Leicester South’s independent MP Shockat Adam has issued a statement about the Reform UK East Midlands conference, which is taking place this evening at the Athena Events Venue in Leicester.

He said:

I have heard constituent’s concerns that Reform UK is coming to Leicester with the intent of stirring division. Let me make this clear: Leicester is a confident, diverse city and any political group seeking to sow discord will find only cohesion, unity and mutual respect.

Reform’s members have an opportunity to come to Leicester and experience the city’s unique cultural harmony. Here, diversity comes alive through its cuisine, creative arts, iconic architecture, vibrant music, and meaningful conversations. This is the Leicester experience everyone should see.

Many people voted for Reform because they have been left behind by the system and betrayed by the traditional political parties. However, the policies proposed by Reform are fundamentally flawed. Brexit is reducing people’s incomes and restricting their opportunities, their tax policies are designed to make the rich richer, not redistribute wealth to those that need it most and their dog whistles on race have inflamed divisions when we should be coming together.

What the people of Leicester truly need is a break from the poverty and austerity that have plagued our communities for too long. Reform, despite all their rhetoric, won’t deliver this change any more than Labour or the Tories will.

Reform UK leader and Clacton MP Nigel Farage is speaking at the event tonight, one of a series of similar events to be held over the next few days. Tickets are only available to people who have paid a membership fee to Reform UK.

Andrew Gregory and Michael Goodier have this report on the winter pressures affecting the NHS in England.

Some further reaction from the government’s announcement that there is to be an independent commission to look at the provision of adult social care.

Andrew Pike, Dementia UK’s head of policy, campaigns and public affairs said the organisation welcomes the launch, but “with the final report not due to emerge until 2028, thousands will remain stuck in limbo. There are nearly one million people living with dementia in the UK – they deserve access to good quality social care now.”

He continued “It is vital that the government delivers this long overdue reform by urgently increasing sustainable funding, reducing waiting times for local care assessments, developing a national carers strategy for unpaid carers, and delivering a social care workforce with the capacity, resource and skills to meet the needs of people affected by dementia.”

Speaking on behalf of the County councils network, Buckinghamshire Conservative Cllr Martin Tett said “it is vital that the voice of local government, which really understands the issues to be debated, is prominent in this review.”

He added “Social care is complex and frequently misunderstood. It is not just about who pays the care costs of the elderly … with the purpose of the National Care Service vague and ill-defined at present, the financial pressures on councils are intense and growing and so our members are clear that their number one priority is sustainable funding for social care alongside a long-term workforce plan.”

Former Labour leader and independent MP for Islington North, Jeremy Corbyn, has also commented, saying:

The government has told elderly and disabled people to wait until 2028 to hear its plan for social care. What about those who are suffering here and now? We don’t need a commission to know what to do: end austerity, reverse privatisation, and build a National Care Service for all.

Conservative opposition leader Kemi Badenoch has just posted to social media responding to health minister Andrew Gwynne after some comments he made on Sky News this morning.

In the Sky News interview earlier, speaking from Manchester, Gwynne accused Badenoch of “playing politics” over her calling for an inquiry into grooming gangs. He said:

Well, look, I think that Kemi Badenoch is playing politics here, because we’ve had a review into child sexual exploitation. That review has reported to the government, and the government is considering the findings in that report

And I think that she needs to ensure that we respond to that report in good time.

And look, we don’t want to delay any action to protect young girls. We don’t want to delay implementing the recommendations from the 2022 inquiry.

Badenoch has responded in her typically forthright style, posting:

Labour claimed I was “playing politics” when I fought to stop rapists being put in women’s prisons.

It’s exactly this sort of language that protected the rape gangs in the first place.

I learned as I legislated to overturn postmasters convictions, too many people think challenging a failing system is “playing politics”.

It’s not.

It’s called “Doing The Right Thing”.

The Conservative govt set up the first ever grooming gangs taskforce, which led to over 550 arrests. This was the right thing to do.

Of course, there is still MUCH more to do for the victims. But instead of wasting time attacking me, Labour ministers should get on and launch an inquiry.

The report into child sexual exploitation was commissioned by former prime minister Theresa May when she was home secretary in 2015, and published during the brief period that Liz Truss was prime minister. Badenoch held the ministerial role for women and equalities in Rishi Sunak’s government from October 2022 to July 2024.

The report made 20 recommendations. In November last year, Prof Alexis Jay, who lead its publication, said she felt “frustrated” that none of them had been implemented more than two years after its conclusion.

Earlier today health secretary Wes Streeting said “[Keir Starmer’s] government is committed to implementing the recommendations of the inquiry into child sexual abuse. We will do that in full. We will get on with the job.”

The Department of Health and Social Care has just published on the government website its press release announcement of “new reforms and independent commission to transform social care” for England.

You can read it in full here, with the key passages on the independent commission as follows:

Alongside immediate steps to ease pressure on the sector and improve support for care workers, the government is also kickstarting work on the necessary long term reform to overhaul social care and address the inherited challenges it faces. As set out in the manifesto, this deep reform will include the creation of a National Care Service underpinned by national standards, delivering consistency of care across the country. As a first step, the government will launch an independent commission into adult social care to be chaired by Louise Casey, to inform the work needed to deliver this.

