A summary of today's developments
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Here is a summary of today’s key developments:
Keir Starmer has pledged to take on Labour MPs and councils that try to block pylon networks delivering a planned new generation of clean electricity, as he promised the government’s plans would lower people’s bills in this parliament. Formally launching GB Energy, the state-run green energy generation company, one of his flagship policies, the prime minister said there was a need to move rapidly on new onshore and offshore wind because of what he called the last government’s inaction and short-termism.
Speaking on Thursday at a wind turbine factory on the edge of Widnes, Cheshire, Starmer set out the plan to build enough offshore wind over the next five years to power 20m homes, part of a tie-up with the crown estate. In his speech, Starmer said he stands by the figure from Labour’s manifesto suggesting that the party’s net zero energy plans would bring down household bills by £300 a year.
Starmer said the “hard graft of rebuilding this country has truly started” as he accused the previous government of leaving a “rot of shortsightedness and self-service” for Labour to clear up. Giving a speech on Thursday, the prime minister said “every day” his administration is finding “more mess” that the Tories left behind.
Energy secretary Ed Miliband has said “it’s going to take time” for GB Energy to start making money. Legislation to establish the state-owned energy company needs to go through the House of Commons, and the government has set aside £8.3bn to invest in new windfarms and solar projects, which must get built before GB Energy can start generating a return, he told BBC Breakfast.“Within the lifetime of this parliament it will start generating returns,” he said. Miliband also pledged that Britain will “never again” face an energy bills crisis as he tries to wean the country off fossil fuels.
Robert Jenrick will run for the Conservative party leadership. Jenrick will become the third Tory MP to formally declare their candidacy, after James Cleverly and Tom Tugendhat previously announced their bids.
Further emergency measures could be introduced to respond to the prison capacity “crisis”, the justice secretary said as MPs approved moves to release thousands of prisoners early. Shabana Mahmood told MPs that the prison population remains “within a few hundred places of collapse” and the government will continue to monitor it closely in the coming weeks.
The justice secretary’s remarks came as the House of Commons backed legislation to reduce the amount of time prisoners must spend in jail before they are automatically released, from 50% of their sentence to 40%. The move – which does not apply to those convicted of sex offences, terrorism, domestic abuse or some violent offences – is expected to result in 5,500 offenders being released in September and October.
Rishi Sunak’s Downing Street team rejected advice a year ago that they should consider the early release of prisoners who had served less than half of their sentences to relieve prison overcrowding, the Guardian has been told by multiple sources. Discussions took place inside No 10 in June 2023 over the proposals, a version of which was adopted two weeks ago by Keir Starmer’s government.
A £5bn debt crisis caused by out-of-control overspending on special educational needs could explode in less than two years, bankrupting scores of England’s local authorities, the UK government has been warned. The crisis stems from the failure to properly fund a huge increase in demand for Special Education Needs and Disability (Send) services over the past decade, triggering an “existential” crisis for councils which have “no obvious means of paying off the debt”.
Conservative leadership candidate Tom Tugendhat has denied that his suggestion that he would be prepared to leave the European convention on human rights (ECHR) is political opportunism. “No, I’ve been very, very clear I am prepared to make any decision that will keep the British people safe,” he told GB News when questioned about his change of tone on the issue.
The home secretary, Yvette Cooper, is meeting the Greater Manchester mayor, Andy Burnham, to discuss a video appearing to show a police officer kicking a prone man, said the prime minister. Keir Starmer said he understands the “concern” over the footage.
The new first minister of Wales won’t be installed for almost two weeks. Eluned Morgan, the current health secretary in Wales, was confirmed as Welsh Labour leader on Wednesday. Vaughan Gething, who announced his resignation as Welsh Labour leader after the donations scandal, has now said he had written to the llywydd (the presiding officer) to recall the Senedd, the Welsh parliament on 6 August.
Nigel Farage has been handed a bill for more than £8,000 that a former Reform UK candidate says he is owed for running a general election campaign in Clacton before he was elbowed aside when the party leader chose to stand. Tony Mack, who was to be the party’s candidate in the Essex constituency until June, said Farage had assured him in a telephone call that the party would “pay back every fucking penny” and made a series of other commitments.
Labour will be pushed to act on abolishing the “indefensible” two-child benefit limit, the former shadow chancellor John McDonnell has claimed, after Keir Starmer suspended him and six others for the first rebellion of the new government.
Labour’s Ian Lavery has claimed that MPs who have time for a second job are not doing their job as an elected representative properly. Speaking in the Commons, he said that “being an MP is not a hobby” before adding: “This is like a full-time job plus, and if it’s not a full-time job plus, I’m afraid my view is: you’re not doing your job.”
Labour has delayed proposals to tackle spurious lawsuits brought by oligarchs and others aimed at intimidating journalists, academics and campaigners. Frederick Ponsonby, a Labour justice minister in the House of Lords, said he could not commit to bringing forward standalone legislation on strategic lawsuits against public participation, known as Slapps, or set out a timetable for tackling the issue.
