Early evening summary
Keir Starmer has told business leaders that regulation policy will be primarily determined by what’s best for growth, and that he wants to to “rip out” the planning bureaucracy holding up investment. (See 1.01pm.)
The government is claiming that “nearly 38,000 UK jobs are set to be created across the UK after a total of £63bn of investment was announced around today’s international investment summit”.
Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, has told GB News that Labour’s manifesto promise not to raise national insurance did not refer to employers’ national insurance contributions, only employees’. This is what Jonathan Reynolds, the business secretary, indicated in an interview yesterday, but Reeves was even more explicit today. This is seen as her strongest hint yet that she will raise employees’ national insurance in the budget.
Ellie Reeves, the Cabinet Office minister, has confirmed that the government will tighten the rules about the declaration of gifts given to ministers. She described this as closing “the Tory freebies loophole”. (See 4.30pm.)
MPs have paid tribute to Alex Salmond, the former Scottish first minister who died suddenly at the weekend.
Updated
Jenrick accepts BBC's invitation to Tory leadership debate, while Badenoch's team says CCHQ must have final say
Robert Jenrick has accepted an offer from the BBC to hold a Question Time debate for the two Tory leadership candidates – while Kemi Badenoch it is not for her to decide, but the party.
Jenrick was responding to a letter from Gerry Gay, the Question Time editor, who proposed a QT “Conservative Leadership Special” on Thursday 24 October, hosted by Fiona Bruce, the programme’s regular presenter.
Gay said there would just be two guests debating, Jenrick and Badenoch, with an audience roughly 50% Conservative supporters, broadly split between supporters of each candidate, and 50% people with other political loyalties, some of whom may have voted Tory in the past.
The letter was sent after Jenrick yesterday released an open letter to Tim Davie, the BBC director general, saying the BBC should organise a debate in the public interest. Jenrick has accepted.
Originally Jenrick and Badenoch had been due to take part in a debate organised by the Sun on Thursday 24 October, but that was cancelled because of a dispute about who was going to chair it.
In a post on social media Jenrick said:
I’m disappointed that @TheSun debate won’t be going ahead. I was looking forward to answering their readers’ characteristically tough questions.
However, I am delighted to accept the BBC’s invitation to a head-to-head special Conservative leadership Question Time at 8pm on the 24th October.
A source from Badenoch’s campaign said they were considering the BBC’s offer, but that, under the rules of the contest, it was for CCHQ to decide what debates the candidates took part in.
This is not the first time the BBC has been in talks with the Tories about holding a debate. But previous negotiations broke down because CCHQ wanted to choose the audience itself, BBC sources claim.
Badenoch and Jenrick are both participating in an event on GB News on Thursday night this week. But they won’t be debating each other head to head, just taking questions from an audience one after the other.
According to bookmakers, Badenoch is the favourite in the contest – and favourites in elections are almost always reluctant to take part in debates, because they have most to lose.
Updated
Compensation for veterans affected by military's pre-2000 LGBT ban to be rolled out from January, MPs told
Veterans minister Al Carns has confirmed that the financial redress scheme for LGBT veterans will launch in 2025, Rosie Anfilogoff reports. She writes:
Carns was speaking during defence questions in the Commons, where the Labour’s Chris Ward, MP for Brighton Kemptown and Peacehaven, raised the “appalling injustice and ingratitude” that LGBT veterans have suffered, and asked about the “financial redress and compensation” recommended in the 2023 Etherton review.
Lord Etherton’s report looked into LGBT veterans’ experiences during the 1967 to 2000 military ban on LGBT personnel, which was described as “an appalling failure of the British state” by the then prime minister, Rishi Sunak.
Carns sought to assuage concerns among veterans regarding the report’s cap of £50m on the total value of compensation payments, meaning the average payment per veteran might be as low as £12,500, saying the government was working on “an appropriate financial redress scheme”.
He also said the scheme would be ready by the end of this year, with the roll-out starting in January.
Updated
Ministers will have to comply with tougher rules on declaring gifts as Labour closes 'Tory freebies loophole', MPs told
Ellie Reeves, the Cabinet Office minister, has confirmed that the government will tighten the rules about the declaration of gifts given to ministers.
In response to an urgent question tabled by John Glen, a shadow minister, she said the “Tory freebies loophole” was being closed. She explained:
Transparency is a critical part of restoring public faith in politics and the government recognizes the changes are needed.
