Afternoon summary
Priti Patel, the shadow home secretary, has been forced to eat her own words after she gave an interview defending the way net migration figures soared under the last government – despite the fact that Kemi Badenoch has repeatedly described this as a failure. Patel’s comments, followed by her climbdown, overshadowed her party’s attempts to celebrate the fifth anniversary of Brexit. (See 9.23am.)
The Institute for Government conducts regular, in-depth interviews with former ministers, and it has just published nine of them with ministers from the Scottish and Welsh governments, including Nicola Sturgeon, Mark Drakeford and Humza Yousaf.
You can find all the interviews here.
And this is from an IfG blog summing up some of the lessons from the interviews.
How seriously the prime minister takes devolution determines whether it is considered a priority for the rest of government. Drakeford described how, between 1999–2019, prime ministers from across the political spectrum displayed a “basic respect for devolution.” However, he explained that the last five years of Conservative leaderships saw this attitude change significantly.
As prime minister, Boris Johnson took a ‘muscular’ approach to the union – an attitude that Sturgeon told us made him “impossible” to work with. Relations further deteriorated under Liz Truss, who didn’t undertake the customary phone calls to the first ministers upon taking office – a move Drakeford described as “a deliberate act of disrespect.”
By comparison, Sturgeon noted that Rishi Sunak “intellectually got” devolution, although her successor Yousaf told us that Sunak “was not one for hanging on the phone for longer than he had to with the Scottish government.”
Keir Starmer has taken positive steps to change the tone. He embarked on a tour of the nations within days of entering office and Scottish first minister, John Swinney, is reported to have said that the relations are “incomparably better” than before. Even as other issues compete for the prime minister’s attention, it is vital that this approach persists. As Sturgeon reflected on Theresa May’s tenure, “I think Brexit just overwhelmed her […] I just don’t think she had the bandwidth to really work out devolution.”
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Commons leader Lucy Powell welcomes launch of inquiry into rules allowing MPs to have second jobs
Lucy Powell, the leader of the Commons, has welcomed the launch of a Commons inquiry into the rules allowing MPs to have second jobs.
The Commons standards committee said today it would hold an inquiry covering “the benefits and risks of members retaining outside interests and employment” and the effectiveness of the rules about what they can do.
Signalling that she wants the Commons to tighten the rules, Powell said:
The government tightened the rules on outside employment for MPs in our first days in office, but we have a manifesto commitment to go further.
I’m clear that an MP’s priority must be first and foremost to serve their constituents. We must all meet very high expectations that we are focussed on our roles as MPs.
Trust in politics has been damaged over recent years and it is in all our interests to close the gap between the public and politicians.
MPs have been banned for years from paid lobbying, and and after the election Labour tightened the rules to stop them being paid to give advice on policy and parliament. But MPs can still do other work, including broadcasting and journalism.
Powell has already floated a plan to stop MPs doing paid media work. This triggered a furious response from Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, who is paid far more for his work as a GB News presenter than he gets for being an MP.
But her reference today to Labour’s manifesto suggests she wants to go even further.
Unusually, the manifesto was open-ended on what Labour would do. It committed the party to banning MPs from having paid advisory or consultancy roles “as an initial step”. But it also said “some constituents end up with MPs who spend more time on their second job … than on representing them” and it went on:
We will task the modernisation committee to take forward urgent work on the restrictions that need to be put in place to prevent MPs from taking up roles that stop them serving their constituents and the country.
As leader of the Commons, Powell is also chair of the modernisation committee.
Sadiq Khan says rough sleeping in London won't get better until 2026, as new figures show it at near record levels
Rough sleeping in London has reached its second highest level on record, according to figures out today.
The statistics were published after Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, told the Big Issue that the problem was likely to get worse this year before improving from 2026.
In its report on today’s figures from the CHAIN homeless database, PA Media says:
The total number of people sleeping rough on London’s streets between October and December last year was up by 5% on the previous year, data branded “incredibly concerning” by charities revealed.
There were 4,612 people recorded as sleeping rough in the capital between October and December, up from 4,389 in the same period in 2023, the figures show.
