Afternoon summary
Matt Goodwin, the GB News presenter and former academic named today as Reform UK’s candidate in the Gorton and Denton byelection, has refused to disown his claim that UK-born people from minority ethnic backgrounds are not necessarily British. The Green party leader, Zack Polanski, said that, by choosing Goodwin as a candidate, Reform were turning the byelection into “a straight contest between hope and hate”. He went on:
The Green party will be out campaigning every day, to improve the cost of living by taxing the super rich.
We alone will be taking the fight to Reform, whose selection of a man with a track record of anti-Muslim bigotry in a community with a good history of community relations is an insult to the people of Gorton and Denton.
It tells you everything you need to know that Reform are parachuting in this rent-an-extremist; this isn’t about representing the people of Gorton and Genton, it’s about using this place as a platform for their careers.
For a full list of all the stories covered on the blog today, do scroll through the list of key event headlines near the top of the blog.
John Healey tells MPs he has identified 'military options' that could be used to seize Russian-linked tankers busting sanctions
Dan Sabbagh is the Guardian’s defence and security editor.
Britain has “identified further military options” that the UK could deploy to capture Russia linked oil tankers and is in discussions with Baltic and Nordic countries about possible joint seizures, the defence secretary said.
John Healey told MPs on the defence select committee that the UK would shortly host a meeting of the 10-country Joint Expeditionary Force to examine military and legal options to target sanctions-busting shipping linked to Russia.
Countries belonging to the Joint Expeditionary Force, traditionally chaired by the UK, include Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden as well as the three Baltic states – all the maritime nations nearest Russia’s Baltic and Arctic ports on which oil exports increasingly depend.
Healey told the committee:
I’ve now identified further military options that we can use to target shadow shipping. I’m discussing these with cabinet colleagues.
The UK will host a meeting shortly of JEF Nations, the military legal experts, that allow us to look at the legal basis on which we can act against shadow shipping and sanctioned ships, and the military options that we might use.
Earlier this month, the US military seized the Marinera or Bella 1 oil tanker with help from the RAF and the Royal Navy. The ship was sailing from the Caribbean sea towards Russia, having hastily reflagged itself under Russian jurisdiction.
The tanker had been accused of previously shipping sanctioned Russian and Iranian oil to China, so partly funding Moscow’s war effort in Ukraine. Healey told MPs he would like to see any oil seized “recycled and put into Ukraine in order to fight Putin’s invasion”.
Welsh government digs in after Shabana Mahmood rejects its call for full policing devolution
Bethan McKernan is the Guardian’s Wales correspondent.
The Welsh government has reiterated that the Labour-led Cardiff administration seeks full devolution of policing and criminal justice after the home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, rejected Welsh policing powers in sweeping proposed policing reforms.
In a response to Monday’s white paper, the cabinet secretary for social justice, Jane Hutt, said today that the administration and the Welsh Labour party’s long-term goal remains full devolution of policing and criminal justice, as per the recommendation of three independent commissions. She said:
I am encouraged by the constructive approach of the Home Office in engaging with the unique Welsh landscape, which is recognised in the paper. However, the mechanisms for achieving this [must] ensure that funds raised in Wales are retained in Wales.
Similarly, the introduction of centrally devised targets and changes to the oversight of police force performance may have merit, but it will be essential that any targets and oversight arrangements that apply in Wales are designed for the Welsh context, from the outset.
To support the review, at a minimum, we would expect to make the case that, given the difference in laws and working practices between Wales and England, no single regional police force should operate across both sides of the Anglo-Welsh border.
Hutt’s statement came after a Commons exchange on Monday in which Mahmoud replied “No, I do not” to the question “Does [the home secretary] not agree that this package of radical changes is exactly the right time for the devolution of policing to Wales?”
Incarceration levels and lengths of sentences are higher in Wales than the rest of western Europe, a phenomenon researchers attribute to gaps and overlap between the English and Welsh systems.
The Welsh government aims to agree a future form of governance with the Home Office before the Senedd dissolves in April ahead of elections, Hutt added.
The two Labour administrations will “need to build on what currently works well and strengthen the devolution settlement,” she said.
The Lib Dem take on Matt Goodwin’s selection as Reform UK’s candidate in Gorton and Denton is similar to Labour’s. (See 4.57pm.) Lisa Smart, the party’s Cabinet Office spokesperson, said:
Reform UK’s selection of Matthew Goodwin proves they are a party built on a single foundation: division.
Like Nigel Farage, Goodwin has made a career out of talking our country down. He is a professional wind-up merchant, more interested in chasing headlines than putting an end to the cost of living crisis facing families.
