
Medics criticise assisted dying Bill ahead of MP debate
Another leading medical body has raised concerns about the risks of the assisted dying Bill 'failing to protect vulnerable patients' as the landmark legislation returns to Parliament today.
The Royal College of Physicians said it believed there were 'concerning deficiencies' with the proposed Bill as it stands.
Its statement followed one earlier this week from the Royal College of Psychiatrists which said it had 'serious concerns' and could not support the Bill in its current form.
The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, which relates to England and Wales, returns to the House of Commons today for the first time since MPs supported the legislation in principle back in November.
The legislation was backed by 330 votes to 275 at second reading and MPs are now going to debate and vote on amendments during its report stage which is expected to run into a second day next month ahead of a crunch final vote.
The Government is neutral on the Bill, which was tabled by Labour MP Kim Leadbeater, and any votes MPs make are according to their own conscience rather than along party lines.
It is far from certain that the Bill will make it onto the statute book, with all eyes currently on how many MPs could change their minds on the issue.
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The Sun
11 minutes ago
- The Sun
Common prescription drug prevents heart attack and stroke WITHOUT deadly risk, scientists discover
A COMMON prescription drug has been linked to lower rates of heart attack and stroke - with no increased risk of major bleeding, say scientists. Low-dose aspirin is recommended by the NHS to prevent heart attacks and strokes in people who are at high risk of them. 1 Because aspirin helps to stop your blood from clotting, it can sometimes make you bleed more easily. For example, you may get nosebleeds and bruise more easily, and if you cut yourself, the bleeding may take longer than normal to stop. Now, a study published by The BMJ supports the use of P2Y12 therapy instead of aspirin for long term prevention. Giving the anti-clotting drug to patients with coronary artery disease was associated with lower rates of cardiovascular death, heart attack and stroke compared with traditional aspirin, with no increased risk of major bleeding. P2Y12 inhibitors are usually given to patients alongside aspirin after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) - a procedure to widen or unblock a coronary artery to help prevent cardiovascular events. After several months, patients are usually switched from dual therapy (both drugs) to lifelong aspirin, but some trials have suggested a P2Y12 inhibitor may be more effective for long term prevention than aspirin. So in the new study, researchers analysed individual patient data from five randomised clinical trials involving 16,117 patients who were assigned to either a P2Y12 inhibitor or aspirin after completing dual therapy. When they were followed up four years later, P2Y12 inhibitor therapy was associated with a 23 per cent lower risk of an outcome that combined cardiovascular death, heart attack, or stroke, compared with aspirin - with no significance different in major bleeding. When considering outcomes individually, P2Y12 inhibitor therapy reduced heart attacks and stroke compared with aspirin. The researchers said: "Overall, this study supports preferential P2Y12 inhibitor monotherapy prescription over aspirin due to reductions in major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular events without increasing major bleeding in the medium term." Women vs. Men Heart Attack Symptoms But, they note "medium term efficacy does not necessarily extend lifelong, which is the duration we advise patients to continue these medications". To prevent heart attacks and strokes in patients with coronary artery disease, it's crucial to make lifestyle changes like quitting smoking, exercising regularly, maintaining a healthy weight, and following a balanced diet. Smoking significantly increases the risk of heart disease and stroke, so quitting is recommended. People should aim for at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise per week and choose a diet low in saturated and trans fats, high in fibre, fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, and low in salt. If you drink alcohol, you should do so in moderation. And practice relaxation techniques, like deep breathing or yoga, and find healthy ways to copy with stress. Seeing your doctor regularly for screenings and to monitor your heart health. And making sure you get enough sleep (seven to nine hours per night) is important. Various symptoms and warning signs can indicate heart disease, and being aware of them can help in early detection and treatment...


