A summary of today's developments
The chancellor Rachel Reeves told a meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party on Monday that she is “not immune” to concerns over plans to dramatically scale back the winter fuel allowance. She said: “I understand the decision that this Government have made on winter fuel is a difficult decision. I’m not immune to the arguments that many in this room have made. We considered those when the decision was made.” She pointed to the rise by £900 of the new state pension compared to a year ago. Reeves said: “Tomorrow, we get data for earnings growth, which will inform the increase in the pension next year. We are protecting the triple lock, not just for this year, but for the duration of this Parliament.” Reeves said there would be “more difficult decisions to come.” After the meeting, a spokesperson for the chancellor said MPs showed “strong support” for the plan.
A thinktank suggested that the government’s plan to means-test winter fuel payments could push an extra 100,000 pensioners into poverty. In a briefing sent out ahead of the vote tomorrow on removing winter fuel payments from all pensioners apart from those receiving pension credit, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation said the government’s policy is likely to increase the number of pensioners living in poverty (defined as having less than 60% of median household income).
Local transport authorities across England will be able to run and control bus services under a Labour overhaul designed to “save vital routes”, Simon Lightwood, the transport minister, told MPs in a Commons statement.
Government plans to introduce VAT on private school fees also came under fire during education questions, with Tory MPs warning of a looming capacity crisis in the state sector as a result of the tax hike. Shadow education secretary Damian Hinds warned of bigger class sizes and a shortage of school places, as a result of parents pulling their children out of the independent sector to avoid the additional fees. Education minister Stephen Morgan said the number of children in private schools has remained steady, despite a 20% real terms increase in average private school fees since 2010 and a rise of 55% since 2003. He said his department would be monitoring occupancy and would work with local authorities to help them fulfil their duty to secure places.
The previous government’s legislation on freedom of speech may have facilitated “hate speech including Holocaust denial” to spread on university campuses, Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, told MPs. Phillipson has paused the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023 to consider other options including its potential repeal.
Wes Streeting rubbished the Conservative party’s record on health as he responded to Commons questions about his decision to take advice from his Labour predecessor Alan Milburn. In response to an urgent question tabled by Victoria Atkins, the shadow health secretary, Streeting strongly defended his decision to invite Milburn to meetings, he said: “Unlike our predecessors, this is a government that can’t get enough of experts.” Streeting said that when he became health secretary, replacing Atkins, he was confronted with the “worst crisis in the history of the NHS”, including waiting lists at 7.6m, more than a million patients per month waiting more than four weeks for a GP appointment, junior doctors still threatening strike action and NHS dentist appointments impossible to find.
Conservative leadership contenders have called the lacklustre handling of the contest disgraceful after it emerged they may only get a few minutes each to address the party’s conference. The contest, which was expected to be a battle for the soul of the party, had been reduced to leadership contenders being given just 10 minutes on the stage, insiders said.
Updated
My colleague Jessica Elgot on the state of play following the Labour meeting.
MPs leaving the meeting believe v few - if any - will vote against the government on winter fuel payments - but some will find themselves absent on constituency business.
— Jessica Elgot (@jessicaelgot) September 9, 2024
Prolonged cheering and clapping for Reeves at the end of the meeting…
Reeves is arguing in the PLP meeting that to vote against the winter fuel change is essentially rejecting the entire notion of means testing it.
— Jessica Elgot (@jessicaelgot) September 9, 2024
One MP says that argument has traction. “Everyone in that meeting agrees it’s not right that millionaires get this payment.”
Updated
Wes Streeting said “nothing commercially sensitive” has been shared with a former health secretary who has attended Department of Health meetings, despite having no official role.
The health secretary defended his decision to invite one of his Labour predecessors, Alan Milburn, into the department, amid Conservative allegations of “cronyism” from the new Government.
Streeting, in a rowdy Commons chamber, said he decides who to hear from in meetings, whose advice he seeks and what to share with them.
The Cabinet minister accused the Conservatives of seeking to “smear” Milburn, who he said demonstrated “sound judgment” when turning down a role to assist the Tory-led coalition government.
Conservative former health secretary Victoria Atkins, now serving as shadow health secretary, had earlier raised a series of questions about Mr Milburn’s level of access and highlighted his private health sector interests.
She also claimed: “This is just more evidence of cronyism at the heart of this new Labour government.”
Streeting used his response to accuse Ms Atkins’ of being “among the worst” of the recent health secretaries.
David Cameron has criticised the government’s “misguided attack” on winter fuel payments and argued it should rethink to save “the shame and embarrassment”.
The former prime minister suggested the eligibility criteria for receiving the allowance should be raised using the tax system to exclude more wealthy pensioners.
Cameron, now a Tory peer, said: “As someone who made a promise to Britain’s pensioners to keep the winter fuel payment, and kept that for six years as prime minister, may I make a gentle suggestion to the Government?
“Instead of this misguided attack on the winter fuel payment, why not simply say that pensioners who are higher-rate or additional-rate taxpayers do not receive it?
“You may only raise 10% of the money but you would save 90% of the shame and embarrassment of the current position.”
Responding, work and pensions minister Baroness Sherlock pointed out the previous Tory government had attempted to do something similar with child benefit which resulted in “massive complications”.
She said: “We need to find something that works, that’s straightforward.”
She added: “The pension credit system is established – people know it is there. Our job is to make sure they can apply for it.
“If we can do that, we can ensure that they get not just this £200 or £300 but the thousands of pounds they might be entitled to under pension credit.”
Here is more from Rachel Reeves speaking at the Parliamentary Labour Party meeting.
