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The health secretary has been unable to guarantee that there will be no further scandals in maternity care after admitting the NHS is in a “period of transition”.

Victoria Atkins was speaking following the publication of a report by MPs which there was “shockingly poor quality” in maternity services, resulting in care that lacked compassion and a system where “poor care is all too frequently tolerated as normal”.

Speaking to Sky News following the report’s publication, Ms Atkins thanked the women who had been involved in the inquiry and said their stories were “really important”.

“I say that not just as secretary of state for health, I say this as a mum.”

The health secretary, who was appointed to her role last November, said her own experience of having her baby on the NHS included “moments of joy” but also “some moments that are very dark and frightening”.

She said she completely understood why women and their families were “worried about the report and the findings in it”.

However, asked whether should could guarantee that there would be no further scandals in maternity care, Ms Atkins replied: “I’m being completely frank here, we are in a period of transition … we are already beginning to see changes but of course I accept there is much more work to do.”

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Analysis: Why weren’t alarm bells going off?

Victoria Atkins was not health secretary when Theo Clark MP first spoke of her birth trauma in parliament.

But she is keen to stress she is listening to the voices of women who have shared their stories with the national inquiry.

“I say that not just as Secretary of State for Health, I say this as a mum.”

In her own words, her childbirth experience included, “some moments that are very dark and frightening”.

She’s read the All-Party Parliamentary Inquiry into birth trauma, and insists things are changing.

“I don’t pretend we’re there yet, but we are genuinely turning a corner,” she told me.

Every year eye-watering sums are spent on maternity clinical negligence, including £1.1bn last year alone.

So why weren’t alarm bells going off? Victoria Atkins says they were, and points to recent reviews of maternity scandals which lead to the three-year plan for maternity.

But when I asked whether she can guarantee we won’t see another maternity scandal, the Health Secretary admitted, “I’m being completely frank here, we are in a period of transition … we are already beginning to see changes but of course I accept there is much more work to do.”

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This morning health minister Maria Caulfield apologised to mothers who had been affected, saying: “I recognise that maternity services have not been where we want them to be, but there is lots of work happening in this space.

“This has been a problem for a long time, and it is why maternity is a priority area in the women’s health strategy.”

But pressed on whether she would apologise to the women who have suffered, Ms Atkins said the problems highlighted in the report were “longstanding”.

“What I want to do is now focus on not just the longer term future, but today, because I want mums to be…I want them to have confidence that we are seeing improvement in these services,” she added.

“I don’t pretend we’re there yet, but we are genuinely turning a corner.”

Led by Conservative MP Theo Clarke and Labour MP Rosie Duffield, the Birth Trauma Inquiry considered evidence given by more than 1,300 women and has called for a national plan to improve maternity care.

It found that poor quality postnatal care was an “almost-universal theme”.

“Women shared stories of being left in blood-stained sheets or of ringing the bell for help but no one coming,” the report said.

The inquiry made 12 recommendations, including that the government implement a maternity commissioner who would report directly to the prime minister.

Some £1.1bn – more than a third of the NHS’ total maternity and neonatal budget – was spent on cash payments relating to clinical negligence in 2022/23, a Department of Health and Social Care report showed.

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Speaking to Sky News today, Ms Duffield, co-chair of the all-party parliamentary group on birth trauma, said the UK “absolutely” needed to overhaul maternity care following the inquiry.

“We really need somebody overseeing the fact that at the moment it is a postcode lottery,” she said.

“We need someone to make sure – almost like an Ofsted inspector but perhaps less scary – to just oversee the fact that we’re joined up in our approach to maternity services and care.

“There’s that, and then we absolutely have to end the problem of the maternal health of black women and south Asian women, who are five times more likely to die in childbirth.”

Ms Atkins said she was “determined to focus relentlessly on improving the care for women across England” and that she had “prioritised” women’s health, maternity services and birth trauma since taking up her Cabinet post.

