Afternoon summary
Peers have inflicted two defeats on the government over the illegal migration bill. In the first, they voted by a majority of 43 to insert a clause in the bill saying saying nothing in it would require any act that would breach the UK’s obligations under various human rights treaties. And in the second, which took place just now, they voted by 219 to 177 – a majority of 42 – in favour of an amendment tabled by the crossbench peer Lord Carlile saying the duty to deport in the bill would only apply to people arriving in the UK after it came into force, not retrospectively, as the government proposes. The debate is still going on, and further votes are expected.
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Ken Clarke tells peers he's backing illegal migration bill because he has not heard any alternative solution
There was some surprise good news for the government in the Lords debate on the second set of amendments to the illegal migration bill. Ken Clarke, the former chancellor who is now normally seen as being on the most liberal wing of the Conservative party, told peers that he was supporting the government on the bill. He voted with the government in the first division (on amendment 5), and when he spoke he said that previously he had not declared his views on the bill.
He said that when it originally came to the Lords, he was in a “very, very troubled state of mind” because he found it hard to support. But he said that he accepted something needed to be done about people crossing the Channel on small boats, and he said the bill’s opponents did not have an alternative solution. He said:
Concern about these dinghies and fishing boats bobbing on the ocean is actually beginning, if we’re not careful, to re-arouse all the bad feelings that we used to know from 20 or 30 years ago. That’s why over 60% of our population wish to stop illegal immigration.
I’ve sat and tried to listen for a solution. Sadly, the only solution being put forward is this rather extraordinary one by the government, that we simply cease to entertain illegal immigration and deport to safe places. I have not heard a single alternative policy put forward. I’m not sure it will work but I’m still to hear anybody else offer anything but the possibility of litigation, or huge numbers of people coming here as the practice of trying to get over the Channel grows.
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Only two Conservative peers voted with opposition and crossbench peers in favour of amendment 5 to the illegal migration bill, the division lists shows. They were Patrick Cormack, the former MP, and Nick Bourne, the former leader of the Welsh Conservatives.
Daniel Korski pulls out of race to be Tory candidate for London mayor, blaming 'false' groping claim
Daniel Korski has pulled out of the race to be the Tory candidate in the mayoral race in London after a TV producer accused him of groping her a decade ago.
In a statement reported by the Telegraph, Korski said:
I have decided, with a heavy heart, to withdraw from the Conservative mayoral contest.
I categorically deny the allegation against me. Nothing was ever put to me formally ten years ago. Nor seven years ago when the allegation was alluded to. No investigation has ever taken place. I have been clear I would welcome and constructively participate in any investigation.
However, the pressure on my family because of this false and unproven allegation and the inability to get a hearing for my message of ‘The London Dream’ makes it impossible for my campaign to carry on.
I am proud of having run a positive campaign that championed new ideas, technology and talent, and the years I have campaigned for the Conservative party and to make the lives of Londoners better.
I believe strongly that Londoners deserve an uplifting and positive vision for their city. I tried hard to offer that.
The news agenda is becoming a distraction from the race and the Conservative party.
I wish the excellent remaining contestants well and I know the Conservative party’s eventual candidate will beat Sadiq Khan and offer the kind of rejuvenation London so desperately needs. I will do my utmost to support the Conservative party and the eventual Conservative candidate.
Thank you to my family, friends and all my supporters.
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Government loses vote on illegal migration bill as peers vote to keep it compliant with international rights treaties
The government has lost the first vote on the illegal migration bill in today’s debate. Amendment 5 (see 4.05pm) was passed by 222 votes to 179 – a majority of 43.
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Landlords association backs Lisa Nandy on rent controls
Lisa Nandy, the shadow levelling up secretary, appeared to contradict Sadiq Khan when she said she was opposed to rent controls this morning. (See 10.59am.)
“Rent controls that cut rents for some will almost certainly leave others homeless,” she said at a conference in Manchester.
It came a day after Khan, the Labour mayor of London, appeared to move in the opposite direction. He again called for powers to introduce rent controls in response to figures showing 1,700 more people are sleeping on the capital’s streets than last year.
“Ministers should … give me the power to introduce a system of rent controls that work for London,” he said. He wants the power to freeze rents for two years.
The two positions are not necessarily opposed as Nandy appears to be opposing mandating rent cuts while Khan wants a rent freeze.
But the National Residential Landlords Association has seized on Nandy’s position. Ben Beadle, its chief executive, said:
We agree with Labour that rent controls would do nothing to address the rental supply crisis that tenants across the country now face.
