Keir Starmer suspends Labour rebels after repeated backbench revolts

Sir Keir Starmer has suspended four Labour MPs as he seeks to reassert his authority after a series of damaging backbench rebellions.

Rachael Maskell, one of Sir Keir’s fiercest opponents in the recent revolt over welfare reforms, Chris Hinchliff, Brian Leishman and Neil Duncan-Jordan have all had the whip withdrawn over persistent breaches of party discipline.

In response, Mr Leishman and Mr Duncan-Jordan both hit out, saying they had not been elected last year to make people “poorer”.

The move comes before politicians depart Westminster for the summer early next week and follows speculation that some Labour MPs could have been in talks to join a new party being created by ex-Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana.

But a senior Labour figure said the punishment “shows how weak they are” and added: “It only hastens Starmer’s fall by showing his absolute weakness.”

Sir Keir suffered a serious blow earlier this month when dozens of his own MPs voted against his planned welfare cuts in Parliament.

The chancellor, Rachel Reeves, now faces the task of filling the £5bn hole in the public finances left by the climbdown, raising speculation she will be forced to raise taxes in the autumn.

The prime minister had been forced into two humiliating U-turns on the legislation in less than a week to head off a revolt that threatened to defeat his government on one of its flagship policies.

Despite the climbdowns, the revolt was still the largest backbench rebellion Sir Keir has suffered so far.

In response to his suspension, Alloa and Grangemouth MP Mr Leishman, who has repeatedly criticised Sir Keir over welfare reforms and winter fuel payment cuts, said he was “a proud Labour member, and I remain committed to the party. I wish to remain a Labour MP and deliver the positive change many voters are craving”.

But he said he did not believe it was his duty as an MP “to make people poorer”.

He said he had voted against the government “because I want to effectively represent and be the voice for communities across Alloa and Grangemouth. I firmly believe that it is not my duty as an MP to make people poorer, especially those that have suffered because of austerity and its dire consequences.”

Poole MP Mr Duncan-Jordan said he “couldn’t support making disabled people poorer”, while York Central MP Ms Maskell said she had been suspended for “standing up for my constituents” over the benefits plans.

She added: “There are lines I can’t cross because of where I come from in politics with my faith.”

She said she was “not angry” but “upset that we are in this place because I believe we are better than that as a party. I believe that strength comes from the backbenches”.

Three other Labour MPs, Rosena Allin Khan, a former member of Sir Keir’s frontbench, Bell Ribeiro-Addy and Mohammed Yasin, had their trade envoy roles removed for their opposition to the government.

Amid mounting tensions between Labour and the unions, the Fire Brigades Union general secretary Steve Wright called the suspensions “an outrageous and authoritarian act”.

He added: “Instead of abandoning the benefit cuts that will force hundreds of thousands of families into poverty, Keir Starmer has chosen to purge Labour MPs who sought to halt this disastrous policy. The FBU will use its influence as a Labour affiliated union to seek to force the party hierarchy to reinstate those who have been suspended.”

In a sign of the deteriorating relationship between Labour and the unions, last week Unite said it had voted to suspend Deputy PM Angela Rayner’s membership and would reconsider its ties with the party.

It came just days after several groups, including the Trades Union Congress (TUC) and the FBU, piled pressure on the government to avoid more cuts by bringing in a wealth tax.

Unite voted to suspend Angela Rayner’s membership and reconsider its ties with the party, with its general secretary claiming Sir Keir Starmer’s party is not on the side of working people.

Unite, which is one of the biggest unions in the country and has long been affiliated with Labour, has accused the government of failing workers in a row over the Birmingham bin strike that could lead to a historic split with the party.

Before the welfare vote, the previous record for rebellion numbers was earlier this month during the passage of the planning and infrastructure bill, when 16 MPs rebelled.

A revolt last year, over the controversial two-child benefit cap, saw a number of Labour MPs stripped of the party whip, including Jeremy Corbyn’s shadow chancellor John McDonnell.

Harry’s homecoming depends on one man – and that’s the problem

From Prince Harry’s point of view, it was only a matter of time; he had to clear the decks and eliminate several outstanding legal obstacles before he addressed the thorny issue of a royal reconciliation. The Duke said as much in an interview with the BBC immediately after his failed appeal in the High Court against the Home Office. Most of us would have been preoccupied with the small matter of a £1.5m legal bill, but not Harry. His befuddled thinking exposed a longing for improved royal relations, at the same time as he swung once more for his Pa – apparently, Charles was part of the “good old-fashioned establishment stitch-up” that saw Harry lose his security case.

