Ferry passengers getting home for Christmas from Dover face delays of up to one hour after French border controls were hit by IT issues.

The £100 cap on contactless card payments is to be lifted – under changes that will allow some shoppers to set their own limits.

The elections watchdog has criticised the government for offering to consider delaying 63 local council elections next year - as five authorities confirmed to Sky News that they would ask for a postponement.

Resident doctors in Scotland have voted to go on strike in January – as their union called on the devolved government to present a "credible" pay offer.

Wes Streeting and BMA urged to seek mediation as hospitals in England struggle amid flu outbreak Hospitals are cancelling tens of thousands of appointments and operations after resident doctors voted overwhelmingly to reject a last-ditch government offer to avoid this week’s strike. The health secretary, Wes Streeting, and the British Medical Association (BMA) are being urged to agree to see if an independent mediator can break the deadlock in the almost three-year-old pay and jobs dispute in England. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Analysis of NHS data shows rise in patients ‘stranded’ in beds as flu crisis hits and resident doctors’ strikes loom Hospitals in England face dangerous overcrowding this winter because even more patients than last year are “stranded” in a bed, according to an analysis of NHS figures. The findings come as the health service struggles to cope with the early onset of its usual winter crisis driven by a crippling “flu-nami” and the NHS in England is bracing itself for a five-day strike by resident doctors starting on Wednesday. The percentage of bed days used by patients whose discharge was delayed rose from 10.1% in 2024 to 11% this year, an increase of 9% or 19,000 bed days. That rise was driven by an 8% year-on-year rise in the number of discharges, equivalent to about 3,800 patients a month. The number of the NHS’s overall stock of about 100,000 general and acute beds occupied last winter by delayed discharge patients hit a peak of 14%, but it is likely to be even higher this winter. Continue reading...