US scrambles jets to intercept Russian military planes off Alaska

The US and Canada scrambled fighter jets to identify and intercept four Russian military planes off Alaska, amid growing concern over Moscow’s incursions into Nato airspace.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) said it had detected and tracked two Russian Tu-95s and two Su-35s operating in the Alaskan Air Defence Identification Zone. They did not enter US or Canadian sovereign airspace.

NORAD said it responded by mobilising an E-3, four F-16s, and four KC-135 tanker aircraft.

The Alaskan Air Defence Identification Zone is an area of international airspace that requires the ready identification of all aircraft for national security purposes, NORAD said.

The incident follows several Russian incursions into Nato airspace in the past two weeks. Last Friday, three Russian MiG-31 fighter jets violated Estonia’s airspace for 12 minutes before Nato Italian fighter jets escorted them out.

Speaking during a press conference in the White House after the incident, Donald Trump did not address the jets but said he was “very disappointed” in Vladimir Putin for his ongoing war against Ukraine.

Trump announces deal with China to bring TikTok under US ownership

President Donald Trump quipped that he would like to make the TikTok algorithm “100% MAGA” as he signed an executive order on a deal that will transfer control of the Chinese social media app to a U.S. business group.

At a signing ceremony in the Oval Office Thursday, the president announced Chinese president Xi Jinping had approved a proposed deal that met American national security concerns and would be valued at around $14 billion.

Asked whether the platform would now recommend more MAGA-related content, Trump replied “I always like MAGA-related. If I could, I’d make it a hundred percent MAGA related.”

If I could make it one hundred percent MAGA, I would,” he said. “But it’s not going to work out that way unfortunately. No, everyone’s going to be treated fairly.”

Then-President Joe Biden signed legislation last year calling for China’s ByteDance to sell TikTok’s assets to an American company by early this year or face a nationwide ban. Trump, during his first term, attempted to ban the company from operating in the U.S. via executive action, but the effort was abandoned after a court challenge.

Under the terms of the deal, a new joint-venture company will oversee TikTok’s U.S. business, with ByteDance retaining less than a 20 percent stake. Tech giant Oracle, investment firm Silver Lake Partners, and the MGX investment fund will reportedly control around 45 percent.

Further details of the investors and specific businesses are set to follow, though Dell CEO Michael Dell, Oracle’s Larry Ellison and media mogul Rupert Murdoch have all been mentioned previously.

“They’re very well known people,” Trump told Fox News Sunday. “Larry Ellison [of Oracle] is one of them. He’s involved, he’s a great guy. Michael Dell is involved… Rupert is probably gonna be in the group. I think they’re going to be in the group. Couple of others, really great people, very prominent people.”

Ellison and Dell are both business leaders who’ve made their support for the president and his party known previously. The Oracle co-founder was featured at a Starlink presentation at the White House alongside Elon Musk at the beginning of this year, while Dell participated in a CEO roundtable hosted by the president in June.

A source with knowledge of the situation confirmed to The Independent that the Murdochs were involved in conversations with the White House on the issue, despite the tumultuous relationship between the patriarch and the president.

Murdoch senior has been a past supporter of Trump through his media companies, though he is now being sued for $10 billion by the president, after the Wall Street Journal, which is owned by News Corp, published a story accusing Trump of sending Jeffrey Epstein a “bawdy” birthday card – a claim the president has vehemently denied.

The pair was pictured attending a U.K. state dinner in honor of Trump at Windsor Castle, hosted by King Charles.

No representatives from ByteDance were present in the Oval Office Thursday for the signing, and the company hasn’t acknowledged that a transaction is taking place, CNBC reports. The Chinese embassy in Washington also did not immediately respond to a request for comment fromThe Associated Press to confirm that China has signed off on the proposed framework deal.

News of the new deal comes after a report from the Pew Research Center, published Thursday, found that around 43 percent of U.S. adults under the age of 30 say they regularly get news from TikTok, higher than any other social media app including YouTube, Facebook and Instagram.

Many U.S. lawmakers have argued that the app posed a national security threat for a variety of reasons. Lawmakers are uncomfortable with ByteDance’s alleged connections to the Chinese Communist Party and laws in China they say would have required the company to hand over Americans’ personal information or other data to Chinese officials if asked.

In his comments to reporters, Trump said that the only kickbacks the U.S. government would receive from the deal amounted to “taxes” paid by the new U.S. commercial entity in charge of the app.

