Category Archives: Keir Starmer

UK Covid live news: Starmer says public inquiry needs to be fast-forwarded to examine Cummings’ claims

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Latest updates: Labour leader says public Covid inquiry should be brought forward; PM rejects claim tens of thousands died needlessly

At first minister’s questions in Edinburgh Nicola Sturgeon suggested that Boris Johnson’s failure to act swiftly at certain times in the pandemic had led to “loss of life”. As the Herald reports, Sturgeon said:

Sometimes I’m afraid, in the interests of health and human life, it is necessary for people in leadership positions like me to take very quick decisions because, as we know from bitter experience over this pandemic, it’s often the failure to take quick and firm decisions that leads to loss of life.

And anybody who’s in any doubt about that only had to listen to a fraction of what Dominic Cummings outlined about what he described as the chaotic response of the UK government at key moments of this pandemic.

New absence figures published by the Department for Education reveal that 60% of pupils in England were kept out of school for Covid-related reasons at some time last autumn.

The national data for the term that began when schools reopened in September shows that pupils missed 33 million days in the classroom because of Covid, through having to self-isolate or for shielding reasons. That sent the overall absence rate to nearly 12% for the term, compared with less than 5% in a normal term.

The government’s refusal to give schools any flexibility to finish in-school teaching early before Christmas, which was accompanied by threats of legal action, made matters even worse.

The prime minister’s former senior adviser spoke yesterday of the government’s shortcomings in the handling of this crisis and it is certainly the case that schools and colleges were badly let down by government leadership during the autumn term.

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‘Another scare story, like the swine flu’: Boris Johnson refuses to deny Cummings accusation – video

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Boris Johnson has refused to deny that he initially dismissed coronavirus as 'another scare story' in a prime minister’s questions dominated by claims made by his former chief adviser Dominic Cummings.

The PMQs session took place immediately after the first two-and-a-half-hour session of testimony by Cummings to MPs, with Keir Starmer quizzing the prime minister repeatedly about the allegations

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Keir Starmer vows all-new Labour manifesto and economic offer

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Party leader says new blueprint for power will not draw on those of either Jeremy Corbyn or Tony Blair

Keir Starmer has said Labour will have a completely new blueprint for power not based on previous manifestos, as he told activists he would spend the summer making extended visits to places the party must win.

The Labour leader told a conference hosted by the centre-left thinktank Progressive Britain on Sunday that the party’s policy review would not take previous manifestos as its starting point, despite the close attachment of many members to the radical manifestos drawn up under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership.

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How Angela Rayner came out on top after spat with Starmer over reshuffle

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Labour deputy leader has shown she has a significant power base and is not shy of using it

Joe Biden and his vice-president, Kamala Harris, have a standing weekly date for a private one-to-one lunch, just as Biden did with Barack Obama.

Breaking bread is one way of keeping a political relationship on track. No wonder, perhaps, that Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner have decided to give it a go as they attempt to rebuild their relationship.

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More than 2m voters may lack photo ID required under new UK bill

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Critics warn older, disabled and homeless people risk being unfairly denied democratic say

More than 2 million UK voters could lack the necessary ID to take part in future elections, according to a government analysis of its flagship bill on voting rights, spurring warnings that “decades of democratic progress” risk going into reverse.

The plan for mandatory photo ID at elections – a central element of Tuesday’s Queen’s speech – risks disproportionately hitting older, disabled and homeless voters who are less likely to have such documents, critics said. US civil rights groups have warned it amounts to Republican-style voter suppression.

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Labour reshuffle: Angela Rayner takes major role after Keir Starmer standoff

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Row between leader and deputy holds up reshuffle while Rachel Reeves’ promotion looks set to inflame tensions with party’s left

Keir Starmer handed his deputy, Angela Rayner, a major promotion on Sunday night after a day of fraught negotiations and power battles. He also sacked his shadow chancellor and promoted his close ally, Rachel Reeves, to the role in a move likely to further inflame tensions with the party’s left.

The reshuffle of Starmer’s shadow cabinet was derailed by a prolonged standoff with Rayner, who was locked in talks with the party leader’s team for hours on Sunday. It came after leaked plans to sack her as party chair and national campaigns coordinator triggered an outcry.

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Keir Starmer concedes Labour has lost the trust of working people

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Leader says party considering moving HQ out of London to show it represents the whole country after May election defeats

The Conservatives inflicted a historic byelection defeat on Labour and regained the Tees Valley mayoralty by a landslide as Keir Starmer conceded his party had lost the trust of working people across England.

The Labour leader, who called the local election results “bitterly disappointing”, is considering moving his party’s headquarters out of London to reflect Labour’s determination to show that it represents the whole country, party sources told the Guardian.