“The new state pension has risen by 900 pounds compared with a year ago. That means that pensioners have 900 pounds more in their pockets this year than they did a year ago. Tomorrow, we get data for earnings growth, which will inform the increase in the pension next year. We are protecting the triple lock, not just for this year, but for the duration of this Parliament.”
She added: “Why are we having to make these savings? It’s not because we plan to, not because we wanted to, because there’s a 22 billion pounds black hole in the public finances because of the mess created by the previous government.
Reeves also said: “The first step of our manifesto was delivering economic stability. This 22 billion pound black hole would pose a risk to our financial stability and would mean that we would break our fiscal rules.”
Foreign Office minister Hamish Falconer has said changes to the UK sanctions on Russia will enable the Foreign Secretary to target individual ships suspected of trying to dodge existing sanctions rules.
He said: “This instrument, as well as increasing the effect on shipping, also broadens the designation criteria under the Russian regime. It expands our powers to target those who provide financial or material support to Russia’s war machine.
“This could include, for example, foreign financial institutions that facilitate significant transactions on behalf of or in support of Russia’s military industrial base.”
He added: “The amendment provides a ship may be specified by the Secretary of State where there are reasonable grounds to suspect that the ship is, has been or is likely to be used for any activity whose object or effect is to destabilise Ukraine or undermine or threaten the territorial integrity, sovereignty or independence of Ukraine, or to obtain a benefit from or support the Government of Russia.
“This includes where a ship is involved in carrying dual use or military goods, oil or oil products that originated in Russia, or any other goods or technology that could contribute to destabilising Ukraine.”
“It is often said there is never anything new in politics. And for old hands in Whitehall, there is nothing new about the Treasury’s sights being set on the winter fuel allowance.
The difference this time is that the arguments about the merits of means-testing the winter fuel allowance are playing out in the front pages of national newspapers and among jittery Labour MPs who face a crunch vote on Tuesday.
Those arguments happen every year – but they previously took place behind closed doors in the Treasury, the policy having been offered up to multiple Tory chancellors who have ultimately rejected it as a way of saving money.
Treasury insiders say that on this occasion, Rachel Reeves – in her first week on the job as chancellor – was presented with details of the hole in the public finances with a prepared series of options to plug the gap, which included £1.5bn from means-testing the winter fuel allowance.
It is a well-rehearsed routine. One former Treasury chief secretary recounts how officials would present him with a list of options for savings and clearly steer him towards their preference for where the axe would fall.
“They’d say, ‘here’s option A’, and when you asked for an option B or even C there would be lots of head-shaking and muttering and you’d have to really push them,” he said.
Rachel Reeves tells Labour she is 'not immune' to concerns over winter fuel allowance plans
The chancellor Rachel Reeves told a meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party on Monday evening that she is “not immune” to concerns over plans to dramatically scale back the winter fuel allowance.
She said: “I understand the decision that this Government have made on winter fuel is a difficult decision. I’m not immune to the arguments that many in this room have made. We considered those when the decision was made.
Reeves pointed to the rise by £900 of the new state pension compared to a year ago.
“Tomorrow, we get data for earnings growth, which will inform the increase in the pension next year. We are protecting the triple lock, not just for this year, but for the duration of this Parliament.”
Reeves said there would be “more difficult decisions to come.”
“I don’t say that because I relish it. I don’t, but it is a reflection of the inheritance that we face. So, when members are looking at where to apportion blame, when pensioners are looking where to apportion blame, I tell you where the blame lies.
“It lies with the Conservatives and the reckless decisions that they made.”
Updated
Wrongly accused subpostmasters will be given an opportunity to have their cases re-assessed, as part of an an additional independent appeals process to the Horizon shortfall scheme (HSS), the government has announced.
Business secretary Jonathan Reynolds told the Commons the new appeals process would be “easy” to engage with and its outcomes would be “delivered at pace”.
He added those with “new information” will be able to access the scheme, but shadow business secretary Kevin Hollinrake argued it should be open to all subpostmasters.
Reynolds said: “As we stand and sit here today in the shadow not just of this scandal, but of Grenfell, of infected blood and several more, I know it is the firm conviction of everyone in this House that we must do better.
“This is not an issue of politics, but of justice.”
He added: “The Horizon Compensation Advisory Board recommended last year that we should introduce an independent appeals process to the Horizon shortfall scheme. Today, I am pleased to announce that we have accepted their recommendation.
“This appeals process will enable claimants who have settled their claim under the HSS to have their case reassessed with the benefit of any new information that they were not able to include in the original application.
“It will be delivered by my department in house, and we will apply the lessons learned from address schemes to date to ensure that the process is easy for postmasters to engage with and the outcomes are delivered at pace. We will announce further details in the coming months.
“There will be no obligation for postmasters to appeal their settlement, and no doubt many will be content that their claims have been resolved fairly.”
A Conservative former minister Simon Hoare, has pressed the government on whether it will fund rural councils to support bus services.
Transport minister Simon Lightwood replied: “Of course, all funding is being considered in the round as part of the spending review but I take his points on board.”
Labour MP for Sheffield South East Clive Betts asked about funding options for authorities.
Lightwood said: “There was a whole host, a plethora of different funding pots that relate to buses and we’re keen to amalgamate, to consolidate those, but importantly to devolve those to local areas and give them the flexibility that they need with that funding to deliver better buses across their areas.”
Ministers are “looking at the future” of a scheme launched by the previous government which capped some local bus fares at £2.
Transport minister Simon Lightwood told the Commons: “Delivering reliable and affordable public transport services for passengers is one of the government’s top priorities and we know how important it is for passengers and for local growth.
“We’re looking at the future of the £2 fare cap as a matter of urgency, and we’re considering the most appropriate and affordable approach, and we’ll update the House in due course.”
Eight Commons select committee chairs elected unopposed
The chairs of Commons select committees are now elected by MPs, and the elections are taking place this week. But some posts were uncontested and Lindsay Hoyle, the speaker, made an announcement in the chamber this afternoon about the chairs elected unopposed. They are:
Bob Blackman (Con) - backbench business
Caroline Dinenage (Con) – culture
Alistair Carmichael (Lib Dem) – environment
Layla Moran (Lib Dem) - health
Tonia Antoniazzi – Northern Ireland affairs
Jamie Stone - petitions
Meg Hillier – Treasury
Ruth Jones (Lab) – Welsh affairs
The ballot for other posts will take place on Wednesday, between 10am and 4pm.
That is all from me for today. Nadeem Badshah is taking over.
Labour to give English local authorities power to run bus services
Local transport authorities across England will be able to run and control bus services under a Labour overhaul designed to “save vital routes”, Simon Lightwood, the transport minister, has told MPs in a Commons statement. Here is the Department for Transport’s news release and and here is Gwyn Topham’s story.
A reader asks:
Andrew, do you know of any statistics as to what percentage of pensioners receive over the pension credit amount? It has always struck me as odd that a lot people assume that pensioners are poor, and having been a pensioner now myself for over ten years, I am very aware that many pensioners are comfortably off with no mortgage payments or commuting fares to pay. Some facts would be useful.
According to DWP statistics, there were 12.6m people getting a state pension in February 2023, and 1.4m people were getting pension credit. That amounts to 11%.
If you want more facts on pension incomes and benefits, I posted a good passage about this from Torsten Bell’s new book on the blog last week.
Education minister plays down claims VAT on private school fees will push lots of pupils into state sector
Government plans to introduce VAT on private school fees also came under fire during education questions, with Tory MPs warning of a looming capacity crisis in the state sector as a result of the tax hike.
Shadow education secretary Damian Hinds warned of bigger class sizes and a shortage of school places, as a result of parents pulling their children out of the independent sector to avoid the additional fees. He asked:
What will ministers say next September to parents who, because of their education tax, find bigger class sizes, more schools full and fewer having been able to get their first choice school in Bristol, in Bury, in Salford, in Surrey?
Education minister Stephen Morgan responded:
The number of children in private schools has remained steady, despite a 20% real terms increase in average private school fees since 2010 and a rise of 55% since 2003.
He said his department would be monitoring occupancy and would work with local authorities to help them fulfil their duty to secure places.
Government plan to means-test winter fuel payments could push extra 100,000 pensioners into poverty, thinktank says
A thinktank has suggested that the government’s plan to means-test winter fuel payments could push an extra 100,000 pensioners into poverty.
In a briefing sent out ahead of the vote tomorrow on removing winter fuel payments from all pensioners apart from those receiving pension credit, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation says the government’s policy is likely to increase the number of pensioners living in poverty (defined as having less than 60% of median household income). It says:
One in six pensioners are in poverty in the latest data covering 2022/23 - 16% or 1.9 million. Relative pensioner poverty fell from 25% to 13% between 2002-2011, but it has increased by three percentage points since 2012/13.
Were winter fuel payment eligibility restricted in 2022/23 in the way the government is planning to this winter, an extra 100,000 pensioners would have been in poverty, pushing the total number to 2 million. This would have increased the pensioner poverty rate by one percentage point to 17%.
The JRF says the government can partly alleviate the problem by getting more pensioners to claim pension credit (which it is doing – see 2.36pm). But it says this alone will not solve the problem, because some pensioners living in poverty are not eligible for pension credit. It suggests paying winter fuel allowance to all pensioners living in homes with low council tax bands, such as A-B, or A-D. Targeting bands A-D would cover 80% of pensioners in poverty, it says.
Updated
Heckler disrupts Lords during question on anti-Muslim hate crime
A heckler temporarily disrupted proceedings in the House of Lords during a question on tackling anti-Muslim hate crime, PA Media reports. PA says:
A man dressed in a suit sitting watching from one of the side galleries of the upper chamber stood up and shouted “Tell that to Rotherham, tell that Rotherham” before walking out leaving peers and other members of the public looking shocked and bemused.
The incident happened shortly after 3pm.
It is understood the man was subsequently escorted off the parliamentary estate.
Protests by the public looking on in the chamber are prohibited.
The man’s mention of Rotherham was an apparent reference to a high-profile grooming gang scandal, which sent a shockwave across the nation when it was found that at least 1,400 girls were abused, trafficked and groomed by gangs of men of mainly Pakistani heritage in the town between 1997 and 2013.
The case is often cited by members of the far-right, although previous Home Office-commissioned research found most group child sex offenders are white men.
Bridget Phillipson says Tories' freedom of speech law not yet implemented because of risk it could facilitate Holocaust denial
The previous government’s legislation on freedom of speech may have facilitated “hate speech including Holocaust denial” to spread on university campuses, Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, told MPs.
As PA media reports, Phillipson has paused the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023 to consider other options including its potential repeal. The act was introduced by the previous Tory government and sought to place a duty to “secure” and “promote the importance of” freedom of speech and could have seen universities and student unions fined for failing to do so.