Still, others on Capitol Hill have expressed distrust in the app’s algorithm, either due to the spread of misinformation or political messages that clash with official U.S. policy — including content critical of Israel’s siege of Gaza.

In January, Trump boasted that his actions had “saved” the app for its millions of American users, many of whom were unhappy with news of the ban. The president also said at the time that “we’re going to make a lot of money” with the deal, presumably referring to American buyers. The app’s owners, meanwhile, thanked the Republican president with a message sent to all U.S-based users.

Some progressives, in the months since January and even the 2024 election, have grumbled that the legislation was a trap for Democrats and put centrist members of the party, including then-President Joe Biden, on the wrong side of an unpopular ban.

Reacting to a post from Pod Save America host Dan Pfeiffer assuming that the eventual American board members of TikTok would likely be pulled from a list of pro-Trump billionaire donors, Rep. Maxwell Frost of Florida tweeted on Saturday: “I’m not an “I told you so” kind of guy. But y’all remember that stupid TikTok ban? I voted No on that one.”

Nicolas Sarkozy sentenced to five years in prison in Libyan campaign-financing trial

Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy was sentenced to five years in prison in the case of suspected illegal campaign funds from the late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

Sarkozy, 70, was found guilty on Thursday of criminal conspiracy in a scheme from 2005 to 2007 to finance his campaign with funds from Libya in exchange for diplomatic favours.

He was acquitted of the remaining charges laid against him, including receiving stolen goods, embezzlement of public funds and passive corruption.

He will be summoned within a month by the prosecutor’s office, who will inform him of his incarceration date, according to the French newspaper Le Monde. The ruling means he will spend time in jail even if he launches an appeal.

Sarkozy, who was president of France from 2007 to 2012, had always denied the charges and dismissed the allegations as politically motivated.

Speaking to reporters after the verdict, he said: “I will comply with the summonses of the courts. And if they absolutely want me to sleep in prison, I will sleep in prison. But with my head held high. I am innocent.

“This injustice is a scandal. I will not apologise for what I did not do.”

He continued: “Those who hate me so much think they are humiliating me. What they have humiliated today is France, it is the image of France. And if anyone has betrayed the French, it is not me, it is this incredible injustice that you have just witnessed.

“I have no spirit of revenge, no hatred, but let everyone understand and hear: I will fight until my last breath to prove my complete innocence .”

The verdict by a Paris court follows a three-month trial earlier this year that also involved 11 co-defendants, including three former ministers.

Franco-Lebanese businessman Ziad Takieddine, 75, who was one of the co-defendants and a key accuser in the case, died on Tuesday in Beirut following a cardiac arrest, his lawyer said.

Takieddine had claimed he had helped deliver up to €5m (£4.4m) in cash from Gaddafi to Sarkozy in 2006 and 2007. In an interview with the French investigative outlet Mediapart in 2016, Takieddine said he had delivered suitcases filled with cash from Tripoli to the French interior ministry under Sarkozy.

He later retracted his statement, then contradicted his retraction, prompting a separate investigation into possible witness tampering. Both Sarkozy and his wife, model and musician Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, were handed preliminary charges of pressuring a witness. That case is pending trial.

Investigators claimed Sarkozy had forged a corrupt pact with the Libyan government in a murky affair that involved Libyan spies, a convicted terrorist and arms dealers.

Delivering her judgement on Thursday, presiding judge, Nathalie Gavarino, said there was no proof that Sarkozy made such a deal with Gaddafi, nor that the money sent from Libya reached Sarkozy’s campaign, even if the timing was “compatible” and the paths the money went through were “very opaque”.

However, she found Sarkozy guilty of criminal conspiracy for allowing close aides to engage with people in Libya to secure campaign financing.

The accusations can be traced back to 2011, when Gaddafi revealed that the Libyan state had secretly funnelled millions of euros into Sarkozy’s 2007 campaign. Gaddafi was toppled and killed during the Arab spring in 2011, ending his four-decade rule of Libya.

Despite facing a string of legal battles since leaving office, and being stripped of the Legion of Honour, France’s highest award, Sarkozy retains some influence behind the scenes in French politics. He and his wife were among the guests invited to the reopening of Notre-Dame Cathedral in December last year.

In February this year, Sarkozy was ordered to wear an electronic tag for a year, a first for a former French president, after being found guilty of corruption and influence peddling. The tag was removed after three months.

