Early evening summary
Matthew Doyle, Keir Starmer’s former communications chief, has apologised for a friendship with a paedophile councillor. (See 5.40pm.) He has also said that he will give up the Labour whip in the Lords. Labour said the whip was being withdrawn anyway while an investigation is carried out. “All complaints are assessed thoroughly in line with our rules and procedures,” a spokesperson said.
For a full list of all the stories covered on the blog today, do scroll through the list of key event headlines near the top of the blog.
Updated
Support for cutting taxes, and spending less on health, education and benefits, at highest level for 40 years, report says
According to the British Social Attitudes survey, support for cutting taxes, and spending less on health, education and benefits, is at its highest level for 40 years.
In its report with the data, the National Centre for Social Research says:
Our initial findings from the 2025 BSA survey show how the public have responded to some of the recent challenges faced by policy makers. People have reacted against the increase in the size of the state in the wake of the expansion engendered by the pandemic. They have become less supportive of spending on welfare in the wake of increasing expenditure occasioned by illhealth, disability and an ageing population. Meanwhile, record levels of net inward migration have been accompanied by a reversal of a once favourable perception of the impact of migration.
However, not everyone has changed their mind. Rather, we are now looking at a public that looks more divided on these subjects than hitherto. For the first time since BSA began in 1983, a significant proportion of people now endorse a reduction in taxes and spending rather than just look for increases to stop.
And here is the chart showing these figures.
Starmer's former PR chief apologies over links with paedophile councillor and loses Labour whip in Lords
Matthew Doyle, Keir Starmer’s former communications chief, has apologised for a friendship with a paedophile councillor. He has also said that he will give up the Labour whip in the Lords.
There has been controversy about Doyle’s links with Sean Morton ever since they were first revealed in the Sunday Times in December, shortly after it was announced that Doyle was on a list of 25 Labour peers being created.
Doyle took his seat in the Lords in January, and initially he took the Labour whip. But opposition parties have condemned his appointment and his decision to cut his links with the Labour group seems to have been prompted by fears that, with Peter Mandelson now out of the Lords for good, Doyle may find himself under more intense scrutiny.
As PA Media reports, Doyle campaigned for Morton in 2017 after he had been charged over indecent images of children, saying he believed his assertions of innocence. It is understood No 10 was not aware Doyle had campaigned for Morton at the time he was made a peer.
In a statement today, Doyle said:
I want to apologise for my past association with Sean Morton.
His offences were vile and I completely condemn the actions for which he was rightly convicted. My thoughts are with the victims and all those impacted by these crimes.
At the point of my campaigning support, Morton repeatedly asserted to all those who knew him his innocence, including initially in court. He later changed his plea in court to guilty.
To have not ceased support ahead of a judicial conclusion was a clear error of judgment for which I apologise unreservedly.
Labour had suspended Morton after he appeared in court in connection with indecent child images in late 2016. Doyle campaigned for Morton when he ran as an independent in May 2017. Morton admitted having indecent images of children in November 2017.
In his statement, Doyle said:
Those of us who took [Morton] at his word were clearly mistaken. I have never sought to dismiss or diminish the seriousness of the offences for which he was rightly convicted.
They are clearly abhorrent and I have never questioned his conviction.
Following his conviction any contact was extremely limited and I have not seen or spoken to him in years.
Twice I was at events organised by other people, which he attended, and once I saw him to check on his welfare after concerns were raised through others.
I acted to try to ensure the welfare of a troubled individual whilst fully condemning the crimes for which he has been convicted and being clear that my thoughts are with the victims of his crimes. I am sorry about the mistakes I have made. I will not be taking the Labour whip.
For the avoidance of any doubt, let me conclude where I started. Morton’s crimes were vile and my only concerns are for his victims.
UPDATE: Labour subsequently said the whip was being withdrawn from Doyle anyway while an investigation is carried out. A Labour spokesperson said: “All complaints are assessed thoroughly in line with our rules and procedures.”
Updated
On the subject of Reform UK and Wales, Plaid Cymru has criticised Nigel Farage’s party for the fact that none of its MPs turned up to a debate in Westminster Hall yesterday on the subject of “Russian influence on UK politics and democracy”. Those MPs who were there made numerous references to Nathan Gill, the former Reform UK leader in Wales who was jailed for 10 and a half years for taking bribes to make pro-Russia speeches in the European parliament. “The Russian state is trying to target society and democracy in western countries. We should not be so naive as to think that it is not happening here in the UK,” the Plaid MP Ben Lake said.
