Half Of UK Nation 'Living On The Edge'

Around nine million more adults are struggling with money compared to seven years ago, a report into the health of the nation's finances has found.

More than half (52%) of those surveyed are living on the edge, equating to 26 million people across the UK, Government-backed body the Money Advice Service (MAS) said.

This is a sharp increase from 35% of people who were having difficulty keeping up with bills the last time similar research was carried out in 2006.

The service found that many people are suffering from poor financial skills and the squeeze on families following the economic downturn has encouraged a "live for now" culture which is dragging down people's ability to save enough for their future.

Income per hour has dropped by 6% in real terms since the previous research was carried out, making it harder for people to make ends meet.

More than 5,000 people took part in the latest financial capability survey and more than 70 families were followed over the course of a year for the Financial Capability Of The UK report, which found "a general feeling that people worry about their ability to make it to the next pay day".

It continued: "And because of this, people are focusing more on the here and now than on planning for the future, including for unforeseen emergencies."

One in five people surveyed said they would rather have £200 now than £400 in four months' time. Two-fifths also said they would have to think about how they could cover an unexpected £300 bill and one quarter said they prefer to live for today rather than plan for tomorrow.

Caroline Rookes, chief executive of the service, said: "In theory, money management is easy - spend less than you earn and consider your future - but the difficulty comes when applying this to the real world."

A Treasury spokesman said: "We recognise that times are still tough for families, but Britain is holding its nerve, we are sticking to our plan, and the British economy is on the mend.

"The Government has taken continued action to help households with the cost of living, including cutting tax for 25 million people by raising the personal allowance and freezing fuel duty."

MAS, an independent body set up by Government, has a statutory objective to raise public understanding and awareness about financial matters. It is due to publish a strategy on how people can be helped to improve their finances next year.

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Illegal Immigration Raids: 140 Arrested

Nearly 140 people have been arrested after a series of raids to tackle people working illegally in the UK.

It comes as the Home Office faces criticism over its tactics, its fine collection success rate, and its data collection accuracy.

Immigration enforcement officers arrested 139 suspected immigration offenders at locations including London, Durham, Manchester, Wales and Somerset. Those who have no right to be in the UK face being thrown out.

Immigration Minister Mark Harper said: "We are sending a clear message to employers who choose to use illegal labour - we will find you and you will pay a heavy penalty.

"We will not allow the growth of a shadow economy for illegal migrants."

The move is the latest attempt by the Government to crack down on those illegally in the country, following a controversial advertising van campaign and reports of stop and check operations near London train stations.

In recent days it also emerged that two-thirds of fines imposed on employers of illegal workers have not been collected in the past five years.

Meanwhile, at the weekend the Public Administration Committee of MPs said UK migration figures are "little better than a best guess".

The Government will introduce the Immigration Bill later this year, which will carry proposals to tackle rogue businesses by increasing the £10,000 amount they can be charged if they are found to be employing illegal workers.

But concerns have been raised about recent anti-immigration operations in London, and Barry Gardiner, the Labour MP for Brent North, has written to Home Secretary Theresa May following reports of spot checks.

The Independent reported that he demanded an investigation into the checks which he said violated "fundamental freedoms".

Phil O'Shea, who witnessed one of the operations earlier this week in north London, told the Kilburn Times: "They appeared to be stopping and questioning every non-white person, many of whom were clearly ordinary Kensal Green residents going to work."

A Home Office spokesman defended the tactics: "We make no apology for enforcing our immigration laws and our officers carry out hundreds of operations like this every year around London.

"Where we find people who are in the UK illegally, we will remove them."

Shadow immigration minister Chris Bryant said: "Intelligence-led operations to remove illegal immigrants are to be welcomed. Racial profiling is not."

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British Gas To Offer Free Power On Saturdays

British Gas owner Centrica is considering offering free power to customers on Saturdays to encourage energy use when overall demand is low.

As part of a shake-up in the way energy is used and paid for, free energy tariffs could be offered to those who have a 'smart meter' installed in their homes.

British Gas has fitted over a million of the devices, which detect how much power is used on each day, in UK properties so far.