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Asked why “alarm bells” had not been ringing during the Conservatives’ 14 years in power, Ms Atkins said there had been awareness of issues, citing reviews into maternity care at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust and Morecambe Bay NHS Trust.

“We are in an interesting position because, for the first time in the NHS’s history, you have not just a secretary of state for health who is a mum, but also the chief executive of NHS England is a mum as well – Amanda Pritchard,” she said.

“We are working together to try to address some of these issues that we know have arisen in recent years.”

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‘A constant game of cat and mouse’: Inside the police crackdown on illegal moped delivery drivers

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'A constant game of cat and mouse': Inside the police crackdown on illegal moped delivery drivers

The first thing you notice when immigration officers stop a possible illegal moped delivery driver is the speed in which the suspect quickly taps on their mobile.

“We’re in their WhatsApp groups – they’ll be telling thousands now that we’re here… so our cover is blown,” the lead immigration officer tells me.

“It’s like a constant game of cat and mouse.”

Twelve Immigration Enforcement officers, part of the Home Office, are joining colleagues from Avon and Somerset Police in a crackdown on road offences and migrants working illegally.

Police chase suspected illegal immigrant working as a delivery drivers

The West of England and Wales has seen the highest number of arrests over the last year for illegal workers outside of London.

“It is a problem… we’re tackling it,” Murad Mohammed, from Immigration Enforcement, says. He covers all the devolved nations.

“This is just one of the operations going on around the country, every day of the week, every month of the year.”

Murad Mohammed from Immigration Enforcement
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Murad Mohammed, from Immigration Enforcement, says his team are attempting to tackle the issue

Just outside the Cabot Circus shopping complex, we stop a young Albanian man who arrived in the UK on the back of a truck.

He’s on an expensive and fast-looking e-bike, with a new-looking Just Eat delivery bag.

He says he just uses it for “groceries” – but the officer isn’t buying it. He’s arrested, but then bailed instantly.

A man inspects the Just Eat food delivery bag of a suspected illegal immigrant working as a delivery driver

We don’t know the specifics of his case, but one officer tells me this suspected offence won’t count against his asylum claim.

Such is the scale of the problem – the backlog, loopholes and the complexity of cases – that trying to keep on top of it feels impossible.

This is one of many raids happening across the UK as part of what the government says is a “blitz” targeting illegal working hotspots.

Angela Eagle, the border security and asylum minister, joins the team for an hour at one of Bristol’s retail parks, scattered with fast food chains and, therefore, delivery bikes.

Angela Eagle, Minister for Border Security and Asylum
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Border security and asylum minister, Angela Eagle, speaks to Sky News

She says arrests for illegal working are up over the last year by 51% from the year before, to more than 7,000.

“If we find you working, you can lose access to the hotel or the support you have [been] given under false pretences,” she said.

“We are cracking down on that abuse, and we intend to keep doing so.”

A suspected illegal immigrant working as a delivery driver being arrested

There are reports that asylum seekers can rent legitimate delivery-driver accounts within hours of arriving in the country – skipping employment legality checks.

Uber Eats, Deliveroo, and Just Eat all told Sky News they’re continuing to strengthen the technology they use to remove anyone working illegally.

But a new Border Security Bill, working its way through Parliament, could see companies fined £60,000 for each illegal worker discovered, director disqualifications and potential prison sentences of up to five years.

“I had them all in to see me last week and I told them in no uncertain terms that we take a very tough line on this kind of abuse and they’ve got to change their systems so they can drive it out and off their platforms,” the minister tells me.

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The gig economy – so prevalent in every city – creates another incentive for those wanting to risk their lives coming to the UK illegally.

More than 20,000 migrants have crossed the English Channel to the UK in 2025 – a record number at this point of the year.

A suspected illegal immigrant working as a delivery driver holds his helmet

For some of those who arrive, a bike and a phone provide a way to repay debts to gang masters.

There were eight arrests today in Bristol, one or two taken into custody, but it was 12 hours of hard work by a dozen immigration officers and the support of the police.