Commons leader Lucy Powell said she “won’t be taking” advice from shadow leader Chris Philp, as the Tories had “left the country in a worse state than even our worst fears”. Earlier on Thursday in the House of Commons, Philp said the government suffered a “significant backbench rebellion” on the two-child benefit cap and their majority would be “gone by Easter”.
Government legislation designed to help nationalise the UK’s railways will be fast-tracked through the House of Commons. Lucy Powell said the passenger railway services public ownership bill will undergo its committee stage and remaining stages on 3 September. The Great British Energy bill will receive its second reading on 5 September, Ms Powell said in the weekly business statement.
“The days of government ministers waging culture wars against civil servants are over,” chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster, Pat McFadden, has said. Responding on Thursday to a question on civil service pay awards, he said: “Yesterday I met the civil service unions together with my colleague, the new minister [Georgia Gould]. We had a very positive discussion covering a whole range of issues.”
Fewer borrowers are likely to default on their loans and mortgages, Lloyds has said, as the banking group upped its forecasts for the UK economy. In fresh estimates released as part of its second-quarter results, Lloyds said it expected the economy to grow 0.8% in 2024 – double the rate of growth forecasted in April, when it predicted a 0.4% rise.
Labour’s Ian Lavery has claimed that MPs who have time for a second job are not doing their job as an elected representative properly.
Speaking in the Commons, he said that “being an MP is not a hobby” before adding:
This is like a full-time job plus, and if it’s not a full-time job plus, I’m afraid my view is: you’re not doing your job. If you’re elected as a member of parliament, with 70,000-odd constituents, then that’s a full-time job.
I cannot for the life of me understand how other people have had and have been able to take up other jobs, other occupations, and see this as basically something that tops up their massive salary elsewhere, that’s what’s happened, and it continues to happen.”
Lavery, the MP for Blyth and Ashington, said he was called a “liar” during the election campaign but that he believes most MPs are “genuinely decent people” who are “there to make life better”.
He went on to say:
That’s the perception of the general public, that MPs are greedy, they’re liars, are all the same, they want to make as much money as they can and not bothered about the people they represent, and that’s what I think we’ve got to try and clean up.”
Lavery also said that MPs make “an absolute fortune” while their constituents are on benefits and using food banks.
Speaking in the Commons, Lavery said:
I never thought in a million years when I was working at the pit that I would be on a salary of £91,346, it’s a fortune you know, it’s an absolute fortune, and you’ve got to work for it, you’ve got to work for your constituents.
That £91,346, when you look at the average UK salary, which is £35,828, in the north-east where I live it’s under £30,000 - we’re paid fortunes, man, we’re nearly millionaires, I know that’s not true, however I make a point.”
Lavery added:
Sky News reported that MPs earned £17m from second incomes last year, that’s a lot of money, mind, a lot of money when a lot of people who we represent are actually using food banks, are actually claiming benefits in work, and they’re suffering greatly as a consequence of the cost-of-living crisis caused by 14 years of disruption of the Conservative government.”
Nigel Farage has been handed a bill for more than £8,000 that a former Reform UK candidate says he is owed for running a general election campaign in Clacton before he was elbowed aside when the party leader chose to stand.
Tony Mack, who was to be the party’s candidate in the Essex constituency until June, said Farage had assured him in a telephone call that the party would “pay back every fucking penny” and made a series of other commitments.
The psychotherapist and charity worker – who alleges he was frozen out by Reform UK and that Farage went back on a deal that they shook on – says he is speaking out because he believes the MP cannot be trusted. He accused an “aggressive element” among some of those who supported Reform UK of creating a “fascistic” atmosphere in the constituency.
In a letter to Farage this week, he says that he is owed a bill for £8,500 that also includes a website (www.reformclacton.com) that Mack set up and which was then used by Farage for his campaign.
“I fear for the future of Reform unless it is democratised,” he said, in reference to the unusual structure of the party, which is registered as a company that is ultimately controlled by Farage rather than members.
“I also fear for the future of a movement like that when it is led by a man who cannot keep his promises. Where does that leave his constituents, or supporters who have invested their faith in Reform to deliver the kind of change that is needed.”
You can read the full story here:
Sunak rejected advice to release prisoners early while PM
Rishi Sunak’s Downing Street team rejected advice a year ago that they should consider the early release of prisoners who had served less than half of their sentences to relieve prison overcrowding, the Guardian has been told by multiple sources.
Discussions took place inside No 10 in June 2023 over the proposals, a version of which was adopted two weeks ago by Keir Starmer’s government.
In July 2023, No 10 was asked again, this time in writing, by Ministry of Justice officials to formally consider the move, sources said. However, it was rejected because of concerns from Sunak’s aides that it would be rejected by Tory backbenchers.
The disclosure indicates that Sunak and his team were aware of the controversial proposals at least eight months earlier than previously thought.
It comes as government figures released on Monday show that self-harm rates have soared in English and Welsh prisons to 73,804 incidents in the 12 months to the end of March 2024, at a rate of one every seven minutes.
Over the same period, prisons recorded 28,292 assaults – a 19% rise on the figures for the previous 12 months.