Asked by Gagan Mohindra, the shadow education minister why the act was being paused, and what alternative plans might be introduced, Phillipson said:
Freedom of expression and academic freedom are incredibly important. There are duties that the Office for Students sets out.
Many of these principles are already enshrined in law, but I want to make sure that we get this right, and I am confident that [Mohindra] would not want to be in a position where the act might have opened up the potential for hate speech, including Holocaust denial, to be spread on campus, something that the previous minister in the last government was unable to rule out.
Streeting rubbishes Tory record on NHS, and taunts them over lobbying scandals, as he defends consulting Alan Milburn
Wes Streeting rubbished the Conservative party’s record on health as he responded to Commons questions about his decision to take advice from his Labour predecessor Alan Milburn.
The full extent of Streeting’s links with Milburn was exposed in a Sunday Times story at the weekend that led to Tories suggesting the former Labour health secretary was getting inappropriate access to official information. In their report Shaun Lintern and Gabrial Pogrund said:
The former health secretary Alan Milburn has been attending meetings with civil servants in the Department of Health and received access to sensitive information despite having no official government role …
The former minister was in the department’s Victoria Street offices every day during a so-called “focus week” running from August 12. He has also had discussions with NHS England officials over the NHS long-term workforce plan and efforts to improve NHS productivity.
Milburn has had access to sensitive documents in printed form because he does not have a government email account or access to internal systems.
He was also present at a dinner between Streeting and Lord Darzi of Denham on Wednesday night prior to the publication this week of the peer’s review of the NHS.
Milburn, 66, has significant private health sector interests via his consultancy firm AM Strategy Ltd, which paid him a personal dividend of £1.27 million last year, and a total of £8.36 million since 2016.
In response to an urgent question tabled by Victoria Atkins, the shadow health secretary, Streeting strongly defended his decision to invite Milburn to meetings, saying:
Unlike our predecessors, this is a government that can’t get enough of experts.
Streeting said that when he became health secretary, replacing Atkins, he was confronted with the “worst crisis in the history of the NHS”, including waiting lists at 7.6m, more than a million patients per month waiting more than four weeks for a GP appointment, junior doctors still threatening strike action and NHS dentist appointments impossible to find. He went on:
We need the best available advice. It’s all hands on deck to fix the mess that they left. And if a single patient waited longer for treatment they needed to because I failed to ask for the most expert advice around, I would consider that a betrayal of patient’s interest.
I decide who I hear from in meetings. I decide whose advice I seek. And I decide what to share with them. And I also welcome challenge, alternative perspectives and experience.
Referring to Milburn, Streeting said that he was a former health secretary, that he did not have a pass for the department and that he only attended meetings at the request of ministers. He went on:
During Alan’s time in office, he gave patients the choice over where they are treated and who treats them, as well as making sure the NHS was properly transparent, so that all patients were able to make an informed choice, a basic right we expect from all other walks of life, which only the wealthy, well connected, were able to exercise in healthcare until Alan changed it.
Atkins said that that Streeting was “betraying his inexperience” in asking for advice because “the rest of us have just got on with the job”. She asked what was being done to manage any conflicts of interest that might have been caused by Milburn’s attendance at meetings. And she claimed this was “just more evidence of cronyism at the heart of this new Labour government”.
In reply, Streeting said he was sorry for Atkins because he could seek advice from Labour predecessors who delivered the shortest waiting times and the highest patient satisfaction rates. Atkins could not do that with her Tory predecessors, because their records were worse, he said.
He said that Andrew Lansley, a former Tory health secretary, tried to hire Milburn to run a clinical commissioning board his reorganisation was creating. But Milburn turned Lansley down, saying the reorganisation was “the biggest car crash in the history of the NHS”. Streeting went on: “Which just goes to prove that Alan Milburn has sound judgment and is worth listening to.”
Streeting also said, if Atkins wanted to talk about cronyism and lobbying, they should be talking about Owen Paterson and Randox, David Cameron and Greensill and Lady Mone and PPE contracts.
In response to a later question, Streeting said that Milburn had not had any access to “commercially sensitive” information during his meetings at the department.
Updated
Northern Ireland executive launches consultation on its 'missions-based' programme for government
Michelle O’Neill, Northern Ireland’s first minister, and Emma Little-Pengelly, the deputy first minister, have launched a public consultation on their programme for government. Echoing the language used by Keir Starmer and Labour, Little-Pengelly said the executive would be adopting a “missions-based approach”. She said:
With our plan, we have a way forward. It provides a road map for people, organisations and departments.
The programme for government provides a basis for transformational change and the things that really matter. I look forward to us, the Executive and this Assembly working together to make a real difference.
The scale of the challenges we face requires new thinking and structures. A missions-based approach will help us to measure and prioritise our work. These missions are people, planet and prosperity and they are underpinned by a cross cutting commitment to peace.
Tory leadership contenders upset over 10-minute conference speech plan
Conservative leadership contenders have called the lacklustre handling of the contest disgraceful after it emerged they may only get a few minutes each to address the party’s conference, Aletha Adu and Pippa Crerar report.
I have updated the post at 11.32am about the government repealing the legislation intended to force public service unions to maintain minimum service levels during strikes. Originally it said “employers like train companies never tried taking advantage of the [minimum service level] law” because they thought it would be counterproductive. That is not quite right. A reader points out that in January LNER did consider using the new law ahead of a rail strike. But as a result Aslef then announced a further five-day strike in retaliation, and this persuaded LNER to back down.
No 10 claims it wants 100% pension credit takeup - even though that would remove all savings from winter fuel payments cut
And here is more from what was said at the Downing Street lobby briefing this morning about the plan to means-test the winter fuel payments.
