Early evening summary
Welfare ministers have suggested that people worried about the disability benefit cuts being announced tomorrow may be reassured when they see the details – while refusing to guarantee that people who are too sick or disabled to work aren’t at risk of losing money. (See 3.07pm, 3.37pm and 4.54pm.)
David Lammy, the foreign secretary, has told MPs that Britain and its G7 allies have have “more cards that we can play” to help force Russia to negotiate “seriously” about a ceasefire in Ukraine. (See 4.38pm.)
Downing Street has said that more than 30 countries could be involved in the “coalition of the willing” plan to provide military support to Ukraine in the event of a peace deal. (See 1.19pm.)
Kemi Badenoch has been interrupted by protesters while giving a speech at the the CPS’s Margaret Thatcher Conference on Remaking Conservatism. As PA Media reports.
Two protesters have been ejected from a speech by Kemi Badenoch at London’s Guildhall.
The Conservative leader began to speak when a woman holding a banner that said “Abolish Billionaires” held up a banner and began to shout.
She was soon ejected from the Central London hall by members of the audience.
A second woman appeared to shout about the cost-of-living crisis as she was ejected from the room.
At the event, which marked 50 years since Margaret Thatcher helped to set up the think tank, Badenoch could be heard to say: “I hardly think Mrs Thatcher can be blamed for the cost-of-living crisis.”
Leftist protester bungled out of Kemi Badenoch speech. pic.twitter.com/OOvBiaMoZW
— Tom Harwood (@tomhfh) March 17, 2025
Updated
Only 37% seem to agree with Streeting about people getting mental health diagnosis too readily, poll suggests
Yesterday Wes Streeting, the health secretary, claimed there has been some “overdiagnosis” of mental health conditions.
According to polling by YouGov, almost four out of 10 people (37%) seem agree with Streeting that getting a diagnosis is too easy. But 32% say getting a diagnosis is too hard, and 14% say the balance is about right – meaning at last 46% don’t agree with Streeting.
(Streeting talked about there being “overdiagnosis” of mental health conditions, whereas YouGov asked about it being “too easy” to get a diagnosis; the terms have different connotations, although roughly they imply the same thing.)
The polling also found considerable differences between demographic groups on this issue.
Women are more likely to say getting a diagnosis is too hard, not too easy – while men are more likely to say the opposite.
The under-50s are more likely to say getting a diagnosis is too hard, not too easy – while the over-50s are more likely to say the opposite.
People from London and Scotland are more likely to say getting a diagnosis is too hard, not too easy – while people from the rest of Britain are more likely to say the opposite.
And Labour and Lib Dem supporters are more likely to say getting a diagnosis is too hard, not too easy – while Conservative and Reform UK supporters are more likely to say the opposite.
King welcomes new Canadian PM Mark Carney to Buckingham Palace
King Charles has welcomed Mark Carney, the new prime minister of Canada, to Buckingham Palace. Later Carney is meeting Keir Starmer in No 10.
The king does not routinely meet foreign prime ministers when they visit London, and Carney is not staying in London for long. But the king is Canada’s head of state and, with President Trump repeatedly saying he wants the US to annex Canada, Charles seems to be more than usually keen to show Canadians that they have his full support.
The Green party MP Siân Berry has welcomed the growing interest in a wealth tax (a Green party policy) as an alternative to disability benefit cuts. (See 9.31am.) She said:
We are pleased to see pressure for a wealth tax growing, something the Green party has long argued for. Just a 2% tax on people with assets above £10m would raise far more than the savings proposed through welfare cuts. This tax is long overdue. The government cannot delay any longer. Now is the time to tax extreme wealth and stop punishing the poorest and most vulnerable.
During work and pensions questions in the Commons earlier Helen Whately, the shadow work and pensions secretary, asked Liz Kendall for an assurance that she had “collective agreement” for the plans for disability benefits being announced tomorrow.
When Kendall urged Whately to be patient, and did not directly address the question about cabinet support, Whately claimed this reply meant Kendall did not have the support of cabinet colleagues.
In another exchange Siân Berry, the Green MP, asked for an assurance that the benefit cuts being proposed would not be implemented this calender year, or without a vote by MPs.
Stephen Timms, the social security and disability minister, replied:
I recognise there has been a good deal of anxiety and I regret that that has occurred. But there won’t be long to wait, the proposals will soon become clear and I think she will welcome a great deal of the changes we want to make.
'We have more cards we can play' - Lammy says G7 planning further moves to pressure Russia into agreeing ceasefire
David Lammy, the foreign secretary, told MPs that G7 foreign ministers were able to find “common ground” when they met in Canada last week, despite claims in advance that this would not be possible.
