UK News

MPs today said that Buckingham Palace should be opened to more paying visitors when the Queen is not in residence to fund improvements to the royal estate.

The influential Public Accounts Committee criticised the Royal Household for mismanaging its finances.

Chairwoman Margaret Hodge said there was "huge scope for savings" on the annual £31m of taxpayer funds given to the Queen to spend on official duties.

But a spokeswoman for the royals said spending was now more transparent.

The Sovereign Grant replaced the old Civil List and grants-in-aid system in 2012...

The UK economy has had its fastest growth since 2007,with UK GDP growing by 1.9% of in 2013 according to a report from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). GDP used as the primary measure of a country’s economic growth, grew by 0.7% in the last quarter of 2013, down slightly on the 0.8% growth seen in the third quarter. While growth is at the highest it has been for several years it is still below pre-recession levels. Most of the main industrial areas of the UK also saw increased output in the last quarter with only the construction industry, which accounts for less 8% of GDP,...

After a Christmas and New Year period that saw Britain battered by high winds, lashing rain and storm waves believed to be amongst the most extreme in living memory, many of the UK’s beaches have been left strewn with huge amounts of litter.

The Marine Conservation Society (MCS), which organises the annual Beachwatch Big Weekend in September when thousands of people clean and survey hundreds of UK beaches, says now is a good time to get out on the beach and really make a difference.

Lauren Eyles, MCS Beachwatch Officer, says some beaches have been left in a terrible state,...

Big six power company Npwower has come under criticism for misleading consumers with claims that rising energy bills are the fault of "old and draughty" houses. Npower Chief executive Paul Massara said the prices of gas and electricity in the UK are among the lowest in Europe and expensive bills are "because British houses waste so much energy". In the supplier's second "Energy Explained" report, Mr Massara said: "If we can increase the efficiency of the UK's old and draughty housing, we can ensure that annual energy bills are some of the lowest too." The claims have come under heavy...