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Minister insists Labour will not apply national living wage to all over-18s before election – UK politics live | Politics

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2 months ago

May 29, 2026

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Minister insists Labour not committed by manifesto to applying national living wage to all over-18s before next election

Good morning. Last night Alan Milburn suggested that he would like the government to drop its commitment to pay all people over the age of 18 the national living wage. The former Labour health secretary was speaking after he published a major report on the rise in the number of young people not in education, employment or training (Neet) and he implied that when the final report is published in the autumn, with policy recommendations, it will propose changes to the national living wage/minimum wage system to encourage more firms to hire young people. A change to the “discriminatory age bands” policy seems to be quite high up his list of demands.

For the record, this is what Labour said in its manifesto.

Labour will also make sure the minimum wage is a genuine living wage. We will change the remit of the independent Low Pay Commission so for the first time it accounts for the cost of living. Labour will also remove the discriminatory age bands, so all adults are entitled to the same minimum wage, delivering a pay rise to hundreds of thousands of workers across the UK.

The TUC said yesterday that cutting the minimum wage for young workers would be a mistake – setting the scene for a fierce Labour internal battle over the manifesto pledge.

This morning, in an interview on the Today programme, Torsten Bell, the pensions minister, hinted that Milburn may get his way. Milburn, the TUC, and everyone else who has read the manifesto, probably assume that, when Labour said it would “remove discriminatory age bands”, it meant by the end of this parliament.

But it didn’t, Bell claimed. He said:

The manifesto sets out that the we should move the rates together over time. It doesn’t set a timeline on that because that’s the important role of the Low Pay Commission.

When the presenter, Justin Webb, said put it to Bell that people understood that as meaning by the end of this parliament, Bell replied:

No, that’s not what it says in our manifesto, Justin. But it’s an understandable mistake. It’s a long document.

Webb asked him to confirm that Labour is not committed to equalising the rates by the end of this parliament. Bell replied:

The manifesto commits us to equalising the rates. We’re absolutely committed to doing that. I’ve been a big proponent of the minimum wage over the last 25 years …

We’re going to do it in a way that relies on the Low Pay Commission to provide independent advice on how that can happen, and in general how increases in the minimum wage happen but in a way that doesn’t affect employment levels.

And if you look at what the Low Pay Commission said in their annual report, they didn’t find evidence that previous increases in the minimum wage for young people had had an effect on their employment. But it is right that we stay alive to that. It’s right that we keep looking at the evidence.

Asked again if the government was committed to the pledge, Bell said:

I’ve already said the answer is yes, we’re committed to our manifesto that we stood on and we will deliver it. But that manifesto did not set out the timeline.

Milburn is likely to be more happy about this answer than the trade union movement.

At the moment it looks as if it will be a relatively quiet Friday. Pat McFadden, the work and pensions secretary, is on a visit this morning, and Nicola Sturgeon, the former Scottish first minister, will be at the Hay literary festival this afternoon. But last night Keir Starmer and Andy Burnham both published long and interesting responses to Tony Blair’s critique of the Labour government. Peter Walker wrote a story about them here.

But there is more to say about the Starmer and Burnham essays, and I will be having a detailed look at them shortly.

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Key events

Reform UK candidate declines to apologise to Vorderman over online joke, claiming she’d hear ‘100x worse’ on building site

Labour has said that it is “astonishing” that Reform UK chose Robert Kenyon as its candidate despite knowing about some of his past social media posts.

There have been multiple reports in recent days about past comments he has made that have been sexist, anti-migrant, vaccine-sceptic, pro-Russia and anti-abortion. He has also been asked to apologise for one that was supportive of another man making a sexually explicit comment about Carol Vorderman, and for another post claiming Hillary Clinton was to blame for the Manchester Arena bombing because of policies she pursued in Libya as the US secretary of state.

