The World Health Organisation’s call for government action over “exploitative” formula milk prices “cannot be ignored”, an MP has said.
Alison Thewliss, an SNP MP and chair of the all-party parliamentary group on infant feeding, told Sky News the WHO’s intervention must lead to government action on behalf of families.
The Glasgow Central MP raised the dangers of high formula prices in the House of Commons the day after Sky News interviewed the WHO from Geneva.
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‘Are families being exploited? Yes’
The WHO’s lead on infant feeding, Laurence Grummer-Strawn, said formula companies are “exploiting” families with high prices and pleaded with the government to take more action to support parents.
In the Commons, Ms Thewliss said the situation was “an absolute catastrophe for those who rely on infant formula but a bonanza for the formula companies who are making significant profits out of this”.
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt told the Commons: “UK food inflation has been driven largely by global factors and has already fallen from 19.6% to 12.3% and external forecasts expect it to continue to fall.
“The Competition and Markets Authority undertook a review earlier this year of the groceries sector.
“They have not yet found evidence that food inflation is being driven by weak competition but they are continuing their review.”
Ms Thewliss said after: “The World Health Organisation’s call for action cannot be ignored.
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“It is imperative that the UK government takes swift and decisive measures to address this issue and ensure that every child has access to affordable baby formula.
“The wellbeing of our youngest citizens should be a top priority, and we must not allow financial barriers to compromise their health and development.
“The response from the chancellor today was far from convincing. Rather than ducking from criticism and passing the concerns on to the CMA, it is high time that this UK government took action of their own to tackle this crisis.”
The infant nutrition charity Feed told Sky News they hoped the WHO’s intervention would be “the tipping point”.
Erin Williams, the director of Feed, said: “Feed are absolutely with the World Health Organisation on this one.
“We have had formula prices rise way beyond inflation and quite frankly we have had a very vague justification from the formula companies about rising costs.
“When we are in a scenario where parents are buying half-used tubs of infant formula on Facebook Marketplace to feed their babies then I think the feelings and the profits of the formula companies have to come quite low in the list of priorities.”
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Formula manufacturers have blamed increased production costs for the rise in prices but recent data shows that the cheapest brand has jumped by 45% in the past two years while other brands have risen on average 24%.
The Competition and Markets Authority has said the review into the groceries market, including baby formula, will be published this autumn.
It is “shameful” that black boys growing up in London are “far more likely” to die than white boys, Metropolitan Police chief Sir Mark Rowley has told Sky News.
Sir Mark, who came out of retirement to become head of the UK’s largest police force in 2022, said: “We can’t pretend otherwise that we’ve got a history between policing and black communities where policing has got a lot wrong.
“And we get a lot more right today, but we do still make mistakes. That’s not in doubt. I’m being as relentless in that as it can be.”
He said the “vast majority” of the force are “good people”.
However, he added: “But that legacy, combined with the tragedy that some of this crime falls most heavily in black communities, that creates a real problem because the legacy creates concern.”
Sir Mark, who also leads the UK’s counter-terrorism policing, said it is “not right” that black boys growing up in London “are far more likely to be dead by the time they’re 18” than white boys.
“That’s, I think, shameful for the city,” he admitted.
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Police chase suspected phone thief
Baroness Casey was commissioned in 2021 to look into the Met Police after serving police officer Wayne Couzens abducted, raped and murdered Sarah Everard.
She pinned the primary blame for the Met’s culture on its past leadership and found that stop and search and the use of force against black people was excessive.
At the time, Sir Mark, who had been commissioner for six months when the report was published, said he would not use the labels of institutionally racist, institutionally misogynistic and institutionally homophobic, which Casey insisted the Met deserved.
However, London Mayor Sadiq Khan, who helped hire Sir Mark – and could fire him – made it clear the commissioner agreed with Baroness Casey’s verdict.
After the report was released, Sir Mark said “institutional” was political language so he was not going to use it, but he accepted “we have racists, misogynists…systematic failings, management failings, cultural failings”.
A few months after the report, Sir Mark launched a two-year £366m plan to overhaul the Met, including increased emphasis on neighbourhood policing to rebuild public trust and plans to recruit 500 more community support officers and an extra 565 people to work with teams investigating domestic violence, sexual offences and child sexual abuse and exploitation.
Watch the full interview on Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips from 8.30am on Sunday.
Labour’s largest union donor, Unite, has voted to suspend Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner over her role in the Birmingham bin strike row.
Members of the trade union, one of the UK’s largest, also “overwhelmingly” voted to “re-examine its relationship” with Labour over the issue.
They said Ms Rayner, who is also housing, communities and local government secretary, Birmingham Council’s leader, John Cotton, and other Labour councillors had been suspended for “bringing the union into disrepute”.
There was confusion over Ms Rayner’s membership of Unite, with her office having said she was no longer a member and resigned months ago and therefore could not be suspended.
But Unite said she was registered as a member. Parliament’s latest register of interests had her down as a member in May.
The union said an emergency motion was put to members at its policy conference in Brighton on Friday.
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Unite is one of the Labour Party’s largest union donors, donating £414,610 in the first quarter of 2025 – the highest amount in that period by a union, company or individual.
The union condemned Birmingham’s Labour council and the government for “attacking the bin workers”.
Mountains of rubbish have been piling up in the city since January after workers first went on strike over changes to their pay, with all-out strike action starting in March. An agreement has still not been made.
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Rat catcher tackling Birmingham’s bins problem
Ms Rayner and the councillors had their membership suspended for “effectively firing and rehiring the workers, who are striking over pay cuts of up to £8,000”, the union added.
‘Missing in action’
General secretary Sharon Graham told Sky News on Saturday morning: “Angela Rayner, who has the power to solve this dispute, has been missing in action, has not been involved, is refusing to come to the table.”
She had earlier said: “Unite is crystal clear, it will call out bad employers regardless of the colour of their rosette.
“Angela Rayner has had every opportunity to intervene and resolve this dispute but has instead backed a rogue council that has peddled lies and smeared its workers fighting huge pay cuts.
“The disgraceful actions of the government and a so-called Labour council, is essentially fire and rehire and makes a joke of the Employment Relations Act promises.
“People up and down the country are asking whose side is the Labour government on and coming up with the answer not workers.”
Image: Piles of rubbish built up around Birmingham because of the strike over pay
Sir Keir Starmer’s spokesman said the government’s “priority is and always has been the residents of Birmingham”.
He said the decision by Unite workers to go on strike had “caused disruption” to the city.
“We’ve worked to clean up streets and remain in close contact with the council […] as we support its recovery,” he added.
A total of 800 Unite delegates voted on the motion.
Binance co-founder CZ has dismissed a Bloomberg report linking him to the Trump-backed USD1 stablecoin, threatening legal action over alleged defamation.