Reform UK threatens to withdraw funding from university after its debating society declines to host Q&A with Reform MP
Reform UK has threatened to remove funding from a university where the debating society declined an invitation from the party to host a Q&A with one of its MPs.
Zia Yusuf, head of policy at Reform, claimed this amounted to his party being banned and suggested that, if Nigel Farage became PM, Bangor University would no longer get “a penny” of state funding.
Yusuf was responding on social media to a post from the debating and political society at the university, which said that Reform had asked it to host a Q&A with Sarah Pochin, one of its MPs, and Jack Anderton, a Reform adviser.
The society said it would not be hosting the Q&A proposed by Reform. It said it had “zero tolerance for any form of racism, transphobia or homophobia displayed by the members of Reform UK” and it urged other university debating unions to joint it in keeping “hate out of our universities”.
Yusuf replied:
Bangor University have banned Reform and called us “racist, transphobic and homophobic”.
Bangor receives £30 million in state funding a year, much of which comes from Reform-voting taxpayers.
I am sure they won’t mind losing every penny of that state funding under a Reform government.
After all, they wouldn’t want a racist’s money would they?
And he also posted these follow-up messages on social media.
The Vice Chancellor of Bangor University is paid £287,000 a year, and the university employs 32 people on more than £100k.
All to indoctrinate their students so much they ban an MP from the party leading national polls from speaking at a debate.
Why should taxpayers fund this?
Worth noting for the Bangor University situation, the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023 does not apply in Wales.
Even things the Tories did that they call “wins” were weak and supine under scrutiny.
That’s why the radical left captured the country on their watch.
A spokesperson for the university told the BBC that the university “welcomes debate across the political spectrum” and that student societies express their own views, not the university’s.
Starmer says Labour has 'pulled together as a party', as he says he backs Anas Sarwar '100%, without reservation'
Keir Starmer has said that he supports Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, “100%, without reservation”.
Asked to respond to Sarwar announcing yesterday that he thinks Stamer should stand down as PM, Starmer said:
I’ve got a huge respect for Anas Sarwar. Obviously, he made his views known yesterday.
But I want to be really clear that I’m 100% supportive of Anas Sarwar to be the first minister in Scotland, he’d be an incredible first minister and I support him 100%, without reservation.
Talking about the events of yesterday more generally, Starmer said:
What’s happened over the last few days is that we’ve pulled together as a party and been absolutely crystal clear about the fight we need to have.
And that’s the fight on behalf of all the people in this country who don’t get the respect and dignity and the chance they deserve in life, that is the fight that we are in, that’s who we’re fighting for.
Updated
Keir Starmer has said that he will lead Labour into the next election.
Speaking to broadcasters at his visit to a community centre in Hertfordshire, when he was asked if he would be Labour leader at the next election, he said “yes”, adding that he had a “five-year mandate” to “deliver change”.
(This is one of those questions which journalists feel obliged to ask, but where the answer is almost meaningless because leaders generally feel obliged to reply yes. The only exceptions are when you get the rare combination of a leader a) already contemplating retirement, and b) honest or naive enough to want to disclose that to a reporter.)
Minister says new court records database being developed after protests about Courtsdesk archive being wiped
Officials from the Ministry of Justice are working on a new way of sharing details of court cases with journalists after the existing platform was told to delete its records over data protection concerns, MPs were told.
Sarah Sackman, a justice minister, said she accepted that journalists found the Courtsdesk service valuable. But, responding to a Commons urgent question tabled by the Conservatives, she claimed that the government had to shut the Courtdesk archive because an AI company was using it to access sensitive personal data.
Kieran Mullan, a shadow justice minister, suggested the government wanted to cover up what is actually happening in the courts.
Explaining the decision to order Courtsdesk to wipe its archive, Sackman said:
This private company, Courtsdesk, has been sharing private, personal, legally sensitive information with a third-party AI company that includes potentially the addresses, the dates of birth, of defendants and victims. This is a direct breach of our agreement with them.”
The cessation of our agreement with Courtsdesk does not change the information available to the public about what carries on in our courts and nor does it change the information available to journalists.
I recognise that the sort of service that Courtsdesk provided was useful for journalists because it collated the information and presented it neatly, and it’s for that reason that officials in my department are continuing to work, as we always planned to do, on an alternative platform, one that allows us to make the information available, but to maintain the guardrails in relation to data protection.
As PA Media reports, Courtsdesk has been used by more than 1,500 journalists, the company claims. His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunal Service (HMCTS) told the firm to delete the details in November after what it deemed “unauthorised sharing” of court data. Last week the government refused calls for the decision to be reversed, meaning it must be deleted within days.