According to a story by Sam Francis for Politico, these comments did not come as a surprise to Reform UK. A Reform UK spokesperson told Francis: “Rob declared his accounts during the vetting process as everyone is expected to. The party has fully backed him as our candidate for Makerfield.”

In response, Anna Turley, Labour’s chair, said:

It’s astonishing that Reform have admitted they knew about Kenyon’s social media accounts. Nigel Farage needs to urgently explain to the public why, if his party was aware of his online history, he was happy to put forward a candidate who has made vile degrading comments about women, multiple homophobic posts and spread dangerous false narratives about the Manchester Arena bombing.

In an interview with the Manchester Evening News, Kenyon defended his record on social media, saying: “I’m not a polished politician.”

He went on:

I am rough around the edges. I have made mistakes in my life. I’m not perfect. Nobody is. Not a single person in the world is perfect. I think everybody does say things that eventually they regret.

Referring specifically to the Vorderman comment, he said:

It was a crude attempt at a joke to probably about 50 followers.

No offence was meant, and it’s not something I’d do now.

Asked if he would give Vorderman the apology she has requested, he said:

I think I’ve addressed the issue. I think that no offence was meant and it wasn’t a direct comment to her. If you go into any building site in the area or any public barracks, I think you’d hear a hundred times worse said.

Robert Kenyon. Photograph: Reform UK

Burnham doubles down on claim Blair’s government did not roll back Thatcher’s neoliberalism

Andy Burnham, the Greater Manchester mayor and Labour candidate in Makerfield, has also published his response to Tony Blair’s essay about Labour and its future, as an article for the Times. Like the other mainstream Labour figures who have responded to the former PM, Burnham commends Blair for opening up a debate, agrees with him on some points, and declares that his views are worth taking seriously.

But, like Starmer (see 11.10am) and Wes Streeting, Burnham argues that there is a big gap in Blair’s analysis.

As I read on, I kept waiting for the main topic of conversation on doorsteps in Makerfield to make an appearance. And it never did. The fall in the living standards of millions, and the reality that life has got harder for most year on year since the financial crash in 2008, is, I believe, the gaping omission in his analysis.

This has been the single biggest driver of the turmoil in politics he describes and the cratering of support for traditional parties of right and left, here and around the world.

Lest we forget: the principal cause of the 2008 crash was a failure of regulation. So how can a new wave of deregulation plausibly be the answer to the problems we have experienced since? This is the real “retro” thinking, I suggest; the kind of thinking that would doom us to repeat past mistakes and, if we’re not careful, prevent us from protecting children by failing to regulate social media, artificial intelligence and big tech.

In his essay, Blair criticised Burnham for suggesting that governments over the past 40 years – Blair’s included – had defended an economic model that did not work for ordinary people. In his article, Burnham doubles down on this claim.

The Labour government in which I was proud to serve did many great things. It did not, however, take us off the direction set by Thatcher. For instance, the failure to reform right-to-buy and fully restore the public housing stock is the root cause of today’s housing crisis. Similarly, acceptance of the deregulation and privatisation of essential services is the same for the cost of living crisis.

This has given us 40 years of neoliberalism and the simple truth is this: it has not been kind to communities in Makerfield and those like them across the UK. Trickle-down economics did not in the end trickle down very much at all.

Burnham also argues that, as mayor of Greater Manchester, he has been pioneering an alternative, better model. In part that is about not leaving things to the market, but “being very interventionist and intentional about it”, he says.

The secret to our success is setting a unifying long-term vision for the city-region that all sectors can get behind. It’s the polar opposite of the Westminster culture. Where they do point-scoring, we do problem-solving. Where they do party-first, we do place-first. We have built a pro-business approach and a new political culture that could be part of the forward plan for the country, a more collaborative politics in Westminster creating a stable platform for some of the long-term structural changes the country needs. In other words, a new politics to build a new economy.