What renters need is a proper plan to boost the supply of homes for private rent alongside all other tenures. Housing benefit rates should also be unfrozen without delay to support vulnerable tenants who are struggling to access the rental market.
Yesterday the Labour Welsh first minister, Mark Drakeford, also said: “As to a rent freeze, it’s a blunt instrument; it has many unintended consequences. We know in Scotland that it has led to a reduction in properties available for rent.”
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Daisy Goodwin, the TV producer who has accused Daniel Korski of groping her in Downing Street 10 years ago, has given an interview to Times Radio which adds to what she told the Today programme this morning. (See 9.38am.) Here are the main points.
Korski, of course, has strongly denied Goodwin’s allegation.
Goodwin said that Korski failed to get a directorship at a government department after she told the chair about the groping incident. She said:
At one point I heard that [Korski] was going up for a directorship at a government department, and I happen to know someone who was the chair of that board. We were talking about him, and I told that person the story of what had happened to me. And that person, who I really can’t name, was very grateful to me for that information. He didn’t get that directorship which suggests that – well, it’s interesting that he didn’t get that directorship and yet he’s been backed as a candidate for the Tory mayor.
She said she thought that Korski has an “impulse control” problem and that he should not be in a position of power. She said:
I’m angry because I think it’s wrong that this sort of thing goes on, especially in Downing Street. I think men with impulse control problems, which I think is what Daniel Korski has, are probably not the best people to run the country. That’s my considered opinion. I would imagine a lot of other people might agree with me on that. I just think people who can’t keep that to themselves should not be in positions of power. It’s not that I’m a prude. I just think you don’t grope virtual strangers in public.
She said that Ian Hislop, the Private Eye editor, was the person who told her Korski was campaigning to be Tory candidate for mayor of London and that he encouraged her to name Korski as the person who groped her. Previously, she had talked about the incident in public, but without naming the man involved.
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In the House of Lords peers are now voting on amendment 5 to the illegal migration bill. You can read the text of it on the list of amendments here.
Amendment on international legal obligations would take 'wrecking ball to constitutional arrangements', peers told
Lord Murray, a Home Office minister, is responding to the debate.
He says that there is nothing in the bill that requires an act that conflicts with the UK’s international obligations, and that, as a result, in one sense amendment 5 is unnecessary.
But he says the UK has a dualist approach to law, meaning that international law is separate from domestic law. This amendment would incorporate international law in domestic law, meaning that people would be able to challenge the government on international law in the domestic courts.
He says this means it would take “a wrecking ball to our long established constitutional arrangements”.
Vernon Coaker, a shadow Home Office minister, told peers that Labour would be supporting amendment 5. Addressing Lord Wolfson’s argument (see 4.21pm), he said that if a country like the UK signs international treaties, it should abide by them.
Lord Wolfson, who was made a peer and appointed a justice minister by Boris Johnson, told peers he was opposed to amendment 5. He said that, by passing it, peers would be incorporating five international treaties into domestic law. That would be a substantial change, he said, and not something the Lords should be doing in an amendment like this.
Lord Paddick, the Lib Dem peer, is speaking now. He says if the UK does not comply with its international obligations, it is unlikely to receive the international cooperation needed to address the asylum problem.
He also quotes the economic impact assessment published on Monday, pointing out that it says there is no academic research showing deterrence works in immigration policy.
Peers start debate on illegal migration bill, with warning UK's standing as 'great democracy' at risk if bill not amended
In the House of Lords peers have just started the report stage debate on the illegal migration bill. At least five votes are expected.
Lady Williams, the government chief whip, told peers at the start of the debate that they were in for a “very long day”. She urged peers to keep their speeches short.
Shami Chakrabarti, the Labour peer, was next up, and she took Williams at her word. She gave a two-minute speech defending amendment 5, which has also been signed by Lib Dem, Tory and crossbench peers.
Amendment 5 would add a clause to the bill saying nothing in it would require any act that would breach the UK’s obligations under various international treaties.
They are: the 1950 European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms; the 1951 UN Convention relating to the Status of Refugees including the Protocol to that Convention; the 1954 and 1961 UN Conventions on the Reduction of Statelessness; the 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child; the 2005 Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking Human Beings.
Chakrabarti says this amendment was essential for protecting the most vulnerable. It was also about upholding the “international rules-based order”, she said, and about maintaing “our reputation as a great democracy”.
