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Benefits cheats face being banned from driving as part of a new crackdown on fraud across the UK.

Fraudsters could be stripped of their driving licence for up to two years if they refused to pay back debts of over £1,000, the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) said.

It comes after figures revealed up to £35billion in benefits have been incorrectly paid to those not entitled to the money, according to the DWP. In November, Sir Keir Starmer promised a “zero tolerance” for benefit cheats as he attempts to tackle the country’s welfare bill.

“We are turning off the tap to criminals who cheat the system and steal law-abiding taxpayers’ money,” work and pensions minister Liz Kendall said.

“This means greater consequences for fraudsters who cheat and evade the system, including as a last resort in the most serious cases removing their driving licence.

“Backed up by new and important safeguards including reporting mechanisms and independent oversight to ensure the powers are used proportionately and safely.”

The move, to be introduced under the New Public Authorities (Fraud, Error & Recovery) Bill, will also give the government powers to directly recover money from the bank accounts of those in debt.

Organised crime investigators will also be able to accompany police to search properties, with authority to seize expensive items like computers and smartphones as evidence.

The DWP said: “Staff will be trained to the highest standards on the appropriate use of any new powers, and we will introduce new oversight and reporting mechanisms, to monitor these new powers.

“This legislation delivers on the government’s manifesto commitment to safeguard taxpayers’ money and demonstrates the government’s commitment to not tolerate fraud, error or waste anywhere in public services, including the social security system.”

Labour has previously said it will stick by a Tory commitment to slash the cost of the welfare bill by £3bn over five years, although Sir Keir also promised not to “call people shirkers or go down the road of division” – a dig at previous Conservative governments.

On the latest move, the Tories said the government was trying to “distract” voters from negative headlines.

Helen Whately MP, shadow work and pensions secretary, said: “The chancellor is clearly desperate to find any savings ahead of what may in fact be a mini-budget because she needs to repair the damage she has inflicted with her disastrous budget last year.”

A rare winter storm is bringing snow and freezing rain to parts of the US deep south, closing highways and airports in Texas and prompting a first-ever blizzard warning in southwest Louisiana.

The Gulf Coast, where even flurries are a rare sight, will see historic snowfall, the National Weather Service (NWS) said on Tuesday, with an inch of snow or more expected to fall per hour from eastern Texas through the western Florida Panhandle.

More than 2,200 flights within the US were cancelled on Tuesday, and 3,000 more were delayed, according to online tracker Flight Aware.

Up in the country’s north, parts of New York state are being hit by another storm, blanketed by up to 18 inches of snow.

The NWS has forecast “heavy” lake effect snow, advising residents to avoid travel if possible.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced Monday she had declared a state of emergency in a dozen counties in western New York as communities face the snow and extreme cold.

The mayor of Buffalo, Christopher Scanlon, declared an additional emergency on his own, shuttering City Hall and closing Route 5, the Buffalo Skyway because of blowing snow and other dangerous driving conditions.

Parts of Canada have also been hit by especially frigid winter weather, with extreme cold warnings throughout the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. With the wind chill, temperatures will be as low as -50C (-58F) in some areas.

In the US south, the highest snowfall total recorded by Tuesday afternoon local time was 10.5 inches in Rayne, Louisiana, according to reports from the NWS.

Temperatures are expected to fall well below January averages, and may surpass record lows stretching up from the coast into the Tennessee Valley.

Governors of several states, including Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, have also declared states of emergency in response to the unusual cold.

The storm now hitting the US south began in Texas on Monday evening, and was forecast to spread eastward through Wednesday morning along Interstate 10, a major highway in the region.

By Tuesday afternoon, the storm moved into Georgia, Florida’s panhandle, and North and South Carolina.

State leaders and agencies scrambled to confront the atypical weather.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said Florida’s infrastructure was “designed differently” than in states that regularly see snow.

“We’re not used to walking in a winter wonderland here in Florida,” he said.

DeSantis, like North Carolina Governor Josh Stein, urged residents to stay home.

The extreme weather, part of a bitterly cold air mass that has descended on the south and eastern US, is forecast to linger over the next couple of days.

Around 40 million people, primarily across the southern US, were under some type of weather hazard, Marc Chenard, a meteorologist with the NWS, told BBC’s partner CBS News. Another 170 million people from the Rockies to points eastward were under an extreme weather warning or cold weather advisory.

Many school systems cancelled classes and Houston’s two airports suspended flight operations.

The NWS cautioned that the rare storm could continue to cause “widespread” disruptions in both air and land travel for several days even after the snowfall stops.

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Thousands of London drivers are paying traffic fines which should not have been issued, an AA analysis reveals.

At least six London councils have engaged in the “outrageous” practice of handing out £130 fines based on restrictions and enforcement cameras which lack up-to-date paperwork, according to recent rulings by London London Tribunals’ traffic adjudicators.

A revamp of Traffic Management Orders (TMOs) which govern local road restrictions is now being proposed, the Department for Transport has said.

The AA also analysed statistics from London Councils – an organisation representing the capital’s 32 borough councils and the City of London – which showed 56 per cent of appeals made by drivers against bus lane fines in the city were either upheld or not contested in the 2023/24 financial year.

For moving traffic offences such as stopping in a yellow box when not allowed, the figure was 35 per cent.

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Combined, the successful appeals represent nearly 7,300 cases.

The AA raised concerns about why drivers were forced to spend time and money going through the appeals process, when the fines could have been cancelled after they first contacted councils to complain.

It also found that, in the three weeks to January 4, six councils were unable to supply London Tribunals’ traffic adjudicators with paperwork to validate the fines they had issued.

They were the boroughs of Lambeth, Croydon, Harrow, Redbridge and Greenwich, and the City of London.

Adjudicators cancelled these fines, but the AA believes they are “the tip of the iceberg”.

For each successful appeal, “perhaps hundreds more” drivers who receive invalid fines pay up within 14 days to secure the 50 per cent discount for early payment, the AA said.

Fines for bus lane infringements and moving traffic offences should only be issued when TMOs are valid.

Adjudicators have also ruled in drivers’ favour because councils failed to provide current certification for enforcement cameras.

Luke Bosdet, from the AA’s motoring policy unit, said: “Dishing out fines for any restriction that has expired is outrageous.

“While a handful of drivers have fought back against fines that shouldn’t have been issued in the first place, thousands of drivers each year will have paid the half-rate within 14 days.

“How can it ever be acceptable that a council fines a motorist for an offence without legal basis and just has to cancel the demand for money?

“The lack of accountability for councils’ road traffic enforcement needs to be reviewed by the Department for Transport.

“All TMOs should be held on a central database with alerts to warn when one is going to expire or has already done so.”

The AA also uncovered successful appeals by drivers who were “stitched up by council incompetence”.

They include drivers fined when signs directing them to avoid restrictions were inadequate, and a case where access to an electric vehicle charger for residents was via a restricted road.

It emerged in October that Southwark Council did not have a valid TMO for its most lucrative bus lane.

Weekly newspaper Southwark News reported that drivers received 4,478 fines worth a total of more than half a million pounds for entering the bus lane in Lower Road, Rotherhithe, over the previous year.

A DfT spokesman said: “Local authorities are responsible for local traffic measures and they should make sure penalties for the use of bus lanes are fair and proportionate.

“They must ensure their Traffic Management Orders are up to date, and we will be sharing proposals to modernise this process making it more efficient for local authorities.”

A London Councils spokesperson said: “London Councils encourages any motorist who does not believe that the PCN (penalty charge notice) should have been issued to make representations to the local authority, and then appeal any rejected decision with London Tribunals.

“The independent adjudicator exists for the very reason of dealing with difficult cases.”

They added that London Councils “cannot comment on the decisions made by individual London boroughs”.

Political commentator Piers Pottinger has launched a scathing attack on Rachel Reeves’ reported plans to back a third runway at Heathrow Airport.

Speaking to GB News, Pottinger claimed the Chancellor “has run out of ideas” and is “desperately trying to think of something”.

Piers Pottinger launched a scathing attack on Rachel Reeves

GB News

“So she latches onto the idea of an extra runway at Heathrow, which first of all, will take years before it’ll actually happen.

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“The second thing is, of course, Heathrow is actually owned, not, as you would expect by anyone, British.

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“It’s entirely owned by overseas businesses Qatar, Spain, Canada and the USA. And actually, I think that’s another point is that our major ports in my view, should not be owned by foreigners.

“From a point of view of national security our major ports, of which Heathrow is the biggest, should be owned by the British. “

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He added: “It’s not going to create growth in this country for the foreseeable future.”

The plans, expected to be announced in a speech later this month, also include bringing a second runway at Gatwick into full-time use and increasing capacity at Luton Airport.

The Chancellor is reportedly set to back a third runway

PA

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The Heathrow expansion could increase capacity by 260,000 flights annually.

The announcements are part of a broader package of measures aimed at boosting economic growth, which includes the £9bn Lower Thames Crossing project and a Universal Studios theme park in Bedfordshire.

The expansion plans face significant opposition from within the Labour Party, including Energy Secretary Ed Miliband.

Miliband’s concerns stem from his responsibility for keeping the UK within its carbon budget and meeting net zero emissions by 2050.

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Pottinger claimed the Chancellor “has run out of ideas”

GB News

London Mayor Sadiq Khan has also voiced his opposition. A spokesperson for Khan told the Guardian: “The mayor has a longstanding opposition to airport expansion around London – linked to the negative impact on air quality, noise and London’s ability to reach net zero by 2030.”

The move is expected to be unpopular with many Labour backbenchers, both those representing constituencies near airports and those campaigning on climate action.

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Environmental campaigners have reacted with strong criticism to the reported expansion plans.

Doug Parr, policy director at Greenpeace UK, said: “Resurrecting the idea of a third runway at Heathrow in the hope that a strip of tarmac will nudge up the UK’s GDP smacks of desperation.”

He added that the economic benefits were “dubious at best” while environmental costs were “certain.”