Andy Burnham placards at the Labour HQ for the Makerfield byelection at Stubshaw Cross Community and Sports Club in Ashton-in-Makerfield. Photograph: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

TSSA union leader says it would be ‘disastrous’ for Labour not to equalise minimum wage rates before next election

A union leader has expressed alarm at the suggestion from Torsten Bell that the government might not ensure that all over-18s are covered by the national living wage by the time of the next election. Responding to Bell’s interview on the Today programme this morning (see 9.23am), Maryam Eslamdoust, general secretary of the TSSA transport union, said:

Ditching the manifesto commitment to an equal living wage for employees of all ages would be a betrayal of young workers.

Young people are far too often expoited as a source of cheap labour as a consequence of the lower statutory national minimum wage rates for their age group.

At a time when the government is experiencing huge unpopularity, it would be disastrous to ditch one of Labour’s most popular policies like this.

The prime minister constantly says that he is listening.

Removing discriminatory age bands from minimum wage rates would be a concrete step towards easing the cost of living crisis for millions of younger workers.

Maryam Eslamdoust Photograph: Martin Godwin/The Guardian

Housing asylum seekers in former army barracks ruled unlawful for victims of torture

Shabana Mahmood’s plan to house more asylum seekers in former army barracks is facing a major hurdle after the high court ruled yesterday that a policy change forcing torture victims to share rooms was unlawful, Rajeev Syal reports.

Starmer suggests policies in Labour’s 2024 manifesto not radical enough for what is needed now

Since Keir Starmer launched his own Substack blog in December, it would be wrong to say that it has become a Westminster must-read. Often his posts just largely regurgitate speeches or policy documents available elsewhere. But last night he used it to publish a response to Tony Blair that definitely is worth a look. It runs to almost 3,000 words. Towards the end, it starts to read like a familiar list of achievements, but Starmer starts with some new and interesting arguments.

Here are the most striking points.

Now is a good moment to reflect on the government’s course. As I said when the [May election] results came through, I am not in the business of ignoring a message from the voters as stark as the one Labour received at the recent local elections. And the signal is that my government needs not just to be better, but also to be bolder. On growth, defence, Europe, energy and opportunity, we do now need a bigger response than we anticipated in 2024. In a world that has become even more volatile, that is what our ‘change’ mandate demands.

Starmer does not really elaborate what he means by “bigger response”, and there is nothing new in the essay on policy. But this comment about the 2024 manifesto does in part align Starmer with Andy Burnham and Wes Streeting, the two figures openly pitching for his job on a ‘change’ platform. Starmer concludes:

Is there more to do? Yes. Much, much more. Is our welfare system in need of reform? Yes. Is our economy in need of even more growth? Definitely. Do we need bolder policies on everything from the European Union, to protecting our children online, and the difference we can make now in preparation for higher global energy prices in the winter? Yes, and that is all coming.

Starmer says Labour needs to be offering more than just “higher growth and old school redistribution”. Like all other senior figures who have criticised the Blair essay, Starmer says Blair’s analysis was flawed because he largely ignored the way growing inequality, and the impact of the financial crash and austerity on living standards, have shaped the views of voters and fuelled populism. Starmer suggests some sort of new economic or political settlement is needed. He says:

Populism cannot be “bought off” with higher growth and old school redistribution, though the absence of both, as the Tory era shows, will only make things worse. Nor is it just about living standards or economic inequality, though both clearly matter deeply. No, it is a more profound and subtle crisis – its roots are economic, but it also about dignity and respect. Working people and working-class communities want an economy that they have a stake in, a state that respects the value they contribute, and a government that can help them achieve greater control over an increasingly insecure world. Any economic plan that does not wrestle with this is on a political hiding to nothing. Not just in Britain, anywhere in the western world.

This is quite a contrast from the Starmer of the 2024 election campaign who was happy to describe growth as his top priority. Quite what “an economy that they have a stake in” would mean in practice is not at all clear, but there tantalising glimpses here of something that goes beyond the manifesto offer.

