Afternoon summary
Wes Streeting, the health secretary, has been criticised by Labour colleagues for his comments yesterday suggesting the assisted dying bill would create a cost for the NHS. The Labour MP promoting the bill, Kim Leadbeater, and Margaret Hodge, a former Labour minister, have both suggested he has breached the rule saying ministers are meant to be neutral on this issue and should not be trying to sway the public debate. (See 12.32pm and 3.38pm.)
MPs have supported extending measures designed to increase representation of women bishops in the House of Lords, PA Media reports. The Lords Spiritual (Women) Act 2015 (extension) bill continues for a further five years the policy of filling any vacancies that appear on the bishop’s benches in the unelected house with female bishops. It received an unopposed second reading in the Commons this afternoon and will undergo further scrutiny at a later date.
Six Labour MPs appointed as parliamentary private secretaries
Six Labour MPs have been appointed parliamentary private secretaries. As ministerial aides, they don’t get a salary, but they are deemed part of the “payroll vote” and being a PPS is normally the first step to becoming a minister.
They are:
Matthew Patrick – Department for Culture, Media and Sport / Department for Science, Innovation, and Technology
Josh Simons– Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Lucy Rigby – Ministry of Justice
Gordon McKee – Department for Work and Pensions
Claire Hughes – Department for Business and Trade
Julie Minns – Department for Transport
UK one of many countries with record immigration in 2023, says OECD, saying high arrival numbers 'can be well managed'
The Conservative party and Reform UK have both issued statements triggered by the findings in a 384-page report out today from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) about migration trends in 2023. The Tories use the report to attack Labour, for dropping some of their policies, and Reform UK use it to attack the last Conservative government, for allowing immigration to risen massively.
The OECD itself, which acts as a thinktank for its 38 member countries, has a very different take; it says the UK is far from alone in having record immigration, and it says internationally “migration is at record levels but not beyond control”.
Referring to the situation for all OECD countries, it says:
Up by 10% compared to 2022, permanent-type migration to OECD countries set a new record in 2023 with 6.5 million new permanent immigrants, 28% above 2019 levels. Most of the 2023 increase was driven by family migration (including family accompanying workers), but humanitarian migration was also on the rise. By contrast, labour migration within free mobility areas was stable in 2023.
About a third of OECD countries experienced record immigration levels in 2023, including Canada, France, Japan, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Another third recorded a drop in inflows, including Denmark, Estonia, Israel, Italy, Lithuania and New Zealand.
The report says that in the UK permanent-type migration has risen since 2015 at a much higher rate than in most other OECD countries.
But it also says that, when permanent-type migration is considered as a proportion of the total population, the UK is much closer to the OECD average.
In his introduction to the report, Stefano Scarpetta, the OECD’s director for employment, labour and social affairs, said high levels of migration create “widespread concern”. But he says the problems can be managed, and migration also creates opportunities.
These high flows have fuelled widespread concern about migrants’ impact on receiving countries’ economies and societies, putting migration management and border control at the top of political agendas and the centre of voters’ interests in 2024 elections. Reflecting structural trends rather than temporary blips, these increasing migration flows raise legitimate concern, but they also point to major opportunities. Evidence from OECD countries suggests that these high flows can be well managed with appropriate policy.
But that is not the line picked up by the Tories and Reform UK in their comments on the report.
For the Conservatives, Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, highlighted the fact that the report confirms changes to visa policies announced by the last government will reduce net migration. “Labour now places all of that at risk with an ideologically driven push to can that legacy, which would open the doors to migration and undo all the progress we made,” he said.
For Reform UK, Richard Tice, the deputy leader, said:
For 14 years the Tories promised us action on immigration and instead all we were left with was the highest numbers on record.
This latest report is a damning indictment of fourteen years of Tory rule. Mass immigration has made us all poorer and has damaged social cohesion.
Scotland's health secretary Neil Gray apologises for acting 'more as fan than minister' in taking official cars to matches
Scotland’s health secretary – and Dons fan – Neil Gray has apologised for appearing to act “more as a fan than a minister” when he took ministerial cars to Aberdeen games on three occasions in six months.
