Leaders at Milton Keynes City Council announced their backing of a national campaign from Marie Curie to secure a council tax exemption for residents with a terminal illness.
MK Labour, who are the largest party at MK City Council, have proposed a debate that would see Milton Keynes follow in Manchester City Council’s footsteps and introduce a Council Tax exemption in the city for people with a terminal illness, or a partner or family member in the same household, who have less than 12 months to live.
Research by Marie Curie, the UK’s leading end of life charity, has shown that people at the end of life face higher living costs alongside reduced income, leaving many to spend their final weeks and months struggling to make ends meet.
Cllr Lauren Townsend, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance at Milton Keynes City Council, said, “When someone is living with a terminal illness, their last weeks and months should be about time with loved ones and not having to worry about bills. By supporting this campaign, we want to ease the financial pressure on families at the hardest of times. This is a small but important step that can make a huge difference to people’s quality of life.”
“MK City Council would be only the second council after Manchester to implement this scheme, highlighting how across the country well-run Labour councils are ensuring people get support when they need it.”
The MK Labour motion will be debated at the MK City Council meeting on Wednesday 17 September.
In a statement promoting the proposals, MK Labour said they felt it would be likely that the Council would agree to bring forward a specific proposal to implement the council tax exemption later in the autumn with the ambition for the scheme to be in place in early 2026.
Red Bull ended a win drought as Max Verstappen won the Italian Grand Prix at Monza.
Verstappen had a comfortable win in the end at the track in northern Italy, leading home the championship leading McLarens by over 19 seconds after breaking away from Lando Norris in the early stages and zooming off.
The victory was Verstappen’s first in 9 races, with his last having coming in F1’s last visit to Italy at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix in Imola in May.
It also saw Verstappen take success in F1’s fastest ever race to reach full distance. The Dutchman’s time of just over 1 hour and 13 minutes was just over a minute faster than the previous record set by Michael Schumacher’s time in winning at the same track in 2003, with Verstappen having previously set the highest ever average speed in an F1 qualifying lap when taking pole the day before.
It was also Red Bull’s first Grand Prix victory without Christian Horner and first win with Laurent Mekies as Team Principal.
Meanwhile, teammate Yuki Tsunoda was unable to make it back-to-back finishes in the points, with the Japanese driver finishing 13th after a early move onto hard tyres and contact with Racing Bulls driver Liam Lawson hindered his performance.
With 8 races of the F1 season remaining, Verstappen sits third in the Driver’s Championship. The man who has won the last 4 titles is currently 63 points behind second place Lando Norris, 94 behind championship leader Oscar Piastri and 36 ahead of fourth place George Russell.
Tsunoda sits 19th in the championship with 12 points, with the second Red Bull only ahead of Franco Colapinto and Jack Doohan, who have scored 0 points in their turns in the second Alpine.
In the Constructors Championship race, meanwhile, Red Bull remain 4th in the championship, but find themselves in a close fight for 2nd. The Milton Keynes-based team are 41 points behind Ferrari, who currently occupy second, and 21 ahead of Mercedes in the position directly in front.
At the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, Verstappen had entered at the front of the field after flying to pole position the day before.
Verstappen faced a combative start, with the Dutchman cutting turn one under pressure from Norris, who had begun from second. Red Bull duly ordered Verstappen to let the McLaren through, but at the start of lap 4, Verstappen launched a comeback and re-took the lead of the race.
The following phase of the race duly saw Verstappen begin to build up a gap to the cars behind, with the Red Bull driver finding himself three seconds ahead by lap 10 and six ahead by lap 22.
Although the Dutchman did have a big blister on his front right tyre, the Red Bull was able to keep its tyres in nick until lap 38, before jumping back ahead of the McLarens when the two pulled over to pit in the final stages, albeit with some controversy over the sequence.
Verstappen duly sealed the job, taking the victory and with it his third win in 2025 and his 66th in F1 overall.
Things ended up being rougher for Tsunoda. The Japanese driver, who has failed to finish 3 of his previous 4 Italian Grand Prix races, had made a fine start, as he got ahead of the slow-starting Mercedes of Andrea Kimi Antonelli.
