Early evening summary
Keir Starmer has been accused of spreading “misinformation” after he told MPs at PMQs that 90% of women affected by the rise in the state pension age knew it was happening. (See 3.19pm.) He was responding to complaints from opposition and Labour MPs about the government’s decision not to compensate the Waspi woman. Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, later became the most senior figure in the party to say the government had made a mistake. In an interview, Sarwar said the government should offer some sort of compensation. (See 4.24pm.) But Starmer told MPs that “the taxpayer simply can’t afford the burden of tens of billions of pounds of compensation”. (See 12.34pm.)
Poor areas will benefit much more than richer areas from the local government settlement announced today, the Institute for Fiscal Studies thinktank has said. (See 5.47pm.)
Wes Streeting, the health secretary, has has challenged the idea that some pensioners could die due to changes to the winter fuel allowance. Giving evidence to the Commons health committee, Streeting insisted pensioners will “still be better off this winter than they were last winter”. Asked about a 2017 Labour party estimate that 4,000 people could die if the then government removed the winter fuel allowance. Streeting replied:
Because of the choices that the chancellor has made, particularly on protecting the state pension through the triple lock – even taking into account the decisions she’s taken on winter fuel allowance – pensioners will still be better off this winter than they were last winter, and will be better off next winter further still.
And of course, one of the reasons it gives me confidence to stand by that assertion is she has protected winter fuel allowance for the poorest pensioners and put in place financial support, which I think will make a real difference to people.
County councils, which tend to be more prosperous (and more Conservative) than other local authorities, have reached much the same conclusion on the local government settlement as the IFS. (See 5.47pm.) This is from Barry Lewis, finance spokesperson and vic chair fo the County Councils Network.
While we welcome the government providing a further £200m for social care, today’s provisional local government finance settlement confirms our fears that the government is unfairly cherry picking which councils deserve the greatest financial support next year.
By targeting the £600m Recovery Grant on metropolitan and urban councils, the government is ignoring the fact deprivation is not the only driver of councils’ costs nor the key indicator of which councils are under the most financial distress. Instead, it is demand and market failure across adult and children’s social care and special educational needs services that are pushing councils in all regions and of political control to the brink.
Deprived areas to benefit most from local government settlement, says Institute for Fiscal Studies
Poor areas will benefit much more than richer areas from the local government settlement announced today, the Institute for Fiscal Studies thinktank says. In a comment on an analysis of the announcement it has published, Kate Ogden, an IFS economist, said:
Today’s announcement of funding for English councils next year is a clear statement of intent by the government to channel funding to more deprived, typically more urban parts of the country. Core spending power is set to increase 2.4 times as fast in real-terms in the most deprived tenth of areas as in the least deprived tenth, with a wider measure of funding including new revenues from levies on producers’ use of packaging up 1.8 times more in the most deprived areas than in the least.
Most shire districts are set to see little if any increase in core spending power next year. The saving grace for them is that, relatively speaking, they are the biggest recipients of the new revenue stream from producers’ use of packaging – with it amounting to an equivalent of an extra 8% in core funding. This funding is only guaranteed for one year though and the amount raised by the levy in future will be lower the more successful it is in getting producers to cut back on the amount of packaging they use. Spending pressures mean district and other councils may feel the need to use this revenue to fund core service provision. But they may have to start weaning themselves off it in the not-too-distant future.
Government may take over from Post Office responsibility for two of its Horizon compensation schemes, MPs told
The government is considering taking over responsibility from the Post Office for redress schemes for post office operators impacted by the Horizon scandal, PA Media reports. PA says:
Business minister Gareth Thomas gave a statement to MPs where he said that £79m has been paid to 232 people from the Horizon convictions redress scheme, but that the government had “concerns” about the Post Office’s ability to deliver the Horizon shortfall scheme and the overturned conviction scheme.
The Horizon Convictions Redress Scheme was launched by the government to enable people wrongly convicted of a crime because of the Horizon IT system used by the Post Office to apply for financial redress.
The Horizon shortfall scheme allows subpostmasters to apply either for a £75,000 fixed sum award or to have their application fully assessed, and is run by the Post Office.
The overturned conviction scheme is also run by the Post Office and is eligible for anyone whose Horizon-related conviction has been overturned by the courts.
Thomas outlined a number of areas the government was considering amending some parts of the redress system as there are still “complex cases to resolve”.
He said: “There are still concerns about the responsibility of the Post Office to deliver the Horizon shortfall scheme and the overturned conviction scheme. The government is considering the merits of my department taking over this responsibility, but the benefits of such a move must clearly outweigh the disruption that could potentially be caused. We are carefully considering what, if any, intervention we may take.”
Defence review will consider case for missile defence system covering UK, John Healey says
The government’s strategic defence review (SDR) will consider the case for developing a missile defence system for the UK, John Healey, the defence secretary, has said. He disclosed this in an interview with Tonight with Andrew Marr, on LBC, which goes out at 6pm. Asked if the defence review would consider a missile defence system, Healey replied:
Yes, in the SDR, when the prime minister commissioned it, we published the terms of reference, and it includes reviewing the strength of our homeland defences, and that in this day and age, with the sort of sabotage and threats that we’ve seen – for instance, to our undersea cables and communication lines – has a number of levels, and the SDR is considering that.
Tom Belger at LabourList is keeping a tally of Labour MPs who have spoken out publicly against the government’s decision not to compensate the Waspi women. Currently, there are 16 names on the list. But, in private, more Labour MPs have expressed their alarm about this, Belger says – and not just leftwingers.
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar criticises government's decision not to compensate Waspi women
Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, has attacked the decision not to compensate the Wapsi pensioners and urged UK ministers to look at other ways of providing financial support.
Speaking at the Scottish parliament, Sarwar said:
I don’t think the decision the government has come to is the right one on compensation; I think they’ve come to the right place on injustice and I think they’ve come to the right place on an apology but I don’t think they’ve come to the right decision on compensation.
Given the public finances, I think a different way forward could’ve been found.
Pressed by Peter Macmahon, political editor of ITV Borders, about the furious reaction from the Waspi pensioners, Sarwar added:
I agree with them on their frustration and that’s why I campaigned alongside them, and I accept that frustration.
Therefore, as I say, I don’t think this is the adequate package … I think a fairer decision could’ve been made around the compensation and that fairer decision could have been - recognising the current financial situation - they could’ve looked at targeted support to lower income pensioners, they could’ve looked at tapering, they could’ve looked at increments, they could’ve looked at a whole host of issues.
Sarwar has now attacked several deeply unpopular financial decisions by the UK government which led to Labour’s popularity plummeting, including the decision to heavily cut access to winter fuel payments for pensioners and the refusal to reverse the two-child benefit cap.
Scottish Labour’s popular support has nose-dived in recent weeks, ending a long period where Sarwar’s party was neck and neck with the Scottish National party.
To Sarwar’s frustration, the SNP government used a very beneficial Treasury settlement in the latest budget to reintroduce a universal winter fuel payment and to pledge that in 2026 it will reverse the two child cap, largely funded by UK taxpayers.
Current polling suggests the SNP would comfortably win the 2026 Holyrood elections.
Updated
Waspi decision ignores 'systemic disadvantages women already face in pension provision', says Fawcett Society
The Fawcett Society, which campaigns for gender equality and women’s rights, has said it is “bitterly disappointed” by the government’s decision not to compensate Waspi women.
In a statement, Jemima Olchawski, the charity’s CEO says the government is wrong to say women were adequately informed about rise in the state pension age and she says thousands of women suffered “significant hardship” because they were unable to adjust their financial plans in time. She goes on:
This decision ultimately fails to acknowledge the systemic disadvantages women aready face in pension provision. We add our voice to the many calling on the government to reconsider its position and deliver justice for all the women impacted.
You can read the full statement here.
Updated
More than 70 MPs and peers back campaign to stop closure of thinktank praised for its Brexit-related research
More than 70 MPs and peers have intervened to try and save UK In a Changing Europe (UKICE), an independent thinktank that has specialised in research on the consequences of Brexit and future relations with the EU.
At a time the UK is trying to reset its relationship with Europe and improve Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal, UK in a Changing Europe run by Anand Menon, a professor at King’s College London, is facing closure because of a decision by its financial backer, the Economic and Social Research Council, to end funding.
Among the signatories are Lords Jay, Kinnock, Liddle, McNally and Rennard, all of whom have been vocal during the Brexit debates, MPs Richard Baker, Laula Moran, Antonia Bance and John McDonnell, and Northern Ireland MPs such as Colum Eatwood, who have been central to the Brexit negotiations on the Windsor Framework.
The MPs and peers say in a letter to ESRC that many of them “still rely on UKICE for key information, not least its divergence tracker” from the only team dynamically tracking the regulatory gaps emerging between EU law on UK law since Brexit came into force in 2020.
They go on to say that while no institution should expect open-ended funding, UKICE’s reports are not just “reliable and well informed” but they produce research that is “clear and accessible”, something they say is “surely the whole point of state-funded social science research”.
The point out that “Brexit is indeed a process, not merely an event” and urge ESRC to reconsider its decision.
Another supporter of the campaign is the Labour MP Paul Waugh, a former political journalist. He has posted a copy of the letter on social media.
.@UKandEU has for years produced high quality research on the UK's links with the EU.
— Paul Waugh MP (@paulwaugh) December 18, 2024
Yet it now faces closure because of @ESRC grant cuts.
Some 66 of us Parliamentarians (38 MPs and 28 peers) have signed a cross-party letter urging @UKRI_News to reconsider their decision. pic.twitter.com/McGHU4OQMU
YouGov has released polling that suggests only 13% of Britons think Kemi Badenoch looks like a prime minister in waiting. Some 53% think she doesn’t look like a prime minister in waiting, and the rest are not sure.
Given that Badenoch has only recently started in this role, and that the next election may well be more than four years away, that probably does not matter much. But, in its analysis, YouGov points out that when Keir Starmer first became Labour leader, 32% of people said he looked like a PM in waiting, and only 33% said he didn’t.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has now published its news release summarising the local government funding settlement for England for 2025-26. (See 2.14pm.) Here are the key points.
£69bn of funding will be injected into council budgets across England to help them drive forward the government’s Plan for Change through investment and reform and to fix the foundations of local government, ministers have announced today.
The provisional local government finance settlement will provide £69bn for councils across the country, a real-terms increase of 3.5% from 2024-25, which includes a new emergency £600 million Recovery Grant, offering better value for money through the repurposing of grants to help support councils most in need and maximise every penny of public spending to ensure it delivers for working people.
And £3.7bn of funding will be made available to social care authorities to support adult and children’s services through the settlement. This includes £880m for the Social Care Grant – an increase of £200m compared to what was indicated last month, taking its total to £5.9bn – which will support councils to deliver care for adults and children in their communities, helping to reduce pressure on the NHS.
No council will see a reduction in core spending power. Places with a significant rural population will on average receive around a 5% increase in their core spending power to ensure rural communities have the support they need. We are maintaining the previous government’s referendum threshold for council tax , which will be maintained at 3% with 2% for the adult social care precept to protect local taxpayers
Waspi campaign accuses Starmer of 'misinformation', saying he overstated awareness of planned pension age rise
The Women Against State Pension Inequality (Waspi) campaign has accused Keir Starmer of spreading “misinformation” about the plight of women who were not given proper warning about the rise in their state pension age.
Referring to Starmer’s claim at PMQs that 90% of women affected by the increase knew that it was coming (see 12.34pm and 2.21pm), Angela Madden, the Waspi chair, said:
This isn’t just misleading; it’s an insult to millions of 1950s-born women who were blindsided by these changes. The ombudsman’s findings were based on rigorous evidence showing that 60% of women had no idea their own state pension age was rising.
The government’s attempt to cherry-pick data to suggest otherwise is spreading dangerous misinformation, plain and simple.
Waspi says the 90% figure quoted by Starmer covers includes people who only had vague idea that the state pension age was going up. Madden said:
The fact that 90% of women had some general awareness of potential changes in the future does not mean they knew this would impact them personally.
That is exactly why the ombudsman identified maladministration and why this government’s continued attempts to muddy the waters are so unacceptable.
Madden also said that Waspi was “not giving up”. She said MPs were meeting to discuss how they could arrange for a vote on compensation to take place in the Commons. And the campaign was also taking legal advice on its options, she revealed.
Updated
One of Reform UK’s organisers in Scotland has been suspended following reports of his family ties to violent Loyalists.
Reform UK said it had suspended Craig Campbell after the Daily Record reported that he is the son of a Loyalist bomber, responsible for attacks on two Glasgow pubs in the 1970s, and the cousin of a man jailed for stabbing a Celtic fan to death.
It has also been claimed that he had images comparing the SNP to Nazis on his social media accounts, which have now been deleted and which the Guardian has been unable to independently verify.
A spokesperson for Reform UK Scotland confirmed Campbell was no longer in the role, adding the party “will not tolerate discrimination of anyone in any form”.
Starmer under pressure at PMQs to give MPs vote on compensation for Waspi women
This is what PA Media has filed on the Waspi exchanges from PMQs.
Keir Starmer is facing pressure to give MPs a vote on his government’s decision to rule out compensation for women affected by changes to the state pension age.
The prime minister insisted taxpayers could not afford the £10.5bn compensation package, and would not rise to calls for a vote on the decision as he came under fire in the Commons.
But Downing Street said it had “no plans” for a vote on the issue, adding MPs had had “an opportunity to have their say” on Tuesday.
Starmer, chancellor Rachel Reeves and work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall – who ruled out a compensation package on Tuesday – are among the senior ministers who backed the Women Against State Pension Inequality (Waspi) campaign when Labour was in opposition.
But at PMQs Starmer insisted that paying compensation was not affordable when asked by Plaid Cymru MP Ben Lake if rejecting the financial package was part of his “government of change”.
Starmer described delays in communicating changes to the state pension age for women born in the 1950s as “unacceptable”, and criticised George Osborne’s move to accelerate the programme when he was chancellor.
He added: “It is a serious issue. It is a complex issue. The research, as he knows, shows that 90% of those impacted knew about the changes that were taking place. I am afraid to say the taxpayers simply cannot afford the tens of billions of pounds in compensation when the evidence does show that 90% of those impacted did know about it. That is because of the state of our economy.”
Independent MP Ian Byrne (Liverpool West Derby) told the chamber the Waspi women had experienced an “injustice done to them at the hands of the state”. He asked: “Will the prime minister give members the opportunity to vote on whether they believe Waspi women are owed compensation?”
Starmer replied: “I just set out the factual background and the percentage that knew about the change, and the simple fact of the matter is, in the current economic circumstances, the taxpayer can’t bear the burden of tens of billions of pounds in compensation.”
Labour grandee Diane Abbott, the mother of the house, also criticised the decision. “We did promise them that we will give them justice. I understand the issue about the cost, but does the Prime Minister really understand how let down Waspi women feel today?” she told the Commons.
Minister announces £700m extra for local government in England in 2025-26 funding settlement
Jim McMahon, the local government minister, told MPs that the government has allocated an extra £700m for local government in England. In a statement to MPs on the local government settlement for 2025-26, he said council finances were in “dire straits”. He said:
This is why today I am announcing over £700m of additional grant. This includes over £200 million of extra funding for social care since the policy statement …
Taken together, the additional funding made available at this settlement and the Budget delivers over £5bn of new funding for local services over and above local council tax.”
We must ensure that public investment is used too for long-term prevention and the reform of local public services, rather than expensive short-term crisis responses which we know often have much worsening outcomes. We are determined to end the cycle of failure that we have seen for too long. We will provide certainty by making sure that no authority will see a reduction in their core spending power after accounting for council tax flexibilities next year.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has published a stack of documents, with all the authority-by-authority details, on its website here.
Foreign Office minister rejects Tory claim Chagos Islands deal is 'monumental failure of statecraft'
A Foreign Office minister has rejected Tory claims that the government’s deal with Mauritius giving it sovereignty of the Chagos Islands is a “monumental failure of statecraft”
Priti Patel, the shadow foreign secretary, made the claim in a Commons urgent statement, asking for assurance that the UK and the US would continue to have “full autonomy” over their military base on Diego Garcia once sovereignty has been transferred.
She said:
When the whole world can see that this proposed deal was falling apart, the foreign secretary and this government have tried to flog it constantly. Not only is this a monumental failure of statecraft from this Labour government, it is also a significant humiliation for the foreign secretary and his credibility and the prime minister, and why are Labour putting the security at risk, ignoring Chagossians and letting our standing go into freefall in this world?
Responding for the government, Stephen Doughty, the Foreign Office minister, said the deal would not damage UK security. He said it would end legal uncertainty about the future of the islands and allow the UK and the US to continue running the Diego Garcia base well into the next century.
[Patel] asked me, would we be able to extend the lease? The answer is yes. Would we continue to have the autonomy of our operations for those allies? Absolutely yes. Are there safeguards in place to prevent foreign forces or others on the outer islands? Absolutely yes.
The Reform UK leader Nigel Farage told Doughty that he had visited Donald Trump’s home at Mar-a-Lago this week and that there was “deep disquiet” amongst Trump’s allies over the deal.
But Doughty said the American security establishment was happy with the deal. Replying to Farage, he said:
With the greatest respect, [Farage] does not know the detail of what is agreed, he doesn’t know the detail that has been shared, he doesn’t know the detail that the national security apparatus of the United States has considered, and I am confident that he would have his concerns allayed when he sees the detail of this deal.
Updated
PMQs - snap verdict
Although much of the criticism directed at Keir Starmer over the Waspi women decision in the papers this morning is exaggerated and unfair (see 9.24am), there is a kernel of truth in it. Before the general election the Labour party did not say it would compensate the Waspi women. But it was not exactly candid about quite how unlikely a pro-Waspi final decision really was, and shadow cabinet ministers were happy to sound broadly sympathetic to the campaigners when a more honest message would have been awkward. As a result, Kemi Badenoch had a point in her opening question, when she said: “For years the prime minister and his cabinet played politics with the Waspi women.”
She did not follow this through as effectively as she might have done. To make a prime minister squirm at PMQs, it is often best to ask an uncomfortable question over and over again. Badenoch never uses this technique, even though it might have worked well here. She did, though, ask a direct factual question, about pension credit claims, and she made Starmer look a bit evasive when he did not give a direct answer. But, on pension credit, she chose to then pursue the argument that a higher take-up rate would cost the Treasury more money, when instead she might have been better off pointing out that the government’s attempts to alleviate pensioner poverty by encouraging more people to claim pension credit don’t seem to be working
On pensions, Badenoch also admitted the Conservative had no intention of ever paying compensation to the Waspi women. (“Now they admit we were right all along.”) This confirms that the tell-voters-what-they-want-to-hear slipperiness she was attacking Starmer for is actually a general politicians’ trait, not an inherent Labour vice. But given that Starmer is prime minister, it is understandable why he is getting the most criticism for this today.
That said, although the early Badenoch questions were a bit more effective than some of her previous PMQs performances have been, none of what she said seemed to bother Keir Starmer that much. Some of the other Waspi criticism, for example from Diane Abbott, might have mattered more.
For her final three questions, Badenoch returned to the budget, and the national insurance rise, or “jobs tax” as she calls it. These exchanges sounded familiar, and when she ended with a line about how Starmer had to tell the truth, he had an effective put-down when he used that as cue to start “telling the truth” about the £22bn black hole in the government accounts (even though, technically, the true figure might actually be a bit different).
Luke Evans (Con) asks if he welcomes the fact that Chris Middleton’s charity song about the winter fuel payment cut will beat Ed Davey’s song in the contest for Christmas number one, proving the Lib Dems can never win.
Starmer says he is not going to adjudicate between rival songs.
Will Forster (Lib Dem) asks if there will be an independent review into the circumstances that allowed Sara Sharif to be murdered.
Starmer says it is important to learn any lessons, particularly in relation to home schooling. There is a process going on, he says. He says an announcement will be made in due course.
Starmer: UK simply cannot afford Waspi women payout
Diane Abbott (Lab) says “we” promised the Waspi women they would get justice. Does Starmer understand why they feel let down?
Starmer says of course he understands. But 90% of women knew their pension age was going up. He says, in the circumstances, he cannot justify spending money on compensation.
UPDATE: Abbott said:
The Waspi women fought one of the most sustained and passionate campaigns for justice that I can remember, year in, year out. We did promise them that we would give them justice. I understand the issue about the cost but does the prime minister really understand how let down Waspi women feel today?
And Starmer replied:
I do understand the concern, of course I do.
The research is clear that 90% of those impacted did know about the change and in those circumstances the taxpayer simply can’t afford the burden of tens of billions of pounds of compensation, but I do understand the concern.
Updated
Richard Foord (Lib Dem) says Russia may use any ceasefire in Ukraine as an example to re-arm. What will the government do to stop this if there is a ceasefire.
Starmer says the UK will continue to support Ukraine, putting it in “the strongest possible”, whether there are negotiations or not.
Dave Doogan (SNP) says the Waspi women decision is another example of Starmer saying one thing and doing another. Does he understand why the people of Scotland now view him with such contempt?
Starmer says the SNP are now sitting at the back of the chamber, because they lost so many MPs at the election (a line he has used several times before in response to SNP criticism).
Jack Rankin, the Conservative MP for Windsor, asks if the government will block the attempt by Windsor and Maidenhead council to raise council tax by 25%.
Starmer says Rankin is right to raise this (implying that the government would oppose a council tax rise of this kind – although he does not say this). He says local government has had a good settlement.
Jo White (Lab) asks what is being done to tackle the nuisance caused by off-road bikes.
Starmer says this problem got out of control under the last government. He says he is giving the police new powers to deal with this.
Jodie Gosling (Lab) asks about children in care, and refers to a case where a child was moved nine times. Will the government ensure that children get consistent care?
Starmer says the children’s wellbeing bill will put children’s interests at the heart of government policy.
Ian Byrne (independent) asks is MPs will get a vote on not paying compensation to Waspi women.
Starmer says he has set out the financial situation. He says the last government had 14 years to pay compensation, but didn’t.
Blake Stephenson (Con) says his local train services are underperforming. He asks if this is because the government gave train drivers a pay rise without demanding anything in return.
Starmer says the last government left the trains in an appalling state.
Starmer confirms government giving councils in England almost £1bn to tackle homelessness
Kirith Entwistle (Lab) asks about what the government is doing to tackle homelessness.
Starmer says the government is giving councils almost £1bn to help them tackle homlesness.
This is something announced earlier today by the government. It says:
More people will be prevented from becoming homeless with the largest-ever investment in homelessness prevention services, thanks to swift government action to get the country back on track to tackle, reduce and prevent homelessness and rough sleeping.
Nearly £1 billion is being pumped into council budgets to help break the cycle of spiralling homelessness. More resources will be available for workers on the frontline who provide essential services to get rough sleepers off the street and into secure housing as well as seeing more homeless families out of temporary accommodation.
Councils will now be better equipped to step in early to stop households becoming homeless in the first place. This includes mediation with landlords or families to prevent evictions, help find new homes, and deposits to access private renting.
Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, asks if Starmer will back the young carers chair. Will he support this, and giving young people more access to music generally.
Starmer praises the project, and jokes about Davey singing his Christmas single outside No 10. There are meant to be laws about anti-social behaviour, he says.
Badenoch says Starmer is about to give away our hard-won Brexit freedoms. She says Labour is punching the British people in the face, in one case literally. Will the PM tell the truth?
Starmer says he will do that now. The Tories left a £22bn black hole in the accounts, he says. He says Labour is getting on with the job, with record funding for the NHS, money for trains and buses, and potholes, and a higher minimum wage.
Badenoch says the Tories voted yesterday to exempt hospices from the “jobs tax”, the national insurance increase. Will the government exempt them?
Starmer says the government will announce funding plans for hospices in the new year.
He says Badenoch wants all the advantages of the budget, but none of the disadvantages.
Badenoch claims that Starmer needs to misrepresent her to make his point. She does not need to do that to talk about him.
Did the chancellor tell him about the impact of the national insurance cut on charities?
Starmer says Badenoch is defending the winter fuel payment. But he says she used to say some people did not need it.
Badenoch says the Tories kept the triple lock. She says some pensioners may die as a result of the winter fuel payment cut. Did the chancellor know what she was doing?
Starmer says the shadow chancellor said the triple lock was unsustainable, but Badenoch is now committed to it. Over a sandwich or a steak, they should meet to sort it out.
Badenoch says there are 850,000 pensioners eligible for pension credit. If they all sign up, the savings from the winter fuel payment will be wiped out, she says.