As two mopeds are pushed onto a low-loader, you can’t help but feel, despite the best intentions, that at the moment, this is a losing battle.

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Officers who confronted Southport killer reveal how they disarmed him – as they are nominated for police bravery award

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Officers who confronted Southport killer reveal how they disarmed him - as they are nominated for police bravery award

The officers who confronted the Southport killer have described, for the first time publicly, how they disarmed him – as they joined a list of 70 officers nominated for a police bravery award.

Sergeant Greg Gillespie, 42, PC Luke Holden, 31, and PCSO Tim Parry, 32, were the first to arrive as Axel Rudakubana rampaged with a knife through a holiday dance school last summer.

Speaking to Sky News about what they saw when arriving at the scene, Sgt Gillespie said: “There was maybe 20 or 25 adults and all of them were looking at me, all of them have this look of terror and fear, panic on their faces and I knew whatever it was we were turning up to was really, really bad.”

His colleagues drove fast from Southport police station and were thirty seconds or so behind Sgt Gillespie.

PC Luke Holden (left), PCSO Tim Parry (centre), Sgt Greg Gillespie (right) nominated for the police bravery awards
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PC Luke Holden (left), PCSO Tim Parry (centre), Sgt Greg Gillespie (right) nominated for the police bravery awards

PC Holden said he saw “a large puddle of blood on the floor outside the door” and said Sgt Gillespie “just looked at me” and asked if he was ready.

“That was it, there was no conversation. There was nothing else going on. He said, ‘Are you ready?’ and I said, ‘Yeah, let’s go’.”

PCSO Parry, who doesn’t carry a baton or pepper spray like his colleagues, went to the back of the building to stop people from entering, help anyone who needed it, and get information on the number of suspects inside.

He said: “It was a horrific scene to really go into because I was so unprepared with the equipment I had.”

Sgt Gillespie and PC Holden identified the suspect at the top of the stairs, a bloodied knife in his hand, and walked towards him shoulder to shoulder.

“I saw him, made eye contact with him, saw his facial expression, saw his body language and the way he moved himself into a position at the top of the stairs, showing us he had a knife,” Sgt Gillespie said.

“He was fronting us, like he was saying, ‘I’ve got a knife, what are you going to do about it?’

“And I think the second he realised he was looking at two people who weren’t scared of him, who were going to attack him, all that bravery that he must have summoned up to attack defenceless children, he lost that straightaway, and he threw down the knife.”

In January, Rudakubana, who was 17 at the time of the attack, admitted the murders of seven-year-old Elsie Dot Stancombe, Bebe King, aged six and Alice da Silva Aguiar, who was nine, as well 10 charges of attempted murder, as well as possessing terrorist material and production of the biological toxin, ricin.

He was jailed for life with a minimum of 52 years – with the sentencing judge saying it was “highly likely” he would never be released.

**STRICTLY EMBARGOED UNTIL AFTER CONCLUSION OF SENTENCING**
Pic: Merseyside Police
Axel Rudakubana trial Southport murders court evidence
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A machete was also found at Rudakubana’s home. Pic: Merseyside Police

Dozens nominated for bravery awards

The Merseyside trio are among 70 officers from around England and Wales who have been nominated for tonight’s Police Federation national bravery awards.

They include two sergeants from Sussex who swam to the rescue of a vulnerable teenager struggling to stay afloat at night off Brighton beach.

Footage of Sergeant Craig Lees and Sergeant Matthew Seekings rescuing a woman from the sea in Brighton. Pic: Sussex police
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Footage of Sergeant Craig Lees and Sergeant Matthew Seekings rescuing a woman from the sea in Brighton. Pic: Sussex police


Police with torches had located her in the sea fifty metres from the shore, but a lifeline they threw to her didn’t reach.

Sergeant Craig Lees said: “We could see that she was starting to struggle with the cold and tide, and she began to dip under the water. We knew we needed to do something, and that was that we needed to get into the water and swim out to her.”