The offer would apply to homes and not businesses and to electricity use, not gas.

The proposals mirror tariffs already available to US customers of Direct Energy, the sister company of British Gas in North America.

One million Centrica customers already have smart meters

A Centrica spokesman told Sky News: "In Texas, we had a product called 'free power Saturdays'. A fairly simple idea, free power on a Saturday.

"The thinking behind it is for customers to concentrate energy use when demand is low, to reduce demand in the week.

"We are looking to do that over here, we've been thinking about it for a while. A small trial is running at the moment."

He said the scheme would only work for homes that have a smart meter, which would allow Centrica to know when electricity is being used, including whether it is being used on a Saturday.

"This is in the very early stages. It could be in place by mid next year, hypothetically," he added.

The move comes amid political pressure to lower bills

The move is likely to be seen as a reaction to political pressure on the UK's 'Big Six' energy suppliers to cut bills and ensure customers are getting the best deals as Britons struggle to cope with the rising cost of living. 

Sam Laidlaw, chief executive of Centrica, told the Financial Times: "We need to get more smart meters in the UK, and if it (free power days) does come to the UK it will be at least six months."

The announcement came just hours after British Gas announced profits for its residential energy business in the six months to the end of June grew by 3.2% to £356m.

The company has insisted that it did not cash in on the bitterly cold start to the year, despite gas consumption rising by 13%. It defended the rise in profits, saying they were curtailed by "significantly higher environmental and commodity costs".

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Councils Rake In Millions In Parking Profits

Some councils are making huge surpluses from parking fines, according to the RAC Foundation.

During 2011/12 the combined amount of cash left over after money was spent on parking services, filling potholes, funding park and ride schemes, street lights and road improvements, was £412m.

This is a £54m increase in the surplus left over in 2010/11, said the foundation.

The authority with the biggest surplus, before spending on road infrastructure was taken into account, was Westminster Council with £41.6m in 2011/12.

Councils say the cash is for road improvements such as filling potholes

Second, with a surplus of £28.1m was Kensington and Chelsea with the north London council of Camden in third place with £25m.

Only Brighton and Hove and Cornwall councils broke into a top 10 dominated by London authorities.

The surplus figures come just days after a judge declared that Barnet Council in north London had acted illegally in setting parking charges to raise revenue.

RAC Foundation director Professor Stephen Glaister said: "For many local authorities, parking charges are a nice little earner, especially in London.

"Not all authorities make big sums. Several run a current account deficit and indeed of those with surpluses, many will see the money vanish when capital expenditure is taken into account.

"But the bottom line is that hundreds of millions of pounds are being contributed annually to council coffers through parking charges."

Eric Pickles: 'this profit shows we need to rein-in unfair parking rules'

Peter Box, chairman of the Local Government Association's economy and transport board, said: "Parking revenue is spent on paying for parking services.

"Any money left over goes towards transport services like filling potholes, concessionary travel, park and rides, street lights and road improvement projects.

"As the RAC Foundation report makes clear, many councils have to subsidise parking services as the cost is not covered by charges.

"Parking charges and fines help councils keep traffic flowing and pedestrians and motorists safe. They also help keep the roads clear for emergency services and business deliveries, and ensure people can park near their homes or local shops."

Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles said: "This profit shows why we need to review and rein in unfair town hall parking rules.

"Councils aren't listening, and local shops and hard-working families are suffering as a result. The law is clear that parking is not a tax or cash cow for town hall officers."

Councillor Daniel Astaire, Westminster City Council cabinet member for business, said: "Parking is about traffic management, tackling congestion and trying to implement positive benefits for businesses and high streets.

"If we stay in this Jurassic Age of pure rhetoric about cash cows and money making, innovation will be stifled and we cannot engage with motorists properly in order to find the best solutions that will benefit everyone."

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Twitter Admits Failing Rape Threat Women

Twitter has broken its silence over a growing row about abuse on the social media site, telling Sky News it has failed women who have faced rape threats.

Twitter's Head of Safety Del Harvey said: "I think that any time that someone feels we weren't responsive, or weren't reactive or we didn't care then, yes, we failed in that instance and we need to do better.

