Latest news with #Labour government
The Guardian
10 hours ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
Pupils in England to be taught law behind sex and gender identity, new guidance says
Pupils in England should be taught what the law is on biological sex and gender reassignment, but schools must be 'careful not to endorse any particular view or teach it as fact', according to new government guidance. The updated relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) guidance, published on Tuesday, says schools 'should not teach as fact that all people have a gender identity' and must avoid any suggestion that social transitioning offers a 'simple solution' to feelings of distress or discomfort. It also says schools should avoid using cartoons or diagrams that 'oversimplify', that could be interpreted as being aimed at younger children, or that perpetuate stereotypes or encourage pupils to question their gender. The long-awaited guidance abandons many of the changes proposed by the last government, including a ban on teaching the concept of gender identity and strict age limits, which would have prevented under-nines from receiving sex education. The Labour government said instead that schools should develop the RSHE curriculum to be 'relevant, age and stage appropriate and accessible to pupils in their area'. While it recommended that primary schools teach sex education in years 5 and 6, in line with what pupils learn about conception and birth, it is not compulsory. 'Primary schools should consult parents about the content of anything that will be taught within sex education,' the guidance says. 'This process should include offering parents support in talking to their children about sex education and how to link this with what is being taught in school as well as advice about parents' right to request withdrawal from sex education.' The guidance allows primary school teachers to discuss the sharing of naked images or online sexual content if it is something that is affecting their pupils, and they can discuss online sexual content where they know that children have seen pornography. The 47-page document also addresses online gambling, strangulation and suffocation, sextortion, deepfakes and suicide prevention, as well as 'incel' culture and the links between pornography and misogyny. It has been broadly welcomed by school leaders, but some campaigners have expressed concerns about 'watering down' earlier proposals on gender. Helen Joyce, director of advocacy at Sex Matters, said: 'It's a big shame that the Department for Education has watered down sections of the draft guidance it inherited from the previous government which sought to counter the trans activist positions adopted by many schools over the past decade.' Bayswater, a support group for 'parents of trans-identified adolescents and young people', said: 'The new RSHE guidance fails to address the serious safeguarding issues around teaching gender identity to children. 'As well as significantly weakening the clarity offered by the earlier draft guidance, this version introduces topics which are likely to be harmful to vulnerable children. For example, direct teaching about suicide may actually undermine suicide prevention strategies.' Margaret Mulholland, a special needs and inclusion specialist at the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), welcomed 'the clarity over biological sex and gender reassignment' in the guidance. 'There are strongly held and sometimes polarised views over these issues and it is important to have a clear set of national guidelines to follow.' The government is expected to publish separate guidance for schools and colleges on gender-questioning pupils shortly. Paul Whiteman, the general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, welcomed the fact that age limits have been dropped. 'Schools already work hard to ensure that teaching is age-appropriate and this approach gives them the vital flexibility to respond to their own community and the needs of pupils in their schools,' he said. 'However, the new guidance asks schools to teach more content with only the same amount of time available. Government cannot continue to impose additions to the curriculum without proposing how the additional teaching time needed is to be found.' In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@ or jo@ In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counselor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at
Yahoo
21 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Mansion House glitz cannot hide the stark realities for the UK economy
