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The Independent
18 hours ago
- Business
- The Independent
Record-breaking spring weather: How the UK nations compare
All four UK nations saw their warmest spring on record this year, but experienced different levels of rainfall and sunshine. Here the PA news agency looks at how the nations compare, using the latest data from the Met Office. – England Just 75.8mm of rain fell in England across March, April and May this year, making it the second driest spring on record, behind only 1893 (65.7mm rain). It is a stark contrast with last year, when England experienced 263.7mm rain over these three months – enough to make it the fifth wettest spring on record. England saw 221.1mm in the first five months of the year, the lowest total for this period since 1976 (212.4mm). Met Office rainfall data begins in 1836. The mean temperature in England this spring was 10.23C, the warmest on record and just ahead of the previous record of 10.21C which was set only last year. Eight of England's top 10 warmest springs have all occurred since 2000, four of them in the past six years. Met Office temperature data begins in 1884. It was the second sunniest spring on record for England, with 691.6 hours of sunshine across the three months – just behind the record of 692.6 hours set in 2020. Met Office sunshine data starts in 1910. – Scotland An average of 204.1mm rain fell in Scotland this spring, comfortably outside the top 10 driest on record (ranking in 22nd place) and well above the all-time driest (108.4mm in 1852). It was the driest spring in Scotland since 2001. Scotland saw 396.9mm rain in the first five months of 2025, the lowest total for this period since 2001. The mean temperature in Scotland this spring was 8.23C, the warmest on record. The previous record was 7.97C in 2024. As with England, eight of Scotland's top 10 warmest springs have occurred since 2000. It was the sunniest spring on record for Scotland, with 593.7 hours across the three months. The previous record was 520.4C in 2020. – Wales Wales saw its sixth driest spring on record this year, with 145.8mm rain. It was the driest spring since 1990. The lowest spring rainfall recorded for Wales was 110.5mm in 1893. Total rainfall in Wales in 2025 to the end of May is 382.8mm, the lowest for the first five months of the year since 2010. The mean temperature in Wales this spring was 9.69C, the warmest on record. The previous record was 9.66C in 1893, with 2024 (9.43C) now in third place. As with England and Scotland, eight of Wales' top 10 warmest springs have been since 2000. It was the sunniest spring on record for Wales, with 660.4 hours across the three months, ahead of the previous record of 647.1 hours in 2020. – Northern Ireland An average of 168.6mm rain fell in Northern Ireland this spring, just inside the top 40 lowest totals on record. The driest spring on record here was in 1837, when just 98.3mm rain was measured. Total rainfall in Northern Ireland in 2025 to the end of May is 315.2mm, the lowest for this period since 1987. The mean temperature this spring was 9.78C, the warmest on record. The previous record was 9.42C in 1893, with 2024 (9.28C) in third place. Eight of Northern Ireland's top 10 warmest springs have occurred since 2000. This includes 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025. It was the sunniest spring on record for Northern Ireland, with 614.3 hours across the three months, beating the previous record of 559.0 hours in 2020.
The Independent
3 days ago
- General
- The Independent
Small boats leave France after week of no migrant crossing arrivals
Six migrant boats have left France in the first attempt to cross the English Channel and reach the UK in days. A group including children was seen boarding at a beach in Gravelines, between Calais and Dunkirk. French authorities were then pictured escorting a small boat. There have not been any arrivals of migrants crossing the Channel in small boats for a week, the latest Home Office figures show. But 2025 is on course to set a record for Channel crossings, with more than 13,000 people having arrived so far, up 30% on the number recorded at this point last year, according to analysis of the data by the PA news agency. Sir Keir Starmer has pledged to crack down on small boat crossings including with measures targeting smuggling gangs. The Home Secretary has previously said gangs have been taking advantage of a higher number of calm weather days to make crossings. Sunny weather is forecast on Saturday with some areas potentially hitting 27C.