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During PMQs Rishi Sunak said that over the past three years homebuilding had been at “almost record” numbers. He said:
The record is that in the last three years we’ve delivered almost record numbers of new homebuilding in every one of those years.
Full Fact, the fact checking organisation, says it is looking at this claim, although it says fact checking a vague assertion like “almost record” is not straightforward.
But Full Fact did publish an analysis in March, after Sunak said housebuilding was at record levels. It concluded that this was arguable, but misleading. It explained:
The number of ‘net additional dwellings’ did hit the highest point on record in 2019/20, but these statistics only go back to the early 1990s. Other metrics and housing experts suggest that, while recent building figures are higher than in some previous years, they’re generally far lower than records set decades ago.
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At PMQs Rishi Sunak said that, following Jeremy Hunt’s meeting with regulators this morning, there would be an announcement later today about plans “to ensure fairness of pricing and supply chains to ease the burden on consumers”.
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School leaders in Wales have voted to continue taking industrial action, which could escalate to strikes, PA Media reports. PA says:
Members of NAHT Cymru have been taking action short of a strike since February in a row over pay, workload and funding.
They voted in March to reject an offer from the Welsh government covering both 2022/23 and 2023/24 and have now renewed their mandate for industrial action, which was due to expire in July.
The ballot showed 95% support continuing action short of a strike, with 74% prepared to strike if needed.
Downing Street and the Labour party have both condemned the Just Stop Oil protesters who disrupted the Test match at Lord’s this morning.
At his post-PMQs lobby briefing, the PM’s spokesperson said:
These sorts of selfish, guerrilla tactics that target events bringing joy to millions are exactly why the government brought in new powers so the police can take swift action.
The prime minister is pleased play was able to resume quickly and thanks security staff, the swift hands of Jonny Bairstow and other England players who stepped in.
And a Labour spokesperson said Just Stop Oil’s tactics were “counter-productive, dangerous and wrong”. He said: “This sort of activity is not appropriate or justifiable in any way.”
Here is Simon Burnton’s story about the protest.
Steve Barclay says national inquiry into safety of mental health care settings to be launched in autumn
In his Commons statement Steve Barclay, the health secretary, also said that a national inquiry into the safety of mental health care settings would be launched in the autumn.
A new health services safety investigations body will be set up later this year, and the Department of Health and Social Care said it would “commence a national investigation into mental health inpatient care settings. It will investigate a range of issues, including how young people with mental health needs can be better cared for, how providers can learn from tragic deaths that take place in their care, how out-of-area placements are handled, and how staffing models can be improved.”
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Essex mental health independent inquiry to be given statutory powers, MPs told
Steve Barclay, the health secretary, has told MPs that the Essex mental health independent inquiry will be given statutory powers.
The inquiry is investigating the deaths of around 2,000 mental health patients at Essex Partnership university NHS foundation trust (Eput) over a 20-year period. Making it statutory will mean staff can be compelled to give evidence.
Barclay said he was responding to concerns about the lack of engagement with the inquiry from current and former Eput staff.
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Time running out for UK electoral system to keep up with AI, say regulators
Time is running out to enact wholesale changes to ensure Britain’s electoral system keeps pace with advances in artificial intelligence before the next general election, regulators fear. Ben Quinn has the story here.
Minister tells MPs 'lot of work going on' to ensure Thames Water customers not affected by potential collapse of firm
There was an urgent question in the Commons after PMQs about the crisis at Thames Water. Rebecca Pow, the environment minister, was responding, and she told MPs there was “a lot of work going on behind the scenes with Thames Water to ensure that cutomers will not be impacted”.
Graeme Wearden has full details on his business live blog.
No 10 says groping allegation against Tory mayoral hopeful Daniel Korski 'very serious'
Downing Street has refused to say whether or not Rishi Sunak thinks Daniel Korski is a suitable candidate to be Tory candidate for mayor of London in the light of the groping allegation against him. At the post-PMQs briefing, asked about this, the PM’s press secretary said:
As you know there are three candidates and the prime minister does not endorse any single one candidate.
Obviously these allegations are very serious. They are allegations that have obviously been denied by Daniel Korski himself. They should be handled in the proper way.
Asked if Sunak believed Daisy Goodwin, who says she was groped by Korski 10 years ago, the press secretary replied:
I’m not going to get into ‘he said, she said’. The two parties are telling different stories, the proper processes should be followed and conclusions shouldn’t be drawn on until the processes are followed through.
The press secretary also said the vetting of mayoral candidates was a matter for the Conservative party.
