Workers in healthcare, education and justice are battling crumbling systems. They told us what actions they want to see from the new government

Keir Starmer opened his first cabinet meeting on Saturday with the words: “We have a huge amount of work to do.” From the NHS to schools and prisons, the public sector is battling chronic underfunding, staff shortages and record demand for its services. The Observer asked five key workers what Labour’s priorities should be in the months and years ahead.

Jonathan Clucas (above), headteacher at Layton primary school in Blackpool
I came to school on Friday morning feeling more hopeful than I’ve felt for a long time. I’ve been a headteacher for 19 years and this is the hardest it’s ever been. Teaching is a brilliant job, full of wonder, but all our successes have been despite the last government not because of them. I feel optimistic Labour will champion education again.

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At the Metropolitan police misconduct hearings officers face charges of drunkenness, racism and improper sexual relations. Can the force ever clean up its act?

On an August evening in 2019, two police officers responded to a 999 call from a distressed woman whose partner was violently attempting to push her out of the flat they shared. On the call recording, the woman, Miss A, can be heard crying while her boyfriend shouts in the background. When the officers, PC Paul Onslow and a colleague, arrived at the flat, Miss A’s clothes were ripped and she had a cut on her thumb.

Onslow arrested the boyfriend, drove him to a police station and returned to Miss A’s flat where he began to conduct a domestic violence risk assessment, a tick-box process designed to help police officers make sure that victims are protected from harm. Officers must run through a list of 27 questions, including: “Are you very frightened?”, “Do you feel isolated?”, “Are you having suicidal thoughts?”, “Has your partner ever threatened to kill you?”. In a breach of regulations, Onslow turned off his body-worn camera before embarking on the questionnaire. Halfway through the list, he went off-piste to ask Miss A: “Do you fancy me?”

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Police to investigate incident in which 10-month-old heifer was hit twice before it became trapped under vehicle

The officer filmed deliberately ramming a cow twice with his police car has been removed from frontline duties while an internal investigation is conducted.

Nev Kemp, deputy chief constable of Surrey police, said: “At this time, the officer who was driving the police car has been removed from frontline duties pending the outcome of these investigations.”

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Police admit serious mistakes were made as at least three people believed to be involved in teenager’s murder are still free

The Met police’s decision to shut down the hunt for the racist killers of Stephen Lawrence is to be reviewed, with police admitting “serious mistakes” are still being made in the case, the Guardian has learned.

At least three of the gang believed to have chased, surrounded and stabbed Stephen, who was 18, near a south-east London bus stop in April 1993 are still free, with two men convicted of his murder in 2012..

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Sheffield demonstration comes 40 years after notorious police action against striking miners

Campaigners are to gather at Sheffield City Hall for a rally to mark 40 years since the notorious “battle” of Orgreave during the 1984-85 miners’ strike, and call for the full truth about the scandal to be addressed.

On 18 June 1984, an estimated 8,000 miners who had travelled to picket the plant at Orgreave, South Yorkshire that made coke for the steel industry, were met by massed ranks of 6,000 police officers . With force unprecedented in mainland Britain, mounted police charged their horses at speed into the crowd, and officers using batons and short shields beat many miners over the head.

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A look at how Labour, the Conservatives, Lib Dems, Greens and Plaid Cymru compare on key issues

• UK general election live – latest updates

Of the big parties contesting the election outside Northern Ireland, all but the Scottish National party and Reform UK have now released their manifestos. So what is on offer thus far to voters on 4 July?

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PC Perry Lathwood fined for assaulting Jocelyn Agyemang after wrongly suspecting her of fare evasion

A woman assaulted by a Metropolitan police officer has said he treated her with “contempt” and that the attack had “devastated” her son, who witnessed the incident.

The victim impact statement of Jocelyn Agyemang was read out in court as PC Perry Lathwood was ordered to pay a total of £2,950 following his conviction for assault last month.

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Disposal team attends after former defence minister Jeremy Quin was sent suspicious package

A bomb squad had to be called in to a Conservative candidate’s constituency office after he said he received a suspicious package.

Sir Jeremy Quin, a former defence minister and the Tory candidate for the Horsham constituency, received the package at his West Sussex office. Bomb disposal experts were called in to investigate after a decision by Sussex police.

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Guy Mukendi, 39, from Brixton sentenced to four years and three months for rape in rare conviction

A man has been jailed for four years and three months in a rare conviction for “stealthing” – taking a condom off during sex without consent.

Guy Mukendi, 39, from Brixton was sentenced on Thursday at inner London crown court for the rape of a woman last year. The woman had consented to sex with Mukendi on the condition a condom was used, but he then removed it without her consent.

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