A summary of today's developments
Keir Starmer’s government suffered its first rebellion after seven Labour MPs voted with opposition parties to scrap the two-child benefit cap. The Scottish National party brought an amendment to throw out the measure, which has been widely criticised by child poverty charities and campaigners. Despite there being no question of Labour losing a vote on the issue given its majority of 174, parliamentarians said they were alarmed by the strength of warnings from whips about rebelling early in the parliament. The amendment failed by 363 votes to 103, a majority of 260 for Labour. The seven Labour MPs who voted against the government on an amendment to scrap the two-child benefit cap have had the whip suspended, the PA news agency understands.
Prior to the vote, chancellor Rachel Reeves told the cabinet earlier in the day that “difficult decisions” would be needed on public spending ahead of the potential rebellion. Work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall echoed the chancellor’s words during the morning media round when she said the government has to do “the sums” before committing to scrap the cap.
Shadow home secretary James Cleverly has announced he will enter the race to replace Rishi Sunak as Conservative leader.
The Bibby Stockholm, the controversial barge which has been used to accommodate asylum seekers, is to be shut down. Use of the vessel, which is now housing 400 migrants and is moored at Dorset, will end when the current contract ends in January 2025. The Home Office said in an announcement that ending the use of the Bibby Stockholm formed part of an expected £7.7bn of savings in asylum costs over the next 10 years.
Keir Starmer and Ursula von der Leyen are expected to meet in the autumn after provisional plans for this week for a first face-to-face conversation about the prime minister’s desired reset in UK-EU relations were put on the back burner. It is understood the EU had offered this Thursday or Friday for a meeting but diary clashes including the opening of the Olympics on Friday made it impossible for Starmer.
Liz Kendall repeatedly failed to answer whether the government would publish legal advice from the Foreign Office on whether Israel is breaching international humanitarian law in Gaza. This comes after David Lammy suggested he would publish such advice while in opposition when urging the then-foreign secretary David Cameron to do so over fears there was a risk that British arms were being used to carry out international war crimes.
Councils are facing “unsustainable financial pressure” in dealing with record levels of homelessness, the public spending watchdog has warned in a new report. The latest figures, to 31 December last year, showed a new record high of 145,800 children in temporary accommodation, up by a fifth on 20 years ago when records for this measure began.
Updated
James Cleverly to enter race to replace Rishi Sunak as Conservative leader
Shadow home secretary James Cleverly has announced he will enter the race to replace Rishi Sunak as Conservative leader.
I’m running to be Conservative Party Leader. Here’s why 👇 pic.twitter.com/6eFPMocIyc
— James Cleverly🇬🇧 (@JamesCleverly) July 23, 2024
The seven Labour MPs who voted against the government on an amendment to scrap the two-child benefit cap have had the whip suspended, the PA news agency understands.
Keir Starmer’s government has suffered its first rebellion after Labour MPs voted with opposition parties to scrap the two-child benefit cap.
The Scottish National party brought an amendment to throw out the measure, which has been widely criticised by child poverty charities and campaigners.
Despite there being no question of Labour losing a vote on the issue given its majority of 174, parliamentarians said they were alarmed by the strength of warnings from whips about rebelling early in the parliament. The amendment failed by 363 votes to 103, a majority of 260 for Labour.
One said the tactics had been “all stick” rather than any real discussion of the issue.
Among the seven who voted for the SNP motion were key figures from the left of the party, including the former shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, who said ahead of the vote: “I don’t like voting for other parties’ amendments but I’m following Keir Starmer’s example as he said put country before party.”
Green MP Siân Berry has given her reaction to the vote result.
Tonight's vote on the two-child benefit cap has shown the value of Green MPs able to vote with our conscience - and not under the pressure of the party whip.
— Sian Berry (@sianberry) July 23, 2024
This continued poverty is a political choice for this Government. We will continue to demand better from Labour. https://t.co/bZU8WyrMVs
Updated
On Amendment K, the ayes voted 85, the noes voted 297, so MPs reject the amendment. The majority is 297.
The seven Labour MPs who rebelled and voted in favour of amendment D were: Apsana Begum, Richard Burgon, Ian Byrne, Imran Hussain, Rebecca Long-Bailey, John McDonnell and Zarah Sultana.
Updated
Labour has “failed its first major test in government,” the SNP said after MPs voted against scrapping the two-child benefit cap.
The party’s Westminster leader Stephen Flynn MP said: “Labour MPs had the opportunity to deliver meaningful change from years of Tory misrule by immediately lifting thousands of children out of poverty – they have made a political choice not to do so.
“This is now the Labour government’s two-child cap – and it must take ownership of the damage it is causing, including the appalling levels of poverty in the UK.
“The SNP will campaign vigorously for the cap to be abolished at the earliest opportunity. It is the very worst of Westminster’s welfare cuts, and every day it remains more children suffer.
“The Labour Government has a moral duty to go much further and faster to tackle child poverty.
“Scrapping the cap is the bare minimum we should expect. In order to eradicate child poverty, the UK Government must take much bolder action, including matching the Scottish Child Payment UK-wide by raising universal credit by £26.70 a child, per week at the UK budget.”
Updated
On the child benefit cap vote result, Kim Johnson MP wrote on X:
Thanks to all who fought hard for the Labour gov to immediately scrap the 2 child cap. We moved the dial, the campaign will continue
— Kim Johnson (@KimJohnsonMP) July 23, 2024
Voted with the gov tonight for unity but made it clear: the massive strength of feeling is undeniable
It must be a priority for our first budget
MPs have divided to vote on Amendment K.
The amendment, tabled by the Lib Dems, regrets that the king’s speech “does not include sufficient measures to address the crisis in health and social care”.
