UK politics: Kendall says ‘you must work if you can work’ as she warns benefits bill set to soar by £26bn

Watch live as the Foreign Office is questioned on the UK’s efforts to support Ukraine in its conflict with Russia and assistance with the humanitarian situation in the Middle East.

Ministers are likely to be asked what diplomatic steps they are taking with international counterparts to help secure the release of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza and what they are doing to help improve the humanitarian situation in the Middle East.

A former Lord Chief Justice has said that “no-one has grappled with the detail” of the impact that assisted dying legislation could have on the court system.

Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd, who held the role in England and Wales between 2013 and 2017, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme “the process and the impact on the court system is really something about which there should be information before we decide in principle to proceed” with the plans.

MPs will vote on the proposed legislation on Friday following a debate in the House of Commons.

According to the plans laid out earlier this month, the legislation will mean that the process of assisted dying must involve two independent doctors being satisfied that the person is eligible. A person must be terminally ill and expected to die within six months.

Further to this, a High Court judge must hear from at least one of the doctors regarding the application, and can also ask questions of the person who is dying as well as anybody else they consider to be appropriate.

Lord Thomas told the BBC programme on Tuesday: “It seems to me that the one really difficult question that hasn’t been addressed in this is how is the judge to proceed, as it cannot possibly be a rubber-stamping exercise.

“There has to be a process, by which the evidence is put before the judge, and the judge will need help - will need either the official solicitor or some other body that can bring the evidence before him.”

He added: “What is not possible is to assess from the Bill the impact this has.”

The judicial process is an “integral part of the process, in working out precisely how it’s to be done”, Lord Thomas said.

“As far as I can see, no-one has grappled with the detail. And of course, as it’s an integral part of the Bill, you can’t say, ‘well, look, this is to be sorted out later’. It seems to me it needs to be grappled with now.”

Sir Ed Davey challenged Sir Keir Starmer to a “1v1” FIFA match in a bizarre TikTok dancing video filmed outside the Houses of Parliament.

The Liberal Democrats leader posted a series of videos asking the prime minister to face him.

The first clip was captioned that it would be for charity.

In a third video, Sir Ed danced next to images of Mr Bean and Shrek.

It received mixed reactions on social media, with one viewer commenting: “Currently in one of the darkest economic and social periods of British history and this is what politicians are doing.”

The Independent has reached out to the Liberal Democrats for comment.

As part of their new plan, Labour says the Jobcentre system will be “transformed” into the new national jobs and careers service, pledging £55 million of investment.

This means that 600 Jobcentre Plus locations will be merged with the existing national careers service to create a more centralised public service.

It will be radically different to how Jobcentres work at the moment, the paper promises. Instead of focusing on just monitoring and managing benefit claims, there will be a renewed focus on skills and careers.

This will be supported by a trial of the latest technologies to support DWP workers. Labour says AI will free up work coach time to “provide up-to date information” on jobs, skills and other support.

This will give them the flexibility to offer a more personalised service to jobseekers, bringing an end to “tick box culture.”

The trial will also look at how the DWP can bring services like CV advice and job adverts online, and make them easier to access.

Sir Keir Starmer chaired Cabinet at Downing Street this morning, with a number of familiar faces turning up to No 10, including deputy prime minister Angela Rayner and work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall.

Sir Keir Starmer has ruled out calling a general election after a petition calling for another vote was signed by more than two million people.

“I would like there to be another general election,” the petition reads.

“I believe the current Labour government have gone back on the promises they laid out in the lead-up to the last election.”

Asked about the petition on ITV’s This Morning programme on Monday, Sir Keir dismissed calls for an election by saying that it is “not how our system works”.

The petition comes amid growing backlash over Labour’s budget, which has sparked controversy for hikes to national insurance and extension of inheritance tax to include farms, among other unpopular proposals which aim to fill the spending black hole.

Among the famous faces to have shared the petition are billionaire Trump-ally Elon Musk, who has repeatedly criticised Sir Keir since he came to power, and British actor Michael Caine.

Employment minister Alison McGovern has said that it is a “good thing” that people are “able to be more open about mental health” at work and that blaming people for their mental health conditions is not “the right approach”.

She told Times Radio: “I think that it’s a good thing that people are able to be more open about mental health conditions in work, and that we understand more about how people’s mental ill health can affect them in work.

“I don’t think having a go at people and blaming them is the right approach.”

She said that she thinks there should be “a culture where we understand people’s mental health challenges and think about the things that we can do to improve our mental health” at work such as good management and flexibility when somebody experiences a personal life event.

“Those are the things that can help tackle mental ill health, and then we will be able to improve our productivity, which will be good for individuals and good for the economy,” she said.

Sir Keir Starmer has been criticised for failing to hit back at Elon Musk’s persistent attacks on the UK government.

The owner of X, previously Twitter, has described Sir Keir’s administration of going “full Stalin” over inheritance tax proposals for farmers.

He was also outspoken during the summer riots and shared the right-wing “two-tier” policing conspiracy theory.

Carla Denyer MP, co-leader of the Green Party, told HuffPost UK it was a “no brainer” and in the UK’s interests for the prime minister to respond to Mr Musk.

She said: “Elon Musk’s ramblings are getting more outlandish and alarming by the day.

“And he will no doubt be demanding his reward for helping Trump back into the White House.

“The lack of criticism from the UK government over both Trump’s and Musk’s recent comments suggest Starmer may be hedging his bets on which way to turn - across the pond to the White House, or over the channel to Brussels.

“This should be a no-brainer.

“Our economic interests, our core values and ethics, not to mention our joint commitment to tackle the climate and nature crises, mean we must distance ourself from the Trump-Musk axis and strengthen our relationship with our European partners.”

The Conservatives have criticised the government’s plan to cut the welfare bill and said they are dodging difficult decisions on sickness benefits.

Helen Whately, the shadow work and pensions secretary, said: “This latest announcement shows that Labour are not prepared to take the tough but necessary choices to bring down the benefits bill.

There is no attempt to match the £12bn in welfare savings we promised in our manifesto. They have even dodged the difficult decisions on sickness benefits, which are needed to make the welfare system sustainable in the long term.

To get people off benefits you also need jobs for them to go to. But Labour’s disastrous anti-growth budget is already making businesses think twice about taking people on.”

Employment minister Alison McGovern has been on the media round this morning talking about the government’s plans to slash the welfare bill and get Britain back to work.

Sky’s Kay Burley pressed the minister on if people who cheat the benefits system are criminals. Ms McGovern responded that there was some “dreadful criminal activity” while the Tories were in power, including theft by groups of organised criminals.

Asked about the public more generally, she said that nobody should be signing themselves off sick from work if they are not unwell.

She told the broadcaster: “Unfortunately, people have stolen from the state, and we’re bringing forward proposals to deal with that.”