservative seats now belong to Nigel Farage's party.

It was a better picture for the Tories in Wychavon.

They remain the majority party in the area, despite losing seats to Reform, the Lib Dems, and the Greens. Reform might have had one more, had it not been for a dead heat between its candidate and the Greens' prospective councillor in Littleton.

The outcome came down to drawing both candidates' names out of a box at random, with fortune smiling on the Greens' Hannah Robson.

"[It was] really terrifying," she said. "I thank the universe for letting my ballot paper come out the box."

In Worcester, council leader Simon Geraghty lost his Riverside seat after nearly ten years.

Conceding it had been "a difficult day" both for him and the Tories, Geraghty said, adding he had been "incredibly proud" to lead the authority.

But he said he was unclear as to what the county council would look like under Reform.

"They will have to have a set of policies – we don't know what they will be – to govern Worcestershire.

"We had a clear manifesto; we had a six-point plan for Worcestershire. I'm not sure what Reform will do.

And they will be faced with the same difficulties that we've faced."

Geraghty's seat went to Tor Pingree – one of eight which are now in the hands of the Greens.

She said people were growing "disheartened" with the two main parties.

"They want actual change in Worcester, and they haven't seen that," she said.

Describing her party as "snowballing", Pingree said she was confident the Greens could make a difference on the council.

"There's quite a lot of us now, and we have quite loud voices. So I'm hoping we can really make some change and switch things up."

Labour started the day with three seats on the council; that has been reduced to two.

Worcester's Labour MP Tom Collins suggested that was as much a reflection of people's dissatisfaction with the Tories as anything else – although he conceded that they were also likely frustrated with the pace of change since Labour's general election win.

He said it was now down to Reform to prove its worth.

"We've had some very simple answers proposed to very complex problems," he said of the party. "And now it's for them to demonstrate what they can actually do when they're given the opportunity."

Analysis: James Pearson, BBC Hereford & Worcester political reporter

Reform UK has delivered a seismic shock to the county's political scene, far exceeding their own expectations.

With 27 seats they are now the largest party on the council, although agonisingly for them, two seats short of an outright majority.

Together with gains made by the Greens, Reform's success is a sign many voters in Worcestershire want change and are now looking outside Labour and the Conservatives.

All eyes are on whether Reform can put together an administration, most likely a minority. During the campaign, Reform kept its key priorities relatively simple: an audit of the county council's finances to cut waste and ensure value for money, and a pledge to put any "spare" money into roads.

While some of its councillors are former Tories, many are making their first entry into local politics. While this freshness may have been part of the party's appeal, it may mean it takes them time to get to grips with running a local authority.

A popular Bristol food and drink festival will return to Bristol twice this year.

The festival eat:Nailsea will hold "two bumper editions" this year following the cancellation of last year's event due to bad weather.

The events – on Saturday 26 April and Saturday 6 December – will stretch across the High Street and Crown Glass Shopping Centre.

Each festival will showcase about 100 producers, featuring farmers' market favourites like craft ales, artisan cheeses and baked goods, alongside a wide selection of street food.

Shoppers will be able to buy directly from local producers.

The free, dog-friendly event is also fully accessible for buggies, scooters, and pushchairs.

The festival is backed by Nailsea Town Council and Praxis Retail, which manages the Crown Glass Shopping Centre.

When three-year-old Wilfie developed a squint, his parents had no idea of the devastating news they were about to receive.

Carys and Richard Wham were told their son had eye cancer and had to choose between putting him through chemotherapy or having his eye removed.

"When the news was first given, your mind goes to the darkest place," recalls dad Richard. "I was preparing for the worst and we might be saying goodbye."

Wilfie has since had surgery, is now cancer-free and loves talking to friends about his "magic eye".

A council has been ordered to pay a woman £3,060 for charging her unaffordable rent while she was in temporary homelessness accommodation.

An investigation by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman found Slough Borough Council (SBC) had failed to check if the woman – known as Ms X – could afford the accommodation and did not tell her of rent increases.

The council accepted it was at fault and offered to pay the difference between Ms X's housing benefit and the rental charge between February and March 2024 but the ombudsman said that was not enough.

SBC apologised and said it had "updated staff training to highlight the importance of affordability checks".

Ms X was placed in a one-bedroom flat by the council when she was homeless in October 2023.

She was charged £184.10 a week, which was the local housing allowance – the maximum amount of benefits a person can claim for private rented accommodation.

The rent increased to £455 per week in February 2024, and then to £525 in April 2024.

The council then refused to give Ms X permanent two-bedroom accommodation because she had accrued "significant rent arrears".

She went to the ombudsman after the council failed to uphold her complaint.