He said a ceasefire offer was now on the table, “Ukraine is serious about peace”, and it was now up to President Putin to decide how to respond. He said:
Now it is Putin who stands in the spotlight, Putin who must answer, Putin who must choose. Are you serious, Mr Putin, about peace? Will you stop the fighting? Or will you drag your feet and play games, pay lip service to a ceasefire while still pummeling your prey?
My warning to Mr. Putin is this – if you are serious, prove it with a full and unconditional ceasefire now.
But Lammy said Putin did not seem interested in a ceasefire, and so the G7 was considering further action.
If Putin does not deliver, and I must tell the house that I currently see no sign yet that he is, the G7 meeting helped us ready the tools to get Russia to negotiate seriously. We’re not waiting for the Kremlin. If they reject a ceasefire, we have more cards that we can play.
We can all see the impact the G7’s unprecedented sanctions have had on Russia’s faltering economy; social spending down, inflation and interest rates sky high. There can be no let up in our efforts.
In Canada we discussed where we can go further to target their energy and defence sectors, further squeeze their oil revenues and use frozen Russian assets. At the same time we will keep up our support to Ukraine – Europeans clearly need to shoulder our share of this responsibility.
Updated
The urgent question is over, but Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, is now raising a point of order.
Jenrick claims that Nicholas Dakin, the justice minister, misled MPs when he said the new Sentencing Council guidelines were approved by the last government. He says that the guidelines on which the last government was consulted were not the same as the ones finally published, because new wording was added, as the council itself admitted in its recent letter.
The Speaker, Lindsay Hoyle, objects, and tells Jenrick to accuse Dakin of inadvertently misleading the house. MPs are not allowed to accuse each other of being deliberately misleading, or lying.
Dakin says he doesn’t think he inadvertenly misled MPs.
Justice minister Nicholas Dakin says he's 'confident' that Sentencing Council will respond to government's concerns
Desmond Swayne (Con) said the Sentencing Council row showed why it was a mistake for MPs “to delegate powers to quangos which then clearly come up with solutions which we find repulsive”.
Dakin says, if Swayne had been present at the meeting last week, he would not have seen it as Shabana Mahmood, the justice secretary, just “asking” for a new approach.
He says there was a constructive exchange of views and that a “proper process” is now in place, “which I am confident will come up with the right answer”.
Josh Babarinde, the Lib Dem justice spokerperson, said two-tier justice already existed in the UK. He said the country used to be run by “two-tier Tories who thought they could get away with illegal number 10 parties, while the rest of us told to stay at home”. And he described Jenrick as a two-tier Tory “who unlawfully approved a development for his donor”.
Andy Slaughter, the Labour chair of the Commons justice committee, spoke out in defence of the Sentencing Council. He said the new guidelines did not require pre-sentence reports to be obtained for offenders in the designated categories, including minority ethnic people, and did not prevent judges getting pre-sentence report for other people.
Dakin said Slaughter was making a good point.
Responding to Jenrick, Nicholas Dakin, the justice minister, said Shabana Mahmood, the justice secretary, met the Sentencing Council to discuss this dispute last week.
He says they had a “constructive discussion” and Mahmood agreed to set out her objections in more detail in writing. The council agreed to consider those before the guidelines came into effect.
Dakin said this process should be allowed to play out.
Robert Jenrick uses urgent question to call for officials who drew up new Sentencing Council guidelines to be sacked
Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, is now asking a Commons urgent question about the new Sentencing Council guidelines that he claims will create “two-tier justice”.
He says the guidelines, which say judges should normally ask for pre-sentence reports when certain categories of offender, including minority ethnic offenders, are being sentenced. This violates the prinicple of equality before the law, he says.
He says the people who draw up the guidelines should be sacked.
He says the government should back his bill allowing the government to intervene. And he says he thinks Shabana Mahmood, the justice secretary, is refusing to do this because she secretly agrees with the plans.
The Conservative MP Lincoln Jopp asked what the government was doing about “so-called ‘sickfluencer’ sites, social media platforms where people are shown how to game the benefits system”.
In response, Alison McGovern, the employment minister, said:
We have a fraud bill going through the House at the moment and the issue that he has raised is at the forefront of the attention of my fellow minister, the minister for transformation [Andrew Western], and he will take every step he can to deal with issues in that area.
Later, in response to another question on the same topic, Western said the government inherited “an appalling level of fraud in the welfare system” from the last government. He said the fraud bill included a £8.6bn package to tackle fraud.
The SNP’s Kirsty Blackman asked for an assurance that people will people with conditions such as an amputation, schizophrenia, cancer or uncontrolled epilepsy would not face a benefits cut from the plans being published tomorrow.
Stephen Timms, the social security and disability minister, said the government was determined to protect those who need to be protected. He said he thought Blackman would welcome the plans when she saw them.
