Author: Loveworld UK

The Queen and Prince William have met victims of the Grenfell Tower fire and members of the emergency services at a refuge centre in west London. Her Majesty and the Duke of Cambridge visited the Westway Sports Centre, where people left homeless are being looked after, close to the charred remains of the tower block. As the Queen heard how the local community had provided support following the tragedy, she said their response had “come over very strongly”. Prince William said to a volunteer that “things like that you never want to see.” He told another volunteer: “That’s one of…

Jeremy Corbyn has called for empty luxury properties in Kensington to be requisitioned to house victims of the Grenfell inferno. The Labour leader claimed the tragedy had exposed a “tale of two cities”, with some of the wealthiest homes in the country located alongside the poorest. He spent about 40 minutes on Thursday consoling victims at St Clements Church, which is being used as a refuge for those who have lost their homes. His visit provided a sharp contrast with Theresa May, who made a private visit to the site to meet the emergency services, but failed to speak to…

It was not the maiden speech in Parliament that Emma Dent Coad, the new MP for Kensington, would have wanted to make. On Tuesday, after MPs had re-elected John Bercow as Speaker, I interviewed her for Sky News about her first impressions of the House of Commons. She said – as many new MPs do – that even though she’d visited Parliament many times, she couldn’t believe how noisy and raucous it was inside the chamber. Yet now, two days later, she was making her first speech to MPs in a hushed, sombre atmosphere of shock – and at times…

Tesco has reported its best quarterly sales growth in seven years as it said it was holding back inflation pressures to keep prices down. Chief executive Dave Lewis said the business, Britain’s biggest supermarket, had done well in the first quarter despite “tough market conditions”. Tesco reported a 2.3% rise in UK like-for-like sales for the 13 weeks to 27 May – the latest sign of the turnaround under Mr Lewis after he became boss in 2014. It was the sixth consecutive quarter of growth and the best performance since the third quarter of the 2009-10 period, beating City expectations.…

France President Emmanuel Macron’s party is on course for a landslide victory after Sunday’s first round of voting for the National Assembly. Projections showed Mr Macron’s Republique en Marche party and its ally MoDem expected to win between 400 and 445 seats in the 577-member assembly in next Sunday’s second round. That would give Mr Macron one of the biggest parliamentary majorities for 60 years. Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said: “France is back. For the past month, the president has shown confidence, willingness and daring in France and on the international stage.” He added the result will be a vindication…

Business confidence has plunged because of the political uncertainty gripping the nation following the election, a lobby group has said. The hung parliament has triggered a “dramatic drop” in confidence, according to a survey by the Institute of Directors (IoD). A snap poll of its 700 members found a negative swing of 34 points in confidence in the UK economy since its last survey in May. The majority cited Brexit and growing concerns about the country’s immigration system once Britain leaves the European Union as a priority issue for Theresa May’s minority government to address. In particular, employers voiced worries…

Theresa May will face tough questions later from her backbenchers after the Conservatives lost their majority at last week’s election. The MPs are expected to raise concerns about her leadership style, and press for more details on talks with the Democratic Unionists. Mrs May’s new cabinet will also meet for the first time after a reshuffle. Brexit Secretary David Davis predicted some parts of the Tory manifesto would now have to be “pruned”. “We have been given an instruction by the British people,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. Mr Davis said that while the Tory election campaign had…

One of Spain’s biggest banks has been saved from collapse after it was bought by rival Santander for just €1. The deal will see Santander take on the bank’s customers, branches and also its liabilities, estimated at around €5bn. It also means that Santander has now become the biggest banking group in Spain. The decline of Banco Popular has highlighted two things – the first being that the shockwaves of the financial crisis continue to be felt, nearly a decade after it happened. The second is that by orchestrating the takeover deal, European authorities have shown their teeth and an…

Around 30 million voters are going to the polls in the General Election called by Theresa May just over seven weeks ago. Polling stations all over the UK are open from 7am until 10pm on Thursday, with the results being declared overnight and throughout Friday. Polling day follows a frantic dash for votes in the final 24 hours of campaigning by the Prime Minister, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and the Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron. Mrs May campaigned across England in five constituencies; in London, Southampton, Norfolk, Nottinghamshire and Birmingham. Mr Corbyn made six campaign visits, to Glasgow, Runcorn, Colwyn…

Police in Australia say they are treating a shooting and two-hour siege in Melbourne as terrorism after Islamic State said it had inspired the attack. Yacqub Khayre, 29, killed a man in the foyer of an apartment block in the beach suburb of Brighton on Monday evening. He then took an escort girl hostage, calling police to say he would hurt her if they intervened. Police attempted to negotiate with Khayre before he came out of the building shooting at police. They shot him dead. The hostage escaped without injury but three police officers were injured in the shooting, although…