Afternoon summary
Greg Smith, a shadow business minister, has said the Conservative party will have to negotiate some sort of pact with Reform UK before the next general election if there is a risk of Labour winning. (See 5.31pm.) Smith was speaking as the Tories launched their local elections campaign, with Nigel Huddleston, the co-chair, suggesting the party is on course for big losses (see 9.45am) and Kemi Badenoch saying anything better than a wipeout will be an improvement on the general election result (see 12.22pm).
The Social Market Foundation, a thinktank, has proposed savings and tax increases that it says could raise £30bn over the next five years, as an alternative to cutting disability benefits. The plans include replacing the pensions triple lock with a double lock, and taxing empty homes. Here is the list.
Shadow minister Greg Smith says Tories and Reform UK must agree pact before next election if there's risk of Labour winning
Greg Smith, a shadow business minister, has said the Conservative party will have to negotiate some sort of pact with Reform UK before the next general election if there is a risk of Labour winning.
In an interview with Talk TV, asked if he would be happy for the Tories to do a deal with Reform UK, Smith replied:
Look, I think if we want to get rid of socialism from this country, there may well be a point where the right-of-centre parties have to play nicely.
I don’t think we’re at the point of having to negotiate a deal like that. At the moment, I very much hope we can have a Conservative victory.
Asked what “playing nicely” might look like – a informal non-aggression pact, or a more formal electoral alliance – Smith said it was “far too early” to say. But he went on:
I think there is going to come a point where the parties on the right-of-centre look at where things stand ahead of the 2029 general election, and if there is a risk of a continued Labour government – or, possibly the worst case scenario, a Labour/Lib Dem/SNP coalition that would almost certainly bring in proportional representation … then I think there has to be some sort of deal negotiated out. Exactly what that looks like, [it’s] far too early to say.
Asked if Kemi Badenoch thought the same way, Smith said:
Britain is not a leftwing country. What we’re trying to do at the moment is ensure we’ve got a policy platform and an offer to the British people that has got to be radically different to the offer that they threw out so comprehensively last July, that can get us a majority. We want to form a majority Conservative government.
But we’ve got to look at the facts the closer we get to that general election to see how things are going, to see how the turquoise team [Reform UK] are doing compared to us, and take a judgement close to the time.
Asked if he would serve in a Nigel Farage government, Smith said it was “far too early to say” and that he was still working for a Tory win.
The Liberal Democrats challenged Badenoch to sack Smith for his comments. Daisy Cooper, the Lib Dem deputy leader, said:
On the very day that Kemi Badenoch launched her campaign in Buckinghamshire, the local Conservative MP for Mid Buckinghamshire has suggested a Conservative pact with Reform.
The wheels are already coming off this shambolic Tory local election campaign.
Kemi Badenoch should sack Greg Smith from her front bench. Anything less would be an admission that the Conservative Party now wants a deal with Farage and Reform.
Starmer says today's 'coalition of willing' meeting about turning Ukraine support idea into 'military plans'
Keir Starmer has said the meeting of defence chiefs he is attending this afternoon will turn the idea of a peacekeeping force for Ukraine from a political concept to “military plans”.
As PA Media reports, the PM said the “timetable now is coming into focus”, after talks between the US and Russia, and that if a deal comes to fruition, the so-called “coalition of the willing” needs to be ready to react right away. He told Sky News:
That’s why it’s important today that we’re turning the political momentum that we had on the weekend, in the meeting that I convened of nearly 30 political leaders, turning it today from the political concept into military plans.
So, that’s what’s happening and today, those plans are focusing on keeping the skies safe, the seas safe and the borders safe and secure in Ukraine and working with Ukrainians.
Now, we’re working at pace, because we don’t know if there’ll be a deal, I certainly hope there will be, but if there’s a deal, it’s really important that we’re able to react straight away.
Asked if he would support the US taking over Ukraine’s nuclear power plants, an idea that President Trump has reportedly floated with President Zelenskyy, Starmer said that that was a matter for Ukraine and the US to discuss.
