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BBC News
an hour ago
- Health
- BBC News
Assisted dying bill due for final Commons debate ahead of crunch vote
Update: Date: 08:55 BST Title: What changes have been made to the assisted dying bill? Content: Oscar BentleyPolitical reporter MPs have made various changes to the assisted dying bill since they first voted on it in November. The main one has been the replacement of the role of a High Court judge in signing off an application for an assisted death with a panel of experts. The panel would contain a senior lawyer, a psychiatrist, and a social worker. Supporters of the bill argue it makes the process stronger by adding 'extra expertise'. The change was made after MPs heard evidence there was a lack of court capacity to deal with assisted death applications. MPs have also passed amendments that would ban healthcare professionals from raising assisted dying with under 18s (under 18s were already unable to access an assisted death in the original bill), banning the advertising of assisted dying, and preventing the automatic investigation of an assisted death to a coroner. The original bill said doctors wouldn't be obligated to take part in an assisted death. But another change made to the bill has expanded this to all healthcare professionals, for example social care workers or pharmacists. It is normal for bills to undergo some change during the legislative process. This is part of the scrutiny given to draft laws by MPs. Update: Date: 08:48 BST Title: A make or break moment for MPs voting on assisted dying Content: Helen CattPolitical correspondent It's been seven months since MPs last voted on this bill as a whole. Then they backed the principle of changing the law. Since then, MPs have been working on the detail of how it would be done. The bill has gone through more than 100 hours of scrutiny in Parliament with plenty of impassioned debate on both sides. Expect more of that today. MPs have been carefully considering their positions and, in some cases, changing them. The vote in a few hours' time will be a make or break moment – as it decides if this attempt to change the law will continue on to the House of Lords, or if it will come to an end. Update: Date: 08:45 BST Title: Get in touch Content: How are you being affected by the issues in this story? You can contact us in the following ways: Update: Date: 08:40 BST Title: Badenoch: I will be voting no Content: Alex PartridgeBBC Westminster Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said the assisted dying bill, due to be voted on in its final stage by MPs, is a 'bad bill' and has 'not been done properly'. On Thursday, Badenoch said she had previously been supportive of the idea but 'this is not how we should do legislation like this' and doesn't believe the 'NHS and other services are ready'. While emphasising that her party has made it a free vote - when MPs can vote according to their conscience, rather than along party line - she says 'I will be voting no and I hope as many Conservative MPs as possible will be supporting me in that'. Update: Date: 08:35 BST Title: Bill now in 'stronger place' after changes, Labour MP says Content: We've just heard from Labour MP Jack Abbott, who says he'll now be voting for the assisted dying bill after originally voting against it back in November. Abbott tells BBC Radio 4's Today programme he joined a committee scrutinising the proposal following the vote last year and he now feels the bill is in a "stronger place" after it underwent a series of changes. Originally, a High Court judge would have to approve each request to end a life but this requirement has now been switched to a three-person panel - whose members, Abbott says, would need to receive training on coercion to ensure applicants are not pushed to undergo the process. The Ipswich MP says the changes are helping widen "the safety net" to ensure Parliament delivers on a "safe and compassionate" bill helping terminally ill people end their life. He adds the vote is likely to be "close". Update: Date: 08:28 BST Title: Labour MP opposing bill over 'lack of safeguards' Content: Josh Fenton-Glynn, the Labour MP for Calder Valley, is planning on voting against the bill and tells the BBC he supports assisted dying in principle, but thinks the bill lacks safeguards to protect against both family and medical coercion. "I'd like to see a good assisted dying bill, but unfortunately this isn't one," he tells BBC Radio 4's Today programme. Asked what concerns him, Fenton-Glynn says his background in social care and local council work means his is aware of the financial pressures caring for people exerts on both relatives and organisations. "I've seen what happens when families are tired and desperate at the end," he says, adding that it often leads them to make poor decisions over paying for care. He also cites concerns from disability