The Prince derided the King for having “a lot of control and ability” in his hands but doing nothing to support him. (No wonder Charles steered well clear of Harry last May, when the latter, in London for Invictus’s 10th anniversary, was not invited for tea at the palace.)

Charles, then a newish King, ducked a face-to-face haranguing from the Duke of Sussex, who subsequently concluded his father wouldn’t speak to him “because of this security stuff. But it would be nice to reconcile”.

This context explains the recent “peace summit” papped on the balcony of an exclusive London club, involving key players from both royal parties, including Meredith Maines, the communications officer for the Sussex “household”, who was in London to work contacts on their behalf.

She also happens to be the same woman who set up Harry’s BBC interview in May, the one where he fronted the idea of a potential reconciliation. Please note that the Prince has long ago dropped demands for an apology and makes no pretence of missing aspects of royal life: the crazy palace meals, key members of his family and Britain more generally.

Meanwhile, exactly what he does next remains open. Despite his best efforts, Harry has failed to shed his royal skin. A snide article in Vanity Fair earlier this year pointed out that the Duke has the world’s “greatest manners” and comes across as the sort of bloke who “would happily work for charities for the rest of his life and would be very happy if Meghan made all the money”.

Once a royal, always a royal. Fortunately, Meghan’s As Ever brand is Harry’s new equivalent of a sovereign grant. The Duchess’s success (love her or loathe her, Meghan enjoys traction), frees him up to build British bridges. It helps that the Sussexes’ commercial tanks are no longer parked on the royal lawn; petal-sprinkles, raspberry jam and emotive podcasts are a welcome, anodyne replacement for earlier relentless attacks against Britain’s monarchy.

So far, so good. No wonder Tobyn Andreae, the King and Queen’s communication adviser, turned up to meet Meredith Maines at the Royal Overseas League, clutching a bottle of royal-approved wine. Harry, minus his legal fights and blessed with Meghan’s flower power, cuts an infinitely more palatable prospect than he did a couple of years ago. Anger abated, he appears almost remorseful, with the recent implosion of Sentebale a cruel reminder that a ‘life of service’ is far harder to navigate on the outside. It is just possible he really is missing home.

Meanwhile, for those arch-royalists wondering why on earth the King should countenance the prospect of an entente-cordial with his recalcitrant tell-all Prince, it is worth reminding ourselves that we are not dealing with an institution, but rather a father and son.

Even when this is cast through the prism of three well-paid execs – Liam Maguire, Harry’s PR in Britain, was also present on the balcony – when it comes to the King, Harry will always revert to his most childish self, gleefully abusing the presumption that parental love is (almost) unconditional. And while his recent wilful testing of that paternal bond has proved challenging, it is ultimately forgivable. More than anyone, the King understands the power of redemption.

Look at how the British public have forgiven Charles down the years. Mistakes happened. All too often, we hurt those closest to us.

So far, so good; the road ahead is long and not straightforward, but it is hopeful. More broadly, better relations mean improved optics for both parties (in that context, the leaked meeting is not surprising). A softer, forgiving King, and a happier Harry, (who I suspect still covets the half-in, half-out role he mooted five years ago), is an infinitely more appealing prospect than the current cold war statis.

However, when it comes to royal relations, a (crucial) third party was absent from the balcony. Subsequently, the Prince and Princess of Wales have reportedly been less than impressed with a “peace summit” about which they knew nothing. Ouch. While Kate was single-handedly winning Wimbledon in exquisite sartorial style (her Princess England vibe neatly offsetting Meghan’s Little Miss California), beneath the surface, all has not been forgiven. William still bears a grudge – can you blame him? Siblings play by very different rules.

One sun-dappled spring day back in 2017, Kate, William and Harry sat down to talk about the merits of their “Heads Together” mental health campaign. In the interview, Kate marvelled at the brothers’ strong bond, and Harry admitted William often encouraged him to speak about their late mother, an offer he felt unable to take up.

The love was palpable; what came next, the hate, has proved equally strong. If Harry looked to protect his father in Spare, he did not cut William and Kate the same slack. It will take years for the future king to trust again, if he ever can. Harry alluded to this when acknowledging there were some in the Royal Family who would never forgive him for what he had written.

The mirroring in recent history is spooky – after the 1936 abdication, stumbling George VI never resumed a normal relationship with his charming, callow brother Edward VIII, (who also wrote a biography).

