Fifty groups from across Scotland – including the Kirk – have joined forces to persuade politicians to “ensure that Scotland gets the Warm Homes Bill it was promised and that it deserves”.

A total of 649,000 households in Scotland are struggling to keep their homes warm, which is just over 25 per cent of all properties. This means these households need to spend at least 10 per cent of their income to keep their properties warm.

Adrian Shaw from the Church of Scotland explained to Premier what needs to be done to keep people warm.

Speaking during News Hour, he said: “There’s a huge range of issues to be addressed here but at the centre of it, are that our homes are just not well enough built and well enough insulated to be able to keep everybody warm at an affordable cost.”

The groups, led by the Existing Homes Alliance, fear the Scottish Government’s planned Warm Homes Bill will be a missed opportunity, unless steps are taken to beef up the legislation.

Lori McElroy, chair of the Existing Homes Alliance, said: “More than a quarter of Scottish households are still living in fuel poverty – the same proportion who faced cold homes a decade ago – and over a million homes fall below the energy efficiency standard needed for our health.

“All political parties agree this is unacceptable in a modern, wealthy country. The promised Warm Homes Bill represented a once in a…

Cardinal Nichols released a statement supporting the Archbishops of Armagh and Dublin, and their statements regarding changes to the Republic of Ireland’s constitution as a result of the public vote.

The president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales said: “Our commitment to mothers and their unborn children remains unchanged. We must do all we can to ensure that the deliberate taking of an unborn human life is not an option that anyone would choose.

“The denial of life to another human being, a brother or sister, is an wrong that harms our fragile humanity. We work and pray for the day when this truth is widely accepted and laws permitting abortion are seen for what they are.

“Our pro-life convictions have to be consistently expressed in action, in support of women who are trapped in difficult and painful circumstances and in support of the children they are carrying.

“May God bless Ireland and its generous hearted people. May that love, in every family, be a protection for the unborn, whatever the law may now permit.”

Sixty-six per cent of voters in the Republic of Ireland on Friday backed the repeal of an amendment to the constitution, which outlaws abortion in all but exceptional circumstances.

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The 23-year-old, who plays for Manchester City, posted a picture of himself training with his England team-mates at St George’s Park, with a tattoo of an assault rifle on his right calf clearly visible.

Pastor Pastor Peter Nembhard who leads ARC church in London and has led many anti-violence campaigns has expressed disappointment with the footballer.

Speaking on Premier’s News Hour, he said: “It’s irresponsible particularly in the present climate with the lives that have been taken this year through gun and knife crime.”

Sterling, who will compete at the World Cup in Russia this summer has alluded to the tattoo having a “deeper meaning”.

In a post on Instagram, he said: “When I was 2 my father died from being gunned down to death I made a promise to myself I would never touch a gun in my life time, I shoot with my right foot so it has a deeper meaning N still unfinished.”

Pastor Nembhard is still hopeful something good can come out of this.

“It’s his body and he can do whatever he wants but it’s the message he sends out,” he said. “But if he says it’s not finished – maybe he’ll complete it by saying ‘no to guns’ and that would be a very good message.”

Sterling has received lots of criticism.

Lucy Cope, who founded Mothers Against Guns after her son Damian was shot dead outside a club in central London in July 2002, said the ink was “totally unacceptable” and called…

Officials have given a sneak peek at the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Galleries, which sits more than 16 metres (52ft) above the abbey’s floor and will display 300 treasures from the abbey’s collection.

Visitors will reach the gallery, which opens on June 11, through a new tower housing a staircase and lift.

It is the first major addition to the abbey church since 1745 and is part of a £22.9 million, privately funded development project aimed at giving a more generous welcome to the two million visitors and worshippers who go to the abbey annually.

The Very Rev Dr John Hall, Dean of Westminster, said: “We look forward to welcoming visitors to the galleries.

The view looking down to the Great West door from the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Galleries at Westminster Abbey, London.

“The views are breathtaking. The space astonishing. The displays fascinating.

“The visitor will gain far greater insight into the life and history of the abbey than ever before.

“The fulfilment of this vision is a shared achievement, with so many people involved. We are profoundly grateful.”

Replicas of (left to right) St Edwards Crown, Orb with Cross and Imperial State Crown during the preview for the opening of Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Galleries at Westminster Abbey

Updates…