In a separate case, Sarkozy was convicted last year of illegal campaign-financing in his failed 2012 re-election bid. He was accused of having spent almost twice the maximum legal amount and was sentenced to a year in prison, of which six months were suspended. Sarkozy has denied the allegations and has appealed the ruling.

Former Arsenal striker Vigar dies aged 21 after colliding with wall

Former Arsenal starlet Billy Vigar has died at the age of just 21 after colliding with a concrete wall during a match.

The striker, who played for Chichester City in the Isthmian League Premier Division, endured the sickening collision in Saturday’s game against Wingate and Finchley while attempting to prevent the ball from crossing the touchline.

The match was said to have been halted as an ambulance and air ambulance arrived to treat the 21-year-old, before the clash was abandoned after 13 minutes.

The incident left Vigar with a “significant brain injury”, which led to him to be placed in an induced coma.

Chichester have now confirmed that the player has tragically passed away due to his injuries, and posted a statement from his family on social media.

The statement read: “After sustaining a significant brain injury last Saturday, Billy Vigar was put in an induced coma. On Tuesday, he needed an operation to aid any chances of recovery. Although this helped, the injury proved too much for him and he passed away on Thursday morning.

“The responses to the original update show how much Billy was thought of and loved within the sport. His family are devastated that this has happened whilst he was playing the sport he loved.”

Chichester took the decision to postpone this Saturday’s league game against Lewes on Thursday morning.

Vigar was an academy graduate at Hale End and featured prominently for Arsenal’s under-18 and under-21 sides before his exit in the summer of 2024, having never made a senior appearance.

Arsenal have reacted to his passing, writing on X: “Everyone at Arsenal is devastated by the shocking news that former academy graduate Billy Vigar has passed away. All our thoughts are with his family and loved ones at this time. Rest in peace, Billy.”

He spent time on loan at Derby County’s academy, who the Rams also paying to tribute to the Worthing-born player.

“All at Derby County are deeply saddened by the passing of Billy Vigar,” the club wrote.

“Billy spent the second half of the 2022/23 season with the Academy on loan from Arsenal, making several appearances for the under-21s.

“The thoughts of everyone at the club are with his family and friends at this incredibly difficult time.”

The death comes almost three years after the Professional Footballers’ Association demanded that safety rules around advertising boards be “fully reviewed”, in a move that was sparked by a similar injury suffered by former Bath City striker Alex Fletcher.

Fletcher was forced into retirement at the age of just 25 last year as a result of serious injuries sustained when he careened into a concrete-backed advertising hoarding in November 2022, and was among those who have offered their support to Vigar after his condition was revealed.

Vigar joined Chichester this summer after spells in Sussex football with Hastings and Eastbourne Borough, having scored his first senior goal at the latter.

Putin may be a ‘paper tiger’ but there’s a reason Nato is worried

Is Putin gearing up his war machine to attack Europe once he’s defeated Ukraine? Or is Russia, in fact, as Donald Trump wrote this week, “a paper tiger”? In his strongest-worded condemnation of Putin yet, Trump this week attacked Russia for “fighting aimlessly for three and a half years in a war that should have taken a real military power less than a week to win”. Trump added that “Putin and Russia are in BIG economic trouble” and claimed that Russians are finding it “almost impossible to get gasoline”.

In calling out the Kremlin’s failure to defeat Ukraine – a country with a quarter of Russia’s population and an economy 10 times smaller – Trump has put his finger on what some analysts call “Russophrenia”. This is the paradoxical belief that Russia is collapsing economically and militarily and is about to implode – but simultaneously also represents a deadly strategic threat to the Baltics and Nato. Logically, both cannot be true at the same time.

Trump’s “paper tiger” slur depends, of course, on who you’re comparing Russia to. Obviously, by every basic metric, Russia is colossally outgunned and outmanned by the might of Nato – which has 3.5 million active personnel compared to Russia’s 1.32 million, 22,000 military aircraft to Russia’s 4,800, and more than 2,200 warships versus the Russian navy’s fewer than 800.

But while such crude arithmetic might be relevant to armchair warriors wargaming a full-scale conventional war in Europe, the key to Putin’s military successes in Chechnya, Georgia, Syria, Crimea and against Ukrainian forces in Donbas in 2014-15 has been his ability to concentrate forces against a much smaller enemy and win quick victories.

