Day: April 20, 2025

Dozens of MPs are angry at their party, despite frantic efforts by whips and government ministers to assuage them

• ‘We just go to the park’: making the most of Easter in a child-poverty hotspot

Labour MPs opposed to the government’s massive £5bn of benefit cuts say they will refuse to support legislation to implement them, even if more money is offered by ministers to alleviate child poverty in an attempt to win them over.

Legislation will be introduced to the House of Commons in early June to allow the cuts to come into force. They will include tightening the criteria for personal independence payments (Pip) for people with disabilities, to limit the number of people who can claim it. Under the changes, people who are not able to wash the lower half of their body, for example, will no longer be able to claim Pip unless they have another limiting condition.

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Inmates complain of rashes and fever, echoing the events that led Dartmoor jail to close last year

The government faces further potential legal action over concerns about levels of radon gas at a second prison, after Dartmoor jail was forced to close.

Ministry of Justice officials have ordered radon detection equipment to be installed at Lindholme prison near Doncaster in South Yorkshire, where prisoners have reported ­feeling unwell with symptoms such as ­headaches, rashes and fever.

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