BreakingNews.ie
4 days ago
- Business
- BreakingNews.ie
Liverpool make €130 million offer for Bayer Leverkusen forward Florian Wirtz
Liverpool has made an improved offer totalling €130 million for Bayer Leverkusen forward Florian Wirtz, the PA news agency understands. The Reds' second bid for the Germany international, which includes add-ons, would make him the most expensive signing in the club's history if it is accepted by Leverkusen. Wirtz was a star performer in Leverkusen's domestic league and cup triumph in the 2023-24 season and also shone for Germany in last summer's Euros. The 22-year-old featured in 31 Bundesliga matches in the season just ended, scoring 10 goals. The Reds are also close to signing another Leverkusen player, Jeremie Frimpong. Liverpool are understood to have triggered a £30m release clause for the Netherlands international and are holding a medical for the player this week. Advertisement
The Independent
16-05-2025
- Health
- The Independent
All you need to know as the assisted dying Bill returned to Parliament
The assisted dying Bill was back in the House of Commons on Friday, where MPs once again debated the controversial issue. Here, the PA news agency takes a look at the Bill and how the process might work. – What is in the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill? The proposed legislation would allow terminally ill adults in England and Wales, with fewer than six months to live, to apply for an assisted death. This would be subject to approval by two doctors and a panel featuring a social worker, senior legal figure and psychiatrist. The terminally ill person would take an approved substance, provided by a doctor but administered only by the person themselves. – When would assisted dying be available if the Bill became law? The implementation period has been doubled to a maximum of four years from royal assent, rather than the initially suggested two years. If the Bill was to pass later this year that would mean it might not be until 2029, potentially coinciding with the end of this Government's parliament, that assisted dying was being offered. Labour MP Kim Leadbeater, who is the parliamentarian behind the Bill and put forward the extended timeframe, has insisted it is 'a backstop' rather than a target, as she pledged to 'hold the Government's feet to the fire' on implementing legislation should the Bill pass. The extended implementation period was one of a number of changes made since the Bill was first introduced to the Commons back in October. – What other changes have there been? The High Court safeguard has been dropped and replaced by expert panels – a change much-criticised by opponents who said it weakened the Bill, but something Ms Leadbeater has argued strengthens it. At the end of a weeks-long committee process earlier this year to amend the Bill, Ms Leadbeater said rather than removing judges from the process, 'we are adding the expertise and experience of psychiatrists and social workers to provide extra protections in the areas of assessing mental capacity and detecting coercion while retaining judicial oversight'. Changes were also made to ensure the establishment of independent advocates to support people with learning disabilities, autism or mental health conditions and to set up a disability advisory board to advise on legal implementation and impact on disabled people. – Do we know much more about the potential impact of such a service coming in? A Government impact assessment published earlier this month, estimated that between 164 and 647 assisted deaths could potentially take place in the first year of the service, rising to between 1,042 and 4,559 in year 10. The establishment of a Voluntary Assisted Dying Commissioner and three-member expert panels would cost an estimated average of between £10.9 million to £13.6 million per year, the document said. It had 'not been possible' to estimate the overall implementation costs at this stage of the process, it added. While noting that cutting end-of-life care costs 'is not stated as an objective of the policy', the assessment estimated that such costs could be reduced by as much as an estimated £10 million in the first year and almost £60 million after 10 years. – Do healthcare staff have to take part in assisted dying? It was already the case that doctors would not have to take part, but MPs voted to insert a new clause into the Bill on Friday extending that to anyone. The wording means 'no person', including social care workers and pharmacists, is obliged to take part in assisted dying and can now opt out. Amendments to the Bill were debated on care homes and hospices also being able to opt out but these were not voted on in Friday's debate. Ms Leadbeater has previously said there is nothing in the Bill to say they have to, nor is there anything to say they do not have to, adding on the Parliament Matters podcast that this is 'the best position to be in' and that nobody should be 'dictating to hospices what they do and don't do around assisted dying'. – What is happening next? The Bill is still at report stage – where MPs debate and vote on various amendments. Friday May 16th's debate was almost five hours long. The Bill will return for further debate at report stage on June 13. It is not yet clear if a Third Reading vote – where MPs vote yes or no and decide whether to send the Bill on to the House of Lords – will take place on that day or another date. – What about assisted dying in the rest of the British Isles? The Isle of Man looks likely to become the first part of the British Isles to legalise assisted dying, after its proposed legislation passed through a final vote of the parliament's upper chamber in March. In what was hailed a 'landmark moment', members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs) on Tuesday voted in favour of the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill, backing its general principles. It will now go forward for further scrutiny and amendments but will only become law if MSPs approve it in a final vote, which should take place later this year. Any move to legalise assisted dying in Northern Ireland would have to be passed by politicians in the devolved Assembly at Stormont. Jersey's parliament is expected to debate a draft law for an assisted dying service on the island for terminally ill people later this year. With a likely 18-month implementation period if a law is approved, the earliest it could come into effect would be summer 2027.