Updated
MPs reject amendment on two-child benefit cap
On Amendment D, the ayes voted 103, the noes voted 363, so MPs reject the amendment. The majority is 260.
Updated
MPs divide to vote on two-child benefit limit to universal credit
MPs have divided to vote on amendment D.
The amendment, tabled by the SNP, regrets that the king’s speech “fails to include immediate measures to abolish the two-child benefit limit to universal credit”.
The result is expected in about 15 minutes.
Updated
On Amendment L, the ayes voted 117, the noes 384s. The majority is 267.
MPs have divided to vote on Amendment L to the king’s speech.
The amendment, tabled by the Tories, regrets that the king’s Speech “does not commit to boosting defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2030 with a fully funded plan”.
The result is expected in about 15 minutes.
Updated
A Pro-Gaza independent MP has vowed to “speak truth to power” and demand the government “takes action for the poor and the dispossessed” in his maiden Commons speech.
Shockat Adam was at the centre of one of the big shocks of election night, when in winning his Leicester South constituency he unseated shadow paymaster general Jonathan Ashworth, who previously had a majority of more than 20,000.
Winning by fewer than 1,000 votes, Adam dedicated his electoral victory to Gaza.
Giving his maiden speech in the Commons on Tuesday he said: “It’s important to remember that it’s the simplest things that people want and make the biggest difference to them in their lives. They want someone to speak up for them in these corridors of power.
“To speak about the injustices in the world, to give a voice to those who do not have one, a voice for those that have no might, that have no authority, or power.
“Whether it’s those that are forgotten in Yemen, the victims of conflict in Sudan or the ongoing devastation in Palestine, or regardless of where it is in the world.
“I will always endeavour to speak truth to power and demand this new government takes action for the poor and the dispossessed and not just the powerful.”
Adam, who was born in Malawi, spoke about his experiences of racism growing up in Leicester.
He said: “I remember embarking on my life journey with friends from all different creeds, colours, religions, no religions, and we made a life for ourselves in this amazing country.
“I remember also moments of racism, and one that comes to mind is one with my late mother, where we were in a park and we were set upon by a group of people who hurled abuse and foul things including language and objects in our direction.
“But these incidents were superseded by kindness, love and understanding by the great people of this country.”
Updated
On Keir Starmer’s meeting with King Abdullah II of Jordan, a Downing Street spokesperson said: “The prime minister updated the king on his government’s decision to lift the pause on funding to the UN Relief and Works Agency, adding that he remained deeply concerned by the trajectory of the Israel-Gaza conflict.
“Securing a ceasefire and ensuring the acceleration of aid into Gaza was the immediate priority, the leaders agreed.
“They also discussed the need to restore hope and the viability of peace on both sides.
“Turning to the bilateral relationship, the leaders discussed the strong and longstanding security partnership between the UK and Jordan, as well as the opportunities to further technology, energy and education ties.”
Updated
Sir Keir Starmer has told business chiefs the government is “ripping out the red tape” to allow construction of warehouses, roads and power grid connections.
The Prime Minister hosted chief executives in Downing Street, telling them a partnership between the public and private sector was needed to “rebuild Britain together”.
Starmer, chancellor Rachel Reeves and business secretary Jonathan Reynolds mingled with more than 150 leaders from firms ranging from small family-run businesses to FTSE 100 giants.
The Prime Minister was expected to tell them: “Economic stability will underpin everything we do.
“No more chopping and changing. We will create the conditions for success and stability you need, so you can pursue the growth and opportunities the country needs.
“We’re ripping out the red tape so that, from warehouses to grid connections to roads, we’ll build them faster.
“We will have a new industrial strategy created in partnership with you. And we will make sure you have the tools you need to rebuild Britain as well as build your business.”
Four asylum seekers went to the high court on Tuesday to call for a former military base in a remote part of Essex to no longer be used to accommodate vulnerable people.
The Home Office uses RAF Wethersfield to accommodate around 600 asylum seekers. On 12 July 2023, the Home Office moved the first asylum seekers in. Many had arrived in the UK on small boats just days before.
The new government has indicated it plans to close Wethersfield but has not given a timescale for doing so.
The site has been beset with multiple problems including mass protests, racial harassment, fighting, self-harm and suicide attempts.
The former Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration, David Neal, raised the alarm with ministers in the last government following inspections of the Wethersfield camp expressing concern that the Home Office and its contractors’ at Wethersfield would not keep “service users safe.”
Following his intervention the Home Office commissioned various independent reports including one from the British Red Cross submitted to the Home Office in May 2024.
The report’s damning findings were revealed in court today
Serious suicide attempts not considered to be self-harm
30-40 children wrongly sent to Wethersfield after being wrongly classified as adults.
One man said he was called King Kong (monkey) by one of the welfare officers working on the site
Another said when he asked to see a doctor he was told he didn’t need to see a doctor as Allah would help him
Black African asylum seekers complained of racist treatment
41% had suicide ideation or were planning suicide
Prevailing culture of degradation and disbelief
The four asylum seekers who come from various conflict zones including Afghanistan and Eritrea and three of whom are victims of trafficking are arguing that the home secretary has failed to provide a dignified standard of living at Wethersfield and that the conditions there are discriminatory and breach the European convention on human rights.
They say that the Home Office has failed to protect asylum seekers from racial violence and harassment and lack adequate procedures for screening vulnerable asylum seekers before deciding to transfer them to places like Wethersfield.
The case continues.
Updated
Keir Starmer’s plans to impose VAT on private schools will put more pressure on the state education sector, a Conservative MP has argued.