In the Commons Mullan accused the government of making it “harder for journalists to report the truth”. He said Courtsdesk had been a “huge success”.
He went on:
What is it they’re worried about? Could it be that they want to hide the fact that thousands of criminals will escape justice under their sentencing bill? Could it be that when they erode our rights to jury trials, they don’t want the public to hear about what results?
Sackman said journalists would still be able to access court information.
Commenting on the UQ, George Greenwood, an investigative reporter at the Times, said:
What Sarah Sackman said at the dispatch box today is simply wrong.
It is not physically possible for journalists to attend every single court and to obtain the kind of information that Courtsdesk provided in searchable form.
This shuts out the press and undermines open justice.
Minister defends MoD contract with Palantir, saying it built on deal struck by Tories, and Mandelson not involved
Peter Mandelson had “no influence” on the Ministry of Defence signing a contract with American tech giant Palantir, a defence minister has said, amid “serious questions” about his links to the company. Luke Pollard was speaking in the Commons responding to an urgent question. PA Media says:
Palantir signed a three-year £421m deal with the MoD in December 2025 to continue providing services like data integration, analytics and AI platforms.
Questions are being asked about whether disgraced former US ambassador Lord Mandelson was involved in securing this deal, as he held shares in Global Counsel, a lobbying firm hired by Palantir.
Pollard told MPs: “As the defence secretary [John Healey] has said, the contract was his decision, and his decision alone. Peter Mandelson had no influence on the decision to award this contract.”
He noted that the previous Conservative government signed a three-year enterprise agreement with Palantir in 2022, and said the new deal builds on that.
Pollard added that the government has secured new commitments from Palantir, including to have its European defence headquarters in London, £1.5bn investment into the UK and a new defence mentoring scheme to help British SMEs (small and medium sized enterprises) access the US market.
Asking the UQ, shadow defence secretary James Cartlidge said: “Following Peter Mandelson’s sacking as US ambassador, serious questions surrounding his influence on MoD contracts have emerged, and upon which we have had no meaningful answers.”
Pointing out that the Palantir contract was granted by direct award, rather than open competition, Cartlidge called for “transparency”.
He said: “The question is, to what extent Peter Mandelson and his firm Global Counsel, in which at the time he was a controlling shareholder, benefited from privileged access not available to potential UK competitors, which was used to deliver a quarter of a billion pound defence contract to a client of Global Counsel, without competition?”
Responding, Pollard said the MoD uses Palantir tools and technology “on a daily basis to support the operations and wider data analytics”, adding: “I’m sure he’s not suggesting that we shouldn’t be maintaining access to those vital capabilities.”
The minister also said the Government intends to “publish as much material as we can as soon as reasonably possible”, and that work is “under way” to make that happen.
The chair of the defence committee and Labour MP for Slough, Tan Dhesi, asked: “Why was this particular contract not subject to the usual procurement processes, competitive processes?”
Pollard said that the agreement covered existing services and where there is a “robust technical justification for using Palantir products and services”.
He added that it was “justified under the Procurement Act” and that all procurement procedures were followed with a transparency notice.
Labour MPs including Clive Lewis, Dawn Butler and Neil Duncan-Jordan all criticised the MoD’s contract with Palantir.
Starmer insists he will 'never walk away' from task he has to change UK, as he urges Labour to stop feuding
Keir Starmer is speaking at an event in Hertfordshire.
He starts with a reference to the events of yesterday – saying there has been a lot of politics around recently.
But he is focused on the cost of living, he says. He says he knows what it is like to struggle, because when he was growing up his family couldn’t always pay their bills.
He says he leads the most working-class cabinet in history.
He says people are still being held back by their backgrounds.
He says that the system did not work for people like his brother, who spent “his adult life wandering from job to job in virtual poverty”. And other people are in the same situtation, he says.
He says he is fighting to help “young people who don’t get the opportunities they deserve”, and the “millions of people held back because of a system that doesn’t work for them”.
He says he wants to ensure people get the “dignity, the respect, the chance that they deserve”.
He goes on:
[There are some] people in recent days who say the Labour government should have a different fight, a fight with itself, instead of a fight for the millions of people who need us to fight for them.
And I say to them – I will never walk away from the mandate I was given to change this country, I will never walk away from the people that I’m charged with fighting for, I will never walk away from the country that I love.
Britain is a compassionate country, he says. “Given half the chance, we’ll help each other out,” he says.
He says the real fight is not within the Labour party. It is with rightwing politics, and the politics of grievance. And he will be in that fight “as long as I have breath in my body”.
