“The NHS is facing one of the gravest crises in its history as militant unions are in talks to inflict a general strike on England’s hospitals. Nurses are downing tools for two days over the May bank holiday – and junior doctors have threatened to join them. Health Secretary Steve Barclay told The Sun on Sunday: “Industrial action means the safety of patients is put at risk.” Panicked hospital chiefs warned a coordinated strike would “incomprehensible” chaos to the NHS. While worried MPs said patients could die. The Sun on Sunday has been told the British Medical Association – which represents junior doctors – is in talks with the Royal College of Nursing to join their walkout.” – Sun on Sunday
“Labour today doubles down on its controversial attack advertisement by targeting what the party claims is Rishi Sunak’s ‘appalling’ record on women’s issues. In an interview with The Mail on Sunday, the party’s Health Spokesman Wes Streeting defends the now-infamous accusation that the Prime Minister does not want jail child sex abusers by saying that it was ‘absolutely right for Labour to take the gloves off and hold Rishi Sunak to account’. With the NHS facing crippling strikes, Mr Streeting condemns the junior doctors’ 35 per cent pay-rise demands as ‘unaffordable’, but says that if he were Health Secretary, he would ‘get them around the table and start talking’.” – Mail on Sunday
“Starmer’s leadership platform included higher taxes on the rich; abolishing universal credit and tuition fees; ending “illegal wars”; nationalising rail, mail, energy and water; ending outsourcing in the NHS, local government and justice system; repealing the Trade Union Act; and being kinder to migrants. The fact that he has repudiated pretty much all of this out of electoral expediency — to the justifiable fury of the hard left — doesn’t change the fact that he said it. Or that he served under Corbyn, and campaigned for him to be prime minister, when more scrupulous figures stepped back.” – Sunday Times
“No 10 hopes that getting European co-operation to tackle the people-smugglers could make it a little easier to stem the flow of the boats. This thinking is at an early stage but a senior official said: “Conversations are happening in that space. We are not the only ones with these issues. In Ireland they have run out of hotel space and are just giving people €40 and telling them to fend for themselves. In Belgium they are housing people in tents. Sunak’s pledge to stop the boats hangs on the passage of new legislation and whether the deal to send new arrivals to Rwanda is approved by the courts. The government won in the High Court but faces a fight in the Court of Appeal.” – Tim Shipman, Sunday Times
“Smart motorways will no longer be built in the UK after Rishi Sunak admitted that the public has lost confidence in them. Fourteen planned smart motorways have been axed after years of campaigning by the families of crash victims and accusations that ministers have “blood on their hands” for a “deadly” 18-year experiment with Britain’s highways. Roads that have already been completed will be allowed to remain but subjected to a safety refit to increase the number of emergency stopping places.Plans to convert stretches of the M1, M6 and M25 to smart roads have been shelved, saving taxpayers an estimated £1 billion and reducing the risk of further crashes.” – Sunday Telegraph
“Schools will have to tell parents if pupils who want to change their gender start using a new name or wearing a different uniform under new government guidance. The document, which is still being finalised, is also expected to make clear that children who identify as a different gender from their biological sex cannot share changing or shower facilities with the opposite sex. Those who are socially transitioning or questioning their gender should be provided with alternative facilities where appropriate, as is already the case in some schools for disabled pupils with complex needs.” – Sunday Times
“David Cameron has said he is now a “realist” about the need to cut the UK’s foreign aid budget, but called for global banks to lend more money to counter China’s influence in developing countries. The former prime minister – who has criticised Rishi Sunak for breaking Britain’s promise to spend 0.7 per cent of national income on aid – said reform of the IMF and World Bank would allow the banks to make up for a fall in direct support by rich countries. In an exclusive article for The Telegraph, Mr Cameron said China had become “the world’s largest official creditor” and was buying up support in developing countries with its controversial Belt and Road initiative.” – Sunday Telegraph
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