Updated
Kendall hints she can see argument for Pip claimants whose condition will never improve not facing reassessment
Jeremy Wright (Con) asks Kendall if she agrees that, for people who are receiving Pip (the personal independence payment, a disability benefit), if their condition is not going to get any better, it would be “sensible to relieve them of the burden of that reassessment process”, unless they want to be reassessed.
That would be “less distressing for them”, and would allow officials to focus on assessing the people who need reaassessment more quickly, he says.
Kendall says she agrees with “a lot” of what Wright is saying. She urges him to be patient, and to wait until the plans are announced tomorrow.
Under the current system people who receive Pip, which can be worth more than £600 per month, are supposed to have their entitlement reassessed from time to time.
The government is expected to tighten the eligibility criteria, making it harder for people to qualify, but it is not clear yet how long it will take before the new rules apply, or before people already getting Pip have to face reassessment.
Updated
Liz Kendall says government putting 'trust and fairness' into disability benefits system, so it can last 'for years to come'
Liz Kendall, the work and pensions secretary, told MPs that the disability benefit plans being published tomorrow were intended to make the system sustainable.
Speaking earlier during DWP questions, she said:
I want to say there has understandably been lots of speculation about the government’s reforms to social security.
I want to assure the jouse and most importantly the public, that we’ll be coming forward with our proposals imminently, to ensure there is trust and fairness in the social security system, and to ensure it’s there for people who need it now, and for years to come.
Updated
Debbie Abrahams, the Labour chair of the work and pensions secretary, asked Timms if the government would publish an impact assessment alongside the green paper on the changes to disability benefits.
Timms said a full impact assessment would be published “in due course”.
This implied it will not be published tomorrow.
Minister refuses to say disability benefits for people unable to work won't be cut
Stephen Timms, the social security and disability minister, told MPs that the welfare reform plans being announced this week would be designed to help more people get off benefits into work. But some people would always be unable to work, he said, and “we are absolutely fully supporting them too”.
The Lib Dem MP Liz Jarvis asked about two constituents worried about the cuts. Could Timms assure them that disability benefits for people unable to work would not be cut?
Timms replied:
I am concerned about the level of anxiety that has been around over recent weeks … and I’m sad that that has happened, and that people have been concerned.
But the system was failing people it was supposed to help, he said. He said that, when Jarvis saw the proposals, she would see they were designed to address this.
Updated
Meg Hillier, the Labour chair of the Commons Treasury committee, asked about a recent Guardian report saying the Department for Work and Pensions is considering lifting the two-child benefit cap, but just for parents with children under five. Hillier said this would only help a small proportion of households affected by the cap. She asked for an assurance that the government was looking to help all children in poverty.
Alison McGovern, the employment minister, said she agreed “all children matter”. But she also said the government was considering a range of matters.
Updated
In an interview with Times Radio Paul Johnson, the director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies thinktank, said that cutting £5bn from disability benefits would not be easy. He explained:
It ought not to be so hard because we’re spending on something like £20bn more than we were five years ago. So £5bn saving is only a quarter of the extra spending.
On the other hand, the only way you can really do it is by tightening up on the eligibility criteria ... it certainly hasn’t always worked because in the end, there are often ways that you can game the system, ways of getting around it …
So it should be possible but I don’t think anyone should pretend that it’s easy.
In response to a question about the changes to disability benefits, that are being announced tomorrow, Kendall told MPs that the plans would include “proper employment support to help people on a pathway to success”.
In the Commons Liz Kendall, the work and pensions secretary, is taking questions.
She has just told MPs that she is “concerned about the number of young people not in work due to mental health conditions”, and that the government is focusing on early intervention to help address the problem.
Mike Amesbury has said that he will today resign as an MP, triggering a byelection in Runcorn and Helsby. As the party that won the seat at the general election, Labour will get to decide when the byelection takes place. It is likely to coincide with the local elections on Thursday 1 May.
Former Bank of England deputy warns Rachel Reeves against kneejerk cuts
The former Bank of England deputy governor Charlie Bean has warned the chancellor against making kneejerk cuts in next week’s spring statement to try to hit fiscal targets that are five years away, Heather Stewart reports.
At 3.30pm a justice minister will answer an urgent question from Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, about the new guidelines from the Sentencing Council that he claims amount to “two-tier justice”.
After that, at about 4.15pm, David Lammy, the foreign secretary, will make a statement on the meeting of G7 foreign ministers he attended in Canada.
Liberal Democrats revive call for UK to join customs union with EU after OECD revises growth forecast down
The Liberal Democrats have responded to today’s downwards revision of its UK growth forecast by the OECD (see 10.55am) by reviving their call for Britain to join a customs union with the EU. Daisy Cooper, the Lib Dem deputy leader and Treasury spokesperson, said:
The chancellor cannot ignore this steady drumbeat of economic misery any longer. Trump’s senseless tariffs and the government’s own economic policies are acting as an anchor on any meaningful growth.
