MPs have voted in favour of the assisted dying bill, with a majority of just 23. The bill must now go to the Lords before becoming law.
MPs have voted to decriminalise abortions, meaning that women who have an abortion outside of the set rules will not be prosecuted.
Starmer has said that controversial benefits reforms must be passed, and Rayner has not ruled out removing the whip from any Labour MP who rebels.
The previously agreed UK-US trade deal has now been officially signed by Trump, though it’s not clear if more tariffs may be set in the future.
The Warm Home Discount has been expanded to an additional 2.7 million households, to help with fuel bills in winter.
New British sanctions against Russia have been set, intended to limit the Kremlin’s funding of the war.
On Friday, MPs voted in favour of the assisted dying bill, officially titled the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill.
To be clear, this does not mean the bill is now law - it first needs to go to the Lords. You can track its progress here.
The assisted dying bill would allow terminally ill people to end their life, if they meet certain criteria.
The requirements included in the bill are designed to act as safeguards, to ensure that people cannot be coerced into ending their life.
The requirements are that the individual must have the mental capacity to make the decision, and have expressed a clear wish. They must also be expected to die within six months, make two separate declarations and satisfy two independent doctors that they are eligible.
Furthermore, the individual must be over 18, live in England or Wales, and have been registered with a GP for at least a year.
The bill was approved with a majority of just 23 votes, with 314 in favour and 291 against.
When the bill was last debated in November, it had a majority of 55, so that has shrunk significantly.
The bill will now move to the House of Lords, where it will go through the same process as it did in the House of Commons.
The Lords may suggest amendments, which would then send the bill back to the Commons to vote on those amendments, which could prolong the process.
Even if the bill is passed quickly, it could be 2029 before it comes into effect, due to a clause that gives the government up to 4 years to decide how the bill should be implemented.
This bill has a long way to go before becoming a law - subscribe to Westminster Weekly to stay in the loop.
On Monday, MPs voted to stop women being prosecuted for having an abortion outside of the set rules.
The law does not permit abortions in all cases; for example, abortions after 24 weeks are not permitted.
However, this change means that women who have an abortion outside of these rules will no longer face a police investigation or prosecution.
The change still allows legal action to be taken against those who assist in any abortion outside of the rules, including medical professionals.
Ahead of a vote on Labour’s benefits reforms, the Prime Minister has said that the reforms must be passed, despite a potential Labour rebellion.
Specifically, Starmer said “we have got to get the reforms through”.
Labour’s benefits reforms are highly controversial, hence the large backlash from Labour MPs.
The government wants to cut benefits across the board, including making it harder for disabled people to claim Personal Independence Payment, or PIP.
It is not surprising that this has not gone down well with Labour MPs, as the party would typically be expected to increase welfare, not reduce it.
Back in May, it was reported that over 150 MPs would vote against the reforms.
Earlier this week, Labour MP Vicky Foxcroft resigned as a whip over the planned reforms.
Deputy Prime Minister, Angela Rayner, has not ruled out removing the whip from any Labour MPs who rebel - in plain English, this means to kick them out of the Labour party.
Rayner did acknowledge that benefits claimants may be “fearful of the changes”, but she said they are to “help people into work”. I’m sure that will comfort them.
Trump has said that the deal made between the UK and US is now “done”.
The President confirmed that “We signed it, and it’s done” at the G7 summit.
As a reminder, the deal, which was reached last month, America will lower tariffs on British cars to 10%, and remove tariffs on British steel and aluminium.
Trump did not confirm whether or not there would be any future tariffs on UK steel, though he did say that “we're gonna let you have that information in a little while” - I’m sure exporters will appreciate the certainty.
Fortunately for us, the President said that the UK is “very well protected” against future tariffs, for the reassuring reason of “Because I like them”.
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The Warm Home Discount has been expanded, so that an additional 2.7 million households are now eligible, bringing the total to around 6 million.
The Warm Home Discount is a £150 discount on energy bills, to help with fuel costs in winter.
This change means that every bill payer on means-tested benefits will qualify.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer believes that the change “will make a real difference”.
This change definitely feels more Labour-y than previous changes - such as when Labour removed winter fuel payments from almost all pensioners, though that was followed by a partial u-turn.
New sanctions have been set against people and groups the government believe to be linked to Russian finance, energy and military operations.
Amongst the individuals included are two UK residents - a Ukrainian and Polish national - who, according to the Prime Minister’s office, had operated a “a shadowy network of shell companies” to get over $120 million of tech to Russia.
Sanctions have also been imposed on 20 ships from Russia’s ‘shadow fleet’, which are boats believed to be used to help Russia evade price caps on oil.
Starmer said that “These sanctions strike right at the heart of Putin’s war machine, choking off his ability to continue his barbaric war in Ukraine”.
Personally, I am happy to see that governments are not forgetting about Ukraine, despite the current chaos in the Middle East.
If you wanted to catch up on last week’s issue, or wanted a refresher on what was in the UK-US trade deal - these posts are for you!
Cover photo sourced from House of Commons.
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