"And that's something that we have definitely had highlighted in terms of the need to educate people about what we've done and to get feedback on what we need to do better."

The row began after a series of rape and death threats were issued against feminist campaigner, Caroline Criado-Perez, and the MP Stella Creasy.

Twitter was criticised for not taking stronger and swifter action against the abusive messages. It insisted it took the issue seriously.

The allegations were reported to the police and an investigation was launched into the string of messages sent to Ms Criado-Perez, who last week headed a successful campaign for a female figure to appear on UK banknotes, and the Labour MP for Walthamstow.

A 25-year-old man was arrested on Tuesday on suspicion of harassment of the two women and earlier in the week police questioned and released on bail a 21-year-old man in connection with messages sent to Ms Criado-Perez.

Speaking to Sky News from San Francisco, Ms Harvey revealed that Twitter had spoken to police about abuse claims.

Ms Criado-Perez was sent sickening abuse nearly every minute for 48 hours

She also said "automated and manual systems" were already in place to prevent abuse and Twitter was now working on a further solution that will allow users to tap on a tweet and report it as abusive. Tweeters will then be asked to answer a series of questions about the abuse they have reported.

The 'report abuse' button, already available on its latest iPhone app, will be extended to other platforms.

Her comments came as Ms Criado Perez, who has criticised the microblogging site's security policies, described how the vicious online attack left her feeling "under siege" and terrified in her own home.

Ms Criado Perez, 29, also said Twitter needs to "get a grip" on security, as it emerged bosses were likely to face a grilling from MPs.

She said the social network was ill-equipped to handle episodes of sustained abuse and needed to work more closely with police to deal with internet trolls.

Ms Criado Perez met Twitter directors on Monday night along with Ms Creasy, who received a similar torrent of abusive messages after she offered support to the freelance journalist.

"This will have been a wake-up call for Twitter," Ms Criado Perez said.

"It will hopefully have led them to realise that they are not equipped to deal with this kind of thing properly.

Ms Creasy called for Twitter to take stronger action against online thugs

"They need to get a grip and figure it out."

The campaigner, who received assurances that Twitter is working to improve its procedures for reporting menacing behaviour, said the police also needed to "step up".

"We had a positive conversation about making reporting quicker, simpler and more focused on getting results for the victim," she added.

"I feel that finally they're taking this issue seriously, though it's a shame it's taken this worldwide outcry for them to act.

"We'll be keeping up the pressure in the coming weeks, but the signs of some serious, positive changes are good."

Twitter bosses look set to face questions from MPs when the Culture, Media and Sport Committee examines issues surrounding child protection in the autumn.

Committee chair John Whittingdale said: "I would have thought it very possible that the committee might want, in the course of our inquiry, to talk to Twitter."

He added: "It isn't that the law needs to be changed; the question is how you identify people and how you prevent them (from abusing others online).

"That is the big question and it is one we would wish to explore with internet companies to determine whether they are doing as much as they can or whether they should do more. I think that's a very live issue."

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Judges To Rule On Assisted Suicide Appeal

Leading judges are to rule on the latest round of a right-to-die legal battle started by locked-in syndrome sufferer Tony Nicklinson.

Mr Nicklinson, 58, died at home in Melksham, Wiltshire a week after he lost a High Court bid to end his life with a doctor's help.

The father-of-two, who was paralysed by a stroke in 2005, refused food and contracted pneumonia after he was "devastated" by the decision.

Mr Nicklinson after hearing he had lost a bid for help to end his life

But his widow Jane vowed to continue the battle in the courts, which she said was "part of Tony's legacy".

Her challenge against the High Court's ruling was heard at the Court of Appeal in May alongside those brought by two severely disabled men.

She had argued that people too sick or disabled to end their "unbearable" lives without help are currently being condemned to "suffer in silence or make desperate attempts to kill themselves".

One of the other cases is that of paralysed road accident victim Paul Lamb, 57, who is immobile except for limited movement in his right hand and has been in significant pain since the tragedy in 1990.

The father of two was paralysed after suffering a stroke in 2005

The third case is that of another locked-in syndrome sufferer whose case was rejected at the High Court on the same day as Mr Nicklinson's.

