Closing summary
Britain’s longest-serving MPs, Labour’s Diane Abbott and the Conservative Sir Edward Leigh, have issued a joint call urging the Commons to reject the assisted dying bill, arguing it is being rushed through and puts vulnerable people at risk. Writing for the Guardian, Abbott and Leigh – the mother and father of the house – said there had been insufficient scrutiny of the law and urged parliament to instead focus on better health and care services.
Cuts to the winter fuel allowance could force 100,000 pensioners in England and Wales into relative fuel poverty, government analysis has shown, as ministers come under mounting pressure over measures in last month’s budget. Internal government modelling shows the decision to remove the benefit from millions of pensioners will push about 50,000 more people into relative poverty next year, and another 50,000 by the end of the decade.
The defence secretary, John Healey, has denied claims that a cost-cutting scrapping of a series of British navy vessels has been a “black day” for Britain’s defence. Two former Royal Navy flagships, a frigate and two support tankers will be decommissioned as part of cost-saving measures, the Ministry of Defence has announced. The move was blamed on a “dire inheritance” left by the last administration, and the decision to scrap defence capability also includes a 14-year-old army drone.
Rural Labour MPs have called on the government to reassure worried farmers, in an attempt to quell the escalating row over inheritance tax on agricultural property. Thousands of farmers and landowners descended on Whitehall on Tuesday to protest against the plans, which they said will cause family farms to have to sell up in order pay the new 20% rate on assets above a £1m threshold.
Britain’s top counter-terrorism officer today criticised “unhelpful” commentators, such as Nigel Farage, who after the Southport attacks insinuated that a conspiracy was keeping the truth from the public. Assistant commissioner Matt Jukes said such critics knew police were limited by legal rules about what they can say during a live criminal investigation and he also said misinformation that fueled the riots was “turbo charged” from abroad, including by bot farms and some state-linked actors.
Justin Welby will complete his official duties as archbishop of Canterbury by 6 January, the Feast of Epiphany, and will do little in the way of public engagements over the next few weeks, Lambeth Palace has announced. Welby resigned as archbishop last week after a damning report concluded he took insufficient action over one of the C of E’s worst serial child abusers. No timetable for his departure was given at the time.
Defence experts have expressed some reservations about the decision to decommission obsolete ships, helicopters and drones announced by John Healey today. Matthew Savill, military sciences director at the Royal United Services Institute defence think tank, said the cuts mainly affected equipment that was approaching retirement. And he said the Watchkeeper drones were “probably obsolete”.
Defence experts have expressed some reservations about the decision to decommission obsolete ships, helicopters and drones announced by John Healey today. (See 3.10pm.)
Matthew Savill, military sciences director at the Royal United Services Institute defence think tank, said the cuts mainly affected equipment that was approaching retirement. And he said the Watchkeeper drones were “probably obsolete”. He went on:
But the fact that defence either can’t crew them, or is prepared to cut them to make very modest savings over five years in the current international environment, is an indication of just how tight resources must be in the MoD right now.
And Deborah Haynes, security and defence editor at Sky News, posted this on social media.
How can the UK talk tough on defence while at the same time failing to ensure sufficient funding for the military to at the very least be able to mothball “outdated” warships, helicopters & drones?
A key lesson from Russia’s war in Ukraine has been that old equipment brought out of deep storage is better than no kit.
That’s all from me for today. Tom Ambrose is now taking over.
Justin Welby to finish his duties as archbishop of Canterbury by 6 January
Justin Welby will complete his official duties as archbishop of Canterbury by 6 January, the Feast of Epiphany, and will do little in the way of public engagements over the next few weeks, Lambeth Palace has announced.
Welby resigned as archbishop last week after a damning report concluded he took insufficient action over one of the C of E’s worst serial child abusers. No timetable for his departure was given at the time.
A statement from Lambeth Palace said Welby “intends to complete his official duties by the upcoming Feast of Epiphany (6th January)”.
It added: “Archbishop Justin intends very little public-facing activity between now and Epiphany, but plans to honour a small number of remaining commitments.”
The date on which Welby formally ceases to hold office will be agreed with the privy council, the statement said.