Under the last government, the rules for ministers declaring hospitality were less transparent than for other MPs. Lists of hospitality received by ministers were only published by Whitehall departments once a quarter and did not include the value.
In contrast, MPs’ and shadow ministers’ interests must be declared within 28 days and include the cost of the hospitality.
Tory ministers used this loophole even when events appeared to have little connection to their government roles.
Both House of Commons committee on standards and the committee on standards in public life called for this disparity to be removed.
Under the last government, Labour frontbenchers who went to events and ended sitting next to their Tory counterparts, and Labour MPs, had to declare details on their MP register – importantly, including value – while Tory ministers did not on the equivalent ministerial process.
The government will correct this imbalance. The Tory freebies loophole will be closed.
In the future, the government will publish a register of ministers’ gifts and hospitality on a broadly equivalent basis to that which is published in registers of members and Lords interests. This will bring publication of ministerial transparency data more closely in light of the parliamentary regime for gifts and hospitality.
The government intends that these arrangements should be in place as soon as possible, and will set out further details in due course.
Reeves also said Keir Starmer will “shortly” issue an updated version of the ministerial code setting out “his expectations for the conduct of all who serve in government and ministers”.
It will include “additional guidance to ministers on the principles they should apply when considering whether to accept gifts or offers of hospitality, as part of the government’s work to restore public faith in politics as a force for good”, she said.
Updated
The tributes to Alex Salmond are over. MPs from all sides said they were shocked by his death, and praised his talents, particularly as a debater and a parliamentarian. The mini-speeches were moving and generous. I will post some highlights later.
Starmer says reports capital gains tax could go up to 39% in budget 'wide of mark'
Last week the Guardian reported that the Treasury has been looking at the impact of raising capital gains tax, including taking it up potentially to 39%.
In an interview today with Bloomberg TV, Keir Starmer said that reports that capital gains tax could go up to as much as 39% were “wide of the mark”.
He also suggested that potential tax increases were not what worried businesses most anyway. He said:
Contrary to perhaps what people might think, tax is not the first thing that businesses and investors are raising with me.
In the Commons the Speaker, Lindsay Hoyle, has allowed the SNP leader at Westminster, Stephen Flynn, to use a point of order to make a tribute to Alex Salmond, the former first minister who died suddenly at the weekend. Flynn described Salmond as “the most talented, formidable and consquential politician of his generation”. Ian Murray, the Scottish secretary, is speaking now. He describes Salmond as a formidable opponent who left an “indelible mark on Scottish public life”.
RSPB says Starmer's speech about ripping out planning laws to promote growth 'unsettling' for those who love nature
The Royal Social for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), which describes itself as the UK’s largest nature conservation charity, has described Keir Starmer’s speech this morning, in which he said he wanted to “rip out” planning laws blocking growth (see 1.01pm) as “unsettling”. Its chief executive, Beccy Speight, said:
An unsettling speech from the PM this morning for those who love and value nature. Deregulation done in the wrong way is effectively dropping standards, at a time when the natural world desperately needs better protection. It’s a short-sighted tactic that could have ramifications for us all in years to come, undermining our long term prosperity - better methods, such as nature-friendly planning, would give businesses the certainty they need.
We support growth and we support the badly-needed energy transition, but not at the expense of our precious wildlife and wild places.
His very own secretary of state [Steve Reed] said recently that “nature is dying” – uncontrolled deregulation is tantamount to hammering the final nail into its coffin.
The Green party has expressed similar concerns. This is from Ellie Chowns, one of the four Green MPS.
Starmer’s pledge to investors that he will “cut red tape” is a tired cliche that, in practice, too often means harming environmental standards and workers’ rights.
We’ve had 14 years of successive Conservative governments promising to “cut red tape”, and all we have to show for it is a flatlining economy and falling living standards.
UK imposes sanctions on Iranian military figures and organisations after missile attack against Israel
Britain has imposed sanctions against senior Iranian military figures and organisations following the country’s 1 October attack on Israel, PA Media reports. PA says:
Members of the Islamic Republic of Iran Army, Iran’s air force and the IRGC Intelligence Organisation have been targeted with travel bans and asset freezes, the Foreign Office said in a statement.
