The water shortfall situation in England has been described as a “nationally significant incident”, with five areas officially in drought ahead of an amber heat health alert coming into force for large parts of the country.

Six further areas are experiencing prolonged dry weather following the driest six months to July since 1976.

Many river flows and water reservoir levels in England continue to recede compared to June despite some storms and showers in July, which helped mask that it was still the fifth-warmest July on record.

Drier conditions have returned in August and now parts of the country are bracing for the fourth heatwave 2025, with today’s amber alert covering the East Midlands, West Midlands, East of England, London, and the South East.

Temperatures are forecast to rise above 30C (86F) in some areas, possibly even soaring past 35C (95F) in the south, threatening this year’s heat record of 35.8C (95.4F) in Faversham, Kent, on 1 July.

A milder yellow heat health alert is in place for the South West, North East, North West, Yorkshire and The Humber.

The alerts by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) are due to be in place from 9am today until 6pm tomorrow, and put more pressure on struggling public water supplies and navigational waterways.

Check the weather forecast where you are

‘We are calling on everyone to play their part’

The National Drought Group (NDG), which includes the Met Office, government, regulators, water companies, the National Farmers’ Union, Canal & River Trust, anglers, and conservation experts, met at the start of the week to highlight the water-saving measures each sector is taking.

The group praised the public for reducing their daily usage, after Yorkshire Water reported a 10% reduction in domestic demand following the introduction of their hosepipe ban, which saved up to 80 million litres per day.

“The situation is nationally significant, and we are calling on everyone to play their part and help reduce the pressure on our water environment,” said Helen Wakeham, NDG chair and director of water at the Environment Agency.

“Water companies must continue to quickly fix leaks and lead the way in saving water.

“We know the challenges farmers are facing and will continue to work with them, other land users, and businesses to ensure everyone acts sustainably.”

The rainfall at the end of July was welcomed by growers, even though the dry weather is set to have an impact on the harvest, with the National Farmers Union (NFU) noting how water shortages have impacted the growing season.

“Some farms are reporting a significant drop in yields, which is financially devastating for the farm business and could have impacts for the UK’s overall harvest,” NFU vice-president Rachel Hallos said.

Ms Hallos urged that investment in water infrastructure and a more effective planning system was urgently needed “to avoid the swing between extreme drought and flooding and to secure water supplies for food production”.

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The dry weather also impacts the health of the waterways, as low water levels reduce oxygen levels in the water, which can lead to fish deaths, more algae growth, and could prevent wildlife from moving up or downstream.

Water minister Emma Hardy said the government is “urgently stepping up its response” to respond to dry weather, including investment in new reservoirs, but called on firms to do their bit.

“Water companies must now take action to follow their drought plans,” she said.

“I will hold them to account if they delay.”

“We face a growing water shortage in the next decade,” the minister warned, which she said is why building new reservoirs – something the government has criticised the previous administration for not doing – is so important.

The hot and dry conditions have also led to warnings of wildfires, following blazes near Wimborne in Dorset and at Edinburgh’s Arthur’s Seat over the weekend.

Campaigners have criticised a change to the rules around declarations of interest in the House of Lords as a “retrograde step” which will lead to a “significant loss of transparency”. 

Since 2000, peers have had to register a list of “non-financial interests” – which includes declaring unpaid but often important roles like being a director, trustee, or chair of a company, think tank or charity.

But that requirement was dropped in April despite staff concerns.

Tom Brake, director of Unlock Democracy, and a former Liberal Democrat MP, wants to see the decision reversed.

“It’s a retrograde step,” he said. “I think we’ve got a significant loss of transparency and accountability and that is bad news for the public.

“More than 25 years ago, the Committee on Standards in Public Life identified that there was a need for peers to register non-financial interests because that could influence their decisions. I’m confused as to what’s happened in the last 25 years that now means this requirement can be scrapped.

“This process seems to be all about making matters simpler for peers, rather than what the code of conduct is supposed to do, which is to boost the public’s confidence.”

Westminster Accounts: Search for your MP

Rules were too ‘burdensome’, say peers

The change was part of an overhaul of the code of conduct which aimed to “shorten and clarify” the rules for peers.

The House of Lords Conduct Committee argued that updating non-financial interests was “disproportionately burdensome” with “minor and inadvertent errors” causing “large numbers of complaints”.

As a result, the register of Lords interests shrunk in size from 432 pages to 275.

MPs have a different code of conduct, which requires them to declare any formal unpaid positions or other non-financial interests which may be an influence.

A source told Sky News there is real concern among some Lords’ staff about the implications of the change.

Non-financial interest declarations have previously highlighted cases where a peer’s involvement in a think tank or lobbying group overlapped with a paid role.

