An outspoken critic of NHS reforms has said dropping controversial legislation at the 11th hour risked making the cherished public service worse rather than better. Sarah Wollaston, a former GP and now an MP in Devon, said she opposed calls for a U-turn

Leaked emails belonging to the chief media consultant of brutal Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad has revealed that he had a number of supporters, friends, admirers and benefactors in the West. Among these deluded fools is George Galloway, the British poli

Former Culture Secretary Ben Bradshaw said Google could stop links to the material appearing in results but decides not to. He made the comments during a question-and-answer session conducted by the Joint Committee on Privacy and Injunctions. A Google la

Google executives have defended the company's blocking policy during an ill-tempered grilling from MPs at a joint committee on privacy and injunctions. The search giant's public affairs head David-John Collins and legal director Daphne Keller claimed the

It was the latest stage in a long-running inquiry into privacy but the appearance of two senior Google executives before a joint parliamentary committee turned into an occasionally ill-tempered debate about whether the search giant was being economical w

The Government has defended challenging a High Court ruling that its cuts to solar subsidies were illegal – but admits "lessons will be learnt" over the affair. Energy Secretary Chris Huhne and minister Greg Barker faced criticism from MPs during yesterd

Energy and Climate Change Secretary Chris Huhne has today warned solar PV installers can not assume the current feed-in tariff rate stands at 43p/kWh, after confirming the government plans to appeal against a second court ruling that branded its original

A Government minister has sparked a sexism row after branding Green MP Caroline Lucas “hysterical” in a debate over forests. The member for Brighton Pavilion was asking Agriculture Minister Jim Paice for an update on the coalition's aborted forestry sell

There are many similarities between the leaders of the three main parties. They’re all men, they’re all white, they’re all university educated and they’re all wealthy. They’re also all young. Just three years separate David Cameron (45) from Ed Miliband

Westcountry NHS chiefs have been handed "golden goodbyes" of up to £150,000 as the health service is dismantled in the region, the Western Morning News has found. Annual reports for health bodies in Devon and Cornwall reveal 266 staff "exited" the servic

Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman said trial is necessary to control bovine TBOutraged RSPCA been preparing for the bad news for months and recorded a version of the 12 days of Christmas showing effects of cullingPETA condemn evidence culling badger

David Cameron has prepared the ground for a seismic shift in Britain's relationship with Europe after he dramatically vetoed a deal to save the eurozone. Against fears the UK is to be left isolated, Mr Cameron said he was standing up for Britain by refus

Plans to "part-privatise" some NHS back-office functions could be scuppered by unions who claim Westcountry health chiefs have broken the law. Moves are currently under way to hand over certain tasks associated with family health services to NHS Shared B

The BBC is to scale back its proposed cuts to local radio stations across England, which have a combined weekly audience of more than 7 million listeners, after a storm of protest from listeners and MPs. It is understood that the BBC Trust has received "

Total of British soldiers killed in Afghanisatan = 389 Below is the full uncorrected verbatim account of my clash with Gus O'Donnell impeded by the Committee Chair and MP Robert Halfon. This morning Halfon's constituency party was named as a recipient o