The man, who cannot be identified for legal reasons and is referred to as 'Martin', suffered a massive stroke in August 2008.

He is unable to speak and virtually unable to move, describing his life as "undignified, distressing and intolerable" - and wants to be allowed a "dignified suicide".

In Mr Lamb's case he wants a doctor to help him die in a dignified way, preferably by a lethal injection, with his family around him in his own home.

Appellant Paul Lamb, who has been immobile and in pain since 1990

The former builder and father of two says he feels worn out and fed up of going through the motions of life rather than living it.

Giving their ruling last year, the three High Court judges unanimously agreed it would be wrong for the court to depart from the long-established legal position that "voluntary euthanasia is murder, however understandable the motives may be".

Appeal Court judges Lord Chief Justice Lord Judge, Master of the Rolls Lord Dyson and Lord Justice Elias will reveal whether they have overturned the High Court ruling later.

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NHS Ward Ratings A 'Patient-Led Revolution'

The first results of a system allowing patients to rate the hospital ward or department they have been treated in are to be published later.

Hundreds of thousands of patients have taken part in the NHS Friends and Family Test during April, May and June 2013.

They were asked for their views after staying in hospital overnight or visiting an A&E department.

It is the first time a national health service has published a single measure of patient satisfaction for every hospital.

They all answered one simple question. "How likely are you to recommend our ward/A&E department to your friends and family if they needed similar care or treatment?"

Tim Kelsey, NHS England's National Director for Patients and Information, said:  "At the heart of the tragedy of Mid Staffordshire was one simple lesson: the NHS has got to do better at listening to patients and doing something about what they say.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt: 'This is an historic moment for the NHS'

"This is a radical response, a potential game changer. It creates a direct conversation and gives NHS staff the opportunity to respond quickly to what they are being told.

"We hope to encourage a patient-led revolution in healthcare, driven by the transparency, better information and public participation in design of services."

The test was announced by David Cameron in January 2012 with the aim of giving patients a stronger voice when deciding whether their care is good enough.

Hospitals will be able to take swift action to make any necessary improvements and NHS England will publish monthly updates to ensure regular feedback about what patients think of services.

NHS England plans to extend the test to maternity services in October and to GP practices and mental health services by end of December 2014, with other services following by 2015.

NHS Trusts will also invite patients to provide more information so they can understand more deeply what they are being told.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said: "This is an historic moment for the NHS - we will eventually know what patients think about almost every ward, at every hospital, across the county.

"This simple test will throw a spotlight on both good and poor care, and sends a clear signal to every NHS organisation that patients must come first every time."

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Cybercrime: Britain 'Losing The War' Say MPs

The threat of a cyber assault on Britain is considered so serious it is marked as a higher threat than a nuclear attack, according to an influential group of MPs.

Despite being the preferred target of online criminals in 25 countries, the UK is still "complacent" towards cybercrime as victims are "hidden in cyberspace", the Home Affairs Select Committee said.

The group of MPs said funding and resources for tackling online crime, which includes identity theft, industrial espionage, credit-card fraud and child exploitation, has not been sufficiently allocated.

Cybercriminals in 25 countries are said to be targeting the UK

Tougher sentences for online criminals and improved training for police officers are recommended by the Committee to deal with the growing threat.

Committee chair Keith Vaz said: "We are not winning the war on online criminal activity. We are being too complacent about these e-wars because the victims are hidden in cyberspace.

"The threat of a cyber attack to the UK is so serious it is marked as a higher threat than a nuclear attack.

Christopher Whitehead, the hacker at the heart of an attack on Paypal

"You can steal more on the Internet than you can by robbing a bank.

"If we don't have a 21st century response to this 21st century crime, we will be letting those involved in these gangs off the hook."

Online crime - committed by lone hackers, activist groups and nation states sponsoring industrial espionage - has been estimated by online security firm Norton to globally cost around £250bn ($388bn) in financial losses.

The Committee heard that the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau had discovered about 25 countries predominantly targeting the UK and said it was "deeply concerned" that EU partner countries are not doing enough to prevent the attacks.

