Laura Kuenssberg starts off by asking Prof Stephen Powis, medical director for NHS Engand, whether nursing strikes could be called off.

He says the NHS has been preparing for industrial action for some time so that patients will be kept safe on strike days. Emergency services will be maintained, he says.

If you don't hear that your appointment or procedure is being rescheduled then turn up as normal, he says. "But let me be clear... our services will be disrupted on Thursday," he says.

Asked if people could die as a result of the strikes he says emergency services and key treatments like kidney dialysis and chemotherapy will stay open.

He says staff are under huge pressure after the pandemic and many will have agonised over whether to take industrial action or not. Pay is a matter for independent pay review bodies but he would like the disputes to be resolves as quickly as possible, he says.

Pat Cullen, the general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, is on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg and says that the government should come to the table - or go to the conciliation service Acas to resolve the dispute over nurses' pay.

She says nurses are not going to dig in over the row and that they are open to sitting down and negotiating.

Against a backdrop of strikes by nurses and ambulance crews, the NHS across the UK faces significant pressure this winter from respiratory illnesses such as flu and Covid, along with high levels of strep A infections around the country which have caused the deaths of 16 children.

Let’s see what the medical director of NHS England, Prof Stephen Powis, has to say about the capacity of the health service to cope during the depths of winter.

Before the first of this week’s main interviews, the panel of Pat Cullen, Stuart Rose and Simon Sebag Montefiore are giving Laura Kuenssberg their take on the major issues of the moment.

Then we’ll hear from NHS England’s Stephen Powis, before returning to our panel who will discuss his interview.

All this and more to come in the next hour.

Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg is due up at the top of the hour, and you can watch the programme without leaving this page by clicking on the play button in the picture above.

Stay with us for the latest news lines, quotes, and video clips as we follow the show - which features this week - Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, shadow health secretary Wes Streeting, and NHS England medical director Prof Stephen Powis.

We’ll also hear from RCN general secretary Pat Cullen, Asda chairman Stuart Rose and historian Simon Sebag Montefiore.

As you might expect, England’s exit from the World Cup following their 2-1 defeat to France in the quarter-final last night dominates the front pages.

“Lion hearts broken” is the Sunday Mirror’s headline with a picture of devastated England captain Harry Kane who missed a penalty which would have levelled the score at 2-2 and would probably have taken the match into extra time.

The Sunday Times’ Josh Glancy notes that the Three Lions’ departure from the World Cup in Qatar made it "impossible to shake that nagging sense that England are never quite good enough when it matters".

Elsewhere the current wave of strikes by workers across the UK leads several papers, with the Sunday Telegraph reporting Labour’s shadow health secretary Wes Streeting - a guest on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg this morning - as saying he would take on the health unions because the NHS needs to “reform or die”.

But the Observer reports that the Royal College of Nursing - one of the unions planning to go on strike before Christmas - has said it will suspend its walkout if ministers engage in serious discussions over pay.

• Get more from the Sunday papers in our full review

Image source, PA Media

A nurses' strike this month may be called off if the government negotiates "seriously" over pay, says the head of the union representing them. A "swift change of tactics" would pay off for everyone concerned, said Pat Cullen, general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing.

The walkouts in England, Wales and Northern Ireland are planned for 15 and 20 December. The government has said doors for further talks remain open.

The RCN is calling for nurses to be given a pay rise of 5% above the RPI inflation rate. Cullen said her offer to negotiate was turned down five times.

• Read the full story here - and we’ll get more from Cullen on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg after 9am

Simon Jack
Business editor

Image source, .

In all my years covering business, I've never witnessed a collision between workers and employers like this. This winter is seeing one of the highest levels of walkouts in recent memory as millions of workers across both the public and private sector are demanding higher pay rises to match the soaring cost of living.

More than one million working days will be lost to strike action by the end of December, according to projections by the Financial Times, external. The next three weeks running up to the New Year resemble an advent calendar of disruption as nurses, transport workers, postal workers, baggage handlers and others have scheduled strikes.

The stoppages are disrupting people's daily lives but also hitting businesses that rely on commuters for most of their sales. The boss of pub chain Fuller's recently told the BBC rail strikes could hit trade in the "vital" Christmas period and see customers cancel parties and staff lose out on tips.

• Read Simon’s full analysis here

Laura Kuenssberg
Presenter, Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg

Image source, Getty Images

If you're reading this in a cold house in the UK with a woolly hat on your head, if you've winced at the cost of filling up the car, if you've taken in Ukrainian refugees, then your life has been changed by Vladimir Putin's decision to wage war against an independent country.

As one diplomat puts it, in 2022 "foreign policy has come home to roost". But beyond supporting Ukraine against Russia's aggression, what makes up Rishi Sunak's foreign policy? That's something to ask Foreign Secretary James Cleverly when he is on our show.

While Sunak has a ghastly set of problems to attend to at home, part of being an effective prime minister is wielding influence abroad. But, as one senior former minister laments, there's been little sign of a grand vision, with "demoralisation left, right and centre" instead. Like any leader, there are some things they have no choice but to do.