Cricket legend among peers to breach code

There are also examples where a peer’s non-financial interest declaration has prompted an investigation – revealing a financial interest which should have been declared instead.

In 2023, Lord Skidelsky was found to have breached the code after registering his role as chair of a charity’s trustees as a non-financial interest.

The Commissioner for Standards investigated after questions were raised about the charity, the Centre for Global Studies.

He concluded that the charity – which was funded by two Russian businessmen – only existed to support Lord Skidelsky’s work, and had paid his staff’s salaries for over 12 years.

In 2021, Lord Botham – the England cricket legend – was found to have breached the code after registering a non-financial interest as an unpaid company director.

The company’s accounts subsequently revealed he and his wife had benefitted from a director’s loan of nearly £200,000. It was considered a minor breach and he apologised.

‘Follow the money’

Lord Eric Pickles, the former chair of the anti-corruption watchdog, the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments, believes focusing on financial interests makes the register more transparent.

“My view is always to follow the money. Everything else on a register is camouflage,” he said.

“Restricting the register to financial reward will give peers little wriggle room. I know this is counterintuitive, but the less there is on the register, the more scrutiny there will be on the crucial things.”

‘I was shocked’

The SNP want the House of Lords to be scrapped, and has no peers of its own. Deputy Westminster leader Pete Wishart MP is deeply concerned by the changes.

“I was actually quite horrified and quite shocked,” he said.

“This is an institution that’s got no democratic accountability, it’s a job for life. If anything, members of the House of Lords should be regulated and judged by a higher standard than us in the House of Commons – and what’s happened is exactly the opposite.”

Public confidence in the Lords is already at a low ebb after the PPE controversy surrounding Baroness Michelle Mone, who took a leave of absence in 2022.

The government has pledged to reform the House of Lords and is currently trying to push through a bill abolishing the 92 remaining hereditary peers, which will return to the House of Commons in September.

But just before recess the bill was amended in the Lords so that they can remain as members until retirement or death. It’s a change which is unlikely to be supported by MPs.

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A spokesperson for the House of Lords said: “Maintaining public confidence in the House of Lords is a key objective of the code of conduct. To ensure that, the code includes rigorous rules requiring the registration and declaration of all relevant financial interests held by members of the House of Lords.

“Public confidence relies, above all, on transparency over the financial interests that may influence members’ conduct. This change helps ensure the rules regarding registration of interests are understandable, enforceable and focused on the key areas of public concern.

“Members may still declare non-financial interests in debate, where they consider them directly relevant, to inform the House and wider public.

“The Conduct Committee is appointed to review the code of conduct, and it will continue to keep all issues under review. During its review of the code of conduct, the committee considered written evidence from both Unlock Democracy and Transparency International UK, among others.”

A man jailed for plotting to murder a member of the gang that carried out Britain’s biggest-ever cash robbery has been attacked in prison.

Daniel Kelly, 46, was one of three men found guilty of conspiring to murder Paul Allen, 46, who was shot twice as he stood in his kitchen in Woodford, east London, on 11 July 2019.

The attack left the former cage fighter – who was a member of the Securitas heist gang that stole £54m from a cash depot in Tonbridge, Kent, in 2006 – paralysed from the chest down.

Kelly was sentenced to 36 years in prison, with an extra five years on licence, at the Old Bailey in April.

Louis Ahearne, 36, was jailed for 33 years, and his brother Stewart Ahearne, 46, was jailed for 30 years over the shooting, likened by detectives to “the plot [of] a Hollywood blockbuster”.

A source told Sky News that Kelly was attacked by another prisoner who tried to slit his throat on his arrival to Frankland prison, in County Durham, last week.

“Danny is a gunman happy to shoot people but not scary with his hands. He’s a dead man walking in jail,” they said.

Read more from Sky News:
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It is understood Kelly suffered only minor injuries and the Prison Service is treating the attack as a minor incident.

Allen was living in a large detached rented house with his partner and three young children after being released from an 18-year prison sentence over the Securitas raid when he was shot.

In her sentencing remarks, Judge Sarah Whitehouse KC said she believed the three men convicted “were motivated by a promise of financial gain”, but she had “no doubt” others were involved.

The day before the shooting, Kelly and Louis Ahearne used a rented car to carry out a burglary in Kent, accessing the gated community by pretending to be police officers.

A month before that, Kelly and the Ahearnes stole more than $3.5m (£2.78m) worth of Ming dynasty antiques from the Museum of Far Eastern Arts in Geneva, for which the brothers had been jailed in Switzerland.

Kelly is also wanted in Japan over the robbery of a Tokyo jewellery store in 2015 in which a security guard was punched in the face – but extradition proceedings have been put on hold while he serves his sentence.