The Independent
20 minutes ago
- The Independent
Free school meals for half a million of England's poorest children
An extra half a million children will benefit from a free meal every school day after the government announced a major expansion of the policy, which they said would lift 100,000 pupils out of poverty and put an extra £500 in parents' pockets. From the start of the 2026 school year, every child whose household is on universal credit will be entitled to free school meals, the government announced on Thursday. Since 2018, children have only been eligible for free school meals if their household income is less than £7,400 per year, meaning hundreds of thousands of children living in poverty have been unable to access them. As of January last year, nearly 2.1 million children in England were eligible for free school meals. The Department for Education claimed that the expansion will lift 100,000 children across England out of poverty. It comes two years after The Independent 's Feed the Future campaign, in which we called for free school meals to be extended to all schoolchildren in England – both primary and secondary – who lived in households on universal credit but missed out on free school meals. The latest move will be seen as a major concession to Labour MPs who are concerned about the direction of the government, with rebellion brewing over the party's upcoming welfare cuts and calls for Sir Keir Starmer to scrap the two-child benefit cap. The chancellor Rachel Reeves also announced on Wednesday that more people will get fuel payments 'this winter' as she pledged to raise the level of the means test. Announcing the expansion of free school meals, education secretary Bridget Phillipson said 'background shouldn't mean destiny', adding: 'Today's historic step will help us to deliver excellence everywhere, for every child and give more young people the chance to get on in life.' She continued: 'It is the moral mission of this government to tackle the stain of child poverty, and today this government takes a giant step towards ending it with targeted support that puts money back in parents' pockets.' The move was welcomed by campaigners and unions, with the Child Poverty Action Group saying it will be a 'game-changer for children and families'. Kate Anstey, head of education policy the campaign group, said: 'At last more kids will get the food they need to learn and thrive and millions of parents struggling to make ends meet will get a bit of breathing space. 'We hope this is a sign of what's to come in autumn's child poverty strategy, with the government taking more action to meet its manifesto commitment to reduce child poverty in the UK." Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the National Education Union, said the expansion of free school meals eligibility was a 'necessary and overdue first step' that would help address child hunger in schools. He said the current threshold, which had been unchanged since 2018, meant 'hundreds of thousands of children in poverty were missing out on the nutrition they need to thrive'. Mr Kebede added: 'As teachers, our members know the positive impact of children eating and learning together – how it breaks down stigma and inequality, and ensures greater community cohesion. Ensuring that a free school meal is available to all children is the next urgent step that must be taken.' Meanwhile, Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, welcomed the move to expand free school meals to all families on universal credit, saying 'no child should ever have to go hungry due to their parents' financial circumstances'. But he also called for auto-enrolment and wider support to tackle the broader impact of poverty on children's education. Children's commissioner Dame Rachel de Souza echoed his call, urging the government to make sure every eligible child is 'automatically enrolled for free school meals, rather than putting the onus on parents to sign up'. 'When children talk to me about their family lives, I am struck by how acutely aware they are of their parents' worries and of the impact these have on their daily lives - and their education', she said. 'That's why we need solutions that reflect children's experiences, reduce the shame too many have told me they feel about their circumstances, and break the link between their backgrounds and their opportunities, by giving them communities that are safe, supportive and aspirational.' Last week, The Independent revealed that demand for help from baby banks from parents struggling to feed their children has surged by more than one-third in a year, amid record -high levels of child poverty. New data showed that more than 3.5 million essential items were handed out in 2024, including nappies, clothes and cots – an increase of 143 per cent on the previous year. The announcement came just hours after Sir Keir sidestepped questions over the two-child benefit cap, amid growing calls for him to lift the limit. Critics of the policy say removing it would be the most effective way of tackling child poverty amid warnings that as many as 100 children are pulled into poverty every day by the limit. However, it is thought the cap will not be lifted until the government publishes its child poverty strategy, which has now been delayed until the autumn. Grilled on the policy at Prime Minister's Questions, Sir Keir said he is 'absolutely determined' to 'drive down' child poverty but declined to give further details ahead of the publication of the government's strategy.