The Guardian has previously disclosed that Sunak was advised in May to vary the minimum sentencing period, a week before the election, or face “a critical failure” of the criminal justice system.
A source close to the proceedings said: “Officials were adamant that standard determinate sentences were the best way to ease pressure on the system, but Sunak’s advisers overruled it again and again.”
You can read the full story here:
Updated
Shadow crime minister Matt Vickers said he recognised the “challenges and significant pressure” facing prisons and the criminal justice system, but defended his party’s response when in government.
Speaking as the House of Commons backed legislation to reduce the amount of time prisoners must spend in jail before they are automatically released, the Conservative frontbencher said:
Why does this statutory instrument not contain a sunset clause?
I realise she [Shabana Mahmood] touched on this, but surely given the significance of these powers it’s reasonable to sunset such a measure, with the lord chancellor always able to return to the house subsequently to seek the house’s agreement to renew if needed rather than giving her a blank cheque.”
Conservative former minister John Hayes questioned the government about the idea of pop-up prisons, similar to temporary NHS hospitals introduced during the Covid-19 pandemic.
He said:
Now, I accept that the previous government should have done more, but this government should look at urgent prison building.
We were able to build Nightingale hospitals at a stroke. Why can’t we have Fry prisons built as a temporary measure at least in order to accommodate many of the people who will otherwise commit further crimes?”
For the Liberal Democrats, Wendy Chamberlain said the party recognised the legislation was “probably the only step” that the government can take to respond to the situation.
Updated
Further emergency measures could be introduced to respond to prison capacity 'crisis', says justice secretary
Further emergency measures could be introduced to respond to the prison capacity “crisis”, the justice secretary said as MPs approved moves to release thousands of prisoners early.
The PA news agency reports that Shabana Mahmood told MPs that the prison population remains “within a few hundred places of collapse” and the government will continue to monitor it closely in the coming weeks.
Mahmood said Operation Safeguard, in which police cells are used to house offenders, and Operation Early Dawn, which seeks to manage the flow of prisoners from police cells to the courts, are among the options available to her if required.
Her remarks came as the House of Commons backed legislation to reduce the amount of time prisoners must spend in jail before they are automatically released, from 50% of their sentence to 40%.
The move – which does not apply to those convicted of sex offences, terrorism, domestic abuse or some violent offences – is expected to result in 5,500 offenders being released in September and October.
They will serve the rest of their sentence under “strict” licensing conditions in the community, MPs heard.
For the opposition, shadow crime minister Matt Vickers raised concerns over the lack of a cut-off date for the legislation and labelled it a “blank cheque”.
Speaking in the Commons, Mahmood said:
The crisis in our prisons is not over. The prison population remains within a few hundred places of collapse. Last week we temporarily closed HMP Dartmoor, taking around 200 places out of the prison estate.
While we’re able to withstand that loss of capacity, any further changes – be that a further loss of supply or an unexpected increase in demand – could tip us into crisis. The measures I have set out will take effect in September, giving probation officers the precious time they need to prepare.
During this time we will continue to monitor the prison population closely and we will be ready to introduce further emergency measures, like Operation Early Dawn or Operation Safeguard, if required.
We are not yet out of the woods.”
Mahmood earlier said the legislation was not introducing a permanent change on early release. She said:
We will review this measure within 18 months of implementation, at the very latest in March 2026.
At this point we believe the situation in our prisons will have stabilised and we will be able to reverse this measure, returning to the automatic point of release to 50% of a sentence.”
She added:
Given the scale of the crisis we have inherited, placing an artificial time limit on this measure would be nothing more than an irresponsible gimmick. We have taken the very deliberate decision not to reverse this measure until we are certain that prison capacity has stabilised.”
Mahmood also accused the previous Conservative government of running the prison estate to “within days of disaster”, saying:
They even came close to triggering Operation Brinker, which is effectively a one in, one out measure into our prisons and it is the very last desperate act available to forestall by a matter of days the total collapse of law and order in this country.”
Updated
Here are some images from today via the newswires:
Starmer will take on Labour councils that block pylons delivering clean electricity
Keir Starmer has pledged to take on Labour MPs and councils that try to block pylon networks delivering a planned new generation of clean electricity, as he promised the government’s plans would lower people’s bills in this parliament.
Formally launching GB Energy, the state-run green energy generation company, one of his flagship policies, the prime minister said there was a need to move rapidly on new onshore and offshore wind because of what he called the last government’s inaction and short-termism.
Speaking at a wind turbine factory on the edge of Widnes, Cheshire, Starmer set out the plan to build enough offshore wind over the next five years to power 20m homes, part of a tie-up with the crown estate.
Answering media questions after his speech, watched by Juergen Maier, the former Siemens UK boss who has been announced as the chair of GB Energy, Starmer was asked if he could guarantee ministers would push for power to be distributed using overground lines, rather than underground or undersea cables, which are much more expensive and take considerably longer to build.
There are already planning battles against overground lines in places including East Anglia and Lincolnshire, with some Labour candidates at the general election saying they opposed pylon schemes.