The prime minister has previously denied the assertion, pointing to research by the Institute for Fiscal Studies suggesting it is unlikely that state school class sizes will swell as a result of the policy.
Ben Spencer, who has chosen to send his children to private school, said the Labour Government’s proposal was an “awful policy” during the king’s speech debate on Tuesday.
Speaking in the Commons, he said: “Now like many people in Runnymede and Weybridge – where one in five children are educated in the independent sector and indeed I’m sure many people across the UK – we as a family have also chosen independent education for our own children, so I declare a financial interest as part of this campaign.
“I’ve spoken to many independent schools in my patch, and they tell me that about 5-10% of kids are going to move back into the state sector as a result of this policy.
“And most parents who send their kids to independent schools aren’t these sort of mega-rich magnets which are characterised by the Government, they’re people – as with all parents – who make difficult budgeting decisions in terms of how they want to spend their money.
“The policy to tax education, which we have never done before and never should, is only going to put more pressure on the state sector.”
Spencer added that the policy will cause “more disruption for the kids who are forced to move out” of schools, particularly the Covid-19 generation.
Updated
Earlier this summer, a party was held at a church hall in Ely, a housing estate a few miles west of Cardiff city centre, to mark the 30 years Eluned Morgan has spent in frontline politics.
It was a chance to celebrate how Morgan went from an idealistic youngster picking coffee in Nicaragua alongside the Sandinistas in the 1980s to seats in the European parliament, the House of Lords and the Welsh parliament, the Senedd.
A couple of months on, Lady Morgan of Ely looks set to become the first female first minister of Wales after Vaughan Gething’s brief and troubled tenure.
It looks likely that she will be the only candidate to replace Gething as leader of Welsh Labour when the deadline for potential successors to come forward is reached on Wednesday lunchtime.
Sir Keir Starmer hosted King Abdullah II of Jordan at Downing Street this afternoon.
The PM greeted the Jordanian King at the door of No 10 and the two smiled as they shook hands and then posed for photos.
Starmer welcomed King Abdullah to Downing Street and said he was glad to catch up with him on his way between visiting the US and travelling home.
Sir Keir said: “It’s very good to have this early opportunity to have this discussion of vital issues of common concern.
“We’ve got a long and shared history. We have an excellent co-operation that I think we can build and progress on.”
Three deputy speakers to assist Sir Lindsay Hoyle in the House of Commons have been elected by MPs.
The successful candidates were Labour’s Judith Cummins (Bradford South) and Tory former ministers Nusrat Ghani and Caroline Nokes.
A secret ballot to choose between the eight candidates was held on Tuesday.
The government has failed to explain how a new gas power station in north-east England forecast to emit millions of tonnes of greenhouse gases will help deliver its net zero commitment, the High Court has been told.
Environmental consultant Andrew Boswell is taking legal action against ministers over the granting of development consent for the Net Zero Teesside Project by the former Tory government in February.
On Tuesday, his lawyers argued that the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) had not given “legally adequate reasons” for backing the project despite recognising its emissions would have “significant adverse effects”.
The department is opposing the bid to bring a legal challenge at a two-day hearing in London, arguing the project is a “necessary” part of the country’s decarbonising plan.
The plans for an electricity-generating station will feature “full chain” carbon capture usage and storage (CCUS) technology where “the capture, compression, transportation, and permanent storage of carbon dioxide is implemented within a single project”, Dr Boswell’s legal team told the court.
The hearing before Mrs Justice Lieven is due to end on Wednesday, with a ruling expected at a later date.
The last government spent £9.2bn trying to improve the attainment of disadvantaged children in England, only to leave office with the gap at GCSE wider than a decade ago, according to a new report by Whitehall’s spending watchdog.
Closing the attainment gap is a government priority, particularly after the disruption caused by Covid. To meet that end, the Department for Education (DfE) devoted around 15% of its entire annual budget for 2023/4 on a range of interventions.
Despite that investment, however, the National Audit Office (NAO) report, published on Tuesday, found that disadvantaged pupils still perform less well than their wealthier peers in all areas and across all school phases.
The NAO also raised concerns that the DfE had limited evidence of the impact of many of its interventions. It also lacks “a fully integrated view of its interventions or milestones to assess progress and when more may need to be done”, the report said, leading the NAO to conclude that the DfE cannot demonstrate they were achieving value for money.
A DfE spokesperson responded: “Too many children are being held back by their background, and this report shines a light on the work that is needed to break down barriers to opportunity and improve the life chances of all children.
“This government is fully focused on supporting the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children, learning from the past and drawing from the NAO’s findings and recommendations.”
Summary of the day so far...
Keir Starmer faces his first potential Commons rebellion as prime minister this evening as MPs are expected to vote on an SNP amendment to the King’s Speech calling for an end to the two-child benefits cap. MPs from across the party including Zarah Sultana and Rosie Duffield have opposed the cap. Former shadow chancellor John McDonnell said he will be voting for the SNP amendment.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves told the cabinet earlier in the day that “difficult decisions” would be needed on public spending ahead of the potential rebellion. Work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall echoed the chancellors words during the morning media round when she said the government has to do “the sums” before committing to scrap the cap.
The Bibby Stockholm, the controversial barge which has been used to accommodate asylum seekers, is to be shut down. Use of the vessel, which is now housing 400 migrants and is moored at Dorset, will end when the current contract ends in January 2025. The Home Office said in an announcement that ending the use of the Bibby Stockholm formed part of an expected £7.7bn of savings in asylum costs over the next ten years.
Keir Starmer and Ursula von der Leyen are expected to meet in the autumn after provisional plans for this week for a first face-to-face conversation about the prime minister’s desired reset in UK-EU relations were put on the back burner. It is understood the EU had offered this Thursday or Friday for a meeting but diary clashes including the opening of the Olympics on Friday made it impossible for Starmer.
