Summary of the day …
The UK education secretary has been forced to defend remarks saying that in 10 years’ time, nobody would be looking at the grades teenagers earned today. Gillian Keegan, the sixth Conservative education secretary since the 2019 general election, told reporters: “It is true, it is just real,” after saying: “What will people ask you in 10 years’ time? They won’t ask you anything about your A-level grades in 10 years’ time. They will ask you about other things you have done since then: what you have done in the work place, what you did at university. And then, after a period of time, they don’t even ask you what you did at university.”
The shadow education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, said: “I think the comments from the secretary of state are incredibly rude and dismissive. This is a nerve-racking day for young people who’ve worked incredibly hard. The last thing that they need is the secretary of state offering comments like that. She’s talking down England’s young people, and she needs to apologise.”
A-level grades awarded to students in England have shown their biggest drop after results plummeted across the board in line with the government’s policy of enforcing a return to pre-pandemic grading. England’s results showed a large gap in top grades compared with Wales and Northern Ireland, which were also announced today. Northern Ireland awarded A*-A grades to 37.5% of its A-level entries, while Wales awarded 34% – in stark contrast to the 26.5% in England. Scottish pupils got their results on 8 August, which also showed a fall.
The government has confirmed that seven NHS England cancer targets are to be scrapped, as the service moves to having three performance standards from October. The new guidelines will move away from what the government termed the “outdated” two-week wait target. Currently that two-week wait target is not being met.
The health minister Will Quince has claimed the government is scrapping the two-week cancer target in NHS England after clinical consultations. He said: “The biggest factor in people surviving cancer is the stage at which they are diagnosed. We have listened to the advice from clinical experts and NHS England to reform cancer standards which will speed up diagnosis for patients.”
Angela Rayner has insisted that SNP calls for employment law to be devolved are not needed. The deputy Labour leader met apprentices in Glasgow as she set out her party’s plans to enhance workers’ rights. They include protection against unfair dismissal, sick pay from day one and banning zero-hour contracts and fire and rehire policies. Earlier, Scotland’s first minister Humza Yousaf had asked: “Will Labour commit to full devolution of employment law should they form the next government?” Rayner responded: “They won’t need it because I want employment law across the whole of the UK to be uplifted and better.”
Rishi Sunak has spoken on the phone today to Saudi Arabia’s crown prince and prime minister, Mohammed bin Salman. The Downing Street readout of the call stated that Sunak and Bin Salman “looked forward to meeting in person at the earliest opportunity”. In July the Guardian reported that the prince had been invited to the UK for an official visit in late autumn, which would be the first such visit by the heir to the Saudi throne since he was accused of masterminding the killing of Jamal Khashoggi. The journalist’s body was hacked to pieces with a bone-saw at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
The Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesperson, Layla Moran, said it “beggars belief that Rishi Sunak is rolling out the red carpet for Mohammed bin Salman”. Labour’s Angela Rayner said Sunak should use any visit to “have a conversation about human rights”.
The DUP’s Jeffrey Donaldson has claimed that the party has been having “meaningful engagement” with the UK government over the restoration of the Stormont assembly, while also criticising the Irish taoiseach Leo Varadkar’s recent interventions as “unhelpful”.
The government has been criticised for binning food waste legislation that campaigners say could have reduced food prices and curbed climate change. The policy would have made food waste reporting mandatory for large and medium-sized businesses in England.
The government collected more than £270m from the plastic packaging tax (PPT) during its first year, official figures show. It was £41m more than the Treasury predicted.
Four people have been detained in France today after six people died and more than 50 were rescued when a boat carrying people to the UK sank in the Channel at the weekend.
Pub bosses have called on the government to loosen licensing rules for Sunday opening hours and alcohol sales for the Women’s World Cup final. Industry bosses have said licensing rules could mean some venues will be unable to serve pints or open early for fans on the day. England kick off against Spain at 11am.
That is it from me today. We will be closing the blog shortly. I will be back with you again tomorrow. Take care, see you soon.
P.S. There’s still time to pop over and do my Thursday quiz.
Updated
The Scottish Tory leader, Douglas Ross, has rejected the assertion he is avoiding the Rutherglen and Hamilton West constituency.
While Ross was visiting a business at Prestwick airport in Ayrshire he said he was “absolutely not” avoiding the seat, saying there had not actually been a byelection called yet, and when it was, he would be campaigning with his candidate, Thomas Kerr.
He told PA Media: “I’ve confirmed I’ll be there supporting Thomas, as I say, he’s already launched his campaign, he’s already doing activity there with our local campaigners and I’ll be very proud to support Thomas in that byelection.”
Responding to recent polling figures he said: “These opinion polls go up and down, I don’t get too excited when the polls go up, I don’t get too demotivated when they go down.”
Asked if he was still the right man to lead the Tories north of the border, Ross said: “Yes, absolutely.”
Updated
The number of babies born in England and Wales in a year dropped in 2022 to the lowest level in two decades, according to official figures.
