She came ahead of second-place Reform UK candidate Matthew Goodwin, with Labour’s Angeliki Stogia in third.

The by-election received national attention, especially after Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham was blocked from standing as a candidate by Labour’s National Executive Committee (NEC).

The win was monumental for the Green Party, which now has the highest number of seats it has ever had in the Commons.

However, Ms Spencer’s journey into politics has been a more unconventional one.

Born in Bolton, she left school at 16 and began training as a plumber around 2008.

In a recent interview with The Guardian, Ms Spencer recalled a happy upbringing in “nice schools in Bolton” until “everyone starting to get their head down and thinking about mocks”.

Reflecting on opting for vocational training, she said it allowed her to “reach her potential”.

She completed a National Vocational Qualification at Bolton College and went on to work on jobs including installing heat pumps.

Determined to build her skills, she undertook an apprenticeship to qualify as a gas engineer and established her own firm, Hannah’s Household Plumbing.

Since 2010, The Sutton Trust, the UK’s leading social mobility charity, has been investigating the educational backgrounds of Members of Parliament elected to the House of Commons.

Ninety per cent of MPs in the 2024 Parliament attended university to study for an undergraduate qualification, with 55 per cent going to a Russell Group university and 20 per cent having attended Oxbridge.

According to the Trust, these figures differ substantially from the population as a whole, with 19 per cent attending university in 2024.

In the Education Census 2021 (released in 2023), apprenticeships were the highest qualification for 6.2 per cent of people in Bolton.

22.6 per cent (52,451) of “usual residents” aged 16 years and over said they had no qualifications, higher than the proportion seen nationally at the time.

However, Ms Spencer hasn’t let not going to university stop her from breaking the glass ceiling in the political world.

Andy Burnham at the new NESTA training centre (Image: NQ)

Mr Burnham has also recently highlighted the benefits and importance of apprenticeships and vocational training.

He discussed this on Monday, March 23, at a new Bolton training academy supporting children and young people without access to conventional educational pathways.

As of the end of 2025, nearly one million young people aged 16 to 24 in the UK were not in education, employment or training.

When asked by The Bolton News what more can be done about this in Bolton, Mr Burnham said: “Navigators [the training academy] is still growing, but there is more that I need to do.

“One thing I am doing is working on getting a 45-day work placement in Bolton for every young person who wants one.

“What we’ve found is when they are of that length and high quality, they work for the young person and the employer as well.”

He added: “It’s a plan that we’re working on towards the end of this decade; unfortunately, it can’t be done overnight.

“I want to get very soon to a position where there is a guaranteed offer for every young person in Greater Manchester of a placement once they turn 16.”

The government has now introduced V Levels, which offer new qualifications, equivalent to an A level.

V Levels are designed around real jobs and the skills employers actually need.

The Department for Education said that “too many young people have been held back by a system that didn’t value every route to success”.

It is hoped the V Levels will help to cut the number of young people not in education, employment or training and drive economic growth.

President Trump has announced a two-week suspension of attacks on Iran if the country agrees to completely reopen the Strait of Hormuz shipping route

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President Donald Trump has announced a ceasefire between the US and Iran, contingent on the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.

The announcement came ahead of Trump’s stark deadline, in which he threatened to send Iran “back to the stone age”.

In a post on his social media platform on Tuesday evening, Trump stated that should Iran agree “to the COMPLETE, IMMEDIATE, and SAFE OPENING of the Strait of Hormuz” he would “suspend the bombing and attack of Iran for a period of two weeks.”

Since hostilities began in February, Trump has issued a series of escalating threats, only to pull back moments before each deadline passes.

In his most recent warning on Tuesday, he claimed that a “whole civilization will die tonight” should Iran fail to comply with his latest ultimatum, reports the Express.

The president revealed that the decision followed consultations with Pakistan’s leadership.

He said: “This will be a double sided CEASEFIRE!”

He added: “We received a 10 point proposal from Iran, and believe it is a workable basis on which to negotiate.

“Almost all of the various points of past contention have been agreed to between the United States and Iran, but a two week period will allow the Agreement to be finalized and consummated.

“On behalf of the United States of America, as President, and also representing the Countries of the Middle East, it is an Honor to have this Longterm problem close to resolution.

“Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

Tesco says it wants to give shoppers a breather after Easter, with its research showing four in ten (42%) Brits admit to escaping to the supermarket

Tesco is giving away free drinks and food this weekend – if you visit one of its car parks.

The supermarket is launching limited edition Park & Pause bays in ten of its stores this Saturday, April 11, where visitors can will get a free Tesco Finest hot drink and a biscuit.

Tesco says it wants to give shoppers a breather after Easter, with its research showing four in ten (42%) Brits admit to escaping to the supermarket to get a few minutes to themselves.

Tesco ambassadors will hand-deliver a cuppa to car windows at the Park & Pause bays between 8am and 5pm. The spaces will be marked with a stopwatch symbol.

Parents of children under four are the most likely to offer to do a Tesco shop simply to get some alone time (68%) – almost twice as likely as those without kids (38%).

The Park & Pause spaces have been launched to support Tesco’s new “Need anything from Tesco?” campaign.

It comes after Tesco in Kirkwall, Orkney, gave away thousands of bananas for free after an accidental over-order.

The supermarket ordered 380 excess boxes of the fruit, and rather than throw them away or send them back, it gave them out to local community groups and schools.

On a Facebook group page dedicated to the Kirkwall store, Tesco community champion Paula Clarke posted a photo showing “mountains and mountains” of bananas and urged various groups to come forward to collect a free box.

Tesco said that all the bananas had been donated in line with the store’s community policy.

A spokesperson said: “We received an over-order of bananas at our Kirkwall superstore and so offered the fruit to local schools and community groups.

“All the bananas have now been redistributed to these good causes.”

Tesco has also just implemented a pay rise for thousands of workers as part of a £200million investment. Pay for shop workers and staff at online fulfilment centres increased by 5.1% to £13.28 an hour at the end of last month.

Employees working in London saw their hourly allowance increase to £1.27, taking the hourly rate to £14.55 for those within the M25.

Full list of Tesco stores giving away free food and drink

The Park & Pause spaces can be found in the following Tesco stores across the UK on April 11:

• Cardiff Culverhouse Cross Extra (Wales)
• Coventry Walsgrave Superstore
• Leeds Seacroft Extra
• Musselburgh Extra (Scotland)
• Newcastle Upon Tyne Extra
• Nottingham Top Valley Extra
• Portsmouth Extra
• Royston Extra
• Southport Extra
• Wembley Extra

Bible stories like Jonah and the Whale would be part of a new Texas public schools reading list that drew an overflow crowd to Tuesday’s state education board meeting.

Religious leaders, teachers, parents and students spent hours arguing about the reading list for the state’s 5.4 million kindergartners to 12th-graders. The debate comes as the country’s long-standing wrangling over the role of religion in public schools continues to drive legislation and legal action.

Nationally, President Donald Trump has pledged to protect and expand religious expression in public schools. And Texas, a red state that is home to about one in 10 of the nation’s public school students, often helps set the agenda.

Texas became the first state to allow chaplains, in 2023. And just last year, a Republican-led mandate that the Ten Commandments be displayed in public schools took effect in the state, although around 12 dozen districts took them down because of a lawsuit.

But while the debate on the standards could have national implications, to the speakers the issue boiled down to whether the passages are essential to understanding the nation’s history and morals — or unconstitutional.

“Our children need truth,” said Nathan Irving, a pastor and father of eight from Myrtle Springs, Texas. “Truth is the only currency that never devalues. Investing truth into our children is the most loving thing that we can do for them. This is the truth. This country and this state were founded upon a Christian worldview. Like it or not, it is true.”

Several speakers, however, cited the “establishment clause” of the First Amendment, which states that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.”

“This list is a tool of proselytization that has no place in our public schools,” Rabbi Josh Fixler, of Congregation Emanu El, a reform synagogue in Houston, told the board. “There is a difference between teaching about religion and teaching religion, and this list will force teachers to cross that line.”

Megan Boyden, a mother of three from Denton, Texas, described is as a direct attack on her private faith.

“As a Christian mother, it is my right and responsibility to teach our family’s religion,” she said. “It is not the state’s job to shed through the lens of a teacher who may not share the same beliefs I do. Will Bible passages be taught in conflict with my beliefs?

