Andy Burnham has ruled out calling an early general election if he becomes the prime minister later this month.

Taking part in an online Ask Me Anything (AMA) session on Reddit, one user asked whether he would call an election.

Burnham replied: “No. As I said in my speech on Monday, I’m going to work to the 2024 manifesto.”

The newly elected MP for Makerfield is so far the sole candidate in the running to replace Sir Keir Starmer as the leader of the Labour Party and could become the prime minister on 20 July.

The last general election was held on 4 July 2024, with Labour winning a landslide majority, meaning the next election must be called by August 2029, though a prime minister can choose to call one at any point before this.

Thousands of Reddit users have been writing questions to Burnham since he announced he would be holding an AMA session on Thursday.

One such user was Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, who accused the former mayor for Greater Manchester of answering “softball questions”.

“You’re going to be prime minister soon so it’s time to start acting like one. Come out from hiding, face a proper press conference and submit yourself to scrutiny and some tough questions.

“Are you up for it?”

Burnham replied: “Fair challenge Kemi – but don’t forget it’s only two weeks since I faced questions from 74,000 members of the public of Makerfield.”

Burnham has only given one media interview since announcing his intention to run for Labour leader.

Badenoch has in recent days called on Burnham to fund a shortfall in the recently published defence investment plan if he enters No 10 – or to call an election.

Meanwhile. Reform UK leader Nigel Farage called for an election “as soon as possible” following Sir Keir’s resignation last month.

Burnham fielded questions from Reddit users on a range of topics and confirmed some policy positions.

He said he would seek to negotiate a returns agreement for failed refugees, including with Taliban-run Afghanistan.

He said he would not scrap the triple lock, a policy introduced by the Conservative-Lib Dem coalition government which guarantees the state pension goes up each year in line with either inflation, wage increases or 2.5% – whichever is the highest.

“I appreciate there’s a lot of debate about this but it is important that the commitment in the manifesto stands,” he told one user.

He also promised to work for a closer relationship with the EU. Last September, Burnham said he would like to see the UK re-join the bloc within his lifetime, but during the Makerfield by-election campaign in May promised not to “re-run” Brexit arguments.

Asked on Reddit if he would look at a closer relationship and negotiate a more ambitious trade deal, Burnham said: “Yes, I will build on the good work the government has already done in this area.”

The decision by Pope Leo XIV to excommunicate members of the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) is the latest twist in a long-running saga between the Vatican and this contentious traditionalist group. It is yet more evidence of the deep polarisation between conservatives and progressives within the Catholic church.

The Vatican issued a statement on July 2 to the effect that SSPX had “committed an act of a schismatic nature” by ordaining four bishops the previous day at a ceremony in Écône, the village in Switzerland where SSPX was founded in 1970.

The society was established and named after Pope Pius X by the controversial French archbishop Marcel Lefebvre. He was an adherent to the uncompromising positions Pius (who reigned from 1903 to 1914) held against “modernism” – the attempts by some Catholics to apply contemporary intellectual and moral trends to the teachings of the church.

In 1907, Pius X had declared modernism to be an attack on all elements of the church by those who “vaunt themselves as reformers”.

Those who joined the SSPX reacted specifically to reforms brought about within the church by the Second Vatican Council (often known as Vatican II).

Convened between 1962 and ’65, Vatican II was reportedly described by Pope John XXIII as an attempt to “open the windows and let in the fresh air”. It sought to recognise the rapidly shifting world of the 20th century, and reaffirm the role of the church in guiding Catholics by interpreting these events “in the light of the Gospel”.

Many reforms occurred within the church as a result, including the introduction of worship in vernacular languages, replacing the older Latin Mass (often referred to as the “Tridentine Mass”, as it was standardised after the Council of Trent in the 16th century).

Lefebvre and his supporters saw this as a Modernist revolution. But they were the ones who came under suspicion for this divergence in such important matters of dogma. In 1975, the society was “suppressed”, meaning it was no longer recognised by the Church as legitimate.

This proved the start of a much longer struggle, as members of the SSPX continued to act regardless of instruction from the Holy See.

In 1976, Pope Paul VI described Lefebvre and his movement as suffering from “a bitter deafness” which had placed them “outside of obedience and communion with the Successor of Peter and therefore of the Church”. He implored them to “reflect calmly, without prejudice” and “to become aware of the deep wounds they otherwise cause the Church”.

“We invite them again to think,” he concluded. But his appeal appeared to fall on deaf ears.