Starmer says Badenoch should not claim it as a good thing that pensioners did not sign up for pension credit. He repeats the point about the triple lock.
Starmer admitting Tories 'were right all along' on Waspi women, says Badenoch
Kemi Badenoch says for years cabinet minsters played politics with Waspi women. Now they are admitting “that we were right all along”.
And, turning to another group of pensioners, she asks how many have applied for pension credit.
Starmer says the government has been driving up eligibility for pension credit.
And, because it stablised the economy, the government has been able to keep the triple lock. The shadow cabinet called it unsustainable.
Updated
Chris Hinchliff (Lab) asks if the government will support ensuring parents get financial support if they cannot work because they have a terminally ill child. He says constituents who are campaigning on this issue, because they lost a child in these circumstances, are watching.
Starmer praises the family for their camaigning and says the government will announce plans on this soon.
Keir Starmer starts by saying he met the “brave men and women” serving on HMS Iron Duke in Estonia yesterday. He thanks all members of the armed forces keeping the country safe. And he thanks Commons staff for all their work, and wishes everyone a happy Christmas.
Tory equalities spokesperson Claire Coutinho urges government to back 'sensible' bill banning cousin marriage
It is women and equalities questions in the Commons, and Claire Coutinho, the shadow minister for women and equalities, has just asked why the government is refusing to back Richard Holden’s 10-minute rule bill banning cousin marriage. She described it as “sensible legislation”.
Bridget Phillipson, the minister for women and equalities, said that the government kept issues like this under review and that she would get the relevant minister to write to Coutinho about this issue.
Last week No 10 declined to back the Holden bill, saying it was not a priority.
Updated
Starmer faces Badenoch at PMQs
The last PMQs of 2024 is about to start.
Here is the list of MPs down to ask a question.
Streeting says moving from analogue to digital most important of his three main NHS reform goals
Wes Streeting has just finished giving evidence to the health committee. Here are some of the main points he made.
Streeting, the health secretary, said the the move from analogue to digital is the most important of the “three shifts” in the NHS he wants to see. The three priorities are: hospital to community; analogue to digital; and sickness to prevention. Asked to choose the most important, he reluctantly chose analogue to digital. He explained:
If there is one thing that would make a demonstrable improvement in the patient experience, the level of personalised care and the extent to which we can run and bleed this system more effectively and efficiently, that is around the shift from analogue to digital.
When I talk about how we can use AI, machine learning, genomics, big data, to not only intervene early with earlier diagnosis and earlier treatment, but to actually predict and prevent illness, which is a game changing paradigm shift in healthcare in this century, what I get from a lot of NHS staff is, ‘Look, that sounds brilliant, that sounds really visionary, but I just like it if, when I turn the machine on in the morning, it turned on reliably’.
He suggested he would be happy to reduce the number of central targets in the NHS.
He said he would keep spending on mental health ringfenced.
He told the committee that a financial settlement for hospices will be announced before Christmas.
He says the NHS was seeing peak winter pressures this year earlier than normal. See 9.39am.
After PMQs there will be an urgent question, on Mauritius and the Chagos Islands, tabled by Priti Patel, the shadow foreign secretary.
And after that there will be four government statements:
Jim McMahon, the local goverment minister, on the local government finance settlement
Karin Smyth, the health minister, on NHS winter preparedness
Chris Byrant, the culture minister, on a consultation on copyright and AI
Gareth Thomes, the Post Office minister, on redress for victims of the Post Office scandal
Ombudsman says she did not expect ministers to accept Waspi women badly treated, but refuse to put it right
Rebecca Hilsenrath is the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman and it was her report, published in March, that said Waspi women should receive compensation worth up to £10bn. In an interview with Times Radio this morning, she said she did not expect the government to ignore her recommendations in the way it did yesterday. She said:
It’s great that the government are saying that our intervention will lead to service improvements and it’s fair to say also that people who come to us, overwhelmingly, are motivated by wanting things to improve for other people.
But what we don’t expect is for an acknowledgement to be made by a public body that it’s got it wrong but then refuse to make it right for those affected.
In her statement to MPs yesterday, Liz Kendall, the work and pensions secretary, said the fact that the government delayed giving women information about the fact their state pension age was rising did not lead to them suffering “direct financial loss”. Kendall said this was one of the conclusions in the ombudsman’s report.
This refers to the fact that that Waspi women did not lose money to which they were legally entitled.
But, in her interview this morning, Hilsenrath said that some women may have lost out as a result of what happened. She explained:
That delay left thousands of women … not knowing whether had they received information earlier, it might have given them the chance to make better decisions.
And that’s the key injustice that we found, that sort of lack of financial autonomy, the fact they weren’t given the information to make the best decision for themselves at the time. And they’ll never know whether it would have made a difference.
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Scottish government to pilot automatic enrolment of young people on electoral register
Scottish ministers are to set up a pilot project to test the automatic enrolment of young people on the electoral register, as part of a modernisation of Holyrood’s election laws.
