Will Starmer have to agree to war?
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Is Donald Trump about to join Israel in attacks on Iran, and will he ask Keir Starmer to help him out? If he does - would it even be legal?
A lot has happened since Beth, Ruth and Harriet last got together, with further significant developments expected before a big NATO summit next week - a gathering we don't even know if the US president will turn up to.
So how did we get to the point where we're asking whether the UK will allow its ally - the US - to use its airbases? And how does the current situation compare to the invasion of Iraq in 2003?
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BBC News
24 minutes ago
- 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.
Daily Mail
29 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
BREAKING NEWS Pro-Palestine protesters 'break into Brize Norton and damage two military planes with red paint' in huge security breach
Pro-Palestine protesters have claimed responsibility for breaking into RAF Brize Norton and damaging two military planes in a shocking breach of security. Palestine Action said two of its activists infiltrated Britain's largest RAF base and sprayed red paint into the engines of two Airbus Voyager aircraft before escaping without being caught. Shocking footage shared by the group this morning shows protesters storming across the RAF runway in Oxfordshire on electric scooters. The bodycam footage then shows them spraying red paint into the turbine engines of the air-to-air refuelling tankers which the RAF say are 'vital for enhancing the operational reach and flexibility of Britain's military air power'. Palestine Action claim to have used repurposed fire extinguishers to spray the paint, while they say they caused further damage with crowbars. The activists said they sprayed red paint across the runway and left a Palestine flag behind before fleeing the base undetected. The alleged protest will raise huge questions over security at the RAF base at a time when the world is teetering on the brink with war raging in the Middle East and state threats from both Russia and Iran. Brize Norton is the largest RAF base in the country with approximately 5,800 service members, 300 civilian staff and 1,200 contractors. Voyagers, described as a 'petrol station in the sky', can carry up to 109 tonnes of fuel and are used to refuel fighter and compatible heavy aircraft. RAF Brize Norton hold a core fleet of nine voyagers, while five others are available for commercial use but can be recalled for military purposes. The RAF is reportedly planning to send Voyager aircraft to the Middle East as the conflict between Israel and Iran escalates. One of the Voyagers, which has a Union Jack on its tail, has previously been used to transport prime ministers and Royal Family members to engagements abroad. A Palestine Action spokesperson said: 'Despite publicly condemning the Israeli government, Britain continues to send military cargo, fly spy planes over Gaza and refuel US/Israeli fighter jets. 'Britain isn't just complicit, it's an active participant in the Gaza genocide and war crimes across the Middle East. 'By decommissioning two military planes, Palestine Action have directly intervened in the genocide and prevented crimes against the Palestinian people.'
NBC News
44 minutes ago
- NBC News
Live updates: European leaders hold talks with Iran as Trump sets two-week deadline for U.S. action
What we know EUROPE-IRAN TALKS: Iranian Foreign MinisterAbbas Araghchi will be in the Swiss city of Geneva today for talks with his British, French, German and E.U. counterparts in an effort to end the weeklong Israel-Iran conflict although the U.S. envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, will not attend. TRUMP MULLS U.S. ACTION: President Donald Trump said he was still considering a U.S. military strike on Iran's nuclear sites. 'I will make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks,' he said, according to the White House. U.S. INTELLIGENCE UNCHANGED: The U.S. assessment of Iran's nuclear program remains unchanged since March, when the director of national intelligence told lawmakers that Tehran has not decided to rush toward building an atomic bomb even though it has large amounts of enriched uranium, according to the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee and a source with knowledge of the matter. HUNDREDS KILLED: Israeli strikes have killed at least 639 people in Iran since the conflict began a week ago, The Associated Press reported, citing a Washington-based human rights group. The Iranian health ministry says more than 2,500 people have been wounded. The death toll in Israel from Iran's retaliatory strikes remains at 24.
