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A Conservative former minister claimed she crammed herself into a luggage rack to sit down on a packed train journey between her constituency and London.

Tatton MP Esther McVey told the Commons that her local Avanti train service had gone “shockingly downhill” in the last few years.

Ms McVey said: “The train service between Wilmslow and London on that Manchester to London line used to be hourly, direct and took an hour and 50 minutes.

“Since the pandemic, the rise in industrial action and the start of Avanti operating the line, the service has gone shockingly downhill, ending now in the substandard service that we have today.”

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She claimed a rail traveller had recently “caused a Twitter storm by posting up a picture of her child she had stuffed in a luggage rack”, adding: “I sympathised, for I had done exactly the same thing, only it wasn’t a child I stuffed in the luggage rack. It was me for the full two-hour journey.”

Ms McVey added: “That was because several trains had had to crush into one, most people were standing but fortunately I managed to squeeze, and I say fortunately ironically, into the travel rack, and sat there for the full journey.”

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Rail travellers have faced months of disruption in the north of England and other areas of the UK which are served by the Avanti line.

In August, the train operator slashed its timetable and suspended advanced ticket operations due to a shortage of drivers agreeing to work overtime.

Some Tory MPs, as well as Labour, city mayors and the RMT union, have called on the government to withdraw Avanti’s contract.

Avanti runs routes connecting London to major cities including Manchester, Liverpool and Glasgow, but local leaders say the areas are being “cut off” due to its poor performance.

The rail operator’s contract was renewed by the government in the autumn, with a warning that the service must “dramatically” improve.

Ms McVey also called on the government to scrap HS2 – the multibillion-pound project aimed at improving connections – and to spend the money on restoring existing rail services.

The senior Tory said the travelling public “are being taken as fools” as she described frequent delays and random cancellations on her regular commute.

“We no longer have a rail service, it’s a rail sufferance,” she said.

‘Miserable experience’

Many Avanti workers are taking part in ongoing rail strikes to demand better pay and working conditions.

Several Tories described nightmare commutes as MPs debated the state of rail services on the West Coast Mainline.

Conservative MP for Milton Keynes North Ben Everitt described how his commute into London was usually a “pretty miserable experience”, adding: “Apart from actually a few weeks ago, where I was indeed sat in what is probably my usual spot just outside the toilet on the floor and I was joined by a bunch of lasses from Milton Keynes who were going to a Halloween party and they managed to strike up some conversation and they were good enough to share their cider.

“I had a nice journey down and I arrived in London with a temporary tattoo, which is gone now. But we shouldn’t rely on generosity and community spirit to take the misery out of these journeys.”

And Tory MP David Jones, who represents Clwyd West, told the Commons: “I think that the government at the earliest possible moment should remove the franchise from Avanti and seek a new operator for the West Coast Mainline.

“They have had their chance, they have failed, and there is no reason why passengers in north Wales or indeed in any other part of the country should be expected to continue to endure the consequences of Avanti’s sheer incompetence.”

Transport minister Huw Merriman acknowledged passengers on the West Coast Main Line have had a “torrid time”.

He went on: “We owe it to these passengers to deliver a vastly improved service. The additional drivers, the move away from voluntary working and the new timetable affords the opportunity to turn matters around.

“I am determined to play my part. I expect Avanti, the unions and everyone connected to join with me and ensure that this line delivers once again.”

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Climate-vulnerable islands storm out of COP29 negotiation room in row over funding

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Climate-vulnerable islands storm out of COP29 negotiation room in row over funding

Representatives of dozens of climate vulnerable islands and African nations have stormed out of high-stakes negotiations over a climate funding goal.

Patience is wearing thin and negotiations have boiled over at the COP29 climate talks in Azerbaijan, which were due to finish yesterday but are now well into overtime.

After two weeks of talks, the more than 190 countries gathered in the capital Baku are still trying to agree a new financial settlement to channel money to poorer countries to both curb and adapt to climate change.

Talks have now run well into overtime at COP29, but a deal now feels much more precarious.

The least developed countries like Mozambique and low-lying island nations like Samoa say their calls for a portion of the fund to be allocated to them have been ignored.

Samoa’s minister of natural resources and environment Toeolesulusulu Cedric Schuster is one of the representatives who walked out.

“We are here to negotiate but we have walked out… at the moment we don’t feel we are being heard in there,” he said on behalf of more than 40 small island and developing states, whose shorelines are being lost to rising sea levels.

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Shortly after he made a veiled threat of leaving COP29 altogether, saying: “We want nothing more than to continue to engage, but the process must be INCLUSIVE.

“If this cannot be the case, it becomes very difficult for us to continue our involvement here at COP29.”

Evans Njewa, who chairs a group of more than 40 least developed countries, said the current deal is “unacceptable for us. We need to speak to other developing countries and decide what to do.”

The last official draft on Friday pledged $250bn a year annually by 2035.

This is more than double the previous goal of $100bn set 15 years ago, but nowhere near the annual $1.3trn that experts say is needed.

Sky News understands some developed countries like the UK were this morning willing to bump up the goal to $300bn.

Developing countries are angry not just about the finance negotiations, but also on how to make progress on a pledge from last year to “transition away from fossil fuels”.

