Twenty-seven new bathing sites will be designated in England ahead of this summer’s swimming season, the government has announced.

Giving waterways bathing status means the Environment Agency has to test them for pollution during the summer months, putting pressure on water companies to stop dumping sewage in them.

Twelve rivers are among the new sites. There are three river areas in England designated for swimming, far fewer than in many other European countries. In France, for example, there are more than 570 river bathing sites.

Bathing status is no guarantee the waters are safe to swim in, however. Last year, testing by the Environment Agency found that England’s three river swimming areas all had “poor” status due to pollution. This means people should not swim in them and risk getting sick if they do. Sewage spills and agricultural runoff mean swimming sites can carry E coli and intestinal enterococci, which could make swimmers ill.

The water campaigner and former Undertones singer Feargal Sharkey told the Guardian: “Every single stretch of river in England currently tested carries a ‘do not swim’ advisory. This lot will simply join that ignoble, floundering list of failure.

“It’s clearly not a strategy to deal with the decaying state of our rivers, it’s simply panic from a decaying government, it’s making excuses all before exiting stage left in the run-up to a general election.”

Water companies were criticised for record sewage discharges into England’s waterways last year. Recent data showed raw sewage was discharged into rivers and seas for more than 3.6 million hours, more than double that in the previous 12 months.

Bathing sites are only tested in the summer months but the government has promised a consultation later this year on proposals that would include extending monitoring outside the bathing season, as some people use the rivers recreationally all year.

The water minister, Robbie Moore, said: “The value our bathing waters bring to local communities is incredibly valuable – providing social, physical and positive health and wellbeing benefits to people around the country – and I am pleased to have approved a further 27 new bathing water sites for this year.

“These popular swimming spots will now undergo regular monitoring to ensure bathers have up-to-date information on the quality of the water and enable action to be taken if minimum standards aren’t being met.”

The chair of the Environment Agency, Alan Lovell, said: “The importance of England’s bathing waters for residents and visitors alike cannot be overstated, which is why the Environment Agency provides rigorous testing to ensure that bathers can make informed decisions before swimming in one of our 451 sites.

“Overall bathing water quality has improved massively over the last decade due to targeted and robust regulation from the Environment Agency, and the good work carried out by partners and local groups. Last year, 96% of sites met minimum standards, up from just 76% in 2010 – and despite stricter standards being introduced in 2015. We know that improvements can take time and investment from the water industry, farmers and local communities, but where the investment is made, standards can improve.”

The new bathing sites

• River Wharfe at Wetherby Riverside, High St, Wetherby, West Yorkshire

The world’s big banks have handed nearly $7tn (£5.6tn) in funding to the fossil fuel industry since the Paris agreement to limit carbon emissions, according to research.

In 2016, after talks in Paris, 196 countries signed an agreement to limit global heating as a result of carbon emissions to at most 2C above preindustrial levels, with an ideal limit of 1.5C to prevent the worst impacts of a drastically changed climate.

Many countries have since promised to reduce carbon emissions, but the latest research shows private interests continued to funnel money to oil, gas and coal companies, which have used it to expand their operations.

Eight in 10 of the world’s most eminent climate scientists now foresee at least 2.5C of global heating, according to the results of a Guardian survey published last week – an outcome expected to lead to devastating consequences for civilisation.

Researchers for the banking on climate chaos report, now in its 15th edition, analysed the world’s top 60 banks’ underwriting and lending to more than 4,200 fossil fuel firms and companies causing the degradation of the Amazon and Arctic.

Those banks, they found, gave $6.9tn in financing to oil, coal and gas companies, nearly half of which – $3.3tn – went towards fossil fuel expansion. Even in 2023, two years after many large banks vowed to work towards lowering emissions as part of the Net Zero Banking Alliance, bank finance for fossil fuel companies was $705bn, with $347bn going towards expansion, the report says.

US banks were the biggest financiers of the fossil fuel industry, contributing 30% of the total $705bn provided in 2023, the report found. JP Morgan Chase gave the most of any bank in the world, providing $40.8bn to fossil fuel companies in 2023, while Bank of America came in third. The world’s second biggest financier of fossil fuels was the Japanese bank Mizuho, which provided $37.1bn.

London-based Barclays was Europe’s biggest fossil fuel financier, with $24.2bn, followed by Spain’s Santander at $14.5bn and Germany’s Deutsche Bank with $13.4bn. Overall, European banks stumped up just over a quarter of the total fossil fuel financing in 2023, according to the report.

Tom BK Goldtooth, the executive director of the Indigenous Environmental Network, which co-authored the study, said: “Financiers and investors of fossil fuels continue to light the flame of the climate crisis. Paired with generations of colonialism, the fossil fuel industry and banking institutions’ investment in false solutions create unlivable conditions for all living relatives and humanity on Mother Earth.