UPDATE: Starmer said:
I will never walk away from the mandate I was given to change this country, I will never walk away from the people that I’m charged with fighting for, and I will never walk away from the country that I love.
And that is the country who I truly believe we are, a compassionate, reasonable, live and let live country, a diverse country where, given half the chance, we’ll help each other out.
That is who we are as a country, and I want to serve every single part of that country, the country that I love.
The fight coming up in politics, the real fight is not in the Labour party. It’s with the right-wing politics that challenges that, the politics of Reform, the politics of divide, divide, divide, grievance, grievance, grievance.
That will tear our country apart. That is the fight that we are in, and I will be in that fight as long as I have breath in my body.
Updated
Eluned Morgan says she won't give 'running commentary' on Westminster - but Wales better off when Labour succeeds
At first minister’s questions in Cardiff, Eluned Morgan, the Welsh first minister, reaffirmed her support for Keir Starmer “in the job he was elected to do”. (See 11.18am.)
She told the Senedd:
Keir Starmer was elected with a clear mandate to be the prime minister of the United Kingdom. I support him in the job he was elected to do.
When Labour succeeds in government, the people of Wales become better off and that is my key concern.
My job as first minister is to improve the lives of people in Wales, not to provide a running commentary on Westminster politics.
Updated
Burnham says Britain will only be able to build 'new economy' with wholesale electoral reform
Andy Burnham ended his contribution by recalling the Labour MP Paul Goggins, who represented Wythenshawe and Sale East and who died in 2014. He said Goggins was his mentor when he was a young MP. Goggins “was just dedicated to the underdog”, he said.
Burnham went on:
When I came into parliament, I remember [Goggins] said something to me very early on that I’ve never forgotten. He said ‘The point of being here is you’ve got power and you should use all of it, every bit of it, for people who have little power or none at all. But what you will find is most people in here are using their power for people who’ve already got too much.’
And the truth of what he said become more and more apparent to me during my time in parliement.
And I do just finish on that … I think we’ve had a political culture that hasn’t served the common good for quite a while. And I’m not making this a right and left thing. It’s been there in all parties. And it hasn’t serve the interests of Unsung Britain.
And I just think Britain needs to really refocus in this moment. It is a generational moment. If we’re not going to rethink things now, then when are we going to do it?
And I do come back to it. We have to rethink the whole way of working of politics.
The power in too few hands in Whitehall, in Westminster, creates that situation where the manipulation of power by vested interests works against the common good … I have seen that far too much in my political life, and I believe strongly now we need electoral reform, political reform, the replacement with the House of Lords with an elected senate of the nations and regions.
We need root and branch reform across Whitehall and Westminster. And it is only by a new politics we will we start to build a new economy. I don’t think you can do one without the other.
Burnham says Labour needs to 'dial down' on constant briefing against each other
Q: Was Anas Sarwar wrong to call for Keir Starmer to resign? Do you think the government can deliver the promises you want? And would you rule out a leadership challenge?
Burnham replied:
What I’m calling for very clearly today is for the unity, to create the stability to give the government the platform to focus on all of the things that I’m talking about today.
I think we’ve got to get away from the sense that everything is a challenge. I put myself forward [as a byelection candidate] but I was saying – I spoke to the prime minister, I spoke to the government – we need to get a strong sense of a stronger team again than there has been in recent times. And that, I think, is what needs to come from this.
We need to dial down all of this constant briefing. It’s seemingly a bit endless some of the anonymous briefing going round.
Burnham said he would like to see Labour focusing on ensuring Reform UK does not win the Gorton and Denton byelection.
Updated
Burnham says he hopes Mandelson scandal will end political culture 'too close to wealth and power'
Q: Is your support for Keir Starmer qualified?
Burnham said his support for Starmer “wasn’t qualified or guarded”. He went on:
I praised the government. I think they have broken with the governments I was in that didn’t allow people to reregulate buses, that didn’t renationalise at the railways, that didn’t have as ambitious plans around housing.
So they’ve come forward with the big ambitions.
He said there was a need for “greater unity” in the Labour party. He went on:
I think we are at a generational moment in politics. Actually, I do feel recent events have drawn a heavy line under a political culture that was too close to wealth and power and too distant from the lives of people that we’re talking about today.
So the government, in my view, should just now lean completely into that theme, and work with devolved authorities like the one I lead.
Burnham is now taking questions.
Q: Does Keir Starmer have your full support? And how long has he got to turn things around?
Burnham says Starmer has his support. And he did when Burnham applied to be a candidate in the Gorton and Denton byelection, he says.