Average council tax bills almost 18% higher in north-east than in London, survey says
Households in Greater London will pay £444 less annual council tax than their counterparts in the north-east, PA Media reports. PA says:
The average band D council tax bill in England and Wales will rise by 5.1% in April, the research shows, which is a slightly lower increase than last year but still outpacing inflation.
The north-east remains the highest paying region, with the average band D property owner receiving an annual council tax charge of £2,425.
This contrasts with bills in Greater London, which has the lowest average bills of £1,981, meaning households will pay £444, or nearly a fifth (18%), less than those in the north-east.
London council tax payers will also have the lowest monetary increase in bills of £88.90, according to an annual survey by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (Cipfa).
The government justified allowing six councils – Bradford, Newham, Windsor and Maidenhead, Birmingham, Somerset and Trafford – to increase council tax above the referendum threshold this year by stating these councils have low levels of council tax.
With growing demand for support and overall reductions in funding, Cipfa said council tax rises will not be sufficient to maintain services.
Joanna Pitt, Cipfa senior policy manager, said: “Local authorities are caught in an impossible position, balancing rising demand for essential services against financial pressures. While increasing council tax is never an easy decision, it is often the only option available to maintain service provision in the face of difficult funding decisions.”
In previous years surveys have also shown average council tax bills in the north of England, and the north-east in particular, higher than in London. One explanation is that the north-east has proportionally fewer high-value properties, where a higher council tax rate applies, with the result that councils have to raise proportionally more from people living in average and lower-value homes.
School absence rates in England rising for pupils with special educational needs, DfE figures show
Richard Adams is the Guardian’s education editor.
Children with special education needs or disabilities (Send) in England missed substantial amounts of school time at an increasing rate last year, according to the latest attendance data from the Department for Education.
While overall attendance rates for state pupils continued to slowly improve following the Covid pandemic, those for children with special needs went in the opposite direction - rising to 12.6% sessions missed in 2023-24, up from 12.3% the previous year. The equivalent figure for those with no identified special needs was 6.3%.
Among children with education, health and care plans (EHCPs), issued for identified special needs, there was a sharp rise in those classed as “severely absent”, who are absent for at least half of the school year, to 6.8% last year from 5.9% in 2022-23 and more than double the pre-pandemic rate of 3.3%. The increase among children with Send accounted for the national increase in severe absence, to 2.3% from 2%.
Munira Wilson, the Lib Dem spokesperson for education, said:
Parents are forced to fight for the education their children are entitled to, and all too often children feel trapped in a system that can’t cater to their needs. That’s what leads to shocking absence rates like these.
The government inherited a mess when it came to Send provision, but we need to see action and we need to see results. The pace of change is simply too slow.
Green party appoints new CEO
The Green party of England and Wales has appointed Harriet Lamb as its new CEO. Lamb currently runs WRAP, a global NGO promoting circular living (sustainable ways of using resources).
Adrian Ramsay, the party’s co-leader, said:
I am delighted to welcome Harriet to the Green party. She brings a wealth of experience leading and scaling up organisations centred on bringing about environmental and social justice. She evidently has the experience and passion to play a central role in growing our party and our impact towards our core mission.
With two party politics having broken down and people looking for alternatives, the Green Party’s positive vision for a fair, liveable future is needed more than ever. I look forward to working closely with Harriet in driving the party’s growth and impact to the next level.
Lamb replaces Mary Clegg, the previous CEO, who left several months ago.
Treasury to get real-time data on departmental spending under overhaul of how Whitehall performance monitored
Darren Jones, the chief secretary to the Treasury, began his speech at the Institute for Government today by saying that he had something to announce that he had been told by officials was “not particularly newsy” but which he personally found “very exciting”. It was about using technology to change the way the Treasury monitors data on how much money government departments are spending.
In its news release, the Treasury explains the change like this.