From 6 January, the archbishop of Canterbury’s official functions will be delegated to Stephen Cottrell, the archbishop of York, the number two in the C of E.
This week, Cottrell told the Guardian that Welby’s decision to quit was “honourable”. He said he did not expect to be a candidate for the role.
Police chief condemns commentators who spread cover-up theories after Southport killings, in rebuke to Farage
Britain’s top counter-terrorism officer today criticised “unhelpful” commentators, such as Nigel Farage, who after the Southport attacks insinuated that a conspiracy was keeping the truth from the public.
Assistant commissioner Matt Jukes said such critics knew police were limited by legal rules about what they can say during a live criminal investigation and he also said misinformation that fueled the riots was “turbo charged” from abroad, including by bot farms and some state-linked actors.
One post on X spreading information got 27m impressions, police said.
Jukes was giving on update on the riots in late July and August, the worst across England since 2011. It followed the murder of three school girls in a Southport dance class which led to false information and lies about the case, spread at least in part by those on the extremist far right.
Police revealed almost half of the 1,590 people arrested were aged under 35, almost all male and 17% were aged 17 or under.
Police spent £31.7m quelling the disorder and are racing to find the causes and how to respond better if there is any repeat.
Juke said only a fraction of those arrested, some 6% or 99 people arrested, were for online posts, with the majority were detained for alleged violence. He said:
I think there is a legend that has emerged that the thought police were out arresting hundreds and hundreds of people for having opinions. The reality is that hundreds and hundreds ... were arrested because of their suspected involvement in violence, disorder or criminal damage.
Jukes said the majority of the disinformation came from the UK, as well as foreign state backed media, such as in Russia, and also from bot farms overseas “turbocharging” the spread of lies to sow division.
He revealed counter-terrorism police tracked the online spread.
We would see tremendous spikes around midnight as bots kicked in, and we would see amplification, automation, of that reach of those messages which were at times hateful, at times misinformation.
Police in England and Wales follow strict contempt of courts after a suspect is arrested. Jukes said some commentators knew this yet claimed the truth was being hidden from the public as tensions rose:
It is deeply unhelpful if people who know we cannot speak in fulsome terms, who know that the principal concern is delivering justice for victims, if they present that as conspiracy and cover-up.
Asked if he was referring to Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, Jukes said: “There are many people who have gone down that path.”
The counter terror chief also said online platforms needed to do more.
We absolutely need online platforms to show commitment to tackling misinformation …
We do need responsible commentators. It is unhelpful when people, who I suspect fully well know what the constraints are on reporting during ongoing legal proceedings, point to limited disclosures or limits on what can be said as evidence of cover-up and conspiracy.
Farage was widely criticised for comments he made at the time of the riots following the Southport killings, including a video he released suggesting the police were withholding information about the person responsible.
Local Government Association welcomes Rayner's plans to reform right to buy
The Local Government Association has welcomed Angela Rayner’s plans to reform right to buy. In a statement, Adam Hug, the LGA’s housing spokesperson and the Labour leader of Westminster city council, said:
The LGA has long-called for reform to right to buy as the system in its current format does not work for local authorities and those most in need of social housing.
Steps taken by government already this year to amend the scheme are positive, and the measures set out today in this consultation will help further in supporting the replacement of sold homes and to stem the continued loss of existing stock.
Rayner consults on restricting right to buy, and slashing discounts, to make scheme 'fairer'
Angela Rayner, the deputy PM and housing secretary, has announced a consultation on plans to restrict the right to buy.
In a news release, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said that the proposals would make right to buy – the provision allowing council tenants to buy their home at a discount – “fairer and more sustainable”.
The government is consulting on various proposals including:
Cutting discounts available. Under the current rules, discounts can be worth as much as 70% of a property’s value. The government is considering cutting the maximum discount to 20%.
Increasing the minimum period someone has to have been a tenant to be eligible from 3 years, the current minimum, to 5 years, 10 years, or even longer.
Excluding newly-build social housing from being eligble for right to buy.
Replacing the current replacement targets with a like-for-like replacement target.
Increasing the period during which councils have the right to ask for repayment of all or part of the discount received when a property is sold from 5 years to 10 years.