It was only in February 2022 that Putin bit off more than he could chew by arrogantly imagining that he would easily be able to punch through Ukrainian defences, occupy Kyiv and quickly install a puppet government. Ukraine’s military proved a match for Russia’s superior forces in 2022, and since then has pushed Moscow’s troops out of more than half the area they briefly occupied at the beginning of the war.

The real measure of a paper tiger, then, isn’t so much the number of men and weapons at your adversary’s disposal but whether there’s true hostile intent and, crucially, if Russia could present a credible threat to Nato. If the recent Zapad 2025 military exercises are anything to go by, the Russian military has become less, not more, threatening as a result of the Ukraine war.

At the Munich Security Conference in July, Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky tried to present the quadrennial joint Russian-Belarusian war game as a cover for a possible invasion. “Is this Russian force in Belarus meant to attack Ukraine?” Zelensky asked. “Maybe. Or maybe it’s meant for Poland and the Baltics.” But in the event, the Russian military could spare just 13,000 troops to muster in Belarus for what amounted to little more than an open-air arms fair to which officers from the US (as well as India, China and other allies) were invited as observers.

Instead of showing off new tactics honed on the front lines of Ukraine, where every military tactic has been revolutionised by drone warfare, Russia’s hawkish military blogger community derided Zapad for showcasing outdated tactics such as low-level passes, unguided bombs and parachute drops. According to Mark Galeotti of the School of Slavonic and East European Studies in London, “Moscow is … militarily at full stretch, not in a position to pick new fights.”

Why, then, has Moscow taken to sending unarmed drones hundreds of kilometres into Poland, sending its jets into Estonian airspace and (possibly) buzzing Oslo and Copenhagen airports with drones? It could be an intimidating bluster or a desire to pick a real fight.

The Kremlin’s logic is often opaque, and its signalling is hard to interpret. If Putin is sending a message to Europe and Nato with his provocative incursions, what is it? Most likely, his focus is on Europe’s current debate about what kind of security guarantees the continent is willing to offer Ukraine.

Despite the Kremlin’s repeated insistence that no foreign troops on the ground will be acceptable, least of all from Nato countries, France’s Emmanuel Macron and Sir Keir Starmer continue to speak of a “reassurance force” in Ukraine. With admirable clarity, Finland’s president, Alexander Stubb, noted this week that security guarantees meant “a willingness to fight Russia”. One likely explanation for Putin’s sabre-rattling is to focus European minds on how deadly serious Russia is in its opposition to Nato troops in Ukraine.

There’s a crucial distinction to be drawn between Kremlin efforts to subvert and disrupt Europe and having active plans for invasion. Both are threats, and both are aggression – but subversion is a nuisance that can be contained, while the threat of invasion is an existential security hazard.

“Russia poses a direct threat to the European Union,” the EU’s foreign policy chief and former prime minister of Estonia, Kaja Kallas, suggested in July. “The Kremlin has a long-term plan for long-term aggression … Russia was violating the bloc’s airspace, attacking its pipelines, undersea cables and electricity grids, and recruiting criminals to carry out sabotage.”

However, one unforeseen consequence of Russia’s economic dependency on China in the wake of Western sanctions has been the growing influence of Beijing in restraining Russian belligerence, first and foremost in the areas of tactical nuclear weapons use. Only Russia, China and the US possess low-yield battlefield nukes, and preventing their normalisation as a weapon of war has long been an absolute strategic priority for Beijing.

Unlike all-out strategic thermonuclear war, the use of tactical nuclear strikes could create a potentially winnable conflict. And once that happens, the stakes in China’s own potential confrontation over Taiwan will be raised considerably. From the beginning of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – which China has not overtly supported, though it has not formally condemned Russia either – Beijing’s military diplomats have exerted strong pressure on their Russian counterparts to keep tactical nukes firmly off Putin’s decision matrix.

Then, of course, there’s the Russian economy, which has been badly battered by the massive expenditure of the war as well as by sanctions, which have made it more difficult – though by no means impossible – for Russia to sell its oil and gas. Add to that Ukraine’s recent campaign of drone strikes that have hit 16 of Russia’s 38 refineries since the start of August. That left Russian fuel exports approaching their lowest level since 2020 and, as Trump pointed out, caused nationwide shortages of gasoline.

