Health secretary shares light-hearted quip at party’s conference over embattled No 10 aide
Wes Streeting has joked that Keir Starmer’s embattled senior aide Sue Gray also “shot JFK” and was “hiding Lord Lucan” amid a continuing row over her salary.
The health secretary made light of suggestions of mounting acrimony at the heart of government as he spoke at an event on the sidelines of the Labour party conference in Liverpool.
Continue reading...Chancellor will confirm inquiries in conference speech as Labour tries to move on from donations scandal
Rachel Reeves will announce on Monday that she has ordered investigations into more than £600m worth of Covid contracts awarded under the Conservatives as Labour struggles to get back on the front foot over questions of ethics.
After days of bruising allegations over donations, the chancellor will confirm that she will refer more than half of contracts for material such as masks to the incoming Covid corruption commissioner, after the previous government recommended dropping any attempt to investigate them.
Continue reading...Labour wants to see apartment blocks built in more densely populated cities to achieve its housing targets
A radical scheme to speed up the building of more apartment blocks in towns and cities – as opposed to individual houses and bungalows – has been announced by the prime minister on the eve of the Labour party conference.
Keir Starmer told the Observer in an exclusive interview that the new system of “planning passports” would be a “game-changer” as the government strives to build 1.5m new homes within five years.
Continue reading...Opinium poll for the Observer finds a 45-point drop in the prime minister’s approval rating since he won the election
Keir Starmer has suffered a precipitous fall in his personal ratings since winning the election, according to a new poll for the Observer that comes before his first Labour conference as prime minister.
The latest Opinium poll reveals that Starmer’s approval rating has plunged below that of the Tory leader Rishi Sunak, suffering a huge 45-point drop since July. While 24% of voters approve of the job he is doing, 50% disapprove, giving him a net rating of -26%. Sunak’s net rating is one point better.
Continue reading...Lisa Nandy says Labour government will stop accepting gifted clothes as they don’t want voters to believe they are ‘living very different lives’
The prime minister and Labour ministers will stop accepting clothing donations because they don’t want voters to believe they are “living very different lives” to people who are “really struggling” in the country, the culture secretary, Lisa Nandy, has said.
Speaking before the opening of the Labour conference tomorrow, Nandy told the BBC the government wants to demonstrate that its priorities are “the country’s priorities”, after it emerged Keir Starmer, his wife Victoria, Rachel Reeves and Angela Rayner have all decided to stop accepting free gifts of clothes from Labour party donors.
Continue reading...Lee Anderson, Richard Tice and Nigel Farage give speeches at Reform party conference. This live blog is closed
Richard Partington is the Guardian’s economics correspondent
UK national debt has hit 100% of the country’s annual economic output, the highest level since the 1960s, underscoring the challenge facing the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, as she prepares for next month’s budget.
As leader, you’ve got a huge job, because you’re campaigning everywhere. You’re sorting out the professionalisation with the chairman and so we’re sharing and sharing alike and that’s an important part of it. You can’t be everywhere all the time. It’s really difficult. But let me tell you, no one works harder than Nigel Farage.
As a leader of a party that is now becoming mainstream, international affairs, our relationship with our most important, strategic international partner – the US – is very important and the world will be a safer place if Donald Trump wins the presidential election. Nigel’s strong relationship with Donald Trump is actually to the benefit of this country and it’s quite right that he cements and strengthens that.
No one’s got more visibility, frankly, than Nigel on social media. I’m getting millions of views on mine. The other three MPs, likewise. We’re out there. We’re making a noise. Frankly, we are the real opposition. The Tories have vacated the premises, we hardly ever see them in the House of Commons.
I’ve spoken 16 times, I’ve challenged the zealot-in-chief, Ed Miliband. I’ve challenged the home secretary. I’ve challenged the health secretary on the failings of the NHS. So look, we’re holding them to account. That’s what people expect of opposition parties.
Continue reading...Vladimir Kara-Murza tells Keir Starmer that further exchanges are a matter of ‘life and death’
Vladimir Kara-Murza, a Russian dissident freed in the biggest prisoner swap since the cold war, has appealed to Keir Starmer during a meeting in Downing Street to not let hundreds of political prisoners in Russia and Belarus quietly “die off”.
Kara-Murza, who was released last month two years into a 25-year sentence after speaking out against the war in Ukraine, said he had told the prime minister on Friday that organising further such swaps was a matter of “life and death”.
Continue reading...Scotland secretary says Labour must show it deserves power in Holyrood by delivering on promises to electorate
Labour faces big challenges to win the next Scottish election because of the “dire” economic situation and the country’s volatile electorate, the Scotland secretary has said.
Ian Murray said the Labour government and the wider party had to accept they had “a big hill to climb” to regain power in Holyrood in elections scheduled for May 2026.
Continue reading...Jonathan Reynolds, business secretary, suggests Starmer himself did not decide pay for his chief of staff
The government is going to consult on '“tough” new laws designed to reduce the extent to which small firms get their bills paid late.
Making the announcement, Jonathan Reynolds, the business secretary, said late payments were “simply unacceptable” and that the new moves would help small businesses.
When the cashflow runs dry, small firms go under which is why we need to hold larger business to account with their payment practices and foster an environment that supports growth and jobs.
The government will consult on tough new laws which will hold larger firms to account and get cash flowing back into businesses – helping deliver our mission to grow the economy.
In addition, new legislation being brought in the coming weeks will require all large businesses to include payment reporting in their annual reports - putting the onus on them to provide clarity in their annual reports about how they treat small firms. This will mean company boards and international investors will be able to see how firms are operating.