Liz Kendall repeatedly failed to answer whether the government would publish legal advice from the Foreign Office on whether Israel is breaching international humanitarian law in Gaza. This comes after David Lammy suggested he would publish such advice while in opposition when urging the then-foreign secretary David Cameron to do so over fears there was a risk that British arms were being used to carry out international war crimes.
Councils are facing “unsustainable financial pressure” in dealing with record levels of homelessness, the public spending watchdog has warned in a new report. The latest figures, to December 31 last year, showed a new record high of 145,800 children in temporary accommodation, up by a fifth on 20 years ago when records for this measure began.
Updated
Liberal Democrat equalities spokesperson Christine Jardine has suggested “chaotic” immigration rules have harmed the Edinburgh festival fringe.
She told the Commons: “I live in and represent part of Edinburgh, a diverse city which at this time of the year is preparing for a massive influx of performers and audiences from across the world. It’s fun, it’s entertaining but more than that, it’s a vital event which brings more than £400m into the local economy every year and is part of our creative industries which are worth £126bn to the UK economy every year.
“They’ve suffered as much, perhaps more than, many other sectors from the chaotic and ineffective immigration and visa system we’ve had in this country for the past decade. Make no mistake, we need to improve it, but we need to improve it for our economy, our NHS.
“For generations, people from all over the world have greatly enriched our economy and our culture, and our communities, and as a Liberal, my party likes to see people treated as just that – people who come here and benefit our country.”
Jardine said the immigration scheme had been “broken by the Conservatives” and urged the Government to make good on its promise to “smash the criminal gangs at the root of the people trafficking which is causing so much distress”.
Updated
The government should speed up and better coordinate “slow, ad hoc” compensation schemes to avoid re-traumatising people who have been harmed by public bodies, the National Audit Office (NAO) has said.
A report by the NAO, which looked into the compensation schemes arising from a number of national scandals and public inquiries including Windrush, the infected blood scandal and the false prosecution of post office operators due to the Post Office’s Horizon IT system, acknowledged such schemes are complex to set up and run but said claimant’s confidence can be undermined by delays.
The NAO said: “Setting-up and administering a compensation scheme is a complex task, and challenging for officials who may have never done it before. This has led to mistakes and inefficiencies in the design of schemes, and delays in getting money to claimants. Claimant and stakeholder confidence can be further undermined where the design and operation of the scheme is not seen as being independent from those who have caused them harm.”
The report recommended: “The Cabinet Office sets up, by the end of 2024, a centre of expertise within government to provide guidance, expertise or a framework for public bodies seeking to set up a compensation scheme – this should be resourced sufficiently to provide advice to existing and future schemes.”
The NAO noted that applicants have sometimes been deterred because the burden of proof has been set too high, including for the Windrush and Post Office schemes. The NAO suggested that the government should be more flexible in assessing claims where harm experienced is “self-evident”.
It added that officials should avoid overoptimism in how long claims will take, as it can be time-consuming to reach potential applicants and encourage them to come forward. For example, in Windrush, victims were fearful of deportation, while some post office operators were reluctant to apply to have their convictions overturned.
The NAO also recommended that additional legal and psychological support should be offered to claimants to improve the quality of applications and support them through reliving their trauma.
Deepfakes are breaking through to the mainstream, Ofcom warns, as the regulator flexes the powers it was given under the Online Safety Act to control the largest sites on the net.
According to its research, 43% of Brits believe they’ve seen at least one deepfake in the last six months, rising to more than half of under-16s polled. It’s worth noting that not all of those are necessarily harmful: easy to make and with immediate impact, the technology’s been adopted by comedians and pranksters online as the latest tool in the meme-maker’s kit.
But the potential for serious harm, from non-consensual explicit imagery through to dangerous political misinformation, means the regulator is considering mandatory labelling for services it covers.
Some social networks, including Facebook and TikTok, have already rolled out labelling technology, relying on a voluntary technique developed by the C2PA industry coalition. That approach sees image and video generators embed watermarks in their creations, which are then read by social networks to apply an automatic label on posts.
Not every site supports the technology, with smaller social networks like Twitter, still known as X under Elon Musk’s leadership, dragging their feet.
Mitigating deepfake harms ultimately requires four approaches, Ofcom concludes: prevention, cracking down on the creation of harmful deepfakes through things like content filters; embedding, adding watermarks to generated material; detection, flagging fakes even when watermarks have been removed; and enforcement, setting clear rules about what can and can’t be shared online.
Kemi Badenoch, who is now the favourite to take over as leader of the Conservative party at the bookmakers, has seen her odds drift after James Cleverly suggested he would join the race on Tuesday morning.
Badenoch’s odds went from 11/8 to 13/8 at William Hill while Cleverly’s has seen his price shorten from 7/1 to 6/1, leaving him the current fourth favourite in the market.
Former immigration minister Robert Jenrick (7/2) follows Badenoch in the market and shadow security minister Tom Tugendhat (11/2) at number three.
Updated
The National Audit Office (NAO) completed work on 13 so-called “value for money” reports, including the one on homelessness (see post at 14.34), during the pre-election period and has now published them all. In one of the reports, about customer service at the department for work and pensions (DWP), the public spending watchdog revealed that people phoning the DWP collectively spent more than 753 years waiting for their calls to be answered in 2023/24. This was made up of around 652 years waiting on DWP’s in-house lines and 102 years on its outsourced lines (these figures have been rounded).
Here are some other key takeaways from the report:
The DWP aims to answer 85% of calls to its in-house lines but overall 76% of calls were answered in 2023/24.