Almost half (46%) of the 4,612 were new rough sleepers, while 41% were classed as intermittent rough sleepers.
Around one in 10 (15%) were seen to be living on the streets.
The number of people deemed to be living on the streets between October and December (704 people) was up by more than a quarter (26%) on the same period in 2023, and rose 3% from the July-September period last year.
Numbers sleeping rough in the capital hit a record high in the previous July-September period at 4,780, so while the most recent figures are down slightly on that, they are the second highest quarterly figure on record.
This week Khan announced a £10m investment to expand a network of ‘Ending Homelessness Hubs’ in the capital. But, in an interview with the Big Issue, he said it would take time to get homelessness falling.
Asked when he expected homelessness to decline, he said:
I’m hoping in the near future. I’m not going to wait until 2029 to end rough sleeping by 2030 [a pledge he made in the last mayoral election]. We’ll start seeing progress once the renters’ rights bill becomes an act, once we’ve negotiated with the government affordable housing programme and once we start seeing the cost of living crisis being addressed.
Those things will help. Actually what we need is to support families early on so they don’t have a situation where child poverty is going up, people are ending up sofa surfing and so forth.
That’s the prize of growth. If we get growth it helps jobs and prosperity and supports families.
Asked if that meant progress in 2025, Khan said:
I think you’ll start seeing progress, there will be milestones along the way. We’re in 2025 now, I think things are going to get worse this year but things will improve by next year.
Philp's 'patronising' comment about Britons needing better work ethic show Tories 'out of touch', TUC says
Paul Nowak, general secretary of the TUC, has condemned Chris Philp for his comment about Britons needing a better “work ethic”. (See 11.48am.) In a statement Nowak said:
These patronising comments show just how out of touch the Conservatives are.
The problem isn’t people’s work ethic - it’s the fact that work doesn’t pay.
1 in 6 workers in this country are skipping meals every week to make ends meet. This is the legacy of 14 years of falling living standards under the Tories.
Instead of insulting working people - the Tories should be supporting plans to boost workers’ rights and wages.
YouGov has released some more findings from its Brexit polling. It suggests that ‘control over its own laws’ is the only areas where people are more likely to think the impact of Brexit has been positive not negative.
Five years on, few Britons think Brexit has been good for anything
— YouGov (@YouGov) January 31, 2025
% saying Brexit has had a positive impact on...
Control the UK has over its laws: 31%
UK's ability to respond to COVID-19: 23%
British politics: 12%
UK's level of international trade: 11%
British businesses: 11%… pic.twitter.com/nAN81yOHHd
Badenoch says it no surprise Reform UK doing well in polls because they're protest party
Nigel Farage is holding a rally tonight in Quendon, in Kemi Badenoch’s North West Essex constituency. To attend, people have to join Reform UK in the constituency, and Farage wants to show he has more members there than the Conservatives do.
In an interview with broadcasters, Badenoch claimed it was “not a surprise” that protest parties like Reform UK were gaining in the polls. Asked if she was worried about Reform UK in her constituency, she replied: “Not at all.”
'Are you worried about Reform in your constituency?'
— ITVPolitics (@ITVNewsPolitics) January 31, 2025
'Not at all'
Tory leader @KemiBadenoch describes @Nigel_Farage's Reform as a 'protest party' and says it's more important to raise her concerns with the public about Labour's family farm tax 'than having a rally about myself' pic.twitter.com/V6twvKgcIn
In January Reform UK started overtaking the Conservatives in national polls for the first time. But they would find it hard winning North West Essex. At the last election Badenoch had 36% of the vote, with a 2,610 majority over Labour, on 31%. Reform UK were in third place on 14%.
Badenoch defends Philp, saying 'everybody should be working hard, including myself'
Kemi Badenoch has defended Chris Philp over his comment about Britons needing to have a better “work ethic”. (See 11.48am.) Asked about the remark, she told broadcasters:
I think everybody should be working hard, including myself.
Badenoch seemed to be referring to complaints raised by some Tories that she herself takes too much time off. During the leadership contest the Tory MP Christopher Chope said that he would not be voting for her because he understood that she spent a lot of time with her family, and he thought this meant she would not be able to do the job properly.
