Scotland’s only Catholic boarding school has announced its closure, citing Labour’s plans to impose VAT from January as a factor.

Kilgraston School in Perthshire said on Tuesday that it had closed with immediate effect.

Parents, staff and former pupils were informed of the decision to close on Tuesday, with current students to be offered places at nearby private schools Glenalmond College and Craigclowan School.

It came after a planned sale fell through. The school, which was founded in 1930, said Achieve Education, the education provider, had pulled out of the deal after it “reassessed its commitment to investing in the school”.

In a letter, the school claimed “the possible impact of VAT on school fees” was also a factor in the decision.

The letter also suggested that Labour’s VAT plans could impact pupil numbers without the financial support from Achieve Education. The school only had 173 pupils, below the benchmark of 210 children needed for it to break even.

School had £860,000 funding black hole

Kilgraston launched a £2 million fundraising campaign last year after a previous threat of closure, which saw parents, alumni and donors raise £1.2 million within 48 hours in an attempt to save it.

But the £39,000-a-year school said on Tuesday that Achieve Education had backed out of the sale unexpectedly, leaving it with no choice but to shut in light of “both a short- and long-term funding deficit”.

The letter also said that the school had an £860,000 funding black hole for the next academic year, plus £3.4 million of outstanding loans and finance commitments.

The Board of Trustees added in a statement that it “has explored a number of opportunities in a bid to save the school but unfortunately none of these have offered a financially viable solution. This leaves the school with no choice but to close”.

“We will do all we can to help ensure a smooth transition for all affected. We are very sorry not to be able to continue operating a school that is close to all our hearts,” they said.

Liam Kerr, the Scottish Conservatives’ education spokesman in Holyrood and candidate for Scottish Conservative leader, said the closure was an “early indication of the impact of Labour’s policy of imposing VAT on education”.

Private schools close

It marks the latest private school to blame Sir Keir Starmer’s plans to start charging VAT after being forced to close.

Alton School in Hampshire announced in May that it would shut this summer, citing Labour’s tax policies for forcing parents to remove their children and place them in the state sector.

The school said in a statement that “adverse political and economic factors” had drained pupil numbers, leaving it “unviable” to run.

Classroom doors at the £18,000-a-year Catholic school, which catered for 370 pupils, closed for the final time last month. It had suffered from dwindling pupil numbers in recent years, but parents described the VAT plans as the “final nail in the coffin”.

Downham Preparatory School in Norfolk also announced plans to shut this summer as a result of financial pressures exacerbated by Labour’s VAT plans.

Elizabeth Laffeaty-Sharpe, the founder and principal, described the party’s plans to start charging the 20 per cent levy as soon as possible as “the straw that broke the camel’s back”.

The principal said that the prep school, which charged £7,800 for most pupils, would have been forced to pass the levy onto “ordinary parents like plumbers and electricians”, most of whom could not afford fee rises.

Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor, announced last month that the Government will start charging VAT on private schools from Jan 1 2025 – far sooner than the party had originally indicated.

Treasury documents published alongside Ms Reeves’s announcement admitted the plans would price some parents out of the sector.

“The Government recognises that these policy changes may lead to increased costs for some parents and carers, and that some pupils may subsequently move into the state education sector,” the documents said.

It marked the first time Labour had acknowledged in writing that its VAT changes mean private school will become unaffordable for some families.

Ministers are understood to have brought forward the VAT plans for private schools substantially, with Labour insiders saying just weeks before Ms Reeves’s announcement that it would not come into force before Sept 2025.

The Chancellor also announced anti-forestalling legislation to crack down on pre-payment loopholes immediately.

The Government hopes the policy will raise £1.5 billion to spend on raising standards in the state sector, including plans to recruit 6,500 new teachers and 8,500 mental health specialists. Labour has not set a deadline for meeting its target.

The London Underground map has been redrawn in a “circles and spokes” design by a university lecturer who called the official map “garbage”.

Maxwell Roberts, who posted a picture of his alternative design online, said he was surprised after it went viral, receiving a million engagements within 24 hours.

His version uses circles to represent the various Tube lines, differing from the straight lines used in Harry Beck’s 1933 Tube map, which is used by Transport for London (TfL).