Farzanegan Propulsion Systems Design Bureau (FPSDB), which designs and manufactures parts that can be used in cruise missiles, has also been designated as part of the package of measures.
The Iranian Space Agency, which develops technologies that have applications in ballistic missile development, will be subject to an asset freeze.
Iran launched around 200 ballistic missiles towards Israel on 1 October. Most were intercepted but a number hit central and southern Israel, the country’s military said.
Here is a clip of Keir Starmer speaking at the investment summit this morning.
Turning back to the Conservatives, in an article for the Independent Prof Sir John Curtice, Britain’s leading psephologist, says there is no evidence to show that either Kemi Badenoch or Robert Jenrick has the ability to take the Tories back to power. The main problem, he says, is that they do not realise why their party lost.
Both candidates appear to believe the fault lies in a failure of the last government to be true to Conservative values. Rather than seeking to limit the size of the state, it presided over the biggest expansion since 1945 – thanks, of course, to the pandemic and the cost of living crisis. Rather than curbing immigration and challenging wokery, it presided over record levels of immigration and accepted too much of the equality and diversity agenda.
However, an examination of the timeline of the Conservatives’ standing in the polls during the last parliament reveals that the party’s precipitous fall from grace was not occasioned by a failure to be truly Conservative.
The first key event that cost the party support was Partygate, which cast doubt on the honesty and ethics of those who had been leading the party. The second was the Liz Truss fiscal event, which severely damaged the party’s reputation for economic competence.
No reversion to “true” Conservative values is going to erase these stains on the party’s copybook.
Curtice also says, although Conservative members want to see a smaller state, voters at large seem to want the opposite. He says that, although Badenoch and Jenrick are “largely unknown quantities”, to win the next election they would both have to “reveal a wider range of political talents than they have so far”.
To coincide with today’s international investment summit, the government has published Invest 2035, its industrial strategy green paper.
Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, has said that the budget she is delivering at the end of the month will take the most from the richest. As the Telegraph reports, speaking on the New Statesman’s podcast, Reeves said:
I said during the election campaign we’re not going to be introducing a wealth tax.
But I think people will be in no doubt when we do the budget that those with the broadest shoulders will be bearing the largest burden.
You saw that in our manifesto campaign. You know, non-doms, private equity, the windfall tax on the big profits the energy companies are making and putting VAT and business rates on private schools.
Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle pays tribute to Alex Salmond
At the start of business in the Commons Lindsay Hoyle, the Speaker, pays tribute to Alex Salmond, the former Scottish first minister, who died suddenly at the weekend. Hoyle says Salmond served the people of Scotland for more than 30 years as an MP, MSP and as first minister. He says there will be a short period set aside for tributes after defence questions, at 3.30pm.
Later there are also two urgent questions, on “the reporting and acceptance of Ministerial gifts and hospitality” and on recent events at the Spanish border with Gibraltar, and a statement on the relocation of refugees from Afghanistan.
UPDATE: Hoyle said:
[Salmond] served the people of Scotland for over 30 years as a member of this House, a member of the Scottish parliament and, of course, two terms as first minister of Scotland.
He was a tireless campaigner for Scottish independence, securing the UK government’s agreement for the 2014 referendum and playing a leading role in the Yes campaign.
His final departure from this house was in 2017. It marked the first occasion in more than three decades when he was not serving in an elected role at either here or Holyrood.
He leaves a deep and lasting legacy behind him. His sudden death at the weekend came as a complete shock and the thoughts of this whole House are with his family and friends at this difficult time.
Updated
No 10 praises Louise Haigh's record as transport secretary, drawing line under P&O Ferries row
At the Downing Street lobby briefing the prime minister’s spokesperson insisted Keir Starmer has full confidence in Louise Haigh, the transport secretary. The question was prompted by Starmer says on Friday that Haigh was not setting out government policy when she suggested that customers should boycott P&O Ferries.
Asked if Haigh had Starmer’s full confidence, the spokesperson replied:
Yes, absolutely. The transport secretary in the run-up to the summit delivered significant investment in electric buses. She’s put an end to industrial disruption seen for the past two-and-a-half years that has cost the economy and commuters dearly, and she’s been driving forward reform and bringing rail services back into public ownership.
No 10 always says the PM has full confidence in ministers – until the point where they get sacked. But this sounded like a genuine, sincere endorsement. Starmer is reported to have made up with Haigh after having to disown part of what she said last week.
