Category Archives: Politics

Keir Starmer dodges questions on two-child benefit cap in first PMQs as prime minister – UK politics live

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Labour leader quizzed by SNP on benefit cap after suspending seven Labour MPs over their stance on the issue

Cabinet secretary, Simon Case, is reportedly being advised to step down permanently from his role for health reasons at the end of this year, writes Politico.

The outlet reports:

According to people familiar with the matter, Case is likely to need to step down in the new year on the advice of doctors, who are continuing to treat him for a neurological condition diagnosed more than a year ago.

Case is currently working at full capacity, but the condition is affecting his mobility and he now walks with the aid of a stick.”

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Cabinet secretary contenders: who’s in line for top job in UK civil service?

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Whitehall sources say it could be a more open competition than in past as Simon Case prepares to step down

Simon Case is expected to step down as cabinet secretary early next year on medical advice, after taking time off for health reasons last year.

The former royal aide, appointed by Boris Johnson to the top job in the civil service during the pandemic, has overseen Whitehall departments through the Partygate scandal as well as the premierships of Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak.

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Overhaul UK benefits to tackle child poverty, charities urge

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Report warns of crisis of poverty and mental health which ‘casts a shadow’ over young people’s wellbeing

Ministers have been urged to reform the benefits system to tackle child poverty, after a report found it to be a major cause of mental illness that “casts a shadow” over young people’s wellbeing.

The report, by the Centre for Mental Health, Save the Children UK and the Children and Young People’s Mental Health Coalition, found that the number of children living in poverty in the UK had increased to 4.3 million, while one in five children and young people aged between eight and 24 had a diagnosable mental health problem.

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James Cleverly first to declare run for Conservative leadership

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Shadow home secretary says he is ‘best placed’ to unite party and that he aims to become prime minister

James Cleverly has become the first candidate to throw his hat into the ring for the leadership for the Conservative party.

The shadow home secretary said he was “best placed” to unite the Tories and overturn Keir Starmer’s “loveless landslide” to re-enter government.

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Army chief says UK must double its lethality or be prepared for war in 2027

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Gen Sir Roly Walker says west faces ‘axis of upheaval’ with increasing threats from Russia, China and Iran

Britain must be prepared to fight a war in three years’ time and double the lethality of its army as the separate threats of Russia, China, Iran and North Korea come to a head, the new chief of the army has warned.

Gen Sir Roly Walker, the chief of the general staff, told reporters that the west faced “an axis of upheaval” with increasing military ambition and that a conflict involving one of the countries could lead to “a significant detonation” in another theatre.

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James Cleverly hints he will join Conservative leadership contest – UK politics live

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Shadow home secretary says he has ‘thought about personal contribution’ to the Tories and the UK as nominations open on Wednesday

James Cleverly has warned Tory leadership rivals not to “divide up and factionalise”, responding to Suella Braverman words that the Tories must not become “a collection of fanatical, irrelevant, centrist cranks”.

Cleverly told Sky News: “Trying to carve up and divide up and factionalise … is the wrong way of thinking.”

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Former PM Harold Wilson sold private papers to help fund his care

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Ex-Labour leader initially planned to sell personal and political documents to Canadian university for £212,500

The former UK prime minister Harold Wilson agreed to sell his archive of private papers to help fund his care, official documents have revealed.

Papers released by the National Archives and identified by the BBC show Lord Wilson initially planned to sell the collection to McMaster University in Hamilton, Canada, for £212,500 – the equivalent of about £700,000 in today’s money.

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Business secretary confident of ‘market-led solution’ for Harland & Wolff

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Jonathan Reynolds says he expects Royal Navy ships will continue to be built at the struggling Belfast yard

The business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, has said he is confident that the Harland & Wolff shipyard in Belfast will continue to build ships for the Royal Navy, despite ruling out government support for the struggling company.

Harland & Wolff is part of a consortium on a £1.6bn contract to build three naval fleet solid support ships to supply the Royal Navy’s aircraft carriers. However, it has faced months of uncertainty over its future.

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UK must move towards disease prevention to save economy and NHS, says expert

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Personalised ‘pre-NHS’ could stop onset of disease and offer health checks in places people live, work and socialise

The creation of a “pre-NHS” focusing on preventive healthcare could unlock billionsfor the UK within two decades, according to the head of a taskforce investigating radical new improvements to the nation’s wellbeing.

Prof John Deanfield, the first-ever government champion for personalised prevention, has concluded that a parallel health service is required to save an NHS struggling to heal an increasingly unhealthy public.

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Blair government accused IDF of acting like Russian army in West Bank

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Tensions over Palestinian death toll have eerie parallels to western concerns about current Israeli operations

Tony Blair’s government accused Israeli forces of acting more like the “Russian army than that of a civilised country” during a major military incursion into the occupied West Bank, newly released official files show.

The tensions, which have eerie parallels to western concerns over current Israeli operations in the Gaza Strip, are laid bare in papers released by the National Archives.