German chancellor Olaf Scholz to visit UK for talks with Starmer on Sunday
Keir Starmer will host the German chancellor this weekend, PA Media reports. Olaf Scholz will visit the UK to meet the Prime Minister on Sunday, Downing Street confirmed. The visit comes before Germany’s election on 23 February.
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Steve Reed says land use framework will be 'win-win for nature and economy'
Environment Secretary Steve Reed has launched his land use framework for England at the National Geographical Society in central London.
He was seen turning red when broadcaster Tom Heap, who was introducing him, remarked that his colleagues have a “sneering and dismissive” attitude to nature.
Reed, however, made a full throated defence of nature’s role in the economy and said it has to be a thread running through the government’s decisions.
Asked by the Guardian if he likes bats and newts he said “I do very much, yes.” Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, recently said when asked if she had a preference between bats and great crested newts answered “neither because I want growth”.
Reed added:
This is a government is absolutely committed to protecting and restoring nature. It runs through all of the plan for change, the government’s plans and it is present in all of in all of the missions, it’s in all the speeches.
Reed was launching a consultation on the government’s land use framework, which will “consider how land can be best used to support economic growth”. During his speech he said:
We are working on common sense changes that create a win-win for nature and the economy, and the land use framework is a significant part of that.
Nature is the common thread that runs through the government’s missions. It is healthy soils and abundant pollinators that enable us to grow the food we need despite the changing climate. It’s a resilient water supply that is essential to building the homes, schools, hospitals and data centres that we need, and trees and vegetation that help the land hold more water and give us better protection from flooding …
This land use data will shape decision making about where and how we build things in this country so we can grow the economy and meet the challenges of future decades, major infrastructure will be built with sensitivity to our landscapes by ensuring our strategic spatial energy plan and 10-year infrastructure strategy draw from the land use framework, and by linking the framework with our spatial approach to housing, we can develop new settlements that make space for nature and allow access to our beautiful green countryside.
Labour MP Clive Lewis says party has abandoned its pre-election green commitments
In an article for the Guardian, the Labour MP Clive Lewis said Rachel Reeves’ growth speech this week means the party has abandoned its pre-election green commitments.
Here is an extract.
A growing suspicion looms that our government lacks a coherent governing philosophy or ideological compass beyond the vague pursuit of “growth”. But if growth at any cost is the mantra, the costs will soon become painfully clear. Why pledge to be clean and green, only to undermine that commitment with a Heathrow expansion promise six months later? Burning the furniture to stay warm doesn’t signal confidence – it reeks of panic.
Regardless of the motivation, Labour has crossed the Rubicon. Approving Heathrow expansion is an irreversible break with our pre-election pledges. In 2021, Reeves stood in front of the Labour party conference and declared that she would be the “first-ever green chancellor”. Now, Labour is accused of obstructing the climate and nature bill and abandoning its ambitious decarbonisation plans. The rapid turnaround is striking …
As much as it pains me to say, Heathrow is just the most visible indicator of Labour’s shift. The changes are stacking up. BlackRock’s influence is growing. Austerity and deregulation are back in fashion. Zero tolerance for benefit fraud is in; stricter taxation on non-doms is out. Post-2008 banking regulations are set to be dismantled, while the long-touted climate and nature bill is quietly sidelined.
And here is the full article.
Chris Philp says Britons need better 'work ethic' - and claims mini-budget may have worked if Truss had taken his advice
There is a history of Conservative politcians telling the public to buck up and work harder. When mass unemployment struck in the 1980s, Norman Tebbit advised people to follow the example of his father, who responded to the 1930s depression by getting on his bike and looking for work. During the early years of the coalition, five ambitious backbenchers co-authored a book called Britannia Unchained saying British workers were “among the worst idlers in the world”. All of the authors later became ministers, three achieved ‘great office of state’ level (Kwasi Kwarteng, Priti Patel and Dominic Raab) and one became prime minister (Liz Truss).