“As Indigenous peoples, we remain on the frontlines of the climate catastrophe, and the fossil fuel industry targets our lands and territories as sacrifice zones to continue their extraction. Capitalism and its extraction-based economy will only perpetuate more harm and destruction against our Mother Earth and it must come to an end.”

Critics of the report said its methodology, which relied on investigating deals reported by financial market data companies such as Bloomberg and Refinitiv, meant researchers did not have a detailed view of what was being financed, and by whom.

Specifically, syndicated loans, bond issues and underwriting arrangements often involved several banks with varying levels of exposure. And financing to fossil fuel companies to fund transition technology projects could not be distinguished from financing for new oil wells, they said.

Spokespeople for Barclays, Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, Deutsche Bank and Santander all emphasised that their organisations were supporting energy sector clients’ transitions toward more sustainable business models. Mizuho declined a request for comment.

In a country where so much of society is still bisected along class lines, many have a very particular image of a clever person – and it’s roughly Stephen Fry. A grand-seeming Oxbridge-educated man with a posh accent and an interest in art and opera, who can recite passages of classic literature. Rob Rinder, the criminal barrister, broadcaster and host of Judge Rinder, fits well into this mould and loves all things “high culture” and intellectual pursuits. He is, as his co-host Rylan Clark says, “one of the cleverest blokes I know”. Meanwhile, Rinder says Clark “doesn’t know his arts from his elbow”. However, over the course of the three episodes of Rob and Rylan’s Grand Tour, Clark emerges as the brilliant mind, with levels of intelligence, wit and profundity that may have been overlooked because there remains a perception of what a clever person is like.

The pair position themselves as an odd couple from different sides of the tracks, being good mates, both going through “painful divorces” who, despite their divergent interests, have decided to embark on a journey that represents a fresh start. The series follows them through the “hedonism” of Venice, the Renaissance feast that is Florence and the baroque glory of Rome, replicating a journey made by Lord Byron, 200 years after his death at just 36. But as the series reminds us, this was not just a journey that Byron made: many of the “poshos” of the era would journey to Italy as a rite of passage, a form of cultural education to establish themselves as erudite individuals who understood art, history and the ways of the world.

We first see Rinder in Venice aboard a gondola, wanting to take in the historical traditions of the city. Clark is in a glitzy speedboat and is a little intimidated by all the art and opera ahead. But while Rinder is moved and fascinated by the galleries, concerts and archaeology of this and the other two cities, his response comes across as a little more shallow than Clark’s reflections. When discussing Caravaggio, castratos or the Colosseum, Rinder always seems to give the prototypical clever-person answer, while Clark connects to his surroundings on a molecular level, seeing in ancient ruins existential questions that connect to his own mortality and desire to achieve greatness.

Clark also brings a gorgeous vulnerability to the screen. Not only is he dealing with heartbreak, but also with the lingering insecurity of having been an object of ridicule in his early career. It’s a truly remarkable journey that he has been on, having first come to public attention as the runner-up on Signed By Katie Price before being labelled a “joke act” on The X Factor and finally hitting his stride as a presenter on This Morning, Big Brother’s Bit on the Side and Ready Steady Cook. But even if he is best known for being a larger-than-life camp icon who pokes fun at himself, it has become clear over the years – and is further illuminated by this programme – that Clark is an extremely smart and talented man who should not be underestimated.

The relationship between Rinder and Clark proves surprisingly sweet and tender, too. Although they often fall back into the clever one/silly one shtick, they seem to hold each other in equally high regard. Clark has little ego around the gaps in his knowledge and soaks up what Rinder tells him about the historical significance of the places that they visit. Rinder also gazes at him adoringly when Clark interprets what the Botticellis hanging in the Uffizi or the Venetian mask worn during the carnival symbolise to him.

While Rinder and Clark seem quite transformed by their journey and time together, ending the trip with their hearts a little less broken and open to the possibility of finding love again (albeit with an iron-clad prenup), what’s most interesting about the programme is how it challenges our perception of Clark. For centuries, the Grand Tour was undertaken by those who more closely resembled Rinder, people with the right sort of class and education, unlike Clark, who was a “ginger kid from a council flat in Stepney Green”. But it is lovely to behold where that kid has ended up, see his formidable mind absorb the glories of the journey Bryon once embarked on and watch his confidence bloom in the Italian sunshine.

Three people were killed and at least 12 were wounded Saturday night in a shooting at party in south Alabama.

Andre Reid with the Baldwin county sheriff’s office’s investigation division told WALA-TV that about 1,000 people were attending a May Day party near the community of Stockton when an altercation started and gunfire erupted. Reid said most of the victims were “younger people”.

There was not immediate word on whether arrests had been made. The Associated Press left a message with the sheriff’s office Sunday.

Stockton has a population of about 400 people. It is roughly 30 miles (48.3km) north-east of Mobile, Alabama.

Reid said no law enforcement officers were involved in the shooting, which was among more than 150 mass shootings reported in the US so far this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive.