At the spring statement, Rachael Reeves cannot bury her head in the sand. She must admit that her Budget has failed to break from the years of Conservative economic vandalism.
The chancellor must change course by first scrapping her growth-crushing jobs tax which is about to hammer small businesses, and second, by embracing the idea of a bespoke UK-EU customs union which would unleash growth.
Only then will we see the growth needed to rebuild our public services and properly protect family finances.
No 10 says more than 30 countries now involved in 'coalition of willing' plan for Ukraine - some with troops, more in other ways
Downing Street has said that more than 30 countries could be involved in the “coalition of the willing” plan to provide military support to Ukraine in the event of a peace deal.
The PM’s spokesperson said Keir Starmer said, after the virtual summit that he hosted on Saturday, that different countries would be offering different capabilities.
The spokesperson went on:
In relation to what the coalition are willing to be able to provide, we’re expecting more than 30 countries to be involved, but obviously the contribution capabilities will vary.
But this will be a significant force, with significant number of countries providing troops, and a larger group contributing in other ways.
As an example of how countries could contribute without providing troops, the spokesperson said:
For instance, if one country was able to provide fast jets to Ukraine, it’s not just the jets that you need to think about. Where those jets get fuel? Where they’ll be based? How they dock into the wider military activity on the ground? Who’s providing engineering support? Whether those jets have come off a deployment where another country is required to backfill the deployment? Where those crews are being house? How we’re rotating them in and out? How we can improve any airfields required for landing?
That’s the sort of detail that the military partners will be getting into.
Asked how many countries were willing to provide troops, the spokesperson would not go beyond saying a “significant number”.
When it was put to the spokesperson that only 27 countries participated in the online summit on Saturday, he said that some of the countries willing to contribute to the “coalition of the willing” were not available for the call on Saturday.
No 10 rejects claim that disability cuts plan primarily driven by need to save money
Downing Street has rejected claims that its proposed changes to disability benefits are primarily motivated by the need to save money.
At the morning lobby briefing, when it was put to the PM’s spokesperson that ministers are proposing cuts because of the “fiscal backdrop”, he replied:
No, I think when you look at the fact that we have the highest level of working-age inactivity due to ill health in western Europe, we’re the only major economy whose employment rate hasn’t recovered since the pandemic, there is a duty to fix the broken system that is letting millions of people in this country down.
Asked why Britain is the only major economy where employment has not returned to pre-pandemic levels, he said that was because “we’ve got a broken welfare system, a broken labour market system that has not got people back into work adequately”.
But at another point in the briefing the spokesperson said there was both “a moral and an economic case” for fixing the welfare system.
Asked to confirm that some disabled people unable to work would be left worse off as a result of the changes being announced tomorrow, the spokesperson would not rule this out. Instead he replied:
The system clearly needs reform. When you see the significant increase in the numbers of people who are inactive, or who are forecast to go on to the [disability benefits] system, I think it is clear that the system is not working as intended.
But we’re always going to ensure that the system continues to support those with greatest need.
Updated
Ben Quinn is a senior Guardian reporter.
Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, said his party needed “old lags” as he announced the names of 29 councillors who have defected to his party from the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats and others. He also said that the announcement was being made to illustrate the inroads which he says Reform has been making across Britain.
However, while the announcement comes ahead of local elections in May, it’s also hard not to view the timing as an attempt to gain the initiative after the outbreak of a Reform civil war after the suspension of the Great Yarmouth MP Rupert Lowe.
Farage told a press conference in central London that there had been “turbulence” as a result of the controversy, but he insisted that any “upset” was at the edges of what he described as the Reform “family”.
He went on to say that a senior member of the party had been subjected to online abuse and “outright racism.” While he didn’t name him, this would appear to be a reference to the Reform UK Chairman, Zia Yusuf.
On Reform Facebook groups in recent weeks, Yusuf has been the target of criticism and remarks that do appear in some cases to be islamophobic in nature.
Among those listening to Farage were the remaining Reform MPs, including Lee Anderson, who was suspended from his last party, the Conservatives over comments he made about the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, which were widely criticised as islamophobic.
Updated
Farage names 29 councillors who have joined or defected to Reform UK, saying they show party 'very much on the up'
Nigel Farage then went on to confirm that 29 councillors have recently defected to Reform UK – or at least joined the party after sitting as independents.
He names them all, explaining in each case where they have come from.
He ends saying:
We are growing, we are building. We are deepening, we are broadening, we are strengthening. We are getting ready for the first of May. This party is very, very much on the up.
Since the list does not seem to be available on Reform’s website, I will post them here for the record.
