'Incapable of governing'

The Independent's Morning Headlines email [The Independent]( June 30, 2023 [View online](   [Morning Headlines]( 1 /[Was this the day the Tories lost the election? Sunak hit by two political bombshells in space of 60 minutes]( [Rishi Sunak]('s election hopes suffered a major blow on Thursday as the Conservatives were hit by two political bombshells in the space of an hour. In just 60 minutes the prime minister’s flagship “stop the boats” plan was ruled unlawful and it emerged seven of his MPs could be suspended from parliament as allies of Boris Johnson were accused of “disturbing” attacks on democracy. As her government came under increasing pressure over its [Rwanda]( policy, the home secretary [Suella Braverman]( hit out by claiming the system was “rigged against the British people”. There was also more misery in the mortgage market as even the average five-year fixed-rate loan edged closer to 6 per cent. Labour sought to take advantage of the disarray, with Sir Keir Starmer accusing Mr Sunak of being “weak” and leading a “divided party that is incapable of governing”. “At the moment you want the government to step it up, it’s sitting it out,” he said, “arguing about the behaviour of their own MPs… [while] it’s families that are paying the price.” And senior Tories warned the prime minister he had to “deliver” on his pledges, including on small boats, before the next general election after disastrous local election results in June.   2 /[More than a million NHS patients’ details compromised after cyberattack]( Exclusive: NHS leaders warned patient data may have been accessed in university cyberattack 3 /[Diet Coke sweetener is set to be branded a cancer risk]( World Health Organisation cancer research unit is reportedly set to declare aspartame as a potential carcinogen from next month 4 /[‘I was duped into a fictional relationship with an undercover police officer and I want answers’]( Exclusive: ‘The real problem was the managers who tasked these officers, heads of the police, security services like MI5 who were recipients of the files and directed some of the targeting,’ woman says 5 /[France burns amid angry protests after teenager shot dead by police in Paris suburb]( Anthony Cuthbertson reports from Nanterre, where the killing of 17-year-old Nahel has sparked widespread outrage spilling over into nights of violence THE BIG QUESTION How rare are UK earthquakes? The UK is hit by hundreds of earthquakes every year, experts have revealed, as they say the country is ‘riddled’ with fault lines. The [British Geological Survey]( (BGS) told The Independent as many as 300 earthquakes impact the UK each year, with around a tenth of those being large enough to be felt by people near the epicentre, while the others are detected by sensitive [instruments](. The 3.3 magnitude [earthquake]( that rocked the country at 8.21pm on Wednesday is one of the roughly three larger [tremors]( that affect the UK every year, according to BGS seismologist David Hawthorn. [For the full article click here]( Enjoy a year of unlimited digital access for just £99 £20 ✓ Full access to Premium news analysis ✓ Advert-free reading across web and app ✓ The Independent Daily Edition newspaper ✓ Puzzles, virtual event tickets and more [SUBSCRIBE NOW](   Watch /[Can Mark Cavendish burnish his Tour de France legacy? | You Ask The Questions]( NUMBER OF THE DAY 200 – Aspartame, a white, odourless power, is a low-calorie artificial sweetener, which is approximately 200 times sweeter than sugar and is classified as an E number, a term given to additives in food in drink products. [Read more]( QUOTE OF THE DAY “It was a matter of deep regret and frustration for us at the time.” – [Nicola Sturgeon]( was told off at the [Covid]( inquiry for getting on her “soap box” and criticising the impact of [Brexit](. 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