UK Politics

Radical reforms could see hospitals taking over GP surgeries and family doctors running hospitals, under new plans to reform the NHS in England.The health secretary, Wes Streeting, said the forthcoming 10-year plan would also see “much of what’s done in a hospital today, will be done on the high street”.He stressed that the government was “not embarking on another top-down reorganisation” of the health service.The plan is expected to be published in July.Speaking at the NHS ConfedExpo conference in Manchester, Mr Streeting said: “The NHS should not be bound by traditional expectations of how services should be arranged.”I am open to our strongest acute trusts providing not just community services, as many already do, but also primary care.”Whatever services will enable them to meet the needs of their patients in a more integrated and efficient way.”Indeed, I would hope that those old-fashioned labels – acute, community – become increasingly meaningless.”Likewise, there is no reason why successful GPs should not be able to run local hospitals, or why nurses should not be leading neighbourhood health services.”Health Secretary Wes Streeting and Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves meet staff in the outpatients department during a visit to St Thomas’ Hospital in London More

People with anorexia could be allowed to die by assisted death under a proposed bill, more than 250 campaigners have warned, urging MPs to vote down the legislation when it returns to the Commons.A letter to MPs, signed by 268 people who have suffered with eating disorders, warned: “If this bill had been law during the years many of us were struggling, we would have used it to end our lives.” Campaigner Chelsea Roff, the founder of the eating disorder organisation Eat Breathe Thrive, warned that the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill contains “dangerous loopholes that have enabled suicidal women with anorexia to die by assisted death” in other countries. Kim Leadbeater speaking during the debate on the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill More

The influential Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has warned Rachel Reeves that any more bad economic news will “almost certainly” spark fresh tax rises. Council tax will already have to rise at its fastest rate in a generation, the IFS said, as it added to concerns the chancellor has left herself with little room for manoeuvre a day after she unveiled her spending plans for the rest of the parliament. The warning came as the government was hit with the bad news that the economy had shrunk by 0.3 per cent, sparking fears of a potential recession.Ms Reeves came into office with a pledge to grow the economy, but it has been sluggish at best in her first year.Paul Johnson, the outgoing director of the IFS, said council tax is set to rise at its fastest rate for 20 years as local government tries to close its funding gaps with annual increases of up to 5 per cent. More councils could also reach a “tipping point” unless demands on their resources fall, the think tank warned. Rachel Reeves insisted she would not need to increase taxes on the same scale as in her first budget, but declined to rule out rises altogether More

Former defence secretary Ben Wallace has branded Labour’s claims that it has boosted military spending “a con” after concerns were raised over how the figures are being calculated.The row has exploded following Rachel Reeves’ spending review on Wednesday where she boasted that defence spending would be 2.6 per cent of GDP. But this included wrapping in security and intelligence spending for the first time.Earlier this year prime minister Sir Keir Starmer controversially slashed international aid to boost defence spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP by 2027, two years ahead of schedule. At the time he also promised it would rise to 3 per cent by 2034.Sir Ben Wallace (Stefan Rousseau/PA) More

The UK economy has shrunk by more than expected in a major blow to Rachel Reeves, just one day after she unveiled her spending review. The chancellor, who set out record investment in the Commons on Wednesday, acknowledged that the latest GDP figures, released on Thursday, were “clearly disappointing” but insisted her plan for the economy would help deliver growth.The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said gross domestic product (GDP) fell by 0.3 per cent in April, compared with growth of 0.2 per cent the previous month and marking the biggest contraction since October 2023. It was also worse than the 0.1 per cent contraction expected by most economists.Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves delivering her Government’s spending review to MPs in the Commons (House of Commons/UK Parliament/PA) More

Even the UK’s leading economist was flummoxed.Minutes after Rachel Reeves had delivered her first spending review, Paul Johnson, the head of the influential Institute for Fiscal Studies, said he was not sure he had ever listened to a speech by a chancellor where it was “so hard to work out what is happening”. Her statement to the Commons had been “full of numbers, few of them useful”, he added. But one thing is sure – big problems are still to come down the line. The under-pressure chancellor had no choice but to come out fighting on Wednesday as she unveiled plans for government spending until the next election. She is facing criticism from all sides for a series of policy choices she has made since entering office, as well as poor economic growth. Just days before she unveiled her spending review, Labour’s first in a generation, she was forced to announce a massive U-turn on one of her earliest decisions in the Treasury – stripping the winter fuel allowance from millions of pensioners. Rachel Reeves is under growing pressure from her colleagues over her fiscal choices More

Rachel Reeves cheered beleaguered Labour backbenchers with record investment in her spending plans as she unveiled major boosts for the NHS, social housing and defence.In her long-awaited spending review, the chancellor also promised to save £1bn by closing all asylum hotels as she took aim at Nigel Farage and Reform.But experts warned that she will have to break her manifesto pledge not to raise taxes or increase borrowing much further to pay for her promises.Reeves set out her spending plans for the rest of this parliament More

The UK and the EU have agreed a post-Brexit deal to implement a “fluid” border between Gibraltar and Spain – which will not require checks on people crossing. The move marks a breakthrough in talks that have been ongoing since Britain left the European Union in 2020.Under the agreement, checks will not be required on those crossing the border between Spain and the British colony. More controversially, however, there will be “Eurostar-style” dual border control checks at Gibraltar airport, which will be carried out by both Gibraltar and Spanish officials.Operating in a similar way to the UK and French system for checking documents used at London’s St Pancras station, Britons arriving on the Rock will have to show their passports when they land.There will be dual border control checks for arrivals by air at Gibraltar airport More