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PMQs - snap verdict
This morning Lisa Nandy gave a speech intended to position Labour, very firmly, as the party of home ownership. (See 10.59am.) It was the prelude to PMQs, where Keir Starmer’s script was crafted to drive home the same point. He taunted Sunak over a Tory byelection leaflet criticising plans to build 300,000 homes (despite this being government policy), and then hung him on a hook with an unanswerable question (would he admit that the target will be missed?). Then, in his fourth question, Starmer set up the key message.
You can tell from his answer … his body language, he has actually given up. He has given up. And his failure isn’t just shuttering the dream of those who desperately want to own their own home, it’s also hitting those who already have a mortgage. Because of their economic chaos, mortgage holders will be £2,900 a year poorer. How can they ever look the British people in the eye again, and claim to be the party of home ownership?
And Starmer pressed home his point as he started his fifth question. “At least he isn’t claiming they are the party of home ownership any more, because we are.”
This was Starmer’s payload, although to many people the line about Sunak having “given up” will ring true, or at least partly, because the PM did sound more than usually defensive, and deflated, as he responded today. He made a series of claims about the government’s housing record, but politicians never get much credit for what has gone before even if their record stands up (and, on housing, the Conservatives’ doesn’t much). At PMQs the PM ideally needs something a bit stronger – a new announcement, or a popular policy that the opposition, for its own internal reasons, won’t support. Today Sunak sounded like someone running out of ammo.
In those circumstances, the only option is to go negative. At the weekend the Sunday Times carried a fascinating account of a briefing to Tory MPs by the American pollster Frank Luntz that included this snippet.
Luntz is also said to have made clear that the Conservatives, after Partygate and Truss’s disastrous mini-budget, are so badly damaged that their only way to victory at the next election is to wage a negative campaign. A general election must be held by January 2025, but is expected next year.
One MP said: “Luntz said: ‘You guys won’t have a positive message that anybody will believe.’ He effectively said that we will have to convince voters that Labour is worse.”
Today Sunak deployed two negative attack lines, accusing Starmer of inconsistency and hypocrisy. Here was the inconsistency one:
I would say to [Labour MPs], though, they don’t have to worry too much because he has never actually kept a promise he has made.
Sunak often makes this point, and there is some truth in it; Starmer has shifted a lot on policy in his three years as leader. But it is not decisive as an argument because Sunak has been inconsistent too, and the Conservative party has had three leaders since the election who have been anything but consistent.
Sunak was on stronger ground when he accused Labour of hypocrisy, listing members of the shadow cabinet guilty of alleged nimbyism.
He now claims that he supports housebuilding, especially on the green belt. But unfortunately for him, the shadow deputy prime minister, the shadow minister for women, the shadow health, justice, defence, business, Northern Ireland and Scotland ministers are all united against more housebuilding in their areas.
But this does not quite clinch the argument either, because people understand that MPs have to take a stance on local issues, and that supporting more housebuilding does not have to mean supporting every housing application in the whole country. What matters is the stance of the party as a whole. In this respect, on housebuilding, Starmer is winning.
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Martin Docherty-Hughes (SNP) asks if Sunak agrees with MI5, that Evgeny Lebedev should not be in the Lords, or does he agree with Boris Johnson that he should.
That is a reference to this story.
Sunak says he will reply in general terms. The Lords appointments commission vets people. If it is opposed to a nomination, it has said it will write publicly to the relevant Commons committee, he says.
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Paul Bristow (Con) asks about a Traveller establishment in his constituency in a park where a festival is due to take place at the weekend. Will the PM make it clear that the police should use the powers they have to clear this?
Sunak says he recognises the misery unauthorised encampments can cause. This is an operational matter for the police, he says. But he says the government would not have given them those powers if they were not expected to use them.
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Stewart McDonald (SNP) asks Sunak to appoint an official to collect war crimes evidence against the Wagner group.
Sunak says the government has criticised the Wagner group, and included it in sanctions.
Shaun Bailey (Con) asks about a strike by bin workers in Sandwell. He criticises Labour for being on the side of the strikers.
Sunak says Labour is unable to stand up to the unions. It is not strong enough to support the strikes bill, he says.
Janet Daby (Lab) asks about a constituent who needs to use food banks, despite having two part-time jobs. What is the PM’s message to her?
Sunak says the government has taken action to help people with the cost of living. Energy bills are set to fall, he says.
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Ian Mearns (Lab) asks if the government will legislate for a register of children missing school.