rights organisations, who say people with disabilities often "feel pushed into these decisions" they would not already do. Update: Date: 08:24 BST Title: 'The dignity of choice': Why some are backing the bill Content: Dame Esther Rantzen, who has stage four lung cancer, has joined Dignitas in Switzerland Supporters of assisted dying have set out several reasons why they want the bill to be legalised. The Labour MP, Kim Leadbeater, who brought forward the bill said the legislation "would give dying people, under very stringent criteria, choice, autonomy and dignity, at the end of their lives". The Dignity in Dying campaign group said her bill provides the "most detailed, robust proposals" on the issue that "Westminster has ever considered". Chief executive Sarah Wootton said that the fact that every year "up to 650 terminally ill people end their own lives, often in lonely and traumatic ways," proves the need for reform. Broadcaster Dame Esther Rantzen, who has stage-four lung cancer, is another long-standing campaigner for change. "All I'm asking for is that we be given the dignity of choice," she said. Update: Date: 08:21 BST Title: Growing number of MPs changing their mind on assisted dying Content: Labour's Markus Campbell-Savours is among those opposing it The assisted dying bill was supported by 330 MPs last year, passing its first major vote in the House of Commons with a majority of 55 MPs from a wide range of political parties. Since last year, at least a dozen MPs who backed or abstained on the bill had said they were likely to oppose it. On Thursday, a further four Labour MPs said they were switching sides to oppose the bill. Markus Campbell-Savours, Kanishka Narayan, Paul Foster and Jonathan Hinder said the bill had been "drastically weakened" since last year's vote. In a letter to colleagues, they warned that safeguards in the bill were "insufficient" and would "put vulnerable people in harm's way". Read more about the growing number of MPs changing their mind of assisted dying. Update: Date: 08:13 BST Title: Who is Kim Leadbeater, the Labour MP behind the bill? Content: Kim Leadbeater became the Labour MP for Batley and Spen in 2021, after winning a by-election in the constituency by just 323 votes. She is the sister of the constituency's former MP Jo Cox, who was murdered by a right-wing extremist in 2016. She campaigned on issues such as increasing the safety of MPs and tackling online abuse. However, the cause she is now most known for is leading the campaign for assisted dying. Opening the debate on the bill in November, Leadbeater said the legislation "would give dying people, under very stringent criteria, choice, autonomy and dignity, at the end of their lives". She said the current law "is failing people" and MPs have a "duty to do what is right to fix it". "Most people believe, as I do, that we should all have the right to make the choices and decisions we want about our own bodies," she said. Update: Date: 08:04 BST Title: What is the assisted dying bill? Content: The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill,, external was introduced by Labour MP Kim Leadbeater. It proposes letting terminally ill people end their life if they: Once an application has been approved, the patient would have to wait 14 days before proceeding. A doctor would prepare the substance being used to end the patient's life, but the person would take it themselves. The bill defines the co-ordinating doctor as a registered medical practitioner with "training, qualifications and experience" at a level to be specified by the health secretary. It does not say which drug would be used. It would be illegal to coerce someone into declaring they want to end their life, with a possible 14-year prison sentence. Update: Date: 07:57 BST Title: MPs set to vote on assisted dying bill Content: The bill was put forward by Labour MP Kim Leadbeater Welcome to our live coverage, as the assisted dying bill returns to the Commons for its third reading, and a vote which could either see it fail or move to its next stage in the House of Lords. The assisted dying bill is a proposed law that would allow some terminally-ill adults expected to die within six months to seek help to end their own life in England and Wales. In November, MPs voted in favour of the bill, meaning it had moved a step closer to becoming law. Since then, the bill has been making its way through the House of Commons to be scrutinised, discussed and amended. If passed in the Commons, the bill will go through five stages in the House of Lords and further rounds of voting. If it is not approved, the bill will not go on to become law, making today a decisive moment for this landmark legislation. Some amendments are expected to be voted on first this morning, before a debate on the bill as a whole begins. We'll bring you the key developments from the debate in the Commons, so stay with us.