The struggle between the SSPX and the Vatican boiled over in 1988 when – as at the ceremony a few days ago – four priests were consecrated as bishops at Écône. The event occurred despite a warning from John Paul II, and resulted in the excommunication of Lefebvre and the four bishops.

The pope viewed the act as a grave disobedience not only against his authority, but “the unity of the Church”.

But as a concession, he acknowledged the “feelings of all those who are attached to the Latin liturgical tradition”, and opened a commission to attempt to return those in the SSPX to the church while “preserving their spiritual and liturgical traditions”.

An acknowledgement of a wider conservative desire to retain the Latin Mass and the forms of worship used before Vatican II came in 2007, when Pope Benedict XVI decreed that these older forms could be celebrated under specific conditions.

Two years later, Benedict lifted the excommunication of the four bishops from 1988, believing a productive dialogue had emerged. Talks continued between the SSPX and the Vatican in the hope of achieving a reconciliation.

In 2012, however, the Vatican declared: “We cannot put the Catholic faith at the mercy of negotiations. Compromise does not exist in this field. I think that there can now be no new discussions.”

Discussions did in fact continue during the papacy of Francis, but the SSPX was considered to have “departed from communion with the Church”. Archbishop Gerhard Müller, head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith which decides matters of doctrine, said that “they must change their attitude and accept the Catholic Church’s conditions”.

A Church divided

The decision by Leo XIV to excommunicate the SSPX follows several months of warnings from the Vatican not to proceed with the consecration of the new bishops.

In a letter addressed to Father Davide Pagliarani, superior general of the SSPX on June 30, Leo wrote: “I urge you to consider carefully the spiritual good of the faithful, because the schismatic act you are about to undertake would deprive them of the licit and, in some cases, even valid reception of the Sacraments, which they love and seek for their sanctification.”

But the SSPX proceeded and the pope has acted.

This episode reflects the considerable tension among conservative Catholics over the reforms of Vatican II. While the size of the SSPX is tiny compared with the global number of Catholics (some 600,000 members in a global community of 1.4 billion), the polarisation of opinions within the church are arguably of a much larger scale.

Pope Francis recognised as much in 2022, when – to mark 60 years since the opening of Vatican II – he argued for the need to “overcome all polarisation and preserve our communion” in light of divisions since the 1960s.

While Leo XIV is still relatively early into his pontificate, the renewed excommunication is a stark reminder that polarisation remains a pressing issue for the Catholic church, particularly when it comes to modernisation.

But like the saga of the SSPX, this issue shows no sign of resolving itself anytime soon.

President Donald Trump is reportedly considering a pardon for disgraced music mogul Sean “P. Diddy” Combs, who is currently in federal prison in New Jersey for prostitution-related crimes.

The president is also reportedly considering some kind of reprieve for Prakazrel “Pras” Michel of the hip-hop group The Fugees, who is imprisoned on foreign lobbying-related violations, sources told CBS News.

The alleged clemency considerations may be part of a larger reported effort by the White House to issue “250 pardons for 250 years” as part of Independence Day celebrations.

The Independent has sought comment from Combs.

The White House referred The Independent to comments Trump made this January, in which the president claimed Combs wrote him a letter seeking a pardon. The Republican told The New York Times he is not considering granting the alleged request.

The denial joins comments from last year, when the White House batted down speculation a Diddy pardon was imminent.

The president and Combs, both New York City-based businessmen with second careers in reality TV, previously knew each other socially, though Trump has said they lost touch after he entered politics.

“I haven’t seen him. I haven’t spoken to him in years,” Trump said last May. “He used to really like me a lot, but I think when I ran for politics, that relationship busted up, from what I read.”

Combs is currently appealing his conviction and sentence.

President Trump has issued a historic number of pardons, using the power of the presidency to free political and business allies, celebrities and white-collar criminals accused of fraud, bribery and corruption.

He has granted reprieves to figures including rapper NBA YoungBoy, crypto business parter Changpeng Zhao, former president of Honduras and convicted drug trafficker Juan Orlando Hernández, and more than 1,000 of his supporters charged or convicted of crimes related to the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the Capitol.

The president’s liberal use of the pardon power has reportedly inspired million-dollar lobbying campaigns targeting the administration and allies of the president.

Former crypto billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried is among the high-profile figures seeking a pardon from Trump, according to Justice Department records.

By MATTHEW LAMBWELL, TENNIS REPORTER

Published: 18:29 BST, 3 July 2026 | Updated: 18:30 BST, 3 July 2026

Adele has given a very rare interview about son Angelo on Friday as she revealed they have bonded over their joint ‘obsession’ with Formula 1. 

