Keir Starmer has vowed to be bold and face down “loud opposition” to his planned public health measures and NHS reforms after a major inquiry found the health service was “in critical condition”. Wes Streeting, the health secetary, has urged doctors’ union leaders to work with the government on its plans to change the NHS and to “stop sabre-rattling” on industrial action over pay. Junk food TV advertisements are to be banned from airing before the 9pm watershed as part of the government’s drive to improve public health. As Denis Campbell reports, in addition, online ads for products that are high in fat, salt and sugar will be banned altogether, Andrew Gwynne, the public health minister, told the Commons on Thursday. Both measures will come into force on 1 October 2025. The UK’s debt mountain will almost triple to more than 270% of national income over the next 50 years because of pressures from an ageing population, the climate crisis and security risks, the Office for Budget Responsibility has warned. Nigel Farage’s Reform party has attracted a new cadre of big donors including £500,000 from Fiona Cottrell, the mother of his high-profile, unpaid aide George Cottrell. Diana Johnson, the minister for policing and crime prevention, has had her purse stolen at a conference for senior police officers. Vulnerable prisoners are being forced to inherit the debt of the previous occupant of their cells leading to violence and extortion, the minister Lord Timpson told peers. As Rajeev Syal reports, the prisons minister also said new inmates are being forced to pay twice as much back - which he called ‘double bubble’ - after borrowing cash to buy everyday items such as shampoo and biscuits. Timpson, a former businessman who has been brought into government because of his long running interest in prison reform. Answering a question in the Lords, he said that gangs are forcing vulnerable prisoners into debt, sometimes demanding that they repay cash owed by former prisoners who have since moved out of a cell. Timpson said: We know that debt drives poor safety and outcomes, and the drug trade really fuels it, so we need to make sure our vulnerable prisoners are not extorted, assaulted, and not forced to do things they don’t want to do. There have been many instances of prisoners inheriting the debt on the former resident of that cell.
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