The Guardian
an hour ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
Assisted dying bill faces crunch vote in House of Commons
Update: Date: 2025-06-20T07:28:27.000Z Title: assisted dying bill Content: The relatively narrow majority of 55 from the historic yes vote in November means every vote will count on Friday. As an example, the would fall if 28 MPs switched directly from voting yes to no, but only if all other MPs voted exactly the same way as they did in November, including those who abstained, reports the PA news agency. MPs are entitled to have a free vote on the bill, meaning they decide according to their conscience rather than along party lines. A YouGov poll of 2,003 adults in Great Britain, surveyed last month and published on Thursday, suggested public support for the bill remains high at 73% – unchanged from November. The proportion of people who feel assisted dying should be legal in principle has risen slightly, to 75% from 73% in November. Update: Date: 2025-06-20T07:24:43.000Z Title: MPs prepare for crunch vote on assisted dying bill on Friday Content: Assisted dying could move a step closer to becoming law in England and Wales as parliament prepares for a crunch vote on the issue. The outcome on Friday could see the terminally ill adults (end of life) bill either clear the House of Commons and move to the House of Lords, or fall completely. The debate will begin at 9.30am. In what will be seen as a blow to the bill, four Labour MPs confirmed on the eve of the vote that they will switch sides to oppose the proposed new law, reports the PA news agency. Labour's Paul Foster, Jonathan Hinder, Markus Campbell-Savours and Kanishka Narayan wrote to fellow MPs to voice concerns about the safety of the proposed legislation. They called it 'drastically weakened', citing the scrapping of the high court judge safeguard as a key reason. Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch also urged her MPs to vote against the legislation, describing it as 'a bad bill' despite being 'previously supportive of assisted suicide'. As it stands, the proposed legislation would allow terminally ill adults in England and Wales, with fewer than six months to live, to apply for an assisted death, subject to approval by two doctors and a panel featuring a social worker, senior legal figure and psychiatrist. Bill sponsor Kim Leadbeater has insisted the replacement of high court judge approval with the multidisciplinary panels is a strengthening of the legislation, incorporating wider expert knowledge to assess assisted dying applications. Ahead of confirmation of the four vote-switchers, Leadbeater acknowledged she expected 'some small movement in the middle' but that she did not 'anticipate that that majority would be heavily eroded'. She insisted her bill is 'the most robust piece of legislation in the world' and has argued dying people must be given choice at the end of their lives in a conversation which has seen support from high-profile figures including Esther Rantzen. Leadbeater has warned it could be a decade before assisted dying legislation returns to parliament if MPs vote to reject her bill on Friday. Meanwhile, culture secretary Lisa Nandy has been on the media rounds this morning talking about this topic and sharing her support for the bill. More on this in a moment, but first here is a summary of the latest UK politics news: Higher tax receipts were unable to prevent a rise in public sector borrowing in May to £17.7bn, up from £17bn a year earlier and the second highest for the month on record. A poll of City economists had forecast public sector net borrowing – the difference between public spending and income – would be £17.1bn. The figures will add to the concerns that the government is struggling to bring down the annual deficit to keep within strict spending rules. Thousands of European airline staff are being trained to stop people boarding flights to Britain without valid visas, in a move billed by the foreign secretary as a digital upgrade to border controls. David Lammy said the measures marked a step towards 'more secure, more digital and more effective' borders, but the move could raise questions about human rights safeguards. Cuts of £5bn to the UK overseas aid budget cannot be challenged in the courts, government lawyers have said, even though ministers have no plan to return spending to the legal commitment of 0.7 % of UK gross national income (GNI). The Labour MP Vicky Foxcroft has resigned as a whip in protest at the government's welfare plans, saying she will not be able to vote for the cuts to disability payments. Children in England face prolonged 'lost learning' caused by extreme heat and flooding at school, according to research on the potential impact of the climate crisis on education. School leaders and teachers said the scenarios published by the Department for Education made for grim reading and urged ministers to move quickly to improve school resilience.
