Exclusive: Talks at Blenheim Palace will centre on Ukraine, security and democracy
Volodymyr Zelenskiy is expected to travel to the UK next week to address European leaders at Blenheim Palace who are meeting to discuss Ukraine, European security and democracy.
He will also make his first visit to Ireland on Saturday morning when he touches down in Shannon airport, Co Clare, for a meeting with the Irish taoiseach, Simon Harris.
Continue reading...Broadcaster suffered severe cuts under Conservatives, which reneged on inflation-linked deal
Labour will support the BBC licence fee, Keir Starmer has pledged, in stark contrast to the years of Conservative opposition to the funding model.
The levy of £159 a year on households with a television used to receive live broadcasts (or watch BBC iPlayer) raises £3.2bn annually for the BBC and the Welsh channel S4C.
Continue reading...Prime minister says family ‘very pleased’ to receive letters from former chancellor’s children about life in Downing Street
Jeremy Hunt’s three children left personal notes for Keir Starmer’s teenage son and daughter after last week’s general election, containing advice about living in Downing Street.
The prime minister said his children were “very pleased” to receive the letters from the Hunt’s children, who had lived in the flat above No 11 since their father was appointed chancellor.
Continue reading...Shabana Mahmood to set out emergency measures, which could include reducing the time before some prisoners are automatically released
Robert Buckland, the former secretary of state for justice and former MP, has appeared on Sky News to talk about the prison crisis.
He said that only 6,000 of the 20,000 new places the Tories promised by the end of this year have been created, and that the prison building programme “which I started with Rishi Sunak is coming forward, but not at a pace that is quick enough I think to meet demand”.
My advice to the new Justice Secretary – and I wish her well, she’s just come into post – is to make sure that we aren’t releasing people who could pose a risk, particularly domestic abusers, stalkers, those types of offenders. I think it would be wholly inappropriate to release them.
I think we do need to be absolutely iron on our commitment to protect the public. And the new government would be best advised to make that clear from the outset. Because sending mixed messages about punishment is not a good way, frankly, to start a penal policy when you’ve just taken office.
Continue reading...Asked about speculation over US president’s health, PM says he dealt with issues at pace and was across all detail
Keir Starmer has said Joe Biden was “on good form” and went through serious issues at pace during their first bilateral talks at the White House as he was asked about claims the US president could be senile.
The prime minister said his personal view, having spent almost an hour in private talks with Biden and attended a dinner for Nato leaders at the White House, was that he was mentally agile.
Continue reading...PM to hold bilateral talks at Chequers next week when European leaders will also gather for summit at Blenheim Palace
Keir Starmer is to kickstart the resetting of the UK’s relationship with the EU in bilateral meetings next week with the prime minister of Ireland and president of France.
He will meet the taoiseach, Simon Harris, at Chequers on Wednesday on the eve of the fourth meeting of the European Political Community (EPC), a conference of more then 45 EU and non-EU leaders, which takes this place this year at Blenheim Palace near Oxford.
Continue reading...Two leaders meet during Nato summit in Washington as prime minister works on EU-UK security pact
Joe Biden has appeared to back Keir Starmer’s ambition for the UK having a closer relationship with the European Union as the leaders held their first bilateral talks at the White House.
The US president called the US and UK the “best of allies” as he met the new prime minister in the Oval Office, describing Britain as the “knot” that tied the transatlantic relationship together.
Continue reading...Prime minister holds first official bilateral talks with Volodymyr Zelenskiy at Nato summit in Washington
The new government will stick with plans to spend at least £3bn every year on military support for Ukraine for “as long as is it takes” in its conflict with Russia, Keir Starmer has said.
After his first official bilateral talks with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, at the Nato summit in Washington, the prime minister confirmed the military aid would continue until at least 2030-31.
Continue reading...Government to announce terms which could free more than 20,000 inmates in coming months to manage capacity
The “shocking” prisons crisis is even worse than feared, Keir Starmer has said as the government prepares to release tens of thousands of inmates early in a bid to prevent jails becoming full.
The prime minister suggested he was opposed to freeing violent criminals and sex offenders when ministers announce the terms of a new prisoner release scheme for England and Wales on Friday.
Continue reading...This live blog is now closed. For more on the Dutch and Danish governments’ statement at the summit, read our report:
Here’s the schedule for today’s talks in Washington (all in local time).
8:15am: Nato secretary general’s doorstep
Continue reading...Ahead of UK-US bilateral talks, PM says primary driver for cutting peers’ retirement age is size of Lords chamber
Keir Starmer has denied that his decision to bring in a retirement age of 80 for the House of Lords means he believes Joe Biden should stand down as US president.
Ahead of his first bilateral talks with Biden at the White House, the UK prime minister said the “primary driver” for bringing in a retirement age for peers was the size of the second chamber.