“What,” she asked, “of non-Christian students?”

The list stems from a state law passed in 2023, which called for the creation of a state-approved list of high-quality materials.

Third-graders would learn about the Road to Damascus, which tells the story of Paul’s transformation from an early persecutor of Christians into a follower. Seniors, meanwhile, would learn about the Book of Job, a story about a man whose faith is tested when he looses everything.

The list also includes classics like Dr. Seuss’ “The Cat in the Hat,” stories about the national folk hero Daniel Boone. And there are also works by famous African Americans like Frederick Douglass and Martin Luther King, Jr. and a book about Harriet Tubman of the Underground Railroad fame.

The GOP-leaning board previously approved a new Bible-infused curriculum that is optional for schools to incorporate in kindergarten through fifth grades. A final vote on the list is expected in June. No changes would take effect until the 2030-31 school year.

The board also is considering social studies standards that have been criticized as too state-centric, not focused enough on world events and rife with an undercurrent of American exceptionalism. They call for students to “identify the Texas flag as a symbol of Texas pride,” and recognize the state song “Texas, Our Texas.”

Students also are supposed to be able to understand stories about Texas Independence.

Curriculum debates crop up occasionally. Over the years, state boards in places such as Kansas have debated whether the teaching of evolution should reflect doubt about the well-established scientific theory — and leave room for arguments that the universe’s complexity points to an intelligent design.

Allison Cardwell, a mother of a fourth-grader and a fifth-grade social studies teacher, urged the board to rethink the standards. She said fifth grade would be the only time most Texas students would receive instruction in U.S. history until high school.

“We have to ask ourselves, How can we expect to create citizens who value liberty, responsibility, and the principles this country was founded on, if we don’t ensure that they truly understand those foundations?” she said.

Viewers were in agreement during the first eating trial

I’m a Celebrity South Africa viewers were on the same page over David Haye’s behaviour during Gemma Collins and Craig Charles’ eating trial.

A new series of the ITV spin-off show arrived on viewers screens on Monday (April 6) as 12 new famous faces arrived in South Africa to try and claim glory once more.

As viewers may recall, the first series aired back in 2023 and saw Myleene Klass win the “legend” title after after beating runner-up Jordan Banjo in a final eating trial. Fatima Whitbread finished in third place.

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An ITV spokesperson said about the series: “The all-star version of the iconic I’m A Celebrity… format will once again bring together some of the most memorable campmates from series gone by, as they return to test themselves in brand new trials and challenges in the South African wilderness.

“The award-winning Ant & Dec are back as hosts, with the new series featuring a fresh group of returning campmates, spectacular locations within the South African landscape and some of the most epic and extreme trials in I’m A Celebrity… history.”

During Tuesday’s (April 7) installment, the campmates were surprised as Ant and Dec revealed that two new stars would be joining them. Gemma Collins and Craig Charles who were both on the same original series together, arrived ready to take on the first eating trial.

They were faced with dishes such as fish eye pie and brain freeze as they try to win points for their opposing teams. During the trial, the duo must decide how many servings of each dish they wish to consume, with the player who commits to the highest number of servings forced to follow through in order to win a point.

The main camp chose Craig Charles as their team member, meaning the Savannah Scrub were left with Gemma Collins on theirs. While the celebrities tried to be supportive of both, viewers picked up on David Haye’s behaviour during the challenge.

With him making comments on the food throughout the trial and attempting to put Gemma off, even Scarlett Moffatt told him to “shut up” and to be more supportive as the duo tackled the difficult challenge.

Viewers picked up on it too, and hoped that Gemma would win the trial to prove a point after David called for Craig to be in the main camp. On X (formerly known as Twitter), @emmaahalicee wrote: “Come on the GC lets prove David Haye wrong” as @tonycoffey15 added: “I hope Gemma wins, just to **** off David Haye”

Darren White, 53, from Stockton-on-Tees is one of the first lung trasnplant patients in the UK to have a patch of their organ donors skin grafted onto their forearm in the hope that it could help medics spot signs of the lung being rejected by the body sooner. The former bus driver is taking part in the Sentinel study. He had a lung transplant in late 2024 and three months later his skin patch started to develop a rash, allowing him to be swiftly treated with steroids. Now, more than a year on, he enjoys taking his son Daniel, three, to the park. (NHSBT)

Two new campmates joined the spin-off series

I’m a Celebrity South Africa viewers left “raging” as the latest episode ended on a major cliffhanger during the first eating trial.