Some 17.3 million calls were answered and 5.3 million calls were abandoned after customers had joined a queue.
In 2023/24, the average time the DWP took to answer calls to its in-house lines was 15 minutes and 23 seconds.
The DWP expects 90% of calls to outsourced providers to be answered. In 2023-24, they answered 94% of calls - 19.4 million calls were answered with 1.2 million calls abandoned.
Since 2020/21, the DWP has fallen slightly short of its benchmark for good performance, which is for 85% of customers to be satisfied with the service they received.
The proportion of state pension customers satisfied with the service they receive consistently above the DWP’s benchmark of 85%.
In conclusion, the NAO said:
Faced with growing demand and a challenging operational context, DWP’s customer service has fallen short of the expected standards over recent years, particularly for certain benefits, such as Personal Independence Payment (PIP).
It is generally not meeting its performance benchmarks or standards for customer satisfaction, payment timeliness and answering calls to its in-house telephone lines.
Updated
Councils face 'unsustainable financial pressure' on homelessness, public spending watchdog warns
Councils are facing “unsustainable financial pressure” in dealing with record levels of homelessness, the public spending watchdog has warned in a new report (you can read it in full here).
England remains an outlier in the UK as the only one of the four nations without a strategy or target for statutory homelessness, which the National Audit Office (NAO) noted is the case despite its recommendation for one seven years ago.
The NAO report is its first since 2017 on the issue, which covers people considered homeless as they are in temporary accommodation provided by their local authority, rather than those rough sleeping.
The report acknowledged the rough sleeping strategy under the previous Conservative government, but said no such strategy had been formulated to tackle statutory homelessness - something each of the other UK devolved administrations has an overarching strategy or action plan for.
Funding for local authorities to meet their obligations under the 2017 Homelessness Reduction Act, extending local authorities’ statutory duties to include prevention and relief, is a major issue amid rising need, the NAO said.
The report stated:
Funding remains fragmented and generally short-term, inhibiting homelessness prevention work and limiting investment in good-quality temporary accommodation or other forms of housing.
Until these factors are addressed across government, DLUHC (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities) will not be able to demonstrate that it is delivering optimal value for money from its efforts to tackle homelessness.
The NAO said homelessness numbers “are at a record level and expected to increase”. The latest figures, to December 31 last year, showed a new record high of 145,800 children in temporary accommodation, up by a fifth on 20 years ago when records for this measure began.
There were a total of 112,660 households in temporary accommodation in England, of which 71,280 were households with children, by the end of last year, PA media reports. Labour’s manifesto pledged to “immediately abolish section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions”, which allows landlords to remove tenants for no reason with just two months’ notice and is a major driver of homelessness.
Updated
Esther Webber, senior UK correspondent for PoliticoEurope, said Labour is due to shortly unveil proposals for a modernisation committee to consider ways of changing working practices in the House of Commons, including altering rules on second jobs for MPs.
Keir Starmer, the prime minister, has said previously that he wants to get rid of second jobs for MPs, with some exceptions.
We're expecting details soon on Labour's proposals for a modernisation committee to look at ways to reform Commons working practices
— Esther Webber (@estwebber) July 23, 2024
It aims to overhaul rules on second jobs for MPs and misconduct
Also plans for improved legislative scrutiny after years of slipping standards
Webber said in a follow-up tweet:
The new modernisation committee appears to be modelled closely on the one set up under Tony Blair which led to reformed sitting hours among other measures Commons Leader Lucy Powell will play a key role in the committee as Ann Taylor did in 1997.
Updated
My colleague Jamie Grierson has this interesting report on former Labour PM Harold Wilson:
The former UK prime minister Harold Wilson agreed to sell his archive of private papers to help fund his care, official documents have revealed.
Papers released by the National Archives and identified by the BBC show Lord Wilson initially planned to sell the collection to McMaster University in Hamilton, Canada, for £212,500 – the equivalent of about £700,000 in today’s money.
Wilson, who was twice the Labour prime minister, from 1964-70 and then from 1974-76, had Alzheimer’s disease and required “continuing care, the costs of which are heavy and will increase”, according to one document. He died in 1995.
The proposal to sell the papers abroad prompted alarm among senior officials in Margaret Thatcher’s government.
In early January 1990, the cabinet secretary Sir Robin Butler wrote that Wilson’s former secretary, Lady Falkender, was “orchestrating a proposal” to set up an archive for the former prime minister’s papers in Canada.
Part of the proceeds would support Lord and Lady Wilson, who were “now not well off”, as reported to Butler by his predecessor, Lord Armstrong.
Chris Byrant, the minister of state for data protection and telecomms reacted to the news on X:
This saddens me. https://t.co/6RRvCrQvst
— Chris Bryant (@RhonddaBryant) July 23, 2024
SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn urged Labour backbenchers to rebel and vote for the party's King's Speech amendment calling for the two-child benefit cap to be scrapped, which will go to a vote this evening.
Flynn said in a statement: “We now know the SNP amendment will go to a vote tonight – and MPs across the chamber will have the opportunity to scrap the two-child cap and lift thousands of children out of poverty.
“Scrapping the cap is the bare minimum required to tackle the appalling levels of child poverty in the UK. It is unconscionable that the Labour Government is making a political choice to push thousands of Scottish children into poverty by keeping it in place.
“For every day that Keir Starmer fails to act, more children will suffer. This punitive Westminster policy has to go – and it must go now. I urge Labour MPs to do the only right thing, and vote with their conscience, to end the two-child cap immediately.”