Commenting on the proposals, Rayner said:
For millions of people in the position I was once in, that first step into the secure social housing that changed my life has become a distant dream.
Too many social homes have been sold off before they can be replaced, which has directly contributed to the worst housing crisis in living memory.
We cannot fix the crisis without addressing this issue – it’s like trying to fill a bath when the plug’s not in.
A fairer right to buy will help councils protect and increase their housing stock, while also keeping the pathway to home ownership there for those who otherwise might not have the opportunity to get on the housing ladder.
In its news release, Rayner’s department said that right to buy in its current form was creating a social housing crisis. It said:
Fewer than 48,000 social homes have been built or acquired using Right to Buy receipts since 2012, despite over 124,000 council homes sold through the scheme across the same period.
The housing crisis inherited by the government has seen the demand for social housing currently at an all-time high, with over 1.2 million people stuck on housing waiting lists as well as record numbers of households, including over 150,000 children, living in temporary accommodation.
The full consultation document is here.
Tories claim decommissioning ships, helicopters and drones will weaken national security
James Cartlidge, the shadow defence secretary, accused the government of undermining national security with the defence cuts announced today. (See 3.10pm.)
Responding to John Healey in the Commons, Cartlidge said:
Whatever the chancellor’s true grasp of economics, she’s certainly been able to force her priorities onto the country, getting the MoD to scrap major capabilities before they’ve undertaken the department’s much vaunted strategic defence review.
They’ve killed off North Sea oil, undermining our energy security; this week they are killing off the family farm and threatening our food security. Today they’re scrapping key defence capabilities and weakening our national security.
Labour have made their choices; they own the consequences.
Cartlidge also said that when he was a defence minister in the last government he was told that the former flagships HMS Bulwark and HMS Albion could have used in the event of a war. He said:
I personally sought and received assurances from the Navy’s leadership… that in the event of a full-scale war fighting scenario where the priority for the navy was littoral capability, those ships could have still been regenerated to a condition able to fight, and the crews found.
Permanently scrapping the landing ships means we remove that capability entirely.
Updated
UK-made Storm Shadow missiles fired into Russia for the first time
Ukraine has fired UK-made Storm Shadow missiles into Russia for the first time since the beginning of the conflict, Dan Sabbagh and Andrew Roth report. Amy Sedghi has full coverage of this story on our Ukraine war live blog.
Badenoch finalises Tory frontbench appointments, with more than half her MPs now shadow ministers or whips
Kemi Badenoch has put the finishing touches to her front bench team, and such are the depleted Conservative ranks that as a Tory MP, you had a better than one-in-two chance of getting a job.
Including Badenoch herself, 64 Tories are shadow ministers or whips, which is just under 53% of the total of 121 Conservatives in the Commons. The full front bench list is longer, but some people are named as both whips and junior ministers in departments.
There are no fewer than twenty whips, which at a ratio of one per six Tory MPs is not far short of a personal whipping service.
We would not normally publish the full list of shadow frontbench appointments, but it does not seem to be available anywhere else online (and certainly not on the news section of the Conservative party’s website, which has not been updated for more than a month) and so here it is, taken verbatim from the CCHQ news release.
