Ten Things You Need to Know Today: 8 January 2023

1. Health workers could get new offer

The Health Secretary has hinted that health workers could get a revised pay offer from April provided they agree to “efficiencies” in the NHS. After the health service saw widespread strikes in recent weeks, Steve Barclay said he remains “ready to engage” with striking unions on how he can “support the workforce”. Writing in the Sunday Telegraph, he said that when the NHS trusts can find and introduce “productivity and efficiency opportunities” it would make it “affordable” for the government to fund revised pay offers for staff.

2. Outcry as two hanged in Iran

Two men have been hanged in Iran for killing a member of the security forces during protests against the government last year. Mohammad Mahdi Karami and Seyed Mohammad Hosseini said they had been tortured into making false confessions. The Foreign Secretary, James Cleverly, said the executions were “abhorrent”. The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the European Union have urged Iran to halt all executions following the hanging of the pair.

3. Harry ‘felt guilt’ over tears

Prince Harry said he cried only once over the death of his mother, Diana, the Princess of Wales, in 1997. Speaking to ITV, the Duke of Sussex said he had felt “some guilt” walking among crowds who left flowers outside Kensington Palace. “Everyone thought and felt like they knew our mum, and the two closest people to her, the two most loved people by her, were unable to show any emotion in that moment,” he said. Meanwhile, Prince William is said to be “burning inside” over revelations in Harry’s book, Spare.

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4. Anger over Windrush plans

There has been an outcry after it was revealed that home secretary plans to abandon key commitments made after the Windrush scandal. Suella Braverman intends to scrap several commitments, including dropping the pledge to create a migrants’ commissioner and the promise to increase the powers of the independent chief inspector of borders and immigration. The former footballer Ian Wright said the government was “evil” and “heartless” and David Lammy MP said the plan was “sick” and “cruel”.

5. Starmer wants to wow Davos

Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves are preparing to “rub shoulders with the global elite” in the Swiss ski resort of Davos as they seek to “charm” the biggest companies in the world, said The Sunday Times. The Labour leader and his shadow chancellor will meet business chiefs, foreign leaders and other international figures at the get-together. Their presence will “send a message to the super-rich that Labour is the party of business”, said the paper.

6. Government buys up care beds

Thousands of NHS patients stuck in hospitals will be moved urgently into care homes, reported The Sunday Times. The health secretary will announce a hospital discharge fund within days, which will be used to block-buy thousands of care home beds in Care Quality Commission approved facilities. With 13,000 patients stuck on wards despite not needing to be in hospital, ministers hope that the plan will begin to have an effect within the next four weeks and could free up between 1,000 and 2,000 hospital beds.

7. January sales ‘dishonest’

January sales have been branded “deeply dishonest” as it was claimed that bargain-hunters risk buying products that were cheaper six months ago. A study by PriceSpy, which tracks prices across more than 6,000 online retailers, found 46% of products were more expensive at the start of January compared with the preceding six months. Meanwhile, three in 10 items were at least 10% more expensive than they were in the latter half of 2022. A spokeswoman said “big sales in January are “no longer a guarantee”.

8. Britons flock to private health cover

Nearly half-a-million people have taken out private health insurance over the past year, reported The Telegraph. Between them, Aviva, Bupa and Vitality have added 480,000 new customers since the beginning of 2022 as the NHS has increasingly struggled. Growing waiting lists and “uncertainty about when procedures will take place would certainly seem to be influencing people’s decision to plan for private care”, said the Private Healthcare Information Network.

9. Petrol bombs on MP’s doorstep

A Tory MP said he has had Molotov cocktails left on his doorstep. Mike Freer, the MP for Finchley and Golders Green, wears a stab-proof vest to meet constituents after he was shortlisted as a potential victim by Ali Harbi Ali, who murdered Sir David Amess MP in 2021. “I’ve had Molotov cocktails left on the doorstep, and notes left on the car,” he told GB News. “And on top of that, routine vandalism. Some of the incidents have been very threatening.”

10. Ministers worried about Southgate’s tax

Gareth Southgate’s tax arrangements were the subject of heated debate in government circles during discussions of plans to knight him if England had won the European Championships, said the Mail on Sunday. Concerns were raised over the England football manager’s involvement in a ‘film investment scheme’ which the taxman has considered may be illegal, said the paper. A spokesman for the England manager said that as a “proud Englishman”, Southgate had “always paid his taxes and complied with HMRC fully throughout his career”.