Afternoon summary
Downing Street has shrugged off the claim from President Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff that Keir Starmer’s stance on Ukraine amounts to “posturing”. (See 1.07pm.)
Peter Kyle, the science secretary, has confirmed in an interview with Politico that the UK is discussing with the US watering down the digital services tax in a way that would help American tech firms.
Ben Houchen, the Conservative Tees Valley mayor, has said his party is not doing enough to grab the attention of the public. In an interview implicitly critical of Kemi Badenoch, the party leader, he told PoliticsHome:
We need to do more and we need to work much harder to earn the right for the public to listen to us again. Because the problem we have in the Conservative party, particularly after the defeat that we had, is that many people within the Conservative party now were there when we were in government.
Kevin Hollinrake, the shadow levelling up secretary, has told MPs that the Conservatives will not vote against the planning and infrastructure at second reading tonight. But they will seek to amend it in later stages during its passage through parliament, but in ways that won’t undermine “the ambition to accelerate the delivery of new homes”, he said.
Defra faces cuts, Steve Reed tells MPs
Helena Horton is a Guardian environment reporter.
Steve Reed, the environment secretary, has told the environmental audit committee that the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs will face cuts in the spending review and the environmental regulator will “have to do more with less”.
He said the Office for Environmental Protection and the “rest of Defra” will “have to do more with less” and that the priority has to be “cutting NHS waiting lists” rather than funding Defra.
Reed added that the targets to improve nature in the environmental improvement plan - which sets targets for issues like air quality, water quality, and tree planting- will be watered down as they are currently unachievable.
He told the committee: “It is better to have targets that are achievable than targets that are not”, adding:
They are stretch targets but I want them to be reachable, rather than targets that no one thinks we have a hope in hell of ever achieving.
He warned that a lack of clean drinking water is imperilling growth and risking rationing. There has not been a major reservoir built in England in 30 years.
Reed added:
A lack of clean drinking water infrastructure is holding back growth around Cambridge, we cannot build the data centres and gigafactories that we need because they have very high demand for water. As things stand, by the mid 2030s some parts of the country will be looking at rationing drinking water.
Updated
The Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, a thinktank run by the former PM, has published a briefing paper on the planning and infrastructure bill being debated by MPs this afternoon. It says it is “a promising piece of legislation” which, if implemented properly, “could be momentous, marking a break from the system that has long caused us to under-build the infrastructure the country needs to thrive”.
But the thinktank says the government should be going even further to remove the regulatory and legal obstacles that hold up planning. It says:
The government has already begun to address the statutory requirements by reducing the number of statutory consultees and amending the scope and timeframe in which statutory consultees can comment on Town and Country Planning Act applications.
However, the government should seek to go further in also cutting statutory requirements within the development consent order regime, which contains significant requirements at the pre-application stage. For example, aligning consultation requirements in the development consent order and Town and Country Planning Act systems could shorten pre-application periods and limit unnecessary stakeholder engagement.
A more transformative reform would be a shift towards “bright-line” rules – similar to permitted-development rights – where meeting clear, predefined standards guarantees approval. This approach, often called zoning, could reduce ambiguity and limit grounds for judicial review. Progress is underway through national development management policies, as TBI has previously recommended, but further steps are needed to embed clear, unambiguous rules into local plans via national policy.
Plaid Cymru says Treasury could raise 'billions' by tightening tax loopholes as alternative to disability benefit cuts
Plaid Cymru says there are various measures Rachel Reeves could use to raise money as an alternative to cutting disability benefits.
In an open letter to the chancellor, ahead of the spring statement tomorrow, Ben Lake, the Plaid Treasury spokesperson, identifies three potential options. He says:
The Office for Budget Responsibility is widely expected to downgrade the performance of the UK economy, and I am concerned that the government’s response to cut public spending will harm the most vulnerable in Wales by increasing poverty and exacerbating inequality.
I note that several practical alternatives have been proposed to raise additional revenue for the UK government, and I would be grateful to understand whether they have been considered in advance of the spring statement.
It has been estimated that charging national insurance on limited liability partnerships such as large corporate law firms, for example, or closing loopholes allowing overseas-based online vendors to avoid paying VAT, in addition to cutting the subsides for oil and gas companies could raise billions to help meet the government’s current fiscal rules without the need for further austerity.