The nonpartisan archive defines a mass shooting as one in which four or more victims are killed or wounded. Perennially high numbers of mass shootings in the US have prompted some to call for meaningful gun control, though Congress for the most part has not delivered it.

The mass shooting in Alabama was only one instance of high-profile gun violence seen in the US over the weekend, which culminated in Mother’s Day on Sunday.

Three Atlanta police officers were hospitalized with gunshot wounds after a confrontation that left a suspect dead Saturday evening, authorities said.

And in Euclid, Ohio, a police officer was shot and killed after being “ambushed” while answering a disturbance call, and a suspect was being sought, authorities said Sunday.

The Associated Press contributed reporting

Vladimir Putin has removed his longtime ally Sergei Shoigu as defence minister in the most significant reshuffle to the military command since Russian troops invaded Ukraine more than two years ago.

In a surprise announcement, the Kremlin said Andrei Belousov, a former deputy prime minister who specialises in economics, will replace Shoigu.

Putin, who was sworn into his fifth term as Russia’s leader earlier this week, proposed that Shoigu take the position as head of Russia’s powerful security council. It is currently led by Nikolai Patrushev, a hawkish former spy and one of Putin’s closest advisers.

Shoigu, Russia’s longest-serving minister, assumed leadership of the defence ministry in 2012 after his tenure as the emergency services minister. He has been leading Russia’s military through its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which began in 2022.

As defence minister Shoigu was tasked with modernising Russia’s military and was believed to have direct access to Putin, going on regular hunting and fishing trips with him in Siberia.

Shoigu’s popularity in Russia grew after the illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014, which he was credited with orchestrating.

But he has come under intense criticism for Russia’s military setbacks after the February 2022 invasion, as well as for his inability to root out the widespread corruption that continues to plague the army. Most dramatically, Shoigu was forced to fend off an armed uprising last summer by mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, who had called for his arrest.

Shoigu’s position appeared to have weakened last month when the security services arrested his long-term confidant Timur Ivanov, a deputy defence minister, and charged him with large-scale corruption.

On paper, Sunday’s reorganisation places Shoigu in a position formally considered higher ranking than his role in the defence ministry in what some observers believe is a move by Putin that allows his old ally to save face.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that Putin decided to appoint Belousov, a veteran economist, to lead the defence ministry after Russia’s war spending had vastly increased.

“It’s very important to put the security economy in line with the economy of the country so that it meets the dynamics of the current moment,” Peskov said.

Peskov added that the Russian president had decided a civilian should head the defence ministry to ensure the department was “open to innovations and advanced ideas”.

Russia has presided over a massive ramping up of industrial military production over the last two years, with total defence spending rising to an estimated 7.5% of its GDP.

A former defence official who has worked with Shoigu, speaking on conditions of anonymity, said: “The Kremlin wants the ministry to be led by an economist who knows how to streamline its operations.

“The defence ministry is supposed to be efficient and well run, while the actual decisions on the battlefield are left to the military.”

Valery Gerasimov, the veteran chief of Russia’s general staff and someone with a more hands-on role when it comes to the fighting, will remain in post, the Kremlin said.

It remains unclear what position will be taken by Patrushev, who has led the security council since 2008 and is believed to have helped mastermind the invasion of Ukraine.

Peskov told Russian state media late on Sunday that Patrushev’s new role will be announced in the “next few days”.

Earlier this week it was announced that his son Dmitry Patrushev, formerly agriculture minister, will be promoted to deputy prime minister.

The television cut-aways to the ­enclosure housing the Arsenal ­supporters perfectly captured the anxiety. It was not supposed to be like this, not against this ­Manchester United. But the lesser spotted a­cceptable version of Erik ten Hag’s team was on show, fighting for the badge, and Arsenal were made to suffer.

Leandro Trossard scored their goal midway through the first half after a United defensive malfunction – of course it was – but the advantage was slender and everyone knew, most of all Mikel Arteta, that it could take only one moment to rub out.

With five minutes to go, there was thunder and lightning. Very, very frightening. Arsenal had not exactly made a habit of winning here in recent years, doing so only once in their previous 16 Premier League visits. They desperately needed the points, to answer Manchester City’s victory at Fulham on Saturday, to jump back above them at the top of the table, to make sure that their ­challenge would go to the final day next Sunday.

Arsenal got the job done, relief ­fusing with the euphoria when it was all over. The downpour at the very end was almost biblical, the ­hailstones pelting down too, the notorious Old Trafford roof getting a thorough examination and it ­certainly made for a vivid backdrop when Arteta and his players celebrated in front of the travelling fans.

Arsenal were well below their best in creative terms; their star players were defenders, namely Ben White and William Saliba. The result was the only thing that mattered. Does ­anyone think that City will slip up; they play their game in hand at ­Tottenham, of all places, on Tuesday night? City have never done so under Pep Guardiola when the title has been within their grasp. For Arsenal, it remains about believing.