No 10 said applications for pension credit are up by more than 100% as a result of the government’s campaign to increase take-up. Around a third of pensioners eligible for pension credit (a benefit for low-income pensioners) do not claim, and the government is now actively trying to change this. The only pensioners who will continue to get the winter fuel allowance this winter are those on pension credit and up to 880,000 who could be eligible are not claiming. The spokesperson said:
We are continuing to urge pensioners who are eligible for pension credit to be applying and receiving that.
As a result of that work and the awareness campaign, we’ve seen a 115% increase in pension credit claims in the past five weeks, compared to the five weeks before.
Asked what that meant in terms of applications, the spokesperson said that there have been 38,500 applications in the past five weeks, compared with 17,900 in the five weeks before then. Asked if the PM was happy with this rate of progress, the spokesperson said there was “still more to do”.
The spokesperson said the government wanted 100% of eligible people to claim pension credit – even though, if this were to happen, the £1.5bn saving from means-testing winter fuel payments would be wiped out by the extra cost of pension credit. Asked about this apparent contradiction, the spokesperson said “people ought to be receiving what they’re entitled to”. In a thread on social media this morning, ITV’s Anushka Asthana says the Institute for Fiscal Studies has confirmed 100% take-up would eliminate any savings.
Only 63% of pensioners who qualify for Pension Credit actually apply for it (it’s not super easy plus maybe some feel stigma). Which means when it becomes the gateway for Winter Fuel Payments- almost 1m poor pensioners will miss out. Obvs take up of PC will rise - 3/
The govt is actively encouraging more to sign up to Pension Credit and has included in its calculation of the savings from means testing WFP (£1.3bn and then £1.5bn a year) a 5% increase in take up of PC to 68% but that still leaves 32% not claiming and so missing out 4/
And as I can see some pointing out the threshold for PC is quite low so many just above the threshold. I asked @TheIFS how much would it cost if there was 100% take up of PC (which is surely what govt wants). They point out it would never happen but if it it did- over £2bn. 5/
In 2023-24 the government spent about £5bn on pension credit.
The spokesperson said there was no discussion of trying policies that might soften the impact of the removal of the winter fuel allowance at cabinet. Asked if Diana Johnson was wrong to say in an interview this morning that ministers were looking at watering down the policy (see 9.36am), the spokesperson said Johnson’s comment was corrected. Asked if the government was considering further measures that might mitigate the impact of the change, the spokesperson said there were “no plans” for any.
The spokesperson played down criticism of the application process for pension credit, which has focused on the need for people to fill out a form with 243 questions. She said around 80% of applications are online, “where the forms are much shorter”. And support is available for people needing help with the paper forms, she said.
The spokesperson said there was no criticism of the decision to means-test the winter fuel payment at cabinet.
And the spokesperson refused to say what might happen to Labour MPs who do not support the government in the vote tomorrow. She said whipping arrangements were not discussed at cabinet, and were not a matter for her to comment on anyway because they are party political.
Updated
Starmer defends means-testing winter fuel payments, telling cabinet it's 'tough decisons' that will change Britain
Keir Starmer chaired a cabinet meeting this morning, because on Tuesday, the normal day for cabinet, he has another engagement. At the meeting this morning he and Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, defended their decision to means-test the winter fuel payment for pensions. In a read-out of what was said at cabinet, a No 10 spokesperson said:
The prime minister opened cabinet by stating the importance of fixing the foundations of our economy in order to carry out the government’s mandate of change.
He said that, given the scale of inheritance, this will be difficult and that tough decisions are unpopular decisions. It is the tough decisions that will enable change for this country.
The chancellor added that, unless we grow our economy, we will not see the improvements in living standards and public services the country deserves, that we must first restore the state of public finances to deliver that central mission of government.
I will post more on what was said at the lobby briefing about winter fuel payments shortly.
Delegates to the TUC’s annual congress in Brighton could be given the opportunity to express their disapproval of the government’s decision to cut winter fuel allowance.
Amid growing dissent about the measure, public sector union the PCS has tabled an amendment to a motion on universal credit, which is slated to be discussed tomorrow.
The amendment says:
Congress agrees to oppose cuts to the winter fuel allowance and demands appropriate taxation of corporations and the super-rich to fund the social security improvements identified in this motion.
Fran Heathcote, the general secretary of the PCS, said her members in the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) administer the payments. “There are going to be real decisions between heating and eating - whether to put the heating on. We hear quite heartbreaking stories first hand,” she said.
Heathcote added “what’s slightly galling is that this wasn’t a manifesto commitment”, pointing out that Keir Starmer had promised to be on pensioners’ side.
The universal credit motion, along with the PCS’s amendment, is slated for discussion on Tuesday, but it could be rescheduled or even timed out.
Lilley says 'Britain is broken, nothing works' - partly because too many PMs, Tory and Labour, PPE or law graduates
Peter Lilley’s article in the Times endorsing Kemi Badenoch (see 1.12pm) is helpful to her – but potentially also to Keir Starmer. That is because Lilley says that Britain is “broken” and and that “nothing works”, which was at the heart of Labour’s message during the election campaign. Here is the relevant passage.
The fact that Kemi graduated in engineering is hugely important. Since Margaret Thatcher, a science graduate, nearly every prime minister and party leader of both the Tories and Labour has been a wordsmith. They mostly studied politics, philosophy and economics, or law. They were good at using words, all too often twisting words to explain away failure and rationalise broken promises, or finding out what people want then telling them what they want to hear. But they lacked the mindset to organise and plan the deployment of resources and people.