Telegraph
3 hours ago
- Health
- Telegraph
Live MPs to vote on legalising assisted dying
MPs will vote this afternoon on whether to legalise assisted dying in a potentially historic moment for the country. The House of Commons backed the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill in principle last November, by 330 votes to 275, a majority of 55. Dozens of hours of scrutiny have followed, with numerous amendments made, and MPs will now decide if they want to give the Bill its third reading - the final major hurdle all legislation must clear before it heads to the House of Lords for further consideration. If the Bill is voted through by MPs today it will almost certainly ensure assisted dying is introduced, with the upper House unlikely to stand in the way of a decision made by the democratically-elected chamber. But if the Bill is voted down, its passage through the Houses of Parliament will be over and the issue will likely be parked for a generation. Supporters of the Bill have argued dying people must be given the choice to end their lives but critics have warned proposed safeguards are not strong enough to protect the most vulnerable in society. The proposed legislation would allow terminally ill adults in England and Wales, with fewer than six months to live, to apply for an assisted death, subject to approval by two doctors and a panel featuring a social worker, senior legal figure and psychiatrist. MPs have been given a free vote on the Bill which means they are able to decide based on their conscience rather than being instructed along party lines. The relatively narrow margin of victory at second reading in November means today's vote could be tight and all eyes will be on how many MPs could switch sides. For example, the Bill would be defeated if 28 MPs were to switch from voting yes to no, and if all other MPs voted the same way they did in November, including abstentions. Kim Leadbeater, the Labour MP who brought the legislation forward, said she was 'confident' the Commons will back her Bill, allowing it to continue its journey to the statute book. The issue has split the Cabinet. Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, is expected to back the Bill but Wes Streeting, the Health Secretary, will vote against it.
The Guardian
3 hours ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
Friday briefing: The historic and controversial assisted dying bill nears its final hurdle
Morning. The UK once again faces a historic decision. MPs will today have their final chance to debate and vote on the contentious assisted dying bill. If it passes, it will move to the House of Lords and if approved could become law as early as October. As it stands, the proposed legislation for England and Wales would allow terminally ill adults with less than six months to live to apply for an assisted death. The bill passed its second reading with a majority of 55 last November. But since then, the issue has become increasingly emotionally and politically charged, with both sides accusing campaigners and MPs of making divisive remarks or acting unjustly. Demonstrators for and against the bill have gathered outside parliament at every stage to make their voices heard. Supporters of the bill, led by Labour MP Kim Leadbeater, say it is returning to the Commons with strengthened safeguards. The vote was delayed after a months-long committee stage, which considered more than 150 amendments earlier this year. But opponents argue the bill still lacks sufficient protections for vulnerable people, and has been rushed. The numbers are expected to be far tighter this time, though supporters are still confident the bill will pass. While some MPs are thought to have moved to support the bill, more are believed to have switched sides to oppose it. How has the bill changed since last year's vote? What impact has that had on both its supporters and critics? And if it passes, what happens next? To answer those thorny questions, I spoke to Jessica Elgot, the Guardian's deputy political editor. That's after the headlines. Middle East crisis | Donald Trump has set a two-week deadline to decide whether the US will join Israel's war with Iran, allowing time to seek a negotiated end to the conflict, the White House has said. UK news | The political 'tug of war with vulnerable women' abused by grooming gangs must stop before a new national inquiry into the crimes, survivors have told the Guardian. Environment | Rampant climate misinformation is turning the crisis into a catastrophe, according to the authors of a new report. It found climate action was being obstructed by false and misleading information. UK news | A man feared to be one of the worst sexual offenders in British history has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 24 years for drugging and raping 10 women. Weather | Amber weather alerts have been issued across England as temperatures are expected to rise sharply across the country. The bill has gone through significant changes since it was voted on last November. The most controversial is a change from what had been first proposed, that a high court judge would have final say on every case. Now, it will be a panel, which would include a psychiatrist, a social worker, and a senior lawyer. 'This is very much what I would describe as vibes-based legislation, in that it's obviously impractical for a high court judge to decide on every case,' Jessica said. 