At the moment, King Charles is Harry’s only hope. If the Prince wants to make a meaningful comeback, it needs to be done sooner rather than later. And even then, a Sussex return to the sunlit uplands of royalty may well prove short-lived. William is not a man for turning, and as the “spare” knows all too well, one day the Prince of Wales will have all the power.

Tessa Dunlop is the author of the new book Lest We Forget: War and Peace in 100 British Monuments

Tomorrowland stage destroyed in fire just days before festival starts

The main stage at Tomorrowland festival in Belgium has been “severely damaged” in a huge fire.

The annual festival in the town of Boom, north of Brussels, which is scheduled to start on Friday, draws tens of thousands of visitors from around Europe.

Images shared on local news sites and social media showed flames and plumes of black smoke engulfing the stage and spreading to nearby woodland. Nearby residents had been urged to close all windows and doors until the fire was under control.

One employee at the site described “an apocalyptic scene” after the fire engulfed the stage.

“We suddenly heard bangs and saw fire near the stage, a huge amount of fire,” the unnamed individual told Het Nieuwsblad newspaper.

“We were just putting the finishing touches on it. One more day and it would be finished. Four weeks of work… gone in half an hour.”

At least three-quarters of the spectacular stage is believed to have been damaged.

“Due to a serious incident and fire on the Tomorrowland main stage, our beloved main stage has been severely damaged,” the organisers posted on the event’s website.

“We can confirm that no one was injured during the incident.”

The statement said the focus is now on “finding solutions” for the festival weekend. The cause of the fire has not yet been confirmed.

“We can announce that, DreamVille will open tomorrow as planned and will be ready for all DreamVille visitors,” they added.

“All Global Journey [travel package] activities in Brussels and Antwerp will take place as planned.”

Dozens of emergency teams were seen rushing through the festival grounds just after 6pm in an attempt to extinguish the flames and evacuate those inside the grounds.

There were no members of the public present at the time, but around 1,000 staff members were working on site.

Some of the world’s most popular DJs are due to appear on the stage over the weekend, including Martin Garrix, David Guetta, Fisher, Swedish House Mafia and Steve Aoki.

Back in 2017, the festival had to evacuate over 22,000 people after a major fire. The crowds at Barcelona’s Tomorrowland Unite were forced to flee just hours before Steve Aoki was due to headline the event.

Babies made using three people’s DNA born in UK free of hereditary disease

A groundbreaking three-person IVF technique to prevent devastating disease has led to the birth of eight babies in the UK.

The scientific method, known as mitochondrial donation treatment, is designed to prevent children from being born with devastating mitochondrial diseases that are passed down from their mothers.

These illnesses can be fatal and often cause devastating damage to organs, including the brain, muscle, liver, heart and kidney.

Four boys and four girls, including one set of identical twins, have been delivered and are all doing well, and one other woman is currently pregnant.

It follows treatment by a team in Newcastle, who pioneered the technique.

Of the eight babies born, three are now aged under six months, two are aged six to 12 months, one is 12 to 18 months old, one is aged 18 to 24 months and another child is aged over two.

All the babies are healthy and are meeting their milestones, according to the team from Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Newcastle University and Newcastle Fertility Centre.

None of the eight babies shows signs of having mitochondrial DNA disease, which tends to affect around one in 5,000 births.

The scientists said disease-causing mitochondrial DNA mutations, picked up in three of the children, are either undetectable or present at levels that are very unlikely to cause disease.

The main lab method used by the team, known as pronuclear transfer (PNT), involves taking the egg from an affected mother, sperm from her partner and an egg from a donor who is free from disease.

The mother of a baby girl born through mitochondrial donation said: “As parents, all we ever wanted was to give our child a healthy start in life.

“Mitochondrial donation IVF made that possible. After years of uncertainty, this treatment gave us hope – and then it gave us our baby.

“We look at them now, full of life and possibility, and we’re overwhelmed with gratitude. Science gave us a chance.”

The mother of a baby boy added: “We are now proud parents to a healthy baby, a true mitochondrial replacement success. This breakthrough has lifted the heavy cloud of fear that once loomed over us.

“Thanks to this incredible advancement and the support we received, our little family is complete.

“The emotional burden of mitochondrial disease has been lifted, and in its place is hope, joy, and deep gratitude.”

Professor Sir Doug Turnbull, from Newcastle University and part of the team of researchers, said: “Mitochondrial disease can have a devastating impact on families.

“Today’s news offers fresh hope to many more women at risk of passing on this condition who now have the chance to have children growing up without this terrible disease.”

