£75,000 cap planned for care bills
THE coalition will today announce that elderly care bills are to be capped by the state in a £1 billion move expected to be funded by dragging more people into inheritance tax.
To the disappointment of many campaigners, the cap will be set at £75,000 – more than double the £35,000 recommended by the independent Dilnot Commission.
But thousands more people will be hit with inheritance tax bills because of a three-year extension of the freeze in the £325,000 threshold – £650,000 for couples – at which it kicks in at 40%.
Fears over horsemeat scandal scale
ENVIRONMENT Secretary Owen Paterson will update MPs today on the horsemeat scandal after warning that the next set of tests could produce more bad results.
Mr Paterson’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has sought to play down any concerns that the scandal could pose a health risk and said there is “no reason for people to change their shopping habits”.
But there are fears that the full scale of the scandal has yet to emerge.
Fox attack baby recovering well
A ONE-month-old baby who was dragged from his cot by a fox is recovering in hospital.
Denny Dolan was seriously injured after the fox entered the house in Bromley, south east London, where he lives with his parents, named in reports as Hayley Banks Cawley, 28, and Paul Dolan.
Lorraine Murphy, the child’s aunt, told the Times: “It was so traumatic.
Two in court over death crash
TWO men are due in court today to face charges over the death of a policewoman whose patrol car was hit by a stolen 4x4 in Northern Ireland.
Constable Philippa Reynolds, 27, from the Greater Belfast area, died when the unmarked car she was travelling in turned into the path of the vehicle in Londonderry in the early hours of Saturday morning.
One the men, aged 25, has been charged with ten offences including causing death by dangerous driving, aggravated vehicle taking causing death or grievous bodily injury, burglary and driving while unfit.
Man held over murder of girl, three
A 30-YEAR-OLD man is being questioned by police on suspicion of murdering a three-year-old girl.
An ambulance was called to an address in Beck Road, Shiregreen, Sheffield, on Friday evening and a girl was taken to the city’s Children’s Hospital.
She died at 12.20am at the hospital on Saturday, despite the efforts of doctors.