The Committee added it was "surprised" hackers from the group Anonymous, who cost Paypal more than £3.5m, were not given stiffer sentences.

Christopher Weatherhead, a 22-year-old university student who was described as a key operator in the group, was sentenced to 18 months in prison for his role in the attack. 

Hidden in cyberspace: The UK is too complacent towards e-crime, say MPs

Commissioner Adrian Leppard, of City of London Police, the most senior policeman in the country on online fraud, warned the Committee that a quarter of the 800 specialist internet crime officers could be axed as spending is cut.

The Committee was also alarmed that the Child Exploitation and Online Protection centre is having its budget cut by 10% over four years and its chief executive Peter Davies is leaving.

Last week, David Cameron threatened to impose tough new laws on internet firms if they fail to blacklist key search terms for illegal images by October as part of a wider crackdown on online pornography.

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Arrest Made After Twitter Rape Threats

A 21-year-old man has been arrested after a barrage of sexual abuse was posted on Twitter aimed at the woman who campaigned for a female figure to appear on British banknotes.

Caroline Criado-Perez received hostile posts, including threats to rape and kill her, nearly every minute in the 48 hours after she attended the Bank of England's unveiling of the new £10 note, with Jane Austen's image on, on Wednesday.

A Scotland Yard spokesman said: "A 21-year-old man has today been arrested in the Manchester area on suspicion of harassment offences.

"The arrest is in connection with an allegation of malicious communications received by officers in Camden on Thursday, July 25."

The abuse started after Ms Criado-Perez fronted the £10 note campaign

On Sunday,  Ms Criado-Perez said she had been informed that an arrest had been made.

On her Twitter page she wrote: "Just heard from police that an arrest has been made. That's all I have at present."

She earlier called on the social networking site and police to take action over the abuse.

Twitter is under increasing pressure to take a tougher stance

She told Sky News: "It was really really disturbing to find that something as small as asking for one woman on a banknote could result in such a barrage of threats of sexual violence.

"It's just not acceptable and more than that it's actually a crime and Twitter needs to take it seriously and the police need to take it seriously."

Her comments come as an online petition in support of her, calling on Twitter to introduce a button to allow speedy reporting of abuse, has attracted more than 25,000 signatures.

She has also received support from MPs and celebrities.

Ms Criado-Perez added: "This is something that happens specifically to women and it's to make them shut up because there is a certain type of man who doesn't like women speaking and they don't like women speaking back to them.

"I wasn't going to give them what they wanted so I decided to start being very very public about the abuse I was receiving even though it was really unpleasant and obviously it's invited more abuse to a certain extent, but it's also invited so much support which has been absolutely incredible."

A spokesperson for Twitter said: "The ability to report individual tweets for abuse is currently available on Twitter for iPhone and we plan to bring this functionality to other platforms, including Android and the web.

"We don't comment on individual accounts. However, we have rules which people agree to abide by when they sign up to Twitter.

"We will suspend accounts that, once reported to us, are found to be in breach of our rules.

"We encourage users to report an account for violation of the Twitter rules by using one of our report forms: https://support.twitter.com/forms."

Jane Austen will appear on the front of £10 notes from 2017

The Metropolitan Police is conducting inquiries into the matter after receiving an allegation of abuse.

Labour's shadow home secretary and shadow minister for women Yvette Cooper has written to the head of Twitter in the UK urging stronger action over the matter, saying she is "deeply concerned by the handling of serious and violent threats of abuse and rape".

The letter says: " ... Despite the scale and seriousness of these threats, the official response from Twitter continues to be extremely weak - simply directing Caroline away from Twitter towards the police, and, belatedly, directing users to abuse reporting forms on Twitter.

" ... I urge you to go further and ensure that Twitter carries out a full review of all its policies on abusive behaviour, threats and crimes, including more help for Twitter users who experience abuse, a clear complaints process and clear action from Twitter to tackle this kind of persecution."

Comedians Chris Addison and Dara O'Briain are among the celebrities to back Ms Criado-Perez with messages on Twitter.

Addison wrote: "In case you missed it, here's the link to petition to add a 'Report Abuse' button to Twitter … Least we can do, right?"