In all the cases, the Newcastle team used the PNT technique after the egg was fertilised.

For this, scientists transplanted the nuclear genome (which contains all the genes essential for a person’s characteristics, such as hair colour and height) from the egg carrying the mitochondrial DNA mutation into an egg donated by an unaffected woman that had had its nuclear genome removed.

Thanks to the procedure, the resulting baby inherits its parents’ nuclear DNA, but the mitochondrial DNA is mainly inherited from the donated egg.

Scientific progress in this area led parliament to change the law in 2015 to permit mitochondrial donation treatment.

Two years later, the Newcastle clinic became the first and only national centre licensed to perform it, with the first cases approved in 2018.

Approval is given on a case-by-case basis by the UK’s Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (Hfea).

The new findings on the eight births, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, show that all the babies are developing normally.

Aged 18 months, tests are carried out in areas such as gross motor skills, fine motor skills, cognitive and social development and language skills to check the babies are hitting milestones.

The researchers will also check the children when they are five.

Professor Bobby McFarland, director of the NHS Highly Specialised Service for Rare Mitochondrial Disorders, said he was confident the children would carry on developing normally.

He added: “If we’re not picking up subtle signs of problems at five, then we’re really very clear that is not going to be a problem.”

He added: “In my work… I see children in intensive care units up and down this country and that’s not pleasant.

“It’s very difficult for families to deal with these diseases, they are devastating…

“To see babies born at the end of this is just amazing, really.”

Mary Herbert, professor of reproductive biology at Newcastle University, added: “PNT happens in the small hours of the morning – those long nights. And it has paid off.

“It’s fair to say it’s rewarding. In science though, periods of joy are fleeting and brief because you’re always thinking, what is the next challenge? How do we optimise it further?”

She said the slight DNA mutations seen in three of the children are “way, way below the threshold that would cause disease”.

Peter Thompson, chief executive of the Hfea, said: “Ten years ago, the UK was the first country in the world to licence mitochondrial donation treatment to avoid passing the condition to children.

“For the first time, families with severe inherited mitochondrial illness have the possibility of a healthy child.

“Although it’s still early days, it is wonderful news that mitochondrial donation treatment has led to eight babies being born.

“Only people who are at a very high risk of passing a serious mitochondrial disease onto their children are eligible for this treatment in the UK, and every application for mitochondrial donation treatment is individually assessed in accordance with the law.”

Dr Andy Greenfield, from the University of Oxford, said: “It is a triumph of scientific innovation in the IVF clinic – a world first that shows that the UK is an excellent environment in which to push boundaries in IVF; a tour de force by the embryologists who painstakingly developed and optimised the micromanipulation methods; an example of the value of clinical expertise, developed over decades of working with children and adults suffering from these devastating diseases, being used to support a new intervention and subsequent follow-up, potentially for many years.”

Beth Thompson, executive director for policy and partnerships at Wellcome, said: “This is a remarkable scientific achievement, which has been years in the making.

“The pioneering work behind mitochondrial donation is a powerful example of how discovery research can change lives.”

Professor Dagan Wells, from the University of Oxford, said the study showed established methods for avoiding mitochondrial DNA diseases, such as preimplantation genetic testing, perform well and will be suitable for most women at risk of having an affected child.

“A minority of patients are unable to produce any embryos free of mitochondrial disease, and for those women the study provides hope that they may be able to have healthy children in the future,” he added.

Stella Creasy thanks passengers for intervening after she was ‘hassled’ on Tube

A Labour MP has thanked London Underground passengers for rushing to her defence as she was hassled by a man.

Stella Creasy was on the Victoria Line when she began to be harassed by the male passenger in an incident she is planning to report to the police.

In a post on X, formerly Twitter, the Walthamstow MP said: “If you were one of the passengers on the victoria line just now who intervened to stop a man hassling me thank you from the bottom of my heart.

“Please get in touch with my office if you are prepared to be a witness as maybe the police might listen to you about him now!”

The Independent contacted Ms Creasy to ask for more details. TFL was contacted for comment.

Ms Creasy has been repeatedly targeted with abuse, lashing out last year at the crusade of harassment launched against her by anti-abortion activists, an issue on which she has campaigned.

In a moving interview with The Independent, Ms Creasy said she was facing “a bonfire of abuse” from anti-abortion ideologues on social media in punishment for campaigning on abortion rights.

And in 2013, a man was arrested after launching a torrent of violent abuse on social media at Ms Creasy.