It follows the recent trend of decreasing live births, which had been the case before the pandemic, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.
The number has been steadily decreasing for the past decade – returning to roughly the level seen in the early 2000s. It has recently recovered twice from relative lows – on that occasion, and in the mid-1970s – before reaching relative highs in 1990 and 2012.
Our police and crime correspondent Vikram Dodd writes:
The Metropolitan police has won its battle to stop attending most of the mental health calls it receives after a tense behind-the-scenes row with the health service, the Guardian has learned.
From 31 October it will start implementing a scheme that aims to stop officers being diverted from crime fighting, to do work health staff are better trained to do.
The Guardian in May revealed that the Met commissioner, Sir Mark Rowley, had written to health and social care leaders setting a deadline of 31 August – leading to furious reaction from health chiefs who told the commissioner it could not be done.
The agreement sees Rowley push his deadline back by two months. In return, the health service will not publicly criticise the police decision, and will try to put measures in place to pick up the work.
A formal announcement is expected as soon as tomorrow and follows weeks of tense talks.
Read more of Vikram Dodd’s report here: Met wins battle with NHS over not attending mental health calls
Updated
DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson has claimed that the party has been having “meaningful engagement” with the UK government over the restoration of the Stormont Assembly, while also criticising taoiseach Leo Varadkar’s interventions as “unhelpful”.
Speaking after a meeting between Stormont parties and the head of the Northern Ireland civil service Jayne Brady at Stormont Castle on Thursday, Donaldson said: “There is now meaningful engagement. The Government is responding to the points that we had put forward in our paper, that we presented to them some time ago.
“So I think we are now making progress, we are now getting down to addressing the issues that need to be resolved.”
PA Media reports Donaldson said his party wanted to see legislation that would “underpin Northern Ireland’s ability to trade with the rest of the UK, and to do so in a way that ensures our businesses have the access they need to that market, that fundamentally important market”.
He criticised Varadkar’s suggestion last week that if Stormont was not restored by the autumn there could be talks about potential alternatives as “unhelpful”, adding: “We’re not planning for failure. We want to get this right.”
Angela Rayner has insisted that SNP calls for employment law to be devolved are not needed while she was visiting Glasgow today.
The deputy Labour leader met apprentices in Glasgow as she set out her party’s plans to enhance workers’ rights. They include protection against unfair dismissal, sick pay from day one and banning zero-hour contracts and fire and rehire policies.
First minister Humza Yousaf had said on social media earlier: “I would remind Angela Rayner that we have engaged constructively with trade unions. That is why we haven’t had any NHS strikes in Scotland, in stark comparison to Labour-run Wales. Will Labour commit to full devolution of employment law should they form the next government?”
PA Media reports that during her visit to the Royal Strathclyde Blindcraft Industries Training College on Thursday, Rayner said: “They won’t need it because I want employment law across the whole of the United Kingdom to be uplifted and better. That’s why we’ve got a new deal for working people. I want a new deal for working people to be here in Scotland so we have those protections of employment law.”
She added employment practices would be “in effect across the board” rather than split off across the four UK nations. And she said she did not want to see “disparities” across the different parts of the UK.
The SNP’s social justice spokesperson at Westminster, David Linden countered “Neither the Tories or Labour at Westminster can be trusted to protect these hard-fought rights.
“Power over employment law must be handed to Scotland’s parliament where workers’ rights can be defended and strengthened under progressive leadership.
“Labour once proudly brandished itself the party of the workers. How far they have fallen under Sir Keir Starmer, that they would rather the rights of Scottish workers were ripped up by Westminster, than protected at Holyrood.”
Cambuslang East councillor Katy Loudon will be the SNP’s candidate in the Rutherglen and Hamilton West byelection after the seat was left vacant after the departure of Covid rule-breaking MP Margaret Ferrier.
Ferrier won the seat for the SNP in 2019 with a majority of 5,230, but had been sitting as an independent since 2020.
The SNP have published a video on social media today introducing Loudon. The date for the byelection is yet to be set.
👇 Get to know @KatyLoudonSNP:
— The SNP (@theSNP) August 17, 2023
👩🏫 Local candidate and former primary teacher.
🇪🇺 Proud pro-European who'll fight against Brexit
✊ Standing up for Scotland against a Westminster-made cost of living crisis.
🏸 Campaigner against Labour council's price hikes on sports facilities. pic.twitter.com/ZJx9zdY2bu
Rishi Sunak has spoken on the phone today to Saudi Arabia’s crown prince and prime minister Mohammed bin Salman.
A Downing Street spokesperson said: “He welcomed the opportunity to speak to the crown prince and looked forward to personally deepening the longstanding ties between the UK and Saudi Arabia, as the kingdom continues to go through a period of profound social and economic transformation under Vision 2030.
“The leaders discussed their commitment to further develop our trade and investment relationship, including by collaborating in new cutting-edge industries, and to strengthen our close cooperation on defence and security.
