Keir Starmer sets out changes to education, health and courts in king’s speech
Keir Starmer attempted to reassert his authority over his restive party on Wednesday, announcing his plans for the next parliamentary session even as speculation grew that he would be challenged for his job as soon as Thursday.Starmer announced his second king’s speech as prime minister, promising a package of measures with bills to abolish NHS England, overhaul the provision of special educational needs teaching, limit trials by jury, introduce digital ID and end the leasehold system in England and Wales.The prime minister is promising to begin work on his legislative agenda immediately, bringing forward a bill to curb the ability of people in England to buy their own social homes in a effort to boost the country’s stock of affordable housing.The changes will exempt social homes from the right-to-buy scheme for 35 years, while only tenants who have been living and paying rent there for 10 years will be eligible.However, his plans risk being derailed almost immediately, with the health secretary, Wes Streeting, expected to resign on Thursday in an attempt to trigger a leadership contest.
Starmer appealed to his MPs to stay the course, promising changes that would make Britain “stronger and fairer”.He told the Commons: “It is an agenda of radical reform across our major public services, an urgent activist Labour government that tilts power back to workers.”He faced criticism from his own MPs however for elements of the package, including changes to the migration system to make it harder to appeal against asylum rejections.The bill forms part of a wider plan by Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, to curb legal and illegal migration, including doubling the length of time it will take for some people to be granted indefinite leave to remain in the country.Rachael Maskell, the Labour MP for York Central, said: “I implore the government maintain the rights of those with indefinite leave to remain, as new communities work alongside established communities.
”Bell Ribeiro-Addy, the MP for Clapham and Brixton Hill, said: “Today’s offering pales in comparison [with what is needed], both because we have heard so much of it before but definitely because it lacks the urgency and the radical transformation we need.”There were few surprises in the king’s the 11 and a half-minute speech, which marked the formal opening of the government’s second parliamentary session.The king said in the speech: “My government believes that the United Kingdom’s economic security depends on raising living standards in every part of the United Kingdom.My ministers will support measures that maintain stability and control the cost of living.”The speech included several measures that ministers hope will boost economic growth, including a bill to lay the ground to adopt European regulations, which is part of the prime minister’s plan to move closer to the EU.
Another will force regulators to consider growth when making and enforcing rules for business,Starmer is promising two major changes to housing in England and Wales: a bill to make it harder for people to buy their own council houses, and another to all but end the leasehold system,The leasehold bill will introduce a ban on new flats being sold as leasehold properties, though the housing minister, Matthew Pennycook, recently said the ban would not be enacted until after the next election,On public services, the package will bring in several bills aimed at repairing major problems, including long NHS waiting lists, major courts backlogs and the escalating costs of providing special educational needs support,Streeting is due to follow through with his pledge to legislate to abolish NHS England, something the health secretary promised last year and the process for which has already begun.
Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, will enact the changes to special educational needs provision that she outlined in a speech earlier this year.Under the changes, fewer people will be eligible for education, health and care plans than would otherwise be the case, but schools will have more responsibility for deciding how pupils with special educational needs should be taught.Ministers will also legislate to bring in a digital ID for the first time as a way to check people’s immigration status when they get a new job, although the ID will not be mandatory after the prime minister backed down on a key element of his plans.
‘We have the same monster’: three women brought down their rapist – this is what happened next
In 2023, the Guardian profiled a group of women who had formed an unshakeable bond after they saw their attacker convicted and decided to waive their anonymity. That interview has now led to a documentaryThe three women refer to each other as “the girls”, even though they are in their 40s and 50s, long past girlhood. They have a WhatsApp group called Sister Solidarity, even though they are biologically unrelated.The unshakeable bond between Laura Hughes and Lauren Preston, both 45, and Mary Sharp, 58, came about for the saddest reason – all three were raped and abused by Martin Butler, a manipulative drug dealer on their estate in London who groomed and coerced them decades ago.Butler is now serving a lengthy sentence for the rape and buggery of Sharp in 1988
Did breakthrough in US fentanyl crisis start in China?
As Donald Trump travels to Beijing this week, fentanyl – and China’s role in its supply chain – remains an enduring point of acrimony in bilateral relations.At a UN meeting in March, the US again accused China of failing to stop its chemical industry selling the precursors required to make the potent synthetic opioid, while China suggested the US was shifting the blame for its domestic drug problem.Yet there are growing signs that the US fentanyl crisis has turned a corner – and some experts believe that interventions made in China have played a key role.“There was a supply shock: the purity of fentanyl fell,” said Keith Humphreys, a professor at Stanford University. “The question is why was there a supply shock
Getting children to eat their vegetables starts in the womb, researchers suggest
Rather than bribery, or hiding carrots under ketchup, the key may be to expose foetuses to healthy flavoursIt is an age-old battle with small children that most parents will recognise: please, please, eat your vegetables.Some will read them books with titles such as The Boy Who Loved Broccoli. Others have been known to smother veg in tomato ketchup, or mix avocado and fruit with Greek yoghurt and call it icecream. Or resort to plain bribery.Now, a study suggests there may be a more effective approach – but mothers need to start early
Older people risk mental decline if they do long hours of caring, UK study shows
The stresses and strains of caring for someone for 50 hours or more a week leads to “accelerated cognitive decline” in middle-aged and older people, research shows.However, providing care for only five to nine hours a week has the opposite effect, boosting brain health so much that the benefits last until older age.Carers UK called the findings “extremely worrying” and said they highlight how long hours spent providing care raises the risk of social isolation and burnout.Dr Baowen Xue, an academic at University College London and the lead author of the paper, said: “Our study shows that the caring responsibilities many people take on in later life can be a double-edged sword.“On the one hand, lighter caring responsibilities can be good for you by providing mental stimulation from interacting with loved ones or others you’re helping and a sense of purpose and usefulness
Capacity of lifts not kept up with UK obesity levels, study shows
Lifts are no longer big enough to fit the UK’s larger citizens, according to researchers.A study of maximum capacity in elevators in the UK and mainland Europe found lifts have not kept up with increasing obesity levels, raising concerns about safety and equity.The research, presented at the European Congress on Obesity in Istanbul, Turkey, used photos of weight limits for 112 lifts manufactured between 1972 and 2024 in the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Austria and Finland.Prof Nick Finer, the president and chair of the International Prader-Willi Syndrome Organisation and lead author of the study, compared the average maximum weight allowance (total weight allowance divided by maximum passenger limits) with the average adult weight in the year the lift was manufactured.The research found that despite adults’ continued growing weight, total lift limits have not increased since about 2004
More than 6,000 children treated at obesity clinics in England, figures show
More than 6,000 children living with obesity, including hundreds as young as four, have required treatment at specialist NHS weight-loss clinics, new figures reveal.NHS England data, published for the first time, underlines the scale of the growing childhood obesity crisis.Since the first Complications from Excess Weight clinic (CEW) opened in 2021, the NHS has treated 6,497 children and teenagers. Of these, 423 were four years old, 1,088 were aged between five and eight, 1,791 were aged nine to 12 and 3,137 were aged between 13 and 17. The age of a further 58 is unknown
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