In response to mounting criticism from opposition parties at Holyrood, and on the day that his planned reforms to social care were delayed yet again, Gray told MSPs:
What I have reflected upon and what I apologise for is the appearance that I have been acting more as a fan, not getting the balance right, by attending Aberdeen games and attending others.
But he insisted that he had not broken any rules and that all the matches were recorded as official government business, with summaries of the discussions that took place to be published.
He revealed that he’d attended a total of six matches accompanied by family members and guests in the chauffeur-driven limousines, the three Aberdeen ones mentioned in a report at the weekend, but also other matches including a Scotland game.
With the Scottish Conservatives demanding further investigation, this will be a real test of John Swinney’s commitment in Programme for Government to strengthen the ministerial code, and to let independent advisers decide unilaterally whether something is worth investigating as a breach.
Former Labour minister Margaret Hodge says it's 'bit daft' for Streeting to suggest assisted dying law would cost NHS
Margaret Hodge, the former Labour minister who now sits in the House of Lords, has criticised Wes Streeting, the health secretary, for speaking out too much against the assisted dying bill.
Echoing the line taken by Kim Leadbeater (see 12.32pm), Hodge told the BBC’s Politics Live:
I’m a great Wes Streeting fan but I think on this issue he should do what the cabinet secretary said and just hold fire a little bit.
Hodge, who was chair of the Commons public accounts committee for five years, also said she thought it was “a bit daft” for Streeting to suggest that an assisted dying law would put a significant financial burden on the NHS.
If you look at the NHS budget, most of it goes on the last six months of life … to argue that this is going to cost extra sounds to me a bit daft.
Updated
The Home Office has issued a statement responding to the claim made by Sir Mark Rowley, the commissioner of the Metropolitan police, about his force facing “eye-watering cuts”. (See 9.22am.) A spokesperson said:
The budget delivers real increases in funding for policing. The Metropolitan police will receive up to £3.5bn in funding in 2024-25.
This is in addition to £37.4m provided for the 2024-25 pay award which has been allocated outside of the police funding settlement.
George Osborne praises Labour for raising tuition fees, saying it was 'pretty stupid' for Tories to freeze them
George Osborne, the former Conservative chancellor, has praised the Labour government for raising university tuition fees.
Speaking on his Political Currency podcast, which he co-hosts with Ed Balls, Osborne said that the last Conservative government was wrong to freeze them. And he said he hoped this meant Labour had now abandoned all hope of wanting to get rid of them. He said:
I think the decision of the Tory governments after me to freeze tuition fees was pretty stupid because it starved the sector of money.
But it is a very unusual decision, isn’t it, from a Labour education secretary, because for much of the period in opposition, Labour was saying, ‘We’re actually going to get rid of these tuition fees’ even though they were originally introduced by Tony Blair’s government …
I think it’s good what Bridget Phillipson has done.
Is this now the death of this romantic idea that various oppositions have flirted with, first the Conservatives, before 2010, then the Labour oppositions under the Tories, that somehow we’re going to get rid of this tuition fee regime?
Osborne joked:
I mean, a cut in the winter fuel payment, an increase in tuition fees. I’m beginning to like this government quite a lot.
If the assisted dying bill passed at second reading, a public bill committee will be set up to consider the bill line by line before it returns to the floor of the Commons for its report stage and third reading votes.
During business questions Lucy Powell, the leader of the Commons, was asked for an assurance that the public bill committee would reflect the balance of opinion in the Commons as a whole, for an against the bill.
For government bills, these committees just have to reflect the party balance in the Commons as a whole, because MPs vote along party lines. But the procedure is different for private members’ bills.
Powell said the committee would reflect a fair balance taking into account views on the bill. She explained:
Should the house agree to second reading after a debate for the [assisted dying bill] at the end of November, it would then be for the sponsoring member to choose the members of that committee.
The guidance that surrounds this is absolutely clear about nominating members. They must reflect the party balance in the house and reflect a balance of views as outlined in the bill at second reading as well.
And I know that the member for Spen Valley [Kim Leadbeater] is very, very keen indeed to follow this guidance and ensure that there is a balanced committee.
