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Sunday morning UK news briefing: Today's top headlines from The Telegraph

Sunday morning UK news briefing: Today's top headlines from The Telegraph
Sunday morning UK news briefing: Today's top headlines from The Telegraph

Welcome to your early morning news briefing from The Telegraph - a round-up of the top stories we are covering today. To receive twice-daily briefings by email, sign up to our Front Page newsletter for free.

1. Hosepipes must be banned now, says minister

Millions of households across the south of England could be hit with hosepipe bans within days after the Environment Secretary urged more water companies to introduce urgent restrictions.

In the first public intervention by ministers over the possible drought, George Eustice said it was “right” that some firms had already taken action. Read the full story.

2. Truss will ‘rush through’ tax cuts to tackle cost of living crisis

Liz Truss will rush through tax cuts up to six months earlier than planned, The Telegraph can disclose, with the Foreign Secretary pledging to “look at what more can be done” to tackle the rising cost of living.

Until now, the Tory leadership contender had been planning to reverse the National Insurance rise from April – in line with usual Treasury rules – after formally announcing the move in an emergency budget in September. Read the full story.

3. Archie Battersbee dies after life support withdrawn

Archie Battersbee died on Saturday afternoon, shortly after the withdrawal of life support after his parents exhausted all available legal routes in their fight to keep him alive.

Clinicians at the Royal London Hospital began the process of switching off the machinery keeping the 12-year-old alive at 10am after the courts had ruled that any continued efforts were against his best interests. Read the full story.

4. Number of passports lost by Home Office triples

The number of passports lost by the Home Office tripled last year amid chaos at the Passport Office in the wake of the Covid pandemic.

Between Jan 1 and Oct 31 last year, 312 passports were “confirmed lost” by the agency, compared to 111 in the whole of 2020. In 2019 the number of confirmed losses stood at 168. Read the full story.

5. NHS 111 cyber attack ‘carried out by criminal gang, not hostile state’

A cyber attack on the NHS 111 system is thought to have been carried out by a gang of cyber criminals looking for ransom payments.

The Telegraph understands the hackers who targeted Advanced, which supplies software to 85 per cent of NHS 111 services, were part of an organised criminal group looking to shut down the crucial system rather than a hostile state as had been feared. Read the full story.

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