BBC Dorset

Downing Street has insisted the government backs pubs, as a growing number sign up to a campaign to bar Labour MPs from their premises in protest at tax rates.The Labour MP ban was kicked off a week ago by Andy Lennox, landlord of the Old Thatch in Dorset, championing the ban and more than 250 pubs, restaurants and hotels signing up all over the country.Mr Lennox said the ban was a last resort after multiple campaigns spelling out…

The family of a grandmother who died in an SUV crash in Dorset have said they are "forever proud" of her.Rebecca French, 51, and a man in his 30s were travelling in a white Vauxhall Grandland on the B3082 Blandford Road near Badbury Rings when it crashed on Sunday shortly before 21:55 GMT.Dorset Police said there were no other vehicles involved in the collision and the pair were both pronounced dead at the scene.In a statement to police,…

The cost of tackling two major wildfires in summer has pushed a fire service over budget.A meeting of Dorset and Wiltshire Fire & Rescue Service's (DWFRS) Finance & Audit Committee – on which councillors from Swindon, Wiltshire, Dorset, Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole scrutinise spending – heard that the service's projected overspend was £620,000.The costs racked up as a result of two major blazes – at Holt Heath and another in Newton Heath – both in Dorset.Firefighters from across…

Marcus WhiteSouth of EnglandPA MediaFlu jab appointments in the south of England are scarce, the BBC foundThe flu surge in the south of England is behind the rest of the country, leaving time for people to get vaccinated, a senior doctor has said.The first week of December saw an average of 100 patients a day in hospital with flu across the whole of Berkshire, Dorset, Hampshire, the Isle of Wight and Oxfordshire, according to NHS data - fewer…