UPDATE: This post originally said public bill committees normally just reflect party balance. That is the case for government bills. But for private members’ bills the rules are different (as the Powell quote says) and committee membership must reflect the balance of views in the Commons too. I have changed the wording to clarify this.
Updated
Commons leader Lucy Powell rejects claim not enough time being set aside for MPs to debate assisted dying bill
At PMQs yesterday Keir Starmer declined an invitation to promise that extra time would be made available for MPs to debate the assisted dying bill so that all its provisions can be properly scrutinised.
But during business questions in the Commons today Lucy Powell, the leader of the Commons, implied that plenty of time would be available anyway without two more days being allocated for the debate, as the Tory Alec Shelbrooke suggested in his question to Starmer.
Powell said:
As it’ll be the first item of business on November 29, it is highly likely that the second reading debate will last for the full five hours. This is comparable or longer to any other bill, perhaps longer.
Should the house agree to second reading it would then be considered in committee for likely several weeks.
The whole house will then also have further opportunities to debate and vote on these matters both at report stage and again at third reading, which won’t be until April at the earliest.
Powell also said that, if the bill did get a second reading, the government would work with Kim Leadbeater, the MP who has tabled it, to ensure it was “workable”. She said:
The government has a duty to make sure that any bill that passes through parliament is effective and can be enforced.
Updated
No 10 rejects suggestions Streeting's assisted dying interventions have breached government neutrality rule
At the Downing Street lobby briefing this morning the prime minister’s spokesperson rejected suggestions that Wes Streeting, the health secretary, is ignoring the instruction that ministers should not try to influence the public debate on the assisted dying bill. (See 12.32pm.)
Asked if Keir Starmer was confident that ministers were respecting the guidance from the cabinet secretary on this matter, the spokesperson replied:
Yes. Ultimately, this is a case where the PM has said it is a free vote for MPs. Government will respect the will of parliament. Cabinet ministers have made very clear that the whole of government will respect the will of parliament on this deeply emotive issue.
Asked specifically about the intevention yesterday from Streeting, which led to Kim Leadbeater, the Labour MP who has tabled the bill, suggesting he was ignoring the advice for ministers, the spokesperson said:
I point you back to what the health secretary himself has said, which is that his department, the whole of government, will respect the will of parliament on this issue.
Asked about claims that, by implying that an assisted dying law would take money from other parts of the NHS Streeting was intervening in the debate, the spokesperson said it was “common practice for government to examine implications of possible legislative proposals, including private members’ bills”.
The spokesperson also declined to say whether Starmer himself would or would not definitely vote in the debate a fortnight tomorrow.
Updated
Starmer says small boat crossings will become 'much more difficult' if supply of boats disrupted
Keir Starmer has given an interview to broadcasters following the news that a joint Dutch/Belgian/British investigation has led to an arrest in Amsterdam of a man suspected of playing a key role in supplying small boats. (See 1.19pm.)
After the new government abandoned the Tories’ Rwanda policy, Starmer has been keen to show that his policy, which involves a beefed-up focus on breaking up people-smuggling gangs, provides a viable alternative. He said this arrest showed that international law enforcement cooperation can deliver results.
He said:
The entire focus until we had the election was on a gimmick, the Rwanda gimmick, and not enough attention was on taking down the gangs that are running this vile trade. I’ve long said that there is a serious issue in people-smuggling and that the only way to deal with it is to take down the gangs, the groups that are running this vile trade …
This is a significant arrest, and it follows careful work by the National Crime Agency – some of which I went to look at myself not so many weeks ago – intelligence gathering work, collaboration, co-operating across borders, exactly the serious response that we need to a very serious problem.
Explaining why arrests like this would make a difference, Starmer said:
I don’t accept the proposition that none of this is worth doing because somebody else pops up. We are taking down the gangs. It’s a step. It’s an important step. Of course, there are going to be other steps that are necessary …
If the boats and the engines aren’t available, it obviously makes it much more difficult for these crossings to be made and we’re dealing with gangs and groups that are making a huge amount of money from this vile trade.
And so it is really important that we take these vital steps against them in relation to disrupting their pattern and the way that they do their business.
So that’s why it’s very significant that this arrest has taken place today.