The Independent
15-05-2025
- Health
- The Independent
All you need to know as the assisted dying Bill returns to Parliament
The assisted dying Bill is back in the House of Commons on Friday, where MPs will once again debate the controversial issue. Here, the PA news agency takes a look at the Bill and how the process might work. – What is in the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill? The proposed legislation would allow terminally ill adults in England and Wales, with fewer than six months to live, to apply for an assisted death. This would be subject to approval by two doctors and a panel featuring a social worker, senior legal figure and psychiatrist. The terminally ill person would take an approved substance, provided by a doctor but administered only by the person themselves. – When would assisted dying be available if the Bill became law? The implementation period has been doubled to a maximum of four years from royal assent, rather than the initially-suggested two years. If the Bill was to pass later this year that would mean it might not be until 2029, potentially coinciding with the end of this Government's parliament, that assisted dying was being offered. Labour MP Kim Leadbeater, who is the parliamentarian behind the Bill and put forward the extended timeframe, has insisted it is 'a backstop' rather than a target, as she pledged to 'hold the Government's feet to the fire' on implementing legislation should the Bill pass. The extended implementation period was one of a number of changes made since the Bill was first introduced to the Commons back in October. – What other changes have there been? The High Court safeguard has been dropped and replaced by expert panels – a change much-criticised by opponents who said it weakened the Bill, but something Ms Leadbeater has argued strengthens it. At the end of a weeks-long committee process earlier this year to amend the Bill, Ms Leadbeater said rather than removing judges from the process, 'we are adding the expertise and experience of psychiatrists and social workers to provide extra protections in the areas of assessing mental capacity and detecting coercion while retaining judicial oversight'. Changes were also made to ensure the establishment of independent advocates to support people with learning disabilities, autism or mental health conditions and to set up a disability advisory board to advise on legal implementation and impact on disabled people. – Do we know much more about the potential impact of such a service coming in? A Government impact assessment published earlier this month, estimated that between 164 and 787 assisted deaths could potentially take place in the first year of the service, rising to between 1,042 and 4,559 in year 10. The establishment of a Voluntary Assisted Dying Commissioner and three-member expert panels would cost an estimated average of between £10.9 million to £13.6 million per year, the document said. It had 'not been possible' to estimate the overall implementation costs at this stage of the process, it added. While noting that cutting end-of-life care costs 'is not stated as an objective of the policy', the assessment estimated that such costs could be reduced by as much as an estimated £10 million in the first year and almost £60 million after 10 years. – Do healthcare staff have to take part in assisted dying? It was already the case that doctors would not have to take part, but Ms Leadbeater has also confirmed she will propose a clause to ensure 'anybody who does not want to be involved in the assisted dying process should not be forced to do so', meaning pharmacists and others will have the right not to participate. On organisations such as hospices however, Ms Leadbeater said she wanted to give them 'the time and space to think about if and how they choose to have assisted dying as part of what they do'. There is nothing in the Bill to say they have to, nor is there anything to say they do not have to, she said, adding on the Parliament Matters podcast that this is 'the best position to be in' and that nobody should be 'dictating to hospices what they do and don't do around assisted dying'. – What is happening on Friday? The Bill is at report stage – where MPs will debate and vote on various amendments. It is the first time the Bill is returning to the Commons since it passed second reading in a historic vote in November, when MPs supported it by a majority of 55. With so many amendments proposed for debate during the five-hour sitting, report stage could possibly run into a second day next month. That would mean a Third Reading vote – where MPs vote yes or no and decide whether to send the Bill on to the House of Lords – might be delayed for another time. – What about assisted dying in the rest of the British Isles? The Isle of Man looks likely to become the first part of the British Isles to legalise assisted dying, after its proposed legislation passed through a final vote of the parliament's upper chamber in March. In what was hailed a 'landmark moment', members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs) on Tuesday voted in favour of the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill, backing its general principles. It will now go forward for further scrutiny and amendments but will only become law if MSPs approve it in a final vote, which should take place later this year. Any move to legalise assisted dying in Northern Ireland would have to be passed by politicians in the devolved Assembly at Stormont. Jersey's parliament is expected to debate a draft law for an assisted dying service on the island for terminally ill people later this year. With a likely 18-month implementation period if a law is approved, the earliest it could come into effect would be summer 2027.
