Closing summary
Keir Starmer will “absolutely” be prime minister next Christmas, the chair of the Labour party, Anna Turley, told Sky News, with many backbenchers believing a leadership challenge will happen after what is predicted to be a disastrous round of election results for Labour in May to the Scottish and Welsh parliaments and English councils.
The health secretary, Wes Streeting, said the NHS is “coping” with resident doctors’ strikes but admitted he is worried about its recovery in the days after it ends on Monday.
In a wide-ranging interview in the Observer, Streeting, who is considered a top contender to be the next Labour leader, also insisted Starmer has his “absolute support” as he shrugged off suggestions of a joint leadership ticket with Angela Rayner.
The Tory deputy chair, Matt Vickers, said that, despite projections to the contrary, the Conservatives were going to “smash” the upcoming elections – and said his party does not need to enter into an electoral pact with Reform.
The justice secretary, David Lammy, is under increasing pressure to meet the lawyers of the Palestine Action-affiliated remand prisoners now on hunger strike, amid increasing fears for their health.
More than 60% of parents who had their child benefit stopped by HMRC using incorrect Home Office travel data were not fraudulently claiming the support from abroad, the government admitted.
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Updated
Scotland officials weigh up smoking ban exception for supervised crack use
Severin Carrell is the Guardian’s Scotland editor
Scottish ministers are considering a change in the law banning smoking in public places to allow drug users to smoke crack cocaine in special facilities in Glasgow and Edinburgh.
Health experts said there had been a significant increase in the number of users switching from injecting heroin to smoking crack in both cities, which they said raised new health challenges and opportunities.
Officials in Glasgow have told the Scottish government they want to expand the UK’s first officially sanctioned drugs consumption room at the Thistle centre – which opened this year in the city’s east end to allow the supervised injection of heroin using fresh needles – to include enclosed, ventilated booths for crack smokers.
Kelda Gaffney, Glasgow’s chief social work officer, has told the city’s integrated joint board, which blends health and social services into a unified care service, that since the centre opened it had become clear that adding a smoking room was “critical” to its success.
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