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The work and pensions secretary has not ruled out making further cuts to the welfare budget despite already unveiling reforms designed to save £5bn.

Liz Kendall said she had made the changes – which will see the eligibility criteria for disability benefits narrowed – because she wanted to “tackle a failing system that is failing the people who depend on benefits”.

Politics live: Kendall ‘cross’ about welfare system

In an interview with Sky News’ political editor Beth Rigby, the cabinet minister denied the reforms announced today were just a “drop in the ocean”.

She said she had announced a “substantial package” – and the changes would also be aimed at getting people into work to stop the overall bill ballooning to a projected £76bn by 2030.

Ms Kendall said they would deal with a “broken assessment process”, fix “terrible financial incentives” that force people on to welfare, and would focus benefits “on those in greatest need”.

“It’s providing the largest ever package of employment support,” she told Rigby.

Pressed again on whether she would rule out more savings over the course of this parliament, Ms Kendall replied: “I’m not saying that.

“I am suggesting we talk about the proposals we are actually making, and not those which we aren’t.”

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‘Can you work’ test scrapped by Labour

What changes are being made?

Earlier today, Ms Kendall announced a raft of reforms designed to cut the government’s expenditure on long-term sickness and disability benefits for working-age people, which has risen by £20bn since the pandemic.

High on the agenda were personal independence payments (PIP), which provide money for people who have extra care needs or mobility needs as a result of a disability.

People who claim it are awarded points depending on their ability to do certain activities, like washing and preparing food, and this influences how much they will receive.

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Sky’s Political Editor Beth Rigby explains the impact Labour’s welfare reforms could have on the UK.

But Ms Kendall said from November 2026, people will need to score a minimum of four points in at least one activity to qualify for the daily living element of PIP.

Currently, the standard rate is given if people score between eight and 11 points overall, while the enhanced rate applies from 12 points.

However, Ms Kendall said the government would not freeze PIP – as reports had previously suggested – following a backlash from Labour MPs.

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How is PIP changing?
All the planned welfare reforms

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Why is the government cutting benefits?

Minister ‘cross’ about welfare system

Asked by Rigby whether she had wanted to go further by freezing PIP, Ms Kendall said she had “never started from a sort of macho, tough position”.

“I’ve never done politics like that,” she said. “This is about real people and real lives.”

Ms Kendall, who ran to be Labour leader in the 2015 leadership race won by Jeremy Corbyn, admitted she was “cross” about the state of the welfare system, which she described as “broken”.

“I’ve seen in my own constituency people written off to a life that is not the life they hoped for themselves, or their children or their families,” she said.

Addressing critics who have derided the changes as morally wrong, Ms Kendall said: “What I think is morally wrong is writing off people who could work.

“What’s morally wrong is looking at a benefit system where we are spending more and more on the costs of failure.

“And if that continues, the welfare state that we created won’t be there for the very people who need it.”

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School kids asking for advice on strangulation during sex – as abuse victim issues warning

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School kids asking for advice on strangulation during sex - as abuse victim issues warning

Schoolchildren are asking teachers how to strangle a partner during sex safely, a charity says, while official figures show an alarming rise in the crime related to domestic abuse cases.

Warning: This article contains references to strangulation, domestic abuse and distressing images.

It comes as a woman whose former partner almost strangled her to death in a rage has advised anyone in an abusive relationship to seek help and leave.

Bernie Ryan, chief executive of the Institute for Addressing Strangulation, has been running the charity since its inception in 2022 after non-fatal strangulation became a standalone offence.

“It’s the ultimate form of control,” she says.

She says perpetrators and victims are getting younger, while the reason is unclear, but strangulation has seeped into popular culture and social media.

“We hear lots of sex education providers, teachers saying that they’re hearing it in schools.

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“We know teachers have been asked, ‘how do I teach somebody to strangle safely?’

“Our message is there is no safe way to strangle – the anatomy is the anatomy. Reduction in oxygen to the brain or blood flow will result in the same medical consequences, regardless of context.”