He says the government is doing things that support working-class Britain. He says it has supported initiatives he is pursuing in Manchester, such as giving 16-year-olds free bus travel, which is important for education, and developing the MBacc (Manchester baccalaureate).
Burnham backs Starmer staying on as PM, saying UK needs 'stability', while also urging PM to be more 'inclusive'
Burnham highlighted rail nationalisation as an example of the new economic approach he thinks the UK needs.
And then, in a reference to Keir Starmer, he went on:
Having frozen rail fares, we now need to start talking about lowering rail fares. That’s the benefit that public control can bring, and I believe it’s what we should be working towards, together with the government, and also bringing pace and focus to lowering the cost of other of life’s essentials.
To do that requires stability, and I make my own call for that today across the Labour party.
Of course, stability comes from greater unity, and that would be helped by a more inclusive way of running the party. But recent events makes that now feel possible.
That was an endorsement – but a relatively cautious one. In his speech, Burnham did not refer to Starmer directly.
Burnham says he has never argued politicians can ignore bond markets
Burnham said that he had never said politicians should ignore the bond markets.
To be clear about something, I have never said Britain should ignore the bond markets, or even blamed them.
What I do say is that it is the decisions of politicians from the 1980s onwards that have left us in hock to them, with little headroom and room for manoeuvre.
It is only politicians who can take us out of that position with better choices.
Burnham is referring to a comment he made in an interview with the New Statesman last year.
Burnham says government should commit to building 500,000 council and social homes by end of decade
Burnham said that privatisation led to “a huge transfer of power away from unsung Britain and, towards, if you like, the better off half”.
He said it was time to reverse this.
Following recent events, I think the time has come to call an end to this era in British politics, when politicians got too close to wealth, too seduced by the notion that deregulated markets would provide the solution when in fact they have been the problem for those on the lowest incomes.
Burnham said he would like to see the government commit to building 500,000 council and social homes by the end of this decade.
Burnham said that “Unsung Britain” stopped being a priority for the Westminster government around 40 years ago.
Before that, “a collective approach defined public policy in terms of repairing the basics,” he said. He added that created “the health, wealth and life chances of working-class Britain”.
Burnham said that, when he was growing up in the 1970s, “it was the combination of available council housing and good technical education which provided the foundations for working-class aspiration”.
Those foundations for prosperity were both broken up, he said.
Updated
Burnham speaks at Resolution Foundation conference on 'Unsung Britain'
At the Resolution Foundation Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, is speaking at a conference on “Unsung Britain”. There is a live feed here.
The conference covers issues raised in this report from the thinktank. The RF uses “Unsung Britain” to refer to the poorer half of working-age families.
Here is a summary of its key points.
Updated
Starmer tells cabinet Sarwar's comments yesterday won't stop Labour fighting to make him first minister
Keir Starmer chaired a meeting of the political cabinet today, as well as normal cabinet. Labour has sent out a readout, and it says that Starmer thanked his colleagues for their support yesterday. He also said he wanted Anas Sarwar to become first minister in Scotland, despite Sarwar saying yesterday he no longer backed Starmer. And Starmer said the government would continue with a “relentless focus” on the priorties of voters.
A Labour spokesperson said:
The prime minister thanked political cabinet for their support. He said they were strong and united.
He highlighted the ways ministers are delivering on their mandate to change the country, including investing in local communities through Pride in Place and restoring economic stability, which has led to six interest rate cuts and lower mortgage costs for families.
He said the government would continue its relentless focus on the priorities of the British people, including tackling the cost of living.
The prime minister said that the whole of the Labour party wants Anas Sarwar to become first minister and will fight for a Labour government in Scotland.
Updated
Scottish Tories say it's 'ludicrous' for Douglas Alexander to campaign alongside Sarwar given Starmer disagreement
The Scottish Conservatives say it is “ludicrous” for Douglas Alexander, the Scottish secretary, to campaign alongside Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, when Alexander backs Keir Starmer and Sarwar doesn’t.
In an interview this morning Alexander defended this arrangement. (See 11.59am.)
But Rachael Hamilton, the deputy Scottish Tory leader, has released an open letter to Alexander urging him to take a side. She says:
With less than three months to go until polling day at Holyrood, Douglas Alexander must choose whether he wants to remain in Keir Starmer’s cabinet or run Scottish Labour’s election campaign – because he can’t credibly do both.
If he’s backing Starmer to remain as prime minister, he is completely at odds with Sarwar and his fellow campaign co-chair Jackie Baillie and must relinquish this role.