'Less poverty, more opportunity, more meals out' - Starmer explains why growth so important to his government
And here are some more lines from Keir Starmer’s speech to the investment summit.
Starmer told business leaders that increasing growth was “a cause that binds us together” and he explained why he had made it a priority. He said:
Growth is higher wages.
Growth is more vibrant high streets.
Growth is public services back on their feet.
It’s less poverty, more opportunity, more meals out, more holidays, more precious moments with your family, more cash in your pocket.
And of course, for any business …
It means a bigger market.
Higher demand.
He said Labour’s large majority meant he was in a position to offer stability.
The stability that comes with a large majority in our system …
That is a unique advantage.
He said Labour’s industrial strategy was not about “picking winners”, but providing “the best conditions to succeed”. He explained:
Well, we’re not in the business of individual picking winners.
But we are in the business of building on our strengths.
Mowing the grass on the pitch …
Making sure the changing rooms are clean and comfortable …
That the training ground is good.
So that when our businesses compete …
They are match fit …
That, to put it simply …
We give the businesses of this country the best conditions to succeed.
He said people were less willing to trust Britain as a “stable, trusted, rule-abiding partner” after “the whole circus that followed Brexit”. Labour has “turned the page on that – decisively”, he said.
Starmer says key test for regulation is growth, and vows to 'rip out' planning laws blocking investment
Graeme Wearden covered Keir Starmer’s speech at the investment conference this morning in the business live blog. No 10 has now sent out the full text. Much of it would have fitted quite happily into a speech by a mainstream Conservative PM (apart from the bit about how the Tories turned government into a “circus” after Brexit) and the most interesting passage was the bit dealing with regulation. Here are the key quotes.
(This is the text as released by No 10, and including ellipses, which I use to indicate missing text, but No 10 uses to indicate a pause in the speech as it was delivered. Normally I would tidy up the text, but that would involve quite a lot of rejigging, which would start to change the emphasis, and so I have left it in the version provided by Downing Street.)
Starmer said that, for him, the most important test for regulation was whether or not it helped growth. He said:
Now, I don’t see regulation as good or bad.
That seems simplistic to me.
Some regulation is life-saving …
We have seen that in recent weeks here, with the report on the tragedy of Grenfell Tower.
But across our public sector …
I would say the previous government hid behind regulators.
Deferred decisions to them because it was either too weak or indecisive …
Or simply not committed enough to growth.
Planning is a very real example of that …
Or – for our friends from across the pond …
‘Permitting’ is a really clear example of that ...
The global language …
But anyway – the key test for me on regulation …
Is of course – growth.
Is this going to make our economy more dynamic?
Is this going to inhibit or unlock investment?
Is it something that enables the builders not the blockers?
He said the employment rights’ bill published last week was a “pro-growth” measure that would help businesses.
Now – I know some people may be wondering about our labour market policies introduced last week.
Let me be clear – they are pro-growth.
Workers with more security at work …
With higher wages …
That is a better growth model for this country.
It will lead to more dynamism in our labour market.
Graeme summarises this as Starmer telling bosses: “Don’t worry about the workers’ rights bill.”
Starmer said Britain had to break out of an economic model that was too reliant on low-paid, low-skilled workers.
A nation’s position in the world is changing all the time …
As must its growth model.
So while I know this is a room full of businesses who take investing in their human capital seriously …
When I look at the British economy as a whole…
It does seem as if sometimes, we are more comfortable hiring people to work in low paid, insecure contracts…
Than we are investing in the new technology that delivers for workers, for productivity and for our country.
And so we’ve got to break out of that trap.
He said he wanted to “rip out” the planning bureaucracy holding up growth.
But we’ve also got to look at regulation – across the piece.
And where it is needlessly holding back the investment we need to take our country forward …
Where it is stopping us building the homes …
The data centres, the warehouses, grid connectors, roads, trainlines, you name it …
Then mark my words – we will get rid of it.
Take the East Anglia 2 wind farm.
A £4bn investment.
One Gigawatt of clean energy.
An important project – absolutely.
But also the sort of thing a country as committed to clean energy as we are …
Needs to replicate again and again.
Now regulators demanded over 4,000 planning documents for that project…
Not 4,000 pages – 4,000 documents.
