Winter fuel pay decision ‘brutal’ and could lead to deaths, says Labour MP

The Labour MP Rosie Duffield says scrapping the winter fuel payment for all pensioners in England and Wales is a “brutal” decision, which, she fears, could lead to people to die.The government announced in July plans to scrap winter fuel payments of up to £300 for pensioners in England and Wales unless they are in receipt of means-tested benefits. Up to 10 million people are at risk of losing the payment, which was introduced by the Labour government in 1997.MPs are due to vote on the plan on Tuesday. A number of Labour MPs have signed an early day motion asking for the change to be reconsidered

Keir Starmer to meet Joe Biden for first time since president pulled out of race

Keir Starmer will meet Joe Biden for the first time since the US president announced he would not run for re-election.The prime minister’s visit to the White House – Starmer’s second since taking office – will take place next Friday . His first visit took place at the Nato summit days after Labour won the election, when questions were raging about the US president’s age and health and Starmer described him as being “on good form”.Since then the vice-president, Kamala Harris, has been formally chosen as the Democratic nominee.A statement from the White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, said the leaders would have “an in-depth discussion on a range of global issues of mutual interest”

It’s zero hour: TUC to tell Labour it’s time to deliver workers’ new deal

Twelve months ago, when the TUC met for its annual bash in Liverpool as Labour stood on the brink of power, Keir Starmer’s message to union leaders was “eyes on the prize”.Fresh from thrashing out the details of Labour’s workers’ rights package – the new deal for working people – in late-night talks, union leaders were upbeat.As this year’s TUC congress opens in Brighton on Sunday, the backdrop is a transformed political landscape – and the unions will be reminding the government they expect it to deliver.Deputy prime minister Angela Rayner has promised an employment bill, implementing key aspects of the new deal for working people, within 100 days of coming to power: a deadline that will expire in mid-October.As the days tick down, business has been sounding the alarm about aspects of the plans, which include banning “exploitative” zero-hours contracts, outlawing fire and rehire, and getting rid of the three-day wait before workers are entitled to sick pay

Furore over Labour cronies ‘no worse than Tories’ in government, allies say

“Of course we were always going to get ‘our people’ in! It’s what you do,” says one bemused veteran of the 1997 Labour government.Old political hands regard the furore over Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves installing “cronies” into government jobs as par for the course – and certainly no worse than what the Tories have done for more than a decade.But that argument has not helped stem the criticism, given Starmer’s government was set up claiming to hold itself to higher standards than its predecessors.It started with one party donor and businessman, Ian Corfield, getting a getting civil service job in the Treasury, before it emerged a few other Labour-linked figures had been given more junior government posts.There were reports of some departments replacing non-executive boards previously appointed by the Tories, and a further outcry over giving party fundraiser and Labour peer Waheed Alli a pass to No 10

Diane Abbott on her standoff with Labour: ‘It was a question of who blinked first. And they did’

In Diane Abbott’s Westminster office, alongside a picture of her with Jesse Jackson and the framed front page of The Voice from 1987 declaring “A New Era” with a picture of Abbott, Bernie Grant, Paul Boateng and Keith Vaz – the four newly elected Black MPs – there are a number of large empty packing boxes. Abbott points at them and laughs. “Ordinarily I wouldn’t bother. But when they called the election we didn’t know whether I would be allowed to stand, so I had to get ready just in case,” she says.It has been a heady few months for Abbott