Your morning briefing: What you should know for Monday, September 27

ES Composite
Samantha Herbert27 September 2021

PM ‘considering sending in Army’ to drive fuel trucks as pumps run dry

The Government has suspended competition laws to help the industry keep petrol stations topped-up amid panic buying by motorists.

The Prime Minister is said to be considering whether to call in soldiers to deliver fuel to petrol stations as pumps ran dry after days of panic buying.

Emergency measures were triggered on Sunday evening, with Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng choosing to suspend competition laws for the fuel industry to allow suppliers to target filling stations running low.

Multiple reports suggested that Boris Johnson on Monday will mull whether to follow that by taking the drastic step of sending in the Army to drive oil tankers as “frenzied buying” added to fuel supply issues caused by a lack of HGV drivers.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has refused to rule out requesting military assistance after queues for the pumps continued across the country on the weekend.

Man arrested on suspicion of killing Sabina Nessa

Detectives investigating the murder of school teacher Sabina Nessa in south-east London have arrested a 36-year-old man in East Sussex.

The Metropolitan Police said the suspect had been detained at around 3am on Sunday morning and is being held in police custody.

On Thursday evening, investigators released CCTV images of a man they urgently wished to speak to, and one of a silver car they believed he had access to.

It is unclear if the man they sought is the man arrested.

Strictly Come Dancing star tests positive for coronavirus

It comes one day after the McFly singer and his professional dance partner made their debut on the first live show of the BBC series.

The pair are now self isolating separately and will miss the next live show on Saturday.

A BBC spokesperson said in a statement: “While they will both miss Saturday’s live show, Strictly Come Dancing protocols mean that, all being well, they will return the following week.”

Fletcher, 36, and Dowden, 31, will not be able to practice together for 10 days, and Fletcher will miss McFly’s next tour performance on Sunday night.

Sophie Ellis Bextor reveals she was raped aged 17

Sophie Ellis Bextor has revealed she was raped aged 17 by a 29-year-old musician.

Ms Ellis Bextor met the man, who she calls “Jim”, at gig and agreed to go back o his flat.

The Murder on the Dancefloor singer said the man took her virginity despite her telling him “no” and “I don’t want to”.

Speaking for the first time about the incident, she told the Mail on Sunday that she still “bears the scars” from her first experience with men and sex.

Germany votes to choose Merkel’s successor

Germans went to the polls on Sunday to decide who will be Angela Merkel’s successor.

The centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) presented a strong challenge to the retiring Chancellor’s conservatives.

Merkel, 67, has been in power since 2005 but plans to step down after the election, making the vote an era-changing event to set the future course of Europe’s largest economy.

A fractured electorate means that after the election, leading parties will sound each other out before embarking on more formal coalition negotiations that could take months, leaving Merkel in a caretaker role.

Armin Laschet, party leader of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany, said the federal election was “very important” and will “decide the direction of Germany in coming years and therefore every vote counts.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in

MORE ABOUT