The full Shadow Cabinet is:
Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer: Mel Stride MP
Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs: Dame Priti Patel MP
Shadow Home Secretary: Chris Philp MP
Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland: Alex Burghart MP
Shadow Secretary of State for Defence: James Cartlidge MP
Shadow Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero and Shadow Minister for Equalities: Claire Coutinho MP
Shadow Secretary of State for Education: Laura Trott MP
Shadow Secretary of State for Justice: Robert Jenrick MP
Shadow Secretary of State for Business and Trade: Andrew Griffith MP
Shadow Health and Social Care Secretary: Ed Argar MP
Shadow Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities: Kevin Hollinrake MP
Shadow Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Victoria Atkins MP
Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions: Helen Whately MP
Shadow Secretary of State for Transport: Gareth Bacon MP
Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport: Stuart Andrew MP
Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology: Alan Mak MP
Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland and Shadow Minister of State for Energy and Net Zero: Andrew Bowie MP
Shadow Secretary of State for Wales and Shadow Minister for Women: Mims Davies MP
Opposition Chief Whip (Commons): Dame Rebecca Harris MP
Shadow Leader of the House of Commons: Jesse Norman MP
Shadow Leader of the House of Lords: Lord True
Co-Chairmen of the Party: Nigel Huddleston MP & Lord Johnson
Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury: Richard Fuller MP
Also attending:
Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Leader: Julia Lopez MP
The Conservative Party Shadow Ministers in the Commons are:
Shadow Financial Secretary to the Treasury: Gareth Davies MP
Shadow Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury: James Wild MP
Shadow Economic Secretary to the Treasury: Mark Garnier MP
Shadow Minister of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs: Wendy Morton MP
Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs: Andrew Rosindell MP
Shadow Minister of State for the Home Office: Matt Vickers MP
Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for the Home Office: Alicia Kearns MP
Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office: Mike Wood MP
Shadow Minister of State for Defence: Mark Francois MP
Shadow Minister of State for Justice: Kieran Mullan MP
Shadow Minister of State for Education: Neil O’Brien MP
Shadow Minister of State for Health and Social Care: Dr Caroline Johnson MP
Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Health and Social Care: Luke Evans MP
Shadow Minister of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities: David Simmonds MP
Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities: Paul Holmes MP
Shadow Minister of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Robbie Moore MP
Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs: Neil Hudson MP
Shadow Minister of State for Business and Trade: Harriet Baldwin MP
Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Business and Trade: Greg Smith MP
Shadow Minister of State for Work and Pensions: Danny Kruger MP
Shadow Minister of State for Transport: Jerome Mayhew MP
Shadow Minister of State for Culture, Media and Sport: Saqib Bhatti MP
Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Culture, Media, and Sport: Louie French MP
Shadow Minister of State for Science, Innovation and Technology: Dr Ben Spencer MP
Shadow Minister of State for Energy and Net Zero: Andrew Bowie MP
Shadow Minister for Women: Mims Davies MP
Shadow Solicitor General: Helen Grant MP
Shadow Paymaster General: Richard Holden MP
The following appointments have also been made to the Opposition Whips Office, supporting Opposition Chief Whip Rebecca Harris MP
Opposition Deputy Chief Whip: Joy Morrissey MP
Opposition Deputy Chief Whip: Gagan Mohindra MP
Senior Opposition Whip: Mike Wood MP
Senior Opposition Whip: Greg Smith MP
Senior Opposition Whip: Alicia Kearns MP
Senior Opposition Whip: Paul Homes MP
Senior Opposition Whip: David Simmonds MP
Senior Opposition Whip: James Wild MP
Senior Opposition Whip: Jerome Mayhew MP
Senior Opposition Whip: Richard Holden MP
Junior Opposition Whip: Harriet Cross MP
Junior Opposition Whip: Ashley Fox MP
Junior Opposition Whip: Rebecca Smith MP
Junior Opposition Whip: Katie Lam MP
Junior Opposition Whip: Ben Obese-Jecty MP
Junior Opposition Whip: Rebecca Paul MP
Junior Opposition Whip: Andrew Snowden MP
Junior Opposition Whip: Greg Stafford MP
Junior Opposition Whip: Nick Timothy MP
Furthermore, the following Lords appointments had been made, working with Lord True in his capacity as Shadow Lords Leader:
Deputy Shadow Lords Leader: Earl Howe
Opposition Lords Chief Whip: Baroness Williams of Trafford
Opposition Lords Deputy Chief Whip: The Earl of Courtown
Opposition Lords Attorney General: Lord Wolfson of Tredegar
Shadow Treasury Minister: Baroness Neville-Rolfe
Shadow Treasury Minister: Lord Altrincham
Shadow Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Affairs Minister: Lord Callanan
Shadow Home Office Minister: Lord Murray of Blidworth
Shadow Home Office Minister: Lord Davies of Gower
Shadow Defence Minister: The Earl of Minto
Shadow Defence Minister: Baroness Goldie
Shadow Advocate General for Scotland and Shadow Justice Minister: Lord Keen of Elie
Shadow Heath and Social Care Minister: Lord Kamall
Shadow Education Minister: Baroness Barran
Shadow Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Minister: Baroness Scott of Bybrook
Shadow Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Minister: Lord Jamieson
Shadow Energy Security and Net Zero Minister: Lord Offord of Garvel
Shadow Work and Pensions Minister: Viscount Younger of Leckie
Shadow Work and Pensions Minister: Baroness Stedman-Sott
Shadow Business and Trade Minister: Lord Sharpe of Epsom
Shadow Science, Innovation and Technology Minister: Lord Markham
Shadow Science, Innovation and Technology Minister: Viscount Camrose
Shadow Transport Minister: Lord Moylan
Shadow Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Minister: Lord Roborough
Shadow Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Minister: Lord Blencathra
Shadow Culture, Media, and Sport Minister: Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay
Shadow Cabinet Office Minister: Baroness Finn
Shadow Northern Ireland Minister: Lord Caine
Shadow Scotland Minister: Lord Cameron of Lochiel
Shadow Wales Minister: Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist
Shadow Women and Equalities Minister: Baroness Stedman-Scott
Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist, Baroness Stedman-Scott, The Earl of Effingham, Lord Sandhurst and Lord Jamieson will also serve as Shadow Lords Whips.