Peter Nunn, a blogger from Bristol, was sentenced to 18 weeks imprisonment in September 2014 for sending messages to Ms Creasy calling her a witch and retweeting rape threats.

She and other feminist campaigners were harassed after expressing support for the image of author Jane Austen to be placed on a banknote.

After the incident, Ms Creasy was forced to have a panic button installed in her home.

Ms Creasy’s latest incident comes months after a cross-party inquiry warned that democracy is being undermined by the scale of abuse, threats and intimidation facing MPs.

A survey by the Speaker’s Conference revealed about half of MPs said threatening behaviour had caused anxiety or depression (49 per cent), with a similar share feeling unsafe as a result (52 per cent).

The inquiry concluded that electoral law is “not fit for purpose” in relation to tackling abuse of political candidates in elections and called for a Government review to assess security and electoral integrity.

This phase of the Conference was established in 2024 to help ensure that elections to Parliament are conducted freely and fairly, without threats or violence.

It also seeks to enable candidates to campaign safely and support elected representatives to do their job securely.

Commenting on the findings, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, Commons Speaker and chairman of the Speaker’s Conference, said: “Participating in free and fair democratic processes – as a candidate or a Member of Parliament – is a privilege, and we expect that to come with robust political discourse and debate.

“But abuse, threats and intimidation should never be part of this job. It threatens the health of our democracy, and forces people to choose between the public good and their own safety and wellbeing.

“I am grateful to members, their staff and the witnesses we have heard from to date for sharing their experiences with us and look forward to working with colleagues on the next phase of the Conference’s work.”

When my friends were facing cancer, a community of people stepped up

When I was younger, I used to worry incessantly about my parents getting cancer. I’d lay awake at night, ruminating on what would happen to my brother and I if they did. Who would support us? Thankfully, both are still cancer-free, well into their seventies.

However, now that I’m a parent myself, I worry about my children. Many people believe that cancer only really happens to people in old age, but that’s just not true. One beloved friend’s daughter died of leukaemia in 2020, aged just five; an unthinkable horror that changed the lives of everyone who knew her and her family.

And with Macmillan Cancer Support reporting that almost 3.5 million people in the UK are living with cancer, I also worry about my friends – parents themselves, their lives touched by cancer. One friend sat me down in our favourite local café, our toddlers playing at our feet, to break the news that she was about to undergo a double mastectomy. We cried together.

Another friend, Sarah, a single parent to two teenage girls, was diagnosed with breast cancer the day before we heard that King Charles had cancer, and a month before the Princess of Wales, Kate Middleton, announced her own diagnosis in March last year. It seemed like cancer was everywhere.

As a result, Sarah put 2024 on hold – she missed her daughter’s last sports day and last concert at primary school and had to find a whole new way of co-ordinating family life.

“I’m lucky in some ways that my children are teenagers, so they are able to look after themselves to some degree – but I’m also a single parent, so there are some things that they can’t do, or struggle with, due to their age,” she tells me.

“I have even set up multiple alarms on our Alexa reminding them to put their packed lunches in their bags or leave for school, just in case I can’t get up.”

Sarah says she thought she knew quite a lot about cancer prior to her diagnosis, but now admits she “really didn’t”. She explains: “There are so many terms and procedures to understand – stages and grades, not to mention over 100 different chemotherapy drugs.”

Sarah tells me about the exhausting cumulative effect of chemotherapy, which she endured every three weeks during her cancer treatment: “After the very first lot, I slept for a few hours and felt much better pretty quickly. For my last rounds, I slept for 48 hours solid and even days later, I needed to have a nap in the middle of the day and was in bed by 8pm.”

Sarah’s now finished chemotherapy and, a year on from her diagnosis, is turning 50. She’s throwing a huge party to celebrate not only the birthday milestone, but getting over this “annus horriblis” – a year she couldn’t have gotten through without the people around her.

“People can do so much for us when we are unwell – and I am forever grateful,” she says. “I’ve been really overwhelmed by the support that my friends have given me; from ferrying around my children to and from after-school events and sleepovers when things get bad, to my 75-year-old neighbour mowing the lawn. One friend popped round with a huge pot of pasta sauce and I even had a gift box from a recruiter at work.”

What talking to my strong, resilient friends about their cancer journeys has made me realise most, is the power of community: for when we receive the worst news imaginable, what we need is people around us to see us through. A community of other women: friends, school mums, neighbours.