Bernie Ryan, the Chief Executive of the Institute for Addressing Strangulation
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Bernie Ryan, CEO of the Institute for Addressing Strangulation

A recent review by Conservative peer Baroness Gabby Bertin recommended banning “degrading, violent and misogynistic content” online.

Violent pornography showing women being choked during sex she found was “rife on mainstream platforms”.

Ms Ryan says she “wants to make sure that young people don’t have access to activities that demonstrate that this is normal behaviour”.

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Man whose body was found in suitcase ‘had raped teenager’

Strangulation is a violent act that is often committed in abusive relationships.

It is the second most common method used by men to kill women, the first is stabbing.

According to statistics shared by the Crown Prosecution Service, in 2024 there was an almost 50% rise in incidents of non-fatal strangulation and suffocation – compared to the year before.

Kerry pleads for other victims of abuse to leave before it's too late
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Kerry Allan pleads for other victims of abuse to leave before it’s too late

Domestic abuse victim Kerry Allan has a message for anyone who is in an abusive relationship.

Kerry met Michael Cosgrove in September 2022. While she said “at the beginning it was really good”, within months he became physically abusive.

In August last year her friends found his profile on a dating app.

“I confronted him and he denied it. I knew we were going to get into a big argument and I couldn’t face it, so I said I was going to my mum’s for a few days and take myself away from the situation.

“I came back a few days later and stupidly I agreed we could try again and everything escalated from that.”

Injuries to Kerry's chest. Pic: CPS
Image:
Injuries to Kerry’s chest. Pic: CPS

In the early hours of 25 August the pair had come in from a night out at a concert and got into an argument.

“He was having a go at me, accusing me of flirting with other people, and I was angry. I told him he had a nerve after what he’d done to me in the week and how he humiliated me.

“I told him that I wanted to leave, that we were done and that I wanted to go to my mum’s and that’s when it got bad.

“He pinned me to the bed and that’s when he first strangled me.”

Kerry's neck injury. Pic: CPS
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Kerry’s neck injury. Pic: CPS

Kerry says this was the first time she’d ever been violently assaulted. Cosgrove was eerily silent as he eventually let go and Kerry gasped for air.

“I remember trying to get my breath back, I was crying and hyperventilating… I was sick on the bedroom floor and I was asking him to go.”

Cosgrove strangled her for a second time before letting go again.

“He was saying I wasn’t getting out of this bedroom alive. I was dead tonight, he hoped that I knew that. Just kept saying how I’d ruined his life.”

Injury to Kerry's eye. Pic: CPS
Image:
Injury to Kerry’s eye. Pic: CPS

“I remember feeling a sort of shock thinking at this point, I’m not going to get out of this bedroom, he’s actually going to kill me.”

Kerry began screaming and shouting for help as loud as she could.

Her neighbours heard the commotion and called the police. While they were en route, Kerry was once again being assaulted.

Bleeding in Kerry's eye
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Bleeding in Kerry’s eye

“I ran over to the bedroom window and tried to jump out, he grabbed me as I went to open the window, and we struggled. And then I was back in the same position, he was on top of me on the bed, and his hands were round the throat again. But this time it didn’t stop.

“I remember trying to struggle and trying to kick out and hit him and I just kept thinking that I definitely was going to die, because at this point, it wasn’t stopping.”

The next memory Kerry has is opening her eyes to see police and paramedics in the bedroom.

Michael Cosgrove. Pic: CPS
Image:
Michael Cosgrove. Pic: CPS

Cosgrove had heard the sirens, jumped out of the bedroom window and went to hide in Kerry’s car.

Kerry remembers opening her eyes to paramedics caring for her: “I remember thinking, I’m alive. I couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t believe that I was alive and I wasn’t dead. My last memory is him being on top of me with his hands on my throat.”