Angela Rayner, the deputy PM and housing secretary, is speaking now in the second reading debate for the planning and infrastracture bill. The government has published a news release with a summary of what the bill will do.
Rayner said the bill was needed because Britain “just can’t build anything anymore”.
Under the Conservatives, home ownership was collapsing, and homelessness soaring, she said.
The time it takes to secure planning permission for major projects has almost doubled in the last decade. At more than four years, it’s slower and more costly to build big infrastructure in England than in France and Italy. No new reservoir has been built for over 30 years. There are countless examples, like the critical new road improvement scheme for Norwich that would create jobs and speed up journeys, yet it was held up for two years by unsuccessful legal challenges.
Alexander says she won't act as 'armchair electrical engineer' and will wait for outcome of Heathrow fire review
Ruth Kelly, the former Labour transport secretary who is now a non-executive director at Heathrow, will conduct a review of the airport’s internal resilience, MPs were told.
Heidi Alexander, the current transport secretary, mentioned the Kelly review as she confirmed that the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero has also commissioned its own inquiry into the electricty substation fire that closed Heathrow on Friday.
In a statement to MPs, Alexander also insisted that the cause of the fire is not thought to be suspicious.
Alexander said:
Regarding the cause of the fire, the Metropolitan police confirmed that the fire is not believed to be suspicious. However due to the location of the substation and the impact this incident has had on critical national infrastructure, the Met’s counter-terrorism command are leading our inquiries into this matter.
This is due to the specialist resource and capabilities within that command which can assist in progressing this investigation at pace to help minimise disruption and identify the cause.
There will of course be learnings to ensure we avoid such incidents from reoccurring. That is why on Saturday the energy secretary [Ed Miliband] working with Ofgem, commissioned the independent National Energy System Operator (Neso) to urgently investigate this incident.
The review will also seek to understand any wider lessons to be learned for energy resilience, for critical national infrastructure. Neso has been asked to report back to Desnz (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero) with initial findings within six weeks.
In addition, Heathrow has asked Ruth Kelly, former secretary of state for Transport, and an independent member of Heathrow’s board, to undertake a review of its internal resilience. The Kelly review will analyse the robustness and execution of Heathrow’s crisis management plans, the airport’s response and how it recovered the operation.
In response to a question from her Tory shadow, Gareth Bacon, about why Heathrow is reliant on a single substation, Alexander said she did not want to act as an “armchair electrical engineer” and that she would be waiting for the Kelly report.
She also said the Cabinet Office was conducting its own resilience review of critical national infrastructure.
Healey accuses Tories of 'Brexit rhetoric' as he dismisses claim UK to be shut out of EU €150bn defence fund for good
James Cartlidge, the shadow defence secretary, has accused Emmanuel Macron, the French president, of putting fishing rights ahead of European security.
During defence questions in the Commons, Cartlidge suggested UK manufacturers cannot win contracts from a €150bn EU defence fund because of Macron, and his supposed desire to protect the rights of French fishermen in talks with the UK about the Brext deal.
Cartlidge said:
We provide unconditionally to European Nato countries, our nuclear deterrent 24/7. Our army is in Estonia, defending Europe’s eastern flank, and we have done more than any other European nation to support Ukraine.
So can I ask the secretary of state if he and the prime minister will stand up to President Macron and stress to him, this is the worst possible time to prioritise fishing rights over Europe’s collective security?
In response, John Healey, the defene secretary, urged Cartlidge to “drop that Brexit rhetoric”. He also said he expected the UK to negotiate a security deal with the EU that would allow British manufacturers to be part of the EU fund. He explained:
The European Union, when they produced their defence and security white paper last week, set in place specific arrangements for any third nation like the UK that strikes a defence and security partnership with the European Union – exactly what we went to the country with as a promise to undertake as a UK government – any country with a partnership in place then has potentially access to those sort of programmes, that sort of funding. That’s what we will try and negotiate for this country and our industry.
Tories on course to narrowly win Cambridgeshire and Peterborough mayoral election, poll suggests
Labour Together has released some polling that suggests the Conservative party is narrowly ahead in the contest to be the next mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, with Labour in second place. Labour Together, a thinktank and campaign organisation close to No 10, says it shows why Lib Dem supporters should back Labour.
In 2021 the Conservative candidate in the contest got the highest first round vote. But, once the Lib Dem voters were redistributed under the supplementary vote system, Labour’s Nik Johnson won on the final ballot.