The megastar, 38, made a surprise appearance at the McLaren Racing headquarters where she chatted to chief executive Zac Brown and F1 drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.

Adele couldn’t contain her excitement as she gushed that she has created a close ‘bond’ with her 13-year-old son, who she shares with ex-husband Simon Konecki, after he took an interest in karting, which is how F1 drivers progress into the sport. 

She said: ‘So my son is really into karting and things like that. I don’t know. He just sort of asked about it a couple of years ago and I was like, “All right.”

‘I don’t know many teenagers who have a passion so I’m really trying to encourage it. He’s obsessed but I’m also obsessed. 

The singer, 38, made a surprise appearance at the McLaren Racing headquarters and gushed that she has created a close ‘bond’ with her 13-year-old son after he took an interest in karting

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She continued: ‘But just like when your kid has an interest, you have to lean into it. More importantly, I think you have to be interested in it.

‘And I don’t think I ever expected to bond with my soon to be 14 year-old son about something so passionately where we like argue about drivers, you know. 

‘But it’s fun to have that interaction with a teenage boy in 2026, I wasn’t expecting it’. 

The 16-time Grammy Award winner later sat down for a candid chat with 2025 F1 World Champion Lando, who asked, ‘Do you actually still enjoy singing?’

Adele admitted: ‘I don’t sing very often anymore’, but as she pulled on the driving headset she couldn’t help but belt out a few lines of Britney Spears’ Baby One More Time. 

The Hello singer went on to discuss how ‘ridiculous’ her job is as she opened up about her ‘struggles with fame’. 

‘Oh my god. I think it is ridiculous that my job is being a singer. No, never believed [it would happen]’, she said. ‘I wanted to be an A&R. I never thought that I was the talent. 

‘I knew I was really good with music, which is why I thought I’d be so good at discovering new talent.

‘It is incredibly unlikely that a girl from Tottenham is going to go on to have any kind of career in England, let alone sort of universally and stuff like that. So, it was never an option.

‘It’s very well known that I struggle with the fame side of it. If I remind myself like it’s a joke that my job is being a singer, I just always try and lean into that.’

She said: ‘So my son is really into karting. I don’t know many teenagers who have a passion so I’m really trying to encourage it. He’s obsessed but I’m also obsessed’

She continued: ‘But just like when your kid has an interest, you have to lean into it. More importantly, I think you have to be interested in it. And I don’t think I ever expected the bond’

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The 16-time Grammy Award winner later sat down for a candid chat with Lando Norris who asked, ‘Do you actually still enjoy singing?’ Adele admitted: ‘I don’t sing very often anymore’

It comes after Adele’s partner Rich Paul gave a rare insight into his five-year relationship with the singer.

The sports agent, 45, was first linked to the music superstar, 38, back in 2021 after they attended an NBA game together, with Adele then confirming their engagement three years later.

But while the couple are usually quite private about their romance, a new interview has seen Rich open up about his high profile relationship, spilling the beans on how they met and what turned their ‘cordial’ bond into something more.

During a recent appearance on Craig Melvin’s Glass Half Full podcast, Rich revealed that the pair had met ‘through a friend’, adding that he ‘had known her for some time’ before they began dating.

Expanding further, he explained: ‘You know, just when you’re in these circles, man, you’re in these circles. But I never tried to get fresh with people that’s in comfortable circles because they always have to deal with that, so that was never my thing.

‘It was really something that happened very organically, really.’

When pushed further to reveal how they got together, Rich told how they had bumped into each other on numerous occasions, which led to them becoming closer.

He told Craig: ‘We’re all in the same vicinity, we’re all in the same circles, and, you know, we’re hanging and whatnot.

‘We just used to always see each other, laugh and joke. It was just cordial, really, just cordial.’

The entrepreneur, then joked that things between them remained cordial ‘until it became not so cordial’, before he eventually became a ‘person of interest’ for the iconic British singer.

The Hello singer went on to discuss how ‘ridiculous’ her job is as she opened up about her ‘struggles with fame’

The Easy On Me songstress shares 13-year-old son Angelo with ex husband Simon Konecki; pictured 2013 

It comes after Adele’s partner Rich Paul gave a rare insight into his five-year relationship with the singer; pictured together in 2023

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During the chat, Rich also admitted that he wasn’t an active listener of Adele’s music, although he ‘can’t help but to hear the monster hits’.

He said of his partner, who has sold over 120 million records worldwide: ‘Obviously, you know, I’m pretty on the pulse of a lot of different things, and so, you know, some of the songs, the big songs, but I didn’t know all of the joints that I know now.’