Currently, departments track their own spending and performance, and share data with the Treasury via manual uploads in online spreadsheets and physical letters. This means the Treasury does not have real time access to departments the finance and performance management data and cannot see in real time departmental spending and its impact.
To address inefficiencies, the chief secretary has formed plans to transform government’s approach to understanding, tracking, and evaluating spending across departments.
Under these new plans, ministers will have access to live and real-time performance data at both a departmental and programme level.
This means ministers will be able to see in real time what programmes are over or under spending, which projects are delivering and not, and how departments are performing against their budgets and objectives.
In his speech to the IfG, Jones said that this type of real-time data monitoring was normal in the private sector. He said that, when he arrived at the Treasury, he expected to find it operating like this too. But instead he found it operating like a bank, handing out money to its customers, attaching conditions, and then learning retrospectively if the cash was spent wisely.
Jones claimed the new system would allow goverment to operate more efficiently. He explained:
The transparency that we want will make it easier for the Treasury to continue to manage public money robustly, but in return they will have to be fewer conditions, better levels of delegation and a reduction in the amount of reporting and compliance against too many KPIs [key performance indicators].
Updated
Nicola Sturgeon no longer under investigation over SNP fraud claims
Nicola Sturgeon is no longer under investigation as part of the police case looking into alleged mishandling of Scottish National party funds, Severin Carrell reports.
Turning back to the Conservative party local elections campaign launch, here is Labour’s response, from the party chair Ellie Reeves.
The public won’t forget the 14 years of chaos and decline Kemi Badenoch’s Conservative Party presided over. They left working people worse off, immigration soared to record levels, and our NHS was at breaking point. They haven’t listened and will never learn.
And here is the Liberal Democrat response, from the deputy leader Daisy Cooper.
The first brick in the blue wall came tumbling down in Buckinghamshire in the Chesham and Amersham by-election. Now Kemi Badenoch is back there in a desperate attempt to shore up the crumbling Conservative vote as people in the home counties turn to the Liberal Democrats.
Whilst Kemi’s Conservatives compete with Reform in their policy agenda, the Liberal Democrats are focused on delivering for residents on issues including the cost of living, sewage in our rivers and the emergency in our NHS and care.
Treasury minister Darren Jones says it's 'factually incorrect' to say Labour returning to austerity, because spending going up
Darren Jones, the chief secretary to the Treasury, has rejected claims that the government is returning to a policy of austerity.
Leftwingers have regularly accused the government of reviving Tory-style austerity, and the SNP has restated that allegation today, following a Guardian report saying that Rachel Reeves will unveil the biggest cuts since the George Osborne austerity-era in her spring statement next week. (See 10.36am.)
In a Q&A at the Institute for Government thinktank, asked about this claim, Jones replied:
Just factually, it would be incorrect to say that we are doing what the Conservatives did after 2010.
The numbers will be published next Wednesday, but as you saw at the budget last year, we are increasing public spending, and we’ve increased it quite a lot.
The fact is that we’ve got to do this modernisation and reform agenda. But we’re not, factually, taking an approach that is just blindly cutting spending because we think we should just reduce spending without a plan for how to get there. So I wouldn’t recognise that kind of definition of what’s taking place.
Protesters call for Lords to be replaced by House of the People, with members chosen by lot
There are endless proposals for House of Lords reform floating around Westminster (which is one reason why nothing much ever seems to happen). Today Assemble, the grassroots democracy group which organised the six-person demonstration that disrupted proceedings in the Lords today, has put forward a simple idea for a replacement chamber. It says the Lords should be replaced with a House of the People, with members chosen by lot.
