Thursday briefing: How the long-awaited renters’ reform bill could transform housing as we know it

In today’s newsletter: Labour’s new plans aim to shut the door on unscrupulous landlords. But what will change for the millions of people renting?

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In 2019, Theresa May’s Conservative party pledged to end no-fault evictions (that is, where landlords oust tenants without giving a reason), and introduced the first iteration of the renters’ reform bill. But pressure from lobbyists, interest groups and Tory backbenchers who were themselves landlords led to countless delays and the eventual watering down of the proposals. Charities and advocacy groups expressed concern about the sloth-like progress of the bill, but that did little to hurry the previous government.

US election 2024 | Donald Trump’s campaign was in damage control mode on Wednesday amid widespread dismay among supporters over a presidential debate performance that saw Kamala Harris, his Democratic opponent, repeatedly goad him into going wildly off-message and missing apparent opportunities to tackle her on policy. The debate was viewed by an estimated 67.1 million people, a 31% increase from the June debate between Trump and President Joe Biden.

NHS | Long delays for hospital, GP and mental health services are leading to thousands of unnecessary deaths and have ruptured “the social contract between the NHS and the people”, an inquiry has concluded. The findings of the study by Lord Ara Darzi, commissioned by Labour when it came to power, will be cited by Keir Starmer, who will warn that the NHS has to “reform or die”.

Northern Ireland | The government is to establish an independent public inquiry into the February 1989 loyalist murder of the Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane, the Northern Ireland secretary, Hilary Benn, has announced. Finucane was 39 when he was shot dead in his family home in north Belfast by the Ulster Defence Association in an attack found by a series of investigations to have involved collusion with the state.

Business | The British steel industry has suffered a blow after confirmation that 2,500 jobs will go at the Port Talbot steelworks despite a £500m taxpayer-backed deal for the south Wales plant.

UK news | Oliver Campbell, a man with severe learning difficulties who was jailed for life for the murder of a shopkeeper three decades ago after confessing in police interviews, has had his convictions quashed by the court of appeal. Continue reading...