Any pre-match optimism had been difficult to locate in United hearts and yet there was a ­tremendous roar from the home crowd upon the first ­whistle; excellent support ­throughout. It was surely in spite of the evidence contained on the team sheets. Call it blind faith, defiance. Or just backing your club.

Arsenal had been unchanged, ­bristling with assurance, ­momentum behind them. What remained so ­disorientating about United was the sheer number of absentees, ­especially at the back, where Casemiro ­continued alongside Jonny Evans in the wake of the horror show at Crystal Palace last Monday. There was no one else.

Arsenal were odds-on with some bookmakers to score at least three. Digest that, for a moment. Yet United appeared determined to show some personality and they might have scored first when Scott ­McTominay won the ball high up off Thomas Partey and, suddenly, ­Rasmus Højlund had a clear ­shooting chance. He slipped at the crucial moment.

United were good for the opening 20 minutes, winning a few duels, although Arsenal threatened on ­corners, Aaron Wan-Bissaka ­having to make one important clearing header. The problem, of course, is United’s near constant vulnerability, the sense that a structural breakdown is never far away.

It came when André Onana went long, Casemiro having shown for the short ball and White took a header from Saliba to feed it back up the inside right for Kai Havertz. The Arsenal centre-forward looked ­offside. That was until we looked along what passed for United’s line and saw Casemiro was still 10 yards back. Havertz ran around Evans to cross low. Trossard lost Wan-Bissaka to touch home.

Arsenal might have scored again on 29 minutes when White worked a give-and-go with the ­disappointing Bukayo Saka, burst away from Casemiro and lifted just off target. United, though, held their own up to the interval, despite struggling for clear-cut openings.

Ten Hag had recalled Sofyan ­Amrabat in midfield and he brought some muscle, earning a generous ovation when he was substituted late on. Amad Diallo, who started ahead of Antony on the right wing, showed twinkle toes and sharp turns. Kobbie Mainoo looked as if he could make something happen.

Arteta had won here previously as a manager, Arsenal’s lone league ­success of the recent past coming under him in November 2020 – the 1-0 pandemic ghost game that was ­settled by Pierre-Emerick ­Aubameyang’s penalty. Arteta needed his team to manage the game in the second-half. The longer it stayed at 1-0, the more his insides churned.

Declan Rice saw a shot blocked by Wan-Bissaka but with Diogo Dalot and Alejandro Garnacho driving variously up the left, the home crowd sensed an equaliser.

Garnacho was stopped in his tracks by one excellent Saliba tackle. On another occasion, the United winger dropped his shoulder to open up a shooting chance, stepping inside only to get the curler all wrong. ­Garnacho’s final action was too often a frustration.

It was nervy for everyone ­connected to Arsenal. They sat deep at times, in the second-half, inviting United to make the game. Martin Ødegaard sent one shot too close to Onana but at the other end Antony – having come off the bench – pinched the ball ahead of Takehiro Tomiyasu before fluffing the shot.

Garnacho kept going, it kept on being nearly but not quite for him while Onana tipped over from the Arsenal substitute Gabriel Martinelli. The goalkeeper would also paw clear a Wan-Bissaka backwards flick and a drive from Rice.

A concerned Novak Djokovic says he will undergo extra medical tests in relation to being struck by a water bottle after crashing out in the third round of the Italian Open.

The Serb had been signing autographs on Friday after his second-round win over Corentin Moutet when a metal bottle fell out of a fan’s backpack and directly on his head. After the initial blood and nausea, Djokovic said he had felt fine on Saturday as he returned to training, even entering the practice court jokingly wearing a helmet. On Sunday, though, he felt like a “different player” as he was defeated 6-2, 6-3 by Chile’s Alejandro Tabilo, the 29th seed.

“It was unexpected obviously,” said Djokovic. “I wasn’t even looking up. Then I felt a very strong hit in the head. That has really impacted me a lot. After that I got the medical care. Been through half an hour, an hour of nausea, dizziness, blood, a lot of different things. I managed to sleep OK. I had headaches.

“The next day or yesterday was pretty fine, so I thought it’s OK. Maybe it is OK. Maybe it’s not. I mean, the way I felt on the court today was just completely like a different player entered into my shoes. Just no rhythm, no tempo, no balance whatsoever on any shot. It’s a bit concerning.”

Tabilo arrived in Rome full of confidence after winning an ATP Challenger event in Aix-en Provence, rising to a career-high ranking of No 32. Still, Sunday marked by far the biggest win of his life. Despite his own issues, Djokovic was complimentary about the 26-year-old’s game. “I was trying not to think about it, trying to keep it point by point. And no, I can’t believe it, it’s crazy,” said Tabilo.

An athletic left-hander with a sweet serve and forehand, Tabilo stepped up to the world No 1 determined to take the first strike with his forehand, to control as many exchanges as possible and keep Djokovic on the move. It soon became clear that there was minimal resistance across the net. Djokovic gave away his opening service game with two double faults, including one on break point, and as Tabilo became increasingly comfortable on the front foot, the Serb struggled badly.

