Nurses have collapsed on shift in hospitals and care homes during the UK's fifth heatwave of the year, the Royal College of Nursing warned on Wednesday evening, as Andy Burnham refused to say whether the summer had strengthened the case against new North Sea drilling. The warning landed hours after the Prime Minister chaired an emergency Cobra meeting, and on the eve of a Clacton by-election contested by 34 candidates and boycotted by every major party. This is UKFCP's Wednesday 24 hours in politics round-up.
Burnham's government is three weeks old, with the next general election not due until August 2029. Thursday brings both the forecast peak of the heatwave, at up to 36C, and the first electoral test of the new political landscape.
Nurses fainting in 'inhumane' conditions
The Royal College of Nursing said nursing staff were working in "inhumane and impossible" conditions, with some collapsing on shift and others left dizzy or nauseous while trying to keep vulnerable patients and medicines cool, according to the Guardian. A critical care nurse in south-west England told the paper her ward had passed 30C: "We've had hot summers before, but I can't remember ever working in conditions like these back to back."
The college's general secretary, Prof Nicola Ranger, demanded an urgent programme of air conditioning, ventilation and heat-appropriate uniforms. Burnham, under pressure from Labour backbenchers to treat climate adaptation as urgent, said he was focused on the immediate crisis and that "the bigger questions obviously will come at the right moment in time". Amber heat-health alerts cover every English region except the North East; heatwaves in May and June were linked to more than 2,700 excess deaths.
Clacton goes to the polls
Campaigning closed on Wednesday in a by-election Nigel Farage triggered himself by resigning the seat on 8 July. A record 34 candidates are standing, more than at any previous UK parliamentary election, with Labour, the Conservatives, the Liberal Democrats and the Greens all declining to contest it, leaving the novelty candidate Count Binface as the main challenger.
The contest follows the opening of a parliamentary standards inquiry in May into an undeclared £5m gift from the crypto investor Christopher Harborne. Farage, who denies wrongdoing, said: "I've decided that the people of Clacton should be the judges of my actions." The only constituency poll, by Survation for Mandate Research, put him on about 73% against Binface's 20% on a low turnout; a nationwide Ipsos poll found 33% of Britons wanted Binface to win and 21% Farage.
Scottish doctors reject 3.5% award
The Scottish government confirmed an above-inflation pay settlement for 2026-27, accepting its independent review body's recommendations in full. The health secretary, Angela Constance, said consultants, GPs, specialty and associate specialist doctors and dentists would receive 3.5%, with salaried community and public dental workers on 3.75%.
The response was immediate and hostile. The BMA said the award was not enough and that it would consult members on next steps, with senior doctors warning that "all options are on the table", according to the Scotsman. Resident doctors in Scotland accepted a separate 3.75% uplift in April, backed by £149m of new investment.
Polling settles into a three-way race
Four pollsters published or refreshed figures showing Reform UK's year-long lead has gone. YouGov, for the Times and Sky News, had Labour on 24%, Reform on 22% and the Conservatives on 21% — Labour's highest in that tracker since last July, and Reform's joint-lowest since January 2025.
Opinium had Labour 27%, Reform 25% and the Conservatives 19%; Ipsos gave Labour a three-point lead on 28%. PollCheck's seven-poll average stood at Labour 25.7%, Reform 23.6% and the Conservatives 20.4%. Opinium said Burnham's personal ratings remained comparatively strong but voters were unconvinced his government would deliver on immigration or the cost of living; Ipsos found seven in ten dissatisfied with how the government is running the country.
Also on Wednesday
- Scottish income tax receipts rose by £1.5bn, according to figures published by the Scottish government.
- The amber heat warning covering much of England lifts and comes back into force on Thursday morning, with the Met Office forecasting highs in the mid-30s across England and Wales on polling day.
- Kemi Badenoch called the Clacton contest a "fake" election intended to distract from the investigation into Farage's finances, TIME reported.
- The green-energy industrialist Dale Vince, a former Labour and Green donor, offered to fund Count Binface's campaign, and Carol Vorderman urged Clacton voters to back him.
- The Guardian ran an Ella Baron cartoon on what it called Farage's "byelection of convenience".
Polls in Clacton open at 7am on Thursday and close at 10pm, with the count to follow overnight.
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