“The prime minister reiterated the UK’s longstanding commitment to support Saudi Arabia’s security and regional stability.”
No 10 said Sunak “highlighted Saudi Arabia’s constructive and positive leadership on Ukraine following the recent talks in Jeddah and the leaders agreed on the importance of allies working together to end the bloodshed in Ukraine and support a just and lasting peace”.
PA Media reports the Downing Street readout of the call stated that Sunak and bin Salman “looked forward to meeting in person at the earliest opportunity.”
In July the Guardian reported that the Saudi crown prince had been invited to the UK for an official visit in late autumn, which would be the first such visit by the heir to the Saudi throne since he was accused of masterminding the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, the Washington Post columnist and dissident, in 2018. Khashoggi’s body was hacked to pieces by a bone-saw at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
Today’s call comes amid renewed media reports about the proposed visit.
Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesperson, Layla Moran, said it “beggars belief that Rishi Sunak is rolling out the red carpet for Mohammed bin Salman”.
She said: “This man, who authorised the brutal murder of Jamal Khashoggi and presides over a dismal human rights record, should not be receiving a warm welcome from the UK government. It sends a signal that he can continue acting with impunity and we and our allies will do nothing about it.”
Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner said Sunak should use the visit to “have a conversation about human rights”.
Former prime minister Boris Johnson visited Riyadh in March 2022.
The government has been criticised for binning food waste legislation that campaigners say could have reduced food prices and curbed climate change.
The policy would have made food waste reporting mandatory for large and medium-sized businesses in England.
According to research by the environmental campaign group Feedback, if it led to just a 1% reduction in food waste, food businesses would save an estimated total of at least £24.4m a year.
Martin Bowman, senior policy and campaigns manager at Feedback, said this was “an immediately achievable goal” which would “more than offset the costs of measurement and reporting, saving millions of pounds, and helping struggling families by lowering food inflation”.
“After a decade of failed voluntary reporting, it is a dereliction of duty for the government to abandon this policy,” he said. Campaigners say that the decision by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) to backtrack on the legislation also risks exacerbating environmental challenges.
Read more of Estelle Uba’s report here: Ministers criticised for scrapping new food waste laws for England
The government collected more than £270m from the plastic packaging tax (PPT) during its first year, official figures show.
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) released the first annual update on the PTT on Thursday. The tax was introduced in April 2022 as a £200 per tonne levy placed on plastic packaging with less than 30% recycled content.
PA Media reports HMRC showed that receipts for the financial year of April 2022/23 totalled £276m. It was £41m more than the Treasury predicted.
Updated
Sam Tuckett is associate director at the Education Policy Institute, and has written for the Guardian today about the English A-level results, arguing they reflect inequalities across England after challenging years:
[This cohort’s] GCSE years were disrupted by pandemic school closures, and their GCSE grades were teacher assessed, meaning most will not have sat a public exam prior to this summer. Furthermore, student absences were rife, with added disruption stemming from industrial action as unions strove to reach a pay deal.
These issues appear to have had unequal impacts on different students. In particular, the proportion achieving top grades in parts of northern England have declined relative to 2019, whereas the rate in other regions, notably London, has increased. As was the case last year, the return to exams relative to teacher assessments appears to have benefited male students across most subjects. In particular, the female lead in the proportion achieving top grades in maths and physics in 2022 appears to have reversed. Independent schools had one of the largest drops since last year, but their proportion achieving top grades since 2019 increased the most. In contrast, the proportion achieving top A-level grades in further education establishments has decreased since 2019.
We cannot say to what extent this variation represents differences in the impacts of school closures and absences, the suitability of post-16 course choices based on inflated 2021 GCSE results, or the year-on-year variation we might expect to see anyway. Most likely it is a combination of all three.
Read more here: Sam Tuckett – A-level results reflect inequalities across England after challenging years
Wales and Northern Ireland also saw drops in the number of top grades in their results which were released today. Scotland’s A-level equivalent results were released 8 August.
Four people have been detained in France today after six people died and more than 50 were rescued when a boat carrying people to the UK sank in the Channel at the weekend.
PA Media reports proceedings were opened against the four – two Iraqis aged in their early 40s and two Sudanese, one in their late teens and the other in their late 20s – after the vessel got into difficulty and sank off the coast of Sangatte on 12 August, according to French judicial sources.
The investigating judges are looking at potential offences of involuntary homicide, criminal conspiracy for illegal immigration, with the Iraqis suspected of belonging to a human trafficking network, a spokesperson for the Paris prosecutor’s office said. The four suspects were placed in detention on remand, according to the judicial sources.
A total of 61 people were rescued by the British and French emergency services after a passing ship first raised the alarm at around 4.20am Saturday that a vessel was sinking near Calais. The boat had a motor problem and the majority of those on board did not have life jackets, the prosecutor’s office said.
Earlier PA reported that 444 people arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel in eight boats on Wednesday, taking the provisional total for 2023 to date to 17,234.