Alongside his passive play and unforced errors, Djokovic was extremely flat emotionally and he rushed between points, seemingly determined to get off the court as quickly as possible and his tournament ended with a miserable double fault off a 115mph second serve. Afterwards, Djokovic said that he did not undertake any medical checkups on his day off but, with two weeks until Roland Garros, he will now.

“I have to check that,” said Djokovic. “Training was different. I was going for kind of easy training yesterday. I didn’t feel anything, but I also didn’t feel the same. Today under high stress, it was quite bad – not in terms of pain, but in terms of this balance. Just no coordination. Completely different player from what it was two nights ago. Could be. I don’t know. I have to do medical checkups and see what’s going on.”

Djokovic produced one of the best seasons of his career in 2023, winning the Australian Open, French Open, US Open and ATP Finals, but this has been a curious year so far. The defeat means that Djokovic, who turns 37 this month, will head to the French Open yet to win a title in the season for the first time since 2018 and just the second time since he won his first title in 2006.

Meanwhile, Aryna Sabalenka continued to rebuild her momentum as she reached the fourth round with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Dayana Yastremska. It is the Australian Open champion’s first victory over the Ukrainian.

“I’m a better player right now,” said Sabalenka. “I got more stuff in my pocket to get this win against her. Yeah, our last matches were a long time ago when I was kind of on and off.

“I was just trying to find my way. I was going quite confident into this match knowing that I have everything to get the win. I’m super-happy to finally get the win against her.”

Donald Trump on Saturday praised fictional serial killer Hannibal Lecter “as a wonderful man” before segueing into comments disparaging people who have immigrated into the US without permission.

The former president’s remarks to political rally-goers in Wildwood, New Jersey, as he challenges Joe Biden’s re-election in November were a not-so-subtle rhetorical bridge exalting Anthony Hopkins’ cannibalistic Lecter in Silence of the Lambs as “late [and] great” while simultaneously condemning “people who are being released into our country that we don’t want”.

Trump delivered his address to an estimated crowd of about 80,000 supporters under the shadow of the Great White roller coaster in a 1950s-kitsch seaside resort 90 miles (144.8km) south of Philadelphia.

The occasion served for Trump to renew his stated admiration for Lecter, as he’s done before, after the actor Mads Mikkleson – who previously portrayed Lecter in a television series – once described Trump as “a fresh wind for some people”.

Among other comments, Trump on Sunday also reaired lies about having “been indicted more than the great Alphonse Capone”, the violent Prohibition-era Chicago mob boss.

Trump since the spring of 2023 has grappled with four indictments attributing more than 80 criminal charges to him for attempts to subvert the outcome of the 2020 election he lost to Biden, retaining classified materials after his presidency and hush-money payments to an adult film actor which prosecutors maintain were illicitly covered up.

The trial over the hush money is set to enter its fourth week Monday.

Yet Capone was indicted at least six times before his famous 1931 tax evasion conviction.

Trump nonetheless used the occasion to call the charges against him “bullshit”, with spectators then chanting the word back at him.

The Philadelphia Inquirer noted that the former president’s supporters had poured into Wildwood in “pickup trucks decked out in Trump flags” from up and down the east coast.

According to the outlet, hundreds of people set up camp overnight on the boardwalk to get into the event.

“The country is headed in the wrong direction,” Kelly Carter-Currier, a 62-year-old retired teacher from New Hampshire, told the Inquirer. “So, hopefully, people will get their shit together and vote the right person in. And if they don’t, I don’t know. World War III?”

On the other hand, New Jersey Democrats dismissed the significance of the event.

Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill said many of the Trump supporters expected would be from out of state. “Jersey is not going to be a welcoming place for Trump,” Sherrill said.

Sherrill’s fellow New Jersey Democrat Andy Kim, a congressman running for the US Senate, said that generalized apathy toward government helped Trump’s support.

“I hope people recognize that he is not somebody that has an agenda that’s going to lead to a better type of politics,” Kim said.

A British man settled in Italy who has a rare cancer has been unable to receive the free healthcare he is entitled to because local officials do not understand the Brexit withdrawal agreement, he has said.

Graham Beresford, 61, has spoken out days before the foreign secretary, David Cameron, who triggered the Brexit referendum, has his first major meeting with the European commission vice-president Maroš Šefčovič in Brussels about post-Brexit relations.

Under the withdrawal agreement, Beresford should be entitled to the same access to healthcare as an Italian pensioner, but he has repeatedly been told this is not correct and has faced demands of €2,000 (£1,700) for an Italian health card.

Campaigners say Beresford is one of hundreds of Britons in this situation.

“Brexit is the cause of this. Brexit is an absolute disaster, an act of self-harm of the worst kind for absolutely nothing. I don’t know why anyone voted for it,” said Beresford, who cannot, despite trying for years, persuade the local authorities he is entitled to healthcare under the Brexit deal.