Continue reading...Shadow home secretary James Cleverly has urged the party to avoid descending into ‘bitter infighting and finger pointing’
Former education recovery commissioner Sir Kevan Collins, who resigned after Boris Johnson rejected his £15bn Covid catch-up plans, is to advise the new government on driving up school standards and finding solutions to teacher shortages and high absence rates.
The Department for Education confirmed on Tuesday that Collins, a widely respected figure in the sector, has been appointed a non-executive board member at the DfE. As such his role will be to support and challenge the department in its efforts to raise standards in England’s schools.
I’m delighted to be returning to the Department for Education. There are real challenges facing our schools and I am looking forward to being part of a renewed drive to ensure that we tackle these with bold and fresh new ideas, to deliver high and rising standards in every corner of the country.
Sir Kevan has been an outstanding force for good in schools, especially his work advocating for our teachers and children during the pandemic and he will play a crucial role in advising the department.
Continue reading...Comments come as PM begins two-day US visit to urge Nato member countries to increase defence spending
The Labour government will not increase spending on the military unless it is also able to grow the economy, the armed forces minister has said, as Keir Starmer comes under pressure to say when Britain’s defence spending will hit 2.5% of GDP.
Luke Pollard said on Wednesday the government wanted to hit the target promised by the former prime minister Rishi Sunak, but would not be able to do so without economic growth.
Continue reading...Parliament the most diverse by race and gender the country has ever seen, says Starmer, with the largest cohort of LGBT+ MPs in the world
Downing Street has released a full version of what Keir Starmer said in his opening remarks to the metro mayors at their meeting this morning. It is not on the No 10 website, so I will post it here.
Having this meeting four days after I was invited by the King to form a government is a real statement of intent on my part, on our part.
Because as we have said over and over again, economy and growth is the number one mission of this Labour government in 2024.
Continue reading...US president to host bilateral talks with UK leader travelling to Washington for major Nato summit
Keir Starmer is to meet Joe Biden this week for the first time at the White House as he travels to Washington for a major Nato summit of world leaders.
The US president’s press secretary confirmed he would host bilateral talks on Wednesday as the new prime minister seeks to underline the strength of the special relationship despite the change in the UK government.
Continue reading...On fifth day in office, PM and deputy will meet England’s regional mayors as Labour draws up new bill for king’s speech
Every area of England should take over key powers from Westminster, Keir Starmer will say as he and Angela Rayner declare an end to the “levelling up” agenda and look to kickstart a new era of devolution.
The prime minister and his deputy will meet every regional mayor in England on Tuesday on just their fifth day in office, as the party draws up a devolution bill to be launched as part of next week’s king’s speech.
Continue reading...Darren Jones says Labour government will ‘return to service of British people’ as Keir Starmer continues his tour of the UK
Keir Starmer has met Northern Ireland first minister Michelle O’Neill and deputy first minister Emma Little-Pengelly in Belfast, PA Media reports. PA says:
The prime minister is visiting Belfast following his trip to Scotland on Sunday, and will also visit Wales to round off a visit to the three devolved nations.
He arrived at Stormont Castle early on Monday morning as he begins his first full week in office, ahead of travelling to the Nato summit in Washington on Tuesday.
I expect that we will be challenged in the House of Commons.
Of course the Conservatives suffered a historic loss, but that doesn’t mean there’s no opposition in the House of Commons and of course, we have the House of Lords to get any legislation through as well.
Continue reading...The Guardian’s political editor in 1997 recalls the optimism then and what went wrong in Labour’s last transition from opposition to power
Veterans of Labour’s 1997 victory party at the Royal Festival Hall – by the end, the dancefloor looked like a war zone strewn with dozing bodies – will remember the sense of disbelief and excitement as the scale of the landslide started to materialise.
David Hill, the less self-publicity-prone of the hugely effective Labour press team, gave out a deep-throated “what?!” as he reeled away in disbelief at the sight of a startled Stephen Twigg defeating Michael Portillo in Enfield Southgate. That night, unexpected seat after unexpected seat fell into Labour hands.
Continue reading...Exclusive: UK government appears unlikely to go ahead with legal bid, while Keir Starmer has spoken with Israeli PM over Gaza ceasefire
The new Labour government is expected to drop a bid to delay the international criminal court (ICC) reaching a decision on whether to issue an arrest warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu over alleged war crimes in Gaza.
The development came as Keir Starmer, the new UK prime minister, told the Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, that he believed the Palestinians had an undeniable right to a Palestinian state. Starmer spoke to Abbas on Sunday about the “ongoing suffering and devastating loss of life” in Gaza.
Continue reading...The Guardian’s Pippa Crerar and Kiran Stacey look ahead to the first week of the new Labour government. Plus, Pippa is going to be in Washington with Keir Starmer on his first foreign trip as prime minister
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