Tonight, the Mansion House will almost certainly be in glittering floodlights, as the Lord Mayor hosts the good and the great to hear Chancellor Reeves extol the virtues of GB PLC. Those attending will be told that provided they are patient, the sun metaphorically is set to rise above the yardarm and deliver growth for working people. She will mutter about fiscal spending and probably repeat for the umpteenth time how awful the Tories have been for fourteen years. It is also possible that she will also dodge the obvious questions – How much will taxation be increased by in the Autumn Budget and which taxes – wealth tax, income tax, VAT? A wealth tax would be very anti-business, when the Government needs to encourage investment. Over 10,000 millionaires have left the UK and more will follow unless attitudes towards the creation of wealth and consequently jobs, changes. Labour governments have shown little appetite for cutting costs and especially welfare benefits or workers' rights and it's hard to see this one changing its spots. On the positive side, the Chancellor is likely to offer an easing of regulatory requirements for mortgages to stimulate the housing market. Friday's GDP number of -0.1% for May, following -0.3% in April made dispiriting reading. In fairness GDP was up 0.5% for the last quarter. Poor manufacturing data was one of the main reason growth was negative last month. No decent person on God's earth wants those with disabilities or genuine mental health to suffer. Like many others I was amazed that the Government had to do a 'U'-turn' on its recent welfare Bill. The sum involved, £5 billion, is but a mere bagatelle in the grand scheme of the total cost to the exchequer. The total cost of welfare in the UK for 2025/26 is estimated to be £303.3 billion, up from £228.7 billion in 2019 and from £247.4 billion in 2020/1. Of course Covid 19 played an active role in increasing costs, but we need a reality check before it's too late. Many respected economists with established track records, venture to suggest the figure will increase to £375 billion by 2029/30 – unsustainable in my humble opinion. The direction of travel the UK economy is headed in, offers scant encouragement. With the cost of welfare at eye-wateringly dizzy and unsustainable levels, growth at best will be anaemic for the next decade - 1% plus a bit at best. The prospects for the future look unappetising. There are no ministers with any business experience on the Government's front bench. Whilst the Government should be trying to unravel the colossal welfare burden in the years to come, it has failed to grasp the nettle – how to stimulate business and investment activity to create growth. Maybe the Chancellor's speech will offer a smidgen of hope! At present, risk appetite is all but at zero. Brexit should have encourage copious companies to come to London, by being offered aggressive tax incentives. Stamp duty on trading shares should have been abolished. Better tax concessions for start-up businesses should have been implemented. We shall be waiting with bated breath to hear what the Chancellor has to say tonight. Let's hope it is not a replica of another 'Pandora's Box.' Encouraging savers to put their pension funds in unquoted companies or any companies that have not been recommended is not the way forward. I am no economist, but there is one brutal fact staring everyone in the face on top of the cost of welfare, but closely associated with it. That is there are 9.2 million economically inactive people in this country – circa 21% of the working-age population. The cost of that is unsustainable. There are only two answers to the cost of this parlous state of affairs – increased taxation and or dramatically cut costs. This is not a right-wing rant. This is a reality check. The Labour is not the only government to blame for this crisis. The Tories, allowing for the fact that Covid 19 cost circa £400 billion, to keep the country in near enough full employment during those dark days of 2020-21, did little to deal with what is euphemistically referred to as a weeping carbuncle, better known as a bloated wasteful public sector. So many people, who rightly get huge benefits from free education for their children and free health from the NHS, still think the country owes them more. This is insanity. We are on the road to penury. Debt is now approaching £2.9 trillion, or around 100% of GDP, a level not seen since the early 1960s. Specifically, public sector net debt was equivalent to 96.4% of GDP at the end of May 2025. This level has fluctuated, reaching a high of 210.7% after the Second World War in 1948, and a low of 21.6% in 1990. The Federation of Small Business believe that 27% of their owners fear their operations will be closed, shrink or be sold, such is the lack of confidence in the future, which is at its lowest level since 2008. Only 25% believe their businesses will expand. The concern is such that many believe that 200,000 jobs could be lost. Though we hope the PM, the Chancellor and the Government will inspire us in the months to come, the larger than life crisis of the welfare, debt and those economically inactive is not going to go away. The problem needs to be addressed now. If not, it may not take too long before the gilt market takes its toll on the government again, which will just exacerbate this acute crisis. The Government must have the drains up to dramatically cut unnecessary waste and profligacy, focusing on those who do not deserve help. Sign in to access your portfolio
Arab News
2 days ago
- Business
- Arab News
UK's steady, silent decline a worrying echo of the 1970s