This is a significant piece of the jigsaw. I’m not pretending it’s the silver bullet. There are other steps that are going to be necessary, but this is a very important step.
Updated
Starmer welcomes arrest following joint Dutch/Belgian/British investigation into supply of small boats
Keir Starmer has said the arrest of a 44-year-old Turkish man suspected of being a supplier of small boats was a “significant piece of the jigsaw” in tackling Channel migrant crossings but “I’m not pretending it’s the silver bullet”, PA Media says. PA reports:
The suspect was detained at Schipol Airport in Amsterdam on Wednesday after a joint investigation by Dutch and Belgian authorities and the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA).
He is suspected of shipping dinghies and engines from Turkey and storing them in Germany, before they are moved to northern France for crossings.
The man is facing extradition to Belgium over charges of human smuggling, the spokesman added.
The prime minister has put international co-operation with law enforcement agencies in Europe at the heart of his efforts to cut small boat crossings.
So far this year more than 32,000 people have arrived in the UK having made the journey across the English Channel by boat, according to Home Office figures.
John Swinney criticised after Scottish government again delays plan for national care service
John Swinney has come under fire from Tories, Labour and Lib Dems at FMQs over two key health issues this week – the row about health secretary Neil Gray taking ministerial cars to travel to football games, and the ongoing “shambles” of Scottish government attempts to create a national care service.
At first minister’s questions in Holyrood, Scottish Tory leader Russell Findlay told Swinney that the SNP government had “a reckless disregard for taxpayer’s money”. He went on:
Health secretary Neil Gray takes limos to the football. John Swinney wastes cash on the national care service that everybody knows is not going to work.
Later this afternoon Gray will make a statement to the chamber to explain why he needed the chauffeur-driven cars to take him to his favourite football team, Aberdeen’s, matches at Hampden three times in six months.
And earlier today the Scottish government insisted that plans to centralise adult social care currently delivered by local authorities into a single body accountable to the Scottish government had not been ditched but delayed again, with a revised timetable worked out in the new year.
Scottish Lib Dem leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said that Swinney had “wasted £30m and three years on the wrong solution” and that the plans have been significantly delayed because of uncertainty over costs and the withdrawal of support by key unions.
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said the plans were “opposed by care users, unions and experts and nothing more than an expensive power grab that would do nothing to improve the lives of care users”.
But Swinney insisted that disabled people’s organisations, carers and service users have all pressed for a national service and that the revised timetable would allow for time to put in place arrangements to tackle the current postcode lottery.
Kim Leadbeater criticises Streeting over assisted dying bill comments, implying he's ignoring ministerial neutrality policy
Kim Leadbeater, the Labour MP who has tabled the private member’s bill on assisted dying that will be debated two weeks tomorrow, has said she is “disappointed” by Wes Streeting, the health secretary, saying the new law could cut funding for other NHS services.
Streeting made the claim yesterday, in an interview that implies he is increasingly keen to ensure that MPs vote down the terminally ill adults (end of life) bill at second reading.
Asked about Streeting’s comments, Leadbeater told PoliticsHome:
I’m disappointed that the health secretary came out to speak about the bill before he had even seen the bill, and a couple of comments that were made on the media … would suggest he hasn’t read the bill. So, that is disappointing.
She also implied that Streeting was in breach of an instruction to ministers that they should not take part in the public debate on the bill. She said:
The important thing is that this debate happens, and everybody is absolutely entitled to their different views on the issue.
But I have found it disappointing that some members of the cabinet have spoken out very vocally on the issue, and others have done as instructed and not expressed their views. So, I’ve found that quite disappointing and quite upsetting.
Last month Simon Case, the cabinet secretary, distributed a letter to cabinet ministers telling them that the government was neutral on the bill. He said that in interviews they could confirm their previously stated views on the issue, but he said they “should exercise discretion and should not take part in the public debate”.
Updated
Minister pledges better protection for UK airline passengers
Airline passengers will benefit from tougher enforcement of consumer protection laws following an inquiry into the August 2023 air traffic control meltdown, transport secretary Louise Haigh has said.
A minister has criticised her Tory shadow for talking about “joy” in the health sector about the funding it received.