In a statement on today’s protest, it says:
Today’s action has been taken in support of the abolition of the House of Lords in favour of a House of the People – a new institution where any adult in the UK may be selected to serve, like a jury, to set the political agenda and balance the House of Commons. This action mirrors one undertaken by Suffragettes on October 28th 1908, where they took direct action by raining handbills onto the House of Commons, demanding suffrage for women in the UK …
A public-led institution like a House of the People will produce fairer, more effective, and more democratic outcomes than the existing parliamentary system, which is not fit for purpose. The recent election saw the lowest turnout and vote count for two decades, yet produced a prime minister with the strongest majority. Polls show that most British people are in favour of replacing the House of Lords, with a permanent rolling citizens’ assembly as the favourite alternative.
Assemble is one of various organistions inviting people to volunteer to be chosen by lottery to participate in a House of the People this summer that would work up plans for constitutional change.
Christina Jenkins, 31, a care worker from Cwmbran and one of the people who took part in today’s protest, said in a statement on Assemble’s website:
We need a People’s House, not a house of wealthy elites. Lords: give up your seat! How can we a real democracy when we’re only given the chance to vote once every five years? Even then, so many people don’t vote because their voices still go unheard.”
Whether it’s the spiralling cost of living crisis, insecure housing, wars or the climate crisis, you don’t have to look far to see the symptoms of a broken political system. We need to hand the power back to the people with participatory politics like citizens’ assemblies if we stand any chance of addressing the real issues facing Britain.
PA Media has filed more on the protesters who disrupted proceeding in the House of Lords earlier. PA says:
The protesters said they were acting on behalf of Assemble, an organisation that campaigns for the House of Lords to be abolished and replaced by a citizens’ assembly.
Citizens’ assemblies are selected by sortition, which means members of the public are picked at random via a lottery.
Supporters of this mechanism argue it means a more representative sample of the population are able to come together and debate important issues.
As they were escorted out, the protesters sang a song encouraging people to “take back the Commons” and “raise a glass to Thomas Paine”.
Thomas Paine is an English-born American founding father who was a strong advocate for democracy, rejecting monarchy and aristocracy.
One woman shouted in the chamber that they were protesting like the Suffragettes, who were known to demonstrate in the Houses of Parliament for the cause of votes for women.
The QR code on their leaflets leads to an invite to enter the lottery for a so-called House of the People, which says it will “debut as a parallel Parliament” in July 2025.
Pete Lowe announced yesterday that he was resigning as leader of the Labour group on Dudley council over the disability cuts. In a statement, he said that he was leaving the party after 41 years because “I cannot be true to my principles and condemn the Tory cuts to the most vulnerable and not condemn the government.”
Labour to scrutinise school smartphone bans as pressure grows over impact on teenagers
Bridget Phillipson is to begin an in-depth scrutiny of smartphone bans in schools in England as pressure grows from MPs to act on the effect of social media on teenagers, Jessica Elgot and Rachel Keenan report.
Reform UK defends asking branch officials to sign non-disclosure agreements
Reform UK asks it branch officials, like chairs, secretaries and treasurers, to sign non-disclosure agreements (NDAs), Genevieve Holl-Allen reveals in a story for the Daily Telegraph.
She says at the last election parliamentary candidates were also asked to sign NDAs. And she says some council candidates have been asked to sign NDAs ahead of the May elections, although the party has indicated that happened by mistake and it says council candidates are not subject to gagging orders.
In her story, Holl-Allen reports:
The practice is unusual – neither the Conservatives, Labour nor the Liberal Democrats use NDAs for branch officials or candidates …
In a copy of the NDA, seen by The Telegraph, branch members are prohibited from divulging private information about the “activities, communication and electoral functions” of the party.
The document terms are drawn up so widely that they could leave individuals open to legal attack for divulging information such as what goes on at private meetings or details of the party leadership.
The NDA said it covered all confidential information relating to “all activities, communication, and electoral functions with the intention of using it primarily for the broad purpose of our political, campaigning and fundraising activities”.
In a statement to the party, Reform UK defended the policy. A spokesperson said:
Reform UK are committed to the highest standards of data security. Like any professional organisation, we expect those responsible for managing large amounts of member and candidate personal information to keep it secure.
