UK

More than 1,000 doctors have urged MPs to vote against the assisted dying bill when it returns to the Commons, claiming it is a “real threat to both patients and the medical workforce”. The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, which would allow terminally ill patients with six months left to live to end their lives, is due to be voted on for a final time on 20 June. Ahead of the vote, in a letter to MPs, doctors from the NHS expressed “serious concerns”, arguing that “this bill is not the answer”.While they acknowledged that there must be a debate on end of life care, they argued too little evidence has been heard from doctors, people with disabilities and other marginalised groups.Kim Leadbeater speaking during the debate on the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill More

TV doctor Hilary Jones has said he would help a terminally ill patient to end their life if the law was changed, describing the practice as “kind and compassionate”. The GP, often seen on ITV’s Good Morning Britain and the Lorraine show, said medicine will go “back to the Dark Ages” if proposed legislation being considered at Westminster is voted down.The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill will return to the House of Commons for debate on Friday, with MPs expected to consider further amendments.In its current form the Bill, which applies only to England and Wales, would mean terminally ill adults with only six months left to live could apply for assistance to end their lives, with approval needed from two doctors and the expert panel.Last month, MPs approved a change in the Bill to ensure no medics would be obliged to take part in assisted dying.Morning sickness breakthrough as Doctor Hilary Jones explains more about possible cure. More

The impacts of the government’s welfare cuts are likely to push tens of thousands more people into poverty than previously predicted, a major foodbank charity has warned.Trussell said 340,000 more people in disabled households could face hunger and hardship by the end of the decade.It comes as more than 150 Labour MPs expressed concern over the plans last month, which include a tightening of the eligibility criteria for personal independence payment (Pip) – the main disability benefit in England – and cutting the sickness-related element of universal credit (UC).The proposals also include delaying access to the health element of UC to those aged 22 and over, with the aim of reinvesting savings to support young people into work or training.The package of measures is aimed at reducing the number of working-age people on sickness benefits, and the government hopes they can save £5bn a year by the end of the decade.Sir Keir Starmer More

Kim Leadbeater has been warned by a Labour colleague that an article she promoted on assisted dying has only served to sway undecided MPs against her end of life legislation.The shot across the bows from former political journalist-turned Labour Rochdale Paul Waugh has come just days ahead of the final stages in the Commons of Ms Leadbeater’s Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill.Ms Leadbeater had tweeted and quoted an article by Sharnee Rawson in The Guardian highlighting how her grandparents in Australia ended their lives together not long after their 70th wedding anniversary.Kim Leadbeater led the debate on her Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill More

Secondary school pupils will be taught skills in artificial intelligence (AI) as part of a drive to put the technological power “into the hands of the next generation”, Sir Keir Starmer will announce.Some on million students will be given access to learning resources to start equipping them for “the tech careers of the future” as part of the Government’s £187 million “TechFirst” scheme, Downing Street said.Meanwhile, staff at firms across the country will be trained to “use and interact” with chatbots and large language models as part of a plan backed by Google and Microsoft to train 7.5 million workers in AI skills by 2030.The TechFirst programme will be split into four strands, with TechYouth – the £24 million “flagship” arm – aimed at giving students across every secondary school in the UK the chance to gain new AI skills training over three years.The other strands are:– TechGrad, backed by £96.8 million in funding and designed to support 1,000 domestic students a year with undergraduate scholarships in areas such as AI and computer science.– A £48.4 million TechExpert scheme aiming to give up to £10,000 in additional funding to 500 domestic PhD students carrying out research in tech.– TechLocal, backed by £18 million, will offer seed funding to small businesses developing new tech products and adopting AI.The Prime Minister is also launching a new Government partnership with industry to train 7.5 million UK workers in essential skills to use AI by 2030.Tech giants including Google, Microsoft, IBM, Nvidia, BT and Amazon have signed up to make “high-quality” training materials widely available to workers free of charge over the next five years, Number 10 said.It comes as research commissioned by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) showed that by 2035, AI will play a part in the roles and responsibilities of around 10 million workers.The Prime Minister said: “We are putting the power of AI into the hands of the next generation – so they can shape the future, not be shaped by it.“This training programme will unlock opportunity in every classroom – and lays the foundations for a new era of growth.“Too many children from working families like the one I grew up in are written off. I am determined to end that.”Sir Keir hosted a private reception at Chequers on Sunday with leading technology bosses and investors, including former Google chief executive Eric Schmidt, Faculty AI co-founder Angie Ma, Google DeepMind chief Demis Hassabis and Scale boss Alex Wang.On Tuesday, he will invite industry figures to Downing Street, including 16-year-old AI entrepreneur Toby Brown, who recently secured 1 million dollars in Silicon Valley funding for his startup, Beem. More

Employers should be able to ban burqas in the workplace, Kemi Badenoch has argued, further inflaming the row over the issue ignited by Reform UK last week. The Conservative leader also claimed she wouldn’t let people into her constituency surgeries if they wore face veils, saying she has “strong views about face coverings”. However, she argued there were bigger issues around integration in Britain that should be addressed before legislating on face coverings. ( More

The sound of England football fans chanting against Keir Starmer at Saturday night’s otherwise tedious match between England and Andorra is something which should be greatly worrying Labour strategists.It is very rare that politicians become the subject of chants at matches and when politics enters the discourse of sports fans it is almost always a sign of a wider problem.Science and technology secretary Peter Kyle’s suggestion that it is just “football chanting, part of the spirit of the game” does not really cut it as an answer. ( More