Karin Smyth, a health minister, said it was a strange word to use given the state of NHS finances left by the last government.
She was speaking in response to an urgent question about the impact of the national insurance increase on GPs, care homes and hospices tabled by the shadow health minister, Dr Luke Evans.
Evans said:
Many in the health sector would have been pleased to hear the announcement of the extra funding going into the NHS [in the budget], only for the joy to be struck down by the realisation of a broken manifesto promise not to raise national insurance contributions.
This was only compounded further on the discovery that a raft of frontline care providers – care homes, hospices, care charities, pharmacies, GPS, to name but a few – found themselves not exempt from the NI rises, leaving them with crippling staff bills and the threat of closure and redundancies.
Smyth said she was as “dumbfounded” by Evans’ comments, adding:
He talks about joy. There was no joy when we inherited the mess that they left back in July.
Smyth said the government “understands the pressures” on GPs and other healthcare providers as a result of the national insurance increase and that funding allocations were being looked at. She said:
The chancellor took into account the impact of changes to national insurance when she allocated an extra £26bn to the Department of Health and Social Care.
There are well established processes for agreeing funding allocations across the system, we are going through those processes now with this issue in mind.
Sinn Féin challenges Starmer to say when he would call border poll, as part of its Irish election campaign
Mary Lou McDonald, president of Sinn Féin, has said Keir Starmer must set out the circumstances in which he will call a referendum on a united Ireland.
McDonald, who is campaigning to be Ireland’s new prime minister as part of a general election campaign, said she would produce a green paper on unification within 100 days of taking office, if successful.
Recent polls show Sinn Féin, which two years ago was the most popular party in Ireland despite being in opposition, will struggle to be returned as the largest party after the ballot on 29 November.
Nonetheless the party is keeping the pressure up and says it would dedicate a junior ministry within the department of the taoiseach dedicated to the party’s long term goal of a single government on the island of Ireland.
The Good Friday agreement says a referendum, or border poll, should take place if the government believes a majority of people in Northern Ireland would vote in favour of reunification. There would be a vote in Northern Ireland and in Ireland. In theory a simple majority would be enough for reunification to happen, but many people believe support would have to be much higher for the vote to carry authority.
Starmer has already said the prospect is “not even on the horizon”.
McDonald told reporters:
The British government needs to start now indicating for them what they believe is the tipping point at which they believe a referendum would be called.
Jim McMahon, the local government minister, has posted this on social media making a similar point to the one that Matthew Pennycook was making in the Commons. (See 11.16am.)
Kemi was of course local government minister when council tax limits were set at 5%.
— Jim McMahon MP (@JimfromOldham) November 14, 2024
The budget which followed planned the same for every year to 2028.
They now want the investment but not the tax they planned for.
The same approach which left taxpayers with a £22bn blackhole. https://t.co/GBKFyOMY5p pic.twitter.com/S4Er6fj2nl
Kemi was of course local government minister when council tax limits were set at 5%.
The budget which followed planned the same for every year to 2028.
They now want the investment but not the tax they planned for.
The same approach which left taxpayers with a £22bn blackhole.
Minister criticises Badenoch for implying cap on council tax rises too high when Tory councillors want cap abolished
As the UQ on council tax went on, Matthew Pennycook, the housing minister, mocked the opposition for not having a clear position on what the council tax cap should be. He also pointed out that, while Kemi Badenoch was implying at PMQs yesterday the cap was too high, her councillors want the cap removed altogether.
In his response to Pennycook’s opening statement (see 10.42am), David Simmonds, a Conservative local government, claimed there was a £3.7bn black hole in local government finance – which he defined as the gap between the planned in increase in local government spending (£3.7bn), and the extra grant allocated (£1.3bn).
He also asked what services might be cut if the 5% cap on council tax increases allowed without a referendum remained in place.
The UQ seemed inspired by today’s Daily Mail splash. (See 9.22am.)
Pennycook said that he did not recognise the £2.4bn figure quoted by Simmonds. He said he assumed it did not include extra money councils would get from business rates, and as a result of new homes being built.