Kerry met Michael Cosgrove in September 2022
Image:
Kerry met Michael Cosgrove in September 2022

She gives this advice to anyone who is in an abusive relationship: “Please speak to somebody, whether it’s friends, family, a work colleague, whether it’s somebody online, whether it’s a charity that you’re directed to, any sort of abuse is not okay.

“Whether it starts off emotional, they often start off that way, and they escalate, and they can escalate badly.

“Take what happened to me as a huge warning sign, because I wouldn’t want anyone else to be in the position I’ve been in the last eight months.”

Cosgrove was found guilty of attempting to murder Kerry and intentional strangulation.

He will be sentenced in July.

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King Charles echoes his grandfather’s historic VE Day speech as he marks 80th anniversary

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King Charles echoes his grandfather's historic VE Day speech as he marks 80th anniversary

The King echoed the words of his grandfather as he delivered a speech at the precise moment King George VI addressed the nation to mark VE Day 80 years ago.

At 9pm, Charles spoke at Horse Guards Parade in central London and called on the country to “rededicate ourselves” to “the cause of freedom” and “the prevention of conflict”.

His grandfather spoke to the nation from Buckingham Palace at 9pm on 8 May 1945, to thank the country for their contribution as war came to an end in Europe.

King Charles III and Queen Camilla wave Union flags during the concert celebrating the 80th Anniversary of VE Day, held at the historic Horse Guards Parade in central London. Picture date: Thursday May 8, 2025.  Jonathan Brady/PA Wire
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King Charles III and Queen Camilla wave Union flags during the concert celebrating the 80th Anniversary of VE Day, held at the historic Horse Guards Parade in central London. Picture date: Thursday May 8, 2025.

Recalling the VE Day speeches, Charles said: “We should remind ourselves of the words of our great wartime leader, Sir Winston Churchill, who said ‘meeting jaw to jaw is better than war’.

“In so doing, we should also rededicate ourselves not only to the cause of freedom but to renewing global commitments to restoring a just peace where there is war, to diplomacy, and to the prevention of conflict.

“For as my grandfather put it, ‘We shall have failed, and the blood of our dearest will have flowed in vain, if the victory which they died to win does not lead to a lasting peace, founded on justice and established in good will’.

Stressing the responsibility we still hold today, he added: “Just as those exceptional men and women fulfilled their duty to each other, to humankind, and to God, bound by an unshakeable commitment to nation and service, in turn it falls to us to protect and continue their precious legacy – so that one day hence generations yet unborn may say of us: ‘they too bequeathed a better world’.”

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King Charles III and Queen Camilla alongside the Waleses at the concert celebrating the 80th Anniversary of VE Day, held at the historic Horse Guards Parade in central London. Pic: PA
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King Charles III and Queen Camilla alongside the Waleses at the concert celebrating the 80th Anniversary of VE Day, held at the historic Horse Guards Parade in central London. Picture date: Thursday May 8, 2025. Pic: PA

The King’s words were designed to be a reminder of current conflicts.

In recent months, the monarch has been placed at the forefront of diplomatic matters, making his call for “unity” even more pertinent.

“The Allied victory being celebrated then, as now, was a result of unity between nations, races, religions and ideologies, fighting back against an existential threat to humanity,” the King said. “Their collective endeavour remains a powerful reminder of what can be achieved when countries stand together in the face of tyranny.”

After a week which has seen the Royal Family make it a priority to ensure VE Day commemorations have been special for the surviving veterans, the King thanked not just those who served in uniform but acknowledged the contribution of those left back home.

“We unite to celebrate and remember with an unwavering and heartfelt gratitude, the service and sacrifice of the wartime generation who made that hard-fought victory possible,” he said. “While our greatest debt is owed to all those who paid the ultimate price, we should never forget how the war changed the lives of virtually everyone.”

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King arrives at VE Day service

Like families up and down the country remembering VE Day, it was clear Charles’s mother, Queen Elizabeth II, was at the forefront of his mind.