The 29 latest Councillors to join Reform UK are:
Bill Barrett - Ashford Borough Council, Singleton East, (Previously: Independent)
Cathy Hunt - Durham County Council, Woodhouse Close (Previously: Independent)
Christine Palmer - Swale Borough Council, Hartlip, Newington and Upchurch (Previously: Independent)
Claire Johnson-Wood - Powys County Council, Llanyre with Nantmel (Previously: Independent)
Dirk Ross - Kent County Council, Ashford South (Previously: Independent)
Edward Kirk - Wiltshire Council, Trowbridge Adcroft (Previously: Conservative)
Emma Ellison - Blackpool Council, Norbreck (Previously: Conservative)
Felix Bloomfield - Oxfordshire County Council - (Previously: Conservative)
Geoff Morgan - Powys County Council, Ithon Valley (Previously: Independent)
Graham McAndrew - Hertfordshire County Council, Bishop’s Stortford Rural (Previously: Conservative)
Heather Asker - Uttlesford District Council, Saffron Walden Castle (Previously: Residents for Uttlesford)
Iain McIntosh - Powys County Council, Yscir with Honddu Isaf and Llanddew (Previously: Conservative)
Jan O’Hara - North Northamptonshire Council, Burton and Broughton (Previously: Conservative)
Joanne Monk - Worcestershire County Council, Arrow Valley East (Previously: Conservative)
Julian Kirk - King’s Lynn & West Norfolk Borough Council, Walsoken, West Walton and Walpole (Previously: Conservative)
Kirk Harrison - North Northamptonshire, Irthlingborough (Previously: Conservative)
Mandy Clare - Chester West and Chester Council, Winsford Dene (Previously: Independent Labour)
Manzur Hasan - South Holland District Council, Spalding St John’s (Previously: Independent)
Matthew Salter - Lancashire County Council, Wyre Rural Central (Previously: Conservative)
Paul Ellison - Wyre Council, Marsh Mill (Previously: Conservative)
Paul Irwin - Buckinghamshire Council, Stone and Waddesdon (Previously: Conservative)
Reg Kain - Cheshire East Council, Alsager (Previously: Liberal Democrat)
Richard Palmer - Swale Borough Council, Hartlip, Newington and Upchurch (Previously: Independent)
Robert Gibson - South Holland District Council, Spalding St Paul’s (Previously: Independent)
Stephen Atkinson - Ribble Valley Borough Council, Brockhall and Dinckley (Previously: Conservative)
Stephen Reed - North East Derbyshire District Council, Killamarsh East (Previously: Conservative)
Stuart Davies - North Somerset Council, Wick St Lawrence and St Georges (Previously: Independent)
Thomas Sneath - South Holland District Council, Moulton, Weston and Cowbit (Previously: Independent)
Vernon Smith - Gloucestershire County Council, Tewkesbury East (Previously: Conservative)
Updated
Farage accuses media of not reporting how Reform UK's chair Zia Yusuf subject to racist attacks online
Back at the Reform UK press conference, Nigel Farage has just referred briefly to his fall-out with Rupert Lowe, who has been suspended over misconduct allegation he strongly denies that were only made public by the party after Lowe criticised Farage in an interview.
Farage said the row caused some “consternation”, but had not held up Reform’s election planning.
But he said the dispute led to a senior figure in the party (Zia Yusuf, the chair – although Farage did not name him) being subject to racist abuse on social media. He claims journalists would have turned this into a big story if it had happened to a politician from any other party, but it was ignored because it was Reform.
He said the only “honourable exception” was the Times columnist and Tory peer Daniel Finkelstein. He is referring to this column by Finkelstein published last week. Finkeslstein said:
Because he is clearly articulate and clever, and because he is a Muslim and has worked for Goldman Sachs, Yusuf is a symbol of the modernisation — the broadening — Farage believes essential. But, for the same reason, the deepeners [people in the party who want a ‘deeper’ version of Reform – like Lowe] want him gone. Wading through online comments about Yusuf’s ethnicity and commercial success is not an edifying experience.
Updated
Tories claim OECD's downwards revision of UK growth forecast shows 'warning lights flashing red'
The Conservatives are claiming that today’s OECD downwards revision of its UK growth forecasts (see 10.55am) shows “the warning lights are flashing red”. In a statement, Mel Stride, the shadow chancellor, said:
It should come as no surprise that the UK’s growth forecasts have been downgraded after Labour has trashed the economy.
Things are set to get tougher, with Labour’s jobs tax lurking on the horizon. With nine days to go until Labour’s emergency budget, the warning lights are flashing red.
This is the latest embarrassment for Keir Starmer after he made growth his number one mission.
At the Reform UK press conference Zia Yusuf, the party chair, claims that his party had achieved “the most historic acceleration politically in British history”. He goes on:
We’ve surged from 14% support nationally to 26% in the average of the poll. We’ve signed up over 160,000 new, fully paid up members. We’ve opened 400 branches, we’ve held over 30 events, enjoyed by tens of thousands of attendees across this great country.