A few laps after being passed by Antonelli, Tsunoda opted to pit to try to cover off an early stop by the Haas of Oliver Bearman. However, Bearman overtook Tsunoda as he took advantage of having warmer tyres.
Tsunoda then had a run-in with Lawson, who had gone very early in changing to hard tyres, with the current and former Red Bull drivers seemingly making contact as they disputed position.
The two ended up running line astern for the rest of the race, with the duo bumped up a few places thanks to late stoppers such as Pierre Gasly, Esteban Ocon and Lance Stroll, but Tsunoda was unable to take a point, with the Red Bull finishing 17 seconds behind Isack Hadjar, who took the final point.
Red Bull and the rest of the F1 paddock will take a week off next week, before F1 returns in two weeks time for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Luton Town began the EFL Trophy with a 4-1 victory over Barnet at Kenilworth Road.
Lasse Nordas, Jerry Yates, Cohen Bramall and Shayden Morris scored the goals as the Hatters got their first EFL Trophy match since the 2018/19 season by winning in their first assignment of the group stage.
Adam Senior did score a late consolation for the Bees, but it wasn’t enough to prevent Luton from taking the victory.
The Tuesday night contest had seen Luton opt to reshuffle, with Matt Bloomfield making 6 changes from the weekend’s victory over Burton Albion.
One of those who maintained their starting berth was Nordas, who gave Luton an 11th minute lead when he turned in Gideon Kodua’s cross.
Yates would then double Luton’s lead 8 minutes later, scoring his first goal since his summer arrival at Kenilworth Road in the process. The striker received Bramall’s pass before cut inside and firing home.
A third goal came in the second minute of first-half stoppage time, as Bramall saw a crisp free-kick find the back of the net via the crossbar.
Luton would grab a fourth goal late on, as debutant Morris would be fouled in the box and the new arrival from Aberdeen would duly score the penalty.
Barnet would score a consolation late on when Senior headed home from Ryan Glover’s cross in the sixth minute of stoppage time.
Luton’s next assignment in the competition will see them travel to play League 2 side Cambridge United on October 7, with the Hatters hosting the Brighton U21s on October 28 in their final group stage fixture.
Before then, the Hatters face multiple league fixtures, starting off with a home match against Plymouth on September 13.
MK Dons missed out on a point as they were beaten 3-2 at home by Grimsby Town in a game where a comeback attempt came up short.
The hosts had a miserable first half, as Kieran Green, Jaze Kabia and Charles Vernam gave the hosts a 3- lead and the Dons also saw Jon Mellish sent off.
However, a George McEachran own goal and a strike by substitute Conor Lemonheigh-Evans saw the Dons put in a valiant comeback attempt, albeit one that ultimately came up short as the Mariners held on to take the three points.
The result condemned the Dons to back-to-back home defeats, with Paul Warne’s side having lost at home to Walsall in their prior assignment.
Having lost their unbeaten start to the season with their reverse at home to Walsall last time out, the Dons had another big test as they welcomed a Grimsby side still on a high from their recent Carabao Cup victory against Manchester United.
Paul Warne opted to tweak his formation from the game, changing from his 4-3-3/4-2-3-1 hybrid to a 4-4-2, with Scott Hogan getting a first start of the campaign up front. There was also a start for Kane Wilson, who had joined the Dons from Derby the day after the Walsall defeat.
Grimsby had the first chance of note, with Evan Khouri firing wide after being played in by ex-Dons man Darragh Burns, before MK Dons had their first chance of note when Hogan’s header from a Wilson cross was deflected behind.
With nine minutes on the clock, it was Grimsby who scored first. Vernam was given space to charge down the away side’s left flank before his cross found Green, who ghosted in ahead of Jack Sanders to score.
Although MK Dons had a few half-chances in response, the best opportunities for a second came Grimsby’s way.
Home goalkeeper Craig MacGillivray denied an angled strike by Vernam before making a big stop to keep out Kabia when the striker was one-on-one with him after being played in by Burns.