Beresford managed energy for the local council in Glasgow, but took early retirement and moved to Italy in January 2019 to realise his retirement dream before the Brexit drawbridge in January 2021 which put a stop to free movement.

Initially he relied on savings, but when he reached 60 he was able to access his pension of about €10,000 (£8,600) a year.

Local authorities have told him that the withdrawal agreement gives health rights only to British nationals who were in the country for a full five years before the end of the transition period on 31 December 2020.

Attempts to convince authorities that they are making an error have been futile.

Cameron’s meetings with Šefčovič on Thursday – as part of the EU-UK joint committee and the EU-UK Partnership Council – are his first official stocktake of Brexit, and come eight years after he resigned over the referendum result.

One will focus on the trade and co-operation agreement, where energy co-operation, the fisheries deal and post-pandemic health security will be discussed, and the other on the withdrawal agreement in which citizens’ rights and an update on the Northern Ireland Windsor framework are on the agenda.

In February, the campaign group Brexpats – Hear Our Voice managed to get the Italian health ministry to circulate a two-page letter to local authorities confirming that Britons who were in Italy before Brexit were entitled to register for free with the Sistema Sanitorio Nazionale, the Italian version of the NHS.

This is also referenced on the UK government’s Living in Italy page.

When Beresford took a copy of the minister’s letter to the local authority, he was still met with resistance. “She told me ‘we need further clarification’,” he said, and they refused to issue him with his health card.

“Cameron needs to provide funding for the embassy to employ someone to help British citizens with Brexit issues,” said Beresford. “Brexit was not all enacted at once by the UK, it has been implemented transitionally, so it only stands to reason that citizens will be affected transitionally as each new act is implemented.”

Campaigners in Italy wrote to Cameron about the issue in January but have not received a reply.

Beresford, who is on chemotherapy drugs, said: “I just want to be able to have healthcare without having to worry week to week whether we are going to get a prescription or not.”

Clarissa Killwick from Brexpats – Hear Our Voice said Beresford’s case “highlights how extremely vulnerable some people are”, particularly because of the lack of “joined-up communications” which she said was a clear breach of article 37 of the withdrawal agreement.

She added: “The funding from the UK government for dedicated assistance for people such as Graham stopped in 2021 and, unlike in the UK, there is no independent monitoring of withdrawal agreement implementation. It is easy for 1.3 million people to become invisible when they are scattered across 27-plus countries.

“To have a hope of things functioning as they should, information needs to be timely, unambiguous and easily accessible.”

A spokesperson for the Foreign Office said: “Access to healthcare for British nationals living abroad under the UK-EU withdrawal agreement is a top priority for the UK.

“We are pressing the Italian authorities for clarity for those who are facing problems accessing healthcare services or where there is confusion around eligibility, and supporting affected individuals.”

To the dismay of Democrats, blue-collar voters have lined up increasingly behind Donald Trump, but political experts say Joe Biden can still turn things around with that large and pivotal group by campaigning hard on “kitchen table” economic issues.

With just six months to go until the election, recent polls show that Trump has stronger support among blue-collar Americans than he did in 2020. But several political analysts told the Guardian that Biden can bring back enough of those voters to win if he hammers home the message that he is helping Americans on pocketbook issues – for instance, by canceling student debt and cutting insulin prices.

According to Celinda Lake, a pollster for the Democratic National Committee, Biden needs to talk more often and more effectively about how his policies mean “real benefits” for working families and how he’s battling on their behalf against “villains” like greedy pharmaceutical companies.

“We need to have a dramatic framing that we’re going to take on villains to make the economy work for you and your family,” said Lake, who did polling for Biden’s 2020 campaign. “The villains can be a lot of things – corporations that don’t pay any taxes or drug companies that make record profits while they gouge you on prices.”

Republicans have won over many voters by attacking Democrats on cultural issues, but Lake said Democrats can overcome that. “We need to recognize that the economic message beats the cultural war message,” she said, adding that the economic message should focus on specific examples of how Biden’s policies have helped workers and their families.

“We have to make sure the economic message isn’t focused on GDP and low unemployment rates and lower inflation, but on real benefits, things that people feel at the kitchen table,” Lake said. She talked of reduced prescription drug prices, limits on banks’ junk fees and increasing taxes on the wealthy so the nation can invest in things like making childcare more affordable.

Patrick Gaspard, president of the Center for American Progress, also stressed the importance of economic messaging. “Biden needs to speak more on the economy, but you shouldn’t do it in terms of spiking the ball, which we’ve done too much of. You need to pick some fights,” said Gaspard, who was executive director of the Democratic National Committee under Barack Obama. “You have to pick fights with greedy corporations. It’s good to say, ‘I lowered insulin to $35 a month, and I’m bringing down the cost of a dozen drugs.’ But also say, ‘Big pharma is suing to stop us, and Maga Republicans and Donald Trump are standing with them on that. The fight is on, and I’m fighting for you on this.’”