‘Not surprised at all’: Fareham voters size up Suella Braverman’s Reform switch
Priya Bharadia has been in Fareham, where Suella Braverman is the MP, finding out how people feel about her defecting to Reform UK. Not at all surprised is the answer.
Labour says Reform has shown it is offering 'division, animosity and hatred' by having Goodwin as candidate
Lucy Powell, Labour’s deputy leader, has claimed that, by selecting Matt Goodwin as a candidate, Reform UK has shown it is just offering “division, animosity and hatred”.
In a statement, Powell said:
Matt Goodwin represents the kind of politics that will drive a wedge between communities in Manchester.
Reform have misjudged the mood around Manchester and they won’t put the priorities of working people first. They just offer division, animosity, and hatred – not the unity and pride which our city stands for.
Powell is referring to comments from Goodwin like those referred to earlier (see 2.47pm and 3.35pm), or this interview he gave last year, in which he said the British establishment should have paid more attention to the concerns being raised by the far-right activist Tommy Robinson from 2009.
(Ironically, this was not a view that Goodwin expressed about Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, when he wrote a critical article about him for the Guardian in 2013.)
Updated
Labour activists in Gorton and Denton urge Starmer to lift ban on Burnham being candidate
Some 17 members of the Gorton and Denton Labour party have written to Keir Starmer and Shabana Mahmood (in her capacity as chair of the national executive committee) asking them to lift the ban on Andy Burnham being a byelection candidate in the constituency, the Telegraph’s Dominic Penna and Robert White report. In their letter, the activists say:
Let the best come forward to represent our wonderful constituency and brilliant people. Let the brightest and most convincing campaigner be selected in what will be a nation defining by-election battle between Labour and Reform. Let Gorton and Denton not be the first domino in Greater Manchester to fall to Reform and instead the platform for the fight back against national populism.
As post holders and activists from across our CLP we demand simply that we decide who our candidate should be. In that way our campaigners will come out and work tirelessly for their candidate in their campaign to win and vanquish Reform. This means the NEC should reverse the decision to block Andy Burnham and allow him and anyone else to stand before us and make their case to represent our seat at this unprecedented political moment.
UK ministers accept $1m from Meta amid social media ban consultation
Ministers have accepted $1m (£728,000) from Meta, the US tech and social media company, to build AI systems for defence, national security and transport, sparking warnings about the UK government’s “alarmingly close relationship with Trump-supporting US tech giants”, Robert Booth reports.
Only 12% of Britons think Burnham would be worse PM than Starmer, poll suggests
YouGov has released on Andy Burnham and it suggests that 30% of Britons think he would do a better job as PM than Keir Starmer. Only 12% think he would be worse. Among people who voted Labour in 2024, 40% think Burnham would be better.
Asked the same question about Angela Rayner, Wes Streeting or Shabana Mahmood, Burnham’s three main rivals as potential alternatives to Starmer, in each case only 12% of people, or fewer, think they would do better than Starmer.
The poll also suggests that almost half of Britons think it would be good for the country if Starmer were replaced.
Goodwin claims rise of Reform UK biggest insurgency in UK politics since Labour replaced Liberals 100 yeas ago
At his press conference Matt Goodwin also said that he did not accept the Reform UK was just a new version of the Conservative party. Instead, he said, it was part of the biggest insurgency in British politics since the rise of the Labour party.
Goodwin, who spent more than a decade as a politics academic at the universities of Manchester, Nottingham and Kent, explained:
I’ve never personally viewed, and I don’t think people at the top of Reform view it this way, as a Tory party. 2.0.
I’ve got lots of friends in the party who are former Labour people, former Lib Dem people, none of the above people.
And to me, that’s where the power of this movement really lies, because what we are living through is truly historic.
This is the most significant insurgency since the rise of the Labour party 100 years ago, when it replaced the Liberals. This is a seismic political revolution that we are all living through.
And I think the reason it is so strong and persistent is because the people in seats like Gorton and Denton are saying, these two parties, they don’t come close to representing my values any more.
They’re both they’re both OK with mass migration. They’re both OK with net zero. They’re both OK with woke ideology, which they’ve jammed down our throats for the last 20 years. They’re both OK, basically, with staying in the European convention on human rights. They’re both OK with the status quo. And I think many people now can sense that.
So I think it’s about a broad tent and getting that broad tent together, but keeping the British people at the heart of it.
For an alternative take on whether Reform is a new version of the Conservative party, this is from the Telegraph’s Ben Riley-Smith.
Reform now has Boris Johnson’s…
- chancellor (Zahawi)
- communities sec (Jenrick)
- culture sec (Dorries)
- attorney general (Braverman)
- political sec (Kruger)
- skills minister (Jenkyns)
- Northern powerhouse minister (Berry)
- health minister (Caulfield)
- parliamentary private sec (Nici)
- assistant whip (Holloway)
- Scottish minister (Offord)
The old band getting back together
Goodwin ducks questions about whether he still thinks Britons for foreign heritage aren't always fully British
Josh Halliday is the Guardian’s North of England editor.
