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Tory MP William Wragg gives MPs blackmail advice two years before his honeytrap sexting scandal, in a resurfaced clip.Mr Wragg said MPs should report matters to the speaker and the Metropolitan Police if being blackmailed, as he addressed Parliament in the 2022 clip.Westminster has since been rocked by the sensational exposé of a honeytrap sexting scam targeting MPs, political journalists and parliamentary staffers. Mr Wragg revealed he lay at the heart of the scandal, admitting that he shared his colleagues’ phone numbers for fear of intimate images of him being leaked. More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailLabour will digitise the NHS red book parents use for their children’s medical records as part of a series of reforms to the NHS app.Parents and the NHS would be able to see if children are behind on jabs or check-ups through a new digital record, with automatic notifications to prompt them to book appointments under the party’s plans.The red book has been handed out to new parents for the past 30 years.The problems with the NHS are clear. It’s a 20th century service that hasn’t changed with the times and isn’t fit for the modern eraWes StreetingPrevious health secretaries have hoped to digitise it during their tenure, including Jeremy Hunt and Matt Hancock, but so far the plans have not borne out.Labour hopes its plans will help to boost MMR vaccination rates, which have fallen in recent years.Measles outbreaks have at the same time become more common.Wes Streeting MP, Labour’s shadow health secretary, said: “A child born today will live to see the 22nd century and things we can’t begin to imagine. Labour wants them to be part of the healthiest generation that ever lived. That’s why we will digitise the red book, so children’s health records are on the NHS App.“This major step will transform children’s healthcare and will mean more children protected against measles. Now measles is back. It’s hard to think of a clearer sign of Britain’s decline under the Tories.“With the red book on the app, the NHS will be able to notify every parent of an unprotected child, give them accurate information about the MMR vaccine, and invite their child to get vaccinated. That’s how a modern health service would tackle this public health crisis.”Writing in the Sun newspaper, Mr Streeting insisted the NHS was “a service, not a shrine”.He added: “It is judged by how well it serves the public, not how heavy a price we’re paying for failure.“The problems with the NHS are clear. It’s a 20th century service that hasn’t changed with the times and isn’t fit for the modern era.”Labour will also commit to give patients greater control over their own healthcare through the NHS app.This would include access to their medical records on their phone, notifications about screenings and vaccines they are eligible for, and being told what care they can expect when diagnosed with long-term conditions like asthma or diabetes.Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer claimed his party would “give power to the patient”, and that GPs could ensure “time isn’t wasted on box-ticking”.“In 2024, patients still wait on the phone at 8am, or even queue up in person, just to see a doctor. It’s no wonder so many people don’t bother or don’t have time, illness is caught too late, pressures on the NHS pile up, and lives are lost,” he said.Sir Keir added: “The app shouldn’t just be for healthcare, but healthier living too. When you reach the right age, you’ll receive notifications for jabs, tests and screening, to catch diseases like breast and bowel cancer early.” More

Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UKSign up to our Brexit email for the latest insightThe boss of the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) has hit out at Conservative ministers for rushing Brexit and said the government “got wrong” some aspects of Britain’s withdrawal from the EU.Tom Bradshaw, who has replaced Minette Batters at the top of the NFU, which represents more than 46,000 farmers and growers across England and Wales, said ministers “should have taken some of our warnings [about Brexit] at face value”.The arable farmer from Essex, who took over from Ms Batters in February, said members are traditionally “big supporters” of the Tories.But he said “many are feeling let down” by post-Brexit trade deals and said the government “did not consult and did not listen” to farmers when leaving the EU.A group of farmers in tractors descended on London to protest in March More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailThe boss of a major charity on the frontline of Britain’s drug deaths crisis has challenged authorities by announcing that he plans to open potentially life-saving overdose prevention facilities in a matter of months – with or without their help.As drugs charities brace for a feared influx of lethally strong synthetic opioids to hit the UK, experts are urging Rishi Sunak’s government to end its longstanding opposition to facilities where people can consume illicit drugs in the presence of trained staff armed with the overdose reversal drug naloxone.While Scotland is now pushing ahead to create the UK’s first official facility in Glasgow, after a game-changing intervention by the country’s top legal authority put an end to a long-running Holyrood-Westminster dispute, hopes for similar services in England and Wales are yet to materialise.Exasperated by years of fruitless discussions while drug deaths mount, and bolstered by developments in Scotland, Martin Blakeborough, chief executive of the charity Kaleidoscope has now told The Independent that he plans to pilot several “micro” drug consumption spaces in south Wales as early as this summer – potentially even sooner than in Glasgow.“It’s an active debate we’re now having in Wales which I’ve basically forced onto the agenda, partly by saying, ‘We’re going to start this service with or without you,’” said Mr Blakeborough. “We’ve been discussing this in Wales for 10 years, and we’ve done nothing,” he added. “The Scottish one gave me the confidence to say, ‘I’m going to blow your cover now, I’m going to cause a fuss about this,’ and at long last it’s gone up the political agenda.”There are over 200 such overdose prevention services across 17 countries, including the US, Canada, France, Australia and Iceland. Some facilities have reversed thousands of overdoses, without a single death, while being proven to cause no increase in the number of people using drugs, generally reducing or having no impact on local crime levels, and often dramatically reducing drug-related litter and incidents of street injecting.Despite this, the facilities have long been rejected – and even mocked – by the current Westminster government. Meanwhile, drug deaths have risen for 11 consecutive years in England and Wales to break grim new records, having nearly doubled since 2012.But after activist Peter Krykant risked arrest in 2020 to offer such services out of a repurposed ambulance, Scotland’s lord advocate intervened last year to say such prosecutions “would not be in the public interest”. As a result, the UK government has now relented that it will not block such services in Scotland, potentially paving the way for others to follow suit in parts of England and Wales, dependent on the support of police and local leaders.Peter Krykant’s unsanctioned facility reversed nine overdoses among nearly 900 supervised injections over the space of nine months, a study found More

Oliver Dowden insisted he was “totally confident” in the Tories as he was shown discouraging polling numbers during a live interview on Sunday, 7 April.The deputy prime minister was asked by Trevor Phillips on Sky News if it was “all over” for the Conservatives” as the country had “stopped listening” to the party.In response, Mr Dowden insisted he was “totally convinced” the numbers before him would narrow when the Tories get into “an actual election campaign.”He said: “These polls still, to a certain extent, are indications of people’s frustrations, especially after being in power for 14 years. More

David Lammy insisted the focus on Angela Rayner is the Conservatives attempting to distract from economic issues facing voters ahead of the May elections.Labour’s shadow foreign secretary was asked about The Mail On Sunday story which claims to have proof she lied about her tax arrangements.Defending his colleague, Mr Lammy told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg: “She hasn’t broken any rules.“This is because of the May elections and the Tories not wanting to concentrate on their actions.” More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailThe deputy prime minister has opened the door to a possible January 2025 general election, despite Rishi Sunak insisting he will go to the polls later this year.Oliver Dowden said 2024 will “almost certainly” be a general election year, but did not rule out the prospect of a contest happening next year.The latest possible date for an election is 28 January 2025, meaning Mr Sunak could delay the vote for a further eight months. He was already accused of being a “chicken” and “squatting in Downing Street” after ruling out holding the general election on 2 May, when voters will go to the polls for local elections across the country.Deputy PM Oliver Dowden said there will ‘almost certainly’ be an election this year, leaving the door open to a January 2025 contest More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailNigel Farage’s Reform UK has dropped two more election candidates and suspended a third over a series of offensive remarks, reportedly including a slur about “brown babies”.The right-wing challenger party has suspended its South Shropshire candidate Pete Addis after a slew of comments posted online were exposed.Vulgar social media posts uncovered by the Mail on Sunday showed he had called for Sir David Attenborough to be “killed off” and made a racist joke about “brown babies”.Richard Tice is the leader of Reform UK, which was set up by Nigel Farage as the Brexit Party More