Brrrought to a standstill...

HEAVY snow, freezing rain and ice brought travel chaos yesterday closing airport runways, roads and rail and cutting power to thousands of homes.

-  Helen Barnett

An amber weather warning was in place for much of the country as up to 12in of snow fell in some areas, the Met Office said.

A less severe yellow warning for Wales, southern and northern England and the Midlands has been issued as rain and milder temperatures bring a rapid thaw and risk of flooding today.

Southern Scotland and northern England were hit hardest by the weather with higher ground, especially the southern Pennines, Cumbria and Wales, seeing between six and 12 inches of snow.

Seven inches was recorded in Yorkshire before midday, while temperatures plunged to -11C in Loch Glascarnoch in the Scottish Highlands. The National Grid said it had been working to restore power after outages across in Birmingham, Bristol and Cardiff.

The severe weather is the biggest test of Labour's decision to scrap the winter fuel allowance.

Cruel

About 10 million pensioners are going without the grant worth up to £300 this winter after Chancellor Rachel Reeves shelved it for anyone not on Pension Credit.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting_was branded "cruel" by Conservative Party chairman Nigel Huddleston after he told pensioners to "turn the heating on" and wear layers over the weekend. Asked whether his advice was "tactful", Mr Streeting said: "It is part of the advice the NHS is giving to people during this cold snap to make sure that people are doing whatever they can to keep warm, to make sure, as we've been doing in the run-up to winter, that people get vaccinated and so on.