The idea that he can stand alongside Sarwar, who wants Starmer to go, and remain in the PM’s cabinet is for the birds. It’s ludicrous, contradictory and unsustainable.
Douglas Alexander insists Starmer and Sarwar can work together despite leadership row - citing Blair/Brown precedent
Libby Brooks is the Guardian’s Scotland correspondent.
Keir Starmer and Anas Sarwar remain united in their determination to oust the SNP from government in Scotland – according to Scottish secretary Douglas Alexander this morning, less than 24 hours after Sarwar called for Starmer to step down.
Asked what on earth Scottish Labour voters should make of the chaotic scenes of yesterday, Alexander told BBC Radio Scotland:
There was a sincere and genuine disagreement between the Scottish Labour leader and the UK prime minister yesterday, but the task at hand remains the same, which is that there’s a judgment to be made in just over three months’ time as to who we want to be the government of Scotland.
Referring to his own previous experience of the ongoing battles during the New Labour years, he added:
There have been some pretty tough days in the Labour family over the years, and I can attest to that having observed the differences, to put it mildly, between Gordon Brown and Tony Blair – but together they were able to change the country.
Alexander insisted that Starmer and Sarwar were “both individuals who have strong and clear opinions, but who do not bear grudges”. He went on:
I’ve spoken to the prime minister in the last few hours. I’ve spoken to Anas, and I can tell you sincerely and authentically that there is a willingness to work together.
I know both of these men, I talked to them both last night. Kier Starmer was on the phone to me yesterday evening making very clear he remains determined that Anas Sarwar is the first minister of Scotland after May. Equally, Anas is clear that he has set out his position, he will work hard to take the fight to the SNP in the coming months.
Kemi Badenoch has said that Keir Starmer just received a “stay of execution” yesterday. Speaking to reporters on a visit this morning, she said:
[Starmer] is in a very dangerous place. The Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said the quiet bit out loud.
Labour MPs and the Labour party have lost confidence in their leader, but the MPs are too scared of losing their jobs, so they’re not going to call an election, and they’ve given him a stay of execution. The sad thing is that the country is suffering from not being governed at all.
“Stay of execution” is also the verdict used by the Daily Mail in its splash headline.
Mark Saunokonoko has a good round-up of what the Mail, and all the other national papers, are saying about yesterday’s Labour crisis.
There are two urgent questions in the Commons after 12.30pm: on the Ministry of Defence’s contracts with Palantir, and on the Ministry of Justice’s “impending deletion of the Courtsdesk court reporting data archive”. Both have been tabled by the Tories.
After they are over, Ed Miliband is making a statement about the local power plan. (See 11.02am.)
Welsh first minister Eluned Morgan says she backs Starmer, but says he must 'deliver for Wales'
Eluned Morgan, the Welsh first minister, has issued a statement saying she backs Keir Starmer.
Yesterday, as Anas Sarwar, Morgan’s Labour opposite number in Scotland (although Sarwar is in opposition, and Morgan is in government), said that he thought Starmer should stand down, Morgan kept her silence. She did not join the chorus of cabinet ministers saying they wanted him to stay.
This morning she has issued this statement.
I support the prime minister in the job he was elected to do. After years of revolving-door leadership under the Conservatives, the country needs stability in an age of instability, and that matters for Wales.
I had concerns that Peter Mandelson was incompatible with public office because of the company he kept. What has since come to light has only reinforced those concerns.
These issues are deeply troubling not least because, once again, the voices of women and girls were ignored.
That failure must be acknowledged and confronted honestly.
Leadership means upholding standards and acting when they fall short.
Ultimately, I judge any prime minister by a simple test: whether they deliver for Wales. I have been clear with Keir about what Wales needs. Action on the cost of living, investment in our economy and infrastructure, and a continued commitment to stronger devolution.
My focus remains on leading Wales with integrity and delivering real change for people here.
Councils and campaigners welcome government's £1bn community energy investment plan
In his Sky News interview, defending the government’s record on growth (see 10.45am), Ed Miliband said that he was announcing investment today. He was referring to this £1bn plan for community renewable energy projects.
Here is our story, by Severin Carrell.
And here is the news release from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero.
The plan has been welcomed by councils and campaigners.
Arooj Shah, chair of the Local Government Association’s neighbourhoods board, said:
We support the government’s ambition to back local and community energy and give people a real stake in the clean energy transition. Investment that helps communities co-own generation, cut bills and reinvest returns locally is a positive step.