James Cleverly, who indicated he might be entering the Tory leadership race on Tuesday morning, has suggested the Labour government’s scrapping of the Rwanda deportation scheme was racist.
The prime minister’s official spokesperson rejected a suggestion by the shadow home secretary that there was a racial element to the Labour government deciding to nix the agreement, saying the scheme was scrapped because it was ineffective.
Cleverly told Times Radio that the Labour Government cancelled the agreement with the Rwandan government “without even having the good grace to contact them directly to inform them”, which he said would not have happened had the deal been with a European country.
When asked if he was saying the decision was racist, Cleverly said: “You and I both know that this would never have happened like this had it been with a European country. It’s because there is a below-the-salt disdainful attitude to African countries and the Rwandan government.”
The prime minister’s official spokesperon rejected the suggestion that racism was at play in the decision to scrap the scheme.
He told reporters: “The decision to scrap the scheme was based on the scheme being a completely ineffective policy.
“You’ve seen the situation where small boat crossings are at a record high this year. Clearly, the current system is not working.
“Our border security is being undermined by criminal gangs, the asylum system is in chaos, we’ve inherited weak security enforcement arrangements, we’ve got tens of thousands of asylum seekers stuck in an endless backlog, housed in hotels without their claims ever being looked at.
“So that was why the home secretary laid out the next steps yesterday to clear the backlog and protect our border, investing the money that would have gone to Rwanda into law enforcement needed to protect our border, intensifying our returns and enforcement program and getting the asylum system moving again.”
Home secretary Yvette Cooper said on Monday that the Rwanda deportation scheme cost Britain £700m despite only four volunteers being sent to Kigali.
She called the policy the “most shocking waste of taxpayer money I have ever seen”.
Bibby Stockholm barge used to accommodate asylum seekers to be shut down in January
The Bibby Stockholm, the controversial barge which has been used to accommodate asylum seekers, is to be shut down.
Use of the vessel, which is now housing 400 migrants and is moored at Dorset, will end when the current contract ends in January 2025.
The Home Office said in an announcement that ending the use of the Bibby Stockholm formed part of an expected £7.7bn of savings in asylum costs over the next ten years
Extending its would have cost over £20m next year, according to the department. The giant vessel, where a man seeking asylum died in a suspected suicide, became a flagship element of the last government’s approach to migration.
The minister for border security and asylum, Angela Eagle said: “We are determined to restore order to the asylum system, so that it operates swiftly, firmly and fairly; and ensures the rules are properly enforced.
“The home secretary has set out plans to start clearing the asylum backlog and making savings on accommodation which is running up vast bills for the taxpayer.”
Updated
The Bibby Stockholm will no longer be used as migrant accommodation by the Home Office, the Home Office has confirmed.
The contract for the barge, which has about 400 asylum seekers onboard, will end in January because the Home Office says it will no longer be needed as they move to clear the backlog of asylum claims.
Last Monday, dozens of asylum seekers living on the Bibby Stockholm staged a sit-down protest over delays in processing their asylum claims, overcrowding conditions and trouble accessing medical treatment.
The barge, which first opened last August, generated controversy after an outbreak of legionella was confirmed on the first day asylum seekers boarded. A few months later, an Albanian asylum seeker, Leonard Farruku, was found dead on the barge in a suspected suicide.
The two other sites are also expected to be closed down by Labour. RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire which has yet to take any people and RAF Wethersfield in Essex which has is at about 40% capacity.
Updated
Some more comments from Suella Braverman’s stint hosting LBC. The former home secretary said “we had quite a centrist Conservative agenda actually under Rishi Sunak” and that “identity politics got out of control” under the Tories.
Speaking about the government she served in as home secretary, she said: “We had quite high levels of taxation. Immigration was quite high in terms of the actual outcomes. There was a lot of focus on trying to get the public services to work.”
She also said the Tories must “grapple with this phenomenon of Reform”.
Setting out the challenge, she said: “I think people were very frustrated with us, they wanted change.
“I think this is a really big - dare I say - existential question and moment for the Conservatives, because we’ve got a new kid on the block, we’ve got Reform. And Reform really did eat into our core vote at this election. Hundreds of Conservative MPs lost their seats, some of them very good friends of mine, all of them brilliant, brilliant community servants, excellent MPs, lost their seats largely because of Reform.
“Lifelong Conservative voters decided to dump us and vote for Reform at this general election because they were upset with the direction that the party was going in.
“I think for us going forward as a party, we need to really grapple with this phenomenon of Reform.
“So, we need to have credibility on immigration. We need policies and a leader that actually stands for lowering immigration, stands for stopping the boats, restoring some sanity to the immigration debate.”
Health secretary Wes Streeting said the government hopes to agree a pay deal with junior doctors that “we can deliver and the country can afford”.
Shadow health secretary Victoria Atkins told the Commons: “In opposition, [Streeting] described the 35% pay rise demand by the junior doctors committee as reasonable. What he didn’t tell the public was that this single trade union demand would cost an additional £3bn, let alone the impact on other public-sector workers.
“So, will he ask the chancellor to raise taxes or will she ask him to cut patient services to pay for it?”
Streeting, in his reply, said: “What I said was that the doctors were making a reasonable case that their pay hadn’t kept up in line with inflation, but we were clear before the election that 35% was not a figure we could afford.
“We are negotiating with the junior doctors in good faith to agree on a settlement that we can deliver and the country can afford.”
Updated
Vote on two-child benefit cap to be held this evening, paving way for Starmer to face first potential Commons rebellion
The SNP’s king’s speech amendment calling for the two-child benefit cap to be scrapped has been selected for a vote by speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle, paving the way for a Commons vote on Tuesday evening.