The commission, reporting to the prime minister, will work with people drawing on care and support, families, staff, politicians and the public, private and third sector to make clear recommendations for how to rebuild the adult social care system to meet the current and future needs of the population.

As well as appearing on BBC Radio this morning, health secretary Wes Streeting has been taking his message on adult social care reform to ITV News on television, where he had this to say:

This government is determined to grip the crisis in social care, which is historic and has been decades in the making.

That’s why, since the general election, we’ve legislated for the first ever fair pay agreements, we’ve delivered the biggest expansion of carers allowance since the 1970s, and we’re delivering big increases in social care funding, including specific funding, things like the disabled facilities grant.

But there’s more to do, and if we’re going to break the cycle of failure after failure under different types of government, Labour, Liberal Democrats, Conservative, SNP-led governments, we’ve all failed on this, the best way to do that is an independent commission that brings political parties together.

So we’ve got a plan, not just for the next few years which this government will deliver on, but a plan for the next three decades that all parties can sign up to.

That’s the level of ambition we have, and that’s how we’re going to break out of the short-termist sticking-plaster politics, and, frankly, the self-serving party politics that has plagued successive government and led to failure in social care.

So this commission, I hope, will be a triumph of hope over experience. But goodness me, this country needs hope, and it needs a plan on social care, and that’s what we’re determined to deliver working cross-party through the independent commission.

Healthcare is devolved, and Streeting does not have a remit for Scotland, where Neil Gray is the cabinet secretary for health and social care. Streeting though has repeatedly this morning included a reference to the SNP when he has talked broadly about previous government failures on the adult social care issue.

Streeting: Musk should ‘roll sleeves up’ and work on ending child sexual exploitation instead of making ‘misjudged and misinformed’ comments

Some economic news which probably won’t cheer up chancellor Rachel Reeves and her hopes to see growth in the economy.

New data from the Bank of England has shown there has been a slowdown in mortgage lending. British lenders approved 65,720 mortgages in November. That is less than the 68,500 expected by economists polled by Reuters.

It has also been a “drab December” for the high street, with attendance at UK shopping centres, retail parks and high streets was down 2.2% in December compared with the same period in 2023.

You can follow the latest business news with my colleague Kalyeena Makortoff today on our business live blog.

Health secretary Wes Streeting has backed the roll-out of “Martha’s rule” to “every health and care setting across the country” during his interview this morning on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.

He was asked by presenter Nick Robinson “the NHS in England is beginning to roll out Martha’s rule, but there are those who want it to go faster and it to be available nationally. Is that something is health secretary you now want to see?”

Streeting said:

Yes, and when I was in opposition, I supported Martha’s rule, and I gave credit to our Conservative predecessors when they took up the campaign and started the process of rolling it out.

I think the signs are hugely encouraging the impact it’s having. I want to see this in place in every health and care setting across the country. So we’re going to be supporting that roll out.

Martha’s mother, Merope, a senior editor at the Guardian, appeared on the Today programme last month, with data showing that patients have been moved to intensive care or received potentially life-saving treatment such as oxygen as a direct result of hospitals adopting the rule.

The rule gives patients and their families in England the legal right to a second opinion from senior medics in the same hospital if they are deteriorating rapidly and feel their concerns are being dismissed.

Streeting also suggested cross-party support on this issue was a good example of the approach the government was trying to take with adult social care. He said:

I thought Merope’s interview, by the way, before Christmas, was was extraordinarily powerful, as was Jeremy Hunt’s interview as well.

So this is a good example, leaning back into our social care conversation a bit, that sometimes, even in our slightly fraught politics that we’ve had, certainly in the near decade, that I’ve been in Parliament, that actually we can work together in the national interest.

That we can find common ground, and we can make life-changing and life-saving differences.

We’re doing that on Martha’s rule. I hope we can do that on the issue of social care too.

Scotland’s NHS is still facing “significant” winter pressures, health minister Neil Gray has said.

PA Media reports statistics released last week showed levels of flu in Scotland were at an “extraordinary” level, impacting 50.1 people per 100,000 of the population. Gray, who was appointed to the role of cabinet secretary for health and social care in May 2024, said:

The NHS continues to face significant winter pressures, including cases of Influenza A, which remain very high.

I am enormously grateful to all those working in health and social care settings for their extraordinary efforts over the busy festive period. I was encouraged to hear about the collaborative working right across the system, with strong leadership and staff supporting each other.

I want to thank the public, too, for taking heed of messages about accessing the right care in the right place, and taking steps to help slow the spread of infection.

The health secretary added that all those eligible for vaccinations should take up the offer. There is more information on Scotland’s flu vaccine programme here.

NHS England has also issued new flu data this morning, showing the average number of flu patients in hospital in England each day last week is up sharply on the equivalent week last winter.

PA Media quotes Prof Julian Redhead, NHS England national clinical director for urgent and emergency care saying:

These latest figures show the pressure from flu was nowhere near letting up before we headed into the new year. On top of flu there is also continual pressure from Covid, while RSV and norovirus hospital cases are also higher than last year.

With what looks like an extreme cold snap expected right across England ahead of the weekend, we know the low temperatures can be dangerous for those who are vulnerable or have respiratory conditions so if you are at risk, do try and keep warm and make sure you are stocked up on any regular medication.