It is instructive to return to the 2024 context and the despairing commentary about Britain’s perceived decline. It was a running theme of the campaign. Britain was in an unbreakable trap. A “doom-loop” so fiendish that escape was utterly inconceivable. Higher investment in public services, we were told, could not be achieved without risking the health of the public finances or throttling economic growth. Significantly reducing immigration was equally impossible without much the same effect. The loudly proclaimed truth was simple: any new government would have to choose between rebuilding the economy, improving public services, or reducing immigration. At best, it was a trilemma.

Today, that hand-wringing commentary continues unabated. But the facts about Britain have changed dramatically. After a decade of austerity, a Labour government has delivered record public service investment and performance is improving …

Meanwhile, in challenging global circumstances, the British economy is clearly outperforming our peers.

Starmer concedes the government has made mistake, but he says he should be judged on the “big political choices” and claims that, on these, he has been right. Here is the passage about mistakes.

Now, I am the first to admit that this ‘escape’ was not cost-free. Along the way we made mistakes – most obviously when setting the level at which to means test the winter fuel payment. We also asked a lot of the British people, particularly businesses who now pay higher national insurance contributions. And while we were right to be clear – both during the campaign and since – that it would take a while to turn the British oil tanker around, I do believe that the mood music in the early part of the government was too negative. We should have shown the underlying hope of our direction much more clearly.

Starmer criticises Blair for “picking out this or that individual policy and saying it shows a lack of coherence”. Government needs to be judged in the round, he says.

In the context of where Britain finds itself now, I remain confident we got the big political choices right. And that ultimately is why I disagree with picking out this or that individual policy and saying it shows a lack of coherence. I’ll be blunt – it is simply not a credible depiction of how government works. Government is not a to-do list. You cannot just tick off the issues, one by one. No, government is about acting on every major problem simultaneously, balancing them against each other, and trying to get to the best situation for Britain overall.

At Westminster it’s widely assumed that Starmer is on his way out. That’s what many Labour MPs think, and polling suggests party members would clearly prefer to have Burnham as leader. But here Starmer is defending his record with a confidence he probably has not shown before, and trying to align himself with the ‘change’ cause. Maybe its too early to write him off.

Here is a picture that Starmer included when he tweeted a link to his essay.

Keir Starmer Photograph: No 10

Ed Davey claims delay in publication of defence investment plan ‘shambolic and dangerous’

In their London Playbook briefing for Politico, Sam Blewett and Noah Keate say the government still has not got a date for the publication of the long-awaited defence investment plan (DIP) – even though next week will mark a year since the publication of the strategic defence review, which identified the defence spending requirements the investment plan is supposed to fund.

They say:

Despite military buffs being marched up the hill by numerous positive-sounding reports in recent weeks, Whitehall officials concede that the DIP won’t be coming next week. And that means blowing past an awkward milestone – because Tuesday marks a whole year since the publication of the strategic defence review, which necessitated the investment plan.

Problem is … the plan hasn’t been signed off because it hasn’t been decided how the £18bn spending uplift will be funded. There are clearly difficult “trade-offs,” as one person in Whitehall put it, in paying for all the jets, drones and attack subs needed to bring the British military up to speed. But time really is ticking to get this announced …

Nato officials have been making it clear to Britain that the DIP must come in time for their big summit in Ankara kicking off on 7 July, three people familiar with the conversations told your Playbook author and Esther Webber. Failing to do so will raise big questions about Britain’s credibility, one said. All the same, officials in No. 10 were insisting they won’t be boxed in by supposed deadlines.

Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, said this was shambolic. In a statement, he explained:

It’s shambolic and dangerous that, as we approach a year since the strategic defence review was published, the defence investment plan is still nowhere to be found. At a time when we face an increasingly aggressive Kremlin and an unreliable ally in the White House, ministers must stop hiding and publish the DIP immediately. You cannot defend the country with a pile of unpublished reports.