And O'Briain posted: "If the ladies leave Twitter because of all the dumb, rapey 14-year-old boys, then I'm outta here people. Like most grown-up men too, I'd say"

MPs including Stella Creasy and Diane Abbott also voiced their support via the microblogging site.

Ms Criado-Perez, a freelance journalist who co-founded The Women's Room, an online database of female experts, organised a campaign which included a petition signed by more than 35,500 people after the Bank of England decided to replace Elizabeth Fry with Winston Churchill on new £5 notes.

The move would have meant there were no women apart from the Queen on sterling banknotes.

Her campaign was a success, with an announcement by the Bank last week that Pride And Prejudice author Austen will replace Charles Darwin on the new £10 note when it is introduced 2017.

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Lads' Mags Told To Cover Up Scantily-Clad Models

The Co-operative has given publishers of lads' magazines an ultimatum to cover them up in "modesty bags" or face having them removed from shelves in 4,000 stores.

Titles such as Front, Loaded, Nuts and Zoo - known for their pictures of scantily-clad models - have been given until September 9 to deliver the magazines in pre-sealed bags.

The retail group, which describes itself as one of the UK's largest magazine sellers, introduced opaque screens on shelves earlier this month to prevent children from seeing "lewd pictures" on front covers.

It comes amid an increasing debate about the effects of sexual images on children, with Prime Minister David Cameron setting out a raft of reforms this week which will introduce family-friendly filters that automatically block internet porn unless people choose to opt out.

The Co-operative said the move was a response to concerns by its members, customers and colleagues.

Steve Murrells, retail chief executive for the Co-operative Group, said: "As a community-based retailer we have listened to the concerns of our customers and members, many of whom say they object to their children being able to see overt sexual images in our stores.

"Whilst we have tried to mitigate the likelihood of young children seeing the images with a number of measures in-store, the most effective way of doing this is for these magazines to be put in individual, sealed modesty bags.

"As an interim measure, we have introduced our own opaque screens on shelf to reinforce our existing policy limiting the display of such material.

"The publishers of these magazines now have until September 9 to start providing their own modesty bags, after which any lads' magazine which does not have the relevant bag will not be supplied in our stores."

The Sport newspaper has already agreed to deliver all editions to stores in bags from September 9, the Co-operative said.

Jo Swinson, Minister for Women and Equalities, said: "Many parents aren't comfortable with the way that sexualised imagery has become like wallpaper - everywhere from the bus stop to the corner shop.

"Exposing children to lewd pictures that portray women as sex objects is not appropriate. That's why The Co-operative's decision to implement the Bailey review recommendation for publications with overtly sexual images on the cover to be displayed and sold in modesty bags is very welcome.

"Adults should be left to make their own decisions about what legal sexual images they look at, but the place for these is not next to the sweets at children's eye-level. I hope other retailers will follow the Co-operative's lead."

Sophie Bennett, a spokeswoman for Lose the Lads' Mags campaign group, called for the Co-operative to stop stocking the magazines altogether.

The campaign, set up by pressure groups UK Feminista and Object, calls on retailers to withdraw the magazines.

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Twitter Rape Row: Abuse At £10 Note Campaigner

Twitter has become embroiled in a rape row after the woman who headed the campaign for a female figure on banknotes was subjected to vile sexual threats on the microblogging site.

Caroline Criado-Perez received rape threats on Twitter nearly every minute in the 48 hours after the new Jane Austen £10 note was unveiled.

Ms Criado-Perez, co-founder of the Women's Room, an online database of female experts, has highlighted the abuse on her Twitter account and blog by posting a number of the messages.

It has sparked a campaign for Twitter to install a 'report abuse' button on every post.

One supporter, Norfolk woman Kim Graham, has started an online petition which, by Saturday afternoon, had garnered support from over 12,000 people.

Writing on the petition Ms Graham said: "We need Twitter to recognise that it's current reporting system is below required standards. It currently requires users to search for details on how to report someone for abuse; a feature that should be available on each user's page."