The last government then changed the voting system for mayoral elections to first past the post (FPTP). The polling figures imply the Tory candidate, former MP Paul Bristow, is currently on course to win.
The poll has the Conservatives currently on 31%, Labour on 27%, the Lib Dems on 20%, Reform UK on 13%. the Greens on 6% and others on 3%. These figures exclude the 22% who said they did not know how they would vote on 1 May.
Eleri Kirkpatrick-Lorente, policy adviser at Labour Together, said:
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough looks set to go the wire with Labour and the Conservatives neck and neck.
Convincing voters who currently say they will vote for the Liberal Democrats to back Anna Smith [the Labour candidate] and stop a Tory mayor from winning offers Labour the clearest path to victory.
With these kinds of elections often decided on hyper-local issues, Labour will be looking to focus on the things that matter most to voters like potholes and public services such as buses, housing and healthcare.
UPDATE: This post has been corrected because it wrongly said the polling was by YouGov. But Labour Together carried out the poll.
Updated
The YouGov poll shows relatively high support for taxing the rich as a policy to improve the public finances. (See 2.18pm.) In an interview with the Today programme this morning, Paul Johnson, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, was asked if a wealth tax was a viable option. He replied:
We’re already in a world where taxes are the highest they’ve been in the UK. The chancellor, the government, tied themselves in knots in their manifesto, and they already broke that commitment [not to raise income tax, national insurance or VAT] by increasing national insurance in the autumn. That does mean they’re very unlikely to increase income tax or VAT.
Wealth taxes are difficult to implement. There’s not really any examples around the world of an effective wealth tax. But you can have a go.
You need to be clear what you mean. Do you mean people with £1m or £10m or £100m? Do you want it to be one-off, or do you want it to be annual?
I think the key question here is not for an economist, it’s for a lawyer. Could you actually make this stick? I think there’ll be a lot of very happy lawyers if you tried to this because, obviously, people with £10m have got quite a lot of money to find ways around it.
The key fact, though, is if you want serious money, you have to do, broadly speaking, what the chancellor did back in October. You have to raise one of the big taxes, and she decided to raise national insurance.
Of course, income taxes are rising because we’re having allowances and thresholds frozen for a very long period of time. That’s dragging more and more of our income into income tax, and that’s why we’ve had this historically extraordinary increase in taxes over the last five years, and that increase is continuing over the rest of this decade.
So I think it’s really important to be clear, for those who are asking for increased taxes, this is the biggest period of raising taxes we’ve ever had, or at least we’ve had since the second world war.
Poll suggests it is getting harder for Labour to blame last Tory government for tax decisions it has to take
YouGov has published some polling about attitudes to the public finances which help to illustrate why the challenge facing Rachel Reeves on Wednesday is so difficult.
With government spending under pressure, the Treasury has three option. But the poll shows that all three of them have limited support: cutting spending (25%), raising taxes (18%) and raising borrowing (8%).
Instead, what voters would prefer are the options that seem to be off the table: raising spending (27%), cutting taxes (33%) and cutting borrowing (42%).
Reeves has ruled out raising taxes in the spring statement, and she does not have the scope to increase borrowing (see 10.47am), and so the announcement is expected to focus on cuts.
The poll also suggests it is becoming increasingly hard for Labour to blame the last Conservative government for the decisions it has to take.
And it suggests that, if people are asked what specific policies they would favour to improve the public finances, two specific ideas come top: one popular with leftwingers (taxing the rich) and one popular with the right (cutting immigration and benefits for migrants).
Reform UK choses local councillor and ex-magistrate Sarah Pochin as candidate for Runcorn and Helsby byelection
Peter Walker is a Guardian senior political correspondent.
Reform UK have selected a local borough councillor to fight the Runcorn and Helsby byelection, seen as a key electoral and organisational test for Nigel Farage’s party.
Sarah Pochin is a former local justice of the peace who has worked in the private sector for companies including Shell and what was formerly Caradon, the building supplies firm, Reform said.
In a potentially good fit for a party recently shaken by internal ructions with the suspension of Rupert Lowe, one of their five MPs, Pochin’s time on Cheshire East council saw her either ejected or suspended from both the Conservatives and the local independent group.