MoD not properly addressing its £1.5bn fraud risk, MPs claim

The Ministry of Defence is not properly addressing the risk of losing £1.5bn a year through fraud, a committee of MPs say today.

The Commons public accounts committee has published a report calling for a change of culture in the way the MoD tackles fraud.

It says:

The Ministry of Defence is at significant risk of fraud and economic crime, with high expenditure, complex procurement, and a global workforce split between the armed forces and civil service. But over the last four years it has recouped on average just 48p for every £1 it spent tackling fraud – well below the government’s expectation of saving £3 for every £1 spent.

So far, the department has not responded to the fraud threats it faces with the degree of focus and leadership that we would expect, and it cannot demonstrate that it is doing enough to protect valuable public funds that should be available to bolster the UK’s defence capability.

The department has reported that its potential exposure to fraud can reach £1.5bn a year. But it also told us that this estimated figure is only an academic construct. It could not tell us when it will have a more reliable estimate of the scale of the problem, but later told us that it will take at least a year to develop one.

Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, the Conservative MP who chairs the committee, said:

There must be a radical change of culture within the MoD if the flow of funds lost to fraudulent activity is to be stemmed. The apparent normalisation of fraud in the procurement process is symptomatic of a wider issue; there is no overarching strategy within the MoD of how to tackle fraud and economic crime.

In response, an MoD spokesperson said the figures in the report “primarily relate to a period under the previous government”.

They added:

We are turning that around, and last year we saved £1.34 for every £1 spent on counter-fraud measures, significantly increased on 33p for every £1 spent in 2023/24, and we expect this to be further improved this year.

We have zero tolerance for fraud and corruption and we will continue to strengthen our controls, exploiting the latest technology to prevent and detect fraud and protecting taxpayers’ money as we help keep the UK secure at home and strong abroad.

DWP pledges 300,000 new work experience and training placements for young people

Tens of thousands of new work experience and training placements from construction to hospitality will be available for young people as part of government efforts to tackle the joblessness crisis, the Press Association reports. PA says:

The 300,000 new placements over the next three years are backed by some of Britain’s biggest employers, Pat McFadden, the work and pensions secretary, said.

These include Manchester and Gatwick airports, and the government has vowed placements will reach young people across the country.

The placements, also expected to include health and social care, have been confirmed just a day after a report warning of the risk of a “lost generation”.

The number of the UK’s 16 to 24-year-olds not in employment, education or training – known as Neets – rose to more than a million, figures published yesterday confirmed.

Former Labour cabinet minister Alan Milburn, who was tasked with leading the review into Neets, wrote that lack of work experience is “the single most-cited barrier to work amongst young people”.

His report said: “At present, the provision of work experience is an afterthought for many schools. Students are often told to find their own placements. Unsurprisingly, those without strong networks and connections are more likely to miss out.”

The review author said the “first rung of the career ladder has thinned” and is now “simply out of reach” for many young people.

He added: “That places them in a hopeless catch-22 where employers ask for work experience but the opportunities for young people to gain it have narrowed or gone.”

The Department for Work and Pensions said the 300,000 placements will comprise of work experience and what are known as Sector-based Work Academy Programmes (Swaps).

The latter are short government-funded programmes for jobseekers claiming benefits, offering training, hands-on experience of the workplace and a guaranteed job interview, the department said.

Minister insists Labour not committed by manifesto to applying national living wage to all over-18s before next election

For the record, this is what Labour said in its manifesto.

Labour will also make sure the minimum wage is a genuine living wage. We will change the remit of the independent Low Pay Commission so for the first time it accounts for the cost of living. Labour will also remove the discriminatory age bands, so all adults are entitled to the same minimum wage, delivering a pay rise to hundreds of thousands of workers across the UK.

The TUC said yesterday that cutting the minimum wage for young workers would be a mistake – setting the scene for a fierce Labour internal battle over the manifesto pledge.

