Early evening summary
Liz Kendall, the welfare secretary, has faced down angry Labour MPs to unveil drastic cuts to the UK’s benefits system that will leave many sick and disabled claimants worse off. We have a summary of what is being proposed here, written by Jessica Elgot.
Downing Street has rejected David Lammy’s assessment that Israel has broken international law by blocking aid to Gaza, in a rare public censure for the foreign secretary. Later, in an interview today with Bloomberg, Lammy said that he “could have been clearer” when speaking to MPs, suggesting he should not have said Israel was definitely in breach of international law because that was a matter for a court to decide. He said:
Ultimately of course these are matters for the courts to determine but it’s difficult to see how denying humanitarian assistance to a civilian population can be compatible with international humanitarian law.
A review will consider reducing the “volume of assessment” at GCSE following concerns about the pressure that exams can place on pupils in England, PA Media reports. PA says the interim report of the independent curriculum and assessment review has said it will consider whether the English Baccalaureate (EBacc) – a government performance measure for schools in England – remains “effective”. The review said it will ensure the curriculum is “inclusive” so children can see themselves represented in their learning and to help challenge discrimination.
Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, has accused Kemi Badenoch of “hypocrisy” over net zero because she is now saying she is opposed to having 2050 as a net zero target when she did not object when MPs debated the plan in 2019. (See 11.47am.)
We all make mistakes – even the Institute for Fiscal Studies. It has just sent out an email saying it got a figure wrong in its previous release (see 4.28pm). It says there are about 600,000 people who currently get the health element of universal credit (UC) but who do not get Pip (the personal independence payment) who would be worse off by £2,400 a year from 2028-29, not 900,000 people as they originally said. I have corrected the original post.