Updated
Healey announces new retention payments to encourage members of armed forces to stay longer
In his Commons statement John Healey, the defence secretary, also announced new retention payments to encourage members of the armed forces to stay longer. He explained:
I can announce today that I am introducing, from April, a new £30,000 retention payment for a cohort of tri-service aircraft engineers who sign up for [an] additional three years of service. This will affect and be open to around 5,000 personnel in total.
And from January, a new £8,000 retention payment for army personnel who served four years, supporting 4,000 personnel each year for three years. So 12,000 troops in total.
Defence secretary John Healey tells MPs warships, helicopters and drones being decommissioned to save up to £500m
John Healey, the defence secretary, has told MPs that two Royal Navy flagships are included in a list of equipment being decomissioned to save up to £500m over five years.
In a statement to MPs, he said that “outdated military capabilities” were being taken out of service. He told MPs:
These decisions are set to save the MoD £150m over the next two years and up to £500m over five years, savings that will be retained in full in defence.
As PA Media reports, Healey said he was decommissioning HMS Albion and HMS Bulwark which he described “landing ships both effectively retired by previous ministers but superficially kept on the books at a cost of £9m a year”.
He said he would retire HMS Northumberland “a frigate with structural damage that makes her simply uneconomical to repair”, 46 Watchkeeper Mark I uncrewed aircraft systems, and a 14-year-old army drone “which technology has overtaken”.
He said 14 Chinook helicopters “some over 35 years old [will be] accelerated out of service”.
And he said two wave-class tankers “neither of which have been to sea for years” were in the decommissioning process, along with 17 Puma helicopters “some with over 50 years’ flying [which] will not be extended”.
Healey said there would be no redundancies as a result of these decisions. He went on:
These are common sense decisions which previous governments failed to take, decisions that will secure better value for money for the taxpayer and better outcomes for the military.
Decisions which are all backed by the chiefs and taken in consultation with SDR [strategic defence review] reviewers. Allies have been informed, and we have constant dialogue with Nato.
These will not be the last difficult decisions I will have to make to fix the defence inheritance that we were left with, but they will help get a grip of finances now, and they will give greater scope to renew our forces for the future as we look towards the strategic defence review and to 2.5% [of GDP spent on defence].
Updated
Government should close loophole allowing sale of human remains, MP says at PMQs
Instagram, Etsy and Gumtree users could exploit a legal loophole to buy and sell colonial-era human remains, MPs were told at PMQs. PA Media has filed this story based on what the question from Labour’s Bell Ribeiro-Addy. (See 12.04pm.) PA says:
Ribeiri-Addy told the Commons she had heard cases of body parts sold online and in auction houses, including a human thigh bone turned into a cane, a human jawbone necklace and the varnished skull of a six-year-old.
The Labour MP for Clapham and Brixton Hill asked Angela Rayner, the deputy prime minister, whether the government would look at ending these sales, which she described as “depraved”.
Rayner agreed the practice was “abhorrent” and committed to meetings with ministers about “troubling cases”.