The ITV spin-off series has returned to viewers screens, and this year they mean business. The trials and challenges are set to be even tougher than the main installment as 12 new famous faces return to tackle them.

During Tuesday’s (April 7) episode, the campmates were still in their divided two camps, with the Savannah Scrub hoping they’d soon join the main camp.

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However, the stars were met with different news as Ant and Dec informed them that two new campmates would be joining the competition, and set up an eating trial for the newcomers.

As everyone gathering round to watch, Coronation Street’s Craig Charles and Essex icon Gemma Collins showed up in the Savannah. Craig and Gemma were on the same series in 2014, with Gemma quitting after 72 hours and Craig sadly also departing due to his brother’s death.

The main camp were asked which celebrity they wanted to back, and David Haye made the decision to choose Craig. That meant that Gemma was the newcomer of Savannah Scrub.

During the gruesome trial, they were faced with dishes such as fish eye pie and brain freeze as they try to win points for their opposing teams.

They had to decide how many servings of each dish they wished to consume, with the player who committed to the highest number of servings forced to follow through in order to win a point.

Things became intense as both Gemma and Craig chose to drink 30 shots of the unappetising liquid in front of them. Ant and Dec announced that it was now a race to see which one of them would finish first, and therefore win the challenge for their chosen camp.

However, just as they started the credits rolled and viewers at home admitted they were “raging” as they have to wait until tomorrow to see the result.

On X (formerly known as Twitter), @taytomultifan wrote: “I’m raging they ended it there” as @supertv247 added: “Axe this pre-recorded format immediately WHAT DO YOU MEAN ending the episode on a cliffhanger in the MIDDLE OF A TRIAL?!”

@upsteadkidd agreed and said: “what a cruel way to end that” as @sophielout453 quipped: “No no no, it didn’t just end like that. Who do I’m celeb think they are. Love island?”

Darren Gill, 45, from Middlesbrough, is also wanted in connection with alleged shop theft charges, North Yorkshire Police said.

The force said Gill, who has links to Harrogate and Knaresborough, did not attend court in connection with the charges.

Gill is described as white, 5ft 5ins tall, of medium build, with grey hair.

North Yorkshire Police said “numerous police inquiries are ongoing” to locate Gill.

“If you know where he is call North Yorkshire Police on 101 and quote reference 12250170299, or speak to Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111,” a force spokesperson said.

With most of Washington and much of the country awaiting his next move, Donald Trump backed off his threat to unleash devastation across Iran on Monday evening.

The president wrote on Truth Social that U.S. forces would pause plans for a massive, final military assault against Iran for two weeks while negotiations continued between the two countries, mediated by Pakistan.

He also claimed that a complete re-opening of the Strait of Hormuz would be part of the arrangement around a temporary pause in his plans.

“Based on conversations with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Asim Munir, of Pakistan, and wherein they requested that I hold off the destructive force being sent tonight to Iran, and subject to the Islamic Republic of Iran agreeing to the COMPLETE, IMMEDIATE, and SAFE OPENING of the Strait of Hormuz, I agree to suspend the bombing and attack of Iran for a period of two weeks,” said the president.

“This will be a double sided CEASEFIRE! The reason for doing so is that we have already met and exceeded all Military objectives, and are very far along with a definitive Agreement concerning Longterm PEACE with Iran, and PEACE in the Middle East,” he added.

This is a breaking news report. More to follow…

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Russia and China on Tuesday vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution aimed at reopening the Strait of Hormuz that had been repeatedly watered down in hopes those two countries would abstain.

The vote — 11-2, with two abstentions from Pakistan and Colombia — took place just hours after U.S. President Donald Trump issued an unprecedented threat that a “whole civilization will die tonight” if Iran does not open the strategic waterway and make a deal before his 8 p.m. Eastern deadline. One-fifth of the world’s oil typically passes through the strait, and Iran’s stranglehold during the war has sent energy prices soaring.