In 2020, she was expelled by the Tories after agreeing to become mayor after being selected by the then-ruling Labour-independent coalition. In 2022, she quit the independents after being suspended for rejoining the Conservative party to vote in its leadership election. It is not known if she supported Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak.
The byelection, the date for which has not been announced, was triggered after Mike Amesbury, the sitting Labour MP, resigned after being given a prison sentence for punching a constituent.
Amesbury was suspended by Labour and lost the party whip in October after a video of the incident on a night out was published online. He was given a 10-week prison sentence, suspended for two years.
While Amesbury won a near-15,000 majority last year, Reform came second and Farage’s party has talked up its chances of taking the seat.
Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, said:
Sarah is a great candidate who has enjoyed a successful career in private business and has represented the local community as a magistrate for the past 20 years. She has honourably resigned from that role to fight this by-election for Reform UK. Vote for a lawmaker, not a lawbreaker in Runcorn and Helsby.
At the No 10 lobby briefing, asked if Keir Starmer would be turning down his pay rise as an MP (see 1.07pm), the PM’s spokesperson said MPs receive the pay rise whether they want to or not. But he confirmed that the government is continue with the freeze for ministerial salaries.
No 10 declines to hit back at Trump's special envoy who claimed Starmer's Ukraine policy amounts to posturing
Downing Street has refused to respond directly to the claim from President Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff that Keir Starmer’s stance on Ukraine amounts to “posturing”.
Asked if Starmer was happy for one of Trump’s closest advisers to be talking in these terms, the PM’s spokesperson said that Starmer himself has explained in detail why he is working on plans for a “coalition of the willing” to support Ukraine, and why a peace deal would need military underpining.
Asked if Witkoff’s comments came up in the Trump/Starmer call last night (see 12.31pm), the spokesperson said the focus of that conversation was on the economic deal.
Asked if Starmer intended just to ignore the comment, the spokesperson replied:
We’re focused on the outcome here. The prime minister could not be clearer about the role of the coalition of the willing, and the value of it. That’s why we are embarking on three days of detailed operational planning this week.
The prime minister is focused on delivering the right outcome in Ukraine. There’s frequent engagement with President Trump to that end, with shared vision with President Trump in terms of bringing a durable peace in Ukraine.
Asked if the PM would deny that he is posturing, the spokesperson said Starmer was focused on the substance of the operational planning phase of the coalition of the willing.
In his interview, asked about Starmer’s Ukraine policy, Witkoff said:
I think it’s a combination of a posture and a pose and a combination of also being simplistic. There is this sort of notion that we have all got to be like [British wartime prime minister] Winston Churchill. Russians are going to march across Europe. That is preposterous by the way. We have something called Nato that we did not have in World War Two.
Updated
Reeves signals government won't end free school meals for infants as part of DfE cost cutting
Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, has said she does not “recognise” reports ministers may means test free school meals.
Asked if free school meals would be means-tested following the spring statement, as a report in the Times suggests (see 8.27am and 11.47am), Reeves told broadcasters:
This government is rolling out free breakfast clubs in all primary schools from April. I don’t recognise those claims that the government are looking at means-testing free school meals.
In fact, this government are ensuring that all children get a good start to the day with a breakfast club, helping working parents and helping all children get a good start in life. That is what this government is determined to do after 14 years of Conservative failure.
At the Downing Street lobby briefing the PM’s spokesperson also said that he did not “recognise” the reports. Asked what exactly this meant, and if he could confirm the government was ruling out means testing school meals currently free to all infant pupils, the spokesperson declined to elaborate.
But later a source said Reeve had given a clear indication that the proposal as reported was not one being considered.
Updated
Trump and PM discussed trade deal last night, No 10 says, without revealing if digital services tax concessions featured
Keir Starmer and Donald Trump spoke about a UK-US economic prosperity deal in a call last night, Downing Street said this morning.
At the lobby briefing, asked about reports that the government may cut the digital services tax, to help US tech firms and to persuade the White House to reduce the impact of tariffs on the UK in return, the PM’s spokesperson replied:
Firstly, just taking a step back, the UK is working with the United States on an economic prosperity deal, building on our shared strength of that commitment to economic security.
As part of those discussions, the prime minister and President Trump discussed progress made in those discussions last night.
The UK will only do a deal in the national interest, which reflects this government’s mandate to deliver economic stability for British people.
The spokesperson did not say whether or not the digital services tax came up in the call.
But he said the government remained in favour of the tax in principle.
