Campaigners fear growth duty will hamper water regulator’s ability to crack down on companies in poor financial state The Conservatives have pushed through a duty on the water regulator to prioritise growth, which experts have said will incentivise water companies to value their bottom lines over reducing sewage pollution. Campaigners fear this move will weaken Ofwat’s ability to crack down on water companies as it may force the regulator to consider a company’s financial situation and the impact on its growth if the firm is heavily fined for polluting ..read more

Should Labour make it across the line, the reality of having to govern could be overwhelming, the Lib Dem coalition years adviser recalls I arrived at Downing Street half an hour before Nick Clegg – two colleagues and I the only familiar faces among a sea of strangers waiting to welcome him behind the famous black door. Everything about those first weeks was hyper-real. There is always something strange about being in a place you know well from TV, but have never been to. Trying to work in such a place sometimes feels like you might be acting on a film set. For me and my Liberal Democrat colle ..read more

Conservative supporters are hard to find in this area of Sheffield, but Lib Dems say Labour are taking these voters for granted Labour may fail to grab target seats as young voters turn away over Gaza and climate On the high street of Crookes, a leafy hillside suburb of Sheffield with a large student population, there were plenty of people saying they would vote Labour at the next general election – but most weren’t too happy about it. “It feels like the lesser of two evils – it’s definitely better than going back to what we’ve got,” said Amy Pattison, a 24-year-old occupational therapy stud ..read more

Polls are the last chance for voters to make their choices before the general election UK politics – latest updates Voters in England will go to the polls on 2 May to elect more than 2,600 councillors and 10 metro mayors, in the last set of local elections before the general one. Labour and the Conservatives are defending just under 1,000 seats each, the Liberal Democrats about 400 and the Greens just over 100. Police and crime commissioners in England and Wales are also up for election ..read more

Lib Dems also call for action to suspend arms exports to Israel after seven aid workers killed in Gaza Ministers are under pressure from Tory MPs and peers to stop arming Israel after seven humanitarian workers were killed by an airstrike in Gaza. Four Conservatives told the Guardian on Wednesday that the UK should stop exporting arms to Israel after its strike, which killed three British aid workers ..read more

YouGov polling suggests Conservative party could face worse result at general election than it suffered in 1997 under John Major Delegates at the National Education Union’s annual conference in Bournemouth have voted for a motion saying Ofsted should be abolished. Commenting on the result, Daniel Kebede, the union’s general secretary, said: NEU members have made their feelings very clear: Ofsted causes more harm than good and we need urgent and fundamental reform. The profession can be trusted to do their jobs effectively without a punitive, high-stakes system to keep them in line. We’ve alway ..read more

Rival parties accuse prime minister of indifference towards voters after awkward local radio appearance It is the question he can’t escape from – but Rishi Sunak’s habit of trying to laugh off queries about the general election date may finally be coming back to haunt him. The prime minister was asked “why is that funny?” by a BBC local radio presenter after breaking into laughter in the first of several interviews on Tuesday, when he was pressed on when voters could expect to cast their verdict on his government ..read more

If law is passed Scotland would become first part of UK to offer terminally ill people assistance to end their lives UK politics – latest updates Scotland could become the first part of the UK to offer terminally ill adults assistance to end their lives if Holyrood approves a new bill. The Scottish Liberal Democrat MSP Liam McArthur, who tabled the assisted dying for terminally ill adults (Scotland) bill on Thursday, said “politicians are catching up with where the public has been for some time” as extensive polling for Dignity in Dying Scotland found 78% of respondents supported legalisatio ..read more

Call for environmental emergency to be declared after data reveals 105% rise in raw sewage discharges over past 12 months How polluted is your local river and which regions are worst hit? Water companies in England have faced a barrage of criticism as data revealed raw sewage was discharged for more than 3.6m hours into rivers and seas last year in a 105% increase on the previous 12 months. The scale of the discharges of untreated waste made 2023 the worst year for storm water pollution. Early data seen by the Guardian put the scale of discharges at more than 4m hours, but officials said the ..read more

Deputy PM says international partners, including the US, will also be making statements today about similar Chinese cyber-attacks Andrew Bowie, the energy minister, said the government should have revived investment in nuclear energy “years ago” in an interview this morning. While doing an interview round on behalf of the government, Bowie told Times Radio that the government is investing £350m in nuclear energy. But it should have happened sooner, he said. I make no bones about it. We should have done this years ago. We are running to catch up, but we have just this year delivered our civil n ..read more