Sometimes it seems as if running a good cover-up is the main job of the Kremlin. No other government devotes as much time and effort to the business of trying to sabotage or discredit international inquiries.

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said:

Reports of a large scale chemical weapons attack in Douma on Saturday causing high numbers of casualties are deeply disturbing. It is truly horrific to think that...

A Foreign Office spokesperson said:

These are very concerning reports of a chemical weapons attack with significant number of casualties, which if correct, are further proof of Assad’s brutality against...

The government will also make it a criminal offence to possess corrosive substances in a public place and publicly consult on extending stop and search powers to enable the police to search for and seize acid...

Updated: Added summary of responses and government response.

The government is committed to improving the existing home buying and selling process in order to make it cheaper, faster and less stressful.

Arts Minister Michael Ellis has placed a temporary export bar on a painting by Sir Peter Paul Rubens to provide an opportunity to keep it in the country.

Head of an African Man Wearing a Turban is one...

Updated: Added summary of responses and government response.

The government is committed to improving the existing home buying and selling process in order to make it cheaper, faster and less stressful.

New measures will be introduced to professionalise the estate agent market, driving up standards and bringing an end to ‘rogue managing agents’, announced Housing Secretary Sajid Javid today (8 April 2018).