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The government has been accused of seeking to escalate industrial conflict rather than resolve it after outlining plans to extend its controversial anti-strikes legislation to doctors and nurses.

The new regulations would mean doctors and nurses have to provide a certain level of cover after being issued with a “work notice” by employers on what is needed to maintain “necessary and safe levels of service”.

The rules are not expected to come into effect until next year but they will be open to public consultation from Tuesday – when fresh doctor strikes are to begin.

Read more: Media ‘must be held accountable’ over Brand, says Tory MP – politics latest

Union leaders condemned the move as “desperate” and urged the government to focus on finding a resolution to end strikes rather than prevent them going ahead.

Consultants are walking out in a long-running dispute over pay on Tuesday and Wednesday this week as well as on October 2, 3 and 4.

Junior doctors, who have held 19 days of strike action since March, will walk out on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday this week, and October 2, 3 and 4.

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This means that Wednesday’s strike this week, plus the three days next month, will see both consultants and junior doctors absent from work on the same days.

Health and Social Care Secretary Steve Barclay said the “co-ordinated and calculated strike action will create further disruption and misery for patients and NHS colleagues”.

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Defending the need for minimum service levels (MSLs) he said: “My top priority is to protect patients and these regulations would provide a safety net for trusts and an assurance to the public that vital health services will be there when they need them.”

However, Dr Vishal Sharma, chair of the consultants’ committee at the British Medical Association (BMA), insisted that hospitals already ensure patient safety is prioritised when they take industrial action and the government “should put its efforts into stopping the strikes rather than forcing people to stop striking”.

He told Sky News: “Rather than trying to prevent people going on strike, the government should really be focusing on making sure it is valuing its staff properly so strike action isn’t being considered.

“There hasn’t been strikes in the NHS for a very long time, it really has come to this point because the government aren’t valuing its staff.”

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TUC to report govt to UN

Consultations on minimum service levels (MSLs) have already run for ambulance staff, fire and rescue services and passenger rail workers, after the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act became law in July.

The legislation has given the government new powers to introduce regulations requiring minimum service levels during strike action in respect of a list of public services, including health, fire and rescue, education and transport.

However the drafting of the new regulations setting out the practical impact of this is likely to take some time, with ministers also facing the threat of legal action from unions.

Paul Nowak, General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), told the delegation’s annual conference in Liverpool last week that he is reporting the government to the UN workers’ rights watchdog over the legislation.

He called the announcement on Monday night “yet another desperate attempt from the Conservatives to distract from their dire record in government”.

He told Sky News: “Everyone knows NHS professionals already provide safe levels of staffing during industrial action.

“These laws haven’t been designed to resolve conflicts – they’ve been designed to escalate them. They will only sour industrial relations and worsen disputes.

“They’re unworkable, undemocratic and almost certainly in breach of international law.

“That’s why we won’t rest until this Act has been repealed. And we won’t stand by and let workers get sacked for defending their pay and conditions.”

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MP Zarah Sultana who was ousted from Labour announces she is starting new political party with Jeremy Corbyn

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MP Zarah Sultana who was ousted from Labour announces she is starting new political party with Jeremy Corbyn

An MP who was ousted from the Labour Party has announced she is setting up a new political party with Jeremy Corbyn.

Independent MP Zarah Sultana said she and the former Labour leader will co-lead the new party, which she did not provide a name for.

She said other independent MPs, campaigners and activists from across the country will join them, but did not name anyone.

Politics latest: Zarah Sultana’s stinging resignation letter

Ms Sultana also said she was “resigning” from the Labour Party after 14 years.

She was suspended as a Labour MP shortly after they came to power last summer for voting against the government maintaining the two-child benefit cap.

Several others from the left of the party, including Mr Corbyn, were also suspended for voting against the government, and also remained as independent MPs.

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However, Ms Sultana was still a member of the Labour Party – until now.

Zarah Sultana

Mr Corbyn has previously said the independent MPs who were suspended from Labour would “come together” to provide an “alternative.

The other four are: Iqbal Mohamed, Shockat Adam, Ayoub Khan and Adnan Hussain.

Mr Corbyn and the other four independents have not said if they are part of the new party Ms Sultana announced.

In her announcement, Ms Sultana said she would vote to abolish the two-child benefit cap again and also voted against scrapping the winter fuel payment for most pensioners.

Ms Sultana also voted against the government’s welfare bill this week, which was heavily watered down as Sir Keir Starmer tried to prevent a major rebellion from his own MPs.

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Protesters block Israeli arms manufacturer in Bristol

On Wednesday, Ms Sultana spoke passionately against Palestine Action being proscribed as a terror organisation – but MPs eventually voted for it to be.

She said to proscribe it is “a deliberate distortion of the law to chill dissent, criminalise solidarity and suppress the truth”.

Ms Sultana said they were founding the new party because “Westminster is broken but the real crisis is deeper – just 50 families now own more wealth than half the UK population”.

She called Reform leader Nigel Farage “a billionaire-backed grifter” leading the polls “because Labour has completely failed to improve people’s lives.

Reform leader Nigel Farage attending day three of Royal Ascot.
Pic: PA
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Ms Sultana called Nigel Farage a ‘billionaire-backed grifter’. Pic: PA

The MP, who has spoken passionately about Gaza, added: “Across the political establishment, from Farage to Starmer, they smear people of conscience trying to stop a genocide in Gaza as terrorists.

“But the truth is clear: this government is an active participant in genocide. And the British people oppose it.

“We are not going to take this anymore.”

A Labour Party spokesperson said: “In just 12 months, this Labour government has boosted wages, delivered an extra four million NHS appointments, opened 750 free breakfast clubs, secured three trade deals and four interest rate cuts lowering mortgage payments for millions.

“Only Labour can deliver the change needed to renew Britain.”

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Tornado Cash co-founder keeps testimony plans unclear ahead of trial

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Tornado Cash co-founder keeps testimony plans unclear ahead of trial

Tornado Cash co-founder keeps testimony plans unclear ahead of trial

Roman Storm is scheduled to appear in a New York courtroom for his criminal trial on July 14, facing money laundering and conspiracy charges.

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US Senator Cynthia Lummis drafts standalone crypto tax bill

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US Senator Cynthia Lummis drafts standalone crypto tax bill

US Senator Cynthia Lummis drafts standalone crypto tax bill

The Wyoming Senator seeks to end double taxation and add clarity to the tax treatment of crypto staking, mining, and lending transactions.

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