Sunak says missing school can be very damaging. The government has spent £5bn on Covid catch-up schemes, he says. He does not address the question about the register.
Jane Stevenson (Con) asks Sunak to celebrate apprenticeship in the aerospace industry.
Sunak agrees, and says thousands of jobs will be created in the aerospace industry as a result of the fighter jet agreement with Japan and Italy.
Samantha Dixon (Lab) asks why the PM thinks it is acceptable for sewage to be pumped into the River Dee in Chester.
Sunak says that is not acceptable. He says the government has toughened the rules on sewage discharges.
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Damien Moore (Con) asks about Southport pier.
Sunak says the government is providing £2m to undertake improvements there. He says it has the second largest town deal in the country.
Alison McGovern (Lab) asks what will happen if Sunak fails to meet his promise to halve inflation. Will he call an election?
Sunak says he is sticking to the plan, taking responsible decisions.
James Duddridge (Con) says the Commonwealth parliamentary association is leaving the UK. Will the government intervene to ensure it can stay?
Sunak says the Foreign Office is looking at this.
Greg Smith (Con) asks if the PM supports the plan to develop his local hospital.
Sunak says new hospital schemes will be considered throught the rolling progamme for capital projects in the NHs.
Chris Bryant says Sunak has been in charge of the economy for 1,321 days. He has delivered “the largest national peacetime debt ever, the largest tax burden since the second world war, the highest for inflation since 1991, the fastest interest rate rises since 1989 and the biggest fall in living standards in our history”. He is the worst person to lecture the public, he says.
Sunak says Labour policy would make the situation worse.
Liz Saville Roberts, the Plaid Cymru leader at Westminster, says corporate greed is driving up inflation. She says the IMF said companies should cut profit margins.
Sunak says the IMF has backed the government’s policies.
Wendy Morton (Con) asks about the closure of a police station in her constituency.
Sunak says he is concerned about this. It is an important issue, he says. But it was a decision by the Labour police and crime commissioners, he says.
Stephen Flynn, the SNP leader at Westminster, accused the PM of patronising the public by telling them to hold their nerve. When did he, a near billionaire, struggle to pay a bill?
Sunak says tackling inflation is the right policy. The government is taking practical steps to support mortgage holders.
Flynn says the PM is out of touch, and the Tories will soon be out of time. The Tories and Labour are both refusing to accept recommendations on public sector pay.
Sunak says Flynn has exposed the economic illiteracy of SNP policy. He talked about the cost of living, and then backed a policy that would make it worse, he says.
UPDATE: Flynn said:
On Sunday, the prime minister patronised the public when he told them that in the face of ever-increasing mortgage bills, that they simply need to ‘hold their nerve’. What a nerve. So may I ask him, the near-billionaire, when was the last time that he struggled to pay a bill?
And Sunak replied:
The reason that mortgage rates are rising is because of inflation. That is the root cause, which is why it’s absolutely the right policy to tackle, halve inflation and reduce it back to target.
Now, that does mean that we do have to make difficult decisions. It does mean we have to be patient while the impact of those decisions actually has an impact.
But in the meantime … we are taking practical steps to support mortgage holders across the United Kingdom, particularly through the SMI [Support for Mortgage Interest] scheme and the new mortgage charter.
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Jason McCartney (Con) says infrastructure levies from developers in his areas do not seem to be going on infrastructure.
Sunak says this is a good point. It is why the government is reforming the sytem, which is too slow. There will be a new, non-negotiable local infrastructure levy.
Starmer says, instead of lecturing the country on holding their nerve, Sunak should locate his.
Sunak says Starmer has not taken the time to understand the mortgage charter. It goes further than Labour’s, he says. He says he is doing what he says. That is the difference; he delivers on his promises, while Starmer breaks his.
Starmer says at least the Tories are not claiming to be the party of home ownership “because we are”.
He also says Sunak has not done enough to force banks to offer more protection to people with mortgages.
Sunak says the number of first-time buyers is at its highest level for 20 years.
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Starmer says Sunak has given up. Mortgage holders will be £2,900 poorer under the Tories. How can they claim to be the party of home ownership?
Sunak says the shadow housing secretary has opposed housebuilding in their constituency. You can’t believe a word they say.
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Starmer says, one minute the Tories are in favour of more houses, the next they are against it. Why won’t he admit he will not meet his target?
Sunak says Starmer claims to want to build more homes. But he names shadow cabinet ministers who he says are against housebuilding in their areas. But they don’t have to worry, he says – because Starmer has never kept a promise he has made.