His colleague and friend Sergeant Matthew Seekings said: “I don’t think it’s in the blood of any police officer to watch somebody at risk or somebody needing help and not do something.

“When you’re in the sea, it’s pitch black, you don’t even know where the bottom is, it’s terrifying, and I can only imagine how the female was feeling.”

Sergeant Craig Lees and Sergeant Matthew Seekings who are nominated for a bravery award. Pic: Sussex police
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Sergeant Craig Lees and Sergeant Matthew Seekings who are nominated for a bravery award. Pic: Sussex police

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Battling their own fatigue, the two officers managed to get the girl to shore, where colleagues and paramedics were waiting to take over.

In Devizes, Wiltshire, PC Nicola Crabbe was called to a town centre fight between two men, one of whom had a knife.

PC Nicola Crabbe from Wiltshire police who is nominated for a police bravery award
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PC Nicola Crabbe from Wiltshire police who is nominated for a police bravery award

‘Just saturated in blood’

“They were grappling, and they were just saturated in blood,” said PC Crabbe, who confronted the man she thought was the knifeman.

“I was in the middle of the road when I grabbed hold of him, and there was a member of the public just there, and that’s when he explained to me that I had the wrong person.”

CCTV image of PC Nicola Crabbe from Wiltshire police dealing with a fight in Devizes. Pic: Wiltshire police
Image:
CCTV image of PC Nicola Crabbe from Wiltshire police dealing with a fight in Devizes. Pic: Wiltshire police

Armed only with a baton and Pava pepper spray, she grappled with the suspect, trying to find his knife.

She said: “At one point he grabbed my hair and kind of dragged me around a bit, so I Pava’d him which just had no effect at all.”

PC Crabbe managed to restrain the knifeman until colleagues arrived and arrested him.

The full list of award winners will be announced on Thursday night during a dinner at a west London hotel.

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Labour MPs form new group as they urge prime minister to focus on living standards to help ward off Reform

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Labour MPs form new group as they urge prime minister to focus on living standards to help ward off Reform

A group of Labour MPs has urged Sir Keir Starmer to do more to tackle the rising cost of living amid fears the party could lose the next election to Reform.

The MPs are launching a new splinter group, the living standards coalition, to shift the focus to everyday concerns such as food, energy bills and housing.

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In a letter to the prime minister, the group’s members warned that one question would be on the mind of voters at the next election: “Did this Labour government make me better off?”

“After 14 years of living in a no-growth economy and with some of the highest bills in Europe, our constituents are struggling to make ends meet,” they said.

“More of them are turning away from democracy and towards populism as they can’t afford a decent life.”

The coalition is the latest splinter group to form since the party’s landslide election victory a year ago.

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Other groups include the Labour growth group, which focuses on delivering economic growth, and MPs in Red Wall constituencies in the North who are alive to the threat Reform poses in their seats.

A YouGov poll last month found Reform was on track to get the most seats if an election were held this year – with combined support for the Conservatives and Labour collapsing to less than half of the national vote.

While the MPs stress they are supportive of the actions the government has taken so far, the forming of a new group could be interpreted as a sign of restlessness in the parliamentary party, especially given the fallout of last week’s botched welfare vote.

In the letter, first reported by The Guardian, the MPs write: “We are here to support your efforts to go further and faster on raising living standards. We come from every corner of our party.

“To raise living standards, we support government interventions that will help to increase incomes and lower costs.

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“We welcome interventions that will raise incomes. We welcome investment in labour- intensive building, education, and healthcare jobs that will raise living standards through employment. We welcome the Employment Rights Bill that will get wages rising.”

They added: “We know that some will try to stop us raising living standards.

“They will try to block us from building the affordable housing and windfarms we need to get bills down. They oppose the way we have raised revenue from the very wealthiest to invest in childcare and our NHS.

“We are glad you are keeping this government’s focus on raising living standards. We stand in support of you. It is the most important issue to our constituents and the country.”

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