'But for lots of people who were voting in favour of it, it sounded really safe. But once it got to the committee stages, when they start to look at the practical application, it became obvious that it wouldn't work. There are 19 high court judges in the family court division in England and Wales.' Some suggest the proposal of a panel brings more relevant expertise, especially on issues like coercion. 'But it's harder for Leadbeater (pictured above, centre) to make the case that it's 'the safest and most robust bill in the world' without that judicial oversight,' Jessica added. A number of amendments have been accepted to the bill. Medics will not be allowed to raise assisted dying as an option with under-18s, and advertising will be banned. Other amendments include a provision for assisted deaths not to automatically be referred to a coroner and an attempt to regulate substances for use in assisted dying. 'They've accepted a few opposition amendments, which is their way of showing that they're listening,' Jessica explained. They include an amendment by Naz Shah, who was a very vocal opponent of the bill, about anorexia. There was a fear from some eating disorder campaigners that anorexia can get so serious towards the end that it could basically be considered terminal. 'So there will be a specific clause, proposed by Shah, to make sure that doesn't happen and they've accepted that. There's also one from another opponent, Munira Wilson, the Lib Dem MP. She wants the secretary of state to have a duty to report on the condition of palliative care services. Again, another big fear for opponents of the bill is that people will want to access assisted dying simply because the state of services is so poor that people choose to end their own life when with the right pain management and care, their life could be prolonged.' The last amendment is a key moral and political point for Labour, Jessica added. It's hard to square saying 'we need to fix the NHS' while also offering assisted dying. 'Politically, Wes Streeting thinks that's a very dangerous thing for the government to be seen to be doing. The government will ultimately have to take responsibility for this bill, even if it keeps saying the government's neutral and it's a private member's bill. From public perception, it will be this Labour government that made it happen. And No 10 know that.' The debate has deteriorated on both sides The anger and distrust between the opposing sides has ramped up considerably since the bill first passed. 'People often talk about parliament at its best, where MPs make extraordinarily powerful speeches on both sides that are very passionate, where it doesn't become party political. It's just about taking on your opponent's arguments, rather than aspersions made about what people's motivations may or may not be. I think that we have seen that start to disintegrate over the past six months, on both sides,' Jessica told me. Those who support the bill accuse the other side of being driven by well-funded rightwing Christian groups, with people not disclosing religious motivations and instead claiming safeguarding concerns that are often theoretical or implausible, Jessica added. They've also been accused of using procedural tactics to delay the bill. On the other side, critics of the bill say that Leadbeater's treatment of colleagues who oppose her has been poor. They argue there are so many loopholes, and that this is all being pushed through as a cost-saving measure for the NHS. 'Things have become very personal and that has been fuelled by the fact that it's become a big deal on social media,' Jessica said. Who has changed their mind? In terms of how people are voting, there's been some movement, Jessica tells me. 'Minister Chris Bryant has now moved to yes; he abstained at the last vote. And Ellie Reeves, the Labour chair, who also abstained last time, is now expected to vote yes. 'But there's been much more traffic the other way. A few Conservatives, including former minister George Freeman, and one Reform MP and a former one, Lee Anderson and Rupert Lowe, as well as some Labour MPs, some of whom either previously abstained or voted for the bill. Others include former health minister Andrew Gwynne, he abstained, and he's now voting against, and the chair of the work and pensions select committee, Debbie Abrahams, who also previously abstained and is now voting against. These are relatively high-profile people,' Jessica explained. LabourList provides a useful overview of Labour MPs who have switched sides. There are also people who won't be there, because the date of the bill changed a few times. 'So a lot of it's up in the air. David Lammy, for example, who is against the bill, will be in Geneva for a meeting of foreign ministers because of the international crisis. There are lots of different things going on in the margins, in terms of who can or can't be there, which makes turnout really important,' Jessica said. What happens next? If the bill passes its third reading in the House of Commons, it then has to pass the Lords, where there will be more debate and scrutiny. But, Jessica said, once a bill like this, about a major issue of conscience, passes the elected house, she has no expectations that the Lords will block it. 'The pro side hope that it would get royal assent, which would mean it becomes law by around October. After that, there's a four-year implementation period,' Jessica said. Assisted dying is becoming more normalised across the western world. Countries that have legalised it include the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain and Canada, as well as US states like Oregon. 