Now another Tory has trode down this path. In an interview with the BBC’s Nick Robinson for his Political Thinking podcast, Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, said.
Asked if he thought a “belief in hard work” was missing today, Philp replied:
I do a bit. There are nine million working age adults who are not working. And as we compete globally with countries like, you know, South Korea, China, India, you know, we need a work ethic. We need everybody to be making a contribution. … we need to lift our game and to up our game.
In reponse, a Labour spokesperson said:
Chris Philp was the architect of the Liz Truss budget which crashed the economy and sent family mortgages rocketing.
After the Conservatives’ economic failure left working people worse off, it takes some real brass neck for the Tory top team to tell the public that it’s really all their fault.
In fact Philp dealt with this allegation in his interview. He was chief secretary to the Treasury under Truss, and at the time of the mini-budget. He said that when the mini-budget was being planned, he argued that the tax cuts it contained had to be balanced by spending cuts. His advice was ignored, he said.
I was making the case that tax cuts…need to be accompanied by spending control or spending reductions … in order to show that the books are being balanced and to avoid the market reaction that we saw …
I made that case internally … but it wasn’t unfortunately listened to. I think had my suggestions been listened to a bit earlier, then there was a there’s a much higher chance that [the mini-budget] would have worked. And it’ll be always a matter of regret that those points weren’t taken on board.
In his account of the Truss premiership, Truss at 10, Anthony Seldon also describes Philp as one of the Tories trying to make the mini-budget more balanced.
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Why Tories think fifth anniversary of Brexit should be celebrated
Since only around one person in 10 thinks Brexit has been a success, it is worth recording why the Conservative party says the fifth anniversary is worth celebrating. This is what the party said in the press notice sent out yesterday afternoon by Priti Patel. (See 9.23am.)
Five years ago today, Boris Johnson and the Conservative party delivered on the results of the Brexit referendum and secured our departure from the European Union – delivering on the clear democratic will of the country.
Since then, our country – standing on its own two feet as a sovereign nation – has been able to achieve so much.
This has included 73 trade deals with countries and the EU, including the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, boosting British businesses and lowering prices for consumers.
It has also led to the UK ending the supremacy of EU law, putting parliament in control of UK laws, and leading to the reform or revocation of almost 2,500 pieces of arbitrary or burdensome EU law.
Outside the EU, and free of their regulations, we have been able to deliver more competitive tax policies, such as cutting VAT on certain products, reduce and simplify tariffs, and make the City more competitive with the Edinburgh Reforms.
The UK was also able to take control of its waters and protect our fisherman as an independent coastal state.
Minister says Home Office will be spending its violence against women and girls budget in full, unlike under Tories
As Alexandra Topping reports, a National Audit Office report out today says an “epidemic of violence against women and girls” in the UK is getting worse despite years of government promises and strategies.
The NAO’s press release is here, and and the full report is here.
Asked about the report on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, Diana Johnson, the policing minister, said that one problem was that under the last government the Home Office was not spending its violence against women and girls (VAWG) budget in full. And other government departments were not contributing. Johnson said Labour was taking a different approach.
This is a whole approach across society. It cannot just be for the police, and … one of the criticisms in the National Audit Office report was that the Home Office was basically doing this on their own. They weren’t spending their budget.
We’re taking a very different approach, this is across the system.
We want to spend the money that’s made available on this really important issue.
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Policing minister accepts forces in England and Wales face ‘challenging’ cuts
Police forces in England and Wales are facing “difficult and challenging” circumstances, the policing minister Diana Johnson has accepted, as some have been forced to cut their number of officers. Aletha Adu has the story.
Johnson has been giving interviews to promote an announcement about the Home Office giving an extra £100m for neighbourhood policing in England and Wales – on top of £100m announced in December.
Farage accepts people 'disappointed' by Brexit - but claims Reform UK could 'finish the job'
Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, has admitted that people are “disappointed” by Brexit. He has marked the fifth anniversary by recording a video message for Daily Express readers saying that the proper Brexit they wanted has not been delivered because they were let down by the Tories. He says:
[Brexit has] not been delivered and if I sat here five years ago I’d have said to you in five years’ time I’d be retired, I’d be out, I’d have done my bit, my 27 years of campaigning finally paid off.