In July 2025, the question of whether the UK is in decline no longer feels rhetorical in nature, it feels like resigned recognition of the fact. One year into Prime Minister Keir Starmer's Labour government, the chaos and dysfunction of the Johnson-Truss era of Conservative rule have faded. But so too has momentum. A brittle, overstretched economic model, persistent underinvestment and political caution have combined to leave the country in a state of quiet regression. Britain in 2025 bears an uncomfortable resemblance to that of the 1970s, not in terms of the headlines but in the undercurrents. Back then, the UK faced a decade of stagflation, industrial unrest, a weakening global role and rising domestic disillusionment. The country suffered a brain drain, watched investors flee and relied on an International Monetary Fund bailout to steady its finances. By 1979, it had become, in the words of many commentators, 'the sick man of Europe.' Fast forward to 2025 and economic growth once again remains stagnant, with gross domestic product expected to rise by a mere 1.2 percent. While the IMF is not directly involved this time, the UK's fiscal landscape nevertheless appears increasingly precarious. National debt has soared to 105 percent of GDP, taxes are set to climb further and rising interest costs threaten to outstrip growth over the next five years. Inflation has subsided, yet public services continue to face significant strains. The Labour Party has managed to stabilize political tensions but failed to inspire confidence in its ability to achieve long-term revitalization. Taxation levels have reached historic postwar highs, with threshold freezes subtly shifting middle earners into higher tax brackets. Much like during the 1970s, the middle class feels excessively taxed, inadequately rewarded and uncertain about the future. And so, the similarities between the two eras deepen. In the late 1970s, the middle class, once the engine of postwar prosperity, similarly found itself squeezed between rising prices and falling state performance. Half a century later, the same group is once again under siege. Wages are stagnant in real terms, mortgage payments have surged, rising energy bills are biting deeper into family budgets, and private education and childcare have become luxuries. Homeownership, a once-solid symbol of middle-class stability, is increasingly out of reach. Professional families now live precariously on credit, vulnerable to shocks and increasingly disillusioned with the political class. The outcome of all this? A demographic shift reminiscent of the brain drain witnessed in the 1970s. This decline, driven mainly by reduced work opportunities and study visa allocations, underscores a troubling issue: the UK is losing its upward potential while experiencing a contraction of its talent pool. London, once a magnet for international capital, entrepreneurs and academics, is now seeing its allure dim. Paris, Frankfurt and even Amsterdam are claiming gains in finance and tech. The City of London remains resilient but its future feels encumbered by Brexit, bureaucracy and uncertainty. An exodus from the London Stock Exchange marks a pivotal moment for the UK's financial sector, the Confederation of British Industry has warned. Since 2016, 213 firms have delisted amid a wave of overseas listings, private takeovers and waning investor interest in UK stocks. Since Brexit, exports of UK goods have lagged behind its G7 peers, investment has slowed and regulatory divergence has raised costs, cumulatively undermining business confidence, cross-border trade and the UK's global competitiveness. Meanwhile, both middle-class professionals and high-net-worth individuals have increasingly relocated to Canada, Australia, the UAE, Singapore and the US, driven in part by tax pressures and the erosion of the UK's 'non-dom' regime. It is a quiet exodus reminiscent of the 1970s. Back then, disillusionment sparked radical realignment and Thatcherism eventually swept away the postwar consensus in favor of market liberalism. In 2025, the response is more muted. The Reform UK party is rising on the political right, while Labour governs by managerialism. The country has chosen order over ambition. But stability, on its own, is not prosperity. Even Britain's foreign policy posture echoes the previous decades. The country is active on the war in Ukraine, committed to NATO and respected diplomatically. But its economic weight no longer matches its strategic vocabulary. As in the 1970s, the UK of today retains influence through alliances, not autonomy. London, once a magnet for international capital, entrepreneurs and academics, is now seeing its allure dim. Dr. John Sfakianakis There are differences between the eras, too, of course. Britain in 2025 is more diverse, more peaceful and less industrial than it was in the 1970s. The labor market is more flexible, inflation is less volatile. But the psychological parallels are stark. Now, as then, there exists a pervasive sense that the country is falling behind, that its best days might be behind it and that no political force has yet made a convincing case for how to reverse the slide. Driven more by ideology than evidence, the UK, unlike Germany or Canada, is now one of the few countries to impose a 20 percent value-added tax on private education, a policy that risks placing strain on the state sector without meaningfully reducing inequality. What is striking is not the urgency of the decline, it is its normalization. As it did in the late 1970s, Britain is adjusting to lowered expectations; it still