Stew Horne from the Energy Saving Trust said:
Today’s publication of the local power plan will ensure communities across the country can benefit from the clean energy transition. Backed by a new £1bn fund, the plan sets out a strong and ambitious vision – that by 2030, every community in the UK will have the opportunity to own or participate in local energy projects.
The focus on building capacity, capability and skills is essential. We know from our work delivering the Scottish government’s community and renewable energy scheme and the Welsh government energy service just how effective expert, tailored support can be in empowering communities to get projects off the ground.
And Mathew Lawrence, director of the Common Wealth thinktank, says:
Putting power in the hands of ordinary communities can bring down bills and build durable support for the energy transition. But expanding local renewable production always required ambitious public action to overcome barriers of cost and coordination. That is why the local power plan is an exciting moment: a coherent strategy to decentralise and democratise energy production. It is a downpayment on the potential of GB Energy and a statement of what more ambitious public ownership and investment can deliver.
Miliband says he does not agree with Streeting's claim about Labour having 'no growth strategy' in message to Mandelson
Yesterday Wes Streeting, the health secretary, published his private WhatsApp messages exchanged with Peter Mandelson. Under the terms of the humble addressed passed by MPs on Wednesday last week, they would have been published anyway. But Streeting, one of the cabinet ministers most friendly with Mandelson, was potentially more at risk from what might come out than most of his colleagues, and so he decided to pre-empt the humble address by publishing them anyway.
The full set of messages is on the ITV News website here. And here is our story, by Peter Walker and Pippa Crerar.
In a message sent in March last year, Streeting said that the government had “no growth strategy at all”.
Asked about this on Sky News, Ed Miliband, the energy secretary, said:
I think that actually Rachel has done a very good job as chancellor.
I don’t agree with – if that’s what, I haven’t seen the detail of the messages – but I think we’ve seen the stability that is essential.
We’ve seen investment. I’m announcing today.
Updated
Miliband rules out running again for Labour leadership
And here are some more lines from Ed Miliband’s inteviews this morning.
Miliband, the energy secretary, rejected suggestions that Keir Starmer would not be in office for much longer. When this was put to him on BBC Breakfast, he replied: “I don’t agree with that.”
He told the BBC’s Nick Robinson that that Robinson was going “a bit too far” when he said that Miliband’s call for more “boldness” made it sound as if he wanted Labour to be a bit more like Zack Polanski, the Green leader.
He said that he personally had had “very limited contact” with Peter Mandelson.
He ruled out standing for the Labour leadership again, telling Sky News: “I’m not going to run.”
Updated
Miliband says he does not know if Sarwar's move against Starmer plotted with others, and urges party to 'move on'
The Telegraph is running a story today saying that “Wes Streeting has been accused of orchestrating a leadership coup against Sir Keir Starmer”.
The report says that Wes Streeting, the health secretary with ambitions to be the next PM, spoke to Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, on Saturday, two days before Sarwar said that he wanted Keir Starmer to stand down.
And the Telegraph says:
One leftwing Labour source told The Telegraph: “Everyone from the PM down to the most junior bag carrier knows who was behind the McChicken Coup. And his name rhymes with Les Weeting.”
The McChicken Coup refers to apparent efforts to use the ousting of Morgan McSweeney, Sir Keir’s chief of staff, to force the Prime Minister to step aside.
A spokesperson for Streeting told the Telegraph:
Wes did not ask Anas to do this; he did not coordinate with Anas on this. Anas is the leader of the Scottish Labour party; he is his own man, and Wes has the highest respect for him.
In his interview on Sky News this morning, Ed Miliband was asked if he thought that Sarwar had been plotting with Streeting. “I don’t know,” he said. “I’m not going to get into the Kremlinology of all that.”
When it was put to him that the Streeting spokesperson also claimed in their comment to the Telegraph that No 10 had been briefing against Streeting, alleging disloyalty, and he was asked to respond, Miliband said:
Move on dot org. I mean, let’s just get on. Let’s just move past all this.
Come on. I’m saying to our colleagues – don’t focus on yourselves. Focus on the country. That’s what Keir’s message was last night and he’s dead right.
Energy Secretary @Ed_Miliband tells his Labour colleagues to 'https://t.co/GKuqLd0DNI' following claims Health Secretary Wes Streeting was working with Anas Sarwar, after the Scottish Labour Leader called for Starmer's resignation
— Ridge & Frost (@RidgeandFrost) February 10, 2026
https://t.co/8boTJsXBWE
📺 Sky 501 pic.twitter.com/ypP9zrAfGo
Miliband says PM has 'burning passion' to end 'class divide' - but that it's 'balderdash' to call this class war
In his Today interview, when Ed Miliband said that Keir Starmer has a “burning passion” to end the “class divide” in British politics (see 9.15am), Nick Robinson, the presenter, said that Miliband would be accused of promoting class war.