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UK likely to give green light for travel to fewer than 10 EU countries

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Traffic light system to be used cautiously despite European plan to let in Covid-vaccinated tourists from June

Britons’ summer holiday plans were given a major boost on Monday, as the EU confirmed vaccinated travellers will be able to fly to Europe from June, though it’s understood the UK could give the green light to travel to fewer than 10 countries.

The changing quarantine requirements for popular holiday destinations looks set to make 2021 the year of the last-minute booking.

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Tory poll lead slashed as key elections loom across Britain

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Stories of Conservative sleaze appear to be having an impact as Keir Starmer faces his first electoral test as Labour leader on 6 May

Labour has slashed the Tories’ poll lead in half as more voters conclude that Boris Johnson is corrupt and dishonest ahead of this week’s bumper set of local and devolved elections.

The latest Opinium poll for the Observer shows the Conservative lead has fallen from 11 points to five points after a week in which the prime minister was at the centre of allegations over the refurbishment of his Downing Street flat, and criticised for reportedly saying he would rather see “bodies pile high” than order another Covid-19 lockdown.

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Keir Starmer attacks ‘Major Sleaze’ Boris Johnson over ‘cash for curtains’ row

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Labour leader’s attack on PM came an hour after Electoral Commission launched inquiry into No 11 refurbishment

A furious Boris Johnson tried to fight off allegations he broke donation reporting rules, as Sir Keir Starmer branded him “Major Sleaze” in the “cash for curtains” row increasingly engulfing the prime minister.

An hour after the Electoral Commission launched an investigation and said there were “reasonable grounds” to suspect payments for renovations to Johnson’s Downing Street flat could constitute several offences, the prime minister was accused of focusing on petty personal issues instead of the pandemic.

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Labour group urges Keir Starmer to back better Brexit deal

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MPs and activists urge their leader to commit to aligning Britain with Brussels and restoring EU programmes

Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, is coming under pressure from Europhile MPs and party activists to support sweeping changes to the Brexit deal as concern rises about the damage it is doing to Britain’s economy and jobs and the freedom to move and work across the continent.

A report for the leftwing group Another Europe is Possible and separate research by the non-aligned, internationalist Best for Britain organisation both strongly support the case for more active engagement with the EU to improve the deal and rebuild relations with member states.

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Greensill: Keir Starmer says there is ‘open door’ between Boris Johnson’s government and lobbyists – live

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Prime minister questioned on controversy over Greensill’s influence within government with links to David Cameron and a senior civil servant

Hi there, this is Rhi Storer taking over from Yohannes Lowe this afternoon. Please feel free to send me any contributions to rhi.storer@guardian.co.uk or alternatively you can contact me on Twitter.

Here is video of Vicky Foxcroft’s (Lab) question about sign language at PMQs (see earlier post):

Labour MP Vicky Foxcroft asks a question in sign language

"If the prime minister doesn't understand, why does he still not have sign language at his press briefings?"

Boris Johnson replies “I’m grateful… and will revert to her as soon as I can”#PMQs https://t.co/cNTSzLDCHF pic.twitter.com/zh2nFXn8Yd

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A year on, Keir Starmer’s grand vision is still in question | Letters

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Dr Anthony Isaacs thinks the Labour leader must unite the party and restore the whip to Jeremy Corbyn, but Bruce Sawford has lost hope

No new opposition leader could have been expected to gain much media attention in their first year against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic, and the government has clearly benefited from the vaccine rollout. But after a promising start, Keir Starmer’s declining poll ratings (Keir Starmer: one year in, Labour leader’s popularity has plunged, 2 April) indicate that his cautious style and lack of defined policies have failed to gain traction. The pandemic has, paradoxically, opened the way to an alternative agenda that plays to Labour’s strengths of promoting social solidarity and investment in public services. Starmer must embrace the opportunity of the waning infection rates to move the fight away from equivocation and abstention over Tory culture wars to ground of Labour’s own choosing.

Your editorial (2 April) points to Labour’s need for a transformative agenda that both rallies the party and speaks to the wider public. To bring this about, Starmer must first unite the party. Restoring the whip to Jeremy Corbyn would be an important symbolic gesture, opening the way for the party’s factions to work together in devising popular policies to combat the corruption and market failures epitomised by our current government. The second task is to unite opposition parties around an electoral strategy as the only hope of preventing continued Tory dominance. That will be a true test of leadership.
Dr Anthony Isaacs
London

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Amid unease on the left, Starmer aims to ‘bring Labour home’

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A year on from landing the party’s top job, the leader plans on taking his message directly to the voters

Keir Starmer plans to spend the summer months criss-crossing the country to make his pitch directly to voters at scores of town hall-style meetings, in an attempt to “bring Labour home” to its traditional supporters.