A movement has been started under the Twitter hashtag #takebacktwitter, which includes some MPs and women journalists and calls on the social networking site to take action.

Writing in the New Statesman, Ms Criado-Perez said: "The rape threats started on Thursday, and have continued for the past forty-eight hours. And this experience is by no means unique to me.

The row began after novellist Jane Austen was unveiled as the new £10 face

"Amid the abuse, I have received countless messages from women telling me of their experiences.

"The head of WHO called violence against women a 'global health problem of epidemic proportions'; she should take a look at twitter, where we have our own nasty little epidemic: an epidemic of misogynistic men who feel so threatened by any woman speaking up, that they feel they must immediately silence her with a threat of sexual violence."

She said that when supporters started posting messages to Twitter's manager of News and Journalism, Mark S Luckie, about the rape threats, he locked his account. 

She said she was getting 50 rape threats every hour.

However, Tony Wang, general manager of Twitter in the UK, posted a series of messages on Saturday which appeared to be in response to the row.

His Tweets included: "We take abuse seriously and will investigate reports made via support.twitter.com/forms. For more info, see support.twitter.com."

And: "Also, we're testing ways to simplify reporting, e.g. within a Tweet by using the "Report Tweet" button in our iPhone app and on mobile web.

And: "We will suspend accounts that, once reported to us, are found to be in breach of our rules."

Twitter says it will suspend accounts linked to abusive messages

But Ms Criado-Perez pointed out that the report process was too lengthy for someone who had been subjected to a "tidal wave of abuse".

Stella Creasy, the Labour MP for Walthamstow, is one of those supporting Ms Criado Perez.

"What Caroline has had to deal with in the past day is not only disgusting, but criminal," she said.

"A quick look at Twitter this morning shows that women are not prepared to stand by and take this kind of abuse.

"Twitter needs to get its house in order, and fast."

Labour MP for Hackney Diane Abbott wrote on Twitter: "Shocked at the abuse @CCriadoPerez has had to put up with. Almost as shocked that @marksluckie refuses to do anything about it."

The Sunday Times columnist India Knight posted a tweet saying: "If you have concerns about the grotesque abuse directed at @CCriadoPerez, @TonyW is the general manager of UK Twitter."

While The Times journalist Caitlin Moran pointed out: "For those who say "Why complain - just block?" - on a big troll day, it can be 50 violent/rape messages an hour. exhausting and upsetting."

A spokesman from the Metropolitan Police confirmed to Sky News that officers in Camden had received "an allegation regarding comments made on a social networking site", reported on Thursday 25 July.

Inquires are continuing and no arrests have yet been made, he said. 

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Theresa May 'Shocked' By Diabetes Diagnosis

Theresa May has spoken of her shock after being diagnosed with a chronic illness, but insists it will not affect her political career.

The Home Secretary was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes two months ago and must now inject herself with insulin at least twice a day for the rest of her life, the Mail on Sunday has revealed.

Commentators had seized on Mrs May's dramatic weight loss over the past 18 months as proof that she was undergoing a style makeover in preparation for a future leadership bid.

But the Conservative Cabinet minister told the newspaper that dropping two stones was partly down to the illness.

"The diabetes doesn't affect how I do the job or what I do. It's just part of life ... so it's a case of head down and getting on with it," Mrs May told the Mail on Sunday.

"It was a real shock and, yes, it took me a while to come to terms with it."

There are around 300,000 people in the UK with Type 1 diabetes

Speaking about the timing of the announcement, Sky's chief political correspondent Jon Craig said: "I suspect she wanted to get the Abu Qatada deportation out of the way and wanted nothing to distract from that."

There are around 300,000 people in the UK with Type 1 diabetes. Despite decades of research, no vaccine has been found to prevent the disease.

Pressed on whether the illness would prevent her from one day succeeding David Cameron, she told the newspaper: "There is no leadership bid. We have a first-class Prime Minister and long may he continue."

Doctors told Mrs May she had the condition, which means her body does not produce insulin, in November but initially they thought she had Type 2 diabetes.

"It doesn't and will not affect my ability to do my work. I'm a little more careful about what I eat and there's obviously the injections, but this is something millions of people have," she said.

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