The Conservative Party plan to reverse Labour’s likely Brexit reset deal risks pushing up food prices and creating uncertainty for businesses, the industry has warned.
Senior Tory Shadow Cabinet members have committed to reversing any deals Andy Burnham agrees with the EU, including a food and drink deal that will see the UK aligning to Brussels law to reduce cross-border checks on trade and bring down supermarket prices.
Shadow Chancellor Andrew Griffith said the Tories would not accept following EU law without having a say over it, describing it as a “red line” for the party, after deputy leader Alex Burghart vowed to reverse all aspects of Labour’s “disastrous” Brexit reset.
The types of cancer with ‘concerning’ rise among under 50s
The number of people getting cancer before the age of 50 has risen, according to the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF).
While most cancers are still diagnosed in older adults, the charity said that the trajectory is “concerning”.
Increase in cancer rates
There have been increases in rates of , , , , , and cancers among adults under 50, the WCRF said.
It comes as figures from Cancer Research UK show that between the , in 25 to 49-year-olds in the UK .
Cancer trends
The WCRF analysis of NHS data in England compared the rates of diagnoses among people in 2001 and 2023, finding:
- Rise in number of prostate cancer diagnoses in men under 50, from 158 to 640 between 2001 and 2023.
- Bowel cancer cases among younger adults increased from 1,289 in 2001 to 2,989 in 2023.
- In 2023, 1,065 adults under 50 were diagnosed with kidney cancer, compared to 510 adults in 2001.
- Women aged under 50 diagnosed with womb cancer rose from 1.8 per 100,000 in 2001 to 3.9 per 100,000 in 2023.
- Meanwhile, women diagnosed with breast cancer in this age bracket rose from 6,886 in 2001 to 8,507 in 2023.
Expert opinion
“While is much more common in older people, it can strike at any age.”
NHS England national medical director Professor Frankie Swords urged people to see a GP for possible symptoms like a lump, unusual bleeding or unexplained weight loss. “Don’t put off a simple check-up because you think you’re too young, it could save your life,” she said.
Five theories about staggering rise of cancer in under-50s
By and large, the rising trend of young-onset cancers is a mystery, one which oncologists around the world are scrambling to try and understand. But when it comes to bowel cancer, at least, a handful of clues are starting to emerge.
Labour polling at 21-month high as Tories gain on Reform
Labour is polling at their highest rate since January 2025, according to a YouGov poll.
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New voting intention poll
The latest YouGov voting intention poll for and found Labour is taking a strong lead with voters, followed by Reform UK and the Conservatives.
What does the poll show
- 1Labour is experiencing a 21-month high at 27 per cent (+3)
- 2 is still second, but saw some losses at 22 per cent (-3)
- 3 gained on Reform, with 20 per cent (+1)
- 4 have seen small losses at 11 per cent (-1)
- 5 remain fifth, sitting at 11 per cent (no change)
Changes from the last poll
Another YouGov poll surveying 17,000 voters between 23 August and 18 September indicated a similar trend to this latest one.
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Asos hack fears after ‘compromised’ alert – what we know
Thousands of Asos customers have been sent a phone alert saying the retailer has been hacked.
Here’s everything we know so far…
What happened?
Phone alert
Thousands of customers received a mobile app notification on Tuesday.
The notification, titled “Asos hacked”, directed users to a Telegram account.
Shares drop
Asos shares plummeted by more than 10 per cent on Tuesday as a result.
What did the message say?
The message read: “Dear Asos DPO and IT, we have fully compromised the Snowflake instance. Engage with us, or we will leak it.”
DPO refers to the data protection officer, the role in a company responsible for customer information safeguarding.
Snowflake is an online data platform used by a wide array of companies, but it is not yet known whether Asos – which is yet to comment on the incident – is one of those.
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The notification
Latest hacking incident
Asos, which owns brands including Topshop and Miss Selfridge, has 17 million customers globally. The UK is its largest market, making up 49 per cent of revenues in the first half of the latest financial year.
Snowflake has been the reported subject of a number of data breaches in recent years, including an attack on Ticketmaster which saw customer details stolen. It comes after a raft of UK retailers were targeted by cyber attackers over the past two years, including Marks & Spencer and Harrods.
Brits pick greatest ‘driving anthems’ of all time
British motorists have voted to decide on the best driving anthem of all time.
Here are the results…
New research
Drivers vote
A new poll of 2,000 UK drivers, commissioned by Isuzu UK, has unveiled British motorists’ favourite driving anthem.
The tunes
Bruce Springsteen, Miley Cyrus and Bon Jovi were among the artists attributed with providing the best highway tracks. But did they come out on top?