In relation to the digital services tax, the chancellor this morning said that the digital services tax is hugely important.
It brings in around £800m a year and ensures that companies pay tax in the country that they’re operating in. So we will continue to make sure that businesses pay their fair share of tax, including businesses in the digital sector.
On the prospects of a trade deal, the spokesperson said that “good progress” was being made. But he confirmed that what was being envisaged was less a full-blown free trade agreement, and more a deal just covering certain sectors.
Updated
Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, has been criticised for accepting two free tickets for a corporate box to see a Sabrina Carpenter concert at the O2 Arena. She went with a family member and, in an interview with the BBC yeserday, she defended accepting the gift on the grounds that her security concerns mean it is difficult for her to attend a concert like that as an ordinary member of the audience. Keir Starmer says he accepts corporate box tickets when he goes to see Arsenal matches for the same reason.
Reeves’s explanation did not impress the Daily Mail, which has splashed on the story this morning.
Asked about the issue in interviews this morning, Heidi Alexander, the transport secretary, wasn’t 100% supportive. She told Times Radio:
I haven’t taken any tickets, to be honest, since I was elected back in [July] as a new member of parliament, and going straight into the Ministry of Justice and then coming straight into the Department for Transport. I actually, sadly, haven’t been to see any concerts at all over the last nine months, partly because I’ve been very, very busy.
As a member of parliament, I have never accepted tickets to any concerts or anything like that.
She also said that, when she did have time off, she would prefer to spend it with her family.
The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority has confirmed that MPs will get a pay rise of 2.8%, taking their salary in 2025-26 to £93,904. Ipsa proposed this figure last month, and it has now been confirmed following a consultation.
According to the Times, Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, has floated the idea that the Department for Education might have to stop funding free school meals for all infants (pupils in reception and years one and two) to meet the Treasury’s targets for cuts. But this is seen as a negotiating ploy, more than a serious option, and the Times also says “while moves to axe some policies are likely to be abandoned as politically toxic, they illustrate the scale of the cuts being examined as part of the government’s zero based review of all spending”.
That has not stopped the opposition parties criticising the idea.
Munira Wilson, the Lib Dem education spokesperson, said:
Children cannot be expected to learn on empty stomachs.
If the government go ahead with this, they should hang their heads in shame as they slash free school meals, while giving a tax cut to Musk and other tech billionaires.
And Pete Wishart, the SNP’s deputy leader at Westminster, said:
Reports that the Labour government is planning billions of pounds of austerity cuts to public services, and could even end universal free school meals for infants, will send alarm bells ringing in Scotland and it shows the Labour Party can’t be trusted to protect families.
Keir Starmer had taken part in a pothole-related photocall this morning. But, instead of actually pointing at a pothole like someone auditioning for a slot in Angry people in local newspapers (see 8.27am), he instead visited a garage where mechanics fix the damaged caused by potholes.
As PA Media reports, being shown damage to tyres caused by potholes, Starmer said: “It’s really irritating, if you’re doing the school run or you’re using your car or your van for work.”
The PM also said there needs to be “accountability” in the system of fixing potholes.
While speaking to two members of the public who have been affected by pothole damage, Starmer was told that budgets for fixing the holes are “the wrong way around”. Starmer replied:
The first thing we need to do is to get a bit of accountability into it to know which councils are doing what where.
He said today’s announcement would “incentivise” councils to “get on and do it”.
In his Radio 5 Live interview this morning Starmer said fixing potholes “isn’t boring”. (See 8.34am.)
Updated
Pip cuts will make UK less resilient in event of future pandemic, Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice UK says
The Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice UK group is urging Rachel Reeves to abandon the plans to cut Pip (the personal independent payment, a disability payment). It has explained why in an open letter to the chancellor that it says is backed by almost 10,000 relatives of people who died during the pandemic.
Here is an extract.
Rampant inequality also contributed to the UK’s high death toll. Disabled people were 11 times more likely to die from Covid-19 than non-disabled people. Instead of addressing the inequalities that contributed to that horrifying statistic, the government is pushing ahead with plans to slash disability benefits, driving more people into poverty and making the country even less prepared for future pandemics. A broken safety net doesn’t just fail individuals – it weakens society’s ability to respond to a crisis.
The full letter has been posted on social media.
Disabled people were 11x more likely to die from COVID-19 than non-disabled people.
— Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice UK (@CovidJusticeUK) March 24, 2025
Cuts to welfare and public spending more widely led directly to avoidable deaths when the pandemic hit.
That is why we have written to Chancellor @RachelReevesMP urging her to cancel the cuts. pic.twitter.com/15Uytl9Ge4
If you are wondering why, as an alternative to cutting spending in areas like disability benefits and overseas aids, Rachel Reeves does not just revise her fiscal rules and borrow a bit more, you should read this by Alex Clark and Richard Partington. It explains, with clear, interactive graphics, how government borrowing costs have soared over the past decade, leading to a huge rise in the proportion of government spending going on debt repayments.
Transport secretary Heidi Alexander declines to say Heathrow bosses right to close airport after substation fire
Heidi Alexander, the transport secretary, was doing an interview round this morning. She may have been hoping to talk about potholes, but mostly she faced questions about the closure of Heathrow on Friday after an electricity substation was knocked out by a fire. Here are some of the main lines from her interviews.
Alexander said said she would have struggled to sleep if she were running Heathrow airport during last week’s power outage. She was responding to reports that Thomas Woldbye went back to bed after the crisis began late on Thursday night. Asked if she would have done the same, Alexanderm who was in charge of transport in London as a deputy mayor for three years, told LBC:
I’ve had to deal with some pretty stressful situations in my time. I probably would struggle to sleep, to be honest.
But she also stepped back from being explicitly critical of Woldbye’s decision, saying:
It’s my understanding that he placed his chief operating officer in charge. He will have also known that there was going to be a huge number of very difficult decisions the following day.
I’m not going to justify decisions that Heathrow leadership did or didn’t take. I wasn’t sat at the table. I didn’t have the information that he had available to him at that time.
She sidestepped questions about whether or not closing Heathrow was the right decision. She told the Today programme:
The decision to close the airport on Friday was a decision taken by Heathrow’s management.
Pressed on whether she thought that was the correct decision, she replied:
I don’t have all the information that they had available at the point in time when they made that decision.
In another interview, on BBC Breakfast, asked if she had full confidence in Heathrow management, she replied:
That’s not a matter for me. The individuals who need to ask themselves whether they have full confidence in Heathrow management are the Heathrow board …
Heathrow is a private company. Decisions about the leadership of that company are matters for its own board.
She said that, although Heathrow had back-up generators, they were “designed to protect the critical systems within the airport not to power the entirety of the airport” because it consumed “roughly the amount of energy that a small city would consume”.
She said Heathrow had to suspend flights on Friday because its power system had to be rebooted. She explained:
I had a conversation with the chief executive of Heathrow on Friday morning. He told me that whilst there are multiple power supplies into the airport, the fire had created a very significant problem with respect to Terminals 2 and 4 specifically and that there had to be some reconfiguration of power supplies into the airport.
That meant all the systems had to be turned off and all the systems had to be restarted again in a safe way.
There have been a lot of claims recently, in the rightwing papers and on social media, that the government is wasting a fortune on expensive cars for disabled people getting benefits, through the Motability scheme. Archie Bland has a very good explainer setting out how the scheme actually works, and showing why many of these allegations are false or misleading.
Streeting says he wants to boost social care spending as part of 10-year plan for NHS
The forthcoming plan to fix the NHS will see funds allocated to social care, Wes Streeting, the health secretary, has suggested. PA Media reports:
Streeting said spending NHS resources “more effectively though social care” will be better for patients and deliver better value for taxpayers.
At present, social care is most often paid for by councils, but thousands of people at any one time are stuck in NHS hospital beds even though they are fit to be discharged.
This is because of delays in arranging social care in local communities, finding spaces in care homes or difficulties in arranging other care.
At any one time, around one in seven hospital beds are taken up by people who could be cared for elsewhere.
Inadequate social care in the community also puts pressure on the NHS, such as through increasing hospital admissions and GP visits.
Speaking to the BBC’s Panorama programme, Streeting suggested he will increase NHS spending on social care but did not say by how much.
He said: “I want to spend more of our resources through social care because it delivers better outcomes for patients and better value for taxpayers. So I’m convinced that we can spend NHS resources more effectively through social care.”
On the figures involved, he said: “Well, these sorts of discussions are always subject to spending reviews, but the 10-year plan for health will include elements of social care, because the two do have to go hand in hand together.”
