Summary of the day so far
Today’s UK politics live blog will be closing shortly. Thank you for following it and for sending in your emails. Here is a summary of the day so far:
Keir Starmer returned to Southport on Friday, visiting the town for the second time this week after Monday’s knife attack. The prime minister met members of the local community, according to the Liverpool Echo, along with metro mayor Steve Rotheram, Merseyside chief constable Serena Kennedy and representatives from the police, faith groups, health services and the education and voluntary sectors. He also paid a visit to Alder Hey children’s hospital in Liverpool, where many of the victims of Monday’s attack were treated. Starmer thanked staff for their hard work and professionalism in responding to the attack.
There is potential for more violence in the wake of the Southport attack, a Home Office minister has said, as he warned those planning on organising further disorder “we will be watching you”. Asked how concerned the government is about the prospect of further disorder on the streets this weekend, David Hanson told LBC Radio: “There is that potential. But I always say to anybody who’s organising this, we will be watching you.”
John Woodcock, the UK government’s adviser on political violence and disruption, said police should be prepared to step in if it appears troublemakers were travelling to incite riots. Woodcock, who is a crossbench peer, said disinformation contributed to the unrest which broke out in a number of locations around England after the Southport attack. Asked about the best way to prevent the riots, he said protests were sometimes being used as a cover for “violent action”. He said: “People absolutely have the right to protest in this country, but they do not have the right to riot.”
The Guardian has seen details of at least 19 far-right rallies being planned for the coming days in towns and cities across England. Many of the events are taking place under the banner “enough is enough” and “protect our kids” – the same slogan used by demonstrators outside Downing Street on Wednesday evening.
Zara Mohammed, the secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), has said hundreds of mosques across the country will be strengthening their security and protective measures this weekend. Mohammed said on Friday: “Yesterday we hosted a mosque security community briefing and we had representation from hundreds of mosques across the country and there was palpable fear.”
The campaign group, Stand Up to Racism warned that far-right demonstrations are being organised for this coming weekend in more than 25 towns and cities. It adds that “some of these [demonstrations] are specifically targeting mosques”.
Nine counter-demonstrations are due to take place this weekend, said Stand Up to Racism. On Saturday, there will be counter-demonstrations in Liverpool, Cardiff, Leeds, Manchester, Bristol, Nottingham and Stoke-on-Trent, it said. On Sunday, counter-demonstrations are scheduled for Rotherham and Weymouth.
Nottinghamshire police said it was aware of “two protests that may be taking place in Nottingham city centre this Saturday”, and that there would be a “robust police response” to any disorder.
South Yorkshire police said it was “aware of a planned protest in Rotherham this weekend” and that there may be “an increased police presence across the county”.
Thames Valley police said it is aware of a “potential planned protest this weekend in High Wycombe” and that officers would “swiftly respond” if it escalates into violent disorder.
Liverpool city region mayor Steve Rotheram said he was “concerned” that there could be a “repeat of violence somewhere in the Liverpool city region”, but added: “We know exactly what we’d need to do to ensure that these things are nipped in the bud.” Rotheram also told ITV’s Good Morning Britain that Nigel Farage was giving “legitimacy” to violent rioters and “excusing them”.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said it is aware of calls “to block roads using women and children” and for a march to an Islamic centre in Belfast to be held on Saturday.
Merseyside police has made seven arrests related to the violent disorder in Southport on Tuesday evening, with further arrests to be made over the coming weeks, the force has said.
Former head of counter-terrorism policing Neil Basu said Farage “should think very carefully” about “the power of his words”. Asked about comments made by the Reform UK leader, Basu told ITV’s Good Morning Britain on Friday: “That is a far-right politician once again trying to direct policing and law and order. He doesn’t speak for tens of millions of people, the prime minister does – who has to serve the whole population, not just the ones he likes.” Basu warned that police forces could be facing a “long, hot summer”.
The culture secretary said her concern is that “warning signs” are spotted in the future, after former BBC presenter Huw Edwards admitted having indecent images of children. Lisa Nandy asked the BBC to look into whether it can recoup money from Huw Edwards’ pay packet, during a meeting with director general Tim Davie on Thursday. Nandy also appeared to suggest that some of findings of an internal investigation into Edwards should be made public.
Rachel Reeves has been urged to reverse her “ill-advised” decision to strip most pensioners of their winter fuel payments, or risk millions of people being forced to choose between turning on the heating or preparing a hot meal. Jan Shortt, the general secretary of the National Pensioners Convention (NPC), one of the UK’s biggest campaigning organisation for older people, has written to the chancellor, noting many older people may “not survive to see the spring or any other season” after the payments are cut.
Meghan Gallacher, the deputy leader of the Scottish Conservatives, has become the first woman to put herself forward to replace Douglas Ross as leader of the party. Gallacher – considered a rising star of the party – said that Scottish Tories needed “an open leadership contest, debating ideas and the future direction of our party”, the day after the timetable for the contest was announced.