It comes after Adele opened up about wanting to have more children with Rich.

During one of her shows, she made a candid confession, telling her fans in the audience: ‘I really want to be a mum again soon, so every time I see a name I like, I write it down in my phone.’

She shared two particular names she liked, Parker and Spencer, before adding, ‘I can’t say Parker because Rich likes that name.’

She later added: ‘You know what else, I like Ray for [a girl] spelt like a boy’s name.’

Trains to and from Manchester Airport have been unable to run normally following a fault with the signalling system.

Services may be cancelled, delayed by up to 30 minutes or revised until 6 pm.

Network Rail staff are on site working to rectify the fault, while Northern has warned passengers to check before they travel.

The disruption is affecting services between Manchester Airport and Barrow in Furness and Windermere, Liverpool Lime Street and Blackpool North, as well as trains between Manchester Piccadilly and Crewe.

⚠️NEW: Disruption at #ManchesterAirport expected until 18:00

ℹ️https://t.co/eAGecXGQSh

— National Rail (@nationalrailenq) July 3, 2026

Northern said: “Train services are unable to run to and from Manchester Airport in both directions.”

Passengers are being advised to travel on the next available Northern service where possible and to check their full journey before setting off, as other operators may also be affected.

Northern added: “Train ticket restrictions have been lifted in the affected areas, including Advance and Peak restrictions, during this disruption.

“Restrictions will be reinstated once the disruption ends.”

Customers delayed during their journey may also be entitled to compensation.

Passengers have been advised to keep their ticket and make a note of their journey to support any claim.

President Donald Trump’s Great American State Fair has closed down for Friday afternoon amid the blistering heat in Washington, D.C.

The fair will be postponed until 5 p.m. ET “for what we believe are heat related reasons,” Fox News congressional correspondent Bill Melugin wrote on X.

“Everyone is being asked to go to the exits,” Melugin said. “It is miserably hot and humid today, genuinely feels like a sauna when you step outside.”

It was nearly 100 degrees in D.C. shortly after 1 p.m. ET.

This is a developing story…

By FRANCINE WOLFISZ, NEWS REPORTER

Published: 17:57 BST, 3 July 2026 | Updated: 18:09 BST, 3 July 2026

The family of a ‘deeply devoted’ mother-of-four who died following a light aircraft crash have paid tribute to her ‘adventurous spirit’.

Nicola Wright, 44, was flying solo when her plane crashed near Dunkeswell Airfield in Devon.

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Emergency services attended just after 10am last Friday, but she was pronounced dead at the scene.

Nicola, from Dorset, has now been described as an ‘incredible mother’ and ‘amazing woman’.

Devon and Cornwall Police is currently working with the Air Accident Investigation Branch to investigate the fatal crash.

In a statement, her devastated family said: ‘Nicola was an incredible mother to her four children, a wife, daughter, sister and much-loved friend to many.

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‘She was the heart of the family and will be missed beyond words.

‘She was a positive, brave and determined person who lived life with an adventurous spirit.

Nicola Wright, 44, was flying solo when her plane crashed near Dunkeswell Airfield in Devon

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Her family have paid tribute to her ‘adventurous spirit’ following the crash last Friday

Nicola Wright was also an accomplished mountaineer and had climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in recent months

Emergency services arrived at the scene following the crash near Dunkeswell Airfield in Devon 

‘She was an accomplished aerobatic pilot, skydiver, diver and mountaineer who climbed Mount Kilimanjaro earlier this year.

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‘She approached everything she did with passion and courage.

‘Nicola was HR director at Medisave, a global medical and pharmaceutical distributor, and was a vital part of building Medisave alongside the founders, Graham Wright, her husband and Melissa Denton her longtime friend.

‘Nicola was an amazing, deeply devoted and loving mother. Her four young children were everything to her, and she has shaped who they are in every way, they are devastated for the loss of their beautiful mother.

‘Nicola was, quite simply, an amazing woman.’

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Dunkeswell Airfield is in the Blackdown Hills, about 14 miles northeast of Exeter, and was a US naval base during the Second World War.

At 839ft (255m) above sea level, the site is the highest licensed airfield in the country.

Devon and Cornwall Police said the family are devastated by Nicola’s loss and have asked for privacy as they grieve.

Dunkeswell Airfield has previously been at the centre of three fatalities within the past year.

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Skydiver Charles McNeil, known as Chas, plummeted to the ground after his parachute failed to deploy for ‘some unknown reason’, an inquest heard in March.