Streeting also repeated his belief that the NHS is “also not all about money”.
He said that “you can’t just keep on pouring ever increasing amounts of taxpayers’ money into a system that is not set up to deliver best use of that money and best care for patients and that’s why the system needs to change”.
The forthcoming 10-year plan for the NHS will focus on the “three shifts” the government says are needed – moving NHS services towards more community-based care, preventing people getting ill in the first place and better use of digital technology.
Starmer confirms he wants to 'take some money out of government' as part of efficiency drive
Well, that did not really get us very far. Apologies to anyone who feels misled by “grilling” in the headline. We learned very little. After the interview was over, Rachel Burden, the Radio 5 Live presenter, read out some listener reaction, including a message from someone who said: “The country is literally falling apart and Sir Keir is fixated on potholes. I give up.”
But in the interview Keir Starmer did not challenge the claim that some government departments will have to reduce spending. This is what he said when it was put to him that unprotected deparments would face cuts.
We’re looking across the board. We made a budget last year, we made some record investments, and we’re not going to undo that.
So, for example, we’ve got a record amount into the NHS. That’s just delivered five months’ worth of waiting lists coming down – five months in a row during the winter, that’s really good. So we’re not going to alter the basics.
But we are going to look across. And one of the areas that we will be looking at is, can we run the government more efficiently? Can we take some money out of government? And I think we can.
I think we’re essentially asking businesses across the country to be more efficient, to look at AI and tech in the way that they do their business.
I want the same challenge in government, which is, why shouldn’t we be more efficient?
The main budgets that are protected are health, defence, schools and early years. Starmer seemed to be confirming that other departments face cuts.
Starmer says he is 'worried' about masculinity crisis, but does not think government needs minister for men
Edwards asks masculinity, the Gareth Southgate lecture and the TV show Adolescence.
Starmer says he is “worried” about this.
Southgate’s lecture was “really powerful”, he says.
I do think this is something that we have to take seriously. We have to address. We can’t shrug our shoulders at it.
There’s a reason why the debate has suddenly sparked into life on this and that’s because I think a lot of parents, a lot of people who work with young people at school or elsewhere, recognise that we may have a problem with boys and young men that we need to addres
Q: Who are the male role models?
Starmer says he looks to sport. But he says for pupils it is often people at school.
I always go to sport for this. Footballers, athletes, I think they are role models.
But I also think if you actually ask a young person, they’re more likely to identify somebody who’s in their school, a teacher, or somebody who maybe is a sports coach, something like that.
So we need to make sure that – this is something that dads do, dad would reach for a sort of sporting hero – I think children, young people, are more likely to reach someone closer to them, within their school, within their community.
And that’s, I think, where we need to do some of the work.
Q: Do we need a minister for men?
Starmer says he does not think that is the answer.
And that’s it.
Updated
Q: ‘Efficiency’ sounds nebulous. What do these cuts mean?
Starmer says AI can bring huge efficiencies. As an example, he says it makes heart scans quicker and more efficient.
Q: You are betting big on tech.
Starmer says it is going to be transformative.
He recalls speaking to a social worker in this room in No 10 who told him she used AI to organise her notes, meaning she could spend more time talking to clients.
Starmer segues into border control, and says the Border Force is getting new, anti-terrorism style powers, to deal with small boats
He says he does not believe that the gangs running small boats cannot be taken out.
Q: Will some government departments face cuts in the spring statement?
Starmer says the budget last year included record investment, and that will not change.
But the government is looking to see if it can do some things more efficiently.
Starmer says fixing potholes 'isn't boring', as he claims government spending record amount on problem
Q: Is this central government taking more control? You could just give councils the money?
Starmer says government used to do that, but councils did not always use the money to repair potholes.
He says people may think this is trivial. But if a driver hits a bad hithole, they could end up with a £600 repair bill for their car.
He says the government is allocating a record amount of money for this.
And there is also a safety issue for cyclists, he says.
UPDATE: Starmer said:
You say that, and some people do say, ‘well, it’s just potholes’.
I can tell you, if you hit a pothole, there will be some people hitting a pothole this morning, and then they are picking up an average £600 bill to their car or their van.
That isn’t boring, that is really irritating. We’ve got far too many of them, and this is about getting that job done.
Updated
Radio 5 Live is playing its interview with Keir Starmer now. Rick Edwards is interviewing him live.
Edwards starts by saying they are in the grand Terracotta room, under a chandelier.
He starts by asking what Starmer is announcing, and Starmer does the pothole spiel. (See 8.27am.)
Keir Starmer faces Radio 5 Live interview as criticism of spring statement plans escalates
Good morning. Keir Starmer will be on Radio 5 Live soon to talk about potholes. The government is promoting a new scheme that involves councils getting extra funding to repair roads, but with the release of cash contingent upon pothole monitoring – authorities having to publish details of the progress they are making. As the Department for Transport explains in a news release:
From mid-April, local authorities in England will start to receive their share of the government’s record £1.6bn highway maintenance funding, including an extra £500m – enough to fill 7 million potholes a year.
But to get the full amount, all councils in England must from today publish annual progress reports and prove public confidence in their work. Local authorities who fail to meet these strict conditions will see 25% of the uplift (£125m in total) withheld.
Potholes matter. Voters care about the state of the roads, they notice when they improve and so there is a reason why Starmer talking about potholes, just as Rishi Sunak did when he was PM. We may even get a picture like this soon.
But with the spring statement only two days away, and the government facing criticismg on multiple fronts, Starmer will be lucky to get 90 seconds on potholes before other questions kick in. Here are just some of the other difficult topics that could come up.
Why does the government seem minded to water down the digital services tax, saving US tech companies potentially hundreds of millions of pounds, in a move that would be seen as appeasement of the Trump administration? Rowena Mason has the latest on this story, which splashes the Guardian, here.
Monday's GUARDIAN: Starmer is warned against 'appeasing' Trump on tax#TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/YFFyMRSkv9
— Jack Surfleet (@jacksurfleet) March 23, 2025
Will the government’s plans to cut the size of the civil service really lead to the loss of 50,000 jobs, as the Times reports? In their story Oliver Wright and Aubrey Allegretti say:
Ministers are drawing up plans to axe up to five times as many civil service jobs as previously planned, as Rachel Reeves puts herself on a collision course with public sector unions.
As she looks to balance the books in her spring statement this week, the chancellor announced on Sunday that she would cut up to £2 billion from the government’s running costs by 2030.
The cut equates to 15 per cent of the government’s £13 billion-a-year administration budget, of which more than three quarters is spent on staff.
The Times understands that the cuts are likely to reduce the size of the civil service by up to 50,000 jobs — five times more than previously mooted by the government.
Monday's TIMES: Chancellor risks war with unions over spending cuts#TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/EEzZ1eY5Yd
— Jack Surfleet (@jacksurfleet) March 23, 2025
Will Starmer let the Department for Education cut universal free school meals for infants as part DfE budget cuts? According to the Times, that is one option that has been floated. “The education secretary has also offered to axe funding for free period products in schools as well as dance, music and PE schemes as part of potential savings,” the Times reports. Will Hazell in the i says the education sector “is braced for the “worst financial situation for a generation”.
Monday's i: Education braces for 'worst squeeze in a generation' - as Reeves admits cuts are coming#TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/RNHMvrzHW3
— Jack Surfleet (@jacksurfleet) March 23, 2025
All these headlines relate to the spring statement on Wednesday, which is already generating grim headlines for No 10.
But Starmer is also likely to be asked about relations with President Trump, and how he felt when he heard Steve Witkoff, the president’s special envoy, ridicule Starmer’s Ukraine policy in an interview. Asked about Starmer’s plans for a “coalition of the willing”, Witkoff said:
I think it’s a combination of a posture and a pose and a combination of also being simplistic. There is this sort of notion that we have all got to be like [British wartime prime minister] Winston Churchill. Russians are going to march across Europe. That is preposterous by the way. We have something called Nato that we did not have in World War Two.
Here is the agenda for the day.
8.30am: Keir Starmer is being interviewed on Radio 5 Live.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer joins Rick Edwards live from No 10 Downing Street at 08:30 GMT
— BBC Radio 5 Live (@bbc5live) March 24, 2025
He’ll be talking about plans to fill in potholes and possible spending cuts
Listen on the free BBC Sounds app 🎧 pic.twitter.com/Lq4lVlkq2y
11.30am: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.
2.30pm: John Healey, the defence secretary, takes questions in the Commons.
4.30pm: Steve Reed, the environment secretary, gives evidence to the environmental audit committee.
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Updated
