Call to cancel threat of prison for council tax non-payment

Alex ForsythPolitical correspondent BBC A few weeks ago, I was driving along the M6 late at night, towards the West Midlands, when I came across the orange flashing lights and miles of cones that signify road works. Two lanes were closed and the overhead gantry warned of a 50mph speed limit on the near-empty motorway….

Teresa McGrath, Habitable’s chief research officer, explains: “We started paying attention to plastic not because we inherently have a bias against plastic, but because [in] every product category that we looked at… the plastic materials ranked the worst consistently. They were using and releasing more hazardous chemicals consistently across the board.”

Ben & Jerry’s will be destroyed as a brand if it remains with parent company Magnum, the company’s co-founder Ben Cohen has told the BBC. His remarks are the latest in a long-running spat between the ice cream brand and its parent company over its ability to express its social activism and the continued independence…

The price the NHS pays for medicines will need to rise to stop a wave of pharmaceutical investment leaving the UK, science minister Patrick Vallance has said. His comments follow several recent announcements from some of the world’s largest drug companies either pausing or scrapping UK projects. Critics in the sector say low prices for…

Mark Poynting,Climate and science reporter, BBC News and Jonah Fisher,Environment correspondent PA Media England and Wales’ water companies have been ordered to refund more than £260m to customers for poor performance. The economic regulator Ofwat says 40% of that money has already been taken off this year’s bills, with the rest to come off next…