Opening PMQs, Ribeiro-Addy said: “I recently met with members of the British Association for Biological Anthropology and Osteoarchaeology (BABAO) who highlighted a loophole in the Human Tissues Act which allows human remains to be auctioned, frequently disguised as modified items or replicas.
“This is including a foetal skeleton posed under a glass dome, a human thigh bone turned into a cane, a human jawbone necklace and the varnished skull of a six-year-old, often from indigenous communities in Africa and Asia stolen during colonial expeditions.”
The Human Tissues Act 2004 features a ban on buying and selling human material, but there are some exceptions and suppliers can be reimbursed for expenses connected with transporting, preparing, preserving or storing remains.
Ribeiro-Addy asked: “Does the deputy prime minister agree that it is abhorrent for human remains regardless of their origin or age to be sold by auction houses and on social media sites like Instagram, Facebook, eBay, Etsy and Gumtree? And will the government take action to end this depraved practice?”
Rayner replied: “It’s absolutely horrifying to hear the account of what [Ribeiro-Addy] mentions and I absolutely agree that that’s abhorrent. And while the Human Tissue Authority strictly regulates the public display of human remains, with fines or imprisonment for breaches, it does not cover sales or purchases. However, I will ensure that a meeting is made with the appropriate minister to discuss the troubling cases that she raises.”
UK’s longest-serving MPs, Diane Abbott and Edward Leigh, issue joint plea for Commons to reject assisted dying bill
Britain’s longest-serving MPs, Labour’s Diane Abbott and the Conservative Sir Edward Leigh, have issued a joint call urging the Commons to reject the assisted dying bill, arguing it is being rushed through and puts vulnerable people at risk, Jessica Elgot and Pippa Crerar report.
My colleague Peter Walker has posted this on Bluesky about PMQs.
Starmer-era #PMQS are definitely more obsequious that the Tory ones – there is inevitably a mass of Labour backbenchers asking soft-soap, underarm questions about whether the PM/DPM agrees with them that the new government has done brilliantly on basically everything. Amazingly, they do agree.
Rayner accuses critics of 'scaremongering' about impact of inheritance tax extension for farmers
In her reply at PMQs to Daisy Cooper, the deputy Lib Dem leader, Angela Rayner claimed there has been “scaremongering” about Labour’s plans to extend inheritance tax to cover some farms.
Cooper asked:
Somebody else who was very worried about the budget is Cathy. Cathy is a farmer in my constituency of St Albans, and she told me yesterday that she thinks the government changes simply do not make sense.
The changes mean that her family may have to pay a bill which will force them to sell land, which makes food production unviable. At the same time, the government has not closed the land buying tax loophole that can be exploited by equity firms and the super wealthy.
And Rayner replied:
I’m sorry to hear that Cathy is distressed by the – what I would say is scaremongering – around what the Labour party is doing.
The budget delivered £5bn for farming over the next two years, a record amount. The last government failed to spend £300 million on farmers, and our plan is sensible, fair and proportionate, and protects the smaller estate while fixing public services that they rely on.
At a post-PMQs briefing, asked who Rayner was referring to when she talked about scaremongering, a No 10 spokesperson said:
You have the deputy prime minister’s own words.
I think obviously the prime minister in his press conference yesterday recognises that there are concerns amongst farmers about the policy and that is why the government has a job to do to communicate the policy and our expectation, which is that the vast majority of farmers will be unaffected by the change.
PMQs – snap verdict
That was very missable. Alex Burghart, who was standing in for Kemi Badenoch, started well, with a very short, direct question, but after that it rapidly got worse.
He used his first three questions to focus on inflation, trying to make an argument about Labour letting price rises get out of control, but inflation at 2.3% is hardly the Weimar Republic and Angela Rayner quite easily knocked him back with a reminder of his ministerial job title under Liz Truss and a reference to the inflation rate under the Tories.
Burghart was on stronger ground talking about farmers, but at that point he started shouting furiously, conveying strong “madman on the bus” vibes to anyone watching on TV. (He was shouting because in the chamber the background noise is so loud that rookie speakers feel they have to shout to be heard; the experienced ones know that the microphones will do the work for them.)