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Neil Kinnock tells Labour MPs ‘tide is shifting’ towards closer ties with Europe

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Former leader rallies pro-EU MPs who German ambassador says now vastly outnumber ERG group of Eurosceptic Tories

Neil Kinnock has delivered a rallying cry to pro-EU Labour MPs, telling them that “fortune favours the brave” when it comes to forging closer ties with Europe.

The “tide is shifting”, the former party leader told a reception of the Labour Movement for Europe (LME), where there was applause when Germany’s ambassador told of his delight that the grouping’s more than 100 MPs now vastly outnumbered the Conservatives’ European Research Group of Eurosceptic MPs.

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No 10 denies government has changed position on two-child benefit cap – UK politics live

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Spokesperson cites ‘fiscal inheritance’ after apparent softening of position by Starmer and Phillipson

Keir Starmer was asked about his relationship with US vice-president Kamala Harris.

“Obviously in the first instance, it’s for the Democratic Party to decide who they want to put forward. It is then for the American people to decide who they want as their president.

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Officer from Italy forced to quit UK police due to post-Brexit barriers

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Dani says his £26,000 salary is not high enough to sponsor his wife so she can join him in Britain

A police officer working in Manchester says he has been forced to quit his job after Rishi Sunak raised the salary threshold to sponsor his Italian wife to live in the UK in the post-Brexit immigration scheme.

Campaigners have warned that his tale of Brexit anguish is being repeated up and down the country in low-paid public sectors where many EU citizens work.

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Labour told it will need to defeat ‘net-zero nimbys’ to decarbonise Britain

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Opposition in wealthier areas is likely and overcoming it is essential, says Resolution Foundation

The government will need to “take on net-zero nimbys” and ramp up public investment to decarbonise Britain’s homes, transport and electricity system, a leading thinktank has said.

With Keir Starmer promising a rapid transition to decarbonise the power system by 2030, a report by the Resolution Foundation said achieving the target would require more government spending and private investment.

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Labour facing moment of truth over tax pledges, economists warn

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Experts say 5.5% pay increase for public sector not ‘consistent’ with spending plans that rule out tax rises

Labour is fast approaching a moment of truth over its election pledges on tax and spending, experts have warned, after Rachel Reeves indicated the government could agree above-inflation pay rises for public sector staff.

The chancellor promised a full statement on pay board recommendations that teachers and NHS workers should receive 5.5% pay awards, ahead of an autumn budget that is set to be one of the most difficult economic balancing acts in years.

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Starmer praises Biden’s ‘remarkable’ career after US election withdrawal

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Prime minister among UK political leaders to celebrate US president’s achievements and character

Sir Keir Starmer says he respects Joe Biden’s decision to pull out of the US presidential election, describing the 81-year-old’s political career as “remarkable”.

The UK prime minister said: “I respect President Biden’s decision and I look forward to us working together during the remainder of his presidency.

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Labour MP calls two-child benefit cap ‘heinous’ in latest call to scrap policy

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Keir Starmer under pressure to scrap limit as more than dozen MPs thought to support king’s speech amendment

Keir Starmer has come under further pressure to scrap the two-child benefit limit after another of his backbench MPs described the policy as “heinous”.

Writing in The Sunday Times, Canterbury MP Rosie Duffield said the cap, which came into effect under then-chancellor George Osborne in 2017, was “sinister and overtly sexist” and had been the main reason driving her to stand for parliament.

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Labour makes working-class children key to schools reform

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Minister pledges more sports and drama in curriculum review as row deepens over two-child benefit cap

• Interview Labour’s Bridget Phillipson: ‘I will help working-class pupils defy the odds to succeed’

Expanding opportunities for working-class children by broadening the school curriculum to include more sport, drama, art and music alongside core academic subjects will be top priorities for the Labour government, the new education secretary says today.

In her first newspaper interview since being appointed to the cabinet by Keir Starmer, Bridget Phillipson insists her aim is to “break the link between background and success”, and to ensure every child has the same level of opportunity, regardless of their parents’ means.

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Two leading Tories back Tom Tugendhat for party leadership

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Damian Green and Steve Baker endorse shadow security minister as they seek to ‘transcend old divisions’

Two senior Tories have thrown their weight behind Tom Tugendhat to be the new Conservative party leader.

Damian Green and Steve Baker lost their seats in the election earlier this month but are influential figures in the party. They have endorsed Tugendhat, who is the shadow security minister, in a joint article for the Telegraph.

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The last of the hereditary peers in the House of Lords

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The Labour government has plans to end their ‘outdated and indefensible’ lawmaking position in the upper house

For centuries in Britain, the country’s noblemen have sat in parliament by virtue of their bloodline – but not for much longer.

The last dukes, earls, viscounts and barons are to be removed from the UK’s unelected upper house, the House of Lords, by the newly elected Labour government – which has declared their presence “outdated and indefensible”.

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