But having been knocking on the door, Grimsby would duly force in a second goal. Vernam was causing trouble for the Dons all afternoon and his shot was spilled by MacGillivray. The ball fell for Kabia, who just got in ahead of teammate Jaydem Sweemey to tape the ball home.
The Dons’ day then got even more painful when they fell 3-0 down 5 minutes later. Vernam picked up the ball again down the left, and this time charged forward before cutting inside when reaching the penalty area and placing a fine strike into the top corner.
Warne duly reshuffled his side, withdrawing the already booked Luke Offord and attempting to reshuffle his side.
But before the changes could take effect, the home side’s mission got even harder when Mellish was deemed to have used a high foot in a dangerous place when making contact with Kabia, earning a straight red card.
A painful first half for home fans nearly got worse, with MacGillivray denying Green, Liam Kelly’s intervention putting off Kabia when well placed and MacGillivray making another stop to deny McEachran.
Another reshuffle was tried with the Dons, with Lemonheigh-Evans introduced to shore up the midfield and strike partner Callum Paterson asked to drop into defence as part of a back 5.
But less than 3 minutes after the break, the hosts did get on the scoreboard. After Grimsby half-cleared a corner, the hosts worked the ball out wide to Marvin Ekpiteta, whose cross struck McEachran and ricocheted in. It made it the second time in 3 seasons that McEachran had scored an own goal at Stadium MK, with the brother of ex-Don Josh having done so while playing for Swindon in 2023.
Despite being a player down, the Dons were causing Grimsby some trouble and the shape was limiting Grimsby’s ability to create more opportunities, with the visitors’ best opportunities for a fourth coming in the form of primarily blocked shots.
As the game wore on, it was seemingly set to peter out, with the Dons unable to create many opportunities for a second and Grimsby opting to take off danger man Vernam.
In the late stages, the Dons’ players felt adamant that Cameron McJannett had handled the ball from a long throw into the box, which was echoed by fans and coaching staff, but the appeals would not be endorsed by the officials.
As it was, however, MK Dons did reduce the deficit in the first minute of stoppage time. A long throw by Paterson ended up with Lemonheigh-Evans, with the substitute duly rifling home.
Time wasn’t on the Dons’ side to mount a comeback, but they nearly stole a point in style when Sanders’ overhead kick narrowly flew over with the final kick of the ball.
But there was no time left for MK Dons to steal a point, with the side entering a big match next week away at Chesterfield on the back of back-to-back defeats.
MK Dons: MacGillivray – Offord (Nemane 35), Ekpiteta, Sanders, Mellish – Wilson (Collar 72), Kelly (Crowley 80), Gilbey, Hepburn-Murphy (Leko 80) – Paterson, Hogan (Lemonheigh-Evans 45)
Subs not used: Trueman, Medwynter
Goal: McEachran (og 47), Lemonheigh-Evans (90+1)
Sent Off: Mellish (36)
Booked: Offord, Kelly
Grimsby: Pym – Rodgers, Warren, McJanett, Sweeney – McEachran – Burns (Eccleston 89), Green, Khouri, Vernam (Soonsup-Bell 72) – Kabia (Rose 84)
Subs not used: Auton, Amaluzor, Brown, Oduor
Goal: Green (9), Kabia (23), Vernam (28)
Booked: McEachran
Fire services were called after lightning struck a plug socket, causing a house fire in Milton Keynes.
Buckinghamshire Fire and Rescue confirmed firefighters were called to a three storey semi-detached property on Summerlin Drive in Woburn Sands after an incident at around 2:35pm yesterday (03/09) where lightning had struck via a plug socket on the third floor.
The incident happened during a lightning storm, which struck the local area yesterday with heavy rain, thunder and lightning reported.
The lightning had caused tiles to become loose on the roof and fragments of the chimney breast to fall into the garden area.
One crew from Broughton alongside an Aerial appliance from West Ashland and an officer attended.
Firefighters used the Aerial appliance and small tools to remove the loose tiles. The electrics were isolated and a cordon was put into place.
A thermal imaging camera was used to inpsect the property for signs of heat.
Crews remained on scene for an extended period of time.