Lammy tells MPs it's 'difficult to see' how Israel's denial of aid to Gaza compatible with international law
David Lammy, the foreign secretary, has told MPs that it is “difficult to see” how Israel’s denial of humanitarian assistance to civilians in Gaza “can be compatible with international humanitarian law”.
But he was by some opposition MPs as he stopped short of repeating his previous remarks that there had been a “breach of international law” by Israel.
Speaking in the Commons, Lammy said the resumption of Israeli military action in Gaza had resulted in an “appalling loss of life”. He said:
On the night of March 18, Israel launched air strikes across Gaza. A number of Hamas figures were reportedly killed, but it’s been reported that over 400 Palestinians were killed in missile strikes and artillery barrages. The majority of them were women and children.
This appears to have been the deadliest single day for Palestinians since the war began. This is an appalling loss of life, and we mourn the loss of every civilian.
Lammy confirmed a British national was amongst those wounded after a UN compound was hit on Wednesday. He said the UK was urgently calling for return to a ceasefire.
Hamas has been resisting calls for the release of further hostages in return for a longer truce.
Israeli forces did not begin to withdraw from the Philadelphi Corridor as agreed and on March 2 the Israeli government announced it was blocking all further aid deliveries until Hamas agreed to its terms.
For weeks now, supplies of basic goods and electricity have been blocked, leaving over half a million civilians once again cut off from clean drinking water and sparking a 200% surge in the price of some basic foodstuffs; a boon to those criminals who use violence to control supplies.
As I told the house on Monday, this is appalling and unacceptable. Ultimately, of course, these are matters for the courts, not governments, to determine, but it’s difficult to see how denying humanitarian assistance to a civilian population can be compatible with international humanitarian law.
Though it’s important to say I could have been a little clearer in the House on Monday, our position remains that Israel’s actions in Gaza are a clear risk of breaching international humanitarian law.
Lords protesters defend disrupting proceedings, saying peers are undemocratic and 'symbol of everything that's outdated'
Lady Twycross, a culture minister, was making a statement about the celebrations to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the end of the second world war when a small group of protesters starting shouting from the gallery. The proceedings were suspended for about five minutes while the gallery was cleared.
As PA Media reports, one of the protesters, Lucy Porter, 50, a primary school teacher from Leeds, said was “campaigning for a house of the people”. On the Lords, she said:
It’s a symbol of everything that’s outdated. We don’t have a functioning democracy in this country.
The leaflets thrown by the group had written on them: “Never mind the Lords here’s the House of People.” On the other side it stated: “Aristocrats and oligarchs: Out. Posties, mums, nurses and neighbours: In. Replace the House of Lords to save the UK.”
One protester, who wished to be known only as Christina, said:
We did this action on behalf of Assemble and the ask is that, instead of a House of Lords, which is a house of unelected wealthy elites, we have a house of the people.
So, we have citizens’ assemblies where people can participate in real democracy, instead of having everything handed to them from up high.
Another woman, who also referred to herself as Christina, said:
If people enter into assemblies and a house of the people via sortition, that’s real representation where people get a say on real issues that matter to them, which are not getting processed by the government or parliament.
The cost-of-living crisis, the housing crisis, the climate crisis, it’s a mess, and we need people with real representation to start making a difference and having a say.
Updated
House of Lords proceedings disrupted by protesters
Proceedings in the House of Lords have been disrupted by protesters, this morning. ITV News has the clip. Campaigners in the gallery started shouting “Lords out, people in”, and dropping leaflets into the chamber.
House of Lords interrupted by protestors shouting 'Lords out, people in'
— ITVPolitics (@ITVNewsPolitics) March 20, 2025
Business had to be paused as protesters calling for the abolition of the unelected chamber started chanting and throwing leaflets pic.twitter.com/44uDPrLs71
Badenoch says local elections will be 'extremely difficult' for Tories
At the Conservative party’s local elections campaign launch in Beaconsfield, Kemi Badenoch echoed her party co-chair Nigel Huddleston in stressing it was likely to be hard for her party to avoid big losses. (See 9.45am). Here are some of the key lines.