But it didn’t, Bell claimed. He said:

The manifesto sets out that the we should move the rates together over time. It doesn’t set a timeline on that because that’s the important role of the Low Pay Commission.

When the presenter, Justin Webb, said put it to Bell that people understood that as meaning by the end of this parliament, Bell replied:

No, that’s not what it says in our manifesto, Justin. But it’s an understandable mistake. It’s a long document.

Webb asked him to confirm that Labour is not committed to equalising the rates by the end of this parliament. Bell replied:

The manifesto commits us to equalising the rates. We’re absolutely committed to doing that. I’ve been a big proponent of the minimum wage over the last 25 years …

We’re going to do it in a way that relies on the Low Pay Commission to provide independent advice on how that can happen, and in general how increases in the minimum wage happen but in a way that doesn’t affect employment levels.

And if you look at what the Low Pay Commission said in their annual report, they didn’t find evidence that previous increases in the minimum wage for young people had had an effect on their employment. But it is right that we stay alive to that. It’s right that we keep looking at the evidence.

Asked again if the government was committed to the pledge, Bell said:

I’ve already said the answer is yes, we’re committed to our manifesto that we stood on and we will deliver it. But that manifesto did not set out the timeline.

Milburn is likely to be more happy about this answer than the trade union movement.

But there is more to say about the Starmer and Burnham essays, and I will be having a detailed look at them shortly.

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Driver killed in Bedford train crash named

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2 months ago

June 21, 2026

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The family of Shaun Burton, say they are “devastated” by the loss.

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Spain v Saudi Arabia: World Cup 2026 – live | World Cup 2026

Published

2 months ago

June 21, 2026

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Key events

In the opening half an hour against Cape Verde, Mikel Oyarzabal, the centre-forward, did not get a single touch.

Oyarzabal profile

Kyle Green gets in touch: “Your highlighting of Lalas and his absurdity is something that has prevented me from wanting to watch the coverage on Fox. While every channel has its pros and cons I just can’t.

“I’m 45 and probably the youngest of anyone who remembers him as a player instead of an opinionated insert insult here. As for the match this could be more competitive than it looks on paper Spain need a win the pressure is on them. Saudi Arabia could hold out for a draw and see what happens in their last match. “

News from the England camp, and it seems to be good news on Declan Rice.

“I’m ready and fit, raring to go. I was feeling a little bit of neural pain in my hamstring, which I was managing from after Christmas with Arsenal for a very long time. Obviously, not a lot of people would have known that. It was all behind-the-scenes stuff but it was a smart decision.

“In the end, that last 20 minutes is probably where you pick up the most, and it’s where you play a 70-minute match. But that last 20 is where you really feel your body going for it. And I think it was a smart decision because the last few days I felt really, really good.”

Alex Reid has penned today’s weekend special Football Daily.

Portugal v Uzbekistan on Tuesday enticingly pits the incredibly nice, incredibly 41-year-old-superstar-tolerant Roberto Martínez against Fabio Cannavaro, who’s won a Ballon d’Or as a player and the Chinese Super League as a coach. While the fixture following that game really does see the dream of Thomas Tuchel – in his first international job with England – taking on Queiroz, who is in charge of his ninth national side with Ghana.

The expected formations are 4-2-3-1 for Spain, and 5-3-2 for the Saudi Arabians.

The Saudi team features two Donis changes: Ali Lajami, a defender, and Nasser Al Dawsari, a midfielder, are preferred to Mohammed Abu Al Shamat and Mohamed Kanno. You may recall Salem Al Dawsari, the Saudi captain, as the man who scored the winner against Argentina.

An entertaining read, even for those of us who have just seen the clips.

