UK

Failing NHS bosses who fail to cut waiting times face having their pay docked by £15,000 under a drive to boost performance in the under-pressure health service. Wes Streeting is outlining plans to freeze or dock the pay of bosses in beleaguered NHS trusts, while offering bonuses of up to 10 per cent for those who improve services. The health secretary said the “carrot and stick reforms will boost productivity, tackle underperformance and drive-up standards for patients”. Wes Streeting said the ‘carrot and stick’ approach would drive up standards More

Fears have been raised that Brexit has left British consumers more exposed to food that can give them cancer because the UK has failed to keep up with EU standards since leaving the bloc.Hopes are high that if Keir Starmer agrees to align the UK to EU rules and regulations in his Brexit reset deal to be unveiled on Monday, then the exposure to carcinogenic nitrites in bacon and ham can be removed.But the concerns are reflected in a new J.L Partners poll that not only revealed more than two-thirds (69 per cent) of Brits fear the UK is falling behind European food standards but the worries are shared by even 55 per cent of pro-Brexit 2024 Reform voters.Stricter EU rules limiting the amount of nitrites permitted in bacon and ham come into force in October – but the UK is currently permitting higher levels of the carcinogenic chemicals in its processed meat.Bacon has nitrates (PA) More

The Tories only realised the impact that leaving the EU would have on dealing with the small boats crisis “just before” Brexit, Boris Johnson’s former immigration minister has admitted.In a leaked recording, shadow home secretary Chris Philp appeared to concede that the Tories were late to understand the extent to which people crossing the Channel could have been returned to EU countries they had previously claimed asylum in.The admission, in a recording obtained by Sky News, reported to come from a meeting with Tory members last month, appears to stand in stark contrast to the Tories’ Brexit promises on “taking back control” of the UK’s immigration system.In summer 2020, Mr Philp had warned that “constraints” in the EU’s Dublin regulations – rules that govern which countries in the bloc should process an asylum claim – made “returning people who should be returned a little bit harder than we would like”, while Mr Johnson’s spokesperson criticised them as “inflexible and rigid”.But in the new recording, when reportedly asked by a Tory member why countries such as France continued to allow migrants to come to the UK, Mr Philp can be heard striking a somewhat different tone.( More

Albania’s prime minister on Wednesday thanked hundreds of thousands of voters who supported his Socialist Party in the last parliamentary elections, backing his pledge to take the country into the European Union in five years.Edi Rama, leader of the left-wing Socialist Party, held a celebratory rally in Tirana’s main Skanderbeg Square. The event, attended by thousands of supporters waving Albanian and EU flags, took place in front of a big poster prepared for Friday’s European Political Community summit, or EPC, a forum that gathers European leaders with the aim of boosting security and prosperity across the continent.With only diaspora ballots remaining to be fully counted, the ruling Socialists achieved a landslide victory, winning 83 seats in the 140-seat Parliament in the May 11 polls, according to the Central Election Commission. With those numbers, the Socialists are likely to govern alone.Rama’s Socialist Party says it can deliver EU membership in five years, with negotiations concluding by 2027 and becoming a member in 2030. That is a pledge met with skepticism by the Democrats, who contend Albania is far from prepared.“Most Albanians, within and outside Albania, think Albania is on the right path,” Rama said at Wednesday’s rally. “Albania can only achieve EU membership by 2030 through our collective effort, led by me and the Socialist Party.”The conservative Democratic Party-led coalition of Sali Berisha, former prime minister and president, won only 50 seats. The remaining seats went to four smaller political parties.Preliminary turnout Sunday was almost 42.16%, or 4% lower than four years ago. For the first time, those in the diaspora could vote and cast their ballots by mail. About 195,000 mailed their votes.Eligible voters in Albania and abroad voted to elect 140 lawmakers for a four-year term. Because of mass emigration, the Balkan country of 2.4 million people has a total of nearly 3.7 million eligible voters.Berisha’s Democrats alleged irregularities, including issues with the diaspora ballots, and have accused the Socialists, without providing evidence, of purchasing votes and employing other illicit tactics. They have said they would not recognize the results.On Friday, to coincide with the EPC summit, the Democrats will hold a protest against the alleged manipulation of the May election.The European Union hailed Albania’s election as “calm and well organized, despite some shortcomings,” and urged all political forces “to ensure the continued functioning of the country’s institutions.”A joint international observation mission, including the European Parliament, noted that despite being competitive and professionally managed, the election was marked by the ruling party’s misuse of public resources, a confrontational and polarizing tone, divisive language from both main parties and unbalanced media coverage of smaller parties. More