'Avoidable distress'

The ombudsman said Ms X's income was less than the difference between her housing benefit and the rest of her rent, so "on the balance of probabilities, the temporary accommodation was unaffordable for Ms X and therefore unsuitable".

"Ms X should not have had to make any payments towards her rent and should not have any outstanding amounts on her rent account," it said.

SBC was ordered to repay Ms X £2,760 for the rent payments made and to reduce her rent account balance to zero, as well as pay £300 for the "avoidable distress and uncertainty".

A council spokesperson said: "We acknowledge we failed to do the proper affordability checks on the temporary accommodation, and this led to Ms X being unable to pay the increased rent and then go into arrears.

"We apologise to Ms X for the upset and uncertainty caused and we have written to Ms X with our apology."

X

Rock band Sleep Token have scored their first ever UK number one album.

The British group's fourth full-length release, Even In Arcadia, shot to the top of the chart after three top 40 singles in as many months.

Formed in 2016, the group have never revealed their identities, wearing masks at all times and rarely speaking in public, with posts speculating about who they are regularly going viral.

Critics have accused the band of using gimmicks to boost their popularity, while fans say Sleep Token's distinctive sound, which blends heavy metal with poppy, R&B elements, sets them apart.

Building off their 2023 release, Take Me Back to Eden, which reached number three, the band now has 9.4 million monthly listeners on Spotify.

The streamer said earlier this week that Even in Arcadia was its top new album, outranking releases from Kali Uchis and Pink Pantheress.

Announcing the UK chart on BBC Radio 1's Official Chart Show, host Jack Saunders said it was a "a groundbreaking rock record".

"It's accessible enough but also loveable enough for those who do really love the genre to really keep it close," he said.

"I think it's brilliant."

But not everyone is convinced.

Music website Pitchfork – known for its sometimes-scathing takes – described the band as "schmaltzy and dull".

Reviewer Eli Enis said Even in Arcadia "feels means-tested to maximize cross-market potential".

Music critic Anthony Fantano, of The Needle Drop YouTube channel, describing it as "boring, uninspired, and uninteresting" and "metal for Disney adults".

Nato needs a "quantum leap" in defence to deter threats to the alliance, its secretary general has said, as he called for Western allies to invest more in their armed forces.

In a speech in London, Mark Rutte said Russia could be ready to use military force against Nato within five years.

Rutte said Nato needed a "400% increase in air and missile" to credibly defend itself against attacks.

He said he expected Nato allies to agree to spend 5% of their national income on defence, at a summit in the Netherlands next week.

Rutte's speech at Chatham House comes at a critical time for global security as Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine and China's military expansion continues to raise questions about Nato's capabilities and readiness for war.

"The fact is, we need a quantum leap in our collective defence," Rutte said.

"The fact is, we must have more forces and capabilities to implement our defense plans in full."

Rutte, a former Dutch prime minister, is pushing for members of the military alliance to commit 5% towards defence-related spending when leaders week in the Hague.

He has proposed that Nato's 32 members should commit to spending 3.5% on hard defence, and 1.5% on broader security areas, such as cyber.

But he did not put a date on when he expected Nato allies to hit the spending target.

Trump compromise

The proposal is a compromise deal designed to satisfy US President Donald Trump, who has demanded that allies each spend 5% of their economic output on defence, up from a current commitment of 2%.

"It will be a Nato-wide commitment and a defining moment for the alliance," Rutte said.

Russia lambasted Rutte before he had made his speech.

Nato "is demonstrating itself as an instrument of aggression and confrontation", Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Moscow.

Rutte's speech came after he had met Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, their second Downing Street talks since last year.

Starmer's government plans to increase military spending from 2.3% to 2.5% of national income by 2027, and has set an ambition to then increase it to 3% by 2034.

The increase will fund plans to move the UK to "war-fighting readiness", as outlined in the government's recent strategic review of defence.

"I know we can count on the United Kingdom as we start the next chapter for Nato," Rutte said.

He said the upcoming summit will "transform our alliance".

"Russia could be ready to use military force against Nato within five years," Rutte said. "Let's not kid ourselves. We are all on the eastern flank now."

After his speech, the Nato secretary general was asked if he believed Chancellor Rachel Reeves should be raising taxes to meet defence spending commitments.

He replied: "It's not up to me to decide, of course, how countries pay the bill."

He added that if the UK did not spend 5% on defence, it could still have an NHS but warned Britons "you had better learn to speak Russian".

President Trump has long complained that European allies do not pay enough towards their collective defence, and threatened the US would quit Nato over payments in 2018.

European countries have increased their spending since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Some eastern European and Nordic countries have already said they will make pledges to increase defence spending to that level, in the run-up to the summit in the Hague.

On Monday, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced his country would hit 2% this year.