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Starmer says it was not a difficult question. Can Sunak name anyone who thinks the government will hit its target?
Sunak says the government is building more homes. He attacks Labour’s policy.
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Keir Starmer says last week Margaret McDonagh, Labour’s first female general secretary, died. He pays tribute to her, and says he will be “forever grateful” for her advice.
He says the Tories have been putting out adverts (in Uxbridge) attacking plans to build 300,000 homes a year. But this is government policy. Is he for it or against it?
Sunak says housing starts are double the number they were under Labour. And there is a 20-year high for first-time buyers, he says.
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Luke Evans (Con) says there has been significant investment in health in Leicestershire. But he is looking for more, for investment in a day case unit.
Sunak says this is a matter for the local health authority.
Rishi Sunak starts by saying today will see the second reading of the Holocaust memorial bill. He says he hopes MPs will unite to back it.
Rishi Sunak is likely to be asked about the crisis at Thames Water at PMQs. This is what Mel Stride, the work and pensions secretary, said when he was asked about this on his LBC phone-in this morning.
Ofwat has as part of its remit a requirement to look at the resilience of the entire sector and will have been looking at and continue to look very closely at Thames Water.
Government as well has contingency arrangements in place to cover any scenario which may play out and what I’m supremely confident of is whatever the situation is at Thames Water, the water will continue to flow.
Rishi Sunak faces Keir Starmer at PMQs
PMQs is coming up soon.
Here is the list of MPs down to ask a question.
EHRC says it remains "seriously concerned" about illegal migration bill and urges peers to vote to amend it
This afternoon the House of Lords will start the report stage debate of the illegal migration bill. Peers have already spent six days debating other stages of the bill, but the report stage debates are the most important ones because this is when amendments get put to a vote.
This morning the Equality and Human Rights Commission has put out a new statement saying it remains “seriously concerned” about the potential impact of the bill on human rights and on the safety of migrants. A spokesperson said:
We remain seriously concerned about the potential implications of the illegal migration bill on human rights and the safety of individuals.
Careful consideration should continue to be given to the impact of the bill on different groups with protected characteristics – including children, pregnant women, disabled people, torture survivors, and victims of trafficking.
The EHRC (a government quango, not an independent charity) is also encouraging peers to vote for amendments that would insert fresh human rights protections into the bill. It explains why it thinks these amendments are needed in a lengthy briefing note.
Momentum, the leftwing Labour group, has criticised Lisa Nandy for opposing rent controls and mortgage relief in her speech this morning. (See 10.59am.) A Momentum spokesperson said:
Millions of renters and mortgage holders are struggling to make ends meet. With the Tory government shrugging its shoulders, Labour has both the opportunity and the obligation to set out the decisive action needed.
It beggars belief, then, that Lisa Nandy has criticised calls for rent controls, which she herself backed just months ago, and mortgage relief.
Once again, policies supported by unions, Labour members and progressive Labour Mayors like Sadiq Khan and Andy Burnham are rejected by a UK Labour Leadership which seems allergic to good, popular policy.
On mortgage relief, Nandy said: “Untargeted mortgage relief that fuels the inflation crisis is no substitute for stabilising the economy and getting interest rates under control.”
Lisa Nandy positions Labour as party of home ownership, defending right to buy and criticising rent controls
Lisa Nandy, the shadow levelling up secretary, has been speaking at the Housing 23 conference in Manchester. She did not announce anything specific, but in terms of “vibes” not policy, it was significant; it planted Labour very, very fimrly on the side of home owners, and first time buyers.
Here are the key points from her speech and Q&A.
Nandy said there was nothing “Tory” about Labour wanting to be the party of home ownership. Referring to Keir Starmer’s plan to get home ownership levels up to 70% (it was 63% in England towards the end of the last decade), she said:
Frankly I was astonished by the reaction of some people in my own party who said this was Tory lite.
They argued home ownership and social housing were a zero sum game and we were making the wrong choice.
To those people I say you couldn’t be more wrong.
The biggest and most consequential divide in Britain today is between the people and the communities who have assets - and those who don’t.
If you want people to have real resilience in their lives, they need the assets that sustain them and help them weather hard times, and offer choices and chances when times are good – like your own home or the child savings funds set up by the last Labour government.
And they need common assets, like council housing which provides a secure home for life, handed back to be used for future generations.
