Badenoch vows ‘mission of renewal' as Cleverly returns in Tory reshuffle
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Daily Mirror
41 minutes ago
- Daily Mirror
Keir Starmer makes surprise appearance at Euros final with wife Victoria
Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who is due to meet Donald Trump in Scotland tomorrow, has been spotted with his wife Victoria in the stadium crowds in Basel Keir Starmer has made a surprise appearance at the Euros final in Switzerland to support the Lionesses The Prime Minister, who is due to meet Donald Trump in Scotland tomorrow, has been spotted with his wife Victoria in the stadium crowds in Basel. He was seen watching the pitch with intense eyes as England's women's team kicked off the match a against Spain. Writing in today's Sunday Mirror, the Prime Minister spoke about his joy of taking his daughter to see the Lionesses in the semi-final of the last Euros tournament in 2022. He said it was a "special moment" seeing his daughter stay long after the final whistle to watch the team celebrate their win. The Lionesses went on to win the last Euros tournament, beating Germany in the final at Wembley Stadium in London. The PM this morning declared: "Let's bring it home again." Mr Starmer said: "Whatever happens tonight, this team have already written their names in the history books. They've shown the best of our national character. Not just their skill, grit and determination, but their calm-headedness. No matter the pressure they're under. "I will always remember taking my daughter to see the Lionesses in the semi-final of the last Euros, and I know she'll always remember it too. She stayed long after the final whistle, watching the team celebrate. It was a special moment for me – one that is repeated up and down the country every time they play. "Because football not just entertains but inspires. That's what this squad does. And it's why so many young women look up to them." The Prince of Wales and his daughter Princess Charlotte have also been pictured in Switzerland ahead of the Euros final as the royal family led the nation in wishing good luck to England's Lionesses. Shortly before kick-off, a picture of William and Charlotte was posted on the Prince and Princess of Wales's X account with the caption "let's go, Lionesses". Elsewhere, Mr Starmer is facing calls to grant an extra bank holiday if the Lionesses win the Euros 2025 final on Sunday. The Prime Minister previously backed calls for a "proper day of celebration" for the nation when England women's football team reached the final in the last Euros tournament in 2022, which was hosted by England. The then-Opposition Leader told the Mirror: 'The whole country will be roaring on the Lionesses in the final... They have already done us proud, but if they win it will be a truly historic achievement - one that should be marked with a proper day of celebration, where clubs can open and promote access for women and girls.' England went on to win the match against Germany but the Tory government did not grant a bank holiday for the nation to celebrate the historic victory. In its latest update, before the Lionesses roared to victory last week, Downing Street said it was "not aware of any plans" for an extra bank holiday. The PM's official spokesman said he didn't want to jinx it before the team had reached the final. Asked about the prospect of one, the PM's spokesman said on Tuesday: "I'm not aware of any plans for that but when it comes to backing the Lionesses, the PM is sending his best wishes ahead of the semi finals. We cannot get ahead of ourselves."
South Wales Argus
4 hours ago
- South Wales Argus
Tories would ban doctors' strikes, Badenoch says
The Tory leader said that her party would introduce primary legislation to block medics from taking widespread industrial action, placing the same restrictions on them that apply to police officers and soldiers. Thousands of resident doctors, previously known as junior doctors, began a five-day walkout on Friday after relations between the Government and British Medical Association (BMA) soured over a dispute about pay. Health Secretary Wes Streeting has said the union will not be allowed to 'hold the country to ransom' after receiving a 28.9% pay award over the last three years, the highest across the public sector. The BMA says, despite this uplift, pay for resident doctors has declined by a fifth since 2008 once inflation is taken into account. NHS resident doctors outside Bristol Royal Infirmary (Ben Birchall/PA) On Saturday, the Conservatives said they would reintroduce minimum service level requirements, which were brought in by the previous government and scrapped by Labour, across the health service. Mrs Badenoch said: 'The BMA has become militant, these strikes are going too far, and it is time for action. 'Doctors do incredibly important work. 'Medicine is a vocation, not just a job. 'That is why in government we offered a fair deal that supported doctors, but protected taxpayers too.' She said the Tories were 'making an offer in the national interest, we will work with the Government to face down the BMA to help protect patients and the NHS.' Patients have been urged to attend appointments unless told otherwise while the action is ongoing, with NHS England saying hospitals are aiming to reschedule any cancellations due to strikes within two weeks. Mr Streeting has warned of a challenging few days for the health service but said 'we are doing everything we can to minimise' harm.