Updated
Pub bosses have called on the government to loosen licensing rules for Sunday opening hours and alcohol sales for the Women’s World Cup final.
Industry bosses have warned that licensing rules could mean some venues will be unable to serve pints or open early for excited fans on the day. England kick off against Spain at 11am.
PA Media reports Alun Cairns MP, chair of the all-party parliamentary beer group, said: “Early opening and serving would be a fitting tribute to the Lionesses and a welcome boost to the industry. I have raised the issue with the home secretary directly, who is looking in to see what is possible.”
“Most” pubs are likely to be unable to serve alcohol until 11am, with some being restricted until midday, according to the British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA).
Individual pubs can apply for a temporary event notice to serve alcohol outside their licensed hours, but this takes a minimum of five working days and will, therefore, not be possible for pubs before the match.
There was a lengthy thread about this yesterday from Dr Alice Lilly, senior researcher at the Institute for Government, and her conclusion appeared to be that fans and the industry are just going to have to put up with the restrictions.
She noted that the primary legislation permits ministers to vary licensing restrictions via secondary legislation. However … it is recess.
Let’s get back to the Lionesses and the World Cup. The relevant primary act sets out how secondary legislation can be used to temporarily alter licensing laws. Ministers could follow that, like for the jubilee. The slight issue here is it’s recess. Parliament ain’t sitting.
So unless parliament is recalled, which would allow ministers to present a piece of secondary legislation under the powers given to them in primary legislation to change licensing this Sunday, you’ll have to wait for the usual time for a drink.
And in summary: that is just one example of how secondary legislation, a thing you might not really have heard of, actually can affect your daily life. (Which is also why effective mechanisms for parliament to scrutinise it really matter).
The whole thread can be found here.
Updated
Summary of the day so far …
The government has confirmed that seven NHS England cancer targets are to be scrapped, as the service moves to having three performance standards from October. The new guidelines will move away from what the government termed the “outdated” two-week wait target. Currently that two-week wait target is not being met.
The health minister Will Quince has claimed the government is scrapping the two-week cancer target in NHS England after clinical consultations. He said: “The biggest factor in people surviving cancer is the stage at which they are diagnosed. We have listened to the advice from clinical experts and NHS England to reform cancer standards which will speed up diagnosis for patients.”
A-level grades awarded to students in England have shown their biggest drop after results plummeted across the board in line with the government’s policy of enforcing a return to pre-pandemic grading. England’s results showed a large gap in top grades compared with Wales and Northern Ireland, which were also announced today. Northern Ireland awarded A*-A grades to 37.5% of its A-level entries, while Wales awarded 34% – in stark contrast to the 26.5% in England. Scottish pupils got their results on 8 August, which also showed a fall.
The UK education secretary has been forced to defend remarks saying that in ten years’ time, nobody would be looking at the grades teenagers earned today. Gillian Keegan, the sixth Conservative education secretary since the 2019 general election, told reporters: “It is true, it is just real,” after saying: “What will people ask you in ten years’ time? They won’t ask you anything about your A-level grades in ten years’ time. They will ask you about other things you have done since then: what you have done in the work place, what you did at university. And then, after a period of time, they don’t even ask you what you did at university.”
The shadow education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, said: “I think the comments from the secretary of state are incredibly rude and dismissive. This is a nerve-racking day for young people who’ve worked incredibly hard. The last thing that they need is the secretary of state offering comments like that. She’s talking down England’s young people, and she needs to apologise.”
Ahead of a visit to Glasgow, Labour’s deputy leader, Angela Rayner, said: “Scotland’s workers have been left out in the cold as ministers in Westminster and Holyrood engage in endless political battles on internal obsessions.” The SNP dismissed her criticism, with Scotland’s first minister, Humza Yousaf, challenging UK Labour to promise “full devolution of employment law”.
Covid vaccines should be made available for people to buy privately in Britain, leading scientists have said, amid concerns about a new wave of the virus which could worsen in autumn and winter.
New offshore windfarms will be strangled by government red tape, costing UK billpayers £1.5bn a year, an analysis has found.
A cross-party group of MPs and peers has urged the children’s minister to demand better data on the use of restraints on young people in care with an aim of ending the “brutal handcuffing of vulnerable children”.
Updated
Education secretary defends 'rude and dismissive' comments that employers don't look at A-level results
There has been a political dimension to the A-level results in England, Wales and Northern Ireland today, with the UK education secretary being forced to defend her remarks earlier in the day that in 10 years’ time, nobody would be looking at the grades teenagers earned today.
Speaking to Sky News, Gillian Keegan had said:
Somebody asked me: ‘What will people ask you in 10 years’ time?’ They won’t ask you anything about your A-level grades in 10 years’ time.
They will ask you about other things you have done since then: what you have done in the workplace, what you did at university. And then, after a period of time, they don’t even ask you what you did at university.