But I’m back and I’m back because we now need people in charge to deliver the Brexit we voted for who actually believe in it …
We know Labour were opposed, [Keir] Starmer wanted a second referendum, Liberal Democrats the same.
But I frankly look now at Boris Johnson, Kemi Badenoch, all of these people, I don’t think they ever really believed in it.
I think they used it as a vehicle to win a general election, which I helped them do. They never really believed in it.
They always kind of saw it I think a bit more as damage limitation rather than an opportunity.
I’m here to say I’m disappointed, you watching this will be disappointed, we can do so much better and we’re the guys to do it.
He is also urging voters to let his party “finish the job”.
Another anniversary, yet still Brexit has not been properly delivered.
The time has come to let those of us who started Brexit in 2016 finish the job.
Reform stands ready to do just that in 2029
And tonight he is holding a rally in Badenoch’s North West Essex constituency to try to show that his party has more support than hers.
Brexit shows why Welsh voters should not trust Farage's Reform UK in next Senedd elections, says Plaid Cymru
The SNP are using the fifth anniversary of Brexit to restate their call for the UK to “at the very least” rejoin the customs union and the single market. This is from Stephen Gethins, the SNP’s Europe spokesperson.
For 5 years, Westminster’s deliberate and damaging denial of Brexit has hit people in the pocket, hurt our businesses and harmed our relationship with our nearest neighbours.
“It was political and economic madness 5 years ago – and its damage is deepening by the day. It was a decision Scotland never voted for, but we have been left paying the price.
Sir Keir Starmer has spent an awful lot of time talking about a reset with our EU partners, but the reality is that the only reset which will work is to – at the very least - rejoin the EU single market and the customs union.
But the party also says the only way Scotland can rejoin the EU is through independence.
And in Wales Plaid Cymru says Brexit shows why voters should not back Reform UK (which could overtake the Tories in the Senedd elections in 2026, according to some projections). The Plaid leader Rhun ap Iorwerth said:
The decision to exit the EU implemented five years ago has had a devastating impact on the Welsh economy.
The lies at the heart of the Leave campaign have left our communities millions worse off. Wales should send [Nigel] Farage the bill for Brexit.
The irony of the millionaire city trader railing against the so-called European elite will not be lost on people. Reform have absolutely nothing to offer Wales at the next election. Farage told us that he was against membership of the EU but he never told us it would make Wales poorer.
This is a cautionary tale ahead of the Senedd elections next year where Mr. Farage will sell us a pipe dream that, like Brexit, will turn out to be an economic nightmare.
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Green party says rejoining EU ultimately 'best option' for UK, and says citizens' assemblies could help chart way forward
The Green party is also calling for the UK to rejoin the customs union. And rejoining would be “the best option” when there is political support for that, it says. But, in a statement issued to mark the fifth anniversary, the party also says the referendum showed the problem with “binary choices” and it calls for the use of citizens’ assemblies to chart a way forward.
Ellie Chowns MP said:
The Green party is very clear that people and planet would benefit from much closer relationships between our country and the European Union.
We will continue to press the Labour government to be braver and bolder in overcoming the negative impacts of Brexit.
Full membership of the EU remains the best option for the UK, and we are in favour of pursuing a policy to rejoin as soon as the political will is present.
Of course, that means building the widespread public support we need before a decision to rejoin is made …
We should also rejoin the customs union to begin to overcome the obstacles that small businesses have faced in trading with our closest partners since Brexit.
While joining the single market would provide benefits in terms of free movement of people, goods, services and capital, membership of the Single Market without membership of the EU would not be an ideal long-term solution because the UK would not be a full partner in decision making processes.
We’ve learned from the divisiveness of Brexit that binary choices push people apart rather than bring people together.
So, we are proposing the use of citizens’ assemblies to support the wider public to make well-informed decisions about complicated political issues such as our future membership of the EU.