Matt Goodwin, the Reform UK candidate in the crucial Gorton and Denton byelection, has ducked questions about whether he stands by his claim that UK-born people from minority ethnic backgrounds are not necessarily British.
Goodwin has been criticised for claiming recently that being born and brought up in the UK did not mean that people from black, Asian or other immigrant backgrounds were always British, saying: “It takes more than a piece of paper to make somebody ‘British’.”
Speaking at an event in Denton, the GB News presenter declined twice to answer when asked by the Guardian whether he stands by those views – which have been described by the Lib Dems as “racist” and “abhorrent”.
Nearly half of the Gorton and Denton population – 44% – identify as coming from an ethnic minority background, while 79% of the constituency identifies as British, according to the latest census.
Goodwin refused to answer the Guardian’s questions as he posed for photographs alongside Lee Anderson, the Reform UK MP, at a bar in Denton.
Anderson, the party’s chief whip, described the Manchester-born former academic as a “fearless” activist who would “debate anybody at any time”.
Updated
Goodwin dismisses suggestions his record may make it hard for him to win minorty ethnic votes in Gorton and Denton
At his press conference, Matt Goodwin, the new Reform UK candidate for Gorton and Denton, was asked what his message would be constituency’s minority ethnic population. Around a quarter of the population there is of Asian heritage, and another 9% are black, according to census figures. Goodwin has been criticised in the past for suggesting that some UK-born people from minority ethnic backgrounds are not fully British.
In response, Goodwin said:
My message to everybody in this seat is if you are working hard, paying taxes, contributing to this economy, you should be as concerned by what’s happening in 10 Downing Street as I am.
We have got a government under Keir Starmer that is clearly not in touch with the people in this seat.
It’s not about what your religion is, it’s not about what your race is, what your ethnicity is.
It’s about whether or not you play by the rules, whether or not you feel that you’re being respected, you feel the system is being fair to you, whether you can set up a business and make it thrive, whether you’re are safe, whether your high street is actually a place that fills you with pride.
I don’t view it in that in those divisive terms.
Pubs and live music venues to get support after business rates backlash, Treasury confirms
Here is our updated story on the rescue package for pubs – which doesn’t just cover pubs.
The Treasury has unveiled a support package worth tens of millions of pounds for pubs and live music venues in England and Wales, in a climbdown that follows a fierce backlash against plans to overhaul business rates, Rob Davies and Mark Sweney report.
This is from my colleague Peter Walker on Matt Goodwin being Reform UK’s candidate in Gorton and Denton.
Even with the caveat that lots of voters barely notice who a candidate it, Reform selecting Matt Goodwin for Gorton and Denton is... bold:
• Not a politician
• Has said some pretty fruity things
• Quite thin-skinned
Book me in for the hustings.
This story helps to explain what Peter is referring to.
Treasury minister says every pub in England to get 15% off business rates bill from April
In the Commons Dan Tomlinson, a Treasury minister, has just delivered a statement on the £100m rescue package for pubs. It was his first time delivering a Commons statement of this kind and he mucked it up, running well over the 10 minutes allocated. When Caroline Nokes, the deputy speaker, told him he was taking too long and to wrap quickly, he just ploughed on – with the result that the speaker himself, Lindsay Hoyle was summoned to tell him he was using up too much time. Tomlinson apologised.
In his statement, he announced that every pub in England will get 15% off its business rates bill from April.
Julia Kollewe has more details on the business live blog.
GB News presenter and former academic Matt Goodwin named as Reform UK's candidate in Gorton and Denton
Reform UK has announced that Matt Goodwin, the campaigner and former academic, as its candidate in Gorton and Denton.
In a news release, Reform said:
Matt is a leading writer, broadcaster and academic. He was made by Manchester - which he calls ‘the greatest city in the world’. He lived in the city for many years and considers it home.
Matt’s family is from Manchester. His grandfather worked full time in a Manchester steel factory. His grandmother worked for the University of Salford, which Matt later attended.
Both his parents worked for the NHS in Manchester - his father ran the Greater Manchester Health Authority and his mother went to college in the city before working for the health board.
Matt was the first person in his family to go to university - he went to the University of Salford. He worked throughout his degree, even delivering fast food in the Gorton and Denton area.
As an academic, Goodwin made his name studying rightwing populism and, with Rob Ford, now a politics professor, he published an acclaimed book about Ukip in 2014, Revolt on the Right.
But over time Goodwin moved from being a student of national populism to being an advocate for it, and now he is a commentator and GB News presenter.