They had people willing to make them food, pick up their children, go shopping for them or to just sit with them and listen. They had support when they decided to raise money for cancer support charities, when they did fundraisers such as hosting a Macmillan Coffee Morning.

It takes a village to raise a child – and that village will be with you every step of the way when you need them most.

Find out how you can help raise vital funds by hosting a Macmillan Coffee Morning. Sign up now on the Macmillan website

Macmillan Cancer Support, registered charity in England and Wales (261017), Scotland (SC039907) and the Isle of Man (604). Also operating in Northern Ireland.

Acid attacks skyrocket by 10% with rise in violence against women

An alarming rise in acid attacks has been recorded across the UK, with women and girls now accounting for a third of all victims.

Data from police forces show 498 physical attacks involving corrosives were recorded in 2024, a 10 per cent increase from the 454 incidents reported in 2023.

Research carried out by the charity Acid Survivors Trust International (ASTI) found that such attacks not only have devastating impacts on the victims, but result in a considerable cost to the economy.

On average, a single attack can cost £63,000 in medical and psychological support, meaning that the overall average cost of these physical attacks in 2024 would be in the regions of £31m.

While historically, acid attacks have been associated with male-on-male violence and gang activity, data from police forces revealed that 74 victims out of 224 physical attacks, where gender data was provided, were female.

In addition, women made up 62 per cent of victims when there had been a threat of an acid attack made against them, an increase from 59 per cent in 2023. This involves the threat of a corrosive attack as a tool of coercion or intimidation alongside other serious crimes such as rape or robbery.

Despite the population served by Northumbria Police making up just two per cent of the country’s population, 24 per cent of all acid attacks were recorded in the region, followed by the Metropolitan Police in London.

Jaf Shah, Executive Director at ASTI, said: “Our new data shows that acid violence remains prevalent in the UK. The rise in physical acid attacks is deeply concerning – particularly the sharp increase in Northumbria, even as numbers fall in London.

“Tackling this issue means addressing the wider challenges of socio-economic inequality, deprivation, and gang involvement, while also holding retailers to account.

“It’s vital we address how easily offenders are able to access corrosive substances in the first place. We urgently need stricter controls on sales, especially from online retailers, alongside better reporting and more investment in prevention to stop corrosive substances being weaponised.”

The analysis from ASTI found that almost a quarter (24 per cent) of acid attacks were recorded by Northumbria Police, despite the region only holding two per cent of the UK’s population.

The West Midlands has also seen an 82 per cent increase in the number of physical attacks between 2023 and 2024, with the charity noting that attacks frequently occur in areas that have been impacted by economic deprivation and high levels of poverty.

Professor Francisco C Figueiredo, MD, PhD, FRCOphth, Professor of Ophthalmology at Newcastle University, said: “Corrosive substance attack (CSA) to the eye is a serious injury that can cause substantial damage, potentially leading to significant visual loss/blindness.

“In our data, the most serious injuries tend to be on victims of attack, often young white male. The evidence also indicates that most of the attacks take place in deprived areas.

“Further building on the information released by ASTI, our data has also shown an alarming rise in the Northeast of England in the incidence of CSA over the last few years. In our region, the most common corrosive substance used in attacks is ammonia, which tends to cause significant damage to the surface of the eye, penetrating deeper into the tissue, consequently causing more severe damage.

“In view of this new data, there is an urgent need to create a strong partnership between multiple public health agencies which can work together towards a shared goal by setting up an elimination programme with clear targets. It is time to make elimination of corrosive substance attack our goal.”

The Open 2025 live: Golf leaderboard and first round scores

The Open 2025 begins at Royal Portrush with Rory McIlroy given a hero’s welcome as he returns to Northern Ireland with the Green Jacket.

McIlroy claimed a famous win at The Masters this year, to complete the grand slam, and now hopes to banish the demons of 2019 at the course just 68 miles away from his hometown in Holywood.

Shane Lowry won the Claret Jug that year, while Scottie Scheffler, the world No 1, enters as favourite in the final men’s major of the year, having discussed his overarching philosophy towards his profession and what fulfils him in life in what some have described as a ‘crisis’ speech.

McIlroy is joined by Tommy Fleetwood and Justin Thomas in his first and second tee time, while Scheffler is joined by Lowry and Team USA colleague Collin Morikawa, who will both be part of this September’s Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black, New York.

Follow all the latest updates, scores and analysis from day one at Royal Portrush below, with Padraig Harrington and Team Europe Ryder Cup hopefuls Nicolai Hoejgaard and Tom McKibbin out first at 6:35am BST: