Nurses are set to start casting their votes on whether to strike over pay in the first ever UK-wide ballot by the industry's largest union.
For the first time in its 106-year history, the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) will ask 300,000 of its members if they want to mount a campaign of industrial action.
It comes amid warnings that record numbers of nurses are leaving the profession.
The RCN said new analysis by London Economics has found that pay for nurses has declined at twice the rate of the private sector in the last decade, with their real-terms earnings falling by 6%.
The union wants nurses to be given a pay rise in line with the rate of inflation, which is currently 10.1%.
In July, the government awarded most NHS staff a pay rise of at least 4.5%, which it said gave many workers a £1,400 salary increase.
The RCN has been urging its members to vote in favour of industrial action, with the union's general secretary saying it is a "once-in-a-generation chance" to improve pay and combat staff shortages.
"Governments have repeatedly neglected the NHS and the value of nursing. We can change this if together we say 'enough is enough'," said RCN Chief Executive Pat Cullen in a message to members.
"Record numbers are feeling no alternative but to quit, and patients pay a heavy price. We are doing this for them too.
"It's clear we need urgent change. Nursing is the best job in the world. Protect it with your vote."
Public urged to co-sign letter to PM
Members of the public are also invited to get involved in the union's demands by co-signing a letter to Prime Minister Liz Truss.
The letter asks the government to "see sense" and "protect nursing to protect the public".
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Polling carried out by YouGov has suggested two-thirds of the public would support nurses taking strike action, while three-quarters of respondents said there were too few nurses to provide safe NHS care.
The vote comes amid months of strike action from across several sectors, including rail staff, postal workers and refuse employees.
Prime Minister Liz Truss's reluctance to raise benefits to match the rising cost of living is causing a rift within the Conservative Party. Cabinet minister Penny Mordaunt says it "makes sense" to increase them in line with inflation.
So what are the main benefits and have they kept up with rising prices?
In February, 22 million people were claiming some form of benefits, in England, Scotland and Wales.
In 2019-20, the year before the Covid pandemic, the government spent about £94bn on benefits.
In the same year, £99bn was spent on the state pension.
By comparison, the government spends almost £200bn per year on health and social care.
Most working-age benefits usually increase every April, in line with the previous September's inflation rate.
But between 2016 and 2020, most benefit increases were frozen.
If the government decides against raising benefits in line with inflation next year, it could instead increase them by the same proportion as average wages.
But this would represent a cut compared with the rising cost of living - and not apply to non-means-tested disability benefits, which under current law must rise in line with prices. This includes Personal Independence Payment.
When it comes to the state pension, Ms Truss has indicated she will maintain the triple lock, which ensures an annual rise to keep up with the rising cost of living - of either 2.5%, the rate of any increase in average earnings, or inflation, whichever is highest.
At £18.4bn, universal credit (UC) was the government's joint-highest benefit spend in 2019-20.
Claimed by 5.7 million people - about 41% of whom have jobs - UC is a monthly payment to help with living costs.
It was introduced to replace a number of existing benefits, including:
During the Covid pandemic, UC claimants received a temporary £20-a-week increase.
In 2019-20, £18.4bn was spent on housing benefit, which helps people pay their rent.
In May 2022, there were 1.5 million working-age recipients and 1.1 million of pension age.
Housing benefit is gradually being replaced by UC.
The main allowances for disabled people are:
In February there were:
The government spent £11.1bn on child benefit in 2019-20.
Since 2013, claimants earning more than £50,000 gradually have the benefit reduced the more they earn.
At £60,000 and above, child benefit is fully withdrawn.
And that figure has not been adjusted to reflect rising prices since then, meaning it now affects many more people.
In August 2021, 7.1 million families were receiving child benefit.
Child tax credit and working tax credit are being replaced by UC.
In 2019-20, the government spent £17bn on them but that is expected to fall to £7.5bn this year.
Separate from the state pension, pension credit helps people over state-pension age with low incomes with living costs, at a cost of £5bn in 2019-20.
More than 1.4 million people currently receive pension credit, although the government says there are significantly more eligible pensioners who do not claim.
The UK spends 3.9% of gross domestic product (GDP) - the total value of goods and services produced in the country - on working-age benefits, according to the latest data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
In a number of European countries, this proportion is higher.
Belgium tops the OECD list, at 6.4%, followed by Norway and Finland.
"The UK has one of the least generous out-of-work benefits systems for workers on average earnings in the OECD," the Institute for Fiscal Studies says.
Liz Truss has said she is determined to “step up” and lead Britain through the “tempest” as she sought to revive her faltering leadership in her speech to the Conservative Party conference.
The new prime minister told party members in Birmingham: “In these tough times we need to step up. I’m determined to get Britain moving, to get us through the tempest, and to put us on a stronger footing as a nation.”
The country, she said, was dealing with a “global economic crisis caused by Covid, and by President Putin’s appalling war in Ukraine”. Britain was facing “stormy days”.
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The protesters unfurled a banner during the speech and were hastily removed
TOBY MELVILLE/REUTERS
After a
Liz Truss will use her set-piece Tory conference speech to explain why she thinks the "disruption" caused by her economic policies will be worth it.
"Everyone will benefit" from the economic growth produced by her tax-cutting plan, the PM will claim.
After a bruising conference marked by U-turns and internal division, she will set out a long-term vision for the country under her leadership.
And she will attempt to reassure her party that she is on the right path.
The speech is due to get under way at 11:00 BST.
"Whenever there is change, there is disruption," she will tell party members.
"Not everyone will be in favour. But everyone will benefit from the result - a growing economy and a better future."
Asked what "disruption" there could be and whether higher mortgage interest payments were acceptable, Foreign Secretary James Cleverly told BBC Breakfast: "There's almost an inevitability about an increase in interest rates because it's going on around the globe.
"What we need to do is make sure we find a way of offsetting that by having a growing economy, growing wages."
Major providers have already increased rates on mortgages, after the government's mini-budget led to a slump in the value of the pound and traders expected the Bank of England to raise interest rates more sharply than previously anticipated.
The four-day conference in Birmingham has been overshadowed by wrangling within the party over the future direction of the economy.
This week Ms Truss - who became prime minister a month ago after winning a Tory leadership contest - dramatically abandoned plans to scrap the top rate of income tax announced at the mini-budget on 23 September, after criticism from her own MPs.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman, who was in favour of abolishing the 45p tax rate for higher earners and disappointed by the U-turn, said the policy had been overturned by a "coup" within the party.
Cabinet colleagues have also come out publicly against the suggestion that benefits could be linked to the rise in earnings rather than inflation.
Penny Mordaunt, the Leader of the Commons, said it "makes sense" for Universal Credit to continue to be linked to inflation, which has soared during the cost of living crisis.
Other senior Tories, including former leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith, have also said during the conference that an inflation-level rise should go ahead.
Asked whether Ms Mordaunt was right in her comments, Mr Cleverly said no policy had been made yet but it was better to "feed ideas directly into the centre" of government.
Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng has faced pressure following financial turmoil in the wake of the mini-budget, after markets reacted badly to plans to borrow to fund £45bn in tax cuts.
The Conservatives have slumped in the polls since the mini-budget was unveiled, with Labour opening up wide leads.
In an interview with Times Radio, former Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said MPs would "find a way to make change" if poll numbers against Ms Truss did not improve.
"I want Liz to succeed, so I'm hoping that she can turn us around," he said. "I think there is a window of opportunity for her to do it."
However, former Brexit Secretary David Davis, who has been a strong critic of Ms Truss, said the idea of getting rid of her before the next election was "fantasy".
He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme it had been "a poor start" to her leadership but "you've got to make this work".
"If the party splits into pieces then we will lose the next election," he added.
While there are no big policy announcements expected in her speech, BBC Political Editor Chris Mason said Ms Truss would use her platform to "attempt to pull this party together" following days of "open dysfunction".
"Governments function through the exercise of power and authority - and there've been two transparent examples in the last two days of this government lacking in both...
"This is a government that is nervous - with a lot to be nervous about."
Ms Truss will also say there has been too much focus on redistributing wealth within society, rather than on increasing the size of the economy.
"Instead, we need to grow the pie so that everyone gets a bigger slice," she will say.
"That is why I am determined to take a new approach and break us out of this high-tax, low-growth cycle.
"We have huge talent across the country. We're not making enough of it.
"To deliver this, we need to get Britain moving. We cannot have any more drift and delay at this vital time."
A No 10 source said Ms Truss would aim to spell out her long-term vision in her address, and was planning to speak to Tory MPs in Parliament next week to listen to concerns and explain her plans.
A man has been arrested after a woman was mauled to death by dogs in a house.
The 65-year-old, named locally as Ann Dunn, was fatally attacked at a property which had been listed for dog breeding online on St Brigid's Crescent in Kirkdale, Liverpool, on Monday.
Five American bulldogs inside the house were handed over and have since been humanely destroyed.
Merseyside Police said a man, aged 31, had been held on suspicion of owning a dog dangerously out of control.
Det Insp Katie Coote said it was "clearly a very distressing incident and our thoughts are with the family and friends of the lady who died".
"Our inquiries remain ongoing as we seek to establish what has happened and I would urge anyone who could assist... to get in touch," she added.
The force said the woman had not yet been formally identified but her next of kin had been informed.
A post-mortem examination will be carried out to establish the cause of death.
American bulldogs are not one of the four breeds currently banned in the UK.
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The prime minister was asked several times if she trusted Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng with future policy decisions, but seemingly avoided saying that she did.
"I work very, very closely with my chancellor," Liz Truss said. The interviewer said viewers would note that Truss did not say she trusted her chancellor.
She was touring a construction site in Selly Oak when she spoke to the media.