It is really all about what you do and what you can demonstrate and the skills that you learn in the workplace.
Keegan, the sixth Conservative education secretary since the 2019 general election, later told reporters at the City of London Academy Islington, in north London, that what she said “is true, it is just real. It’s an important step to get to your next destination, but when you’re a couple of destinations further on there’ll be other things that they look at.”
Bridget Phillipson, the shadow education secretary, said:
I think the comments from the secretary of state are incredibly rude and dismissive.
This is a nerve-racking day for young people who’ve worked incredibly hard. The last thing that they need is the secretary of state offering comments like that, and it really does add insult to injury coming a Government that completely failed to put in place the kind of support that our young people needed coming out of the pandemic, after all of the disruption they’d experienced.
Labour has clipped up Keegan’s comments for social media, with an additional statement by Phillipson:
Hard work matters. Results matter. That’s why the education secretary telling young people that the qualifications they got today won’t be relevant in ten years isn’t just plain wrong, it’s downright rude. She’s talking down England’s young people, and she needs to apologise.
Hard work matters. Results matter.
— Bridget Phillipson (@bphillipsonMP) August 17, 2023
That's why the Education Secretary telling young people that the qualifications they got today won't be relevant in ten years isn't just plain wrong, it's downright rude.
She’s talking down England’s young people, and she needs to apologise. pic.twitter.com/iasgquiQ2n
You can follow our A-level coverage live here.
Updated
A cross-party group of MPs and peers has urged the children’s minister to demand better data on the use of restraints on young people in care with an aim of ending the “brutal handcuffing of vulnerable children”.
Signatories to a letter to minister for children, families and wellbeing Claire Coutinho said they are concerned about what they described as the “worrying prevalence” of vulnerable children being restrained and handcuffed unnecessarily by secure transportation providers.
PA Media reports they said there have been instances of “innocent children outside the custodial system” being restrained in such a way when they are being transported.
Organisers from the Hope Instead Of Handcuffs campaign, founded in 2020, said the number of such instances is not known due to a lack of data.
The letter, with signatories including Labour former shadow chancellor John McDonnell, peer and ex-Green party leader Baroness Bennett, and the DUP’s Jim Shannon, asked that Ms Coutinho meet them and members of the campaign group to address the issue.
It called for the minister to “urgently conduct a review of the data gaps in secure transportation, which preclude proper monitoring and scrutiny of providers’ restraint practices”, and stated that “accountability and transparency can be increased across the sector”.
The letter also said: “Shockingly, many secure transportation providers use restraints such as handcuffs on vulnerable children in care. To be clear, these are innocent children outside the custodial system. Some of these providers even advertise that they use handcuffs on their website.”
It does slightly feel like while the government has been trying to make this week “NHS week”, Labour has been doing a bit of a “Scotland week”, with both Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner visiting ahead of this autumn’s Rutherglen and Hamilton West byelection.
Starmer has just posted on social media a clipped-up section of his session earlier in the week alongside Scottish Labour’s Anas Sarwar, and it is pushing a positive “net zero” message about job creation specifically in Scotland.
My Labour government will use our net zero commitment as an opportunity to deliver lower bills and create good jobs, in Scotland and across the UK.
My Labour government will use our Net Zero commitment as an opportunity to deliver lower bills and create good jobs, in Scotland and across the UK. pic.twitter.com/0tO9dtLJGn
— Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) August 17, 2023
Updated
I did promise not to do A-level result-related news here, as we have it covered live in greater depth by Alexandra Topping over here, but I should point you in the direction of my colleague Sally Weale’s excellent explainer here about why there has been a drop in grades in England.
The sharp drop in grades in A-level results in England this year has little to do with this particular cohort’s ability. It is instead the result of a government strategy to get A-level results back to pre-pandemic levels after the soaring grade inflation of the Covid years.
The exams regulator in England, Ofqual, came up with the plan after teenagers who did their A-levels in 2020 and 2021 were awarded record high grades.
Ministers were concerned that a huge gap was opening between grades achieved before and since the pandemic, so decided that grades in A-levels and GCSEs must be brought back to pre-pandemic levels. But instead of a sudden drop year-on-year, the government and Ofqual agreed on a more gentle “glide path” back to pre-pandemic grading, spread over two years.
England, Wales and Northern Ireland got their A-level grades today. There was a similar fall in Scottish grades compared with pandemic years when they came out on 8 August.
Read more here: A ‘glide path’ to pre-Covid: why A-level grades are lower in England this year
Updated
Tourism visits to Scotland by residents of Great Britain rose by 12% in the first quarter of this year, figures show.
Jointly sponsored by VisitScotland, VisitEngland and VisitWales, the Great Britain day visits survey showed 20.6 million tourism day visits to Scotland from those living in other parts of Great Britain, spending about £956m.
The figure rose from 18.4 million visits in the first three months of 2022 – an increase of 12%.
