35 minutes ago Blaming people for poor mental health not part of Labour’s jobs plan, says minister – UK politics live

Alison McGovern says UK was unusual in not seeing employment rise after the pandemicAlison McGovern, the employment minister, said this morning she still has not decided who she will vote on teh assisted dying private member’s bill on Friday. MPs have a free vote.Explaining her dilemma, McGovern said:I haven’t decided how I’m going to vote. I’ve listened to my constituents who have been so kind and so generous to share with me their experiences, and I want to listen to my colleagues in the debate in full and decide how to vote.”I think it’s so important that people are able to have a good death and that families feel that their loved one was able to die in the most peaceful way possible in accordance with their views, but I haven’t decided on this issue.McGovern said it was good that pe...

Politics

38 minutes ago UK politics live: Minister says some benefit claimants ‘stealing from the state’ as Labour unveils crackdown

Government set to announce measures to get more than two million Britons back into work

Politics

96 minutes ago Keir Starmer’s jobs plan won’t work because Labour are ducking tough welfare decisions, Tories claim – UK politics live

PM set to unveil what government calls 'biggest employment reforms in generation’ as Tories say he is not making tough calls on sickness and benefitsGood morning. Today the government is unveiling what it is calling, in the headline on its overnight press release, the “biggest employment reforms in a generation”. The reforms are intended to tackle the fact that Britain is the only major economy where the employment rate has fallen over the last five years, largely because more people are out of work due to long-term ill health. A white paper called Get Britain Working is being published later, and Liz Kendall, the work and pensions secretary, is due to make a statement in the Commons later.In its overnight briefing, the Department for Work and Pensions has already flagged up numerous in...

Politics

12 hours ago 'Labour must never forget many people require and deserve support and help'

For Britain’s economic prosperity in the years ahead, we need skilled and educated workers earning good money for doing decent, important jobs; the more people we have in work, the better

Politics

12 hours ago Backlash as ship carrying potentially explosive fertiliser returns to Norfolk

MV Ruby arrived in Great Yarmouth’s harbour on Monday, causing anger among Conservative councillors

Events

14 hours ago Opponents of assisted dying ‘not hearing’ stories of terminally ill, says MP

A proposal to legalise assisted dying in some circumstances faces its first vote in the Commons on Friday.

Events

15 hours ago Rachel Reeves tells angry business leaders there was 'no alternative' to Budget tax rises 

Chancellor Rachel Reeves said she was ‘not immune’ to the difficulties facing businesses but there was no alternative to her Budget tax raid.

Economics

17 hours ago NHS would be more worried about resilience than funding in the event of pandemic

The NHS England boss said the service would worry about the ability of the workforce to ‘step up again’ in such challenging circumstances.

Events

17 hours ago Rachel Reeves CBI speech live: Chancellor tells conference ‘difficult decisions’ brought stability to economy

CBI chief Rain Newton-Smith said that business had been caught ‘off-guard’ by national insurance hikes

Politics