Closing summary
Keir Starmer travelled to Edinburgh as part of his first tour of the four UK nations since taking on the role as the UK’s prime minister on Friday. Speaking after his meeting with Scotland’s first minister, John Swinney, at Bute House, Starmer said he aimed to “make good” on his campaign commitment to “reset” the relationship between the Scottish and UK governments. He will travel to Wales and Northern Ireland next. In Scotland, Starmer met with the Scottish Labour leader, Anas Sarwar, and celebrated the election of 37 Scottish Labour MPs.
Labour is seeking an unprecedented joint declaration with the EU to usher in a wide-ranging security pact covering defence, energy, the climate crisis, pandemics and even illegal migration, the foreign secretary, David Lammy, said. As part of the new government’s plan to reset its relations with the EU and bring “an end to the Brexit era”, Lammy told the Guardian that a broadly defined security deal would not undermine Labour’s commitment to remain outside the EU’s single market and customs union.
Conservatives have suggested that the former home secretary Suella Braverman is losing support as a potential party leader, as some who lost votes across southern England privately urged colleagues to resist a lurch to the right. A number of MPs now see Robert Jenrick, Priti Patel and Kemi Badenoch, all of whom have ruled out a deal with Reform leader Nigel Farage, as more viable candidates. In an interview with GB News, Braverman claimed Reform UK posed an “existential threat” to the Conservatives. She has declined to say whether or not she will be a Tory leadership candidate.
New defence secretary John Healey announced a fresh British military aid package for Ukraine as he visited the southern port city of Odesa and met with his counterpart Rustem Umerov.
Recognition of the state of Palestine as part of a Middle East peace process is an “undeniable right”, Starmer told Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas in a phone call this morning.
Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, said that he remained committed to proportional representation, even though PR would have given Reform UK more seats that the Lib Dems at this election.
Jonathan Reynolds, the new business and trade secretary, ruled out Labour backing ID cards.
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Updated
The health secretary, Wes Streeting, has announced he will meet junior doctors on Tuesday in an effort to end strike action and discuss reform.
Streeting will hold face-to-face talks with the British Medical Association (BMA) junior doctors committee for negotiations to end their long-running dispute over pay.
Medics in training across the NHS went on strike for five full days from 27 June. The walkout was the 11th by junior doctors in 20 months.
Junior doctors in England have said their pay has been cut by more than a quarter over the last 15 years and have called for a 35% increase.
Streeting has said previously he would not meet the 35%, saying that if he gave in to the demand then “any trade union worth their salt” would come back the following year with the same request.
In a statement issued on Sunday, he said:
When I said the NHS was broken, I was being honest with the public about the scale of the challenge. It will take time to fix it, so there’s no time to waste.
I am meeting with junior doctors early this week to discuss the end of strike action, and on Monday I will meet the British Dental Association to begin rescuing NHS dentistry.
I will also continue to meet with officials and NHS leaders to agree plans for providing an extra 40,000 operations, scans and appointments a week as soon as possible to cut waiting lists.
This is what we promised in opposition, so it is what we are doing in government. It will be the mission of this government to build an NHS fit for the future. I’m delighted that the prime minister will chair the mission delivery board to drive through that change, renew the NHS and build a healthier Britain.
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