Continue reading...Business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, defends PM over gifts he has received since becoming Labour leader
Keir Starmer’s attendance at Arsenal football matches and Taylor Swift concerts is “part of the job”, the business secretary has said.
Jonathan Reynolds described the occasions for which Starmer had accepted tickets, including a Coldplay gig and football matches, as “major cultural, sporting events”.
Continue reading...The row over ‘frockgate’ continues to trouble the prime minister this week, while his decision to visit his far-right Italian counterpart, Giorgia Meloni, has upset many in his party. The Guardian’s John Harris talks to the political correspondent Aletha Adu, who was travelling with Keir Starmer. Also, the Guardian’s Europe correspondent, Jon Henley, joins John Harris to look at the rise of the far-right on the continent
Continue reading...European Centre for International Political Economy outlines a plan to bring the two sides closer
The UK must stop being “naive” about negotiations to reset relations with the EU and show more flexibility in its approach to Brussels, a trade policy thinktank has said.
As EU leaders question how much has changed in the UK despite the new government, the European Centre for International Political Economy (ECIPE) has outlined a plan to bring the two sides closer after a series of reports that the EU doubted Keir Starmer’s commitment to a reset.
Continue reading...Angela Eagle, border security minister, says prime minister has to answer why he has accepted £76,000 worth of gifts since 2019 election
The number of migrants who have crossed the English Channel since Labour won the general election has passed 10,000, according to provisional figures from the Home Office. As PA Media reports, some 65 migrants were detected crossing the Channel on Monday, taking the cumulative number of arrivals since July 4 to 10,024. PA says:
The cumulative total for the year so far now stands at 23,598.
This is 1% lower than the equivalent figure at this point last year, which was 23,940, and 21% lower than the total at this stage in 2022, which was 29,783.
The home secretary announced the package of up to £75m, which redirects funds originally allocated to the previous government’s Illegal Migration Act. It will unlock sophisticated new technology and extra capabilities for the NCA to bolster UK border security and disrupt the criminal people smuggling gangs. The investment is designed to build on a pattern of successful upstream disruptions announced at an operational summit, attended by the prime minister, at the NCA headquarters last week.
They became climate dinosaurs, crashing offshore wind, blocking onshore wind, moving the goalposts on electric vehicle targets, doubling down on oil and gas, leaving British wildlife in crisis.
Our biodiversity declining at an unprecedented rate, our precious national parks in decline, our rivers, lakes and seas awash with toxic sewage, blind to the opportunities of the energy transition – a fossil fuel government in a renewable age.
Continue reading...Britain promises to send £4m to back Italian crackdown on irregular migration
Keir Starmer has shown “great interest” in the Italy-Albania migration deal, the Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, has said, as the UK vowed to send £4m to support her controversial crackdown on irregular migration.
Speaking at a press conference in Rome, the prime minister agreed with Meloni, stressing the importance of the relationship betwen the UK and Italy.
Continue reading...Some Labourites may see a hard-right populist but the British PM has an eye on the immigration policies of an ally
Keir Starmer will be under no illusions at the level of discomfort some in his party may have felt at the sight of their leader smiling and joking with Giorgia Meloni as they strolled through the gardens of the Villa Doria Pamphili on his trip to Rome on Monday.
The Italian prime minister’s brand of hard-right populism is far out of the comfort zone of many Labour MPs, and even though she governs, for the most part, from the centre-right, they are unable to shrug off her party’s neo-fascist roots.
Continue reading...Backbenchers and NGOs criticise decision to explore how country has cut migrant numbers at Rome talks
Keir Starmer is under pressure from Labour backbenchers and NGOs to distance his government from Giorgia Meloni’s hard-right immigration policies on the eve of bilateral talks in Rome.
After the UK foreign secretary, David Lammy, said the UK would consider copying Italy’s plans to process asylum applicants in a third country such as Albania, one backbencher questioned why a Labour administration was “seeking to learn lessons from a neo-fascist government”.
Continue reading...The prime minister made a late declaration of a personal shopper and clothes for his wife paid for by Lord Alli
Keir Starmer is alleged to have broken parliamentary rules by failing to declare donations of clothing for his wife from the Labour donor Waheed Alli.
The gifts to Victoria Starmer were not initially declared in the register of MPs’ interests, the Sunday Times reported.
Continue reading...US president Joe Biden and British PM Keir Starmer fear secret arms link-up amid talks in Washington over Ukraine
Britain and the US have raised fears that Russia has shared nuclear secrets with Iran in return for Tehran supplying Moscow with ballistic missiles to bomb Ukraine.
During their summit in Washington DC on Friday, Keir Starmer and US president Joe Biden acknowledged that the two countries were tightening military cooperation at a time when Iran is in the process of enriching enough uranium to complete its long-held goal to build a nuclear bomb.
Continue reading...Exchange of military personnel took place as Ukraine called again on west to allow use of long-range weapons
More than 100 Ukrainian prisoners of war will be able to return to their families after an exchange of captured members of the Russian and Ukrainian armed forces.
The prisoner swap on Saturday, mediated by the United Arab Emirates, involved 206 military personnel from both countries.
Continue reading...US and UK leaders’ talks dominated by row with Russia over use of Storm Shadow missiles
Joe Biden dismissed sabre-rattling threats made by Vladimir Putin as the US president met with the UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, at the White House on Friday.
Biden said he did not accept that Ukraine using western-made Storm Shadow missiles to bomb targets in Russia would amount to Nato going to war with Moscow.
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