A SOLICITOR from Birmingham has
won the Volunteer of the Year award at
the King’s Trust and TK Maxx Awards
for her work with young people.
Nabila met the King at Buckingham
Palace last Wednesday (25) before re
ceiving her award at the ceremony in
London last Thursday (26).
She was presented the award by
broadcaster and Good Morning Britain
presenter, Kate Garraway and radio pre
senters Jamie Laing and Sophie Habboo.
Nabila, who grew up in Small Heath,
in Birmingham, said she wanted to give
young people the professional mentor
she did not have.
The 32-year-old has spent more than
10 years volunteering with The King’s
Trust Mosaic programme, which helps
secondary school pupils in cities across
the UK build confidence and job skills.
She said, “Mentoring for The King’s
Trust has had a really positive impact on
me. I see myself in every one of my men
tees and it’s a great feeling knowing that
you have helped someone. I hope to con
tinue volunteering for as long as I can.
It’s been over ten years, and although
it can be challenging, I still enjoy it.”
The Mosaic programme runs for eight
weeks in schools, with volunteers work
ing with groups of pupils to develop
their confidence and understanding of
the workplace.
Nabila organised visits to the Solici
tors Regulation Authority in Birming
ham city centre, where students can
learn about different careers including
law, HR, and communications.
She described watching one shy stu
dent transform over the eight-week pro
gramme, eventually giving a speech to
parents and teachers at the final ses
sion.
“The transformation of young people
can be incredible,” Nabila said. “It’s im
portant I set a good example and show
my mentees what it’s like in the real
world of work.”
Garraway said Nabila had inspired
hundreds of students across Birming
ham through the programme, “Her
mentees see someone they can relate to,
who is successful, which enables them
to believe there are no limits to what
they can achieve.”
The King’s Trust helps young people
get into work, education, or training.
Three in four young people helped by
the charity in the past five years have
moved into employment, training, or
education, a statement said.
News
22
July 4, 2025 • Twitter.com/easterneye
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Welfare reforms flip-flop
PRIME MINISTER Sir Keir Starmer
faced the most serious internal rebel
lion of his year-long premiership on
Tuesday (1) with a close vote on welfare
reforms that have already forced a
damaging climbdown.
More than 100 MPs from Labour pub
licly opposed the cuts, prompting the
government to back down last Friday
(27). The revolt had meant Starmer faced
a potential defeat in a vote on the chang
es in parliament this week – a year after
he won a landslide majority in the gen
eral election.
Starmer said there was no other option
to pressing ahead with reform of the wel
fare system “because it doesn’t work and
it traps people”, but after listening to MPs,
“getting that package adjusted ... is the
right thing to do”.
“We’ve now arrived at a package that
delivers on the principles, with some ad
justments, and that’s the right reform,
and I’m really pleased now that we’re
able to take this forward,” he told report
ers, defending the concessions as a “com
mon sense” solution.
Planned changes to make it tougher to
collect some disability and sickness ben
efits would now apply only to new appli
cants, while the millions of people who
already rely on the benefits will no longer
be affected, the government said.
The reforms had sought to shave £5
billion per year off the rapidly rising wel
fare bill, but that figure has now been re
duced to £2.5bn.
Despite the concessions, an estimated
39 Labour MPs still planned to rebel,
around half the number needed to sink
the key bill, leaving Starmer facing an
uncomfortable vote.
MPs were scheduled to vote on Tues
day evening as Eastern Eye went to print.
Work and pensions secretary Liz Ken
dall revealed the new-look bill to parlia
ment on Monday (30), but some waver
ing MPs were not persuaded.
“It was falling apart in the Commons
today because MPs were exposing so
many holes in the government’s plans,”
leading rebel MP Rachael Maskell was
quoted as saying in one report.
Government data published on Mon
day (30) estimated an extra 150,000 peo
ple would be pushed into poverty by the
reforms, even taking into account the
concessions, further ramping up the
pressure on the government.
That means chancellor Rachel Reeves,
who has struggled to generate growth
from a sluggish economy, will need to
find more money elsewhere.
A spokesperson for Starmer said chang
es to the welfare plan “will be fully funded,
there will be no permanent increase in
borrowing”. The spokesperson declined to
comment on possible tax rises.
It was the third big U-turn for Starmer’s
government, following a reversal in un
popular cuts to payments to pensioners
for fuel to heat homes in the winter, and a
decision to hold an inquiry into the au
thorities’ response to gangs that groomed
girls for sex, after having said no such in
quiry was needed.
Starmer has argued that Britain’s disa
bility benefits system is too costly to sus
tain, and makes it too difficult for people
who can work to do so, by penalising
them for their earnings.
Campaigners said that even if existing
claimants were exempt, the changes
would still harm too many people.
Disability UK, a charity, said it rejected
a “two-tier system” that would deny new
claimants benefits that existing claimants
receive. “It is not a massive concession to
have a benefit system where future gen
erations of disabled people receive less
support than disabled people today,” said
Mikey Erhardt, the group’s policy lead.
The Conservative Party’s work and
pensions policy chief, Helen Whately,
said on X the decision was humiliating
for Starmer, and represented a missed
opportunity to cut the welfare bill while
“leaving taxpayers to pick up the bill”.
Annual spending on incapacity and
disability benefits already exceeds Brit
ain’s defence budget and is set to top
£100 billion pounds by 2030, according to
official forecasts, up from £65bn w.
A YouGov poll of more than 10,000
Britons released last week found that
while Labour is losing voters to Reform, it
is also forfeiting supporters to the Liberal
Democrats and the Greens on the left.
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A MAN who stabbed his es
tranged wife to death in Brad
ford in front of their baby has
been convicted of murder.
Habibur Masum (pictured),
26, attacked 27-year-old Kulsu
ma Akter in broad daylight on
April 6 last year, stabbing her
more than 25 times while she
pushed their seven-month-old
son in a pram. The baby was
not harmed.
Bradford crown court heard
last Friday (27) that Akter
had been living in a refuge
since January after Masum
threatened her with a knife at
their home in Oldham. He
tracked her using her phone
location and confronted her
after she left the refuge to
meet a friend, believing he
was in Spain.
Masum was seen on CCTV
trying to steer the pram away
and, when she refused to go
with him, stabbed her multiple
times before walking away and
boarding a bus. He was arrest
ed three days later in Ayles
bury, Buckinghamshire.
Masum, of Leamington Ave
nue, Burnley, admitted man
slaughter and possession of a
knife but denied murder. He
was found guilty of murder,
stalking, making threats to kill,
and assault by beating.
The Crown Prosecution Ser
vice said the attack was
“planned and premeditated”.
West Yorkshire Police de
scribed it as a “brutal” daylight
attack. Detective chief inspec
tor Stacey Atkinson said Akter
“should have been safe”.
Meanwhile, the Independent
Office for Police Conduct
found no breach of standards
by officers involved prior to her
death. Masum is due to be sen
tenced on July 22.
Husband guilty of wife’s murder in Bradford
Monarch honours solicitor for mentoring youth
© CPS
AWARD MOMENT:
Nabila (left) meets
the King last
Wednesday (25)
RIGHTS FIGHT: People protest
against disability welfare cuts
in London on Monday (30)
© Carl Court/Getty Images
STARMER FACES CRUCIAL TEST AS LABOUR MPs OPPOSE BENEFIT CUTS