Early evening summary
Keir Starmer has told business leaders that regulation policy will be primarily determined by what’s best for growth, and that he wants to to “rip out” the planning bureaucracy holding up investment. (See 1.01pm.)
The government is claiming that “nearly 38,000 UK jobs are set to be created across the UK after a total of £63bn of investment was announced around today’s international investment summit”.
Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, has told GB News that Labour’s manifesto promise not to raise national insurance did not refer to employers’ national insurance contributions, only employees’. This is what Jonathan Reynolds, the business secretary, indicated in an interview yesterday, but Reeves was even more explicit today. This is seen as her strongest hint yet that she will raise employees’ national insurance in the budget.
Ellie Reeves, the Cabinet Office minister, has confirmed that the government will tighten the rules about the declaration of gifts given to ministers. She described this as closing “the Tory freebies loophole”. (See 4.30pm.)
MPs have paid tribute to Alex Salmond, the former Scottish first minister who died suddenly at the weekend.
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Jenrick accepts BBC's invitation to Tory leadership debate, while Badenoch's team says CCHQ must have final say
Robert Jenrick has accepted an offer from the BBC to hold a Question Time debate for the two Tory leadership candidates – while Kemi Badenoch it is not for her to decide, but the party.
Jenrick was responding to a letter from Gerry Gay, the Question Time editor, who proposed a QT “Conservative Leadership Special” on Thursday 24 October, hosted by Fiona Bruce, the programme’s regular presenter.
Gay said there would just be two guests debating, Jenrick and Badenoch, with an audience roughly 50% Conservative supporters, broadly split between supporters of each candidate, and 50% people with other political loyalties, some of whom may have voted Tory in the past.
The letter was sent after Jenrick yesterday released an open letter to Tim Davie, the BBC director general, saying the BBC should organise a debate in the public interest. Jenrick has accepted.
Originally Jenrick and Badenoch had been due to take part in a debate organised by the Sun on Thursday 24 October, but that was cancelled because of a dispute about who was going to chair it.
In a post on social media Jenrick said:
I’m disappointed that @TheSun debate won’t be going ahead. I was looking forward to answering their readers’ characteristically tough questions.
However, I am delighted to accept the BBC’s invitation to a head-to-head special Conservative leadership Question Time at 8pm on the 24th October.
A source from Badenoch’s campaign said they were considering the BBC’s offer, but that, under the rules of the contest, it was for CCHQ to decide what debates the candidates took part in.
This is not the first time the BBC has been in talks with the Tories about holding a debate. But previous negotiations broke down because CCHQ wanted to choose the audience itself, BBC sources claim.
Badenoch and Jenrick are both participating in an event on GB News on Thursday night this week. But they won’t be debating each other head to head, just taking questions from an audience one after the other.
According to bookmakers, Badenoch is the favourite in the contest – and favourites in elections are almost always reluctant to take part in debates, because they have most to lose.
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