“We will take the tough decisions to make this work,” Starmer replied. “Because it’s the failure to take the tough decisions, the running away from tough decisions, that has caused over a decade of lost opportunity.
You can read the full piece here:
House of Commons backed legislation to reduce time prisoners must spend in jail before automatic release
MPs voted 323 to 81, majority 242, in favour of approving legislation designed to allow thousands of prisoners to be released earlier than planned.
Justice secretary Shabana Mahmood told MPs that the prison population remains “within a few hundred places of collapse” and the government will continue to monitor it closely in the coming weeks.
The legislation reduces the amount of time prisoners must spend in jail before they are automatically released from half of their sentence to 40%.
The move, which does not apply to those convicted of sex offences, terrorism, domestic abuse or some violent offences, is expected to result in 5,500 offenders being released in September and October, reports the PA news agency.
Updated
Fewer borrowers are likely to default on their loans and mortgages, Lloyds has said, as the banking group upped its forecasts for the UK economy.
In fresh estimates released as part of its second-quarter results, Lloyds said it expected the economy to grow 0.8% in 2024 – double the rate of growth forecasted in April, when it predicted a 0.4% rise.
Improving economic conditions are good news for Lloyds customers, who the bank says are less likely to fall behind on costly loan and mortgage payments.
Lloyds, which is the UK’s largest mortgage lender and owns the Halifax brand, set aside just £44m for bad debts and defaults in the second quarter. That is down 89% from the £419m put aside during the same period last year when there were serious concerns over whether mortgage borrowers, already squeezed by the cost of living crisis, could afford higher interest rates.
“We’ve seen both across individuals and small businesses, positive economic developments,” the chief executive, Charlie Nunn, said on Thursday. “There is a real resilience we’re seeing in the first half [of the year] and it’s linked to now three-quarters … of real wage growth. Many businesses’ cashflows are also strengthening.”
The smaller provision for defaults helped offset a 9% drop in Lloyds’ net interest income, which is an important measure of profitability, and accounts for the difference between what a bank makes on loan charges versus what is paid out to savers.
You can read the full story here:
Reacting to the government’s Greath British Energy announcement, Isabella O’Dowd, head of climate policy at WWF, said:
This is a really exciting moment for the UK. Accelerating the rollout of clean, cost-effective energy is a triple-win, giving us lower bills and higher growth while cutting our carbon emissions.
Addressing the climate crisis is vital for safeguarding nature but the UK government must also prioritse restoring nature to build a truly strong and sustainable economy.”
Keir Starmer said he will not tell people what to do with their boilers as he answered questions after a speech on the government’s clean energy strategy in Runcorn, Cheshire.
Asked if people should ditch their gas boilers and whether the government would help them to do so, he said:
I’m not going to tell people what to do with their boilers.
This is not about bearing down on individuals imposing a disproportionate burden on them. I don’t think that’s the way that we take anybody through a transition.
So this is not about a government that’s going to go around the country saying ‘you can do this. You can’t do that.
He said the best approach is to “put in place the difficult decisions to make sure that renewable energy is a reliable source of energy and meet our mission which is to have clean power by 2030”.
The best selling point for the general public is that “their bills will go down and they will go down not just for a short time, but for the long term”, he said.
Updated
Downing Street said the public expects high standards of conduct from police officers.
The prime minister’s official spokesman said:
Clearly we understand the level of concern members of the public rightly have from seeing this video clip.
The public rightly expect a high standard of conduct from our police officers, who are there to protect our communities.
Asked whether Keir Starmer shared the Reform UK deputy leader’s view that the police action was “reassuring”, the spokesman said:
No, he wouldn’t characterise it like that.
As I say, he understands the concern that members of the public rightly have in relation to that video, the public rightly expect a high standard of conduct from our police and it is right that the police have reported themselves to the IOPC.
More from the speech:
Keir Starmer said nuclear power was “very much part of the mix” as he gave a speech in Runcorn on the government’s energy strategy.
Nuclear is very much part of the mix as we go forward. And we will be pushing hard on it.
I’ve already had discussions with the energy secretary about how we can speed up when it comes to nuclear.
He said he was “pretty appalled” at what Labour is discovering about the previous government’s decisions in terms of the speed of projects and the funding put behind them.
He added:
We will clear them up and we will move this on because nuclear is very much part of the energy mix as we go forward. And the task I’ve set the energy secretary is to take such steps that are necessary to make sure this is delivered faster and more efficiently and to do that as quickly as possible.
Meanwhile, it looks as if the new first minister of Wales won’t be installed for almost two weeks.
Eluned Morgan, the current health secretary in Wales, was confirmed as Welsh Labour leader on Wednesday.
Vaughan Gething, who announced his resignation as Welsh Labour leader after the donations scandal, has now said he had written to the llywydd (the presiding officer) to recall the Senedd, the Welsh parliament on 6 August.
Morgan is expected to be confirmed as Welsh first minister then. Gething remains first minister for the moment.
In his speech, Keir Starmer said he stands by the figure from Labour’s manifesto suggesting that the party’s net zero energy plans would bring down household bills by £300 a year.