functions but it no longer aspires. And while it continues to avoid collapse, it increasingly tolerates stagnation and mediocrity. The lesson of the 1970s was not just about endurance, it was about transformation. That decade ended with a revolution in Britain's political economy, one that reshaped its state, markets and global role for a generation. In 2025, the question is not whether the UK can survive its decline, it is whether the nation can find the courage to confront it. Britain today has the institutions, human capital and democratic depth to recover. But that recovery will not come from managerial politics or minimal policy. It will require imagination and the willingness to once again ask what kind of country it wants to be. Decline, when it is met with denial, becomes destiny. Acknowledged, it can become a moment of aspiration. That was the lesson of the 1970s. It remains the lesson today. To reverse this present course, Britain will need more than competent administration; it must abandon its reliance on short-term fiscal management and embrace a long-term economic and institutional strategy grounded in investment, productivity and social cohesion. To revitalize the nation, the development of a fresh growth strategy, one that recognizes the difference between stable GDP figures and actual economic vitality, is critical. The stock market alone does not represent the health of the economy. Secondly, comprehensive reform of the tax system is overdue. Threshold freezes and stealth increases have disproportionately hurt the middle and aspiring classes, while failing to restore fiscal strength. Thirdly, the state must regain its strategic capability, not in the form of centralized bureaucracy but in institutional capacity. Fourthly, a radical approach to human capital is essential. From early childhood to lifelong learning, Britain's skills development system is fragmented and underfunded. Finally, a national narrative is needed. For too long, the UK's political class has offered the rhetoric of survival and slogans of heritage, rather than a persuasive account of the future. Britain's institutions remain intact. Its rule of law remains strong. Its people are creative, tolerant and adaptive. But these strengths must be mobilized, through ideas, investment and leadership that transcend the default settings of recent decades. It was once said that Britain 'muddles through' — but muddling has become a strategy, and it is one that can no longer cope with the demands of a complex and shifting world. The 1970s did not mark the end of the UK, they were a turning point. What followed was a redefinition of the state, the market and Britain's place in the world. In 2025, another pivot is required. As Shakespeare warned, the fault lies not in fate but in our own hands. The UK's decline is not preordained, but the result of strategic drift and political timidity.
Sky News
5 days ago
- Business
- Sky News
UK economy remains fragile - and there are risks and traps lurking around the corner
Monthly Gross Domestic Product (GDP) figures are volatile and, on their own, don't tell us much. However, the picture emerging a year since the election of the Labour government is not hugely comforting. This is a government that promised to turbocharge economic growth, the key to improving livelihoods and the public finances. Instead, the economy is mainly flatlining. Output shrank in May by 0.1%. That followed a 0.3% drop in April. Ministers were celebrating a few months ago as data showed the economy grew by 0.7% in the first quarter. Hangover from artificial growth However, the subsequent data has shown us that much of that growth was artificial, with businesses racing to get orders out of the door to beat the possible introduction of tariffs. Property transactions were also brought forward to beat stamp duty changes. In April, we experienced the hangover as orders and industrial output dropped. Services also struggled as demand for legal and conveyancing services dropped after the stamp duty changes. Many of those distortions have now been smoothed out, but the manufacturing sector still struggled in May. Signs of recovery Manufacturing output fell by 1% in May, but more up-to-date data suggests the sector is recovering. "We expect both cars and pharma output to improve as the UK-US trade deal comes into force and the volatility unwinds," economists at Pantheon Macroeconomics said. Meanwhile, the services sector eked out growth of 0.1%. A 2.7% month-to-month fall in retail sales suppressed growth in the sector, but that should improve with hot weather likely to boost demand at restaurants and pubs. Struggles ahead It is unlikely, however, to massively shift the dial for the economy, the kind of shift the Labour government has promised and needs in order to give it some breathing room against its fiscal rules. The economy remains fragile, and there are risks and traps lurking around the corner. 7:09 Concerns that the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, is considering tax hikes could weigh on consumer confidence, at a time when businesses are already scaling back hiring because of national insurance tax hikes. Inflation is also expected to climb in the second half of the year, further weighing on consumers and businesses.