Mr Roberts, from Walton-on-the-Naze, who has lectured in psychology at the University of Essex for 30 years, said the 90-year-old map was not effective.

“The current state of the official London Underground map is lamentable for all sorts of reasons,” he wrote on LinkedIn.

“It has poor balance, simplicity, coherence and topographical accuracy.

“It fails by any criterion of effectiveness you can imagine and has been in a neglected state of decline for years.

“I caused a stir a few years ago calling it a ‘garbage piece of lazy design’ and nothing has happened since to change my mind.”

He first redesigned the map in a circular way in 2013, when he placed Tottenham Court Road at the centre and built his map around the station.

After leaving the map untouched for a decade, he chose to redesign it after TfL released its own “circles” version earlier this year.

When he approached it again, he placed Oxford Circus at the centre and said he was happier with the result.

He said: “This time, I tried Oxford Circus as the geometric centre, permitting some nice symmetry inside the Circle Line…

“Overall, I am very happy with the result. I think I’ve achieved my objectives and, placed next to my original, the earlier map looks a bit clunky and naive.”

But Mr Walton, whose variations on the Tube map also include a “Curvymap”, said he saw his work as an “exploration”.

“If I publish a design, this does not necessarily mean that I think it is the correct way to map a city,” he said.

“In fact, this would be impossible. I have mapped London in so many different ways over the years and my designs can’t all be correct.

“Instead, I see my work as exploration, and I publish the results so that people can see what I have attempted and can evaluate the outcomes for themselves.”

Found on the walls of Tube stations across London, the official map of the Underground is a familiar site.

The maze of coloured lines which interweave and overlap was designed in 1933 by Harry Beck, a designer and technical draftsman who developed it after being fired from the London Metro Signal Office.

Before Beck’s design, some maps of the Underground were strictly obedient to the geography of the city, showing scale-accurate distances between stations.

Beck’s masterstroke was ditching geographical accuracy in favour of convenience and ease, with all the stations more-or-less equally spaced. It used only horizontal, vertical and 45º lines, and the Underground lines were represented by a set of standard colours.

Beck’s map has undergone variations over the years, accommodating new lines and stations, but the core of his initial design is still in place.

It has even survived the transition to the digital age, with the TfL Go app, which is now used by many Londoners to navigate the city, still drawing on his design.

A TfL spokesman told the BBC the original map was “an iconic piece of world-renowned design” and there were no plans to change it.

“While there have been some previous ‘circular’ designs of a London Tube map created by fans and other designers over the decades, [the new] design was specifically created in-house by our design team for this campaign and only shows the London Underground lines, external,” the spokesman said.

The public has been urged to stay away from sections of a canal in the West Midlands after a spill of sodium cyanide.

Walsall Council has warned of a potential serious health risk to anyone who comes into direct physical contact with the water in the impacted stretch of the canal.

Sodium cyanide is described as “white crystal-like solids with a faint almond colour” by Public Health England and is used in industry for metal cleaning, plating, extraction and photography.

Exposure to the chemical can cause headaches, nausea, dizziness, confusion, changes in heart rate and loss of consciousness, according to the agency.

Ingesting cyanide salts, which can dissolve in water, releases cyanide into the body, the agency’s website states.

Photos show dead fish in the water on the canal, and police tape blocking entrance to the towpath.

Walsall Council are asking the public to avoid the canal and towpaths from the Walsall lock flight to the lock flights at Rushall, Ryders Green and Perry Barr as a precautionary measure.

The Environment Agency is testing the canal water for sodium cyanide and other chemicals in the affected area.

Nadia Inglis, the council’s director of public health, said they hoped to lift restrictions on the affected areas as soon as possible following testing of the water.

Anyone who has been exposed to the water along the affected stretch of the canal and is feeling unwell, is urged to seek medical advice.

The spill could pose a risk to the public water supply if the canal water meets leaky pipelines, said Dr Jonathan Paul, Senior Lecturer in Geosciences at Royal Holloway, University of London.

But he added that the greatest risk was via direct contact with the water.

“Ingestion of water containing a sufficiently high concentration of sodium cyanide can result in classic poisoning symptoms, ie, nausea, weakness, aches, and potentially a loss of consciousness – but that is entirely dependent on how much is ingested and the concentration of the chemical,” he said.