A group of oil and producing countries, spearheaded by Saudi Arabia, have tried to dilute that language, while the UK and island state are among those that have fought to keep it in.

Mr Schuster said all things being negotiated contain a “deplorable lack of substance”.

He added: “We need to see progress and follow up on the transition away from fossil fuels that we agreed last year. We have been asked to forget all about that at this COP, as though we are not in a critical decade and as though the 1.5C limit is not in peril.”

“We need to be shown the regard which our dire circumstances necessitate.”

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At least 11 killed in Israeli strikes on central Beirut, Lebanese authorities say

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At least 11 killed in Israeli strikes on central Beirut, Lebanese authorities say

At least 11 people have been killed and 63 injured in an Israeli strike on central Beirut, Lebanese authorities have said.

Lebanon‘s health ministry said the death toll could rise as emergency workers dug through the rubble looking for survivors. DNA tests are being used to identify the victims, the ministry added.

State-run National News Agency (NNA) said the attack “completely destroyed” an eight-storey residential building in the Basta neighbourhood early on Saturday.

Footage broadcast by Lebanon’s Al Jadeed station also showed at least one destroyed building and several others badly damaged around it.

The central Basta neighbourhood in Beirut, where four people were killed in an Israeli airstrike
Image:
The central Basta neighbourhood in Beirut, where four people were killed in an Israeli airstrike

Map of Lebanon and Israel

The Israeli military did not warn residents to evacuate before the attack – the fourth targeting the centre this week.

At least four bombs were dropped in the attack, security sources told Reuters news agency.

The blasts happened at about 4am (2am UK time).

A seperate drone strike in the southern port cuty of Tyre this morning killed one person and injured another, according to the NNA.

The blasts came after a day of bombardment of Beirut’s southern suburbs and Tyre. The Israeli military had issued evacuation notices prior to those strikes.

Pic: AP
Image:
Pic: AP

Israel has killed several Hezbollah leaders in air strikes on the capital’s southern suburbs.

Heavy fighting between Israel and Hezbollah is ongoing in southern Lebanon, as Israeli forces push deeper into the country since launching a major offensive in September.

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‘Dozens’ of Palestinians killed in Israeli airstrike

US envoy Amos Hochstein was in the region this week to try to end more than 13 months of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, ignited last October by the war in Gaza.

Mr Hochstein indicated progress had been made after meetings in Beirut on Tuesday and Wednesday, before going to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and defence minister Israel Katz.

According to the Lebanese health ministry, Israel has killed more than 3,500 people in Lebanon and wounded more than 15,000.

It has displaced about 1.2 million people – a quarter of Lebanon’s population – while Israel says about 90 soldiers and nearly 50 civilians have been killed in northern Israel.

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Vladimir Putin vows to increase production of Russia’s ‘unstoppable’ missile – as NATO and Ukraine to hold talks

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Vladimir Putin vows to increase production of Russia's 'unstoppable' missile - as NATO and Ukraine to hold talks

President Vladimir Putin has said Russia will ramp up the production of a new, hypersonic ballistic missile.

In a nationally-televised speech, Mr Putin said the intermediate-range Oreshnik missile was used in an attack on Ukrainian city Dnipro in retaliation for Ukraine’s use of US and British missiles capable of striking deeper into Russian territory.

Referring to the Oreshnik, the Russian president said: “No one in the world has such weapons.

“Sooner or later other leading countries will also get them. We are aware that they are under development.”

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Putin’s warning to the West

Russia war latest: Long-awaited US air defences arrive in Ukraine

He added: “We have this system now. And this is important.”

Detailing the missile’s alleged capabilities, Mr Putin claimed it is so powerful that using several fitted with conventional warheads in one attack could be as devastating as a strike with nuclear weapons.

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General Sergei Karakayev, head of Russia’s strategic missile forces, said the Oreshnik could reach targets across Europe and be fitted with either nuclear or conventional warheads – while Mr Putin alleged Western air defence systems will not be able to stop the missiles.

Mr Putin said of the Oreshnik: “There is no countermeasure to such a missile, no means of intercepting it, in the world today. And I will emphasise once again that we will continue testing this newest system. It is necessary to establish serial production.”

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Testing the Oreshnik will happen “in combat, depending on the situation and the character of security threats created for Russia“, the president added, stating there is “a stockpile of such systems ready for use”.

NATO and Ukraine are expected to hold emergency talks on Tuesday.

Meanwhile Ukraine’s parliament cancelled a session as security was tightened following the strike on Dnipro, a central city with a population of around one million. No fatalities were reported.

EU leaders condemn Russia’s ‘heinous attacks’

Numerous EU leaders have addressed Russia’s escalation of the conflict with Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk saying the war is “entering a decisive phase [and] taking on very dramatic dimensions”.

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Russia’s new missile – what does it mean?

Speaking in Kyiv, Czech foreign minister Jan Lipavsky called Moscow’s strike an “escalatory step and an attempt of the Russian dictator to scare the population of Ukraine and to scare the population of Europe”.

At a news conference, Mr Lipavsky gave his full support for delivering the additional air defence systems needed to protect Ukrainian civilians from the “heinous attacks”.

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