He repeated the point about how the current 5% cap, which is being maintained, was Conservative policy. (See 10.42am.) And he went on:
The question for the opposition is are they saying that that cap should be abolished, as the Rebuilding the Road to Victory Conservative LGA [Local Government Association] document called for? Or are they saying that limit should be reduced, which would be contrary to the policy that was in place when the now leader of the opposition [Kemi Badenoch] was local government minister.
At a briefing yesterday after PMQs, the Tories refused to say what they wanted to happen to the cap.
But in the Rebuilding the Road to Victory document produced by the Tory LGA group before the general election, Conserative local government leaders proposed:
Remove the caps on council tax (mirroring the existing arrangements for parish councils) which will allow councillors to be held accountable for their decisions on taxation at the ballot box. This recommendation if adopted would highlight to government just how financially prudent Conservative councils can be.
UPDATE: This is what a Conservative spokesperson said at a post-PMQs briefing yesterday when asked what the party would do to tackle the shortfall that it says exists in local government funding.
It is not for us to say, we are in opposition. It is for the government, and we’ve just heard them say that the council tax cap is not going to change. So it is now for the government to spell out how they expect councils to deal with that shortfall.
Updated
Tory government planned on basis that council tax could rise by 5%, says minister
In the Commons Matthew Pennycook, the housing minister, is responding to the urgent question about council tax. (See 9.41am.)
He says there have been caps on the extent to which councils can raise council tax every year since 2012. And he says the current cap – 5% for councils which have social care responsibilities – were put in place by the last government. Any council that wants to go beyond the cap has to hold a referendum.
He says, when the last government was in office, the Office for Budget Responsibility assumed that councils would put up council tax by 5% in all years going ahead.
He also accuses the Conservatives of leaving local government finance in “a mess”.
Updated
Government urges live music industry to impose voluntary levy on tickets to help fund grassroots venues
Ministers are urging the live music industry to impose a voluntary levy on tickets to large concerts at stadiums and arenas to help fund grassroots venues.
They want the scheme to come into effect next year. They have said they will consider the effectiveness of this move before deciding if further measures are needed to help small venues.
As PA Media reports, some bands have already taken the step to donate a portion of ticket sales to help fund smaller venues. Enter Shikari gave £1 of every ticket sold for their 2024 arena tour to the Music Venue Trust charity as a gesture of support for the grassroots live music sector. Coldplay have also pledged to donate 10% of profits from their upcoming UK stadium tour to support smaller venues.
In a statement, Chris Bryant, the culture minister, said:
Grassroots music venues are one of the UK’s most valuable and yet undervalued cultural assets. They are where bands try out new material, where whole new genres are born, where musicians experiment and where audiences get to experience the raw power of live music.
These venues support thousands of jobs and are a vital part of our local communities. Without a flourishing grassroots music industry the rest of our music industry will wither.
It is crucial that we work together to support the grassroots including venues, festivals, artists and promoters. That is why I am urging the industry voluntarily to introduce a ticket levy on the biggest commercial players, to help ensure the health and future success of our entire live music industry for decades to come.
Updated
Prof Sir Stephen Powis, national medical director for NHS England, has put out a statement welcoming the waiting list reduction (see 9.53am), but saying the health service will be busier than ever before this winter. He says:
The NHS is going into winter under more pressure and busier than ever before, with another record month for A&E and ambulance services before we even start to see a further spike of pressure caused by colder weather and the spread of winter viruses.
While we saw 10% more A&E patients within four hours than last year despite the record demand, it is vital that people help us out by only going to A&E or calling 999 in a life-threatening emergency, using 111 for other conditions, and getting their Covid, flu and RSV vaccinations if eligible.
However, thanks to the efforts of our amazing staff, these figures also show how they are making use of the latest innovations, including surgical hubs, to bring down waiting lists and deliver 7% more treatments than the same month pre-pandemic, while also delivering more tests and checks than any other September.
While we continue to treat record numbers and deal with record demand, it is clear that is still much further to go to return performance to the levels patients should expect and we will continue to work with government on the 10 Year Health Plan to address the needs of patients.
