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Patrick Mercer MP resigned the Conservative whip after being filmed in discussion with a fake Fijian firm that paid him £4,000 to ask parliamentary questions; he was in fact being investigated by BBC’s Panorama and the Daily Telegraph. Lord Cunningham and Lord Mackenzie of Framwellgate were suspended by the Labour party after the Sunday Times filmed them discussing lobbying terms, and Lord Laird resigned the Ulster Unionist whip over the same matter. All the parliamentarians deny wrongdoing. Mike Hancock MP resigned the Liberal Democrat whip while he defends a civil case in which a woman constituent is alleging sexual assault. Ed Balls, the shadow chancellor, said that Labour, if elected, would impose a means test to the annual winter fuel allowance to old people, denying it to anyone paying higher-rate tax rates. The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh were joined by 2,000 people in Westminster Abbey to mark the 60th anniversary of her coronation.
IGas, a shale gas exploration company, estimated that the amount of such gas in their part of the north-west is between five and 57 times the annual British consumption. Manufacturing grew a little faster in May, as measured by the Purchasing Managers’ Index. The European Commission told Britain to ease the access of EU citizens to British welfare benefits and to remove the proviso for recipients to have a right to reside in the UK. The Commission also told Spain not to deny EU citizens free hospital treatment if in possession of an EU health insurance card. Waiting times at A&E departments are the worst for nine years, with 6 per cent waiting more than four hours, according to the King’s Fund think tank.
After being released from hospital, first Michael Adebowale and then Michael Adebolajo were charged with the murder of Drummer Lee Rigby at Woolwich on 22 May.
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