And then six weeks after finally receiving planning consent …
It was held up for a further two years by judicial review.
I mean – as an investor …
When you see this inertia …
You just don’t bother do you?
And that – in a nutshell …
Is the biggest supply-side problem we have in our country.
So it’s time to upgrade the regulatory regime …
Make it fit for the modern age..
Harness every opportunity available to Britain.
We will rip out the bureaucracy that blocks investment …
We will march through the institutions …
And we will make sure that every regulator in this country …
Especially our economic and competition regulators …
Takes growth as seriously as this room does.
Starmer also invited the business leaders in the room to contact him, or his ministers, if regulations were holding up their investments.
What is interesting about this passage is that it implies reforms to planning laws that would go far beyond what has been announced by Angela Rayner, the housing secretary, or what was outlined in Labour’s manifesto. The plans, set out by Rayner in July, were mostly about streamlining processes, not ripping out laws.
Alba party will carry on despite Alex Salmond's death, says its acting leader Kenny MacAskill
The Alba party will seek to continue Alex Salmond’s legacy, its acting leader and a lifelong friend of the former first minister has said.
Speaking on BBC Radio Scotland this morning, Kenny MacAskill – who served in Salmond’s cabinet and defected with him to his new party in 2021 – said Alba would continue despite Salmond’s surprise death at the weekend. He said:
Of course, the party continues, we owe it to Alex.
It was never the Alex Salmond party, it was Alex Salmond’s inspiration and Alex Salmond’s driving force, but the party is made up of thousands more and, as I say, that legacy will continue.
Writing to Alba party members on Monday, MacAskill paraphrased Salmond’s resignation speech, saying: “The dream he cherished so closely and came so close to delivering will never die. We will honour him.”
Badenoch's comments 'offensive' and far removed from experience of families, says autism charity
The Autism Centre of Excellence at Cambridge, a charity that works with Cambridge University’s Autism Research Centre, has put out a post on social media strongly criticising Kemi Badenoch for the comments about autism released earlier this month in an essay put out under her name. (See 9.40am.) The centre says:
We fully agree with @iburrell in @theipaper that @KemiBadenoch’s comments are ‘an offensive claim far removed from the grim reality of many despairing citizens and families struggling for support.’
We need leaders who take the time to understand the complexity of the issues they are commenting on – and who bring workable solutions to the table. The best way to do both is to talk to people with lived experience.
We believe that #autistic people and parents would agree that the Government has failed to provide a good education, employment opportunities and the right care. Anyone with an interest in running our country would ask themselves why this is.
The centre is referring to this article by Ian Birrell, the journalist and former Independent deputy editor who at one point wrote speeches for David Cameron. In his article for the i, Birrell says:
Another key issue is the low status of carers in society. And this was demonstrated by his rival Kemi Badenoch during the conference hustings, when she talked about focusing on the future “not just who’s going to wipe bottoms for us today.”
No wonder social care never gets fixed and carers are left badly paid when a prominent politician sneers so dismissively at workers performing a public service. And now Badenoch, in a report called “Conservatism in Crisis” released this month, argues that autism diagnosis can give children “better treatment at school” and “offers economic advantages and protection” – an offensive claim far removed from the grim reality of many despairing citizens and families struggling for support.
Such is the tragic state of today’s Conservative party. Arrogant, blustering, heartless and out of touch with concerns of ordinary people. There is hollow talk of renewal, but we see again why this historically formidable election fighting machine crashed and burned.
Kemi Badenoch is the member of the shadow cabinet with the highest approval ratings amongst Conservative members, according to the regular monthly survey by the ConservativeHome website. She has been top for a while. James Cleverly, who was unexpectedly knocked out of the Tory leadership contest, is in second place. Robert Jenrick, Badenoch’s rival for the leadership, does not feature in the survey because he is not on the front bench.
MPs set to debate Martyn's law, requiring venues to have plans in place to deal with Manchester Arena-style terror attacks
More than 100 venues are backing Martyn’s law to help protect the public from terror attacks, ahead of the second reading of the terrorism (protection of premises) bill in the House of Commons today.
Parts of the bill are named for Martyn Hett, 29, who was killed along with 21 other people when suicide bomber Salman Abedi attacked the Manchester Arena in 2017 at the close of an Ariana Grande concert.