The result is that Britain is broken — nothing works. And people have lost faith in political wordsmiths. Restoring trust will be as difficult and important as rebuilding our economy and public services.
Lilley argues that science graduates, like Margaret Thatcher and Kemi Badenoch, are more likely to be practical.
For engineers and scientists facts are sovereign. Theories are useless if they don’t accord with the facts. As Kemi said at her campaign launch: “Engineers are realists. We see the world as it truly is but we can also dream and plot a path from idea to reality. We don’t make things better just by using words”.
The reference to PPE (politics, philosophy and economics, a course taught at Oxford) makes it clear that Lilley’s remark is directed at his own party. Of the last five Tory prime ministers, three of them (David Cameron, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak) studied PPE. The other two also studied non-science subjects at Oxford (Theresa May, geography; Boris Johnson, classics).
But Lilley is talking about Labour too. Tony Blair and Keir Starmer are both law graduates, and Gordon Brown studied history.
Lilley himself studied natural sciences at Cambridge, but then switched to economics,
Kemi Badenoch's conviction approach to politics and her focus on what works is similar to Thatcher's, says Peter Lilley
Like the Telegraph (see 11.25am), the Times has also published a new article with a Tory endorsement for Kemi Badenoch, but this one is potentially more significant. Margaret Thatcher is no longer with us, but for Conservative party members she is still the one figure from the party’s recent past whose authority is more or less unquestioned and Peter Lilley has written an article claiming that Badenoch would be a worthy inheritor of her mantle. He says Thatcher was a scientist, and Badenoch is an engineering graduate. Like Thatcher, Badenoch is focused on facts, and what works, he says. He goes on:
Leadership candidates are under great pressure to make popular pledges, to abolish specific taxes or set a numerical limit on immigration. Kemi, rightly in my view, has refused to do so. Voters want lower taxes and much less immigration (as do I), but they have seen every glib promise broken. To convince them, a new leader will need to show first, that policies have been rigorously worked out in practical terms and second, that we truly believe in them rather than adopting them to win votes. As Margaret Thatcher said: “To carry conviction, you must have conviction.”
Conviction is the fruit of hard-nosed scepticism. Kemi’s approach is similar to Margaret Thatcher’s, for whom I once worked. When ministers took a policy to her which was in line with all her prejudices, expecting instant approval, she would tear into it, challenging every weakness. Only when satisfied that a policy was totally robust would she take it on board – but then she pursued it with unwavering conviction. Kemi is likewise willing to challenge, criticise and expose weaknesses, which does not endear her to everyone. But we cannot afford to go on adopting half-baked, unworkable policies.
As equalities minister, Kemi refused to acquiesce in Nicola Sturgeon’s policy of letting men self-identify as women and sending rapists to a women’s prison. Sturgeon’s policy duly unravelled, leading to her demise and pricking the SNP separatist balloon.
Lilley, who is now a member of the House of Lords, served in cabinet under Thatcher and is closely associated with her free market, Eurosceptic politics.
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Kemi Badenoch has the support of a third of the members of the shadow cabinet for the Tory leadership, the Daily Telegraph reports.
She has got the backing of 10 of the 29 members of the shadow cabinet after Kevin Hollinrake, the shadow business secretary, and James Cartlidge, the shadow defence secretary, endorsed her in a joint article for the Telegraph.
But she still has fewer endorsements from Tory MP than Robert Jenrick, who replaced her as the bookmakers’ favourite in the contest after the first round of voting by MPs last week. According to a tally on the Spectator’s website, Jenrick has public support from 19 MPs, while Badenoch is on 18, James Cleverly and Mel Stride 7 each and Tom Tugendhat 6.
In their article explaining why they are supporting Badenoch, Hollinrake and Cartlidge say:
We can rage at Labour’s actions, but the public won’t listen to our narrative – unless we have a leader who can communicate.
Kemi Badenoch is that person. She is blessed with that rare gift in politics: the X-factor that means she can not only communicate but achieve all important ‘cut-through’, so that the public actually notice.
Kemi is authentic. She is something different and our members, who consistently put her at the top of independent YouGov and Conservative Home polls, can see that too.
Kemi can grab the spotlight and focus it on the Labour government’s constant failings in a way that no one else can.
Polls and surveys generally show that Badenoch is the candidate most popular with party members, who will have the final say when they choose between the two people coming top in the final ballot of MPs. For most of the summer it was assumed that Badenoch was favourite to win.
But the voting last week up-ended that assumption – because, with Jenrick and Cleverly performing better than expected, it now seems very possible that Badenoch will fail to make it to the final two. She came second last week. But she is vulnerable because Jenrick is the stronger rightwing candidate with MPs, and Cleverly may be better placed than her to make the run-off because, if Stride and Tugendhat are forced out, Cleverly may pick up most of their more ‘One Nation’ aligned support.
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TUC general secretary Paul Nowak says Reform UK leaders 'are frauds', not patriots, and 'no friends of working class'
Paul Nowak, the TUC general secretary, has used his address to its annual congress in Brighton to attack the rightwing Reform party, in the wake of the summer riots.
He said:
I don’t believe for one minute that most of those who voted Reform at the last election are racist, but let me say this clearly, and unequivocally. Nigel Farage isn’t a friend of the working class. He’s a fraud, a public school educated, private equity loving, NHS privatising, Putin apologist fraud.
Highlighting the story of his grandfather, who came to Britain with the Polish RAF, Nowak said Reform are “not patriots, they’re frauds”.