Updated
Lib Dem leader Ed Davey restates call for UK to rejoin customs union
Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, has used the fifth anniversary of Brexit to restate his party’s call for the UK to rejoin the EU customs union. In an overnight statement he said:
We must repair the trading relationship with our neighbours that was so badly ruined under the Conservatives. Their deal has been an utter disaster for our country - for farmers, fishers and small businesses - caught up in red tape.
So far the Labour government has failed to show the urgency and ambition needed to fix our relationship with Europe. Ministers must be in a parallel universe if they think we can grow the economy without boosting trade with our nearest neighbours.
A new UK-EU customs union deal will unlock growth, demonstrate British leadership and give us the best possible hand to play against President Trump.
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Tory bid to celebrate Brexit anniversary marred by spat between Badenoch and Patel over party’s migration record
Good morning. It is five years to the day since the UK left the European Union. Despite complaints from some of the pro-Brexit papers, Keir Starmer and the government are not planning anything today to mark the occasion – which is not surprising because polling suggests only 11% of the population believe that it has been a success, and most people now think that, when voters followed the advice of Boris Johnson, Michael Gove and Nigel Farage, they made a mistake.
Still, in some parts of British politics Brexit has long ceased being a policy option, and become more of a cult, and some supporters of Brexit have been marking the anniversary with statements defending the policy. But, in the Conservative party, that has all gone a bit haywire.
Yesterday afternoon the Conservative party released an embargoed press release from Priti Patel, the shadow foreign secretary, saying Tories were celebrating the fifth anniversary. She said:
Five years ago today, the Conservatives honoured the democratic will of the British people and Got Brexit Done.
Since then, our country has reaped the benefits—securing new trade deals with dynamic, fast-growing markets across the world and reclaiming sovereignty from Brussels. This has allowed us to reform or revoke 2,500 EU laws, ensuring Britain’s future is shaped by our own parliament.
But Patel was also recording an interview with Harry Cole, political editor of the Sun, for his Never Mind the Ballots TV show, and she got into trouble when asked by Cole why immigration had soared since the UK left the EU. Cole confronted her with this graph and said that, while the Tories had ended free movement for Europeans, they “threw the borders open for the rest of the world”. He said net migration was going up to 1.2m a year, and claimed the new arrivals were going to “take jobs that you promised were going to go to Sun readers and people who voted for Brexit”.
Patel said at one point she was “not fine” with those figures. But, generally, she defended the rise in net migration, saying that Brexit was always about having a new immigration policy and that, with a points-based system, the UK was now able to take in “the brightest and the best”.
To compound her error (in CCHQ terms), when asked if she would apologise to Brexit voters “for the fact that you misled them [about what would happen to migration numbers]”, Patel refused, saying the question was “totally disortionary”.
Here is the key exchange.
"Totally distortionary!"
— Talk (@TalkTV) January 30, 2025
Watch the moment Priti Patel earns herself a telling off from Tory leader Kemi Badenoch, after denying the previous government had “thrown open our borders” to the rest of the world.
📺WATCH: https://t.co/Io5NfLjlZB@MrHarryCole | @TheSun
Patel was home secretary for three years during this period and was concerned to defend her record. She was right to say that, while some people were voting for Brexit in 2016 for lower immigration, others were less concerned about numbers and more interested in just having a migration system over which the UK government had full control. But her line was at odds with what Kemi Badenoch has been saying about the Tories’ immigration policy, and she was quickly rebuked by her leader. As Kevin Schofield reports for HuffPost UK, Badenoch’s spokesperson issued a statement saying in effect that Patel was wrong.
As Kemi said when she committed to a hard cap on visas in November, under her leadership the Conservative party will tell the truth about the mistakes we made.
While the last Conservative government may have tried to control numbers, we did not deliver.
Patel also ended up issuing a clarification statement on social media that was almost as embarrassing as Peter Mandelson’s recent kowtow.
So, it’s not a happy Brexit day so far in Toryland.
The Commons is not sitting this morning, and the political diary is relatively empty. There is more comment about Brexit to report. Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, is on a visit this morning, and Steve Reed, the environment secretary, is also doing a press event this morning to promote a policy on land use.
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