Local news from the Bridgwater Mercury covering Bridgwater, North Petherton, Sedgemoor and Somerset.

6:59pm Thursday 31st May 2012

Investigations into allegations of corruption at the heart of the Stephen Lawrence investigation have turned up no new evidence, it has been announced.

6:56pm Thursday 31st May 2012

Investigations into allegations of corruption at the heart of the Stephen Lawrence investigation have turned up no new evidence, it has been announced.

5:45pm Thursday 31st May 2012

Jeremy Hunt has held on to his place in the Cabinet after Prime Minister David Cameron decided not to order an investigation into whether he breached the ministerial code of conduct in his handling of the News Corporation bid for BSkyB.

5:21pm Thursday 31st May 2012

Chancellor George Osborne has made his third Budget U-turn in less than a week, scrapping plans to cap tax relief on charitable donations after coming under massive pressure from charities.

4:09pm Thursday 31st May 2012

Car insurers are facing a full-blown inquiry over claims that their "dysfunctional" practices pushed up premiums by £225 million a year.

3:02pm Thursday 31st May 2012

Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt told George Osborne he was "seriously worried" the government was going to "screw up" the BSkyB deal hours before he was given control over the bid, the Leveson Inquiry has been told.

2:52pm Thursday 31st May 2012

The drunken captain of a ship which collided with a passenger ferry in Northern Ireland, causing more than £1 million of damage, has been jailed for a year.

2:50pm Thursday 31st May 2012

Footballer Titus Bramble has been cleared of sexually assaulting two women.

2:24pm Thursday 31st May 2012

The families of three firemen killed in a warehouse blaze have called a chief fire officer "hypocritical", "arrogant" and "small minded" after he welcomed the acquittal of three long-serving firefighters who had been charged with manslaughter over the tragedy.

1:50pm Thursday 31st May 2012

Britain's Got Talent pop-opera duo Jonathan and Charlotte are recording their debut album less than a month after losing out in the final of the show to a dancing dog.