'In Canada, the law is much wider,' Jessica said. 'There have been a lot more controversial cases and it's almost seen as a kind of cautionary tale.' Jessica explains that many of the cases we remember from media reports, including those who travelled to Dignitas in Switzerland, involved individuals with neurological conditions like motor neurone disease or Parkinson's. 'These are people who feared losing their cognitive function or dignity, and that's what motivated them to seek an assisted death. But under this bill, they wouldn't be eligible. It only applies to people with a terminal illness.' The disconnect between public perception and the bill's actual scope could spark its own wave of controversy. But for now, campaigners on both sides are bracing themselves for the outcome of this fateful vote. Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion The Guardian's Lanre Bakare writes movingly in this column about the racial violence in Ballymena and its place in the deep record of anti-immigrant violence in Britain. Charlie Lindlar, acting deputy editor, newsletters Labour MP Natalie Fleet, 41, sees her teenage relationship as grooming and statutory rape. In a moving interview, she reflects on making sense of it, adjusting to the truth, and campaigning for change. Aamna Patrick Greenfield reports from Kassel, Germany on the city's unlikely problem with raccoons – and the residents' quandary about how to live with the rogue rodents. 'We love them but we also hate them.' Charlie His new film 28 Years Later imagines a zombie-infested Britain – but Danny Boyle says that he remains optimistic. He tells Xan Brooks the one thing he regrets about his 2012 Olympics opening ceremony, and why he wouldn't make Slumdog Millionaire today. Alex Needham, acting head of newsletters Rarely has Saturday magazine's You be the judge column been more fascinating than this week's entry, which sees two colleagues debate how many cakes in the office is too many. Who's in the wrong? You decide … Charlie Horse racing | Seven-year-old Trawlerman won the Gold Cup at Royal Ascot in impressive style by seven lengths. Cricket | Ben Stokes has described England's recent lack of Test action as 'a bit odd' but playing just one game in the past six months has given them space to reconsider their approach before the series against India. Football | Rhian Wilkinson hopes Wales can conquer their 'Everest' at Euro 2025 after naming her squad at the top of the country's highest mountain. The Guardian splashes with 'Trump will decide on Iran attack 'within two weeks''. (He gave Vladimir Putin two weeks as well, about three weeks ago.) The Times says 'Trump steps back from brink of bombing Iran' while the Financial Times goes with 'Trump raises prospect of Iran talks and sets countdown on joining war'. The Telegraph has 'Labour MPs turn on assisted dying Bill' while the Express goes with 'Allow us the choice to have a good death' and the Daily Mail says 'Jenrick: I'll vote no to assisted dying for my nana's sake'. The i paper reports 'It's official: justice for victims of the second Post Office computer scandal'. The top story in the Metro is headlined 'Haunted by PhD rapist' under the strapline 'As evil Zou jailed, woman tells of ordeals'. 'Glitter: I'm a danger' – so said the paedophile to the Parole Board, which is not letting him out, the Mirror tells us. Our critics' roundup of the best things to watch, read, play and listen to right now TVShifty | ★★★★☆ Ian Curtis's latest is a rare purely UK-focused dissection of recent history, built around the idea that the growing atomisation of society has ushered in an age in which the concept of a shared reality on which we can all depend has dissolved – and with it any hope of a functioning democracy. We stop before Brexit and Donald Trump, but it is clear how Curtis believes the seeds have been sown for all our current sorrows. Is the viewer persuaded? It depends where you start from, of course – and it will depend perhaps even more on how you feel about this most Marmite of film-makers. Lucy Mangan Film Elio | ★★★☆☆ There are some sweet retro-Spielbergian thrills in Pixar's amiable new family animation. It has charm, likability and that potent ingredient: childhood loneliness and vulnerability. Its opening act is set aboard a military base where an ambitious young officer has postponed or even abandoned her dream of being an astronaut to look after her orphaned nephew. But once the film leaves planet Earth and its recognisably real, lump-in-the-throat emotional world and inhabits the goofy multi-voiced arena of space aliens, it loses, for me, a little (though not all) of its charge. Peter Bradshaw Theatre4.48 Psychosis by Sarah Kane, Royal Court theatre, London Variously abstruse and lucid in its arguments on life, death and suicide, and still original in form – but this production feels like the reconstruction of a seminal performance rather than a seminal performance for today. Maybe this is because Kane's position has changed in the intervening decades: she sits firmly in the canon. So this replica-like revival has the strange effect of a museum piece in this 'new writing' space, posthumous and reverential. Dramatically it is sedate – you wish for something messier, louder, angrier. But there is still value in its staging and poignancy, too. It is beautifully performed with moments of bared anguish and delicate detail. Arifa Akbar Music Loyle Carner: Hopefully! | ★★★★☆As well as the slushy lyrics and comfortingly toasty chords, Feel at Home is buttressed