Telegraph
4 hours ago
- Telegraph
Kemi is right. We must clip the BMA's wings
Kemi Badenoch's announcement that the Conservatives would ban strikes by doctors represents a clear break with the consensus of the recent past. It is a determined response both to the Government's slow progress with NHS reform and to the Employment Rights Bill, which will make it much easier for unions to call damaging public sector strikes. At present the 'right to strike' – formally an immunity, dating from 1906, from being sued for breach of contract – is almost universal amongst UK employees. The only significant exceptions are the Armed Forces, the police and prison officers. The military are banned from industrial action in every country in the world, and police strikes have been banned here since 1919. Prison officers have at various times had the freedom to strike, but since the 2008 Criminal Justice and Immigration Act, brought in by the last Labour government as it happens, that right has been removed. Many countries have wider restrictions on strikes. Civil servants, university staff and many teachers are banned from striking in Germany, for example. Air traffic controllers, fire and rescue workers can't withdraw labour in Czechia. No federal employee can strike in the US, or even belong to a union which asserts the right to strike. We know that the current Government has made a fetish of international human rights legislation, but the International Labor Organization – to which we are signed up – specifically permits strike bans in 'those services whose interruption would endanger the life, personal safety or health' of the population. This would certainly seem to include our militant resident doctors. In practice complete bans on striking by doctors – not always and everywhere the most militant of unionists, to be fair – are confined to authoritarian countries such as Saudi Arabia and China. But many more liberal jurisdictions place considerable constraints on the right to strike. In some US states – including New York, Florida and Texas – doctors in public hospitals cannot strike. The same applies in several Australian states, while any industrial action in other states must go through complicated Fair Work Commission procedures. Where doctors' strikes are permitted there are usually requirements for notice and for minimum service levels – the latter is being abolished here by the Employment Rights Bill. In Canada, doctors in some provinces may be obliged to submit to binding arbitration. Mrs Badenoch justifies her headline-grabbing proposal by pointing to the frequency of resident doctors' strikes and their intransigence in demanding another extraordinary pay settlement despite the government stuffing their mouths with gold last time round. 'The BMA is out of control' she claims. That may also be true of some other militant unions – the RMT is gearing up for more action on our newly-nationalised railways, for example – but they do not generally threaten lives. I rather doubt that a new Conservative government would completely ban doctors' strikes, an action which would prompt massive opposition from the trade union movement as a whole and no doubt provoke the now-inevitable explosion of lawfare. But it would certainly be possible to clip the BMA's wings by tightening ballot requirements and reintroducing the power to impose binding arbitration, something which British governments used in the past. More important, however, would be reform to break up the monolithic structure of the NHS. This would have the side-effect of introducing a genuine market for the services of doctors rather than the current bilateral monopoly. Of course, the prospect of a Conservative government in the near future seems as likely as snow in August. Nevertheless Kemi Badenoch has performed a useful service in opening up debate about the future conduct of industrial relations in the health service, while putting Keir Starmer and Wes Streeting firmly on the spot. Reform should join in the action: we have yet to hear anything of significance about their position on the doctors' strike. Labour needs to abandon its ineffectual bleating about the moral responsibilities of doctors and get tough with these strikers, who do not have massive public backing: nobody is bashing pans outside their doors these days. Another capitulation to the demands of the BMA will only produce knock-on demands from other NHS workers, threatening both the prospects for genuine health reforms and the country's dire fiscal position.