Badenoch said the Tories would lose almost all the councils they won in 2021 if the local election results mirrored the general election results. She said:
This year will be … the first time since the general election – the greatest defeat in our party’s history – that we fight these seats. If you map that general election result of 2024 on to this coming May, then we don’t win the councils we won in 2021, we lose almost every single one.
She said that thought the party would probably “do a bit better than that”, the elections would nevertheless be “extremely difficult”.
She claimed that the Conservatives were the only credible party standing.
We are the only credible choice: Lib Dems will wreck your public services, Reform has no experience running anything, Greens will run councils into the ground and Labour will spend, tax and waste your money, just like they always do.
She restated her attack on “showbusiness” politicians. Echoing the argument she made in a Telegraph interview earlier this week (see 11.49am), she said:
This is not showbusiness. This is not a game. This is about people’s lives. This is not for us. It is for all those people out there who need credible politicians. That is what we’re offering.
Kevin Hollinrake, the shadow housing secretary, told the event that the Tories have been doing relatively well in local council byelections. He said:
Since the general election, we’ve won twice as many seats in terms of net gains compared to any other party. We know we can do this.
Hollinrake may have been referring to these figures from the Lib Dem activist and elections expert Mark Pack, showing the Tories on a net gain of 22 seats, double the net gain of 12 seats achieved by Reform UK.
Updated
Farage responds to Badenoch in spat over whether or not it's good for politicians to be on reality TV
Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, has defended politicians who get involved in entertainment TV.
In an article for the Daily Telegraph, he hit back at Kemi Badenoch, who used an interview with the paper earlier this week to dismiss Farage as just a reality TV phenomenon.
Badenoch, whose party has been overtaken by Farage’s in most recent opinion polls, said:
Having appeal doesn’t mean that people want you running their lives. That’s one of the things that we need to make sure that we remind people.
This isn’t I’m A Celebrity or Strictly Come Dancing. You don’t vote for the person that you’re enjoying watching and then switch off when the show’s over.
You’ve got to live with that person in your life, in your family’s life, at work and so on. That’s what elections are about. It’s not just about watching a show and switching it off. We’ve got to move away from politics as showbusiness.
In response, Farage admitted taking part in reality TV shows like I’m a Celebrity but argued that being well known was a positive thing for a politician, not a negative thing. He went on:
Anyway, it’s not as though I’m the first politician to have been prominent in the media. Ronald Reagan combined his early political activities with a film and TV career for 20 years, until the 1960s. When he announced in the 1970s that he wanted to become the US President, everybody said he was a B-Movie actor who stood no chance. These days, American conservatives look back on this two-term leader with a slight sense of awe in terms of his achievements.
And what about Donald Trump? He was a well-known New York property developer from the 1970s onwards but it was his massive success with the reality to show The Apprentice from 2004 that put him in a position where he could win the nomination for the Republican Party.
He ended his article with advice for the Tory leader:
Kemi Badenoch has a problem. Most members of the public have no opinion of her. Even fewer know what she stands for. I have an idea for her. She could appear on a reality TV show herself. A spell in the I’m a Celebrity… jungle would be perfect. I’ll gladly give her some tips if she wants to sign up for the next series.
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Disabled people’s access to transport in UK a ‘national embarrassment’, MPs say
Disabled people’s access to transport has been called a “national embarrassment” by MPs on a parliamentary committee, who said a new enforcement regime was needed to uphold their right to travel. Gwyn Topham has the story.
Jesse Norman, the shadow leader of the Commons, paid tribute to his father, Sir Torquil Norman, who has just died, during business questions in the chamber this morning. Torquil Norman’s toy company created the Polly Pocket brand.
His son told MPs:
Almost exactly 24 hours ago, my father Torquil Norman died at the age of 91. He was an extraordinary man who flew Seafires and Sea Furies during his national service in the Fleet Air Arm.