by madly skittering percussion and what sounds like a blurry reproduction of young children's playground chatter. But much like the outpouring of earnestness and loveliness on the Croydon-raised rapper's first two albums, Hopefully! may well have you hankering for a shred of dissonance or disruption – especially after 2022's Mercury-shortlisted Hugo, which gratifyingly offset Carner's trademark tenderness with a more abrasive sonic palette. Initially, the musician seems to have moved on – or perhaps backwards – from that record. Rachel Aroesti Film-maker Adam Curtis on why this moment feels so weird The award-winning film-maker talks to Michael Safi about the big ideas that have run out of road A bit of good news to remind you that the world's not all bad From Paris to Amsterdam to Oslo, this week Guardian correspondents reported on the rising number of urban swimmers taking a dip in their city rivers. Why are more Europeans are taking the plunge? Whether it's self-started social swim club in Copenhagen or a 300-strong 'Dip-Dip-Hurrah' protest asking for better access to urban waters in Berlin, it's all about community and seeing and experiencing their cities in a new way. As for all the yucky stuff you might worry about? 'I'm not worried,' says one Berliner with classic German pragmatism. 'I'm a farmer's son and grew up swimming in ponds with thousands of catfish and leeches.' Sign up here for a weekly roundup of The Upside, sent to you every Sunday And finally, the Guardian's puzzles are here to keep you entertained throughout the day. Until tomorrow. Quick crossword Cryptic crossword Wordiply
Telegraph
3 hours ago
- Business
- Telegraph
Defence spending fails to account for spiralling cost of nuclear deterrent
Defence spending failed to account for the spiralling cost of Britain's nuclear deterrent, MPs have said. A report by the public accounts committee into the Ministry of Defence's spending plans has found that the rising costs of maintaining the nuclear deterrent and submarines risk squeezing budgets for 'conventional capabilities'. It comes after the Government recently published its strategic defence review (SDR), which aimed to show how the Armed Forces will adapt to future battlefields. It committed to renewing the nuclear deterrent while also spending £40 billion on new equipment for the Army and investing in a sixth-generation fighter. However, the committee's report called on the Government to be transparent regarding the 'specific cost details in the specific area of nuclear'. It called for the MoD to publish an equipment plan, which it said should provide a 'window' into the department's spending but has not been published since 2023. The report authors also said that they wanted 'to be assured on the risk of funding not being sucked away from other vital areas earmarked for growth in the SDR'. 'The Defence Nuclear Enterprise (DNE) remains a cornerstone of the UK's defence strategy,' it said. 'However, its cost continues to rise, and there is a risk that these increases will squeeze the budgets for conventional capabilities.' The report states that the nuclear budget was £10.9 billion, around 18 per cent of the whole defence budget in 2024-25. But forecast costs for the DNE for the 10 years from 2023 until 2033 have increased to approximately £128 billion, up from the £117.8 billion reported in the National Audit Offices's 2023 equipment plan report. 'The prioritisation of the DNE has led to government creating a ring-fence which prevents the department from using elsewhere money allocated to delivering the DNE, but which allows money to flow the other way,' the report said. 'The department recognises that one of the big capability questions it must answer through the SDR and its follow-on work is the balance of investment between nuclear and conventional capabilities. However, it has not yet worked this through.' It added: 'The increase in nuclear costs may restrict the money available for other important needs.' The report suggests such other 'important needs' range from improving poor accommodation for troops and addressing the military's retention and recruitment crisis. Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, chairman of the committee, said: 'In the context of continuing geopolitical uncertainty, this continued delay in providing figures for public scrutiny is a truly unacceptable state of affairs. 'This committee has made a number of recommendations to government to offer it another chance to cooperate. 'There is also a material risk of the costs of the nuclear deterrent beginning to act as a ratchet mechanism. 'As well as a fully worked-up picture of equipment overall, we require specific cost details in the specific area of nuclear, to be assured on the risk of funding not being sucked away from other vital areas earmarked for growth in the SDR.' He added: 'If government does not come forward with the requisite details very soon, Parliament will be unable to critically assess the underpinnings of the SDR, and it will remain to be seen how the public can thereby ascertain whether what is planned, including the pledge of 2.5 per cent of GDP on defence spending, is deliverable. 'The MoD can, however, be rightfully proud of the role it has played in supporting Ukraine in resisting Russia's brutal invasion. 'The adaptability and responsiveness of government in constantly innovating both in the assistance provided and in its own processes has been truly commendable, and this committee thanks all involved for their continuing efforts.'