The trial is expected to involve universities, colleges and high schools (over-16s can vote in Scottish parliament and council elections), to improve participation by young people.
Jamie Hepburn, the minister for parliamentary business, said the devolved government had accepted the proposal from Ross Greer, of the Scottish Greens, using new powers under the Scottish elections (representation and reform) bill which cleared its final stage last night.
Greer said:
Some schools trialled these sorts of initiatives ahead of the 2014 independence referendum, with huge success and incredibly high turnout amongst young people. There is also plenty of international evidence that automatic registration boosts participation in elections and should be supported by every democrat.
At Westminster the UK Labour government is also looking at introducing automatic voter registration.
The bill also includes new powers to ban MSPs from also serving as MPs and peers at Westminster, or as local councillors, following divisive rows over plans by several senior politicians to serve as both MSPs and MPs.
Stephen Flynn, the Scottish National party leader at Westminster, was forced to drop his proposal to stand for Holyrood in 2026 while remaining an MP after intense criticism from colleagues. And Douglas Ross had to quit as Scottish Conservative leader earlier this year after forcing out a sitting MP so he could stand for Westminster.
The bill also bars convicted sex offenders from standing for Holyrood or council elections, mirroring similar bans in the Welsh Senedd and English and Welsh council elections.
It also allows councils to postpone elections for up to eight weeks, and Holyrood elections for four weeks, in an emergency; lets non-citizens who have legal rights to live in Scotland to stand for election; and increases funding for candidates with disabilities to stand for election.
We would like to hear from readers who think they may have been affected by the government’s decision not to compensate Waspi women? There is a form where you can contribute here.
Tories say they're entitled to accuse Labour of betraying Waspi women - even though they may have refused compensation too
Andrew Griffith, the shadow business secretary, has claimed that the Tories are entitled to criticise Labour over their decision not to pay compensation to the Waspi women – even though his party may have also done the same.
In an interview with Sky News, he explained:
I think every Waspi woman and campaigner genuinely believed that this government, the Labour government, had they got elected, would do something.
They’d all talked about it: Keir Starmer had talked about it, Angela Rayner talked about it, even Liz Kendall, who yesterday said they weren’t going to do a single thing about it, had talked about it. So it’s a big issue of betrayal.
I’m not sitting here saying we would necessarily have done something about it. That’s fair.
But the point is this government has given everybody the impression that they would, and then they’ve come in, and now they’re saying they wouldn’t. That’s a big issue. I can understand people, particularly the Waspi women, feeling enormously let down by that.
This is misleading. When the the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) published a report in March saying Waspi women should get compensation payments worth up to £10bn, Labour (like the government) did not commit to implementing this recommendation, and Liz Kendall, the then shadow work and pensions secretary, did not imply Labour was minded to agree when she responded in the Commons. There was no mention of Waspi women in the Labour manifesto.
The pro-Conservative papers today feature a lot of quotes from Labour cabinet minister backing the Waspi women’s campaign, but mostly these are from 2017 and 2019, when Jeremy Corbyn was leader and the party as firmly committed to paying compensation.
They do also report that Keir Starmer signed a pledge in March 2022 calling for “fair and fast compensation”, and this may be something he gets asked about at PMQs. But this was not something he was promising at the election, and in the past he has justified dropping previous spending pledges made when he was running for Labour leader, or soon after, on the grounds that by the time the election took place, the economic backdrop was different.
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Starmer says Trump right to say Europe needs to spend more on defence
In his LBC interview Keir Starmer was also asked a lot about defence. (The interview was conducted yesterday in Estonia, where Starmer was attending a leaders’ summit for the Joint Expeditionary Force, a military partnership.) Starmer has already said he wants to raise defence spending to 2.5% of GDP, but he has not said yet when that will happen. Nick Ferrari asked repeatedly if he would like to go beyond that, to 3%. Starmer just stuck to the line that he would be setting out a “pathway to 2.5%”.
But he also said Donald Trump was right to say Europe should spend more on defence.
We’re having constructive discussions with President-elect Trump. As you know, I met him a number of weeks ago and discussed a number of issues. I do think that when he says that Europe needs to do more, as a general proposition, I think that’s right, and we should do more.
Starmer was also asked about the recent government decision to get rid of some old ships, drones and helicopter, including a frigate like the one he was one yesterday. Asked why he was doing that when equipment was crucial, Starmer replied:
The crew here are very mindful of the fact this is now 33 years old, and they want to move on to the new equipment as soon as they can. But we don’t do our service personnel any favours by using equipment that is many years, in some cases, past its sell-by date.
Starmer defends spending more than 30 days away from UK since taking office
Keir Starmer is back in London today after a two-day trip to Norway and Estonia. In Estonia yesterday he gave an interview to Nick Ferrari from LBC, which was broadcast this morning, and Ferrari told the PM that he had been away from the UK for 31 days since he took office, equivalent to six working weeks, or one in five days. He asked Starmer why he needed to travel so much.
Starmer replied:
I travelled here today because our work with Nato is so important to our country.