Commenting on his selection as a candidate, Goodwin said:
This byelection is a referendum on Keir Starmer. It is a chance for the people of Gorton and Denton to have their say on Keir Starmer and make history.
I will stand up for the local people of Gorton and Denton against the broken Westminster establishment. I will demand Britain fixes its borders, invests in our National Health Service, and clamps down on crime and antisocial behaviour.
Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, said the byelection would give voters a chance “to get rid of Keir Starmer and change the direction of this country”.
Updated
Labour’s Gorton and Denton byelection campaign hit by fallout from ‘vile’ WhatsApp chat
Labour’s campaign for a vital byelection has been dealt a fresh blow after six local councillors were found to have breached standards rules in a “vile” WhatsApp chat, Josh Halliday reports.
No 10 says it will 'robustly' defend interests of taxpayers as Rwanda sues UK over deportation scheme cancellation
Downing Street has said it will “robustly” defend the interests of British taxpayers after it emerged that Rwanda is taking the UK to court over the compensation paid for the cancellation of the Rwanda migrant deportation scheme.
The UK has already paid Rwanda £290m, but the dispute – which is the subject of a case being considered by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague – reportedly revolves around another £50m that Rwanda believes is owed.
Asked about the case, the PM’s spokesperson told journalists at the No 10 lobby briefing:
The Rwanda scheme was a complete disaster. It wasted £700m of taxpayer cash to return just four volunteers.
The truth is that 84,000 people crossed the Channel from the day the Rwanda deal was signed to the day it was scrapped. It was never a deterrent.
We will robustly defend our position to protect British taxpayers, and we’re getting on with the job of focusing on effective ways to stamp out illegal migration, not costly gimmicks.
Updated
Lee Dillon (Lib Dem) asked why the government is not tackling unreasonable service charges that some leaseholders have to pay in the bill.
Pennycook said that he thought the 2024 legislation would tackle the problem. He said that he hoped the relevant provisions would be “switched on at the earliest opportunity”.
Rayner urges ministers to take on 'vested interests' opposed to leasehold reform and their 'outrageous' scaremongering
Angela Rayner, the former deputy PM and former housing secretary, welcomed the announced.
But she said she was worried that “vested interests” would resort to “lawfare” to block these plans. She went on:
We’ve already seen the scaremongering with outrageous claims that this will impact on life-saving, building safety work.
Rayner was referring to claims like those made by the Residential Freehold Association. (See 9.41am.)
In response, Pennycook paid tribute to the work done by Rayner contributing to these plans, saying she had been an “incredible champion” for reform. He said the government had already fought off a legal challenge by freeholders. And he went on:
I simply say to Rayner, as she is well aware – and she embodies this herself – taking on vested interests opposed to change, to bring about improvements in the lives of working people, is what Labour governments do.
Updated
Pennycook says getting rid of ground rents immediately would carry 'significant risks'
For the Lib Dems, Gideon Amos said that Pennycook himself described ground rents as a “scam” in an interview this morning. Given that, Amos asked why the government is not just getting rid of them now.
Pennycook said that initially he was in favour of setting the cap for ground rents at a peppercorn rate (ie, virtually nothing). But he said, having studied the evidence, he was persuaded that this would carry “significant risks”. He also said that after 40 years ground rents will be set at a peppercorn rate.
Gareth Bacon, a shadow minister, responded to Pennycook for the Tories.
He said Labour promised leaseshold reform in its manifesto, so it was “about time they got on with it”. That prompted jeering from Labour MPs because of the last Conservative government dragged its feet over leasehold reform for years.
He said the Tories started the reform process and “remain committed to giving leaseholders a fair deal”.
And he asked if it was true that Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, was opposed to putting a cap on ground rents because she was worried about the impact on investment.
This is what Pennycook told MPs about the plan to cap ground rents.
Historically, ground rents, which often entail no service being provided whatsoever, were of low or nominal value.
However, over the past two decades, a practice has developed of freeholders including high and escalating ground rate clauses in leases. Such clauses are causing leaseholders considerable financial strain, and some are unable to sell or remortgage their properties as a result.
The draft bill will cap ground rents at £250 per year initially, changing to a peppercorn after 40 years.
This will provide immediate financial relief for leaseholders with high and harmful ground rents.
Housing minister Matthew Pennycook makes statement to MPs about leasehold reform plans
Pennycook started by stressing the government is implementing a manifesto commitment.
We made a clear and unambiguous commitment in our manifesto to act where previous governments had failed, and finally bring the feudal leasehold system to an end.
We did so on the basis of a firm conviction that it is only by extinguishing fully the historical iniquities on which the present leasehold system rests, that we can ensure that the dream of home ownership is made real for millions of households across the country today.