H said:
Yes I do – I stand by everything in my manifesto and one of the things I made clear in the election campaign is because I wouldn’t make a single promise or commitment that I didn’t think we could deliver in government and that’s why we carefully costed and funded everything in our manifesto.
That does depend on early firm decisions being made, which is why we’ve set up GB Energy, why we’ve announced the partnership today with the crown estate and why the energy secretary has already taken action in week one in relation to onshore wind, in relation to solar energy and also pushing on with nuclear. So I stand by that commitment.
What this brings us is lower bills, energy security, the next generation of jobs and of course an important contribution to our obligations in relation to the planet.
Here are some of the top lines from Keir Starmer’s speech on Great British (GB) Energy:
GB Energy will “drive down bills”, Keir Starmer said as he launched the government’s plan for a state-owned energy firm.
This will drive down bills, it gives us energy independence” because the UK currently relies on international markets which is why the energy prices have faced a harder hit than other countries, he said.
He said the money the government is putting into GB energy is intended to be a “catalyst” for private investment.
He added:
It will take time for this to develop it will take time before were able to get the benefits of clean power but that’s why were moving at pace.
Updated
Home secretary meeting Manchester mayor over police incident at Manchester airport, PM says
Keir Starmer said he understands the “concern” over footage appearing to show a police officer kicking a prone man and home secretary Yvette Cooper is meeting the Greater Manchester Mayor, Andy Burnham, to discuss the video.
Updated
Keir Starmer says 'every day' he is finding 'more mess' that the Tories left behind
Keir Starmer said the “hard graft of rebuilding this country has truly started” as he accused the previous government of leaving a “rot of shortsightedness and self-service” for Labour to clear up.
Giving a speech in Runcorn, Cheshire, the prime minister said “every day” his administration is finding “more mess” that the Tories left behind.
“The hard graft of rebuilding this country has well and truly started, and it is vital that we begin immediately because the last government dropped the ball,” he said.
He added:
They left us the worst inheritance since the second world war, and every day – every day – we’re finding more mess that they’ve left for us to clear up.
The rot of shortsightedness and self-service that has weakened the foundations of our country.”
In his speech, Keir Starmer said:
We said we would set up Great British Energy and we have. We said we would create good jobs and cut your bills and we will. The race has started. The work has begun. The planet and the people of this country will reap the benefits for decades to come.”
Updated
Keir Starmer is giving a speech on Great British Energy now. You can listen via the video at the top of this blog.
The PA news agency reports that on the government’s plans after recess, Commons leader Lucy Powell said on Thursday:
We’re getting on with the job with more to come in coming days. Manifesto commitments realised today, turning the page on an era of sleaze and scandal.
Our first bills considered next week to bring our railways back into public ownership, putting passengers not profit first, and to protect our economy and family finances from the Conservative Trussonomics of which (shadow Commons leader Chris Philp) was an author.
We’ll legislate for Great British energy when parliament returns delivering energy security and lower bills.
What a contrast to the dying days of the last government. So if he’ll forgive me, I won’t be taking his advice, but I will continue realising the change the country is crying out for.”
Labour has delayed proposals to tackle spurious lawsuits brought by oligarchs and others aimed at intimidating journalists, academics and campaigners.
Frederick Ponsonby, a Labour justice minister in the House of Lords, said he could not commit to bringing forward standalone legislation on strategic lawsuits against public participation, known as Slapps, or set out a timetable for tackling the issue.
He said the government would be conducting a review and while it did want to outlaw Slapps that are abusive, there was also a “need to protect access to justice for legitimate claims”.
Rishi Sunak had previously backed a Labour MP’s backbench attempt to ban Slapps but the legislation did not get through parliament before the election.
Before the election David Lammy, now the foreign secretary, had said he wanted to ban Slapps, as scrutiny of Russian oligarchs by journalists and campaigners has been frustrated by threats of lawsuits.
At the time, Lammy said:
We’ve really got to stop this happening. These are stifling effectively not just the rule of law and freedom of speech, but particularly going to journalists doing their job to throw a spotlight and transparency on the most egregious behaviour of oligarchy, plutocracy, and very corrupt individuals doing bad things.”
In the House of Lords on Wednesday, Tina Stowell, a Conservative peer, said the previous government had been “very close to outlawing Slapps in their entirety” and called for legislation in the first session of parliament.
However, Ponsonby said there were still outstanding questions about how to ban Slapps that were not addressed in the previous legislation.
You can read the full story here:
Commons leader Lucy Powell said she “won’t be taking” advice from shadow leader Chris Philp, as the Tories had “left the country in a worse state than even our worst fears”.
She told the Commons:
As we end our third week in government though, it is clearer than ever before that the Conservatives failed in their responsibility and left the country in a worse state than even our worst fears.
They don’t like to hear it. They failed to take the tough and right choices. It’s as if they knew they were going to lose the election and left the really difficult decisions for us. They don’t like it, but history will show it.”