In a conversation where his co-panelist is casually reminiscing about his days playing alongside Messi or exchanging shirts with Ronaldo Nazário at the World Cup, what exactly is Lalas going to talk about – coming on as a second-half substitute for Earnie Stewart in a friendly against Scotland in 1998? Helping the Kansas City Wizards finish last in the 1999 MLS Western Conference? Did Lalas enjoy an elite playing career? No. But does he do the background reading that could compensate for his relative lack of standing in a conversation with titans like Henry and Zlatan? Also no. But is he charming or funny or charismatic or otherwise magnetic on screen? Eh, no.

For the record, I once interviewed Alexi Lalas on the challenge of playing against Romario in the 1994 World Cup. He had this to say:

“He could kill you in so many different ways. If you remember from that World Cup, he scored so many types of goals. That ranged from solo adventures to an outside-of-the-right-foot half-volley off a corner kick. Romario was both the most difficult to play against and the best that I have faced.

“Roberto Baggio was doing his thing, but in terms of consistency and living up to the hype, he [Romario] was the best. As with all stars, there was a moment when the fans sit up in their seats, and that was a feeling I got with Romario. When it got close to him and the potential for his involvement in a play was there, everybody sat up in their seat. They knew that something spectacular would be happening.”

Saturday’s match reports here.

The Saudi Arabia coach, and Blackburn legend, Georgios Donis, spoke about the challenges facing his team: “Spain is not the same ⁠team when Yamal or Williams are on the bench.

“While they still have plenty of possession, they lack the individual one-on-one penetration when these two are ⁠missing. I’m not saying it’s a problem for Spain, but when those players are missing, they play in a different way. We saw this very clearly against ‌Cape Verde.

“We are playing against one of the best teams in the world, and it’s very important that when you play against these kinds of teams, you ‌should enjoy the experience and respect the opponent, but not too much.

“It is very hard for any team playing against Spain to have any time in possession. So what we must do is to be more in control of our movement and compact, and when the ball goes through the lines, be able to defend dynamically.

“It’s nice to see miracles in football, and we’ve seen favourites losing against underdogs. Of course, it’s great for Saudi football to have a great memory of the result against Argentina, but we aren’t drawing anything from that.

“I think we’ll feel more pressure in that [Cape Verde] game than we will against Spain.”

The Spain coach, Luis De La Fuente had this to say in his Saturday press conference: “This generation of footballers is highly competitive and really fired up… It’s going to be a completely different story,” he said at his pre-match press conference on Saturday. There is no drama or crisis. The bottom line is simply that we need to win tomorrow.”

Four changes for Spain: Lamine Yamal, Pedro Porro, Dani Olmo and Alex Baena also come into the side with Marcos Llorente, Fabian Ruiz, Ferran Torres and Gavi dropping out.

The teams – Lamine Yamal starts

Spain: Simon, Porro, Cubarsi, Laporte, Cucurella, Gonzalez, Rodri, Yamal, Olmo, Baena, Oyarzabal. Subs: Raya, Joan Garcia, Pubill, Grimaldo, Eric Garcia, Llorente, Merino, Torres, Fabian, Gavi, Pino, Williams, Zubimendi, Munoz, Iglesias.

Saudi Arabia: Al Owais, Abdulhamid, Tambakti, Lajami, Al Amri, Al Harbi, Nasser Al Dawsari, Al Khaibari, Al Juwayr, Al Buraikan, Salem Al Dawsari. Subs: Al Aqidi, Al Kassar, Majrashi, Yahya, Al Shehri, Al Boushal, Kadesh, Al Johani, Al Ghannam, Al Hajji, Al Hamdan, Mandash, Kanno, Thakri, Abu Al Shamat.

Referee: Raphael Claus (Brazil)

Perhaps one of the Saudi -players can write themselves into this high-grade selection?

Perhaps it can be their goalkeeper.

Al-Aqidi profile

Madrid screening of Spain v Saudi Arabia cancelled due to heat

The public screening of Spain’s World Cup match against Saudi Arabia in Madrid on Sunday has been cancelled because of extreme heat forecast for the Spanish capital, officials said.