He created Polly Pocket, a toy which brought unbelievable joy to millions of young people around the House and around the world.
And he rebuilt the Roundhouse in Chalk Farm in London, not just as an incredible performing arts centre but as a creative centre for young people and for them to find their way from whatever backgrounds into jobs.
Updated
One person has died trying to cross the Channel in an overloaded boat, after another person died earlier attempting the same journey, according to the French authorities, Diane Taylor reports.
Tories confirm their policy review to look at council tax as figures show average bills in England up £109
The average Band D council tax bill in England will rise by £109, or 5%, in 2025-26 according to government figures released this morning. The average Band D total bill will be £2,280, up from £2,171.
In an interview on the Today programme this morning, Nigel Huddleston, the Tory co-chair, said his party’s policy review would consider alternative approaches. He said:
We’re going to be using our time in opposition very wisely and Kemi [Badenoch] laid out earlier this week the policy renewal work and policy renewal programme that we will be doing, which will look at every single area of government – and obviously council tax is an area of major concern because it is an important part of people’s annual expenditure.
Barrow-in-Furness is a “blueprint” for how increasing defence spending can boost prosperity across the UK, Keir Starmer has said ahead of a visit to the town at the heart of Britain’s submarine-building industry. PA Media says:
Keir Starmer will lay the keel for the next generation of Britain’s nuclear deterrent submarines when he visits the Cumbrian town today, as he argues his plans to boost defence spending will help fulfil his mission to grow the economy.
Just days ago, Starmer secretly joined a crew of submariners as they returned home to their families for the first time in months, making him the first prime minister to join a so-called “day zero” since 2013.
King Charles is meanwhile due to confer the Port of Barrow with the title “Royal”, to recognise the town’s contribution towards national security as a hub of submarine building.
In February, the prime minister announced the government will increase defence spending to 2.5% of the UK’s economic output by 2027, something which ministers think will help drive economic growth and create jobs across the UK.
The prime minister said: “When I say that our Plan for Change is delivering security for working people and renewal for our country, there is no better blueprint than Barrow.
“Defence spending here is supporting highly skilled jobs, driving opportunities for young people and delivering world class capabilities to keep us all safe, but it’s also crucially putting money in the pockets of hardworking people.”
SNP claims cuts planned by Rachel Reeves in spring statement means Labour lied to Scots about no return to austerity
In today’s Guardian splash Kiran Stacey, Pippa Crerar and Jessica Elgot reveal that Rachel Reeves will announce the biggest spending cuts since austerity at next week’s spring statement.
THE GUARDIAN: Biggest cuts since austerity era as Reeves tries to plug budget deficit #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/zqTm3XuIFX
— Alfie Tobutt (@AlfieTobutt) March 19, 2025
This is particularly difficult for Labour in Scotland, where their main opponents, the SNP, are fiercely anti-austerity and Labour MSPs are split over whether to defend the economic policies of the UK government or criticise them.
Commenting on the Guardian’s story, Dave Doogan, the SNP’s economy spokersperson at Westminster, said:
People in Scotland will never forgive the Labour party for imposing a new era of devastating austerity cuts on public services and household incomes.
It’s clear the Labour party lied to voters during the election. They promised no return to austerity cuts but they are cutting billions of pounds from vital services.
Updated
UK data recording of biological sex causing potential risks, report finds
Official UK data recording people’s biological sex and their gender identity is often unclear or conflated, a government-commissioned report has found, causing confusion and potential risks, for example in healthcare and safeguarding. Peter Walker has the story.