She added:
So I’m afraid I won’t be taking [Philp’s] advice on the issues that he raises. He talks about redefining issues of illegal migration. I do remember the former home secretary redefining the backlog as a ‘queue’, I think, under the last government, but far from stopping the boats we saw the boats over the last year reached record highs coming over so their plan just wasn’t working.
And that’s why we’ve already reallocated those resources and we started returning illegal migrants already, something that his government failed to do.”
Earlier on Thursday in the House of Commons, Philp said the government suffered a “significant backbench rebellion” on the two-child benefit cap and their majority would be “gone by Easter”.
He told MPs:
The government has sent mixed messages about plans to scrap or not the very reasonable two child cap on welfare payments, but then on Tuesday the government whipped their MPs to vote against that.
There was a significant backbench rebellion less than three weeks after the election, not even Theresa May managed a rebellion within three weeks of an election. So it’s a bit of a first and at this rate, the government’s majority will be gone by about Easter of next year.”
Philp also said the government had “rebranded” their terminology in relation to migration. He said:
I also noticed the government has rebranded ‘illegal’ immigration as ‘irregular’ and that they merely want to ‘control’ it.
Can I say to the government that entering this country by small boat is illegal? It may help them to refer to section 24 of the Immigration Act 1971 as amended, if they’re in any doubt. The government’s objective should be to completely stop illegal immigration not merely to control it.”
Updated
Labour will be pushed to axe two-child benefit cap, says John McDonnell
Labour will be pushed to act on abolishing the “indefensible” two-child benefit limit, the former shadow chancellor John McDonnell has claimed, after Keir Starmer suspended him and six others for the first rebellion of the new government.
It came as multiple MPs expressed shock and dismay at the suspensions, including one suspended MP who claimed she felt her experiences of domestic abuse had been “weaponised” in conversations with the whips. Labour said it did not recognise those allegations.
Writing in the Guardian, McDonnell said the rebellion was not a coordinated attempt to undermine the government by voting on the SNP amendment, but said it was a genuine point of conscience for those with high levels of child poverty in their constituencies.
“The seriousness of the risk demonstrates the seriousness of the issue at stake,” he said. McDonnell and others, who have had the whip suspended for six months for their vote on the king’s speech amendment, said they also had grave doubts about the effectiveness of the child poverty taskforce announced by the government before the vote.
McDonnell believes the rebellion and the attention it has focused on child poverty means that the government will eventually have to address the cap, and made it significantly more likely that it will be abolished.
Starmer’s political spokesperson confirmed the prime minister had been consulted on the move. “We’ve been very clear on our position on the two-child limit, and why we did not commit to removing it both during the campaign and since,” she said.
You can read the full story here:
Updated
A Labour MP who worked as an NHS physiotherapist during the pandemic has claimed that “crony contracts” resulted in wasted resources, reports the PA news agency.
Sonia Kumar, MP for Dudley, told the Commons:
As an NHS physiotherapist who worked during the Covid-19 pandemic I had the misfortune of witnessing first-hand how crony contracts resulted in wasted resources.”
Kumar added that the contracts did a “disservice to professionals and patients”.
Cabinet Office minister Georgia Gould said:
Billions were spent on PPE (personal protective equipment) that was either unusable, overpriced or under delivered, and this government is absolutely determined to learn those lessons and safeguard every pound of taxpayers money.”
Government legislation designed to help nationalise the UK’s railways will be fast-tracked through the House of Commons, reports the PA news agency.
Commons leader Lucy Powell said the passenger railway services public ownership bill will undergo its committee stage and remaining stages on 3 September.
The bill, which was included in the king’s speech, is due to be debated for the first time at second reading on 29 July.
Powell added the budget responsibility bill, due to be debated at second reading on 30 July, will also complete its remaining stages in the Commons on 4 September.
The Great British Energy bill will receive its second reading on 5 September, Ms Powell said in the weekly business statement.
£5bn debt crisis of special educational needs ‘could bankrupt’ English councils
A £5bn debt crisis caused by out-of-control overspending on special educational needs could explode in less than two years, bankrupting scores of England’s local authorities, the UK government has been warned.
The crisis stems from the failure to properly fund a huge increase in demand for Special Education Needs and Disability (Send) services over the past decade, triggering an “existential” crisis for councils which have “no obvious means of paying off the debt”.
Council leaders have told ministers the Send system, which was introduced by the Con-Lib government 10 years ago, is in meltdown, and have described it as broken, unaffordable and failing hundreds of thousands of children and their parents.
The overspend is the legacy of the last Tory government’s decision to allow Send overspending to continue for years under a special “override” arrangement that allowed councils to keep these rapidly mounting debts off municipal balance sheets.
The huge off-balance sheet debts are due to be settled in April 2026, making it the latest financial headache to hit the Labour government as it takes stock of the costs of repairing a public sector depleted by years of austerity.
A highly critical report published by the Local Government Association (LGA) and the County Councils Network (CCN) on Thursday said Send services in England were overwhelmed and dysfunctional. Fundamental reform to the system was not only inevitable but unavoidable, it said.
It called for fundamental reform – likely to take two parliaments to implement – to ensure more Send provision is delivered in mainstream schools rather than expensive private special schools, as well a short-term injection of £2.2bn to ensure mainstream schools have suitable Send staffing levels and infrastructure.