In the Commons Matthew Pennycook, the housing minister, is making a statement about the leasehold reform plans announced first thing this morning. (See 8.57am.)
Before he started, Lindsay Hoyle, the speaker, complained that for the second day in a row (it was police reform yesterday) the government had ignored the commitment in the ministerial code for major announcements to be made in the Commons chamber first.
SNP claims Scottish people 'can sack Starmer' in Holyrood elections in May
Plaid Cymru and the SNP have both issued statements to make the fact that we are now 100 days away from the Scottish parliament, Welsh Senedd and English council elections.
Rhun ap Iorwerth, the Plaid leader, said that on 7 May the people of Wales could vote for “a government steadfast in standing up for Wales when we are shortchanged by Westminster”.
And Stephen Flynn, the SNP leader at Westminster, said that by voting SNP in May “the Scottish people can sack Keir Starmer and choose a fresh start with independence”.
The SNP has also put this message on a poster.
But it may not even be true. Starmer won’t be on the ballot paper in Scotland, and in theory there is no reason why the result should affect his position in Westminster at all. Flynn is referring to the widespread assumption that a disastrous result in the May elections will trigger a leadership challenge that will result in Starmer being replaced. That is definitely a possibility; but it is a long way from being a certainty, and possibly not even likely. British political history is littered with examples of prime ministers who hang on because their parties cannot agree on a replacement.
What survivor Mala Tribich told cabinet to mark Holocaust memorial day
Downing Street has released the text of what Mala Tribich, a Holocaust survivor, told cabinet this morning when she addressed it mark Holocaust memorial day. (See 10.57am.) Here is an extract.
In the camps, we were stripped naked, shaved, put through freezing cold showers and given the prisoner garb. When we looked at each other, we barely recognised each other. We all looked the same. We were stripped not only of our freedom, but of our identities, our dignity, our humanity. It was as if they had taken away our very souls.
When I arrived in Bergen-Belsen, the first thing that hit you was the smog and the stench.
It was a hell on earth. Those still alive shuffled about like skeletons and just collapsed where they stood.
Disease was everywhere and I became very ill with typhus. I could hardly move.
One day, from the window of my barracks, I saw people running and all I could think of was how did they have the strength to run?
That was on 15 April 1945, when we were liberated by the British army …
Having endured the Holocaust, we survivors never imagined we would witness antisemitism at the levels it is today.
What we have seen in Manchester on Yom Kippur, and in Sydney on Chanukah, has shaken me to my core. How, 81 years after the Holocaust, can Jewish people once again be targeted in this way?
Remembering the past is no longer enough.
I speak to you, leaders of the country I proudly call home and I plead that you do what needs to be done to tackle this hatred.
When I was in Bergen-Belsen, I still had hope. because without hope you cannot survive.
Today, I have hope. I have hope in the next generation, the thousands of young people who have heard my testimony.
'Death knell for leaseshold' - campaigner welcomes ground rents being capped
Other lawyers have welcomed the leasehold reform plans.
This is from Gary Scott, a property litigation Partner at the London law firm Spector Constant & Williams.
The UK government’s newly announced cap on ground rents will, in practice, materially affect a relatively small minority of leaseholders, likely less than 25% of all those with a ground‑rent obligation. Current government estimates indicate that around 770,000 to 900,000 leaseholders pay more than £250 per year, out of approximately 3.8m leasehold properties that still carry a ground‑rent charge.
While this means the vast majority of leaseholders will see no direct financial change from this measure, for the much smaller group of leaseholders still burdened by onerous, doubling, or investment‑linked ground rents, the impact will substantial.
These leaseholders often face difficulties remortgaging, selling, or affording their homes due to ground‑rent terms that have been widely acknowledged as unfair and sometimes financially hazardous. The cap therefore represents a targeted but meaningful intervention, resolving some of the most acute cases of ground‑rent exploitation and bringing relief to those who have been disproportionately affected by historic leasehold practices.
And this is from Liam Spender, a lawyer involved in the Leaseholder Action group.
The £250 ground rent cap sounds the death knell for leasehold in England and Wales.
Some will no doubt be disappointed that ground rents are not being eliminated immediately and are instead being phased out over 40 years. However, crucially the cap will make it cheaper for people to buy the freehold and to extend their leases, both of which are priced by reference to ground rent values.
Leasehold reform plans will weaken UK's appeal as 'destination for global capital', insurance industry claims
The ABI (Association of British Insurers), which says it represents an industry managing investments worth £1.4tn (trillion) says the government plans to cap ground rents will weaken the UK’s appeal as a destination for global investment.
An ABI spokesperson said:
We support proportionate leasehold reform but pension funds – like the rest of the financial services industry – require predictable and stable rule of law if they are to have the confidence to invest.