Remembering his mother’s story of what happened when she was allowed to leave the palace, he said: “The celebration that evening was marked by my own late mother who, just 19 years old, described in her diary how she mingled anonymously in the crowds across central London and ‘walked for miles’ among them.

“The rejoicing continued into the next day, when she wrote ‘Out in the crowd again. Embankment, Piccadilly. Rained, so fewer people. Conga-ed into House. Sang till 2am. Bed at 3am!’.

Read more:
VE Day anniversary in pictures
What VE Day was really like

Charles continued: “I do hope your celebrations tonight are almost as joyful, although I rather doubt I shall have the energy to sing until 2am, let alone lead you all in a giant conga from here back to Buckingham Palace.”

Earlier in the week, at a tea party held at Buckingham Palace, the King said to one veteran: “Do you do the conga? I remember doing congas with my grandmother round and round the house.”

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Red Wall MPs should focus on two-child benefit cap rather than winter fuel, Harriet Harman says

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Red Wall MPs should focus on two-child benefit cap rather than winter fuel, Harriet Harman says

Red Wall MPs should push for the two-child benefit cap to be lifted rather than a reversal of the winter fuel payment policy, Baroness Harriet Harman has said.

Baroness Harman, the former Labour Party chair, told Sky’s Electoral Dysfunction podcast that this would hand the group a “progressive win” rather than simply “protesting and annoying Sir Keir Starmer” over winter fuel.

Earlier this week, a number of MPs in the Red Wall – Labour’s traditional heartlands in the north of England – reposted a statement on social media in which they said the leadership’s response to the local elections had “fallen on deaf ears”.

Follow live: UK-US trade deal

They singled out the cut to the winter fuel allowance as an issue that was raised on the doorstep and urged the government to rethink the policy, arguing doing so “isn’t weak, it takes us to a position of strength”.

Labour’s decision to means test the policy has snatched the benefit away from millions of pensioners.

But Baroness Harman said a better target for the group could be an overhaul of George Osborne’s two-child benefit cap.

More on Harriet Harman

The cap, announced in 2015 as part of Lord David Cameron’s austerity measures, means while parents can claim child tax credit or Universal Credit payments for their first and second child, they can’t make claims for any further children they have.

Labour faced pressure to remove the cap in the early months of government, with ministers suggesting in February that they were considering relaxing the limit.

Baroness Harman told Beth Rigby that this could be a sensible pressure point for Red Wall MPs to target.

She said: “It could be that they have a kind of progressive win, and it might not be a bad thing to do in the context of an overall strategy on child poverty.

“Let’s see whether instead of just protesting and annoying Sir Keir Starmer, they can build a bridge to a new progressive set of policies.”

Jo White, the Labour MP for Bassetlaw and a member of the Red Wall group, suggested that her party’s “connection” to a core group of voters “died” with the decision to means test the winter fuel payment for pensioners.

“We need to reset the government,” she told Electoral Dysfunction. “The biggest way to do that is by tackling issues such as winter fuel payments.

“I think we should raise the thresholds so that people perhaps who are paying a higher level of tax are the only people who are exempt from getting it.”

Pic: AP
Image:
Pic: AP

A group of MPs in the Red Wall, thought to number about 40, met on Tuesday night following the fallout of local election results in England, which saw Labour lose the Runcorn by-election and control of Doncaster Council to Reform UK.

Following the results, Sir Keir said “we must deliver that change even more quickly – we must go even further”.

Some Labour MPs believe it amounted to ignoring voters’ concerns.

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UK and US trade deal will save thousands of UK jobs – Starmer
Starmer faces rebellion from Labour MPs over welfare reforms

One of the MPs who was present at the meeting told Sky News there was “lots of anger at the government’s response to the results”.

“People acknowledged the winter fuel allowance was the main issue for us on the doorstep,” they said.

“There is a lack of vision from this government.”

Another added: “Everyone was furious.”

Downing Street has ruled out a U-turn on means testing the winter fuel payment, following newspaper reports earlier this week that one might be on the cards.

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