Hospital waiting list figure for England down to 7.57m, lowest level for 5 months
The waiting list for routine hospital treatment in England has fallen to its lowest level for five months, PA Media reports. PA says:
An estimated 7.57 million treatments were waiting to be carried out at the end of September, relating to 6.34 million patients – down from 7.64 million treatments and 6.42 million patients at the end of August, NHS England said.
These are the lowest figures since April 2024.
The list hit a record high in September 2023, with 7.77 million treatments and 6.50 million patients.
There will be two urgent questions in the Commons after 10.30am, both tabled by Conservative MPs.
First, a local government minister will respond to a UQ from David Simmonds about the cap for council tax rises.
And then a health minister will respond to a UQ from Luke Evans about the impact of the employers’ national insurance increase on GPs, care homes and hospices.
Police service in London faces 'eye-watering cuts', says Met chief Mark Rowley
Good morning. We’re two weeks on from the budget, and from the government’s point of view it seems to have landed quite well. Nothing has unravelled, there have not been any U-turns (yet?) and Labour is confident that it has manoeuvred the Tories into a position where they are attacking the budget tax rises but backing the budget spending measures – an irrational position that is ultimately unsustainable.
But that does not mean budget-related problems for the government have gone away, as a quick look at today’s front pages will show.
The Times is splashing a story about on ongoing complaints from business about the impact of the national insurance tax increase. It says “a post-budget survey of 185 businesses by the CBI found that 61 per cent of companies polled had formed a negative view of [Rachel] Reeves’s announcements, while 60 per cent said it had made Britain a less attractive place to invest.”
TIMES: Business backlash over budget #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/fIAwwt9oia
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) November 13, 2024
The Daily Mail is splashing on a story about how councils in England will be allowed to raise council tax by up to 5% next year without holding a referendum. This is exactly the same cap that has been in place since 2022, but a 5% rise would now be above inflation, and the Conservatives are suggesting the cap should be lower.
MAIL: Now Council Tax to rise by £110 #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/dL08q79hVj
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) November 13, 2024
And Sir Mark Rowley, the Metropolitan police commissioner, has given an interview to the BBC saying there will be “eye-watering cuts” to the police in London because of a lack of government funding. It is not unusual for people running big public service organisations to complain about their budgets when they are negotiating with Whitehall for money, but Rowley’s comments are striking nevertheless. In an interview with Nick Robinson for his Political Thinking podcast Rowley said he was “deeply troubled” by the situation he was in. He explained:
This is not just about this year’s decisions, but it’s a cumulative effect of decisions over the last decade or so which have put us in a more and more precarious position.
Some of the things that successive commissioners and mayors have used to balance the books - like selling police stations and using reserves - all of those things have run out. So those are propped up the budget. Those props have gone.
The chancellor has been very clear - it’s a difficult public sector context. You add all those things together and you get a dramatic change in budgets, and of a scale that’s never going to be absorbed by efficiencies. And it’s going to require some pretty eye-watering cuts to the services we provide to London.
Rowley said he faced some “very, very difficult choices” and that these would become clear to the public “over the next few weeks”.
The government says it will increase spending on the police next year, but individual force budgets have not been decided yet. It wants to talk about pension funds instead. Reeves is delivering her Mansion House speech tonight and, as Kalyeena Makortoff reports, she is going to announce plans to merge local government retirement schemes into “megafunds”.
There is not much in the political diary for today, but no doubt the God of News will give us something to write about.
If you want to contact me, please post a message below the line or message me on social media. I can’t read all the messages BTL, but if you put “Andrew” in a message aimed at me, I am more likely to see it because I search for posts containing that word.
If you want to flag something up urgently, it is best to use social media. You can reach me on Bluesky at @andrewsparrowgdn. The Guardian has given up posting from its official accounts on X because the site has become too awful. But individual Guardian journalists are still there, I have still have my account, and if you message me there at @AndrewSparrow, I will see it and respond if necessary. I was trying Threads for a bit, but I am stepping back from that because it’s not a good platform for political news.
I find it very helpful when readers point out mistakes, even minor typos. No error is too small to correct. And I find your questions very interesting too. I can’t promise to reply to them all, but I will try to reply to as many as I can, either BTL or sometimes in the blog.
Updated