The governor of the Bank of England has dismissed concerns raised by the Conservatives that the new government’s plans for public sector pay rises would risk stoking inflation and keep interest rates higher for longer. The Bank’s governor, Andrew Bailey, told journalists after the rate announcement that the planned pay awards of 5-6% would have a relatively small impact on headline inflation, and suggested it was not a focus for the Bank.
The Labour government must “change course” on its approach to social care, dozens of sector leaders have said, as they described how announcements this week on funding and charging reforms had been a “bitter pill” to swallow. A letter on behalf of the leaders of 30 organisations in the sector, including Care England, the National Care Forum, Learning Disability England and the Homecare Association, has been sent to health secretary Wes Streeting.
The boss of Royal London, the UK’s biggest insurance group owned by its members, has expressed caution about Labour’s ambition to use pensions to drive economic growth, as he warned of a “ticking timebomb” and urged the government to make greater saving for retirement a priority. The new chancellor, Rachel Reeves, is launching a landmark pensions review, and pledged a “big bang” for private pension funds, as the government wants to unlock billions of pounds to invest in UK infrastructure and housing.
Culture secretary Lisa Nandy has said she will be speaking with sporting bodies about “inclusion, fairness and safety” after what she described as an “incredibly uncomfortable watch” when asked about the Olympic boxing controversy. But Nandy said the “biological facts are far more complicated than is being presented on social media” as she spoke about Italian fighter Angela Carini having abandoned her bout against Algeria’s Imane Khelif this week.
Kemi Badenoch has brought in a Conservative councillor to help on her leadership bid who referred to a female politician in a vulgar manner in a message to another colleague. Badenoch has Tory councillor Oliver Cooper on her team despite it having emerged in legal action that he had sent messages in 2017 about a female councillor to another activist calling her offensive names.
The new Labour government has shelved £1.3bn of funding pledged by the Conservatives for technology and artificial intelligence projects, putting the future of the UK’s first next-generation supercomputer in doubt. The projects, announced last year, include £800m for the creation of an exascale supercomputer at the University of Edinburgh and a further £500m for the AI Research Resource, which funds computing power for AI.
The Home Office threatened to forcibly remove a man from the UK who is likely to be a key witness in the inquest of the asylum seeker who died on the Bibby Stockholm barge. Yusuf Deen Kargbo, 20, a boxer who competed for Sierra Leone in the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham before claiming asylum, was Leonard Farruku’s roommate on the barge and almost certainly the last person to have seen him alive.
Speaking at the launch of his Conservative leadership campaign, Robert Jenrick said his position on the European convention on human rights (ECHR) was “crystal clear” when asked by journalists whether he would be prepared to leave the ECHR. Jenrick has previously argued for the UK to leave the convention. The main reason the Conservatives lost the election was continuing a “cycle of broken promises” on immigration, he said at the event in Newark, Nottinghamshire, adding that he wants “to breathe new life into our party”.
After Jenrick’s campaign launch, the Liberal Democrats said that the Tory leadership hopeful had a “terrible record of failure” and symbolises how his party has “moved further and further away from lifelong Conservative voters”. Lib Dem deputy leader Daisy Cooper said: “Jenrick is now a symbol of the way the Conservative party has moved further and further away from lifelong Conservative voters in the ‘blue wall’.”
Scottish ministers are being urged to learn lessons from Wales’s introduction of a “lifesaving” default 20mph speed limit. Green transport spokesperson Mark Ruskell made the plea after figures from Wales showed a drop in casualties on 20mph and 30mph roads in the first three months of 2024, after the lower default speed limit was introduced.
Updated
Pensioner body calls on Reeves to reverse cut to winter fuel allowance
Rachel Reeves has been urged to reverse her “ill-advised” decision to strip most pensioners of their winter fuel payments, or risk millions of people being forced to choose between turning on the heating or preparing a hot meal.
The chancellor has faced fury from backbenchers, who have questioned how many older people will die of cold as a result of denying about 10 million pensioners the payments.
Jan Shortt, the general secretary of the National Pensioners Convention (NPC), one of the UK’s biggest campaigning organisation for older people, has written to the chancellor, noting many older people may “not survive to see the spring or any other season” after the payments are cut.
Reeves said she was making “difficult decisions” after she accused the Conservative government of leaving behind £22bn of unfunded commitments that it had “covered up from the country”.
Introducing a means test for the winter fuel payment, where only those on benefits qualify, is expected to cut the number of pensioners receiving the payment from 11.4 million to 1.5 million, saving £1.4bn this financial year.
Shortt said in her letter to the chancellor:
Our members are angered and concerned about your plan to remove the winter fuel payment from older people who do not receive pension credit.
There are already 2 million older people in poverty across the UK. For them, this means living in damp, cold homes, washing in cold water and not using the cooker, all to save money. At least a further 1 million older people live with precarious finances and face growing financial insecurity.”
You can read the full piece here:
