UK politics live: Doctors threaten strike action after government offers pay rise

The deal with Mauritius over the Chagos Islands will cost the UK £3.4 billion overall, Sir Keir Starmer said.

Speaking as he signed a deal to hand over the islands, the Prime Minister said: “£101 million a year is the average cost. The net overall cost is therefore £3.4 billion overall. That’s over the 99 years.

“The average £100 million per year is about the same, or slightly less than, the running cost of an aircraft carrier, minus the aircraft.

“Now, given the significance of this facility, both the geography and the capability, you can see that as, again, measured against an aircraft carrier running costs that this is very good value for money.

“I should also say that is very similar to arrangements made by other allies, the US and France in relation to the bases that they lease and make arrangements for as well.”

He earlier told the audience at the handover that the base on Diego Garcia is essential for a range of UK defence matters, including anti-terror operations, telecommunications and its deep water port.

Both teachers and doctors are threatening strike action, after ministers announced they would receive a 4 per cent pay rise following the latest review of public sector pay.

The British Medical Association (BMA), the union representing doctors, said the pay rise does not go far enough in restoring historical pay freezes.

The National Education Union (NEU), the largest union for teachers, meanwhile threatened to “register a dispute” with the Government unless it fully funds the pay rise for teachers, part of which is currently due to be covered by existing school budgets.

Both professions in England will receive a 4% increase, according to statements released by ministers on Thursday afternoon, while other NHS workers will get 3.6 per cent.

NHS staff in Wales are also likely to be given the same pay award, as the Welsh Government has accepted the same recommendations.

The increases, recommended by independent pay review bodies, are above the rate of inflation, which jumped to 3.5 per cent in April, up from 2.6 per cent in March and the highest since January 2024.

But Professor Philip Banfield, the BMA’s chairman of council, warned it was already considering strike action, as the union believes the pay rise does not do enough to restore doctors’ pay after previous salary freezes.

“Doctors’ pay is still around a quarter less than it was in real terms 16 years ago and today’s ‘award’ delays pay restoration even more, without a Government plan or reassurance to correct this erosion of what a doctor is worth,” he said.

Sir Keir Starmer is speaking on the Chagos Island deal after a high court judge cleared the way for the government to sign it.

The deal, which would see Britain give up sovereignty of the island territory to Mauritius and lease back a crucial military base there, was due to be signed on Thursday morning but was temporarily blocked by an injunction hours before.

Mr Justice Goose granted an injunction at 2.25am against the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) for “interim relief” to Bertrice Pompe, one of two British women born on the Chagos Islands who is set to bring legal action against the Government over the deal.

After an urgent hearing on Thursday, Mr Justice Chamberlain said the injunction should be discharged.

Our Data Correspondent Alicja Hagopian reports:

It comes after prisons once again came within months of running out of space entirely, risking the “total breakdown of law and order” which would leave police unable to make arrests and courts unable to send offenders to custody, justice secretary Shabana Mahmood warned last week.

While the overcrowding crisis may have forced her hand, many working in the criminal justice sector would argue these types of reforms are long overdue, but the “tough on crime” narrative which has pervaded British politics and media commentary in recent decades has left successive governments unwilling to act.

Read the full analysis below:

Some 825 migrants arrived in the UK on Wednesday after crossing the English Channel, according to provisional figures from the Home Office.

It is the highest number of arrivals on a single day so far this year.

The cumulative number of arrivals by small boats in 2025 now stands at a provisional total of 13,573.

This is 37% higher than at the same point last year, when the total stood at 9,882, and 86% higher than at this stage in 2023, when the total was 7,297.

There were 13 boats that arrived on Wednesday, which suggests an average of around 63 people per boat.

The record for the highest number of arrivals on a single day is 1,305, which took place on September 3 2022.

The largest education union in the UK has threatened to “register a dispute” with the government unless it fully funds the pay rise for teachers.

Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the National Education Union (NEU), said: “Whilst we acknowledge and welcome additional funding to that initially offered by government, it is still the case that the pay award is not fully funded.

“In many schools this will mean cuts in service provision to children and young people, job losses, and additional workloads for an already overstretched profession.”

He added: “Unless the Government commit to fully funding the pay rise then it is likely that the NEU will register a dispute with the Government on the issue of funding, and campaign to ensure every parent understands the impact of a cut in the money available to schools, and that every politician understands this too.”

Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders’ union the NAHT, said school leaders are “concerned” about the affordability of the pay rise for teachers which is not fully funded by the government.

“The news that the schools will be receiving additional funding to help cover some of the costs is welcome, but they will remain concerned that they will still need to find a proportion from within their existing budget allocations,” he added.

Tax increases from the Chancellor later this year “feel inevitable”, economists have said after UK Government borrowing jumped last month.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said public sector net borrowing rose to £20.2 billion, its fourth-highest April figure on record, mounting further pressure on Chancellor Rachel Reeves to meet her fiscal rules.

Economists have said the increased deficit, plans to increase defence spending and the U-turn on winter fuel payments could indicate future tax rises are needed to balance the state finances in the longer term.

Ruth Gregory, deputy chief UK economist at Capital Economics, said: “April’s public finances figures showed that despite the boost from the rise in employers’ national insurance (NI) contributions, the fiscal year got off to a poor start.

“With the PM announcing a partial U-turn on the cut to winter fuel payments, the dilemma faced by the Chancellor over how to deal with increased spending pressures in an environment of low economic growth and high interest rates hasn’t gone away.

“With the markets seemingly uneasy about more public borrowing, further tax rises are starting to feel inevitable.”

Matt Swannell, chief economic adviser to the EY Item Club, said higher borrowing and pressure from US tariff plans on economic growth could “more than eliminate the slim headroom” against the rules.

He said: “A potential reversal of winter fuel payment cuts and the likelihood that defence spending will need to rise again will make the fiscal arithmetic even more challenging and increase the pressure to generate more revenue through tax rises.”

Read the full Voices article from our chief political commentator John Rentoul:

SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn has asked if the Government will U-turn on its “heinous” two-child benefit cap.

He told MPs: “‘Cruel and a policy that sees the third child treated almost as a second class citizen’, not my phrasing, but that of Gordon Brown in describing the Labour Party’s two-child benefit cap, and it is the Labour Party’s two-child benefit cap, because they went through the voting lobbies to retain it just last year.

“Now in Scotland, we know the SNP is going to be scrapping the two-child benefit cap, but based upon (Sir Keir Starmer’s) U-turn yesterday in respect of the winter fuel limits, I was wondering whether the Leader of the House can advise us whether another one is likely in respect of this heinous policy?”

Leader of the House of Commons Lucy Powell replied: “This Labour Government, like the last Labour government, is absolutely determined to reduce child poverty in this country, and we will be judged on our actions over the course of this Parliament, whether we are reducing child poverty or not, and it’s something we are determined to do.

“So I thank him for his advice, and I thank the former prime minister Gordon Brown, who I greatly respect, for his advice as well. But our child poverty strategy will be coming out later this summer, and he’ll have ample opportunity to discuss that then.”