After holding up far better than expected against sanctions and the flight of Western businesses, the Russian economy is now drifting firmly into inflation, deficit and recession. Russia is not suffering as badly as Ukraine’s economy, however, and so far there is no sign of the kind of economic crisis that is likely to trigger a popular backlash against Putin. But neither does Russia have the economic wherewithal to build a military that could credibly launch an attack on Europe.

Finally, there’s the key question of intent. While crass television propagandists regularly talk of nuking Britain and marching to Berlin, these people’s place in the Kremlin’s propaganda ecosystem is precisely to say outrageous things in order to cast Putin himself as sane and sensible.

For all his tendency to lie barefacedly, Putin does signal his political demands very clearly – and at no point has he ever threatened to attack Europe or claimed any Nato member’s land. His beef has always been with what he calls Nato’s interference in Ukraine. Keeping Ukraine under Moscow’s influence has been Putin’s obsession for years, and it was the wellspring of his misbegotten invasion in 2022. But after three and a half years of fighting, Putin has not even been able to defeat Ukraine’s army, even at the cost of over 200,000 killed. If he can’t defeat Kyiv, what likelihood is there of him turning on the most powerful military alliance in the world?

‘They saw my fear and understood’: Nick Robinson on why Macmillan nurses are vital

Who can you talk to? Who will understand? Who will know what to say?

Your wife or husband, maybe. Your friends. Your doctor. Perhaps all of the above.

And yet when I had cancer I found there were some things I couldn’t or didn’t want to say to them. They were too painful. My emotions were too confused. I didn’t want to burden them with information which might overwhelm them and leave them unsure how to respond.

It was my Macmillan nurse who filled the gap. Knowledgeable and empathetic. Caring, but with a degree of separation. Able to be my champion when I needed one.

The operation meant to remove the tumour in my lung was a triumphant success. The cancer was all removed. Yet, so too was my voice. The laryngeal nerve – which carries the electrical pulses which make your vocal cord vibrate and open and close – had been hit or cut or stunned during the op. The crucial nerve isn’t, I soon discovered, tucked away neatly safe from intruding surgical instruments. It hangs about awkwardly – like a bit of dodgy DIY wiring. Accidents do happen.

When mine happened – when ‘that guy off the telly’ (as I then was) had to be told his vocal cords were damaged and might take many months to recover, if they recovered – it was my Macmillan nurse who saw my fear and watched as I wiped away my tears. It was he who I felt able to tell that I was more scared of losing my voice than my cancer. He listened when I said I needed an explanation from the hospital but I didn’t want to blame anyone or hold them to account.

I knew that he understood. Just as he would have understood if I was struggling to cope with pain or was terrified of the side-effects of the chemo. Luckily I had very little hair to lose. Macmillan nurses are specialists who can offer physical and emotional support, coordinate care and offer information on how to understand your diagnosis, the treatment you face and the ways to manage your symptoms. They can help those who love you and are caring for you. They can act as a point of contact connecting patients with local support groups and services; give advice on practical issues like dealing with your employer, claiming benefits or accessing social care. Their expertise helps people navigate the hazards that can be thrown up on what’s now called your cancer journey.

Why? Well, because they’ve seen it all before. My Macmillan nurse had dealt with people far sicker and much less lucky than me. I could speak to him without worrying what impact my words would have on him or how it made me look.

So it is then, whenever a friend or a colleague tells me they’ve joined the club no one wants to be a member of, I tell them ‘Get yourself a Macmillan nurse if you possibly can’.

It is ten years now since my cancer was treated. Happily it’s not shown any sign of returning. My voice has though – slowly at first but eventually so that I barely need to think about those days when I feared I might never be able to use it to broadcast again.

I asked about my Macmillan nurse a while ago. Oh, I was told, he ended up getting cancer so he had to give up the job. I dearly hope that he had someone as good as I had to look after him.

The Independent is proud to partner with Macmillan Cancer Support for their iconic Coffee Morning fundraiser. For every person who signs up to host a Coffee Morning through this article, The Independent will donate £10, up to £20,000, helping people affected by cancer access the vital support they need. Sign up to host a Coffee Morning for a chance to get creative, bring people together, and make a real difference for people living with cancer, no matter who they are or where they live.

Trump ‘told Arab leaders he would not let Israel annex the West Bank’

US president Donald Trump promised Arab leaders that he would not let Israel annex the occupied West Bank, according to reports.