(Anyone who remembers the rise of the SDP may contest this.)
Yusuf is followed by Nigel Farage, the party leader, who says Reform have a big opportunity at the local elections. He says Labour has got off to a poor start, the economy is faltering, and the Conservative party stands for nothing.
Updated
The Reform UK press conference is about to start. There is a live feed here.
Nigel Farage is going to announce that 29 councillors have defected to his party, according to the Guido Fawkes website.
Updated
Former Ofsted chief Amanda Spielman accuses DfE of putting teaching unions' interests ahead pupils'
Amanda Spielman, the former head of Ofsted, has accused the government of putting the interests of teaching unions ahead of the needs of pupils.
In an article for the Daily Telegraph, she launched a wide-ranging attack on the eduction secretary, Bridget Phillipson, arguing that her policies would put educational improvement in England into reverse.
Spielman, who ran Ofsted from 2017 to 2023, said that over the past 25 years school standards in England had improved under measures introduced by Labour, the coalition and the Conservatives. She went on:
There is much interest from other countries in what has been achieved in England, and in learning from us. Just in the past year I have been working in Flanders and in the UAE, visited Australia, and talked to people in Poland and the USA. They are as astonished as I am by the speed and thoroughness with which Bridget Phillipson has moved to dismantle every main pillar of the system.
It is hard to understand the motivation, beyond being seen to be different, though the new minister is clearly giving a great deal of time and attention to the desires and demands of unions. And alas, unions will always defend the interests of the adults in
schools over those of children.
Spielman argued that Ofsted verdicts were being “watered down”, by the ending of single-word judgments, in a way that would “make it much less likely that inspection will detect weaknesses”.
She said she was worried that reviews of the curriculum and teacher training would lead to standards being lowered. But she was particularly critical of the children’s wellbeing and schools bill, which will limit some of the freedoms that academy schools have, and end the presumption that new schools should be academies. She said:
The schools bill will cut the autonomy of schools and school groups right back, even though this has clearly been a contributor to system success. A better first step would have been a proper evaluation to see which dimensions of autonomy should be protected and which need adjusting …
It will probably take a while for parents to see through the polished verbiage and jazz hands that accompany every announcement. But unless they do see through it, and exert enough pressure to counteract union dominance, it is current and future generations of children – the people who were most harmed by lockdowns – who will bear the brunt of these changes.
A Department for Education spokesperson told the Telegraph that the bill would “get high-quality teachers into every classroom, and ensure that all schools can innovate to attract and retain the best talent”. But a government “source” hit back, telling the paper that Spielman was allied to the Tory party and that she should spend more time “reflecting on her failure at Ofsted and on a teaching profession that entirely lost confidence in her as chief inspector”.
Updated
OECD cuts growth forecast for UK in 2025 by 0.3% to 1.4%
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has cut its forecast for UK growth by 0.3 percentage points this year to 1.4%, and by 0.1 percentage points for 2026 to 1.2%, Richard Partington reports. The reducations are from the forecast published in December.
Here is an extract from the OECD’s latest economic outlook report.
European economies will experience fewer direct economic effects from the tariff measures incorporated in the baseline projections, but heightened geopolitical and policy uncertainty is still likely to restrain growth. Euro area growth is projected to edge up from 0.7% in 2024 to 1.0% in 2025 and 1.2% in 2026, with growth in the United Kingdom projected to be 1.4% in 2025 and 1.2% in 2026.
And here is Richard’s story.
Commenting on the report, Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, said:
This report shows the world is changing, and increased global headwinds such as trade uncertainty are being felt across the board.
A changing world means Britain must change too, and we are delivering a new era of stability, security and renewal, to protect working people and keep our country safe.
This means we can better respond to global uncertainty, with the UK forecast to be Europe’s fastest growing G7 economy over the coming years – second only to the US.
Updated
While it is hardly surprising that Diane Abbott, who has been on the left of the Labour party all her career and who was shadow home secretary under Jeremy Corbyn, is opposed to the proposed disability benefit cuts (see 9.31am), what is remarkable about this issue is that it has united the Labour left with some of those at the opposite end of the party’s ideological spectrum. In her Today interview Abbott pointed out that she is now aligned on this with Ed Balls. After her interview, John McTernan, who when he was Tony Blair’s political secretary devoted much of his time to marginalising people like Abbott, posted a message on social media saying that one of her comments was excellent.
@HackneyAbbott Excellent suggestion on @BBCr4today that the government should be a “bit more Attlee” - a warfare state must have a welfare state.
Kemi Badenoch has told her party that she wants to take her time before coming up with a full policy platform. According to an item in Andrew Pierce’s diary in the Daily Mail, the party is going through its archives in the search for ideas. He says:
Little-known Tory party chairman Nigel Huddleston and the entire party board are heading to the Bodleian Library in Oxford to examine the official party archive. It features leaflets, handbills, car stickers, posters, manifestoes, and direct mail dating back to 1867 when the Earl of Derby was party leader.