Several Democrats voiced concern about the party’s current messaging, arguing that the White House and the Biden campaign are too insular and in ways locked into an outdated vision – that if a president delivers good things to voters, like good-paying construction jobs created by the $1.2tn infrastructure package, and runs campaign ads about those things, that will win over many voters. One political consultant warned that many voters are uninformed, telling of a focus group where one woman was delighted that she would soon begin paying $35 a month for insulin, down from $350, but she had no idea that the Biden administration was largely responsible for that lower price.

Even if the Biden campaign runs ads to make that point, several political experts said, Americans are so cynical about candidates and their campaigns that those ads might do little persuading. “The level of cynicism is so high that for many people, anything that comes from politicians or elected officials doesn’t pass the smell test,” said Steve Rosenthal, a longtime political consultant.

Rosenthal said groups that blue-collar voters trust – labor unions, community groups and Facebook pages – need to step up to communicate important, election-related information, such as the fact that Biden played a major role in capping insulin costs.

Speaking about crucial battleground states like Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, Michael Podhorzer, a former political director of the AFL-CIO, the nation’s main labor federation, said, “It rests on the people in those states, the unions in those states, the civic institutions in those states to make clear what the stakes of a Trump presidency will be – for instance, he’ll push to repeal the Affordable Care Act.”

Podhorzer acknowledged that Biden is having problems with blue-collar voters even though, he said, “Biden has done more by a large margin than either President Clinton or Obama to appeal directly to working people – and not just symbolically by joining the UAW’s picket line.” In the 2020 election, 48% of voters without a college degree voted for Biden, while 50% supported Trump, according to exit polls, White voters without a college degree backed Trump over Biden 67% to 32%, while voters of color without a college degree supported Biden, 72% to 26%. All told, 59% of 2020 voters didn’t have a college degree. Biden won the overall election because his comfortable 55% to 43% margin among college graduates more than offset his narrow loss among non-college graduates.

Several Democratic consultants said that if the election were held today, Trump would win. A recent Wall Street Journal poll found that Trump was leading Biden by between one and six percentage points in six of the main battleground states: Pennsylvania, Michigan, Georgia, North Carolina, Arizona and Nevada. A Fox News poll in April found Trump leading by three points in Michigan and six in Georgia but tied with Biden in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.

“There’s an enormous amount of work that has to be done, and there’s a lot of room for movement,” Rosenthal said. “When the labor unions kick into gear and really start to communicate with their members, the numbers can change pretty dramatically.”

Lake added, “I don’t think it’s too late at all.”

Mike Lux, a political consultant who has worked on six presidential campaigns, helped write an influential report called Factory Towns that found that the Democratic presidential vote in the midwest declined most sharply in communities that suffered the steepest drops in factory and union jobs. Ever since Franklin Roosevelt was president, Lux said, blue-collar voters saw the Democrats as the party that would protect them, but many have drifted away, convinced that Democrats weren’t doing enough to protect them.

Many blue-collar voters remain angry at Bill Clinton for getting Congress to ratify the North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta) and normalize trade relations with China – trade moves that caused many US factories to close. “Working folks expected Democrats to fight for them,” Lux said. “But folks feel like Democrats have forgotten about them. They don’t feel like Democrats are talking to them or caring about them. It’s true that Republicans don’t do anything to help them, but they show up and wave the flag and pound their chest and say, ‘Nobody cares about you, but we do.’”

Lux said many blue-collar voters were unhappy that presidents Clinton and Obama pushed the idea that everybody should go to college. “A feeling started to develop that working-class people weren’t as welcome in the Democratic party,” Lux said.

In his eyes, the 2007-2009 recession, largely caused by Wall Street, has also been a big problem for Democrats. “There was a feeling that Barack Obama bailed out Wall Street and did not do much to bail out regular workers,” Lux said. “That was a huge moment. It led to folks giving the finger to the establishment, and that helped elect Donald Trump in 2016.”

Ruy Teixeira, a political scientist and co-author of the book Where Have All the Democrats Gone?, agreed with Lux. “Working-class people were counting on them [the Democrats]. They were the party that was on the side of the working class, and they felt betrayed.”

Teixeira said the free trade initiatives “showed that the Democrats were not worrying about deindustrialization, not worrying about what’s happened to the median voter in the middle of the country. The Democrats were increasingly responsive to Wall Street. So some folks decided to give the Republicans a try.”

Taking a position that has angered many progressives, Teixeira said the Democrats’ stance on “crime, race, gender and climate is a whole can of worms” that has turned off many blue-collar voters. He said the Democrats are obsessed with climate change in a way that alienates many blue-collar voters, who, he said, fear that the push for renewable energy will mean higher energy prices. Teixeira also said that Democratic concerns about transgender rights – a culture war focus of the Republicans – has turned off many blue-collar voters.