The assisted dying bill returns to the House of Commons on Friday where every MP will get the chance to speak and vote on amendments.The bill has undergone significant changes since it succeeded in an initial vote in the Commons in November, as more than 150 amendments were made at the bill’s committee stage.The High Court approval has been dropped and replaced by multidisciplinary “Assisted Dying Review Panels”, while the implementation period has been doubled to four years for an assisted dying service to be implemented, if the bill passes into law.Mentally competent adults with a life expectancy of six months or less – who have a settled wish to die that has been approved by two doctors and a panel with a senior legal figure, psychiatrist and social worker – would be able to do so under the proposed legislation for England and Wales.The Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCPsych) has said it cannot support the bill in its current form, highlighting “serious concerns” about the number of psychiatrists needed to meet the demands of the bill and the safeguarding of people with mental illness.However, Kim Leadbeater has said it is now “safer, fairer and more workable” after undergoing weeks of scrutiny by a committee. It has been suggested that the changes to the High Court safeguard might sway MPs to vote against the bill.In October 2024, Labour MP Ms Leadbeater introduced her new law to legalise assisted dying for some terminally ill adults in England and Wales.Ahead of its initial publication, Ms Leadbeater insisted her private member’s bill would offer the “safest choice” for mentally competent adults at the end of their lives.She said the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill would make it illegal for someone to persuade a person through dishonesty, coercion or pressure to declare they wanted to end their life or to induce someone to self-administer drugs to die. Anyone found guilty of doing so would face a maximum prison sentence of 14 years.Labour MP Kim Leadbeater, centre, previously joining Dignity in Dying campaigners in Parliament Square outside the Houses of Parliament More

Keir Starmer is set to agree a youth mobility scheme in alignment with the European Union despite his controversial clampdown on migration, a senior government source has confirmed with The Independent.The prime minister’s announcement this week to “significantly” reduce legal migration was apparently designed to “allow room” for the potential scheme as part of his post-Brexit reset of relations with the bloc, The Independent has been told. The speech on Monday sparked alarm with claims it echoed Enoch Powell’s infamous “rivers of blood” speech in 1968 that whipped up a frenzy of anti-immigration hatred across the UK. It is understood the mobility scheme could be similar to the one available between the UK and Australia, allowing people aged between 18 and 30 to travel and work freely between countries for two years. It is still not clear though when the scheme might begin.The much-discussed Brexit reset deal is also set to bring about much closer cooperation on European defence, with the UK set to play a much more advanced role. The source revealed the PM’s next target will be a trade deal with the Gulf states in a bid to unlock billions in funding for economic growth in the UK.Starmer and EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen meeting in Downing Street More

The UK looks increasingly likely to agree to a post-Brexit youth mobility scheme with the European Union at a major UK-EU summit on Monday. Such an agreement would be a major step towards resetting Boris Johnson’s damaging Brexit deal, and has been pushed by European officials for months.The move, which is being demanded by European countries and commissioners in Brussels, would help to create much closer ties with the bloc and begin to repair the shattered relationship left by the previous Tory government.Here, The Independent looks at how such a scheme would work in practice, who would be eligible to take part and whether or not there is support for it in Britain.What would be the key features of a youth mobility scheme? An agreement of this nature would allow young people in the UK and the EU to move and work freely between countries for a limited period of time. It is likely to include 18- to 30-year-olds, potentially extending to those under 35 as well. It is thought that they would be able to live and work abroad for up to two years. However, there is some suggestion that figures in the government are pushing for this period to be reduced to just one year instead. Do similar schemes exist already? Britain already has similar agreements with 13 countries, including Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Iceland, Uruguay, Hong Kong and Taiwan.The scheme is currently available for those aged 18 to 30 or 18 to 35, depending on where they are from, and allows them to live and work in the UK for up to two years. In order to qualify for the scheme, individuals must have £2,530 in savings to show they are able to support themselves while living in Britain. Would the British public back the scheme? There is widespread support for such an agreement, with a YouGov survey of almost 15,000 people indicating that two-thirds (66 per cent) backed the scheme, compared to just one in five (18 per cent) who are opposed.In Nigel Farage’s Clacton-on-Sea constituency, which voted overwhelmingly in favour of leaving the EU in 2016, more than twice as many people were in favour (57 per cent) than against (25 per cent) the idea of a mobility scheme.Would it drive up net migration?Supporters of the agreement insist it wouldn’t drive up net migration, arguing that young people in the UK would be keen to move abroad, in the same way that young people in the EU would be keen to come here. Meanwhile, the time-limited nature of the scheme means they wouldn’t be able to permanently settle abroad. There is also speculation that there would be a cap on numbers – or a “one-in-one-out” policy – to ensure that those coming to the UK remain balanced with the number of people leaving. However, without that cap, critics argue Britain would end up taking more young people than it loses. Meanwhile, others argue that a youth mobility scheme would be a return to freedom of movement enjoyed by travellers when the UK was part of the EU by the back door.Sir Keir’s “red lines” for the negotiations with Brussels include no return to freedom of movement between countries. But it is understood that the government considers a limited youth mobility scheme would not break that promise because of the time limit. More