“When it comes to the ecosystem, poisoning of higher-order aquatic life will be affected, such as the fish rather than plants.

“Unlike some pesticides, cyanide doesn’t accumulate up the food chain so won’t affect the entire aquatic ecosystem, as it breaks down much more quickly.”

He said the cheapest way to remove harm from the spill was diluting the water until cyanide levels drop to safe limits, and said there were many possible sources of the spill.

“Sodium cyanide is very commonly used in mining to leach gold and silver, but it’s also used in the production of paper and plastics, and less commonly in the processes of fumigation and electroplating, so there are plenty of places the spillage could have come from,” he said.

An elderly couple said they had been left stranded on their canal boat as a result of the spill.

Bruce Crook, 72, and his wife, Lauris, 70, originally from New Zealand, said they had been stuck outside the locks on the canal in Rushall, Walsall, since Monday as access was closed off during testing.

Mr Crook said: “They want the water to stay as undisturbed as possible. As a first step, it seems they want everything to stay still.

“The locks were closed because of repairs required, but by Monday afternoon, it was a wider stoppage. So we can’t move.

“We registered with the Canal and River Trust as an interested party and they’ll let us know when they’re happy that the boats start moving again.”

In an update on Wednesday afternoon, Walsall Council said the source of the spillage has been identified and stopped and that an investigation was under way into its cause.

”Local, regional and national agencies are working together to minimise the potential risk to health,” it said.

A judge has suggested that rioters could face more serious charges that carry a maximum sentence of 10 years.

The words of Judge John Thackray KC, the Recorder of Hull, came after he handed a three-year prison term to Connor Whiteley, who kicked a female police officer to the ground during riots in the Yorkshire city.

Whiteley, 26, pleaded guilty to violent disorder and assaulting an emergency worker, after playing a “prominent role” in the “racist, hate-fuelled mob violence” that unfolded in the city on Aug 3.

Hull Crown Court heard he was at the front of a group confronting police who were trying to protect a hotel known to house asylum seekers, and was seen charging at officers.

The court heard he kicked the shield of a female police officer, forcing her off her feet and leaving her with a minor injury to her elbow and forearm.

Whiteley was also part of a group that targeted a garage, setting cars alight and threatening staff, who were forced to lock themselves inside.

While the attack was taking place, the judge said that “members of the public, including children, were terrified and cowering only 20 metres away whilst threats were being made to kill them”.

Sentencing him on Wednesday, the judge said: “The prosecution do need to look, for those who are playing front and central roles, at the alternative charge of riot rather than violent disorder.”

Reluctance over rioting charge

Violent disorder carries a maximum sentence of five years, and the maximum term for rioting is 10 years, according to sentencing guidelines.

Riot charges occur when a defendant uses violence whilst they were one of twelve or more persons present together.

Police forces can be reluctant to charge people with rioting, as it can leave them liable to pay compensation to those suffering loss caused by riots.

People who have had property damaged or stock stolen during riots can claim compensation from the relevant police “claims authority”, under the UK Riot Compensation Act 2016.

For much of England and Wales, this authority will be the police and crime commissioner for the area. In London, it will be the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime, and the Common Council for the City of London police area.

It means police forces will often look to bring alternative charges. During the 2011 London riots, the majority of recorded offences were criminal damage and burglary, according to Home Office data.

Mother brings young child to riot

A mother brought her young child to a violent riot outside a hotel housing asylum seekers, a court heard.

Nevey Smith, 21, who was pushing the child in a stroller, joined a demonstration outside the hotel in Newton Heath in Manchester on July 31.

She was at the front of the crowd and threw water at police officers guarding the hotel.

Smith, of West Street, Oldham, pleaded guilty to violent disorder at Manchester magistrates’ court on Monday afternoon.

Tess Kenyon, the prosecutor, said: “Footage shows her throwing liquid from a bottle towards police officers who were trying to maintain order.

“She had a child with her in a stroller.”

Defending, Robert Moussalli said Smith had “lost her temper” during the disorder and “threw some water”.

He added: “She was taking the child to her grandmother’s house when she saw her auntie standing with some people near to the hotel and went to talk to her,” he said.

“Then people started shouting and she moved to the front of the group and her auntie went to the back with the child. She wasn’t planning to do anything.”