His mother, Figen Murray, has been campaigning ever since to ensure that venues are better prepared in the event of a terror attack.
The new provisions would require all venues with a capacity of more than 200 to ensure they have a plan in place in case of an attack on their premises.
More than 100 businesses - from McDonald’s to the Slug & Lettuce chain - are backing the bill.
Speaking on BBC Breakfast earlier, Murray said:
Certainly I feel this is the beginning of the end of the campaign, although there’s a bit to go still. But, yeah, I can see it’s coming to fruition now, finally.
She said there is global interest in the proposed law, with no similar legislation currently in place.
Martyn’s law is never meant to be punitive or onerous, like some people may suggest; it literally is very proportionate.
It depends on the size of the venue, and it’s obviously in two tiers as well, and the standard tier is actually far less restrictions than the bigger venues, 800-plus, who may have to put more stringent measures in place.
The feedback we got is that there is actually either no cost or very low cost.
It’s common sense, and at the end of the day you need to just do the right thing and keep your customers and staff safe.
In a separate interview on the Today programme, Murray recalled a conversation she had recently had with Keir Starmer when he asked how she had found the energy to keep going with her campaign on this issue. She said she had told him: “Actually, having your child’s ashes on a bookshelf is a good motivator.”
Back to the Conservative party, and Robert Jenrick, the leadership candidate, has written an article for the Express today criticising the government over its decision to seek bidders for firms to run two migration centres in Kent, potentially until 2032.
As Sam Blewett reports in his London Playbook briefing for Politico, Labour say the Home Office started this tender process when Jenrick was the minister in charge.
One Home Office adviser said the contract notice was signed off while the immigration minister was … Robert Jenrick himself. They argued that his plans would’ve cost nearly £200 million more, over a shorter, six-year period, and lacked the break clauses that the government has now included. Another Labour official added: “It seems Jenrick has lost his memory as well as all that weight.”
Shares in UK gambling firms fall £3bn amid talk of higher taxes in budget
Shares in British gambling companies have dropped sharply, reducing the stock market value of large operators by more than £3bn, after the Guardian reported that Treasury officials could tap the sector for between £900m and £3bn in extra taxes, Rob Davies reports.
Jenrick says he will appoint Jacob Rees-Mogg as Tory chair if he becomes party leader
Yesterday Robert Jenrick said that, if he was elected Tory leader, he would make Jacob Rees-Mogg, the former business secretary, the Conservative party chair.
One of my first acts as leader would be to appoint Jacob Rees-Mogg as Chairman of the Conservative Party so we can truly reform and democratise our Party.
— Robert Jenrick (@RobertJenrick) October 13, 2024
Together we will empower members and restore the respect that has been so sorely lacking in recent years. pic.twitter.com/ogjPYE2ED8
Rees-Mogg is no longer an MP, having lost his seat at the election, but he is very popular with Conservative rightwingers and viewers of GB News, where he is a presenter.
In a sign of his desire to reach out to Tory “moderates” too, Jenrick has also said he would like “bring back” Penny Mordaunt, the former defence secretary and leader of the Commons, as the Telegraph reports. Mordaunt also lost her seat during the election. But Jenrick has not said how he would like to offer Mordaunt a role, suggesting that winning over Rees-Mogg fans is more of a priority.
Having Rees-Mogg as party chair would be a big statement about where Jenrick wanted to take the party. In their excellent and very readable account of Liz Truss’s time as prime minister, Truss at 10, Anthony Seldon and Jonathan Meakin point out that, when Truss was planning what she would do as PM, some of Rees-Moggs’s ideas were regarded as bonkers even by her team. Seldon and Meakin say:
[At a meeting in August with economists] Littlewood and fellow economist Julian Jessop were present at the tutorial, as was Rees-Mogg, hoping to be her chancellor. Did she need this turbocharging? Even some of her most ardent ideological supporters had reservations: ‘Their radicalism gave fresh tinder to something that was already burning too brightly within Liz,’ said Simon Clarke. The ideas flew around the room. A few days later, the idea of scrapping the cap on bankers’ bonuses was mentioned. ‘Let’s go for it!’ Reducing the 45p tax rate? ‘Long overdue.’ ‘How about replacing all direct taxes with a flat 20p rate of income tax?’ ‘Great idea, Jacob.’ This last proposal was nicknamed ‘Estonia’ (a reference to a similar policy adopted there) and Rees-Mogg ‘estimated it would cost £41 billion’. ‘I’d long been attracted to the idea of flat rate taxes,’ Truss said later.