Several Israeli ministers in prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right government have called for the annexation of the West Bank, which Israel has subjected to a military occupation since 1967, in response to the growing global recognition of a Palestinian state.

Arab leaders, angered by Mr Trump’s support for Mr Netanyahu, and Western officials have expressed concerns that the US president could recognise Israeli sovereignty over illegal settlements in the West Bank in retaliation for the UK, Australia, France and others deciding to recognise Palestine.

Mr Trump, however, has privately reassured Arab leaders during a closed-door meeting at the UN this week that he would not allow Mr Netanyahu to annex the West Bank, six people familiar with the matter told Politico.

Sources said Mr Trump and his team presented a white paper outlining a plan to end the war, including the promise against the annexation of the West Bank, which is partly governed by the Palestinian Authority in a tense partnership with occupying Israel.

Mr Trump met with eight Arab and Muslim leaders on Tuesday on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, but no official statement has been published on their discussions.

Mr Trump said the meeting with “all of the big players except Israel” had been “successful”, adding that the next step will be a meeting with Israeli officials.

Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he was “pleased” with the results of the “fruitful” meeting, which was also attended by the leaders of Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

Mr Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff said the US president had presented Arab and Muslim leaders with a 21-point plan for peace in the Middle East.

“We’re hopeful – and I might say even confident – that in the coming days we’ll be able to announce some sort of breakthrough,” he said.

Mr Netanyahu said on Sunday that a Palestinian state “will not happen”, arguing that it would “endanger [Israel’s] existence”.

His allies have pushed him to annex the West Bank, which is home to more than 3 million Palestinians.

Israel’s Channel 12 reported that Mr Netanyahu had told US secretary of state Mario Rubio last week that he was under pressure by his coalition to annex part of the territory known as Area C, which constitutes 60 per cent of the West Bank.

Communities gain power to block vape shops and save pubs in £5bn plan

The government has unveiled an investment of up to £5 billion aimed at revitalising high streets, parks, and public spaces across the country.

The funding initiative, part of the new ‘Pride in Place’ programme, is designed to empower communities in 339 neighbourhoods to spearhead local renewal efforts.

A core component of the plan will see 169 areas receive £2 million annually for a decade, providing a total of £3.5 billion to ensure long-term planning certainty.

That sum is in addition to an existing £1.5 billion commitment already allocated to 75 areas.

Furthermore, 95 other locations are set to benefit from an immediate £1.5 million cash injection, specifically earmarked for upgrading public amenities such as new green spaces, play areas, and sports and leisure facilities.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said that local residents, who he described as those “with real skin in the game”, would be central to deciding how these funds are utilised.

The initiative also grants communities enhanced powers to safeguard local pubs and libraries, alongside the ability to block the establishment of unwanted betting and vape shops, as well as fake barbers.

Councils will be given the opportunity to seize derelict buildings and boarded-up shops under Community Right to Buy and compulsory purchase powers.

“For too long, people have watched their towns and streets decline – powerless to stop boarded-up shops and neglected parks. That ends now,” Sir Keir said.

“We’re investing in the UK’s future, by backing the true patriots that build our communities up in neighbourhoods across every corner of the country. Because it’s people who bring pride, hope and life to our communities.

“This is a huge investment, but what matters most is who decides how it’s spent: the neighbours, volunteers and parents who know their communities best – the people with real skin in the game.”

Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government Steve Reed said: “Building pride in place starts with people, not politics.

“Local people know what they want to see in their neighbourhoods – and they don’t need government to dictate it.

“This plan will spark an historic grassroots movement that will restore local people’s power, boost national pride and help people get on in life across the UK as part of our plan for change.”

Communities in Eston, Elgin, Ramsgate and Torbay, among others, have already come together to discuss ideas for regenerating their areas, the government said.

The announcement has been welcomed by the Northern Health Science Alliance (NHSA) and Health Equity North.

Dr Eman Zied Abozied, a research associate at Newcastle University Population Sciences Institute, said that the prevalence of “unhealthy amenities” like gambling and vape shops is “damaging to health and is widening inequalities, particularly in northern regions”.

New community powers to block these businesses “marks an important step towards tackling the clustering of unhealthy amenities that too often undermine community health and wellbeing”, she said.

Dr Zied Abozied added that it is also key to invest in and incentivise the growth of health and wellbeing promoting amenities, like supermarkets, libraries and pharmacies.