Tory co-chair braces party for big losses as Kemi Badenoch launches local elections campaign
Good morning. For Keir Starmer, it is a military day. This morning Downing Street has released video footage and pictures of Starmer meeting the crew of a nuclear-armed submarine earlier this week as it returned to Faslane in Scotland. Later this morning he is in Barrow, where he is going to “lay the keel to the first boat of the next generation nuclear armed submarines, knowns as the Dreadnought class”, No 10 says. He is also announcing that “the king has agreed to confer the ‘Royal’ title to the Port of Barrow in recognition of the town’s unique and critical contribution to national security as home of nuclear submarine building in the UK”. And this afternoon, in the south of England, he is going to attend a meeting of military chiefs and planners from the 30-odd countries that are part of the “coalition of the willing” offering to help protect Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire.
I will cover some of that here, but Jakub Krupa will lead the Ukraine-focused coverage on his Europe live blog.
For Kemi Badenoch, a different type of battle planning is on the agenda. She is launching the Conservative party’s local election campaign at an event in Buckinghamshire.
It is going to be a low-key launch, we’re told. Yesterday CCHQ officials were doing their best to persuade lobby journalists that it would not be worth the effort attending. And the overnight words released from Badenoch are story-free. Badenoch says:
The Conservatives are the only party that stands up for families, for rural communities, and for local businesses. Labour pander to the unions, the Lib Dems waste your taxes, and Reform have no experience running anything.
The Conservatives will be your voice in your local community, delivering value for money, lower taxes and better services – so vote Conservative on 1 May.
But Nigel Huddleston, the Conservative party co-chair, gave a clue as to what is really going on in an interview on Sky News this morning. It is not unusual for parties to downplay expectations ahead of local elections, but Huddlestone went overboard, implying that the party is expecting serious losses. He said:
This is us having an election after losing the general election last year, [defending the] high-water mark of the 2021 local elections, where we got an incredible 65% of all seats. That’s about 30% higher than we normally get in local elections. This is following on from the vaccines roll-out. We won the Hartlepool byelection on the same day. So 2021 was a really high-water mark, and that’s what we’re facing against now.
Now, we are fighting for every single vote in every single seat, but it will be difficult.
Are the Tories right to be worried? Probably. Earlier this month Electoral Calculus published some MRP polling for the local elections and the results suggest the Conservatives are on course to lose hundreds of seats.
Electoral Calculus says:
Our prediction is that the Conservatives will lose a large amount of support and councillors to the Reform UK party. The Liberal Democrats are also expected to make some gains, while Labour might lose ground a little. The Green party and independent candidates are more difficult to predict accurately, so their predictions are subject to a greater amount of uncertainty.
What might help the Conservatives is the fact that in some of the council areas where elections should be taking place, voting is being delayed for at least a year because of the local government reorganisations. The predicted election results in the table above are projected figures including places where voting is happening in May, and places where voting is delayed. As this table shows, when they separated the results, Electoral Calculus found that Reform UK were on course to do even better in the places where polling is not happening this year.
Of course, this is only a poll. They are not always accurate. But politicians study them very closely, and CCHQ will have seen figures like this. They explain why Badenoch is no making a fuss of her local elections campaign launch, and why Huddleston is preparing his party for big losses.
Here is the agenda for the day.
9.30am: Steve Reed, environment secretary, takes questions in the Commons.
9.30am: The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government publishes council tax figures for England for 2025-26.
10.30am: Lucy Powell, the leader of the Commons, makes a statement to MPs on next week’s business.
10.40am: Kemi Badenoch launches the Conservatives’ local election campaign at an event in Buckinghamshire.
Morning: Keir Starmer is in Barrow to lay the keel for the first of the next-generation Dreadnought nuclear-armed submarines that are being built.
11.30am: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.
About 11.30am: David Lammy, the foreign secretary, makes a statement to MPs about Gaza.
Noon: John Swinney, Scotland’s first minister, takes questions at Holyrood.
12.30pm: Darren Jones, chief secretary to the Treasury, gives a speech at the Institute for Government.
2.30pm: Lammy gives at speech at the British Chambers of Commerce conference.
Afternoon: Starmer attends a military planning meeting for countries from the “coalition of the willing” offering to help protect Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire.
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