‘These ideas might have been fine if it had been a blue skies airing of a hundred things that we might do together at some point. But these guys were deadly serious,’ recalled one adviser. He watched with horror as those present vied with each other to produce the most radical and outlandish ideas, none more so than Rees-Mogg. ‘What is the number one problem with the UK energy system?’ he asked. Silence. ‘Not enough nuclear power,’ he said, answering his own question. ‘We need more small reactors in the UK.’ ‘How would you do it?’ one asked. ‘We should get a nuclear submarine to dock at Liverpool and plug it into the grid. That would show people it was safe.’ Shock. Simon Case quietly interjected, ‘I fear that’s a non-starter: the submarines are needed on operations.’ ‘No one even laughed. It was totally pie in the sky. I thought they should’ve been blowing up these ideas rather than legitimising them,’ said another present. After they left, her young aides rounded on her: ‘Liz, this is totally mad. You’re not really serious about these ideas, are you?’ ‘I was worried,’ Kwarteng later said. ‘Liz was losing her perspective.
Lammy says his talks with EU foreign minister mark 'historic moment'
The foreign secretary David Lammy has hailed “a historic moment” that marks the UK’s post-Brexit reset, as he entered talks with the EU’s chief diplomat and his 27 European counterparts.
Arriving at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg, Lammy said he was delighted to be at the foreign affairs council “for this historic moment that marks our EU reset”.
In brief remarks to reporters, he said:
The UK and Europe’s security is indivisible. And at this time, whether it is the aggression of Russia in Ukraine, the tremendous issues and conflicts in the Middle East, or global affairs and geopolitical affairs more generally, it is hugely important that the United Kingdom and Europe remain steadfast and clear.
Lammy is not the first UK foreign secretary to attend the EU foreign affairs council since Brexit - Liz Truss attended an emergency meeting soon after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine - but he is the first for many years to come with an upbeat, pro-EU agenda.
The EU’s chief diplomat Josep Borrell said he had invited Lammy soon after his appointment as foreign secretary, to discuss security and common challenges.
We are neighbours, we are partners, we share the same concerns.
I know that we both have the same ambition to cooperate to strengthen our cooperation and security and defence, because the security challenges that we are facing go across borders, they don’t know borders.
The EU was hugely disappointed when the former prime minister Boris Johnson rejected a formal foreign policy and security relationship, so Lammy is pushing at an open door with his ideas for deeper cooperation.
The talks today - a bilateral with Borrell and a working lunch with EU foreign ministers - are expected to focus on Ukraine and the Middle East, but EU diplomats are also curious to hear about the UK government’s plans for a foreign policy and security pact.
Foreign and security policy will be easier terrain to find common ground with the EU than the economic relationship, where the UK has to navigate the bloc’s red lines aimed at protecting the integrity of the European single market.
Elon Musk was not barred from UK investment summit, says cabinet minister
Elon Musk would be welcome at future UK investment summits if and when he had investment programmes the UK could bid for, Peter Kyle, the science secretary, has said. Peter Walker has the story.
And Graeme Wearden has full coverage of the investment summit on his business live blog.
Jenrick criticised for saying NHS England chief executive Amanda Pritchard should be sacked
As mentioned earlier, Robert Jenrick, Kemi Badenoch’s rival for the Tory leadership, is also facing criticism over health-related remarks. In an interview with the Sunday Times published yesterday, he called for Amanda Pritchard, chief executive of NHS England, to be sacked. Jenrick said:
It’s particularly disappointing that Amanda Pritchard essentially denied the NHS has a problem with productivity in front of a select committee last year,” he says. “[She] has presided over plummeting productivity and then denied there is a problem. Having spoken to many people in and around the NHS, I do query whether she is the best person Britain has to run the NHS. It’s nothing personal against her. I know she’s very professional. But I do think it’s time for someone new, who gets that NHS productivity has to improve.
In a post on social media last night Matthew Taylor, head of the NHS Confederation, which represents hospitals and other NHS trusts, said it was unfair for Jenrick to attack a civil servant who is not meant to answer back.