She defended the “right to buy” (council homes), saying it was originally a Labour idea and that it only went wrong under Margaret Thatcher because the proceeds were not used to build more homes. She said:
The right to buy – whose abolition has come to be a totemic issue for many on the left - was originally a Labour policy.
It was the decision of the Thatcher government to fail to replace the council housing stock that was sold, pitting the rights of the individual against the rights of the community.
In the Q&A, she also said she did not want to suspend right to buy.
Asked if the party would back a temporary suspension (Corbyn era policy), Nandy says: "We're not proposing to take away the right of people to access their own assets. In fact, we want to do the opposite. We want to extend asset ownership, wealth ownership to more people."
— Peter Apps (@PeteApps) June 28, 2023
Peter Apps, deputy editor of Inside Housing (who recently won the Orwell prize for his brilliant, brilliant book Show Me the Bodies: How We Let Grenfell Happen), thinks Nandy’s argument on this – that she supports right to buy, but not the loss of council or social housing – is incoherent.
You can't hold both of these positions, and saying you can is not being honest with voters. One literally is the other. pic.twitter.com/BAK9kkctFt
— Peter Apps (@PeteApps) June 28, 2023
Of course, Labour, like the Conservatives in 2012, are promising to replace all the homes sold. I hope they have a better success, because the scoreboard since then currently reads 107,000 sold, 37,000 replacements started - which are smaller and largely not for social rent
— Peter Apps (@PeteApps) June 28, 2023
Nandy said Labour would “tilt the balance” in housing towards first time buyers. She said:
We will tilt the balance of power back to first time buyers and use the power of the state to help them make the leap into home ownership.
She signalled that Labour was opposed to rent controls. She said:
When housebuilding is falling off a cliff and buy to let landlords are leaving the market, rent controls that cut rents for some, will almost certainly leave others homeless.
But she also said Labour would give more power to tenants. She said:
We’ll make it our mission to hand power back to tenants in the private rented sector and end the feudal system of leasehold which has left millions trapped.
She attacked Conservative housing policy on the grounds that it marked a shift “from bricks to benefits”. She explained:
The last decade has been defined by a shift from ‘bricks to benefits’.
The government now spends 10 times more on housing benefit than on creating affordable homes.
And while the costs of housing benefit and subsidies for first-time buyers mount up, year on year we fail to build the homes we need.
She also criticised Tory housing policy on the grounds that it did not do enough to promote competition. She said:
After the war the health and housing minister Nye Bevan concluded that only by bringing in councils to plan the housing that developers would deliver could they fulfil the promise to a generation returning from war.
He would be shocked by our housing system today – ad hoc, piecemeal – desperately lacking a plan.
But imagine too what Adam Smith, the founding father of modern Conservatism would have made of a market that creates no incentive for competition, innovation or quality?
A broken market and an absent state is the worst of all worlds. A state of affairs as fundamentally anathema to the Conservative tradition as it is socialism.
She said Labour’s plan to build more on the green belt would focus on “poor quality” green belt land. She explained:
We will take on the taboo that prevents us being honest about what the green belt is and what it isn’t.
Because for all the yelping from Number 10 since we announced this plan, it is successive Tory governments that have presided over the loss of large tracts of high-quality green belt, the nature-rich greenfield land which protects the character of local communities.
We will instead release poor-quality ex-industrial land and dilapidated, neglected scrubland to build more housing. So we see no more examples like the affordable housing development in Tottenham that was frustrated because a disused petrol station was technically designated as green belt land.
She said there would be further announcements about Labour’s plans for social housing in the coming months.
Updated
NAO boss says risk posed by unsafe school buildings 'very serious'
Specialists are carrying out urgent checks on almost 600 schools in England identified as being at possible risk of structural collapse because of crumbling concrete, with many more not aware of the danger of their buildings, according to a report from the National Audit Office. My colleague Sally Weale has the story.
Commenting on the report, Gareth Davies, head of the NAO, told the Today programme this morning the risk was “very serious”. He explained:
It’s particularly focused on these lightweight concrete buildings, and there’s a similar issue in hospitals actually, but in the case of schools 65 of these schools have been positively identified, there’s a large number more that are still being investigated. Out of those 65, 24 have had urgent action taken immediately – including closure, in some cases.
So this isn’t a theoretical risk. It’s a real risk. And clearly, it’s important that the department and government as a whole brings that down below critical level where it currently sits.
Contingency plans reportedly being drawn up for Thames Water collapse
Contingency plans for the collapse of Thames Water are reportedly being drawn up by the UK government and the water watchdog, amid fears that Britain’s biggest water company cannot survive because of its huge debt pile, Julia Kollewe and Graeme Wearden report.