“The Democrats have to orient themselves away from the median liberal, college- educated voter who they get a Soviet-style majority from and orient themselves toward the median working-class voter, not just white, but non-white voters,” Teixeira said. “It’s not easy to do. They have to turn the battleship around.”

Another reason blue-collar voters have turned away from Democrats is the decline in union membership – from 35% of all workers in the 1950s to 10% today. Rosenthal remembers going to a steelworkers’ union hall in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, several decades ago – it had 15 bowling lanes and a bar. “Around 30% of workers were in unions,” Rosenthal said. “Another 10% or 15% were in union households, and a lot of other workers drank at the bar or bowled there.” The steelworkers’ hall served as a community center where people received information from the union and there was robust support for Democrats. The new book Rust Belt Union Blues describes a transformed landscape where many union halls have closed and gun clubs have often replaced them as gathering places for the working class – and there, the ambience is pro-Trump.

Another factor contributing to the Democrats’ woes is that over half the nation’s local news stations are in the hands of Sinclair and other rightwing owners, said Lux. That often makes it harder for Biden and other Democrats to get their message across.

As a result, Lux said, Democrats have to work extra hard to get their message out – for instance, through community Facebook pages that explain that the new bridge in town is being built thanks to Biden or that the Biden administration has helped blue-collar Americans by extending overtime coverage to 4 million more workers and banning non-competes that cover 30 million workers.

“The Democrats have to lean into issues that mean a lot to working people,” Lux said. “We have to keep showing up in Ottumwa [a working-class town in Iowa] and keep showing up in Youngstown [a blue-collar Ohio town].”

The Biden administration often seems to communicate its economic agenda in dribs and drabs. One day it blocks two giant grocery chains from merging, saying the merger could push grocery prices higher. Another day it caps banks’ junk fees, and yet another day it boasts about the low unemployment rate.

Lake says the administration is going about this the wrong way. “They tend to start the message with their accomplishments,” she said. “They need to start the message with the overall narrative and then go to their accomplishments.”

Lake said Biden’s economic message wasn’t getting across effectively. “They need more repetition,” she said. “They need more volume. It’s really difficult to break through.”

Several political analysts said love it or hate it, Donald Trump – unlike Biden – has an unmistakable narrative: Make America great again. Too many immigrants are crossing the border. The elite and deep state are out to get you.

“In a war between good policies and good stories that speak to people’s identities and emotions, good stories are going to win,” said Deepak Bhargava, president of the JPB Foundation and former head of the Center for Community Change.

Gaspard said Biden had a good economic story to tell and agreed that he wasn’t telling it very effectively. “He needs to talk more and more about growing the economy by building out the middle class,” Gaspard said. “Talking about the amount of dollars going to a big social program does nothing to sway voters. You need to talk about how Donna is going to be able to afford insulin and Josh is going to be able to afford to send kids to daycare. Things that are relatable to people.”

He said it was important to point to villains and draw contrasts with the other side: “You need to say Trump will cut taxes on the wealthy and that will hurt the working class. You need to ramp up efforts to say Trump will raise prices and hurt working families with his 10% across-the-board tariffs. That will mean a $1,500 tax that’s passed on to all working families. That’s massive, and it makes it painstakingly clear that Trump isn’t concerned about workers.”

Gaspard said that in his economic messaging, Biden needed to “recognize the insecurities that working folks – white, Black and brown – are feeling” whether about the cost of living or other matters. “Biden needs to call out General Mills and Kimberly-Clark for raising the price of cereal and diapers,” Gaspard said. “People like it when you’re fighting for them.”

Amid all the talk about wooing blue-collar voters, Lake said young voters were too often forgotten. She urged Biden to address their concerns. “They’re very hard-pressed economically,” she said. “We haven’t been talking enough about issues facing young voters. It’s not just student loans. They’re worried about how much jobs pay and for many of them, it’s impossible to buy a house.”

With his blue-collar support soft, Biden is looking to labor unions to help put him over the top in crucial swing states like Michigan and Pennsylvania. Unfortunately for Biden, his lead over Trump in union households has slipped: from 56% to 40% in 2020 exit polls to 50% to 41% early this year, according to an NBC News Poll.

Rosenthal, who like Podhorzer used to be the AFL-CIO’s political director, said it was vital for unions to step up – and soon – emphasizing that they can make the crucial difference in battleground states where the victory margin can be just a few thousand votes. Rosenthal said the labor movement had a huge amount at stake, considering that Biden has been the most pro-union in memory – he has invited union organizers to the White House and appointed many pro-union officials to the National Labor Relations Board.

“If Biden loses, and if he loses because he didn’t win Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, and if he doesn’t win those states because the union household vote isn’t where it should be, there will never be another Democratic candidate who will give a shit about the union movement,” Rosenthal said. “Why should they, if he can’t win in those critical states? There is way more at stake for the labor movement in this election than for the rest of the country.”