It was a fair guess. Within minutes, a Mail journalist posted this on social media.
Ed Miliband suggests Starmer will now wage a new class war: ‘What angers Keir most is class, the class divide - he exists to change that.
‘I dispute the idea this is not someone driven by burning passion.
‘He knows we need more of that and we are going to see more of that
When Robinson put it to him that he was suggesting class war, Miliband replied:
Come off it …
It’s not class war, Nick.
It means that so many people from working class backgrounds are looked down upon in our country, are held back in our country, whether it’s from not getting an apprenticeship, not being able to rise up. The inequalities we face hold people back.
Keir is about changing that, not just social mobility for a few, but recognition for everybody, a decent life for everybody. That’s what motivates him.
Absolute balderdash that it’s about class war.
The latest edition of the Guardian’s Politics Weekly UK podcast is out. It features Pippa Crerar and Kiran Stacey talking about yesterday’s apparent bid to topple Keir Starmer.
Miliband says Starmer facing down leadership threat must lead to 'moment of change', with more 'clarity' and 'boldness'
Good morning. One consequence of yesterday – when for a few hours it looked as if Tim Allan’s resignation and Anas Sarwar’s declaration of no confidence looked like the start of a leadership coup that would have topped Keir Starmer if cabinet ministers (and Angela Rayner) had not rallied round – is that Starmer needs a new communications director at No 10.
Listening to the morning media round, it sounds like he should appoint Ed Miliband. Because the energy secretary did an excellent job defending Starmer, in terms that implied Starmer’s premiership isn’t, or at least shouldn’t be, terminally damaged.
Miliband’s most important message came in his interview in the Today programme, when he argued that what happened yesterday had to be “a moment of change” for the Labour government.
Referring to what happened yesterday, Miliband said:
Labour MPs looked over the precipice, once Anas Sarwar made his statement, and they didn’t like what they saw.
And they thought the right thing to do was to unite behind Keir, to focus on the country, because we didn’t want to go down the road of the Tories when they were in power – chaotic, disorderly leadership contest.
But I want to be very clear; Peter Mandelson should never have been appointed to this post. We are a government whose central purpose, I believe, is to stand up for the powerless, not the powerful, and it undermines that.
And this has got to be … a moment of change where we have much greater clarity of purpose, avoid some of the mistakes that we’ve made, but also focus outwards on the country.
Miliband said that the govermment was doing lots of good things, but they were being “drowned out” by policy mistakes like getting rid of winter fuel payments. (Sarwar made exactly this point yesterday, also using the phrase “drowned out”.) Miliband said that in politics “what gets you through is a sense of your values and your moral mission” and he said that Starmer had a mission like that.
For 20 years, this country has been run for the wealthy and powerful, not ordinary working people. And the manifestation of that is this long-term cost of living crisis. We we exist to change that. That is our mission and everything must be consistent with that purpose.
Miliband said the public were “angry”, and they wanted “boldness” for political leaders.
But when the presenter, Nick Robinson, put it Miliband that, while Starmer has many strengths, boldness is not one of them, Miliband said he did not accept that.
I know Keir well. I know somebody who is in politics for all the right reasons.
I’ll tell you what angers Keir most about this country. It’s class. It’s the class divide … He exists to change that. I absolutely dispute the idea that this isn’t somebody driven by burning passion about the injustices our country faces and how we need to change them. We need more of that. He knows we need more of that. I think we’re going to see more of that.
Often in the interview it sounded as if Miliband were talking as much about his beliefs as about Starmer’s. But, asked if he wanted to be leader himself, he insisted that he didn’t. “Tried that, got the t-shirt,” he said.
I will post more from the Miliband interviews soon.
Here is the agenda for the day.
Morning: Keir Starmer chairs a political cabinet.
Morning: Kemi Badenoch is in a visit in London.
11.30am: Ed Miliband, the energy secretary, takes questions in the Commons.
Noon: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.
12.20pm: Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, speaks at a Resolution Foundation conference.
1.30pm: Eluned Morgan, the Welsh first minister, takes questions in the Senedd. Unlike her Scottish Labour counterpart, she has yet to comment on yesterday’s Keir Starmer leadership crisis.
2.30pm: Sir Mark Rowley, the Metropolitan police commissioner, gives evidence to the Commons home affairs committee.
Afternoon: Starmer is expected to do a visit.
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