We are deeply concerned that retrospective changes to existing property rights set a troubling precedent and undermine confidence in contract certainty. It is likely to raise the risk premium that investors attach to the UK and could weaken its appeal as a destination for global capital and the domestic market.
TheCityUK, a trade group representing the financial services industry, has also made the same point. This is from John Godfrey, its managing director for policy, public affairs and research.
The industry recognises and supports the need to address remaining egregious ground rents, but a blanket cap of £250 decimates a long-established asset class and will impact the value of people’s pension savings. Retrospectively re-writing contracts in this way undermines the UK’s reputation for certainty and as a market which respects the rule of law and sends a strongly negative message to firms considering investing in the UK, whether in housing, infrastructure, or other asset classes.
And this is from Balraj Birdi, real estate partner and head of living investment at the law firm Eversheds Sutherland.
The draft commonhold and leasehold reform bill is a major shift in how long‑term property ownership is structured in England. The headline is a £250 cap on ground rents for 40 years before dropping to a peppercorn, which will be welcome news for leaseholders facing escalating costs. However, this isn’t a small tweak as it effectively removes long‑standing contractual rights that pension funds and ground‑rent investors have relied on, reducing asset values overnight and raising questions about future investment in new housing.
In Treasury questions Dan Tomlinson, a Treasury minister, has just confirmed that he will make a ministerial statement later about the government’s support package for pubs facing higher business rate costs.
Tomlinson will give his statement at about 1.30pm, after a statement at about 12.30pm from Matthew Pennycook, the housing minister, about the draft commonhold and leasehold reform bill.
Burnham rejects claim he was told by No 10 in advance that, if he applied to be byelection candidate, he would be blocked
This morning Robert Peston, ITV’s political editor, said he had been told by a “source close to the PM” that Andy Burnham “was informed in no uncertain terms that he would be repulsed” if he applied to be the candidate in Gorton and Denton. Peston said No 10 “therefore interpret his application as an explicit attempt to destabilise Starmer and sow dissent, rather than – which he claims – see off the threat from Reform”.
Responding to Peston’s post on social media, Burnham said:
This is simply untrue.
Peston then posted a follow-up message saying that he had spoken to a second insider source saying that the first one was wrong and Burnham was right.
Andy Burnham, mayor of Greater Manchester, says it is untrue he was given advance warning that the NEC committee would reject his application to stand in Gorton and Denton. Source: “Andy Burnham is seeking an urgent call with No 10 about the briefing which he says is untrue and breaks a commitment given to him by the PM.”
This is all getting surreal. Another source close to the PM disputes what my original source close to the PM says about Burnham being warned not to bother to apply to be a candidate in the by election. Just so you know (and yes it is faintly ridiculous)
Who knows quite what was said? But what is clear is that, without picking up the phone to No 10, Burnham should have known towards the end of last week just by reading the Guardian that there was no chance Starmer was going to let him bee Labour’s candidate. This is what Jessica Elgot wrote in her analysis on Thursday.
[Burnham] faces the challenge of getting selected by a panel of the party’s ruling national executive committee. Four NEC members who spoke to the Guardian gave his chances of being selected by that body as “zero”.
Starmer and Burnham have personal animosity, but that is nothing compared with the cold fury that senior figures in No 10 feel towards Burnham for what they see as his openly planning a coup against the prime minister.
Wes Streeting, the health secretary, brought his party umbrella to Downing Street this morning. Maybe he was inspired by Angela Rayner’s speech about being “unapologetically Labour”. (See 9.27am.)
Manchester city council leader Bev Craig rules out standing to be Labour's candidate in Gorton and Denton
Some Labour figures have already given up hope of the party winning the Gorton and Denton byelection, the Times reports. In its overnight story, it says:
A senior government figure told The Times: “Realistically we know that we’re going to lose. But it was a question of what was worse: losing a by-election or losing control of Greater Manchester, which would have been a total disaster.
The Labour MP John Slinger has criticised this sort of briefing. In a post on social media commenting on this quote, he said:
Labour people should be booking their train to the Gorton & Denton by-election and knocking on doors in support of whoever is selected and our party, not speculating about losing or perpetuating the psychodrama.
At one stage there was speculation that Bev Craig, the Labour leader of Manchester city council, might apply to be Labour’s candidate. Last night she ruled herself out. She said:
It’s a privilege to lead such an incredible city and our @McrLabour Council. Building a better city & delivering for Mancunians.
I rarely comment on internal Labour matters but I am not seeking selection for the by-election. I will be working damn hard to elect a Labour MP
As Dave Burke reports for the Daily Mirror, the Reform UK MP Lee Anderson posted a picture on social media of himself and activists campaigning in the Gorton and Denton byelection – standing outside a hotel that is actually in Angela Rayner’s neigbouring Ashton-under-Lyne constituency. Rayner told the paper: “Farage’s Reform can’t even find the Gorton and Denton constituency on a map. Perhaps it’s because they’re too busy filling their party full of former Tories who failed the country.”