Sky News
27 minutes ago
- Sky News
The big problem facing UK as deadline to finalise US trade deal looms
When push comes to shove, the question of whether British industry faces crippling tariffs on exports to the US or enjoys a unique opportunity to grow may come back to three seemingly random words: "melted and poured". To see why, let's begin by recapping where we are at present in the soap opera of US trade policy. Donald Trump has just doubled the extra tariffs charged on imports of steel and aluminium into the US from 25% to 50%. In essence, this would turn a painfully high tariff into something closer to an insurmountable economic wall (remember during the Cold War, the Iron Curtain equated to an effective tariff rate of just under 50%). Anyway, the good news for UK steel producers is that they have been spared the 50% rate and will, for the time being, only have to pay the 25% rate. But there is a sting in the tail: that stay of execution will only last until 9 July - on the basis of President Trump's most recent pronouncements. 1:00 For anyone following these events from the corner of their eyes, this might all sound a little odd. After all, didn't Sir Keir Starmer announce only a few weeks ago that British steel and aluminium makers would be able to enjoy not 25% but 0% tariffs with America, thanks to his bold new trade agreement with the US? Well, yes. But the prime minister wasn't being entirely clear about what that meant in practice. Because the reality is that every trade agreement works more or less as follows: politicians negotiate a "heads of terms" agreement - a vague set of principles and red lines. There then follows a period of horse-trading and negotiation to nail down the actual details and turn it into a black and white piece of law. In this case, when the PM and president made their big announcement 28 days ago, they had only agreed on the "heads of terms". The small print was yet to be completed. Right now, we are still in the horse-trading phase. Negotiators from the UK and the US are meeting routinely to try and nail down the small print. And that process is taking longer than many had expected. To see why, it's worth drilling a little bit into the details. The trade deal committed to allowing some cars to pass into the US at a 10% rate and to protecting some pharmaceutical trade, as well as allowing some steel and aluminium into the US at a zero tariff rate. When it comes to cars, there are some nuances about which kind of cars the deal covers. Something similar goes for pharmaceuticals. Things get even knottier when you drill into the detail on steel. 2:13 You see, one of the things the White House is nervous about is the prospect that Britain might become a kind of assembly point for steel from other countries around the world - that you could just ship some steel to Britain, get it pressed or rolled or worked over and then sent across to the US with those 0% tariffs. So the US negotiators are insisting that only steel that is "melted and poured" in the UK (in other words, smelted in a furnace) is covered by the trade deal. That's fine for some producers but not for others. One of Britain's biggest steel exporters is Tata Steel, which makes a lot of steel that gets turned into tin cans you find on American supermarket shelves (not to mention piping used by the oil trade). Up until recently, that steel was indeed "melted and poured" from the blast furnaces at Port Talbot. But Tata shut down those blast furnaces last year, intending to replace them with cleaner electric arc furnaces. And in the intervening period, it's importing raw steel instead from the Netherlands and India and then running it through its mills. Or consider the situation at British Steel. There in Scunthorpe they are melting and pouring the steel from iron made in their blast furnaces - but now ponder this. While the company has been semi-nationalised by the government, it is still technically a Chinese business, owned by Jingye. In other words, its steel might technically count as benefiting China - which is something the White House is even more sensitive about. 👉 Tap here to follow Politics at Jack and Anne's wherever you get your podcasts 👈 You see how this is all suddenly becoming a bit more complicated than it might at first have looked? This helps to explain why the negotiations are taking longer than expected. But this brings us to the big problem. The White House has indicated that Britain will only be spared that 50% tariff rate provided the trade deal is finalised by 9 July. That gives the negotiators another month and a bit. That might sound like a lot, but now consider that that would be one of the fastest announcement-to-completion rates ever achieved in any trade negotiations in modern history. There's no guarantee Britain will actually get this deal done in time for that deadline - though insiders tell me they think they could be able to finalise it in a piecemeal fashion: the cars one week, steel another, pharmaceuticals another. Either way, the heat is on. Just when you thought Britain was in the safe zone, it stands on the edge of jeopardy all over again.