PA Media reports the Scottish tourism minister Richard Lochhead said: “Scotland is increasingly seen as an attractive place to visit and we strive to support and work with the tourism and hospitality sector to grow its economic value, while delivering the very best for visitors, businesses, and communities.”
Updated
Water quality and its impact on life has become a political campaigning issue, with objections to the level of untreated sewage that is being allowed to be pumped into the UK’s waterways and seas. My colleague Clea Skopeliti has this report speaking to people who it has affected:
According to Southern Water’s data, 13 releases have affected Felpham beach since the beginning of May. After a sewage dump during warm, dry weather in mid-June, Felicity Fletcher says she had to shut the windows because of the stench. “The smell of sewage was permeating, it was disgusting. The heat made it worse – normally they dump it when it is raining and you don’t notice it, but the smell was unbearable.
I can’t imagine it’s been good for tourism. We’ve got a Butlin’s on our doorstep – people come here for the beach.
Josh Harris, the head of communications at Surfers Against Sewage, says: “The incompetence of decision-makers and the greed of water companies have eroded one of the great pleasures of our island nation – swimming in our coastal waters.
Read more of Clea Skopeliti’s report here: ‘My daughter started to run a fever ...’: Britain’s swimmers on how sewage changed their summer
Updated
There is very little diary politics happening today, but Angela Rayner is due to be visiting Glasgow. Ahead of the trip Labour’s deputy leader is quoted in the Daily Record saying:
Working people in Scotland are right to demand better. Faced with a punishing cost of living crisis, an explosion in zero-hours contracts, and a wages crash, governing parties on both sides of the border are failing working people across the whole of the UK.
Scotland’s workers have been left out in the cold as ministers in Westminster and Holyrood engage in endless political battles on internal obsessions.
But it is not inevitable for working people to shoulder the burden of this crisis, and it is not inevitable that working parents must struggle to feed and clothe their children.
At the next general election, there will be a clear choice – between a Labour government, or another five years of Tory incompetence.
But in Scotland, the SNP can only oppose the Tories. Only Labour can boot them out of office.
As you might imagine, those words haven’t gone down well with the SNP. The first minister, Humza Yousaf, has posted on social media to say:
I would remind Angela Rayner that we have engaged constructively with trade unions. That is why we haven’t had any NHS strikes in Scotland, in stark comparison to Labour-run Wales. Will Labour commit to full devolution of employment law should they form the next government?
I would remind Angela Rayner that we have engaged constructively with trade unions. That is why we haven't had any NHS strikes in Scotland, in stark comparison to Labour-run Wales.
— Humza Yousaf (@HumzaYousaf) August 17, 2023
Will Labour commit to full devolution of employment law should they form the next government? https://t.co/z10T6A3rOD
Neil Gray, the cabinet secretary for wellbeing economy, fair work and energy in Scotland, has also chipped in, saying:
Wage growth in Scotland at 8.1% is sitting higher than the rest of the UK, driven by our public sector pay policy and support for fair work. This is just nonsense from Labour. Keir Starmer’s Labour won’t even support workers taking industrial action, so who knows where they stand.
Wage growth in Scotland at 8.1% is sitting higher than the rest of the UK, driven by our public sector pay policy and support for fair work. This is just nonsense from Labour. Keir Starmer’s Labour won’t even support workers taking industrial action, so who knows where they stand https://t.co/rHlN2fXTjP
— Neil Gray MSP (@neilcgray) August 17, 2023
The Rutherglen and Hamilton West byelection, where Labour hope to take the seat after Covid rule-breaking MP Margaret Ferrier was removed, will be in the autumn.
Updated
Here is a bit more from the official NHS announcement about the changes to cancer targets in England, which it says have been “developed by clinical experts and supported by leading cancer charities”, and which will lead to people being “diagnosed and treated sooner”. It writes:
In line with the recommendation of the 2015 Independent Cancer Taskforce, government has approved that the outdated two-week wait target will be replaced with the faster diagnosis standard from October.
GPs will still refer people with suspected cancer in the same way, but the focus will rightly be on getting people diagnosed or cancer ruled out within 28 days, rather than simply getting a first appointment.
In the last year, over 2 million patients with suspected cancer were diagnosed or received the all-clear within 28 days.
The faster diagnosis standard means NHS services can embrace greater use of new innovations and technology for diagnosing and treating patients.
It supports newer ways of testing where patients with suspected cancer do not necessarily need an appointment first, such as straight to test pathways, remote consultations, and advances in technology like using artificial intelligence and teledermatology to help diagnose skin cancers from photographs in a matter of seconds.
Dr Jesme Fox, the medical director of the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation, is one of the voices from cancer charities lending their support to the move. She said: “We know the anguish patients and their families can endure waiting for results – every day feels like a lifetime – so we welcome any new measures that focus on reducing that agonising wait, getting a diagnosis and setting patients on the right treatment path sooner.”
