MagnaCartaPolitics

Chief Reporter, Zuzana Moscakova From a historic vote on assisted dying in Parliament to growing tensions in the Middle East,  Prime Minister Keir Starmer is navigating some of the most profound life and death  decisions of his leadership. In a landmark decision on June 20, 2025, the UK House of Commons voted to legalise  assisted dying for terminally ill adults in England and Wales. The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill passed by 314 votes to 291, allowing patients with six months or less to live to request medical assistance in ending their lives. Introduced by Labour MP Kim Leadbeater, the bill includes strict safeguards requiring approval from two doctors and a panel of legal and medical experts, including a psychiatrist. Supporters of the bill have praised it as a long overdue act of compassion, arguing that  terminally ill people deserve the right to die on their own terms. The move brings the UK in  line with other countries suc...

Zuzana Moscakova, Chief Reporter As Trump orders dramatic airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear sites, Prime Minister Keir Starmer  faces a critical diplomatic test: can the UK back a powerful ally while avoiding another  Middle East escalation? Over the weekend, former U.S. President Donald Trump shocked the world by launching a  series of airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities, dramatically escalating tensions in the Middle  East. The operation, reportedly dubbed “Midnight Hammer,” targeted the Fordow, Natanz,  and Isfahan sites. Trump called the mission a “spectacular success,” while Tehran condemned  the attacks as illegal and promised “everlasting consequences.” The strikes sent shockwaves through global capitals. Israel praised the move, but European  leaders urged restraint, and the United Nations issued a stern warning that further escalation  could threaten international peace. Russia and China condemned the attack, adding to the  growing al...

Padraig O'Flynn, Simulated Patient & Medical Actor For over a decade, I’ve worked inside Britain’s medical schools—not as a doctor or a patient,  but as a trained actor and assessor. My job is to bring clinical scenarios to life, helping test  future doctors on more than just their medical knowledge: their empathy, communication,  and professionalism. But today, I’m deeply concerned. Across the country,  particularly in places like Leicester and Derby, medical education is being quietly hollowed out in the name  of cost-cutting.  Skilled actors are being replaced with untrained volunteers. While real patient stories have  value, these individuals often lack the preparation, acting ability, and feedback skills necessary to simulate clinical encounters effectively. The result? Students who  may pass written exams but are visibly uncomfortable in real conversations with patients. I have observed final-year students avoiding eye contact, stum...

Zuzana Moscakova, Chief Reporter For the first time in over 150 years, Parliament is poised to remove abortion from the criminal code in England and Wales, a landmark decision that could finally treat abortion as healthcare, not a crime. If passed, it would be the biggest update to the law since the Abortion Act of 1967. Although abortion is currently legal up to 24 weeks with medical approval, it is still covered by criminal laws from the nineteenth century. The 1861 Offences Against the Person Act makes it a crime to end a pregnancy outside of the rules, even in cases where women are acting alone or in desperate situations. In recent years, more women have faced police investigations and even criminal charges after experiencing miscarriages or taking abortion pills later than the legal limit. Many believe this is unfair and dangerous, especially for vulnerable women. Now, Members of Parliament are being asked to support two different proposals that would change the law. The first and...

Billy Merrin, Editor-in-Chief This week, the UK and the EU finally completed their talks over the issue of the Gibraltan border. The deal has been described as allowing 'fluid' checks for people crossing the border. Spanish and Gibraltan officials will carry out joint checks at airports, but goods will be able to move freely across the land border.  So what are the positives and negatives of this deal for Starmer? Well, half of the Gibraltan population crosses the border daily to Spain (who are in the EU) for work. This means that it is easier for those people to commute to work. However, this free-land border may scare some Gibraltans, who have voted overwhelmingly to stay as a British overseas territory that this deal could be the first step to Gibraltar's unification with Spain.  On the wider scale, Starmer and the Labour government can claim that they have settled Gibraltan status since leaving the EU where the Conservatives failed. However, as per the previous point, w...

Zuzana Moscakova, Chief Reporter Wages in the UK’s private sector are growing more slowly, even after a big jump in the  minimum wage. New data suggests many workers aren’t seeing the pay boosts they hoped  for, as businesses tighten their belts in a cooling economy. Between February and April 2025, the typical pay rise in the private sector was 4%,  according to research by XpertHR. That’s down from 5% earlier in the year, and it’s the  lowest figure seen since mid-2022. This slowdown in wage growth comes even as the cost of living is still high. Although  inflation, which is the rate at which prices rise is easing, many people are still struggling with  expensive groceries, rent, and energy bills. For many workers, smaller pay rises mean their  money still doesn’t stretch as far as it used to. In April, the National Living Wage which is the minimum hourly wage for people aged 21  and over, went up from £10.42 to £11.44. It was one of the biggest...

Gabriel Levine, Political Commentator How appreciative we must be that Starmer has woken up to a sobering reality that most of us have  known for too long. How grateful we are that the social anxieties so many have will now  be digested by a multi-year tussle between Reform and Labour for the keys to Downing  Street. His policy announcement was needed and should have come earlier. It should have  come as soon as he got into office. Ironically, while he was making the speech , more than 400 young men crossed the English Channel on small boats,  with one of them drowning, and many were injured in one case. The issue is that Starmer has actively advocated for both the ‘citizens of nowhere’ (the  refugees, the ‘war fleeing women and children’) and yet is reconciled, perhaps, that this  country is fast becoming an island of strangers, tainted by the ‘Yookay’ aesthetic; a  fraying social contract. Under his own housing policy, we will soon have a countr...

Zuzana Moscakova, Political Reporter The UK is set to build up to 12 new high-tech attack submarines as part of a massive upgrade  to its armed forces. With global tensions rising, the government says the move will  strengthen national security, but questions remain about the timeline, cost, and whether it’s  enough to prepare for the threats ahead.                                       Image: SSN-AUKUS concept image/GOV.UK These new submarines will be powered by nuclear energy but won’t carry nuclear weapons.  They will be faster, harder to detect, and able to stay underwater for longer, making them  better suited for modern threats. This plan is part of a  broader effort to modernise the UK’s military and maintain the country's preparedness for escalating international tensions, particularly in regions such as Eastern Europe and the Indo-Pacific. The new su...