I have no stake in the Conservative leadership race and the Confed does not always agree with @NHSEngland but I think Robert Jenrick’s call for @AmandaPritchard to be sacked is regrettable. It is inappropriate and unfair especially, as a public servant, she cannot respond.
Badenoch accused of ‘stigmatising' autism and mental health issues after implying too much support available
Good morning. It is a big day for the government, with Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves both speaking at its international investment summit, an event intended to showcase Labour’s commitment to revive the economy and kickstart growth. As Kiran Stacey reports in his overnight story, Starmer is promising to slash red tape and “rip out the bureaucracy that blocks investment” – in language that sounds very similar to what his Conservative predecessors used to say when they were launching similar initiatives.
I will be covering some of what happens at the summit here, but Graeme Wearden will be leading the coverage of it on his business live blog.
In other news, with ballot papers for the Tory leadership contest going out to members this week, that contest is heating up. The bookmakers have Kemi Badenoch as the favourite, but their odds put Robert Jenrick not far behind and no one is predicting the winner with any confidence. This morning Jenrick and Badenoch are both facing criticism. Jenrick is under fire for calling for the head of NHS England to be sacked, and for attacking Labour over migration centre contracts that the Home Office started putting out to tender when he was a minister there himself. But the Badenoch row may be more serious, because she has been criticised by a former Tory cabinet colleague over her comments about people with autism and anxiety problems.
At the Conservative conference Badenoch’s team released a 36-page essay called Conservatism in Crisis which identifies many factors supposedly holding back growth. On anxiety and autism it says:
It is a positive thing our society is now more open around mental health. However, the socialisation of mental health, whereby mental health moved from something that people worked on for their own benefit, to something where everyone had to treat you differently, has both created costs and failed to improve people’s mental health outcomes ….
[A change in the perception of harm] helps explains why people who had suffered events once seen as non-traumatic now feel entitled to support. This increases demand for psychologists and therapists, required to help people previously seen as able to cope. As will be set out in the forthcoming book [based on the essay] across the psychological and psychotherapy professions, numbers have risen from 102,000 in 2002 to 223,700 in 2023.
Being diagnosed as neuro-diverse was once seen as helpful as it meant you could understand your own brain, and so help you to deal with the world. It was an individual focused change. But now it also offers economic advantages and protections. If you have a neurodiversity diagnosis (e.g. anxiety, autism), then that is usually seen as a disability, a category similar to race or biological sex in terms of discrimination law and general attitudes.
If you are a child, you may well get better treatment or equipment at school – even transport to and from home. If you are in the workforce, you are protected in employment terms from day 1, you can more easily claim for unfair dismissal, and under disability rules you can also require your employer makes ‘reasonable adjustments’ to your job (and you can reveal your disability once you have been employed rather than before).
In short, whereas once psychological and mental health was seen as something that people should work on themselves as individuals, mental health has become something that society, schools and employers have to adapt around.
As Eleanor Langford reports in a story for the i, these comments have been strongly criticised by Robert Buckland, a former Tory justice secretary who has an autistic daughter and who conducted a review of employment opportunities for autistic people for the last government, after he left ministerial office. Buckland told the i that it was wrong for the Badenoch report to be “stigmatising or lumping certain categories in with each other”. He added:
Anxiety is not a neurodiverse condition … autism is not a mental health condition.
That part of the report didn’t seem to me to be based on any evidence, and mixing up autism with mental health is not right. It’s not the correct approach to be taken into this.
A spokesperson for Badenoch said she only wrote the foreward to the report published at the Tory conference and that it was wrong to says it was stigmatising people. The spokesperson said:
If we are to resolve the problem of deteriorating mental health, we must be able to point out that it is happening and how society has changed its approach to it and determine whether that approach is working.
It would be wrong to infer any prejudice and it is essential that we are able to talk about these issues without the media deliberately misleading their readers for the sake of easy headlines.
Here is the agenda for the day.
Morning: David Lammy, the foreign secretary, is in Luxembourg attending a meeting of the EU’s foreign affairs council.
10.05am: Keir Starmer gives a speech at the government’s investment summit, before taking part in a Q&A with Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google. At 4.20pm Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, will give a speech closing the summit. Our main coverage of the summit will be on Graeme Wearden’s business live blog, which is here.
11.30am: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.
2.30pm: John Healey, the defence secretary, takes questions in the Commons.
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