Daily Mirror – Lucy Letby inquiry: The deadly link
The Daily Mirror says the inquiry over serial killer nurse Lucy Letby – which begins this week – will look into whether the NHS failed to learn from crimes of fellow serial killers GP Harold Shipman and nurse Beverly Allitt. A solicitor acting for victims’ families said Letby’s crimes are “harrowingly familiar to how Allitt was harming kids”.
Elsewhere, the front page reports Keir Starmer is braced for a furious Labour rebellion next week over plans to cut Winter Fuel Payments for over 10 million pensioners.
Lucy Letby’s horror link to killer nurse Allitt and doctor Shipman murder sprees probed
In the wake of Beverley Allitt and Harold Shipman’s murder sprees, a string of recommendations followed to try to prevent further serial killers operating in the NHS.
But after Lucy Letby was allowed to kill seven babies, the probe into her crimes will examine if bosses learned anything from those horrific episodes.
The Thirlwall Inquiry, which opens tomorrow, will also urge the parents of her tiny victims to share their ordeals. Barrister Sir Robert Francis KC has been asked to examine how the NHS responded to Allitt and Shipman’s orgies of death.
Solicitor Tamlin Bolton, representing families of six Letby victims, said: “He has been asked to look back at things like Shipman, Beverley Allitt, the Mid-Staffs inquiry and consider the recommendations that followed.
Winter Fuel Payments explained – what will change and who is affected amid death warning
Keir Starmer is braced for a furious Labour rebellion next week over plans to cut Winter Fuel Payments for over 10 million pensioners.
The Government says the controversial move is necessary as ministers grapple with a £22billion black hole left by the Tories. But it has sparked warnings that pensioners will die as a result, and critics say elderly people are “worried sick”.
The cut would see the Winter Fuel Payment, worth up to £300, become means-tested. Ten Labour MPs have signed a Commons motion opposing cuts – an early sign of the scale of opposition the PM could have to face off. MPs will vote on the policy on Tuesday.
Ministers say the move will save the Treasury £1.4billion this financial year, while also ensuring pensioners who need the payments continue to get it. But charity Age UK has demanded a reversal, saying two million will struggle to make ends meet as a result.
And one furious Labour MP, Rachael Maskell, has warned excess deaths of pensioners could rise as a result. But defending the move, Commons leader Lucy Powell said the Government has taken “some really difficult decisions” that it “did not want to make”.
Today’s news summary – Paper Talk
If you are someone who reads every perspective of a story, here is a news summary of all of today’s front pages from today’s newspapers; summarised in a 2-minute read
Editorial 09 September 2024.
Monday’s front pages continue to report on the backlash facing Keir Starmer and his government’s decision to scrap the winter fuel allowance. There are suggestions the government could face a rebellion in the Commons vote on Tuesday.
Elsewhere, other domestic stories make the front splash. The England football team and cricket news make up the back pages.