The match, due to kick off at 6pm local time on Sunday, had been scheduled to be shown on a giant screen installed by the Spanish football federation (RFEF) at a fan zone in Plaza de Colón in central Madrid.

Madrid city council and the federation decided to cancel the screening after national weather agency AEMET issued an orange heat warning – the second-highest level – for the Madrid region, with temperatures forecast to reach 40C.

“The decision has been taken with the aim of protecting the health of attendees, event staff and support services involved in the event,” Madrid city hall said in a statement, apologising for any inconvenience.

Officials urged supporters to watch the match indoors in air-conditioned spaces and avoid prolonged exposure to the heat.

Large parts of Spain are experiencing unusually high temperatures for June as a mass of hot air from North Africa moves across the Iberian Peninsula.

A total of 13 of Spain’s 17 regions are on orange alert for heat on Sunday, while the northern Basque Country bordering France is on red alert, the highest level.

Authorities advised residents and visitors to take precautions during the heatwave, including drinking water regularly, staying in cool environments, limiting outdoor physical activity during the hottest hours of the day and taking extra care of vulnerable people. AFP

Can Saudi Arabia repeat the magic of 2022?

Argentina arrived in Qatar on a 36-game unbeaten run. When Lionel Messi opened the scoring from the penalty spot after 10 minutes, a comfortable afternoon seemed in the offing. Saleh al-Shehri and Salem al-Dawsari had other ideas, Argentina had three goals disallowed for offside in the space of 13 minutes and the greatest comeback in Saudi Arabia football history was made. Argentina went on to lift the trophy, while defeats to Poland and Mexico meant the Saudis did not reach the knock-out stage.

Unai Simon over David Raya is a controversial choice for De la Fuentes. The Arsenal keeper could lay claim to being Europe’s best this season.

“Those at the Champions League final had a few more days, so I got there on the Wednesday night,” Raya says. “I arrived a bit before Fabián [Ruiz]. I was saying hello to some of the others in reception when he arrived. I went to say congratulations; that was almost the first thing I did. I couldn’t really talk [to him] after the final; I just didn’t have it in me. The next day we talked about the game properly. Just two mates chatting … I was happy for him that he could lift the trophy for a second time.”

A high pressure game for the European champions, as Sid Lowe reports.

“If we had scored one, the game would have changed,” Martín Zubimendi said. Immediately after the game, De la Fuente had offered a simple analysis: when the ball doesn’t want to go in it doesn’t want to go in, he insisted. Spain had racked up 27 shots, after all. Ferran Torres had hit the bar and seen another clear opportunity saved. Vozinha, the 40-year-old goalkeeper who stopped that, saved six more and was named the man of the match. “There’s nothing to reproach the team for,” Rodri said. “We generated chances but couldn’t put it away; the good thing is they created almost nothing.”

We wait to see what role Lamine Yamal will play today. His coach would surely like to be able to use him.

The worst mistake we could make would be to compare him to anyone. He is the midst of a process. He has exceptional footballing maturity and lives it all with total naturalness. He has great serenity and strength. We have to let him follow his path but those players who have something different are ready for that. They’re geniuses, like Dalí [who] can paint a picture, or Michelangelo. They’re different. What is exceptional to us, isn’t to them. In those extremes, they feel comfortable. Why? Because they are different. What we think is exceptional, they consider normal.

Lamine Yamal profile

Preamble

Spain’s campaign did not get off to a flying start, and Luis de la Fuentes may wake up in the night to visions of Cape Verde’s Vozinha. He will have Georgia on his mind ever since Monday. Saudi Arabia are no pushovers and gave Uruguay a scare in their opening match. Memories of downing Argentina four years ago still abound, and so Spain might beware. They can ill afford to go into the final game with Uruguay at a disadvantage. All eyes on Lamine Yamal, whose fitness situation remains opaque, though Spain need their other forwards to come to the party.

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