Top five driving anthems
- 1Hotel California – The Eagles. The 70s hit saw 27 per cent of those surveyed name the 1977 classic rock song as the ultimate driving anthem.
- 2Born in the USA – Bruce Springsteen. The 1984 hit just missed top spot, with 24 per cent.
- 3. The 2023 hit from the American pop star came in third with 22 per cent.
- 4Boys of Summer – Don Henley. Another from 1984, the song placed fourth with 21 per cent.
- 5Livin’ on a Prayer – Bon Jovi. The 1986 power ballad took 18 per cent of the votes.
What else are drivers saying?
Meanwhile, 40 per cent of drivers polled admitted to singing along to tunes in the car around seven times a week, despite a third (33 per cent) admitting they have startled passengers with their “enthusiastic” vocals.
Three in 10 (31 per cent) agreed that certain songs bring back fond childhood memories of family holidays and day trips.
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Who was ex-MP and ‘master storyteller’ Jeffrey Archer?
The bestselling author and former politician has died at the age of 86.
But who was Jeffrey Archer?
Archer passes away ‘suddenly’
Jeffrey Archer, renowned novelist and former Conservative MP, died “suddenly and peacefully at home between writing sessions” on Monday, his publisher HarperCollins said in a statement.
Alongside his political career, Archer was a wildly successful novelist, during his five-decade career and being made a in 1992.
Early life
Archer was born an only child in Weston-super-Mare on 15 April, 1940. After completing his education at Wellington School in Somerset, Archer attended the University of Oxford in October 1963.
He went for a one-year course, a diploma in education, but ended up staying for three years, just as though he were a typical undergraduate.
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Political career
- Archer was first elected MP for the Lincolnshire constituency of Louth in 1969.
- In 1985, Margaret Thatcher appointed him deputy chairman of the Conservative Party.
- The same year, Archer also set up his own PR firm, Archer Enterprises, and in 1992 was created a life peer.
- At the turn of the century, he was the Tory candidate to be mayor of London; then scandal struck.
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Time in jail
- Archer’s political career was paused in 2001 when he was jailed for four years for perjury and perverting the course of justice.
- A jury found he lied in a libel action he had brought against newspaper, in which he was awarded £500,000 in damages.
- Archer was released early in 2003 and returned to the House of Lords until he retired in 2024.
Archer the novelist
- Archer wrote his first novel, Not A Penny More, Not A Penny Less, in 1974, after almost going bankrupt.
- An instant bestseller, it sparked a prolific career as an author which ultimately made him a millionaire.
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It has been one of the great privileges of my publishing life to have been Jeffrey Archer’s editor. He was the master storyteller and an editor’s dream – phenomenally hard-working, utterly committed to completing draft after draft to get every word as perfect as possible, and a true champion of the ‘team’ nature of great publishing
kate elton, harpercollins uk chief executive
Final act
Everybody would like to run their last 100 metres at the Olympics and win the gold medal, but there’s always a time. I think the clever thing in life is when to get out
Archer declared in an interview just last week that he “shall not be retiring”. His final novel, a Second World War-era historical fiction was published Tuesday, hours after his death was announced.
‘Irrepressible life force’ – Camilla
The Queen has joined those paying tribute to Lord Archer, from her position as founder of the Queen’s Reading Room charity which was supported by the author. “While he was not without flaw, his friends will recall him as an irrepressible life force through all the many differing chapters of his life,” Camilla said. “My sympathies go to [Archer’s wife] Mary and the family at this time of sorrow.”
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Badenoch pays tribute
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said she was “incredibly saddened” to hear of Archer’s passing. “He had sent me a lovely message just this morning and was always a great source of encouragement to me personally,” she added on Monday.
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UK POLITICS
Tories pledge ‘Britannia Shield’ – how would it work?
The Conservatives have pledged to invest £10bn in a British missile defence system which has drawn comparisons to Israel’s elaborate “Iron Dome”.
Here’s how it could work, and how much the experts think it might really cost.
What is the ‘Britannia Shield’?
Air defence system
The Tories have promised to build a new UK air defence system if voted into power.
How will it work?
The “Britannia Shield” would provide systems to detect and stop incoming threats using interceptor missiles.
British ‘Iron Dome’?
But Kemi Badenoch has pushed back on comparisons to Israel’s Iron Dome system.
We are not building the Iron Dome. We are doing what other European countries are doing: Greece, Benelux countries, Belgium, and the Netherlands and Germany. We are designing something specific for the kind of threat that we face here
conservative party leader kemi badenoch
How much will it cost?