The vote could see the first possible rebellion in the Commons for Keir Starmer as prime minister as MPs from across the party have called for the cap to be scrapped.
Former shadow chancellor John McDonnell said earlier that he will be voting for the SNP amendment.
Updated
James O’Brien is on a week-long break from presenting LBC and he has a surprising stand-in on the airwaves: Suella Braverman. The former home secretary said told listeners she would vote for Donald Trump if she was a US citizen.
“I want Trump to be president,” she said. “If we look at the policy - don’t look at the characters and the personalities - if we look at the policy, I think the world will be safer under Donald Trump.
“If we look at his record as president, you know, no wars were started while Donald Trump was president.”
She continued: “I think there’s been a real track record of peace and stability globally that we saw from Trump when he was president and that we can expect going forward. And right now the world is a very volatile place.
“I do think that we need a strong president in the White House. I personally would give my vote to Donald Trump were I an American citizen.”
Braverman, who is firmly on the right of the Conservative party, has been trying to court support in the US. Earlier this month, she told the National Conservatism conference in Washington DC that the Progress Pride flag was a “monstrous thing”, saying she was angered when it was flown over the Home Office against her will.
She said: “What the Progress flag says to me is one monstrous thing: that I was a member of a government that presided over the mutilation of children in our hospitals and from our schools.”
Updated
Chancellor tells cabinet 'difficult' decisions' on public spending need to be made
Chancellor Rachel Reeves told the cabinet that “difficult decisions” would be needed on public spending as the Labour government’s first potential rebellion looms over demands to scrap the two-child benefit limit.
The prime minister’s official spokesperson said: “The chancellor provided an update on the exercise the Treasury is undertaking to audit the public spending pressures the government has inherited.
“The chancellor said that there are significant financial pressures facing departments because of decisions taken by the previous government and that difficult decisions will be needed to fix the foundations of the public finances.”
Reeves’s comments echo those made by work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall on Tuesday morning when she said the government has to do “the sums” before committing to scrap the cap.
A king’s speech debate could end with a vote on the two-child benefits cap on Tuesday evening if speaker Lindsay Hoyle selects one of several amendments that have been tabled. Former shadow chancellor John McDonnell said earlier that he will be voting for an SNP amendment that calls for the scrapping of the cap.
Updated
Exclusive: Keir Starmer and Ursula von der Leyen meeting pushed to autumn after plans for early engagement fall through
Keir Starmer and Ursula von der Leyen are expected to meet in the autumn after provisional plans for this week for a first face-to-face conversation about the prime minister’s desired reset in UK-EU relations were put on the back burner.
The prime minister was keen for a meeting with Von der Leyen as she had to skip both the recent summit in NATO and last week’s European Political Community summit in Blenheim in the UK.
All EU countries bar Sweden, were represented at the EPC last week giving Starmer a wide opportunity to meet fellow leaders in Europe. However Von der Leyen was otherwise engaged in Strasbourg where she faced a crunch, successful, vote for a second term as president of the European commission.
It is understood the EU had offered this Thursday or Friday for a meeting but diary clashes including the opening of the Olympics on Friday made it impossible for Starmer.
While the first meeting is largely symbolic, diplomats say some member states were also keen to put more clarify on the security and defence framework the UK is seeking to establish with the EU.
A meeting is now expected at the end of August or September.
One source said that given the toxicity of the Brexit narrative under the Conservatives it would be in Starmer’s interest to “get the meeting out of the way early and then move quickly to technical discussions which will be very boring for the media”.
John McDonnell says he will vote for SNP amendment to scrap two-child benefit cap
Former shadow chancellor John McDonnell said he will be voting for an SNP amendment that calls for the scrapping of the two-child benefit cap on Tuesday as Keir Starmer faces his first potential Commons rebellion as prime minister.
McDonnell said in a video posted to X: “37 Labour MPs like me put forward our own amendment to scrap the two-child limit, but that won’t be called. So the only opportunity we’ll have to vote on the two-child limit will be on an SNP motion.
“I’ll be voting for the SNP amendment. I don’t like voting for other parties’ amendments but I’m following Keir Starmer’s example as he said put country before party. So I’m putting lifting children out of poverty before party whipping or anything like that.”
Today is the last day of the debate on the King’s Speech & there will be a series of votes. I will vote today in support of the amendment calling for the scrapping of the iniquitous 2 child limit on benefits, which has caused such hardship. I explain why in this short video. pic.twitter.com/9hqcFPsjYz
— John McDonnell (@johnmcdonnellMP) July 23, 2024
Kim Johnson, Zarah Sultana and Rosie Duffield are also among the Labour MPs who have urged Sir Keir to change tack. There may also be a surprising vote for the amendment on the opposition benches. Conservative Suella Braverman spoke on Monday to support scrapping the limit.
Updated
While the government prepares for a meeting with the British Medical Association on junior doctors pay, Green party co-leader Adrian Ramsay met with Eddie Crouch, chair of the British Dental Association (BDA).
In their general election campaign, the Greens vowed to end Britain’s ‘dental deserts’ if elected by investing an additional £3bn in the dentistry budget by 2030 to ensure “everybody who needs an NHS dentist has access to one”.
In a post on X, the BDA said the Greens “showed leadership on NHS dentistry during the recent election. We’re ready to work with all parties to secure a better deal for our patients”.
Great to meet @TheGreenParty co-leader @AdrianRamsay MP this morning.
— BDA (@TheBDA) July 23, 2024
The crisis in NHS dentistry runs deep.
The Greens showed leadership on NHS dentistry during the recent election.
We’re ready to work with all parties to secure a better deal for our patients. pic.twitter.com/KdzP8sqpcR
Updated
The co-chairs of the British Medical Association (BMA), Dr Vivek Trivedi and Dr Robert Laurenson, have arrived in Westminster at the Department of Health and Social Care ahead of formal pay negotiations for junior doctors.
They are due to meet with health secretary Wes Streeting who will open formal talks with junior doctors with a view to ending their long-running dispute with the government over pay.
The BMA has held 11 rounds of strike action in the past 20 months. They are seeking a 35% pay rise to restore a real-term fall in income since 2008.
On Thursday, Streeting said there meetings were “a crucial step forward, as we work to end this dispute and change the way junior doctors are treated in the NHS”.
Updated
Liz Kendall fails to say whether Foreign Office legal advice on whether Israel broke international law in Gaza will be published
Liz Kendall repeatedly failed to answer whether the government would publish legal advice from the Foreign Office on whether Israel is breaching international humanitarian law in Gaza.
When in opposition, David Lammy urged the then-foreign secretary David Cameron to publish the legal advice, fearing there was a risk that British arms were being used to carry out international war crimes. If the legal advice made that case, Lammy said all arms exports to Israel must be halted.
Lammy is now the foreign secretary but this legal advice from the Foreign Office has not yet been published. Arms exports to Israel have continued and no plans to publish the legal advice have been set out.
Kendall was asked three times on BBC’s Today programme whether the government would publish the legal advice. “David Lammy and Keir Starmer have been really clear about our approach on this,” she said.
She was interrupted and pressed again. She said: “We actually campaigned as a changed Labour party and we will deliver as a changed Labour government too. We want to see that immediate ceasefire. The only long term solution to the horror that we’re seeing in Gaza is to get that ceasefire and build towards a long-term two state solution. We are working extremely hard on this. David Lammy has already visited Israel. I know he’s in those long term discussions. Colleagues feel very passionately about that.
Asked one final time, she said: “We will be setting out more plans, I’m sure, in the weeks and months ahead. But what I would say to your listeners is we are determined to do everything we can as an international ally to get that immediate ceasefire. The urgent priority is to stop the fighting now, to get the hostages out, to get the aid in, and that’s what we’ll work to deliver.”
Updated
Liz Kendall says government needs to do 'the sums' before scrapping two-child benefit cap ahead of potential Commons rebellion
Liz Kendall, the work and pensions secretary, has been on the media round this morning. After Keir Starmer and Bridget Phillipson suggested they would be open to axing the two-child benefit cap on Monday, Kendall has tempered these expectations, saying the government has to do “the sums” before committing to scrap the cap.
Her words come before a possible rebellion in the Commons for Starmer over the policy. A king’s speech debate could end with a vote on the matter on Tuesday evening if speaker Lindsay Hoyle selects one of several amendments that have been tabled.
Kendall said she is “absolutely passionate about driving down child poverty” and that it is a “real priority for this government”.
When pressed on whether that means abolishing the cap, she told Times Radio that Labour was elected “on the promise that we would only make spending commitments that we know we can keep”.
“I’m not into a wink and a nudge politics,” she said.
“I’m not going to look constituents in the face and tell them I’m going to do something without actually having done the sums, figuring out how I’m going to pay for it, figuring out how we transform opportunity for those children, not just in terms of their household income, which is essential, but about having sustained improvements to helping people get work and get on in work, more childcare, early years support, sorting out the dire state of people’s housing.
“It’s got to be part of a much bigger approach.”
She also stressed that the Labour government cannot tackle the “dire inheritance” from the Tories “overnight”, pointing to crises facing the health service, council budgets, housing and welfare.
On Monday, Phillipson said the newly elected Labour government would “consider” removing the cap “as one of a number of ways” of lifting children out of poverty. Shortly after, Starmer said he agrees with the education secretary’s comments but stopped short of repeating her point about scrapping the cap. A Downing Street spokesperson later denied the government’s position had changed.
Kendall’s words echo that made by chancellor Rachel Reeves on Sunday. She told the BBC she could not pledge to scrap the cap without saying where the £3bn annual cost “is going to come from”.
Updated
James Cleverly has warned Tory leadership rivals not to “divide up and factionalise”, responding to Suella Braverman words that the Tories must not become “a collection of fanatical, irrelevant, centrist cranks”.
Cleverly told Sky News: “Trying to carve up and divide up and factionalise … is the wrong way of thinking.”
Cleverly, who is considering a run for Tory leader, was asked whether he had the backing of 10 MPs needed to enter the first round of voting. He said: “I’ve had lots of very kind words from colleagues, both former colleagues and current colleagues.”
Other potential leadership contenders include shadow communities secretary Kemi Badenoch, former work and pensions secretary Mel Stride, former home secretary Priti Patel, shadow security minister Tom Tugendhat and former immigration minister Robert Jenrick.
The Conservative party will elect its new leader on 2 November. Nominations will open on Wednesday evening and close in the afternoon on 29 July.
Opening summary
Good morning, I'm Sammy Gecsoyler and I'll be taking you through the latest developments at Westminster today.
After Mel Stride said he was considering a bid to become Tory leader on Tuesday, another senior figure has seemingly thrown their hat in the ring.
James Cleverly has hinted that he will join the contest ahead of nominations opening on Wednesday.
The shadow home secretary told ITV’s Good Morning Britain: “Of course, I and a number of other people have thought about the future of our country, have thought about the contribution of the party and our personal contribution to those things.
“Of course, I don’t think I’m alone in having given that serious thought.
“I’ve always believed, to do the job that you’re meant to be doing when you’re meant to be doing it. And when I was in government I focused on delivering in government. Now I’m in opposition, my focus, particularly today, is to hold the Labour party to account.”
Updated
