The number of children living in poverty soared by 250,000 in just one year under the Conservative-led Government, new figures have shown. HM Revenue and Customs figures obtained by the Daily Mirror show the number of children living in low-income families rose from 2.5m to 2.75m between 2013 and 2014. This meant that during the last Coalition Government the proportion of children living in families which have fallen below the poverty line reached one in five.

The Queen Elizabeth Class aircraft carriers will be the largest surface warships ever constructed for the Royal Navy and will represent a significant increase in capability. The vessels will be utilised by all three branches of the UK Armed Forces and will provide eight acres of sovereign territory. Both ships will be versatile enough to be used for operations ranging from high intensity conflict to providing humanitarian aid and disaster relief.

Any attempts to repeal the Hunting Act would be "deeply unpopular" among the majority of the British public, a new poll has found. The Ipsos MORI poll commissioned by animal welfare charity the League Against Cruel Sports found 84% of the public do not want a return to fox hunting. Opposition to hare hunting and deer hunting was even stronger, at 91% and 88% respectively.

The High Court has banned publication of photographs allegedly stolen from Pippa Middleton's iCloud account. The Duchess of Cambridge's sister took civil court action against a "person or persons unknown" after her account was said to have been hacked. The Sun reported it was offered the images, which included shots of Prince George and Princess Charlotte.

Untouched bottles of brandy are among the haul from the former Astley Arms - which is set to be the site of a 13-storey skyscraper

Smoking rates in England have fallen to the lowest on record, Public Health England (PHE) has said. In 2015, 16.9% of adults described themselves as smokers, compared with 19.3% in 2012. Experts say the decrease may be partly thanks to the availability of e-cigarettes. More than a million people said they vaped as they tried to quit and 700,000 used a licensed nicotine replacement product such as patches or gum.

Archaeologists believe they have found a lost Anglo-Saxon royal palace about four miles (6km) from one of Britain's best known finds.

Footage of a police officer smashing the windscreen of a car before cutting a hole through it with a knife - in what the driver claims is a case of mistaken identity - is being investigated. The video taken in Gospel Oak yesterday afternoon by the vehicle's occupant is now being looked into by the Metropolitan Police's Directorate of Professional Standards. It shows the policeman repeatedly yelling: “Get out the car.” He starts by hammering on the driver’s window before starting to smash the windscreen, after being told over the radio the driver is not qualified to drive.

Mugging victim Alan Barnes has said he would contribute about £10 towards paying off the debts of a woman who helped raise more than £330,000 for him. Barnes, 68, who is disabled and 4ft 6in, was attacked outside his home in Gateshead in January 2015, breaking his collarbone. Following the assault, Katie Cutler, a beautician, set up an online fundraising page, which attracted donations from across the world. The eventual sum raised enabled Barnes to buy a new house.

Thunderstorms and flash flooding have caused travel chaos in parts of England, as commuters have been warned by the Met Office of worse to come. The stormy conditions brought an abrupt end to the heatwave, which saw the hottest day of the year recorded on Tuesday.

Britain’s kings appear to be making a habit of this. First it was Richard III, whose bones were found under a car park in Leicester. Now it appears that Henry I may have met a similarly undignified fate. Archaeologists have discovered what could be King Henry’s remains languishing beneath a Ministry of Justice car park on the site of Reading prison. The bones were detected among a series of graves discovered by archaeologists using ground-penetrating radar (GPR), during an exploration of the site containing the ruins of Reading Abbey.

Cannabis should be legalised for medical use, a cross-party group of MPs has said, but there are thousands of people already using the Class B drug for this purpose. "I am seriously considering emigrating to Australia, Jamaica or the US," says Faye Jones. The 32-year-old PA from Wokingham jumps every time there's a knock at the door and tiptoes around neighbours who might call the police.

Police forces across England and Wales are considering expanding their definition of hate crime to include misogyny after an experiment in one city that saw more than 20 investigations launched in two months. The initial success of Nottingham’s crackdown against sexist abuse has drawn national interest after the city’s police revealed that they investigated a case of misogyny every three days during July and August, the first months to see specially trained officers targeting behaviour ranging from street harassment to unwanted physical approaches.

Two months after Britain voted to leave the European Union, Poles are living in limbo.

A Church of England bishop has come out as gay and in a relationship with a long term partner. The sexuality of Nicholas Chamberlain, Bishop of Grantham, has been known for some time within the Church.  But he revealed his identity on his own terms after a Sunday newspaper planned to identify him. 

England cricketer Monty Panesar has fought a public battle with mental health issues. He believes a culture of shame and labelling among the South Asian community is a barrier to others like him accessing help. But why do some in the community struggle with this issue? Panesar, who has suffered from paranoia and anxiety, is one of the few British Asian celebrities to speak openly about mental health problems.

A murder inquiry has been launched after a man died following a brutal 'hate crime' beating. A gang of up to 20 teenage thugs, boys and girls, spotted two Polish friends outside a takeaway in Harlow, Essex and started hurling abuse. Some of the gang then attacked both men, leaving them unconscious on the ground, before fleeing the scene. The victim has now been named by his brother as Arkadiusz Jozwik, known fondly as Arek.

Former PM bumped up salaries of some advisors by £18,000 at a time when public pay sector pay rises were capped at 1%

Former BBC DJ Chris Denning has pleaded guilty to 21 child sex offences committed between 1969 and 1986. The 75-year-old, from London, admitted the abuse of 11 boys as young as eight. He denied three other offences. Denning, who was arrested in a police inquiry into the Walton Hop Disco for teenagers in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, will be sentenced on 6 October. He was part of the original line-up that launched Radio 1 in 1967, but left two years later.