UK News

More than a million better-off families will lose some or all of their child benefit, under changes which came into force at midnight. Families with one parent earning more than £50,000 lose part of their child benefit and it will be fully withdrawn where one parent earns above £60,000. However, if both parents earn £49,000 each, they will continue to receive child benefit.

David Cameron described the move as "fundamentally fair" but Labour said it was a "huge assault" on families.

Responding to the Shadow Chancellor’s suggestion today to cut pensions tax relief for top-rate taxpayers to fund a “jobs guarantee” for the long-term unemployed, Richard Ayre, chairman of the Institute of Directors in the South West, said: “However laudable Ed Balls’ job-creation aim may be, pensions saving is the wrong target to produce money to pay for the scheme. “Pensions have been hammered repeatedly by governments looking for more cash, damaging public confidence in retirement saving. “If the coalition wishes to encourage people to save more, they should resist calls for further...

According to provisional statistics gathered by the Met Office, 2012 was the second wettest year for the UK in the national record dating back to 1910.

The total annual rainfall was 1330.7 mm, which is just 6.6 mm short of the record set in 2000.

In what has been an exceptionally wet year across the UK, accurate forecasts and warnings from the Met Office have helped us all to plan, prepare and protect ourselves from the worst impacts of the extremely wet weather we have seen.

Looking at individual countries, 2012 was the wettest year on record for England, third...

The Association of British Insurers says the cost of the disruption over the Christmas period due to flooding is expected to reach £1bn.

The total bill in 2012, some £13bn, is equivalent to the UK’s entire 29 million-strong workforce going on strike for two-and-a-half-days, according to the Daily Telegraph.

The flood insurance pay-out bill for 2012 is expected to total around £800 million - the highest since 2007’s £3.7billion.

Malcolm Tarling, ABI spokesman, told the newspaper the indirect cost is even greater to tourism, lost working hours and delays.

“...