Jeremy Hunt’s meeting with regulators in Downing Street has finished, but the heads of the regulatory bodies declined to comment as they left, PA Media reports. PA says:
The chancellor met with the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and regulators for the energy, water and communications sectors to press them on whether there is a profiteering problem and what they can do to tackle it.
Sarah Cardell from the CMA, David Black of Ofwat and Jonathan Brearley of Ofgem all declined to comment as they left 11 Downing Street.
Minister says her support for Daniel Korski 'on pause' in light of allegation against him
Claire Coutinho, the education minister, was giving interviews on behalf of the government this morning. In the past she has praised Daniel Korski’s “clear vision for London”, but this morning she said her support for him was “on pause” given the allegations against him. She said:
I would say I’d be on pause at the moment because lots of things are happening.
Asked to confirm she was suspending her support, she said:
Yes, because I think we need to see what’s happened.
But, at the same time, this is an allegation. He’s roundly denied it.
If there is a complaint in the system, it needs to be followed up swiftly so we can find the facts and see what’s happened, but I do think it’s a very serious and concerning allegation.
Daisy Goodwin gives first broadcast interview about Daniel Korski
Good morning. When the Conservative party announced the names of the three people on the shortlist to be their candidate for London mayor next year, they got minimal media coverage. The best known candidate, Paul Scully, the minister for London, was off the list, and the three people still in the contest were relatively obscure. “Furious London Tories fear low-wattage mayor shortlist looks like surrender” was the headline on our (very good) analysis by Peter Walker and Pippa Crerar.
But the contest has now become headline news after Daniel Korski, a policy adviser in No 10 when David Cameron was PM, was accused by Daisy Goodwin, a TV producer, of groping her in Downing Street 10 years ago. Korski has strongly denied the allegation.
Goodwin named Korksi in an article in the Times. This morning she gave her first broadcast interview since writing that piece, and it will increase pressure on Korski to withdraw from the contest.
Goodwin suggested that other women might come forward with allegations about Korski. She told the Today programme:
Since I wrote my piece, I have been contacted by other women with some very interesting stories, which clearly I can’t talk about for legal reasons. But I feel entirely justified in having written the piece and naming him.
The Today programme said it put this to Korski’s team, and they said he welcomed any investigation into what he had done. They also stressed that he had categorically denied Goodwin’s allegation.
Goodwin firmly rejected a suggestion that she might have misinterpreted what happend. Asked by Martha Kearney if there had been any ambiguity about what happened, Goodwin replied:
I’m really surprised you’re asking me that, Martha. Yes, it happened to me 10 years ago, but when something like this happens to you, you know that it happened to you because you were there, you felt it, you felt amazed, shocked and rather humiliated. To ask me if I’m certain is to as me if I’m making it up. That’s not the case.
When it was put to her that Korski had denied it categorically, Goodwin replied:
Well, he would say that, wouldn’t he. If he had come forward and said, ‘Oh, I’m really sorry, something like this, I might have inadvertently touched her’, that would be a different story. But the fact that he has categorically denied it is, to me, bizarre.
She said she tried yesterday to make an official complaint about this – but did not have much luck. She said she called No 10 yesterday and eventually got through to someone who said they could not take a message. Then she emailed the Cabinet Office, and she received an out-of-office message with a note about who to contact in an emergency. She did not get a reply until the Times ran a story saying she was submitting a complaint, and then an official did get in touch, she said.
Here is the agenda for the day.
Morning: Jeremy Hunt, the chancellor, holds a meeting with regulators to discuss what they can do to keep prices down.
9am: Lisa Nandy, the shadow levelling up secretary, gives a speech to the Housing 23 conference in Manchester.
9am: Mel Stride, the work and pensions secretary, takes part in an LBC phone-in.
12pm: Rishi Sunak faces Keir Starmer at PMQs.
After 3.30pm: Peers begin the report stage debate on the illegal migration bill.
If you want to contact me, do try the “send us a message” feature. You’ll see it just below the byline – on the left of the screen, if you are reading on a PC or a laptop. This is for people who want to message me directly. I find it very useful when people message to point out errors (even typos – no mistake is too small to correct). Often I find your questions very interesting too. I can’t promise to reply to them all, but I will try to reply to as many as I can, either in the comments below the line, privately (if you leave an email address and that seems more appropriate), or in the main blog, if I think it is a topic of wide interest.
