UK politics - live: Barclay says ‘risk’ patients dying unnecessarily due to NHS delays

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Police have passed a file of evidence to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) over an alleged cash-for-honours scandal involving one of King Charles III’s charities.

The Metropolitan Police confirmed that it passed the dossier to prosecutors at the end of October.

In February, the force launched an investigation after newspapers reported allegations that a Saudi billionaire donor to The Prince’s Foundation was offered help securing a knighthood.

Lamiat Sabin reports:

Women are referred to directly in the autumn statement documents once, writes Jess Philips. A fleeting and passing mention of how their presence in the labour force has increased since 2008. Nothing about how women are more likely to be in part-time work, or that caring responsibilities are more likely to fall to them – and might have something to do with productivity problems or welfare dependency. Nothing about how the vast majority of those in wage-squeezed public sector work are women. Economically, their specific circumstances are of little concern, it would seem.

Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper has called for a “full investigation” into the death of a man who was staying at the Manston migrant processing centre.

The Labour MP said: “We send deepest condolences to the family of the man who has died after staying at Manston.

“There will need to be a full investigation into what has happened in this tragic case.”

An asylum seeker support group has called for urgent action to overhaul the immigration system following the death of a man who was staying at the Manston migrant processing centre.

The Home Office said a person, understood to be male, died in hospital on Saturday morning after “becoming unwell”.

Freedom From Torture, which provides psychological support to asylum seekers, called for a “compassionate asylum system”.

It posted on Twitter: “We’ve said it before: this government’s cruelty to refugees isn’t accidental - it’s the whole point.

“We need a compassionate asylum system that works. NOW.”

Reducing the amount of time spent by ministers on the daily broadcast round might seem like a good idea, but Kate Devlin isn’t convinced.

A Union boss said he was left “incandescent” by comments made by health secretary Steve Barclay over tackling the backlogs in the NHS.

Gary Smith, who leads the GMB trade union, told the BBC’s Laura Kuenessberg: “I mean this is deluded and frankly pretty dishonest stuff from the secretary of state, the ambulance service, the health service and care were on their knees going to the pandemic and things have got worse.

“Our care homes were turned into morgues during the pandemic because of mismanagement and cuts people are dying because of cuts in services,” he says.

There is a “material risk” patients are dying unnecessarily because of long ambulance delays, the health secretary has admitted.

Steve Barclay was also accused of “frankly pretty dishonest stuff” by the leader of the one of the country’s largest unions as he defended the actions ministers are taking on the health service .

Asked if people were dying because of ambulance delays, Mr Barclay conceded: “If there is a delay in an ambulance getting to someone in terms of unmet need, then obviously that is a material risk”.

Our Whitehall editor Kate Devlin has more:

Health Secretary Steve Barclay has admitted it was a difficult decision to delay reforms to social care, but insisted that choice had been made in order that the government could focus on fixing issues brought on by the pandemic.

Speaking to the BBC’s Laura Kuenessberg, he said there were 13,500 people in hospital who are ready to go home but can’t because there are not enough care packages for them, which was having a knock-on effect on ambulance waiting times and the flow of patients through hospitals.

He continued by saying the primary cause of people being delayed from leaving hospital is social care which is why the government is putting its investment there.

Mr Barclay later admitted there were “severe pressures” on the NHS but said the origin of those pressures was the coronavirus pandemic, rejecting Ms Kuenessberg’s citing years of underfunding as a primary factor.