A summary of today's developments
Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary and minister for women and equality, made a statement to the Commons about the supreme court judgement.She said the government will continue to protect single-sex spaces, based on biological sex. And it will protect “the rights of all people with protected characteristics now and always”.
Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, claimed that Tories fought for women at every point but that it faced “hostility from activist groups”. She said that, when she was in government, she argued for sex to be defined as biological sex. And she said she blocked the SNP introducing from introducing “their mad self identity laws”.
Business and trade minister Sarah Jones told the Commons that British Steel will end a consultation on up to 2,700 redundancies without action, after the Government took control of the firm earlier this month. She added the government has secured the raw materials needed to keep the glass furnaces operating in Scunthorpe and it is working at pace to secure a steady pipeline of materials.
Rachel Reeves was due in Washington on Tuesday evening for what could be a pivotal week for a proposed US-UK trade deal. Officials say an agreement is ready to sign but may have to be ripped up at the last minute should the US president impose tariffs on pharmaceuticals. The chancellor was flying into the US capital for meetings she hopes will help persuade Donald Trump’s administration to reduce tariffs on UK steel, cars and aluminium. “The draft text is there and it is ready to sign,” said one UK government source. “We are happy with the draft we presented to the Americans weeks ago – though it does not currently cover pharmaceuticals.”
Britons are opposed to President Trump being invited to address parliament when he visits the UK by almost three to one, a YouGov poll suggests.
Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, said today’s IMF report downgrading its growth forecasts for the UK (and the rest of the world) shows the need for an “urgent rethink” in British economic policy. In a statement, Davey said: “Donald Trump’s damaging trade war has taken a wrecking ball to the global economy, with the UK set to be badly hit. The government needs to be working to boost trade with our allies in Europe and the Commonwealth and tackle Trump’s tariffs head on. Simply sitting back and hoping we won’t be impacted hasn’t worked. It’s time for an urgent rethink before it’s too late.”
Most of the excess rubbish accumulated in Birmingham as a result of the bin strike has been cleared, MPs have been told. Jim McMahon, the communities minister, said that, even though the strike continues, “significant progress” has been made in clearing the backlog.
The government is considering long-term alternatives to blast furnaces as a way of making virgin steel, the industry minister said.
Sarah Jones said officials were looking at examples in Europe where countries were using hydrogen rather than blast furnaces.
She was responding to a question from former Tory trade minister Sir Edward Leigh, whose Gainsborough constituency is in the same county as the Scunthorpe steelworks.
Jones said: “The capacity for primary steel-making production is very important and the steel strategy is looking at exactly how we deliver that.
“There are new ways of delivering primary steel using for example hydrogen, which other countries, other European countries are now using and developing and we will ensure that whatever the future might bring, we have the right level of production here in this country.”