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In a perhaps unlikely development in the “War on MotoristsTM”, motorists are turning on themselves, as an RAC survey suggests nearly three out of five drivers (58%) want cameras that detect illegally loud vehicles to be rolled out across the UK.
The Department for Transport (DfT) began a £300,000 trial of noise cameras in a handful of areas in England in October last year.
PA Media reports only 22% of respondents to a poll of 1,424 motorists commissioned by the RAC late last year were against the idea.
The RAC head of policy, Simon Williams, said: “Our research with drivers shows there is a very strong desire to put an end to the scourge of excessively noisy vehicles that disturb the peace all around the country.
“It’s plain wrong that those who have fitted their cars with modified exhausts, some motorbike riders and supercar owners can currently just get away with making an unacceptable amount of noise.”
The roads minister Richard Holden said: “Boy racers are an anti-social menace and we have extensively trialled noise camera technology in various parts of the country over the past year.
“We are currently analysing data from the trials and will update in due course on any future measures which will help bring peace and tranquillity back to our towns, cities and villages.”
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'More patients will benefit from a speedier diagnosis': NHS England clinical director for cancer
The FT is carrying some words from cancer experts who are backing the government’s announced changes for the NHS. Sarah Neville and Lukanyo Mnyanda write:
Prof Peter Johnson, NHS national clinical director for cancer, said the faster diagnosis standard already in use would “mean more patients will benefit from a speedier diagnosis or the all-clear within a month, helping to relieve anxieties or enabling treatment to start sooner”.
Hospitals have been asked to work towards a 10-day turnaround when delivering diagnostic test results to patients who have received an urgent referral.
Jacob Lant, chief executive of National Voices, a coalition of health and social care charities, said shifting focus on to the time it took for a diagnosis, and for starting treatment, provided “more meaningful measures of performance from a patient perspective”.
However, the key now would be “to show patients and the wider public a clear trajectory of improvement”, he added.
There was a note of caution, however, from Cancer Research UK, with the organisation’s director of evidence and implementation, Naser Turabi, warning the change “will not address the systemic challenges that face cancer treatment and care”.
Back to the story of the government today confirming in NHS England it is scrapping a two-week target for being seen by a cancer specialist after being referred by a GP. [See 9.05am]
A cancer patient, Carol Fletcher, told Sky News that she believed earlier screening and more staff were key factors to enable the NHS to better tackle cancer.
She told viewers:
They should be looking at testing, they should be looking at screening earlier and more frequently, and that way they will save money in the NHS.
My treatment, which consisted of several surgeries, [and needed] radioactive isotopes, which weren’t always available due to unknown issues with the supply coming from Belgium. Then there’s not enough pathologists to look at my cancerous cells when I’ve had my surgery. There is not enough oncologists.
I’ve put most of my problems down to the the fact that my screening was late. If it was earlier, I wouldn’t have had to have the extensive treatment that I’ve had, which must have cost a fortune for the NHS.
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A-level results in England show biggest drop on record
A-level grades awarded to students in England have shown their biggest drop after results plummeted across the board in line with the government’s policy of enforcing a return to pre-pandemic grading.
Five thousand fewer students in England gained three A* grades than in 2022, while the proportion of top A*-A grades shrank from 35.9% to 26.5% within a year.
Headteachers said they were alarmed to see that in some cases grading was even more stringent than the last set of A-level exams taken before the pandemic, with the proportion of A*-C grades this year lower than those awarded in 2019 because of a sharp increase in the number of lowest grades.
For the first time, more than one in 10 entries in England were awarded an E or U (unclassified), a 10% increase on such grades in 2019. The increase is likely to be the result of more students taking A-levels based on their GCSE results awarded by teacher assessment when exams were cancelled in 2021.
England’s results also showed a large gap in top grades compared with Wales and Northern Ireland, where regulators have taken into account the long-term impact of the pandemic through more generous grading.
Northern Ireland awarded A*-A grades to 37.5% of its A-level entries, while Wales awarded 34% – in stark contrast to the 26.5% in England.
You can read more of Richard Adams and Michael Goodier’s report here: A-level results in England show biggest drop on record
And Alexandra Topping has our live coverage here:
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Helena Horton, our environment report, has this today:
New offshore windfarms will be strangled by government red tape, costing UK billpayers £1.5bn a year, an analysis has found.
The latest government auction for new offshore windfarms, due to be completed in September, could result in few projects making it through Treasury rules, according to the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU), a non-profit organisation.
Rules set by the Treasury do not take account of predictions that the gas price will stay high and put an arbitrary limit on the number of farms that can be contracted. They mean that the budget set in the government’s contracts for difference auction is unlikely to be spent, because many windfarms will not get through the auction, so bills will be kept higher.
Despite the fact that the government recently increased the budget for the auction from £170m to £190m, analysts at the ECIU said this was likely to make little difference to the outcome of the auction and ignored the fact that renewables were predicted to save customers money.