Updated
Freehold investors should get compensation for ground rents being capped, says British Property Federation
The British Property Federation has said that the government’s plan to cap ground rents could discourage investment into the UK. It is also saying that landlords should get compensation. In a response to the announcement this morning (see 8.57am), Danny Pinder, director of policy at the BPF, said:
While we agree that rapidly escalating ground rents should be addressed, the proposed cap will interfere with investments made by pension funds and institutional investors over many years and undermine the government’s pursuit of investment in this country. The various documents published by the government today make clear that these changes will have an impact on freeholders – the value of their assets and their ability to match index-linked pension liabilities – but that they intend to proceed, nonetheless. We have long been clear that adequate compensation must be provided to these entities as they have invested in good faith in order to meet their liabilities and continue to fund everyone’s pensions – today’s announcements is silent on that point …
There are billions of pounds invested in large-scale residential and mixed-use developments, and it is essential that reform is mindful of the rights of property owners as well as leaseholders. In our legal system contract is sacrosanct and legislative changes that cut across and undermine existing commercial agreements will raise the risk premium that investors attach to the UK at a time when the government is seeking to attract domestic and private capital for its growth agenda.
Lib Dems call for 'absurd, feudal system of leasehold' to be abolished for good
Like the Greens (see 9.09am), the Liberal Democrats are also saying leasehold should be abolished for good. This is from Gideon Amos, the Lib Dem housing spokesperson, commenting on the government’s announcement this morning.
This news will come as a relief for thousands of leaseholders who have had their finances wrecked by spiralling ground rents.
But the government cannot call this job done. Liberal Democrats demand an end to the absurd, feudal system of leasehold for good.
People are being fleeced by a system that restricts their rights in a way that is indefensible in the 21st century.
Keir Starmer’s TikTok video about capping ground rents has been viewed by about 20,000 people. Much more popular is a video of Starmer impersonating (albeit rather half-heartedly) Emmanuel Macron, in a live interview last night with the political podcaster and comedian Matt Forde. Starmer was handed a pair of sunglasses, which he promptly put on, saying “Bonjour”. The clip has notched up more than 160,000 views. Starmer (or, more probably, his social media team) tagged Macron in the post, with the line “Talk to me, Goose”, a reference to the Top Gun movie which seemed to inspire the look Macron was modelling with the shades he was wearing at Davos.
Blocking Andy Burnham from Gorton and Denton byelection 'real gift' to Reform UK, Labour MPs tell Starmer
Some Labour MPs have not given up trying to get the part to rethink its decision to ban Andy Burnham from being a candidate in the Gorton and Denton byelection.
As Pippa Crerar, Jessica Elgot and Peter Walker report in our overnight story, the executive of the soft-left Tribune group of MPs – which includes the former ministers Louise Haigh and Justin Madders and the select committee chair Sarah Owen – have told Shabana Mahmood, the chair of Labour’s national executive committee (NEC), that they are unhappy about the decision.
In a related development, around 50 Labour MPs have signed a letter to Keir Starmer saying that blocking Burnham is a “real gift” to Reform UK.
According to a report in the Mail, the letter says:
As a former cabinet member and the current Labour mayor of Greater Manchester, there is no legitimate reason why Andy Burnham should not have the democratic right to put his candidacy to the local people of Gorton and Denton.
This is particularly important as polling clearly shows he may be our very best chance at winning this byelection.
Nigel Farage also thinks that not having Burnham on the ballot is a gift to his party.
Capping ground rents means landlords won't be able to fund essential repairs, and some could go bust, lobby group claims
Investors in the property sector claim that, if ground rents are capped, landlords will no longer be able to fund essential repairs and some firms will go bust. These arguments are set out in a letter published yesterday from Natalie Chambers, director of the Residential Freehold Association, to Steve Reed, the housing secretary.
Here is an extract.
We have previously set out a range of wider concerns with a retrospective cap, including the impact on the UK’s reputation as a reliable place to invest following a government-sanctioned interference with the contracts on which investors rely – and the fact that any ground rent cap would, in the large part, transfer value from pensioners to wealthy overseas buy to let landlords. This letter is intended to address the specific effect of forcing insolvency upon the very organisations which your department is relying on to remediate unsafe buildings.
Ground rent income is a critical and irreplaceable funding mechanism, without which building owners would not be able to meet their statutory duties under the Building Safety Act. Specifically, our members’ ability to provide effective oversight and management of higher-risk buildings, and to enter into government-backed Grant Funding Agreements (GFAs) for remediation works.
