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MPs voted against the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill that offered assisted suicide, by 286 to 270; in June 2025, an identical Bill was given a Third Reading by 314 to 291. Ben Delo, a British cryptocurrency billionaire, donated £36 million to Reform. The next day, the cryptocurrency investor Christopher Harborne (who had given Nigel Farage £5 million in 2024) gave Reform another £36 million. The government plotted retrospective legislation to stop such donations. Dan Thomas resigned as Reform’s Welsh leader, after his arrest on suspicion of assault. Piddington, an Oxfordshire village of 350, voted in a referendum by 285 to 26 to cede from the UK in protest at an asylum camp for 1,250 men coming there. On 14 September 144 migrants landed in the only two boats to reach England in seven days.

Children at school must eat pulses such as lentils or chickpeas once a week but never be given a fried egg for breakfast under Department for Education rules. An inquiry chaired by Lady Justice Thirlwall found a ‘complete failure to protect babies on the neonatal unit’ at the Countess of Chester Hospital, where the nurse Lucy Letby was convicted of murdering seven babies. England’s regional mayors will be able to impose a tax on overnight stays. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex moved their children to a new school after two days because morning traffic made them worried about security.

John Healey was in talks with Canada about joining a new global defence, security and resilience bank. Commentators made what they would of Andy Burnham’s statement at Prime Minister’s Questions: ‘Our national security cannot come at the expense of our social security.’ Mr Burnham was expected to delay a decision on approving the Jackdaw gas field until after the by-election in Sir Keir Starmer’s old seat on 8 October, in which Zack Polanski, the leader of the Greens, is standing. Sir Chris Wormald, the former cabinet secretary, was found to have received £860,000 severance pay after being sacked by Sir Keir Starmer. The flat-rate state pension will rise by £488 in April to £13,036.40 a year, higher than the tax-free personal allowance of £12,570. Britain’s GDP grew by 0.4 per cent in July. Inflation rose from 2.9 to 3.1 per cent. Mr Burnham’s father died, aged 86. Manchester United received an apology from Pro Ref, the body responsible for Premier League refereeing, for the decision to allow Erling Haaland’s winning goal for Manchester City.

Abroad

A Russian drone hit a train at a station a mile from the Polish border shortly after a diplomatic train had passed through, carrying Boris Johnson, Jonathan Powell and top European security advisers. President Donald Trump of America said that Ukraine and Russia had agreed to a ceasefire on strikes targeting energy infrastructure; but attacks continued. Nato pilots shot down a drone in Lithuania’s airspace. The United States confirmed it had deployed a space weapon in orbit. Mr Trump promised every American adult $5,000 if the Republicans retain control of the Senate and the House of Representatives in the midterm elections. In Dublin he said a united Ireland would be a ‘fantastic thing’, adding: ‘Now the UK would have something to say about it obviously, but I think it would be a great thing. I mean, how can it be bad?’

In Yemen, the Iran-backed Houthis seized the Red Sea port city of Mokha from Saudi-backed pro-government forces and then took Perim island at the mouth of the Bab al-Mandab strait; they threatened vessels from Saudi Arabia, which uses the strait to send oil to Asia. Saudi Arabia closed an oil pipeline to the Red Sea, carrying 4 per cent of the world’s supply, after it was attacked by drones launched from Iraqi territory. The US defence department’s inspector general said the war with Iran had led to ‘strategic inventory shortfalls’ in munitions. Parts of Holland suffered rail disruption after suspected sabotage to the tracks.

Dario Amodei, the head of the AI company Anthropic, called for development to slow down. His remarks followed those of Jacob Coxon, a researcher who left Anthropic last week, saying: ‘The people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade.’ After 95 per cent of the votes had been counted in the Swedish general election, the Social Democrats were one seat ahead of the coalition led by Ulf Kristersson, the conservative Prime Minister. CSH