You can read the full piece here:
Also, the Guardian’s Politics Weekly UK podcast, presented by John Harris, focuses on Labour suspensions and the Tory leadership race in its latest episode.
You can listen to the 33-minute podcast, where Harris is joined by columnist Gaby Hinsliff and former Downing Street chief of staff and Conservative peer Gavin Barwell, here:
The former Lib Dem leader Vince Cable is testifying at the inquiry into the Post Office Horizon scandal today. My colleague Mark Sweney will be sharing updates on that in the live blog here:
“The days of government ministers waging culture wars against civil servants are over,” chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster, Pat McFadden, has said.
Responding to a question on civil service pay awards, he said:
Yesterday I met the civil service unions together with my colleague, the new minister [Georgia Gould]. We had a very positive discussion covering a whole range of issues.
I made it clear that the days of government ministers waging culture wars against civil servants are over. Instead, we want a civil service that’s motivated, valued and helps the government deliver its priorities. And on this specific issue of pay, the government will have more to say on civil service pay before the summer recess.”
Labour MP for Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend, Mary Glindon, said the number of pay bargaining units is generating “unfair pay disparities between people doing near-identical jobs in different government offices” and asked whether pay bargaining could be consolidated across the civil service.
McFadden replied:
We do value civil servants, and of course we want all public servants to be properly and fairly rewarded, and, like any public expenditure, what’s spent on pay has to be balanced against other priorities and fair to taxpayers as a whole.”
He added:
Departments do have flexibility on pay, they can direct pay towards the needs of their own workforces.”
Robert Jenrick’s campaign manager, Danny Kruger, will this morning submit his Conservative party leadership nomination to Bob Blackman.
The form includes Jenrick’s proposer, seconder, and eight supporting MPs, Jenrick’s campaign team said.
Kruger said:
To have any path back to government we must win back those voters we have lost, across the board but particularly to Reform. At the same time we have to bring our party together, united behind one set of coherent Conservative principles.
The British people need to be convinced that we are the most responsible and competent party of government for us to have any chance of winning in 2029, especially when we know Labour are set to fail on so many important issues for our country.
Rob Jenrick will do that. He has the energy, temperament and policy agenda to take on our rivals and lead us back to power in five years.”
With the timetable for the Scottish Conservative leadership contest yet to be set, and only one candidate – current justice spokesperson Russell Findlay – declared, the debate around the nature of the party itself continues.
Murdo Fraser – a veteran Tory MSP who stood for leadership against Ruth Davidson in 2013 on a platform of splitting off from the UK Conservatives – has revisited this idea, after a number of colleagues called for further discussion of it during the leadership contest, in particular if the UK party indicated a move to the right following its general election defeat.
Fraser told the Holyrood Sources podcast that he was interested in the Canadian model, whereby the UK Tory party would still fight elections in Scotland but not at Holyrood, where a centre-right grouping much more focused on devolved matters would take its place.
Fraser noted that the Scottish Conservative brand was already considered “distinct” from the UK party by many voters, which was “a positive for us”.
But supporters of Findlay have suggested that such a move would be “catastrophic” for the party’s chances at the 2026 Holyrood elections, while Davidson herself was blunter still, telling the Mail yesterday that “a divided party is a short route to electoral suicide”.
Robert Jenrick enters race for Conservative party leadership
Robert Jenrick will run for the Conservative party leadership.
Jenrick’s campaign team announced that the former immigration minister had the support of the 10 Conservative MPs needed to make it on to the ballot paper.
Jenrick will become the third Tory MP to formally declare their candidacy, after James Cleverly and Tom Tugendhat previously announced their bids.
Updated
Conservative leadership candidate Tom Tugendhat has denied that his suggestion that he would be prepared to leave the European convention on human rights (ECHR) is political opportunism.
“No, I’ve been very, very clear I am prepared to make any decision that will keep the British people safe,” he told GB News when questioned about his change of tone on the issue. He added:
I am prepared to leave the ECHR, or indeed any other institution that doesn’t serve the interests of the British people.”
Tugendhat talked up his experience as former security minister and in the armed forces, saying he has a “track record of delivery” for the British people.
He also said he believes he could turn around the Tories’ disastrous election result as party leader and pointed to Labour’s landslide win after a poor result in 2019.
The Tory leadership contender was asked on BBC Breakfast if he believed he could win an election as leader of the Conservative party in five years’ time:
Yes, it is possible to do that. You’ve got to restore trust. You’ve got to demonstrate delivery and you’ve got to be able to listen to the British people to make sure you understand where the challenges are.
But you can look at what Keir Starmer achieved, frankly, he went from his worst electoral result to his best in five years. We can do the same but we need to be united. We need to regain the trust of the British people and we need to be ready to deliver.”
Tugendhat said he had been surprised by Liz Truss’s recklessness as he was quizzed about previously backing her.
“I stood against every other leadership contender at the last time and then I was left with the choice of two,” he told ITV’s Good Morning Britain.
