https://www.scmp.com/rss/524443/feed The latest news and updates on Wes Streeting, a prominent Labour politician, serving as the Member of Parliament for Ilford North since 2015. He was appointed Secretary of State for Health and Social Care in July 2024, overseeing the NHS and social care policy. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse Both chambers of Britain’s parliament have approved a bill that would ban children aged 17 and under from buying cigarettes during their lifetime. The Tobacco and Vapes Bill aims to stop anyone born after January 1, 2009 (now aged 17) from taking up smoking. Health minister Wes Streeting called this a “historic moment for the nation’s health” that will lead to the “first smoke-free generation, protected from a lifetime of addiction and harm”. When it gets royal assent and becomes law, it would... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3350946/uk-agrees-ban-cigarette-sales-people-born-after-2008?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3350946/uk-agrees-ban-cigarette-sales-people-born-after-2008?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 22 Apr 2026 03:18:35 +0000 Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Wednesday said he would not “yield” to pressure to join the Iran war after US President Donald Trump threatened to scrap a UK trade deal. “We’re not going to get dragged into this war. It is not our war,” Starmer told parliament. “I’m not going to change my mind. I’m not going to yield. It is not in our national interest to join this war,” the Labour leader added. In a phone interview with Sky News, Trump threatened to alter an agreement struck with Britain... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3350216/uk-pm-starmer-says-not-going-yield-trumps-mideast-war-threats?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3350216/uk-pm-starmer-says-not-going-yield-trumps-mideast-war-threats?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 15 Apr 2026 14:35:07 +0000 Associated Press Associated Press The rapper formerly known as Kanye West was barred Tuesday from entering the UK, where he was scheduled to headline the Wireless Festival in July, after a backlash over Ye’s history of antisemitic remarks. Festival organisers canceled the three-day outdoor event as a result of the travel ban and said those who had bought tickets would get refunds. Ye had been granted an electronic travel authorization which has now been withdrawn on the grounds that his presence in the U.K. would not be... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3349297/uk-government-blocks-kanye-west-entering-britain-headline-festival?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3349297/uk-government-blocks-kanye-west-entering-britain-headline-festival?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 07 Apr 2026 13:44:23 +0000 Reuters Reuters Britain will ⁠roll out meningitis vaccines to students at a university in southeast England after an “unprecedented” outbreak of the disease killed two people while the number of new cases jumped to 20. The UK Health Security Agency said all those affected were young people. A 21-year-old student at the University of Kent and a teenage student at a school in ‌the town of Faversham have died. Six of the nine confirmed cases are group B (MenB), the agency added. It was also aware of a baby with a... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3347095/unprecedented-spread-uk-races-contain-deadly-meningitis-outbreak?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3347095/unprecedented-spread-uk-races-contain-deadly-meningitis-outbreak?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 19 Mar 2026 02:38:12 +0000 Associated Press Associated Press British police on Tuesday opened a criminal investigation into politician Peter Mandelson over alleged misconduct in public office related to his relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The UK government says newly released Epstein files suggest Mandelson – a former Cabinet minister, ambassador and elder statesman of the governing Labour Party – may have shared market-sensitive information with the convicted sex offender a decade and a half ago. London’s Metropolitan Police... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3342282/uk-police-called-starmer-moves-expel-mandelson-over-epstein-leaks?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3342282/uk-police-called-starmer-moves-expel-mandelson-over-epstein-leaks?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 03 Feb 2026 14:20:04 +0000 Bloomberg Bloomberg Prime Minister Keir Starmer warned his governing Labour Party that removing him in 2026 would plunge Britain into “utter chaos” and open the door to a far-right government. The turmoil wrought by the constant chopping and changing of staff under the previous Conservative administration is “amongst the reasons that the Tories were booted out so effectively at the last election”, Starmer told the BBC in an interview broadcast on Sunday. Any repeat of that instability “would gift Nigel Farage”,... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3338692/uks-starmer-says-ousting-him-would-lead-chaos-far-right-government?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3338692/uks-starmer-says-ousting-him-would-lead-chaos-far-right-government?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 04 Jan 2026 14:21:53 +0000 Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse The UK is facing an “unprecedented wave of super flu”, a health chief warned on Friday as the health minister urged doctors to call off a threatened five-day strike ahead of Christmas. Wes Streeting said the state-funded National Health Service (NHS) was in an “incredibly precarious situation” as flu cases mounted, and was facing a “challenge unlike any it has seen since the pandemic”. NHS figures published on Thursday showed flu cases at a record level for the time of year. The number of cases... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3336259/uk-super-flu-outbreak-sparks-worst-case-fears-amid-looming-christmas-doctors-strike?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3336259/uk-super-flu-outbreak-sparks-worst-case-fears-amid-looming-christmas-doctors-strike?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 12 Dec 2025 11:20:39 +0000 Reuters Reuters British health minister Wes Streeting denied on Wednesday he was plotting to bring down Keir Starmer, after allies of the prime minister briefed newspapers that they feared an attempted coup could come later this month after the budget. Starmer steered his Labour Party to one of the biggest election victories in British history in 2024, but just 16 months later it is languishing in the polls and poised to break one of its main election pledges to increase income taxes for the first time since... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3332478/uk-health-secretary-denies-plot-topple-pm-starmer?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3332478/uk-health-secretary-denies-plot-topple-pm-starmer?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 12 Nov 2025 08:55:58 +0000 Reuters Reuters Junior doctors in England have voted in favour of taking strike action, their trade union said on Tuesday, threatening Britain’s hospitals once again with disruption just as the government said it had started to improve services. Junior doctors, also known as resident doctors, voted for industrial action after they were offered an average 5.4 per cent pay rise by the government, far below the 29 per cent they say is necessary to address years of salary erosion in real terms. The fresh threat of... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3317434/junior-doctors-vote-strike-threatening-britains-hospitals-amid-pay-dispute?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3317434/junior-doctors-vote-strike-threatening-britains-hospitals-amid-pay-dispute?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 08 Jul 2025 12:35:02 +0000