Recalling a trip to Ukraine, where he met union leaders and visited a children’s hospital subsequently bombed by the Russians, he said:
When I see Farage, making excuses for Russia’s illegal and indefensible invasion of Ukraine, it turns my stomach.
Congress – I’ll say it again – the far-right, hate mongers are no friends of the working class. They’re not patriots. They are frauds.
As he addressed the first TUC gathering under a Labour government for 15 years, delegates cheered and joined in what Nowak called a “roll call of political failure,” as he listed Tory MPs who lost their seats in July, including Jacob Rees-Mogg and Liz Truss.
With dissent over Rachel Reeves’s cut to winter fuel allowance increasingly vocal among colleagues, he also urged TUC members to be patient, warning that “no government can put right 14 years of Tory chaos overnight,” and highlighting victories already won, including the repeal of anti-strike laws. (See 11.32am.)
Nowak himself has expressed concerns about Reeves’s decision, and Unite general secretary Sharon Graham has urged Keir Starmer to reverse it. (See 10.29am.)
Earlier contributions from union delegates in Brighton underlined the parlous state of public services, from cockroach-infested prisons, to schools teaching children in temporary classrooms.
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Minister confirms minimum service level anti-strike law being repealed, and employers being told not to use it in meantime
Paul Nowak, the TUC general secretary, has just finished addressing the TUC conference now. He started by congratulating TUC members on their work campaigning against the Tory plans for minimum service levels during strikes – a law that would have forced some public sector workers to carry on working during strikes called by their unions.
The last government passed legislation to make this happen, but most employers never tried taking advantage of the law (they concluded that using it would only provoke unions, leading to even more disruption), and the new Labour government is going to repeal the act. Nowak told trade unionists they had “protected the fundamental right to strike for future generations of working people”.
In a move that seems timed to coincide with the TUC conference, Justin Madders, the employment rights minister, has this morning issued a written ministerial statement confirming that the the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023 will be repealed. He also said that, while it remains in force, the government has “strongly encouraged” employers not to use it. Madders says:
We have begun preparations to repeal the 2023 Act as part of the forthcoming Employment Rights Bill. Amendments made by the 2023 Act to the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 (“the 1992 Act”) will accordingly be reversed and any minimum service regulations will lapse automatically once the employment rights bill has royal assent.
Although the ability of employers to give work notices will legally continue until the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023 has been formally repealed and amendments to the 1992 Act are accordingly reversed, in this interim period we have strongly encouraged employers to seek alternative mechanisms for dispute resolution, including voluntary agreements, rather than imposing minimum service levels.
I will post more from Nowak’s speech shortly.
UPDATE: The original post said “employers like train companies never tried taking advantage of the [minimum service level] law” because they thought it would be counterproductive. I have amended that because it is not quite right. A reader points out that in January LNER did consider using the new law ahead of a rail strike. But as a result Aslef then announced a further five-day strike in retaliation, and this persuaded LNER to back down.
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The Covid inquiry has today started its third module, which is looking at the impact of the pandemic on healthcare. It is opening with statements from counsel for the inquiry and for core participants. I’m not covering it minute by minute, but there is a live feed here and I will be posting highlights later.
Starmer says he wants to 'double down' on efforts to cut knife crime
Keir Starmer has said he wants to “double down” on efforts to tackle knife crime.
As PA Media reports, speaking at the Downing Steet meeting this morning to set up the Coalition to Tackle Knife Crime, Starmer said:
Before the election, I made commitments to people around this table and others in relation to a determination to deal with knife crime. And it is a determination.
Now I want to double down on that commitment. It wasn’t a commitment said before the election that’s then forgotten the other side of the election – I think many people are far too familiar with that kind of politics.
Starmer said that knives were “too easily available”, and that it was “shocking” how straightforward it was to get them online. He also hinted tougher punishments might be needed, saying:
We also need to deal with the sanctions for those that are found with knives.
The actor Idris Elba, who was at the meeting because of his campaigning on knife crime, told the meeting that he hoped that, by tackling the factors behind the problem, the new initiative could make a practical difference over the next few years. He said:
We aren’t going to end knife crime. We can’t, that’s not realistic.
But we can tackle the attributes towards it. At the centre of it is obviously young people – my son’s 10, and I’m hoping the work that we do annually, keep pushing, [can] help him by the time he’s 16.
There are kids right now that are 16-24, they’re in that cycle right now that we might not be able to help, but with our joined-up thinking we can help future generations.
Unite leader Sharon Graham says Starmer should be 'big and brave enough' to U-turn on winter fuel payments
Sharon Graham, the Unite general secretary, told the Today programme this morning that Keir Starmer should be “big enough and brave enough” to perform a U-turn on the plan to means-test the winter fuel allowance. She said:
We need to make sure that [Starmer] is making the right choices and leadership is about choices. He needs to be big enough and brave enough to do a U-turn on this choice. It’s completely wrong.
People do not understand how a Labour government has decided to pick the pocket of pensioners and, at the same time, leave the richest in our society totally untouched. That is wrong and he needs to change course.
Graham said Britain could not afford another round of austerity.
I’m a trade union leader and my job is to defend workers. I also have 100,000 pensioners in the union … and I’m talking on behalf of those as well today. The point here is, when you’re hearing words [like] ‘tough choices’, that says to me ‘cuts’.
And this country cannot go through another round of austerity, it’s not possible for people to go through another round of austerity. If it quacks like a duck and it looks like a duck, it’s a duck.
And she renewed her call for a wealth tax instead.