A year after his election, with his personal poll ratings slipping and amid growing internal unease about his leadership, Starmer’s team say he hopes to emulate David Cameron, who fielded voters’ questions face to face on his “Cameron Direct” tour in 2008.

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Sturgeon welcomes ‘official, definitive, independent’ ruling she did not breach ministerial code – as it happened

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This live blog is now closed. For more on this story, you read the news report here

The army’s increased deployability and technological advantage will mean that greater effect can be delivered by fewer people. I’ve therefore taken the decision to reduce the size of the army from today’s current strength of 76,500 trade trained personnel to 72,500 by 2025.

The army has not been at its established strength of 82,000 since the middle of last decade.

Related: Coronavirus live news: Germany extends partial lockdown; Irish PM speaks out against vaccine export ban

Douglas Ross, the Scottish Conservative leader, has said that Nicola Sturgeon is not “free and clear”, despite being exonerated by the independent adviser on the ministerial code, because the Scottish parliament’s committee has not yet published its report on her. In a statement he said:

The first minister has been given a pass because it has been judged her ‘failure of recollection’ was ‘not deliberate’.

I respect Mr Hamilton and his judgment but we cannot agree with that assessment. Nicola Sturgeon did not suddenly turn forgetful.

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Michael Rosen backs calls for Covid UK public inquiry

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Children’s writer who nearly died from virus joins Joan Bakewell and other public figures in demanding investigation

Michael Rosen, the poet and children’s writer who survived Covid after six weeks on a ventilator, has backed calls for a public inquiry into the UK’s handling of the pandemic amid rising pressure on Boris Johnson to announce a timetable.

The author spoke out as several other prominent figures urged the government to launch a statutory investigation into the UK’s Covid-19 experience, including the broadcaster Joan Bakewell, the film director Stephen Frears and the music producer and composer Talvin Singh.

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Budget 2021 live: Sunak to freeze income tax thresholds and raise corporation tax to pay for Covid recovery

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Latest updates: chancellor extends furlough, universal credit uplift and stamp duty holiday

Sunak turns to corporation tax.

Sunak says he will announce two measures now to address the borrowing.

The government’s response has been fair, he says.

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Keir Starmer under pressure to back plans for corporation tax rise

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Labour leader has faced backlash after saying he would oppose any new tax on business in budget

Keir Starmer is under pressure to back future rises in corporation tax after a backlash when the Labour leader said he would oppose any new tax on business in next week’s budget.

Treasury officials are believed to be looking at increasing the tax on company profits from the current rate of 19% to up to 25% as the government tries to recoup some of the massive debts incurred during the pandemic, though the rise may be delayed until later in the parliament.

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UK Covid live: No 10 says MPs won’t vote on 10-year sentences for travel ban cheats because law already in place

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Latest updates: PM says people will have to ‘get used to the idea of vaccinating, and then re-vaccinating in the autumn’

The latest edition of the Guardian’s Politics Weekly podcast is out. Jessica Elgot and John Crace look at why the latest coronavirus travel restrictions might not work the way the government expects, as well as Robert Jenrick’s latest announcement on cladding funds. Plus, Helen Davidson and Jon Henley on how the world sees the UK’s Covid response.

Related: Hotel quarantine – too little too late? Politics Weekly podcast

As HuffPost’s Paul Waugh reports, at the lobby briefing the prime minister’s spokesman had difficulty justifying some of the work done by the three taxpayer-funded photographers now working from Downing Street.

Asked why the taxpayer should fund ‘vanity’ photographers who took these pix of the PM’s dog playing in the snow, No.10 spokesperson suggests Dilyn works for govt: “These photographers document the work of the government, as well as the work inside Number 10.” pic.twitter.com/UgdDF2Tdrp

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UK Covid live: Boris Johnson to hold news briefing as Britain exceeds 10m vaccinations

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Latest updates: PM press conference comes after milestone is passed; 1,322 further deaths reported in the UK today

Boris Johnson is about to hold a press conference at No 10. He will be with Prof Chris Whitty, the government’s chief medical adviser.

Today’s coronavirus figures for Scotland are here. There have been 88 further deaths (down from 92 a week ago today) and 978 further cases (down from 1,330 a week ago today).

Of all the new tests carried out, only 5.1% were positive. This is the lowest positivity rate since late December, and very close to the 5% target often mentioned by Nicola Sturgeon, the first minister, as the benchmark set by the WHO for countries that have got Covid under control.

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