Britain launches $675 million fund for vulnerable children

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Finance Minister Rachel Reeves are under pressure from their own Labour Party lawmakers to provide more support for low-income families. (Reuters)
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Updated 14 July 2025
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Britain launches $675 million fund for vulnerable children

  • Better Futures Fund aims to provide support for struggling families
  • It also gives children access to better education and a safe home over the next 10 years

MANCHESTER, England: Britain on Sunday announced a £500 million ($675 million) fund intended to help up to 200,000 vulnerable children.

The Better Futures Fund aims to provide support for struggling families and give children access to better education and a safe home over the next 10 years, the government said.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer and his finance minister Rachel Reeves are under pressure from their own Labour Party lawmakers to provide more support for low-income families.

Earlier this month, Starmer was forced to gut key parts of his welfare reform plan in order to pass legislation through parliament.

“This fund will give hundreds of thousands of children, young people and their families a better chance,” Reeves said in a statement.

“Our ‘Plan for Change’ will break down barriers to opportunity and give them the best start in life.”

The finance ministry said it planned to raise another 500 million pounds from local government, social investors and philanthropists.

Mel Stride, finance spokesman for the opposition Conservative Party, said he welcomed the new funding but said Labour’s economic policies had hurt struggling families.

The government is also considering whether to abolish a two-child limit on welfare payments to parents as it reassesses several unpopular policies to reverse a slide in its poll ratings.


UK police arrest former ambassador Peter Mandelson in probe into Epstein ties

Updated 56 min 24 sec ago
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UK police arrest former ambassador Peter Mandelson in probe into Epstein ties

  • Former UK ambassador to the US arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office

LONDON: British police on Monday arrested Peter Mandelson, a former UK ambassador to the United States, in a misconduct probe stemming from his ties with Jeffrey Epstein.
London’s Metropolitan Police force said “officers have arrested a 72-year-old man on suspicion of misconduct in public office” at an address in north London.
It did not name Mandelson, in keeping with British police practice, but the suspect in the case has previously been identified as Mandelson.
Police are investigating Mandelson over documents suggesting he passed sensitive government information to Epstein a decade and a half ago. He does not face any allegations of sexual misconduct.
His arrest comes four days after Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the former Prince Andrew, was arrested on suspicion of a similar offense related to his friendship with Epstein.
Mandelson was fired from his diplomatic post in September after emails were published showing that he maintained a friendship with Epstein after the financier’s 2008 conviction for sex offenses involving a minor. When more details emerged in documents released by the US Justice Department last month, police opened a criminal probe.