He added: “Liz demonstrated a recklessness that surprised all of us.”
Tugendhat dodged questions of whether backing Truss and her economic plan showed a lack of judgment on his part.
He said:
What we need to be doing is focusing on the challenges that are facing us in the future. Over the last three, four years – you’re absolutely right. We have failed to deliver. That’s exactly why I’m standing because I think we need to unite this country. We need to rebuild that trust, and we need to deliver.”
Offshore wind to power 20m homes within five years, Starmer to pledge
Keir Starmer will promise to build enough offshore wind over the next five years to power 20m homes, by using taxpayer money to develop parts of the seabed owned by the royal family.
The prime minister will announce details of the government’s energy generation company, known as Great British Energy, during a visit to the north-west designed to highlight the government’s promises on green energy.
The energy company will be given £8.3bn of public money over the course of the parliament to invest in green technologies, with a target to develop an extra 20-30GW of offshore wind power through a tie-up with the crown estate.
Ministers are hoping that investment will help persuade companies to spend another £60bn in an attempt to hit the government’s target of decarbonising Britain’s power sector by 2030.
Starmer said:
This innovative partnership between Great British Energy and the crown estate is an important step toward our mission for clean energy by 2030, and bringing down energy bills for good.
This agreement will drive up to £60bn in investment into the sector, turbocharging our country toward energy security, the next generation of skilled jobs, and lowering bills for families and business.
This new partnership will help accelerate the deployment of clean energy we need, help generate good jobs in our country and generate wealth for the taxpayer.”
Great British Energy forms the centrepiece of the government’s green agenda, under which ministers are promising to deliver clean power by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050.
You can read the full piece by Kiran Stacey and Fiona Harveyhere:
Updated
'It's going to take time' for GB Energy to start making money, says Ed Miliband
Energy secretary Ed Miliband has said “it’s going to take time” for GB Energy to start making money.
Legislation to establish the state-owned energy company needs to go through the House of Commons, and the government has set aside £8.3bn to invest in new windfarms and solar projects, which must get built before GB Energy can start generating a return, he told BBC Breakfast.
“Within the lifetime of this parliament it will start generating returns,” he said.
Miliband said:
Within a couple of years, as we build new onshore wind, new solar, we’ll start to see the effect on bills, but there are lots of things going on here. So our exposure to gas prices, which are set internationally, is something I don’t control.
In a sense, the whole point of what I’m saying is we’ve got to get off that lack of control where dictators like [Vladimir] Putin control the fossil fuel market, because I can’t promise you what’s going to happen to gas prices.
But I can say that, if we drive to clean, homegrown British energy, we will have much more control over what happens to bills.”
Ed Miliband pledges that Britain will 'never again' face an energy bills crisis
Ed Miliband has pledged that Britain will “never again” face an energy bills crisis as he tries to wean the country off fossil fuels.
Speaking on Radio 4’s Today programme, the energy security and net zero secretary said:
Millions of people around our country have suffered from the worst energy bills crisis in decades in our country and this government says: Never again … And the only answer to never again, is to get off fossil fuels.”
Introducing the government’s legislation to create the public owned company Great British Energy, Miliband said that a reliance on fossil fuels left the country dependent on global markets.
“I can’t control what Putin is doing and geopolitics drives energy insecurity. We’ve got to get off that and look, we’re willing to have this argument,” he said
Miliband also pledged that the move was “going to lead to lower bills over the parliament because every solar panel we put up every onshore wind turbine we build gives us greater energy security and lowers our exposure to these gyrations of the fossil fuel market.”
Labour defends GB energy plan amid concern over funding
Good morning and welcome to the Guardian’s latest UK politics live blog. I’m Amy and I’ll be bringing you updates today.
The legislation to create Great British Energy (GB Energy) will be introduced at Westminster today.
Labour has vowed to create a publicly owned energy generation company headquartered in Scotland to drive the government’s goal of making the UK a “clean energy superpower”. The exact location of the HQ will be revealed “soon”, the government said.
The secretary of state for energy security and net zero, Ed Miliband, has been on the media rounds this morning and he told the BBC’s Radio 4 Today Programme that GB Energy is a “crucial tool” to tackle the country’s energy insecurity and the climate crisis. He said it would “give us that energy security we’ve so sorely lacked for many decades in this country”.
Miliband said:
The central mandate on which this government was elected was that our exposure to fossil fuels lead to the cost of living crisis and our mission is to become a clean energy superpower.”
Asked about Labour’s plan to not issue any new gas and oil licences in the North Sea and how critics have said it could increase the UK’s dependence on foreign energy, Miliband replied:
If fossil fuels had given us energy security we wouldn’t have seen the terrible cost of living crisis that we’ve seen over the past two years.
The energy company will be given £8.3bn of public money over the course of the parliament to invest in green technologies, with a target to develop an extra 20-30GW of offshore wind power through a tie-up with the crown estate.
Critics have argued that a substantially larger sum of money is needed for changes to be implemented. Defending the plan, Miliband said:
This is about private and public investment together. This is a government in a hurry on behalf of the British people.”
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