Read more of Helena Horton’s report here: UK windfarm red tape to cost billpayers £1.5bn a year, say analysts
Thursday's newspaper front pages
There was some consternation in the comments yesterday at any passing mention of the football, which is going to make it awkward to do the front pages today, with an awful lot of papers featuring the Lionesses upfront and centre.
The Guardian led with the prime minister promising to protect the pensions triple lock, which could lead to a massive benefits rise given how high inflation is running.
THE GUARDIAN: PM stands by pension triple lock despite surging costs #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/vf6otKcWjT
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) August 16, 2023
For the Times, it was Sunak’s promises to make tackling inflation his number one priority. Prices are still rising by 6.8% annually, well above the Bank of England target of 2%, but the numbers have started heading in Sunak’s direction.
TIMES: Sunak: I’ll ease the squeeze #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/b4JbY7KdVa
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) August 16, 2023
The Telegraph goes with a heist – no, not the Lionesses against Nigeria earlier in the competition – but at the British Museum.
TELEGRAPH: Priceless jewels stolen from British Museum #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/xmQTedmdiU
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) August 16, 2023
The Daily Mail also has the British Museum story.
MAIL: Gem heist at the British Museum #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/4KWTdjfMTu
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) August 16, 2023
Everybody else is pretty much football, football, football, so I’ll spare you the images and direct you here instead if that is your thing …
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Minister: 'advice from clinical experts' behind changes to NHS England cancer targets
The health minister Will Quince has claimed the government is scrapping the two-week cancer target in NHS England after clinical consultations.
PA Media reports that he said: “The biggest factor in people surviving cancer is the stage at which they are diagnosed. We have listened to the advice from clinical experts and NHS England to reform cancer standards which will speed up diagnosis for patients.”
Prof Sir Stephen Powis, the national NHS medical director, said: “The NHS is already catching more cancers at an earlier stage, when they are easier to treat, than ever before and the faster diagnosis standard will allow us to build on this excellent progress.
“The updated ambitions will mean the NHS can be even more focused on outcomes for patients, rather than just appointment times, and it’s yet another of example of the NHS bringing cancer care into the modern era of care.”
However, Prof Pat Price, an oncologist, the co-founder of the #CatchUpWithCancer campaign and the chair of the Radiotherapy UK charity, said that while “simplification is welcome”, targets should be higher.
“The faster diagnosis standard is set at only 75%. This needs to be much higher, at around 95%, if we are to get patients through the cancer pathway on time,” she said.
“While great for reassuring patients without cancer, this may not help patients with cancer start their treatment in time.”
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Government confirms it is to scrap two-week cancer wait target in NHS England
The government has confirmed that seven NHS England cancer targets are to be scrapped, as the service moves to having three performance standards from October. The new guidelines will move away from what the government termed the “outdated” two-week wait target.
Currently that two-week wait target is not being met. PA Media notes that data published a week ago by NHS England revealed that 261,006 urgent cancer referrals were made by GPs in June, up 6% on 245,595 in May and 13% year on year from 231,868 in June 2022.
Of the 261,006 patients, 80.5% saw a specialist within two weeks, down from 80.8% in May but below the target of 93%, which was last met in May 2020.
Ten current targets will be consolidated into the following:
– The 28-day faster diagnosis standard, under which patients with suspected cancer who are urgently referred by a GP, screening programme or other route should be diagnosed or have cancer ruled out within four weeks.
– The 62-day referral to treatment to ensure patients who have been referred and diagnosed with cancer should start treatment within that timeframe.
– The 31-day decision to treat – patients with a cancer diagnosis, and who have had a decision made on their first or subsequent treatment, should start it within 31 days.
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Welcome and opening summary
Good morning, and welcome to Thursday’s politics live blog. Here are your headlines.
The government has confirmed that seven NHS England cancer targets are to be scrapped, as the service moves to having three performance standards from October. The new guidelines will move away from what the government termed the “outdated” two-week wait target.
Covid vaccines should be made available for people to buy privately in Britain, leading scientists have urged, amid concerns over a new wave of the virus which could worsen in autumn and winter. Unlike flu jabs, which individuals or employers can buy for about £15 from high street pharmacies, Covid jabs are only available on the NHS in the UK.
A cross-party group of MPs and peers has urged the children’s minister to demand better data on the use of restraints on young people in care with an aim of ending the “brutal handcuffing of vulnerable children”.
War on motorists (by other motorists): A new survey claims that nearly three out of five drivers (58%) want cameras that detect illegally loud vehicles to be rolled out across the UK.
New offshore windfarms will be strangled by government red tape, costing UK billpayers £1.5bn a year, an analysis has found.
Forty people, including an Olympic gold medallist and a former police officer, are calling on the solicitor general to charge them with contempt of court if he prosecutes a social worker for holding up a placard outside a climate trial.
The big diary event of the day is that A-level grades are out for pupils in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. My colleague Alexandra Topping has got that covered over here:
I’m Martin Belam, and I will be with you today. You can reach me at martin.belam@theguardian.com.
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