The Conservatives have estimated the system will cost £10bn to set up, but previous estimates place the cost at £80bn.
The programme, the Tories say, would be funded through the party’s plans to increase defence spending to 3 per cent of GDP by 2030 by slashing Britain’s welfare bill.
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Current levels of protection
- The UK has some existing protection in the form of RAF Typhoons which could shoot down hostile drones, but the jets cannot track or intercept ballistic missiles.
- The Royal Navy’s Type 45 Destroyers, equipped with Sea Viper air defence systems, can intercept missiles, but must be in UK waters to be fully effective.
- Britain could rely on its Nato allies, to some extent, in the event of a strike by Russia, but military experts have long warned the country needs a full Iron Dome-style missile defence shield.
Expert opinion
“This is a well overdue commitment to fill the void in defending Britain as global security deteriorates”
Former Tory defence minister Tobias Ellwood said: “It’s only a matter of time before a military base or a corner of our critical national infrastructure is targeted and currently, we have no air defence.”
The Prime Minister is poised to finalise the food and drink (SPS) deal before the end of the year, amid speculation that the UK and EU could hold a summit to sign off on a series of Brexit reset deals as soon as 20 November.
But if the Tories win the next election, scheduled in 2029, this agreement could be overturned soon after being implemented, with trade barriers with the EU re-erected.
Griffith told reporters at the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham on Monday: “A red line is becoming a rules-taker from Brussels.
“So formal dynamic alignment, whereby without any choice or decision-making, the UK would automatically have to follow EU rules. That is dynamic alignment. That would not be something that we would find acceptable.”
Industry chiefs warned that the Tories’ commitment to overturning the proposed deal was damaging to business certainty and that changing the rules so soon after the UK aligns to EU law would push up food price inflation.
Senior Labour figures said it was an “anti-business” position that the Tories would likely be forced to U-turn on.
However, others in specific sectors like fresh produce – which risks losing some trade with global markets outside the EU as a result of the reset deal – said the Tories were right to oppose Labour’s approach.
Trade has ‘suffered’ since Brexit
Karen Betts, chief executive of the Food and Drink Federation (FDF), said the EU was the UK’s largest market for British companies in her sector but that trade has “suffered” since Brexit, with exports down a third compared to 2019.
She backed Labour’s deal as a “sensible thing to do” to help boost exports.
Betts went on: “But, above all, what businesses need from politicians is certainty – to know what rules they need to follow, and for these to be stable for a reasonable period of time.
“Every change to food rules, whether that’s a new labelling requirement or additional reporting, costs businesses. At a time when food inflation is a real concern and the industry is under strain, what manufacturers need most is a clear and consistent direction of travel.”
Andrew Opie, director of food at the British Retail Consortium, said that Labour’s proposed deal would only have a “small impact” on supermarket prices, but suggested that choice for consumers could be reduced by the lack of certainty.
He said: “What matters most for supermarkets and their suppliers is certainty. Frequent changes to SPS controls can create unnecessary friction, increase compliance challenges and risk disrupting availability.”
But Nigel Jenney of the Fresh Produce Consortium said the Tories were right to highlight the problem of “dynamic alignment” – keeping UK law in lockstep with evolving Brussels regulations on food and drink – because it would hit imports from outside the EU, which make up 54 per cent of all imported fresh produce in the UK.
“Whilst we would like a closer relationship with Europe, we don’t believe that closer relationship should be at the cost or the penalty of trading with the rest of the world, which would impact materially food inflation in the UK for fresh produce.
“We would probably welcome the Conservatives’ position on having a more pragmatic solution that doesn’t damage trade or drive UK food inflation.”
But David Henig, director of UK trade policy at the European Centre for Political Economy (ECIPE), said of the Tories’ position: “I’m afraid this shows the Conservatives still don’t understand international trade or business.
“Following the rules of partners is the way we reduce barriers and encourage trade.
“UK food exports to the EU are down significantly because of barriers but will recover to a degree with an agreement.
“What it means for UK business if the Conservatives are in power is more uncertainty and friction.”
Nick Thomas-Symonds, who was Labour’s chief negotiator with the EU until July, said: “If the Tories want to argue in favour of paperwork at the border and higher costs at the tills, they are an anti-business party.
“They know perfectly well that many British businesses exporting to the EU follow their practices and rules in any case. I can’t see this position working for them in the long run.”
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said she was acting on farmers’ concerns, telling 5 News that some of Labour’s plans are “going to be a problem” for them.
A UK Government source said: “The public want a relationship with Europe that safeguards our security, creates jobs and delivers good growth – not the petty squabbles and red tape on offer from Reform and the Tories.”