The 49-year-old former soldier had been doing a wingsuit jump with a friend in February when he died using his own personal parachute equipment, according to Skydive South West.

His death followed that of two people last June when their parachutes failed to open during a tandem jump from 15,000 feet.

Inquests into the deaths of mum-of-four Belinda Taylor, 48, and instructor Adam Harrison, 30, were opened previously by Devon Coroner’s Court in Exeter.

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British Skydiving, the police and local authority are all investigating the deaths and inquests have been adjourned to a later date.

By WILL PICKWORTH

Updated: 18:07 BST, 3 July 2026

For decades, people in the UK tended to view air conditioning as something that belonged elsewhere. It was associated with office buildings, hotels and hotter countries rather than their own homes. But as summers become warmer and heatwaves more frequent, that picture is beginning to change.

Colleagues and I analysed data from the English Housing Survey, a nationally representative sample of about 16,000 households. This shows that air conditioning remains relatively uncommon, with just 4.3% of households using it in summer. That’s far below countries such as the US (nearly 90%) and Australia (around 75%).

Yet beneath this modest national average lies a far more revealing picture. Air conditioning is not spreading evenly across society. Instead, England is beginning to develop a cooling divide, one in which access to protection from extreme heat increasingly depends on where people live, how much they earn and the type of home they occupy.

During in-depth interviews we conducted with air conditioning users in the UK, people rarely described it as a luxury. Instead, they spoke about trying to sleep through hot nights, remain productive while working the next day, or protect babies or elderly relatives from dangerously high temperatures.

The geography of this emerging divide is immediately apparent. London and the east of England have by far the highest levels of residential air conditioning, followed by the East Midlands and the south-east. Northern regions remain much less likely to use cooling.

These patterns are hardly surprising. London experiences both warmer summers and a stronger urban heat island effect, where buildings and hard surfaces trap heat long after sunset. But these regional differences also show how the ability to adapt to a warming climate is likely to be distributed unevenly.

Economic inequalities are equally visible. Households in the highest income group are more than twice as likely to own air conditioning than those on the lowest incomes. Installing and running air conditioning is expensive, making it far more accessible to wealthier households.

As with the higher temperatures, those wealthier households who are more easily able to absorb the cost of air conditioning are also highly concentrated in London and the south-east.

Vulnerable groups at risk

Perhaps the most concerning finding is that several groups most vulnerable to heat currently have relatively low access to air conditioning.

Older people, lone-parent households and many lower-income families are among those least likely to use it, despite facing greater health risks during periods of extreme heat. Social and private renters also lag behind owner-occupiers, reflecting barriers such as upfront costs, landlord permissions and practical constraints on installation.

The picture is not entirely negative. Some vulnerable groups are adopting air conditioning at higher rates than the wider population. Households with babies, young children, disabled people and those living with long-term health conditions are all more likely to use air conditioning.

Given the well-established health risks that high temperatures pose for these groups, this is encouraging. It suggests that many households are taking proactive steps to protect their health.

However, this introduces another challenge. Since air conditioning uses lots of electricity, vulnerable families may find themselves facing a difficult choice between staying cool and keeping their energy bills affordable.

In the UK, fuel poverty has traditionally focused on heating homes during winter. But our research suggests a new form of summer fuel poverty may already be emerging.

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Another notable finding reflects how society itself has changed. Households where someone works from home at least two days each week were 42% more likely to have air conditioning.

Before the pandemic, many people spent the hottest part of the day in air-conditioned workplaces such as offices. Hybrid working has shifted that exposure into the home. Increasingly, homes must function not only as places to live, but also as workplaces during periods of extreme heat.

A national cooling plan

These trends have implications far beyond individual households. A rise in air conditioning in homes will increase electricity demand in summer, placing additional pressure on energy networks.

Unless that electricity comes from zero-carbon sources, it will also increase emissions, creating a feedback loop in which hotter summers drive greater demand for cooling. The solution today therefore cannot simply be more air conditioning for everyone.

Instead, the UK needs a national cooling plan – but that does not simply mean installing more air conditioning everywhere. It should be a plan to keep homes cool naturally, through solutions like external shading and shutters, as well as encouraging more trees in cities to provide shade and other cooling effects. Where air conditioning is essential for vulnerable households, they should receive targeted support.

Even at this early stage, a cooling divide is already taking shape. The question is whether we act now to ensure that protection from dangerous heat is available to everyone – especially those most vulnerable to heat – or wait until a cool home becomes a privilege.