When it comes to foreign policy, for the PM, there is the UK's commitment to Ukraine. Unlike Boris Johnson he's hardly likely to have Ukrainian streets named after him. But his commitment is as solid as a rock, the right thing to do and politically a no-brainer.

Despite the impact on our fuel bills there's no sign of the public expecting anything but full-throated support for Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky.

This week we may see the foreign secretary fill in some of the blanks in Mr Sunak's foreign policy. On Monday, Mr Cleverly will make his pitch to focus on new friends - "future partnerships" around the world - essentially building better relationships with countries who are neither the global bad guys nor Britain's traditional allies.

Mr Cleverly will argue for closer ties with countries like Indonesia, South Africa and Brazil whose influence is growing. The idea is to lengthen the UK's list of global friends - it's described as the"really smart and obvious thing to do".

But one senior Conservative MP worries the government's foreign policy will be "devoid of any meaningful depth but heavy on flirtation with cameras", adding that it's time to spell out its objectives and"show some grit when it comes to threats from autocratic states".

Mr Sunak said foreign policy would go through an "evolutionary leap". But when you look down the list of challenges it's hard to see, so far, anything that matches that grand language.

• Read Laura’s full piece here

Image source, Getty Images/BBC/BBC

As well as the main guests, Laura Kuenssberg will be joined by a panel of three key players who bring their own opinions and expertise to bear on the issues of the day and the interivews on the programme.

This week she’s joined by Asda chairman Stuart Rose, Royal College of Nursing general secretary Pat Cullen and historian Simon Sebag Montefiore.

Stuart Rose is a businessman and Conservative Party member of the House of Lords. He joined the high street retailer Marks and Spencer in 1972 as a management trainee and returned to the chain as executive chairman in 2004. He was knighted in 2008 and became a life peer in 2014.

Pat Cullen has been general secretary of the nurses’ union the Royal College of Nursing since 2021. Cullen has held numerous senior nursing roles in Northern Ireland in hospitals and the community over the past 20 years.

Simon Sebag Montefiore is a best-selling writer of history and fiction including the Moscow Trilogy of novels. He has presented five BBC TV Series on Jerusalem, Rome, Istanbul, Spain and Vienna.

Image source, Getty Images

One of the major concerns at the moment is the number of strep A cases being reported around the country.

Sixteen children have died from invasive strep A infections - the most recent being a secondary school-age child from Hove - and doctors have urged NHS bosses to do more to help parents decide when they need to seek medical help.

Expect Prof Stephen Powis, medical director for NHS England to be asked about that this morning. We also know that Covid - which has spoiled the past few Christmases for many people - hasn’t gone away and the latest infection figures show that there has been a slight rise in the number of cases in parts of the UK.

They were up slightly in England and Northern Ireland but not in Scotland and Wales, according to the Office for National Statistics.

In the week to 26 November, about 1.1 million people in the UK tested positive - 1.7% of the population. Covid levels had been falling since mid-October and remain low even now.

Image source, Reuters/Getty Images

This week’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg is asking what the UK’s foreign policy is right now, other than containing Vladimir Putin’s Russia and “robust pragmatism” towards China promised by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

We’ll see what Foreign Secretary James Cleverly has to say on both these issues - as well as what the future holds for relations between the UK and the European Union. It’s been a while since we heard much about the Northern Ireland Protocol - the UK-EU Brexit deal that keeps Northern Ireland aligned with some EU trade rules and avoids the need for a hard border with the Irish Republic after Brexit.

Back in November Cleverly played down talk of an imminent breakthrough in reforming the protocol - which is unpopular with Northern Ireland’s unionist parties because they says it treats their region differently from the rest of the UK.

And we may hear more about how the UK wants to maintain friendly relations with the rest of Europe while also beefing up its presence in the Asia-Pacific region. In just the past week the UK has announced that Japan has come on board with Italy to help develop the next generation fighter jet for the Royal Air Force.

We’ll also hear from shadow health secretary Wes Streeting.

The NHS is proving to be a major battleground between the UK’s two main political parties. While Labour will continue to criticise the government over its handling of the health service - the Conservatives have made efforts to link Labour's traditionally close relationship with the trade unions and the wave of strikes planned for this month.

Among those walking out are nurses and ambulance crews in a dispute over pay. Would Labour pay them what they are demanding - even though the government has said that their claim is unaffordable in the present economic climate?

We’ll hear from both men after 9am this morning.

Welcome to our continuing live coverage in text and video of this week’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg.

On this morning’s programme we’ll hear from two political guests - Foreign Secretary James Cleverly and Labour’s shadow health secretary Wes Streeting.

Also on the programme is Prof Stephen Powis, the national medical director for NHS England, as the health service enters what’s traditionally its busiest period of the year.

As well as coping with the usual winter viruses, the NHS this winter faces outbreaks of strep A infections while Covid has not gone away. Against that backdrop, nurses and ambulance crews are planning to walk out on strike this month.

All that and more to come when the programme goes on air at 09:00.