Huddleston and a team of researchers will pore over papers in search of policy ideas, slogans, and campaign themes.
SNP urges Starmer to scrap proposed disability cuts and revise fiscal rules
The SNP is urging the government to abandon its proposed disability benefits cuts and its fiscal rules. In a statement this morning Stephen Flynn, the SNP’s leader at Westminster, said:
Keir Starmer must admit he got it wrong, scrap the Labour party’s cuts to disabled people and ditch its broken Tory spending rules, which are the central problem and will make everyone poorer.
The cuts to disabled people are shameful - and they are just the start. We will all be worse off if the Labour government takes the axe to public services and goes ahead with its reckless plan for a new era of austerity cuts.
Former minister Michael Matheson to stand down as MSP in 2026, joining list of leading SNP figures quitting Holyrood
Severin Carrell is the Guardian’s Scotland editor.
Michael Matheson, the disgraced former Scottish National party minister, is standing down at the next Holyrood election, the latest amongst a growing number of senior SNP figures who are quitting.
The MSP for Falkirk, Matheson was forced to resign as health secretary last year after he wrongly claimed £10,935 in mobile roaming expenses for the personal use of his parliamentary iPad on a family holiday.
It emerged his children had live streamed a football match while they were in Morocco; Matheson also failed to follow the rules on using and updating the iPad. He was suspended from Holyrood for a record 27 days and docked 54 days pay, despite a plea for leniency from John Swinney, the first minister and a close friend.
In a statement, Matheson said:
When I joined the SNP at 17 years of age the re-establishment of a Scottish parliament was still a distant prospect.
I could never have imagined that I would have had the privilege to represent Falkirk in our national parliament for over two decades.
Matheson, 54, is one of the last few MSPs elected to the Scottish parliament at devolution in 1999. He initially won on the Central Scotland regional list before becoming the constituency MSP for Falkirk West in 2007.
He is one of a growing cohort of senior SNP figures quitting at the next Holyrood election, due in May 2026. Two former first ministers are standing down: Nicola Sturgeon, who announced her decision to quit last week, and Humza Yousaf, her successor.
Several cabinet secretaries are also standing down: Fiona Hyslop, the transport secretary and another veteran from 1999; Mairi Gougeon, the widely-respected rural affairs secretary, who joined parliament in 2016, and Shona Robison, the current finance secretary also first elected in 1999. Several junior ministers, Richard Lochhead, Christina McKelvie and Joe Fitzpatrick, are also leaving.
Regulators agree up to 60 pro-growth measures with Treasury, including slimmed-down bat protection guidance
Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, has announced the abolition of another quango, Philip Inman reports. She made the announcement ahead of her meeting with regulators, which is taking place now, where she is discussing their plans to promote growth. This is the third quango scrapped by the government within the past week, but only one of the announcements, about NHS England, made headline news. Last week the government said the Payment Systems Regulator was going, and today the Regulator for Community Interest Companies is getting the chop.
Here is Philip’s story.
Under pressure from the Treasury, regulators have come up with up to 60 propoals intended to boost growth. In its news release, the Treasury lists some of them.
Following weeks of intense negotiations, watchdogs have signed up to 60 growth boosting measures – including:
-Fast-tracking new medicines to market through a new pilot to provide parallel authorisations from key healthcare regulators, so that patients can access the medicine they need quicker;
-Attracting more investment from international financial services firms by setting up a bespoke ‘concierge service’ to help them get to grips with UK regulations, making it easier to do business in the UK;
-Paving the way for package deliveries by drone, as the Civil Aviation Authority permits at least two more large drone-flying trials in the coming months - which have already helped cut travel times for blood samples from 30 minutes down to 2 minutes between hospitals - and streamlines the regulatory process for manufacturing drones;
-Allowing families to manage their spending safely as the Financial Conduct Authority reviews contactless payment limits, including the £100 cap on individual payments, while speeding up queues at checkout.
-Support for homeownership as the Financial Conduct Authority simplifies mortgage lending rules, including making it easier to re-mortgage with a new lender and reduce mortgage terms.
-Helping start-ups secure funding to grow through the Financial Conduct Authority issuing more notices where they are likely to approve applications from budding entrepreneurs.
And there is bad news for bats. Planning guidance intended to protect them is being slimmed down, the Treasury says.
It should not be the case that to convert a garage or outbuilding you need to wade through hundreds of pages of guidance on bats. Environmental guidance, including on protecting bats, will be looked at afresh. Natural England has agreed to review and update their advice to local planning authorities on bats to ensure there is clear, proportionate and accessible advice available.
Peter Walker has more from Diane Abbott’s interview on the Today programme this morning.
Starmer urged to introduce wealth tax instead of cutting disability benefits
Good morning. “You want me to cut £1bn. Shall I take £100 each off 10 million people, or £1,000 each off 1 million people?” The former Tory chancellor Ken Clarke is credited with coming up with this explanation of what big number spending cuts actually mean, but every chancellor has probably thought the same.
Tomorrow the government is expected to announced disability cuts said to be worth at least £5bn. You can work out the maths. That is more than three times as much as the £1.5bn saved by cutting the winter fuel payment, the single policy decision that has done more than anything else to make the government unpopular. So it is not hard to work out why Keir Starmer is facing Labour turmoil over this decision.
(To be fair, the winter fuel payment was an immediate cut. The figures briefed about how much money the government wants to save by cutting disability benefits seem to refer to savings by the end of the decade. But we don’t know the details at this point. Last week the New Economics Foundation, a leftwing thinktank, claimed that cuts could be worth as much as £9bn by 2029-30.)
Hard facts might be in short supply this morning, but comment isn’t. With 24 hours to go before one of the biggest announcements of the Keir Starmer premiership, lots of people are staking out positions. Here are some of the key developments.
Diane Abbott, the Labour leftwinger and mother of the Commons, has urged the government to impose a wealth tax as an alternative to cutting disabilty benefits. In an interview on the Today programme, asked what she would do instead, Abbott replied:
I would introduce the wealth tax. If you brought in a wealth tax of just 2% on people with assets over £10m, that would raise £24bn a year. That’s what I would do.
This is broadly similar to what the Green party was proposing at the last election.
Andy Burnham, the Labour mayor of Greater Manchester, has joined those expressing concerns about the plans. In an article for the Times, he says:
I would share concerns about changing support and eligibility to benefits while leaving the current top-down system broadly in place. It would trap too many people in poverty. And to be clear: there is no case in any scenario for cutting the support available to disabled people who are unable to work.
He says Greater Manchester’s Live Well initiative is a model for how people who are ill can be supported back into work.
Abbott has said that opposition to the government’s plans for disability benefit cuts is not just coming from the left. In her interview on the Today programme, she said she agreed with what Burnham is saying, and she said she also agreed with Ed Balls, who said last week that cutting benefits for those most in need was not something Labour should be doing. Abbott, Burnham and Balls were three of the candidates in the 2010 Labour leadership contest. A fourth, Ed Miliband, is also reported unhappy about the cuts, although as a cabinet minister he has not spoken out publicly.
Emma Reynolds, a Treasury minister, has said the government is “for the time being not going to come forward with a wealth tax”. She said this in an interview on the Today programme, when asked if the government would be following Abbott’s advice. Reynolds said the government had already raised taxes affecting wealthy people.
Reynolds urged Labour MPs and others to wait for the details of the plans before coming to a verdict on them. In comments implying the final proposals might not be as draconian as some of the pre-briefing has implied, she said:
Some colleagues are jumping to conclusions about our plans before they’ve heard them. So I just urge them to be patient.
When it was put to here that she was saying some of their concerns might be addressed when they read the actual proposals, Reynolds said there had been “a lot of speculation about what we might or might not do”.
She said there would always be a safety net for those most in need. She said:
We’ll set out further details, but the severely disabled and the most vulnerable will always get support, and there will always be a safety net.
The Resolution Foundation thinktank has said that the government’s proposed disability cuts are likely to fall disproportionately on the poor. In a statement it says:
The government is reportedly focusing on cutting incapacity and disability benefits to stem rising spending and support more people into work. But while the system needs reform, Ministers appear to be focused on cutting personal independence payments (Pip) – a benefit that isn’t related to work.
The foundation warns that cutting Pip by £5bn in 2029-30, for example by raising the threshold to qualify for support, could see around 620,000 people losing £675 per month, on average. The foundation adds that 70% of these cuts would be concentrated on families in the poorest half of the income distribution.
Here is the agenda for the day.
9.30am: Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, is meeting the heads of regulatory agencies in Downing Street to discuss their plans to boost growth. Later Reeves is recording broadcast interviews.
11.30am: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.
Noon: Nigel Farage and other Reform UK MPs hold a press conference to make what they call “a special announcement”.
2.30pm: Liz Kendall, the work and pensions secretary, takes questions in the Commons.
After 3.30pm: David Lammy, the foreign secretary, is expected to make a Commons statement about Ukraine.
After 4.30pm: MPs start debating the remaining stages of the children’s wellbeing and schools bill.
5.35pm: Kemi Badenoch gives a speech at the CPS’s Margaret Thatcher Conference on Remaking Conservatism. Other speakers earlier in the day include George Osborne, the former chancellor, who is doing a Q&A at 3.35pm.
Early evening: Keir Starmer meets Mark Carney, the new Canadian PM, in Downing Street.
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