Retrospectively removing or reducing the level of contractually payable ground rent, or the contractual reviews to the ground rent, will result in a significant number of professional freeholders being at risk of immediate insolvency. That, in turn, would immediately undermine the contracts and legal obligations that underpin the government’s building safety remediation programme, encompassing approximately 9,000 to 12,000 buildings and with an estimated cost of between £12.6bn and £22.4bn.
In ignoring these arguments, the government has in effect decided that the property sector is bluffing – and that the consequences won’t be as dire as they claim.
Rayner urges government to be more 'unapologetically Labour'
The leasehold announcement is an example of what Angela Rayner, the former deputy PM and former housing secretary, meant when she said at a fundraising event last night that the government should be more “unapologetically Labour”.
In its manifesto, Labour said:
We will take further steps to ban new leasehold flats and ensure commonhold is the default tenure. We will tackle unregulated and unaffordable ground rent charges.
Given the government has a manifesto mandate for what it is proposing today (see 8.57am), the announcement should not come as a surprise. But it has impressed campaigners because the property sector lobbying against the move was so strong that ministers started to have second thoughts. That is why the decision has been repeatedly delayed. When he was housing secretary, Michael Gove wanted to get rid of ground rents altogether, but he also enountered pushback and he failed to overcome Whitehall/government resistance to the idea.
In their London Playbook briefing for Politico, Andrew McDonald and Bethany Dawson report that, at a Labour fundraising event last night, Rayner said the government should be more Labour. She said:
We’ve done a lot of really good things. But my diagnosis of what’s gone wrong is that people think we’ve got there through being pushed there, as opposed to people thinking that that’s what we stand for and believe. I think that we need to be unapologetically Labour.
Green party says government should 'scrap leasehold altogether'
The Green party says the government should be going further on leaseshold, and getting rid of it altogether. This is from Zack Polanski, the Green leader.
Time for Government to stop tinkering around the edges and scrap leasehold altogether.
Starmer ignores property investors’ protests and commits to capping leasehold ground rents at £250
Good morning. At 7am Keir Starmer announced a decision that will benefit millions of leaseholders. Ground rents are being capped at £250, which means that anyone paying more than that will save money. Perhaps more significantly, this will protect leaseholders living in properties where ground rent charges soar over time, making their homes hard to sell. The proposal is in a draft commonhold and leasehold reform bill.
While this may sound like a cost of living policy announcement of no particular interest to people who are not leaseholders, it is actually quite an important revealed preference moment for the government. This announcement has been held up for months and months because of lobbying from the financial sector (channelled through the Treasury), who have argued that capping ground rents will hammer property investors, and even the pension funds that have money tied up in this sector. There have been been threats of legal action over the retrospective element of this legislation (which will apply to existing ground rent agreements, not just new ones). In a Guardian article about this last week, Angela Rayner, the former deputy PM and former housing secretary, said:
If Labour cannot fix such an obvious injustice and show families whose living standards have been crushed that we will fight for them, then we shouldn’t be surprised if they lose faith that anything can change.
This battle is a symbol of so much more. It is about whose side we are on, and who we are in government to fight for.
Today Starmer has sided with Rayner, leaseholders and the younger generation, against the Treasury and the financial sector. It is a significant moment.
Jamie Grierson has the story here.
Here is the government’s news release. And Starmer announced the decision this morning in a post on TikTok. According to No 10, this is the first time a PM has made a major government new announcement on this platform.
Steve Reed, the housing secretary, said:
If you own a flat you can be forced to pay ground rents that can become completely unaffordable. We said we’d be on the side of leaseholders – which is why today we are capping ground rent – helping millions of leaseholders by saving them money and giving them control over their home.
The leasehold system has tainted the dream of home ownership for so many. We are taking action where others have failed –strengthening home ownership and calling time on leasehold for good.
Under the draft bill, the government is also going to ban leasehold for new flats, and give existing leaseholders the right to switch to commonhold. (This briefing explains the difference.)
But it is only a draft bill. The government says the cap on ground rents is not likely to come into force until late 2028.
Here is the agenda for the day.
9.30am: Keir Starmer chairs cabinet.
11.30am: Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, takes questions in the Commons. She is expected to announce a £100m support package for pubs to compensate (at least in part) for the impact of higher business rate costs.
Noon: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.
After 12.30am: Matthew Pennycook, the housing minister, is expected to make a statement to MPs about the decision to cap ground rents.
2pm: The Reform UK Lee Anderson holds a press conference in Gorton and Denton where he will unveil the party’s byelection candidate.
2pm: John Healey, the defence secretary, gives evidence to the Commons defence committee.
Evening: Starmer leaves the UK for his trip to China.
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