District Judge Joanne Hirst told Smith: “You put your own child at risk.”

The judge added that Smith was “not as heavily involved as others in the demonstration” and was “not heard to utter any direct racist abuse”.

Smith was freed on bail and will be sentenced at Manchester Crown Court on Aug 19.

The riot outside the hotel was part of a wave of violent demonstrations that swept across the UK following the Southport stabbings, in which three young girls were killed.

Man ‘attacked emergency workers’

Elsewhere, a 40-year-old man has been charged with violent disorder and assault by beating of an emergency worker during a riot in Weymouth on August 4.

Kevin Searle, of Weymouth, is due to appear at Poole magistrates’ court on Wednesday.

He is the fourth man that Dorset Police have charged with violent disorder over the demonstration.

Mark Callaghan, the force’s assistant chief constable, said: “This latest arrest and charge demonstrates our continued commitment to take action against those believed to be involved in criminal activity during the recent protest activity.”

At Birmingham Crown Court, Habeeb Khan appeared charged with possessing an imitation AK-47.

The court heard he was accused of using the fake weapon to cause “members of the EDL” (English Defence League) to believe violence would be used against them.

The 49-year-old, of Sparkbrook, Birmingham, pleaded not guilty.

He also denied sending a communication threatening death or serious harm between Aug 4 and 6 in a video uploaded to social media platform X, formerly Twitter.

Charges of affray and obstructing officer

At Westminster magistrates’ court in London, two men admitted their part in a violent demonstration in Whitehall on July 31, when rioters clashed with police officers and threw bottles and cans at them.

Callum Flynn, 29, of Belgravia Gardens, Bromley, pleaded guilty to violent disorder on Saturday, while Russ Cooke, 66, of Myddelton Street, Islington, admitted three racially aggravated public order offences on Monday.

Four more people have also been charged over the disorder by the Metropolitan Police, including a 14-year-old boy.

Steven Essex, 49, of Merebank Lane, Wallington, has been charged with affray and obstructing a police officer, and Philip Fahie, 41, has been charged with two public order offences including one which is racially aggravated.

Both will appear at Croydon magistrates’ court on Friday.

Paul Stevenson, 46, of Pembury Avenue, Kingston Upon Thames, has been charged with breaching conditions imposed under Section 14 of the Public Order Act, and will appear at Westminster magistrates’ court on Monday.

A 14-year-old boy charged with a public order offence will appear at Sevenoaks magistrates’ court on Aug 23.

Man, 60, pulled officer to the ground

A 60-year-old man pulled a police officer to the ground as a “violent mob” descended on a hotel housing asylum seekers, a court heard.

Glyn Guest was jailed for two years and eight months at Sheffield Crown Court on Wednesday after footage was played of him rioting outside the Holiday Inn Express, at Manvers, Rotherham, on Aug 4.

Body-worn camera footage showed him repeatedly being pushed back by a riot shield as he approached a line of police six times.

He then grabs an officer’s shield, causing them to fall to the ground to the cheers of the large crowd.

The female officer, whose body-worn camera footage was played, said in an impact statement that “I was terrified for my safety” as more than 50 police were injured and attempts were made to storm and set light to the building.

The officer said “it was a horrific incident of mindless thuggery” and that she had encountered “nothing like it before” in her five and a half years of service.

Judge Jeremy Richardson KC, the Recorder of Sheffield, said the conduct of the “mob” was “vile towards the police officers”.

He told Guest: “You were part of a violent mob and you were playing your part to the full.”

Guest, of Pearson Crescent, Wombwell, admitted violent disorder last week.

‘I’m guilty miss’

A rioter who shouted “England, England, England, take it back” during disorder in Manchester city centre has been convicted of “encouraging violence”.

Warren Gilchrest, 52, of North Road, Manchester, pleaded guilty to violent disorder at Manchester magistrates’ court on Wednesday morning.

Jonathan Potter, the prosecutor, said a “large group of far-Right protesters” had gathered in Piccadilly Gardens on Aug 3 where Gilchrest was “filming, goading the crowd and encouraging violence” and “actively encouraging others” to assault a man.

He told the court Gilchrest made “numerous racist or racially aggravated comments” and was heard shouting: “England, England, England, take it back.”

