Mike Amesbury

Hull West and Hessle Labour MP Emma Hardy has given her support to a bill due to go before Parliament later today calling for changes to the cost of school uniform.

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Mike Amesbury MP is due to present the first reading of his Education (Guidance about Costs of School Uniforms) Bill in the House of Commons later today.

The bill calls for guidance for schools about the cost aspects of school uniform policies.

In 2018, a Children's Society report found parents were spending £340 per year on school uniform costs for each secondary school child and £255 per year for each primary school child.

Ms Hardy said: "When I was teaching, children looked perfectly smart in uniform you could buy from the supermarket or the local high street.

"But this need suddenly to have the school logo on a blazer, on their socks, on their PE kit, on their trousers, it's just excessive. It's a completely unnecessary cost."

Sports minister Mims Davies has voiced support for the idea of players and teams leaving the field of play if they hear racist chants or remarks.

The minister was answering a question from Labour MP Mike Amesbury, who asked what action was being taken "to stamp out racist abuse at every level of the game".

It follows a number of high profile recent incidents, including the arrest of a Brentford supporter on suspicion of racially abusing Derby County midfielder Duane Holmes on Saturday.

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Davies told the House of Commons: "Football cannot be used as a cloak for racism and intolerance and this is a sign that players have had enough, fans have had enough, and this government has had enough.

"It's absolutely right that players can take the right actions and we should stand with them."

She added the government would be making a further statement on the issue later.

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Aaron Allen lives in Amesbury but was out in Salisbury today with Dawn Dwyer.

He said: "It's just shocking. It's not knowing whether people are being targeted at random that is worrying."

Mr Allen said he knew Charlie Rowley well and shook hands with him last week when they bumped into each other in the city's main square.

He said: "The fact I know him just makes it all worse.

"it was slowly getting back to normal in Salisbury and now this has happened."

Ms Dwyer said: "It's just frightening - it makes you wonder what is going to happen next.

"You don't know if it might be on something you might touch.

"Salisbury is quite quiet normally really."

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Steven and Susan Watts are from Bromsgrove in Worcestershire and travelling around the area with their caravan.

Mrs Watts said she had misgivings about coming to Salisbury having heard about the Novichok poisoning on the news last night.

She said: "It's been on my mind - it's a bit of a worry wondering if they have picked it up somewhere."

The couple were glad they had come into the city and today was their first visit.

Mrs Watts said: "It's really lovely. Much bigger than I thought and a lovely shopping area."

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Home Secretary Sajid Javid has called on Russia to provide a proper explanation for both incidents in Salisbury.

He told MPs: "The eyes of the world are currently on Russia, not least because of the World Cup.

"It is now time that the Russian state comes forward and explains exactly what has gone on."

He accused Moscow of working to undermine UK and international security, saying "we will stand up to the actions that threaten our security".

He added: "It is completely unacceptable for our people to be either deliberate or accidental targets, or for our streets, our parks, our towns, to be dumping grounds for poison."

Mr Javid said that more than 100 counter-terrorism detectives were working on the case.

He said the risk to the public remained low, adding: "We have taken a very robust approach to decontamination and there is no evidence that either the man or the woman in hospital visited any of the places that were visited by the Skripals.

"Our strong working assumption is that the couple came into contact with the nerve agent in a different location to the sites which have been part of the original clean-up operation."