If you think about the impact that the conflict in Ukraine has had back at home on our country, it’s been huge. If you think just for a moment, about the risks to the subsea infrastructure in Norway. We had a high-level briefing on the work we’re doing in relation to the cabling of the pipelines that are under the sea and the risk. I have to make sure and be assured that we’ve got the capability to meet the risks to our country.
But also what I’ve been able to do is to make the case for Britain and the investment that’s coming into our country, £63 billion came in in our investment summit, because we’re out there making the case for our country.
And therefore, there’s a direct link between the work that we’re doing internationally and the impact back at home, and it’s very important that that is done.
Back at the health committee, Layla Moran, the chair, asks what the extra £22bn going to the NHS is going to be spent on. She suggests that after inflation, the national insurance increase and pension payments etc, there will be nothing else.
Streeting say some of his reform proposals won’t cost a lot of money. He goes on:
It’s about spending money that we already have more effectively to deliver better outcomes. So, on elective recovery in the waiting list, for example, we see across the NHS teams that are using different ways of organising their clinics to deliver more productivity, more patient throughput, within within the resources that we currently have within the NHS. That is the approach I want to see right across the NHS.
As I’ve said before, if all I did as the secretary of state was to take the best of the NHS to the rest of the NHS, I’ll have done a hell of a lot of good.
He says he has announced plans for more transparency in the NHS to make it more efficient.
And he says in the past money for the NHS has not always been well spent.
UK inflation hits eight-month high of 2.6%, fuelling calls to hold interest rates
UK inflation has risen to its highest level in eight months, adding to pressure on the Bank of England to keep interest rates unchanged on Thursday despite a slowdown in the British economy, Richard Partington reports.
Streeting tells MPs NHS is seeing 'winter peak' pressures earlier this year than normal
Streeting tells the health committee that people need to see “demonstrable improvement” in the NHS by the end of this parliament.
The prime minister has particularly emphasised, through our Plan for Change, the 18 week target from referral to treatment, which we want to achieve by the end of this parliament. W will only be able to do that if we see overall system improvement.
And I want people to feel that it is easier to get access to a GP, for example. I want them to feel more confident that, if they dial 999, an ambulance will reach them in time. And I want them to see through waiting lists and waiting times real improvement.
Layla Moran, the committee chair, asks if people will see improvement this winter. Will the NHS deal with winter pressures better this year than last year?
Streeting does not say yes. Instead he replies:
That depends on the wider contextual factors. For example, we are already seeing pressures this winter, at this moment, that we don’t normally see until winter peak, which as far as I’m concerned, is next month, not this month. So it is challenging.
Wes Streeting, the health secretary, is giving evidence to the Commons health committee. The hearing is just starting and there is a live feed here.
Reeves says compensating Waspi women not ‘best use of taxpayers’ money’ as backlash grows
Good morning. Keir Starmer is facing his last PMQs of the year and, if he takes a glance at the papers this morning, he will find that he is being attacked by the Tory papers for not implementing a Jeremy Corbyn manifesto promise. Here are two of the headlines about yesterday’s announcement that the government will not compensate the so-called Waspi (Women Against State Pension Inequality) women – women who lost out because they were not properly notified about the planned rise in their state pension age.
Daily Mail: : Betrayal that proves Labour cynically said
— George Mann (@sgfmann) December 17, 2024
ANYTHING to get elected #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/eBaI0DVTki
Daily Express: LABOUR HAVE BETRAYED OUR OAPs TIME AFTER TIME #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/jqRpI9BXb6
— George Mann (@sgfmann) December 17, 2024
The Daily Telegraph has not splashed on the story, but it does have it on the front, under the headline “Labour betrays Waspi women with U-turn on pension payouts”. It is true that, when Corbyn was leader, Labour did promise compensation for the Waspi women. But when the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) recommended compensation worth up to £10bn in a report earlier this year, Keir Starmer very deliberately did not commit to implementing this, and his manifesto did not promise Waspi compensation.
Starmer is probably comfortable ignoring criticism from the pro-Conservative papers, but he will be more concerned about the fact that the Daily Mirror has taken up this cause too.
Daily Mirror: We have been betrayed #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/z5vh116Qhi
— George Mann (@sgfmann) December 17, 2024
Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, has been giving interviews this morning about the latest inflation figures (not great – more here) and she said paying compensation to the Waspi women would not be “the best use of taxpayers’ money”. She said:
I understand that women affected by the changes to the state pension age feel disappointed by this decision, but we looked in full at the ombudsman recommendations and they said that around 90% of women did know that these changes were coming.
And as chancellor, I have to account for every penny of taxpayers’ money spent.
And given that the vast majority of people did know about these changes, I didn’t judge that it would be the best use of taxpayers’ money to pay an expensive compensation bill for something that most people knew was happening.
Here is the agenda for the day.
9.30am: Wes Streeting, the health secretary, gives evidence to the Commons health committee.
Noon: Keir Starmer faces Kemi Badenoch at PMQs.
4.30pm: Matthew Pennycook, the housing minister, gives evidence to the Lords build environment committee on the grey belt.
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