After pleading guilty, Gilchrest told District Judge Joanne Hirst: “I’m guilty miss, but I’m not sure what it means.”

The judge told Gilchrest that he had admitted being “involved in large-scale public disorder in Piccadilly Gardens which shames us all”.

He was remanded into custody and will be sentenced at Manchester Crown Court on Aug 21.

Man denies assaulting officer

A man has denied assaulting a police officer during disorder in central London last month.

Danny Fournier, 41, is alleged to have “struck” the female officer “to the back of the head twice”.

“Luckily”, the officer was wearing a helmet, Westminster magistrates’ court heard.

But Fournier, of Lambeth, south London, admitted threatening behaviour by striking out at another officer during the anti-immigration demonstration, the court was told.

Police arrested 121 people following the violent disorder outside Downing Street on Wednesday July 31.

Fournier, who wore white trainers, blue jeans and a blue polo shirt in the dock, was granted conditional bail to appear at Southwark Crown Court on Sept 11.

Elsewhere, a man denied throwing a bottle near mounted police during disorder in Bolton.

Zakaria Sadiq, 21, of Bentinck Street, Bolton, pleaded not guilty to violent disorder at Manchester magistrates’ court on Wednesday afternoon.

Jonathan Potter, the prosecutor, alleged CCTV footage had shown Sadiq “throwing an object – identified to be a bottle” near mounted police during disorder in Bolton town centre on Aug 4.

Defending, David Philpott said Sadiq “does not accept he’s thrown anything during the course of this incident”.

Sadiq was remanded into custody and will appear at Bolton Crown Court for a plea and trial preparation hearing on Sept 4.

Kamala Harris’s campaign has been accused of secretly editing news headlines in Google advertisements to make it appear as if well-known media organisations are on her side.

Although the advertisements are labelled as sponsored, they appear alongside Google search results to make them look like genuine articles from news outlets such as The Guardian, CNN and Reuters.

In reality, the “fake news” words have been written by campaign workers trying to help the vice-president, 59, beat Donald Trump in November’s presidential election, according to a report by Axios.

The altered headlines and article descriptions, which are visible to Google users above links to the corresponding news websites, have been changed without the publishers’ knowledge, according to Axios.

One advertisement featuring a link to The Guardian displayed the headline “VP Harris Fights Abortion Bans – Harris Defends Repro Freedom” with a description that read: “VP Harris is a champion for reproductive freedom and will stop Trump’s abortion bans.”

News coverage of the issue on The Guardian’s website was far less partisan.

A Guardian spokesman said: “While we understand why an organisation might wish to align itself with the Guardian’s trusted brand, we need to ensure it is being used appropriately and with our permission.

“We’ll be reaching out to Google for more information about this practice.”

Another election advertisement linking to the US website for National Public Radio (NPR) read: “Harris Will Lower Health Costs.”  Axios reported that the supporting text stated: “Kamala Harris will lower the cost of high-quality affordable health care.” This also did not accurately reflect NPR’s coverage.

Spokesmen for NPR, CNN and USA Today, whose links have appeared in the “Harris for President” advertisements, told Axios they were unaware their brands were being featured this way.

Reuters, CBS News and the Associated Press were also among almost a dozen news companies targeted since Aug 3, Axios found.

Google said the tactic does not break any rules because the advertisements are prominently labelled as “sponsored” so they are “easily distinguishable from search results”.

A Google spokesman said: “Election advertisers are required to complete an identity verification process and we prominently display in-ad disclosures that clearly show people who paid for the advertisement.”

Though potentially misleading for some users, it has become a common practice in commercial advertising to mimic real news results.

The Trump campaign has not been running these types of advertisements, according to Axios.

A source familiar with the Harris campaign’s advertising team told Axios that it buys search advertisements with news links to give voters “more context” when searching for information about the presidential hopeful.

There is no suggestion that the campaign has not complied with Google’s rules.

The “fake news” Google tactic has emerged at a time when Ms Harris has been criticised by Republicans for avoiding media scrutiny.

They claim she has dodged significant interviews and press conferences since winning the presidential nomination more than three weeks ago.

Ms Harris’s image features on the front cover of the latest edition of Time magazine, though she declined an interview request for the accompanying profile.