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STORY

Andy Burnham has stepped back from earlier calls to abolish the no recourse to public funds rule as scrutiny grows over his policy positions during the Makerfield by-election campaign. The rule prevents many people who move to the UK from accessing benefits or public housing before they are granted settled status.

Burnham had previously called for the policy to be abolished and had supported changes to give non-UK nationals facing homelessness at least a minimum safety net. His allies now say he supports an immigration system based on both control and compassion and broadly backs the direction of the Home Secretary’s proposed reforms, while wanting consultation on complex areas such as settled status rules.

The shift matters because the Makerfield contest is widely seen as a test of Labour’s future direction as well as a by-election. Burnham has presented his candidacy as a chance to change Labour if he returns to Westminster, while immigration remains a central political issue in Labour’s contest with Reform UK.

STORY

The Environment Agency has opened a consultation on its draft decision to grant a permit variation to Drax Power Limited in Yorkshire. The company has applied to change its environmental permit to incorporate carbon capture at its bioenergy plant near Selby.

The agency said it was currently minded to issue the variation after considering comments and evidence from two earlier public consultations. It said it could not find a reason to refuse the application at this stage, but had not made a final decision and would consider further responses before doing so.

The consultation will remain open until 24 June 2026. Drax wants to capture carbon dioxide produced during electricity generation and transport it by pipeline for permanent storage under the North Sea, making the permit decision an important part of the wider debate about bioenergy, carbon capture and the Government’s clean power strategy.

STORY

The UK Health Security Agency has warned that Salmonella cases in England have reached their highest level in a decade. New data showed cases rose slightly from 10,389 in 2024 to 10,406 in 2025, while Campylobacter cases remained high, falling only slightly from 70,392 to 69,394 over the same period.

UKHSA said both infections are usually caught through contaminated food, including poultry, meat, eggs, raw fruit or vegetables and unpasteurised milk products. The agency is urging the public to practise good food hygiene, particularly when preparing raw and cooked foods, and said young children, older adults and people with weakened immune systems were at higher risk of serious illness.

The figures also showed listeriosis remained broadly stable, with 181 cases reported in England and Wales in 2025, compared with 179 in 2024. UKHSA said listeriosis could cause serious illness in older people, immunocompromised people and pregnant women, with pregnancy-associated cases continuing to pose a risk of stillbirth or miscarriage.

STORY

The Intellectual Property Office has issued new guidance designed to help consumers avoid counterfeit goods when buying second-hand fashion online. The Government said figures released today showed one in four buyers of second-hand clothing had unknowingly purchased a counterfeit item online in the past year.

The guidance, developed with support from Vinted, forms part of wider work between Government, online marketplaces and enforcement bodies to tackle counterfeit sellers. Officials said one in three second-hand clothing buyers admitted they did not check authenticity before making a purchase, while nearly 60% of those who bought fakes had experienced negative consequences such as poor quality, refund disputes or rapid deterioration.

The Government said younger shoppers were particularly exposed, with almost half of 18 to 24-year-olds having encountered counterfeit designer goods on resale platforms. The announcement follows police and Trading Standards raids in which more than £4 million worth of luxury designer goods were seized.

STORY

British food and farming businesses are being told to prepare for changes under the planned UK-EU sanitary and phytosanitary agreement, with ministers expecting the new arrangements to take effect from mid-2027. The agreement is intended to reduce routine paperwork and checks on agrifood products moving between Great Britain, Northern Ireland and the European Union.

The Government has updated guidance for businesses on how to prepare for the SPS agreement, which covers areas including animal and plant products, food and feed safety, organics, pesticides, marketing standards and food labelling. The deal is expected to ease the movement of meat, dairy, fish, eggs and other regulated products, though not all technical details have yet been finalised.

The issue is politically significant because it forms part of Keir Starmer’s wider attempt to reset relations with the EU while staying outside the single market and customs union. Supporters of closer alignment argue that reducing border friction will help exporters and food producers, while critics are likely to scrutinise the extent of any continuing regulatory alignment with Brussels.

STORY

Thousands of patients with musculoskeletal conditions are to receive faster treatment and employment support under an England-wide expansion of an NHS pilot scheme. The Government said £3.2 million would be used to roll out the Getting It Right First Time musculoskeletal community programme, following a pilot that cut 18-week waiting lists by around 20% in participating areas.

The programme will support community appointment days and specialist clinics bringing together clinicians, mental health support, physical activity services and employment advice. Ministers said the approach was intended to help people receive diagnosis and treatment more quickly while also supporting those whose health problems are keeping them out of work.

Musculoskeletal conditions affect nearly 18 million people in England and are among the leading causes of health-related economic inactivity. Sharon Hodgson, the Minister for Public Health and Prevention, said the NHS should support economic growth by helping people get care more quickly and return to normal life

where possible.

STORY

The Government has said Britain recorded its strongest year for solar deployment in 2025, with 269,000 installations completed across the UK. The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero said around 255,000 of those installations were rooftop solar, meaning that homes, businesses and other buildings accounted for at least 95% of new solar deployment.

Ministers said the figures showed households and businesses were responding to energy security concerns and volatile fossil fuel prices, particularly following the war in Iran. Official figures also showed nearly 23,000 new installations in April 2026, with nine of the ten strongest months for solar deployment having taken place within the past year.

Ed Miliband, the Energy Secretary, said the figures showed Britain was generating more clean power and reducing exposure to international fossil fuel markets. The announcement comes as the Government continues to argue that its clean power programme is central to energy security, lower bills and industrial growth, despite continued political pressure over the cost and pace of net zero policies.

STORY

Alan Milburn has warned that the rising number of young people not in education, employment or training has become one of the most serious challenges facing the country. His interim report said more than one million young people are now in the NEET category, with the UK performing worse than comparable European countries and the problem increasingly linked to ill health, disability and poor access to vocational education.

Milburn said the issue should not be treated as a blame game about immigration, arguing that there was no evidence that migration levels had caused the increase. He said falling migration could instead create an opportunity for employers and Government to focus more seriously on helping young people into work, but warned that employers would need more support if they were to hire and train people with little work experience.

Debbie Abrahams, chair of the Work and Pensions Committee, said the findings underlined the scale of the challenge facing ministers. The report adds pressure on the Government to bring together welfare, skills, health and local labour market policy, particularly as the Treasury seeks ways to reduce long-term benefit spending without relying solely on cuts to eligibility.