Labour’s benefit cuts will cost UK economy billions, charity says

Keir Starmer has been warned that Labour’s tough stance on benefits is costing Britain’s economy billions of pounds each year while adding to the pressure on public services by pushing more people into poverty.With the government under fire over its planned benefit cuts, the anti-poverty charity Trussell said that failing to tackle hunger and hardship would have severe human costs and cause damage to the wider economy and public finances.Attacking Labour’s drive to find savings from the welfare bill despite repeated promises that there would be no return to austerity, it said the UK’s elevated levels of poverty meant the economy was missing out on more than £38bn each year in potential output.The intervention comes as the government prepares to publish its long-awaited strategy for tackling child poverty in June, amid the heightened risk of a rebellion by Labour MPs opposed to the £5bn benefit cuts announced by the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, in her spring statement.It emerged last week that ministers are privately ruling out scrapping the controversial two-child limit introduced under the Conservatives, despite warnings from charities that a failure to do so could result in the highest levels of child poverty since records began

Drinking champagne could reduce risk of sudden cardiac arrest, study suggests

Drinking champagne, eating more fruit, staying slim and maintaining a positive outlook on life could help reduce the risk of a sudden cardiac arrest, the world’s first study of its kind suggests.Millions of people worldwide die every year after experiencing a sudden cardiac arrest (SCA), when the heart stops pumping blood around the body without warning. They are caused by a dangerous abnormal heart rhythm, when the electrical system in the heart is not working properly. Without immediate treatment such as CPR, those affected will die.The study identified 56 non-clinical risk factors associated with SCA, spanning lifestyle, physical measures, psychosocial factors, socioeconomic status and the local environment

Leading baby food brands making high-sugar meals, study finds

Top brands such as Ella’s Kitchen and Heinz are making sugar-heavy, nutritionally poor baby food that fails to meet the needs of infants, a study has found.The discovery has spurred groups to call for ministers to strengthen regulation in the market, saying that the current state of affairs will negatively affect child growth and development.Researchers at the University of Leeds School of Food Science and Nutrition found that some brands also carried misleading marketing claims, leading them to urge the government to “act now” in imposing the same traffic light system found on chocolate bars and ice-cream.Ella’s Kitchen pear and peach baby rice was found to have a rice content of only 3%, while sugar made up 60% of its calories.Heinz fruity banana custard gets 71% of its total calories from sugar, with its ingredients only containing 4% milk powder, while its baby oat porridge is 29% sugar

Letter: Elizabeth Sclater obituary

In the early 2000s Elizabeth Sclater and I collaborated on the rights of older people. At the time I was working with HelpAge International.Elizabeth was an indomitable advocate for older people in general and for older women especially, founding the Older Women’s Network, Europe (OWN-EU) and speaking out fearlessly from many global and international platforms on the “internalised ageism” that holds back the championing of their rights.I was last with her at the UN in Geneva in 2023, when she spoke out on the subject. At the start of this month I was again in Geneva to witness the historic consensus decision by UN member states at the Human Rights Council to form an intergovernmental working group to draft the text of a legally binding convention on the rights of older persons

No extra money for NHS staff and teacher pay rises, warns Treasury

Pay rises for NHS staff and teachers must be paid from existing budgets, the Treasury has warned, setting up the potential for strike action.Separate independent pay review bodies for teachers and NHS staff in England are reportedly set to make higher pay rise recommendations than ministers had suggested.Both the NEU and NASUWT teaching unions have threatened strike action if schools do not get extra funding to pay for the salary increase for teachers. The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has also warned it will not accept pay awards taking resources from the frontline.However, the Guardian understands that the Treasury has said it will categorically not fund the pay rises by borrowing, meaning that additional pay increases must come from cuts to other budgets