'Huge' AI expansion and 'A&E trolley hell'

According to the Times, the government's AI plans, external include proposals for the NHS to open up its health data store to big tech in an effort to put the UK at the heart of the global AI revolution.

The move would involve the health service making its archives of scans, biodata and anonymised patient records available for the first time to help train AI models. The resource is understood to form part of the country's first national data library and could help attract billions in US tech investment.

But the paper notes there are also fears that sensitive data could end up being exploited for purposes beyond which it was intended, though Technology Secretary Peter Kyle tells the paper the NHS and government would always be in control of the data.

The Daily Telegraph says the health secretary is looking at changing the law, external on compensation for people harmed by the Covid vaccine. The paper says it has seen a letter from Wes Streeting to the wife of a man left with permanent brain damage after having the AstraZeneca jab. Streeting is said to have written that he is considering a number of options, including possible legislative changes.

The Times carries a warning from a former head of MI6, external that efforts by Labour to court Chinese investment in the government's renewable energy plans risk leaving the UK vulnerable to Beijing. Sir Richard Dearlove said Britain shouldn't be relying on China for its energy infrastructure in its drive to reach net zero. The paper says its own analysis found that Chinese businesses have paid for or provided parts for at least 14 out of 50 British offshore windfarms in operation or in development. A government spokesman said the biggest risk to energy security was staying dependent on fossil fuel.

The Daily Mail says new figures from NHS England, external, analysed by the Liberal Democrats, show a record 518,000 patients were left waiting on trolleys in A&E for 12 hours or more last year. The paper notes that the numbers are 400 times higher than a decade ago. It argues that the numbers on trolleys, because of a shortage of available beds, shows emergency departments were already dangerously overwhelmed even before this winter's flu outbreak. The Department of Health says it inherited a broken NHS.

The former Conservative Home Secretary James Cleverly tells the Daily Express, external the UK is under what he calls a tax attack by the government. Writing in the paper he says families and businesses are suffering because of ministers' ineptitude, arrogance and hypocrisy. He says employers, farmers and schools have all seen their taxes go up by record levels. The government says it has faced significant challenges in its first six months in office.

The Guardian carries details of a new poll, external suggesting a fifth of Gen Z and Millennial Britons prefer the idea of a strong leader without elections, to democracy, with voters overall feeling downbeat about politics. But among people aged over 55 only 8% preferred a strong leader to a democratic system. The survey was carried out for the public affairs consultancy FGS.

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