Russia and China strongly defended their opposition, both citing Trump’s most perilous threat yet to end Iran’s civilization as confirmation that the proposal would have given the U.S. and Israel “carte blanche for continued aggression,” as Russian envoy Vassily Nebenzia put it.

Nebenzia and China’s U.N. ambassador, Fu Cong, said the resolution failed to capture the root causes and full picture of the conflict by not showing that America and its closest ally started the now spiraling war.

Fu said in his statement that resolution was “highly susceptible to misinterpretation or even abuse,” and if it were adopted ”would send a wrong message and have serious, very serious consequences.”

Russia and China immediately followed up by circulating a rival resolution, seen by The Associated Press, which urged all parties to halt military activities and condemned attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure. Nebenzia told reporters it was already in a form that could be put to a vote.

,The foreign minister of Bahrain, which authored the draft, assailed the U.N.’s most powerful body for not taking action and allowing the international community to be “held hostage to economic blackmail” from Iran.

Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani said failing to adopt the resolution sends “the signal that the threat to international waterways can pass without any decisive action by the international organization responsible for the maintenance of international peace and security.”

Al-Zayani told reporters that Gulf countries will intensify diplomatic efforts to deter Iran’s attacks and safeguard freedom of navigation.

But Iran’s ambassador to the U.N. thanked its allies on the 15-member council for refusing to adopt the resolution.

“The text unjustifiably and misleadingly portrays Iran’s lawful measures in the Strait of Hormuz, which have been taken in the exercise of its inherent right of self-defense in accordance with the UN Charter, as threats to international peace and security,” Amir-Saeid Iravani said in his statement.

How the resolution evolved

It’s doubtful the resolution, even if it had been adopted, would have impacted the war, now in its sixth week, because it was been significantly weakened to try to get Moscow and Beijing to abstain rather than veto it.

The initial Gulf proposal would have authorized countries to use “all necessary means” — U.N. wording that would include military action — to ensure transit through the Strait of Hormuz and deter attempts to close it.

The United States, which had supported the draft from its original form, assailed the countries that objected to the resolution.

“No one should tolerate that they are holding the global economy at gunpoint,” Mike Waltz, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., said of Iran, “but today, Russia and China did tolerate it.” He said in his statement: “They sided with a regime that seeks to intimidate the Gulf into submission, even as it brutalizes its own people during a national internet blackout, for daring to imagine dignity or freedom.”

After Russia, China and France, all veto-wielding members of the Security Council, expressed opposition to approving the use of force, the resolution was revised to eliminate all references to offensive action. It would have authorized only “all defensive means necessary.” A vote had been expected on Saturday.

But instead the resolution was further weakened to eliminate any reference to Security Council authorization — which is an order for action — and limit its provisions to the Strait of Hormuz. Previous drafts had included adjacent waters.

The resolution vetoed Tuesday would have “strongly” encouraged countries to coordinate their efforts to ensure the safety of navigation across the Strait of Hormuz, including escorting merchant and commercial vessels.

The resolution also demanded that Iran stop impeding freedom of navigation through the strait and attacking civilian infrastructure.

Why it was Bahrain pushing the UN resolution

In response to the U.S. and Israeli attacks beginning on Feb. 28, Iran has targeted hotels, airports, residential buildings and other civilian infrastructure in more than 10 countries, including the Islamic Republic’s Gulf neighbors, some of the world’s major exporters of oil and natural gas.

Iran’s blockade in the strait is seen by Gulf nations as an existential threat. Bahrain, a Gulf nation that hosts the U.S. Fifth Fleet and is the Security Council’s Arab representative and its president this month, has been pressing for U.N. action.

In response to Iran’s strikes against its Gulf neighbors, the Security Council adopted a Bahrain-sponsored resolution on March 11 condemning the “egregious attacks” and calling for Tehran to immediately halt its strikes.

That resolution, adopted by a vote of 13-0 with Russia and China abstaining, also condemned Iran’s actions in the Strait of Hormuz as a threat to international peace and security and called for an immediate end to all actions blocking shipping.

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This version corrects the second reference to China’s U.N. ambassador to Fu.