Let’s be really clear here, this is saving minutiae in terms of money. It’s £1.2bn in saving. And at the same time you’ve got the 50 richest families in Britain worth £500bn. £500bn in the hands of the 50 richest families.
Why has Labour made a choice to not tax the 1% wealthiest, which would get £25bn back into the pot, black hole gone, £3bn left over? Why have they decided to put pensioners through pain to save £1.2bn, which quite frankly doesn’t touch the sides of this so-called black hole? It’s wrong-footed, they should change their decision and he needs to be big enough and brave enough to say ‘look I’ve made an error here’. People make errors. Leadership is about making choices and knowing when you’ve done something wrong.
This morning the Daily Mail has splashed, approvingly, on a Corbyn-era Labour party press release. When Jeremy Corbyn was actually leading the party the paper never gave him credit for anything, but this morning it is pointing out that during the 2017 general election campaign, after Theresa May included plans to means-test the winter fuel payment in the Conservative party manifesto, Labour released analysis saying this policy could kill 4,000 people.
Daily Mail: LABOUR SAID CUTTING OAP WINTER FUEL
— George Mann (@sgfmann) September 8, 2024
CASH COULD KILL 4,000 #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/5cZb53YW8X
In their story Martin Beckford and Andrew Pierce say:
Published during the 2017 election campaign, the research said: ‘Since the introduction of the winter fuel payment by Labour in 1997, allowing for significant variation in winter weather, deaths among the elderly have fallen from around 34,000 to 24,000.
Half of the almost 10,000 decrease in so-called ‘excess winter deaths’ – the rise in mortality that occurs each winter – between 2000 and 2012 was due to the introduction of the winter fuel allowance.’
Last night one Labour MP told the Mail: ‘This is blatant hypocrisy. All those now reversing Gordon Brown’s winter fuel allowance were Labour MPs when we fought against Theresa May’s government’s plans to scrap it in 2017.
Asked about the Labour claim from 2017 in her interview on the Today programme, Diana Johnson, a Home Office minister, did not try to challenge the logic of the analysis. Instead she stressed that the government is trying to get more pensioners to claim pension credit and that, as a result of the triple lock, pensioners will get a decent rise in their state pension.
Sky News has broadcast some footage from the Downing Street meeting this morning, where Keir Starmer is launching the Coalition to Tackle Knife Crime. Idris Elba, the actor who has campaigned on this issue, is among those attending.
Minister misspoke over hints of winter fuel payment changes, say government sources
Good morning. When Keir Starmer says he is willing to take tough, unpopular decisions as PM, he is using language leaders have relied on for centuries, often quite effectively. But the problem with this approach is that it is not just a rhetorical device; it can get very, very tough, and it might make you exceedingly unpopular. This week, with MPs voting on the plan to means-test the winter fuel payments tomorrow, and peers voting on it on Wednesday, Starmer is facing arguably the first serious test of his resolve on the “tough decisions” front as PM. It won’t be his last.
Judging by events this morning, he is holding firm. Government sources have said that a minister was wrong this morning when she implied ministers are considering watering down the plans to means-test the winter fuel payment.
Critics are angry because – under the proposal announced by Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, in July – only the very poorest pensioners, those claiming pension credit, will continue to get the winter fuel allowance, which is worth up to £300 per household. More than a million pensions who are regarded as living in poverty will still lose the allowance, according to some estimates. Diana Johnson, a Home Office minister, was doing an interview round this morning (she was meant to be talking about knife crime) and on the Today programme she was asked by Mishal Husain if the government would consider means-testing the winter fuel allowance in a more generous way, allowing more pensioners on low and moderate incomes to keep it. Johnson twice insisted that she was not privy to these discussions, and that it was a matter for the Treasury and the DWP. But when Husain asked her a third time, saying that one idea is for pensioners in council tax bands A to D to carry on getting the winter fuel payment, and another is for a social tariff that would force firms to offer cheaper energy to poor pensioners, Johnson replied:
I am sure across government all these measures are being looked at.
In context, this sounded more like Johnson trying to give a slightly more sophisticated version of the ‘I don’t know’ answer (in theory government is always looking at ideas if people are talking about them). But Johnson’s comment could have been interpreted as implying that ministers are actively planning some sort of U-turn, and within minutes the government briefing machine was in action to say that no concession is on the way. This is from Henry Zeffman, the BBC’s chief political correspondent.
Government sources saying that Home Office minister Diana Johnson misspoke this morning when she said that the Treasury was looking at ways to soften the impact of the winter fuel allowance cut, including a social tariff for energy bills
— Henry Zeffman (@hzeffman) September 9, 2024
Government sources saying that Home Office minister Diana Johnson misspoke this morning when she said that the Treasury was looking at ways to soften the impact of the winter fuel allowance cut, including a social tariff for energy bills
I will post more from Johnson’s interview round soon.
Here is the agenda for the day.
9am: Keir Starmer hosts a meeting on knife crime at 4Downing Street.
10am: Ros Altmann, a former Tory pensions minister who is leading attempts in the Lords to block the proposed cut to the winter fuel payment, speaks at a Resolution Foundation conference.
10am: The Covid inquiry module looking at the impact of the pandemic on healthcare opens, with statements from counsel.
11am: Paul Nowak, the TUC general secretary, speaks at the TUC conference in Brighton.
Lunchtime: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.
2.30pm: Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, takes question in the Commons.
4pm: The five Tory leadership candidates still in the contest hold a hustings with MPs in private.
6pm: Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, is due to address Labour MPs in private at the parliamentary Labour party.
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