On farmers, Rayner’s comments did not go beyond anything said by ministers yesterday, and it still does not feel as if the governement is winning the argument with the farming sector. But Burghart’s hyperbole was just playing to the base, and wasn’t persuasive either.
He was also one of several MPs to have a go at Rachel Reeves over her minor CV embellishment (“this morning we had City economists, real economists, saying that next year inflation would hit 3%”) but this just smacked of desperation. Reeves is a real economist.
At least, from Kemi Badenoch’s point of view, Burghart did not upstage his party leader. For that reason alone, he might even get invited back.
Updated
Helen Morgan (Lib Dem) asks about a constituent with cancer, whose diagnosis was delayed. When will diagnosis times improve?
Rayner says people are waiting far too long. That is why the government is investing more in the NHS.
Graham Stuart (Con) says in June a chief constable was sacked for misrepresenting her CV. And a nurse was jailed for something similar. Does Rayner agree that these punishments are right?
Rayner says she knows where Stuart is going with this. She says the chancellor has shown more competence in the last four months than all four of her Tory predecessors.
Paula Barker (Lab) says the Tories promised an employment rights bill, but never delivered. Does Rayner agree her employment rights bill is the biggest upgrade for workers in a generation?
Rayner says she and Barker used to be Unison convenors. She says the government is delivering on its promise to make work pay.
Lincoln Jupp (Con) asks about Spelthorne litterpickers, who do great work in his constituency. They have won an award for their service. Will Rayner congratulate them for what they do?
Rayner says she agrees absolutely. Volunteers play a very important role, she says.
Edward Leigh (Con) says it is red Wednesday, when people persecuted for their beliefs are remembered. Will the PM appoint a new envoy on religious belief, so the UK can defend religious belief minorities?
Rayner says the government is committed to defending freedom of religious belief.
She says envoy roles are still being considered.
Yuan Yang (Lab) says thousands of families in her constituency have move into developments with unfair property charges. How will the leasehold reform bill address this?
Rayner says the leasehold and freehold reform bill will being in more transparency over these charges.
Jonathan Hinder (Lab) asks about neighbourhood policing.
Rayner says the government wants to ensure every community gets a named local officer.
Lewis Cocking (Con) asks Rayner if she will support efforts to get a banking hub for Broxbourne.
Rayner says the government has committed to more banking hubs.
Fred Thomas (Lab) asks how Plymouth will benefit from government investment in health.
Rayner says every corner of the UK will see benefits. She offers Thomas a meeting with a minister to discuss Plymouth.
Liz Saville Roberts, the Plaid Cymru leader at Westminster, says care providers in her constituency have said the national insurance increase poses a threat to them worse than Covid.
Rayner says she values the work care providers do. Extra support has been put in place. She says tax benefts for charities are among the best in the world. And there is more support for the health sector, she says.
Simon Opher (Lab) asks what the government will do to improve maternity services.
Rayner says the Darzi report said the NHS was broken under the previous government. All mothers and babies should receive safe and compassionate care, she says.
Key event
Saqib Bhatti (Con) asks why the government has declared war on farmers.
Rayner says she does not accept that.
Rayner declines invitation from Labour MP to criticise police's 'Stasi-like interview' of Telegraph journalist Allison Pearson
Graham Stringer (Lab) asks Rayner to condemn the “Stasi-like interview” given to Allison Pearson, the Telegraph columnist, by the police.
Rayner says we should have a free press, but with that comes responsibility.
UPDATE: Stringer said:
Is [Rayner] as concerned as I am about the Stasi-like interview that was given to Allison Pearson, the Daily Telegraph journalist a week last Sunday, and does she agree with me that the Essex police force and other police forces would be better trying to deal with shoplifting, burglaries and other crimes, rather than intimidating journalists?
And Rayner replied:
It is incredibly important around free speech and our press, it’s part of our democracy.
But it’s also, in direct response to his question, of course, police are independent and it’s a live investigation and therefore it wouldn’t be appropriate for me to comment on that.
But I do believe that we should have a free press. It’s part of our democracy and we should have free speech, but with that comes responsibility of those that do it.
Updated
Lee Anderson (Reform UK) asks if the government will throw the inheritance tax plans for farms in the bin.
Rayner congratulates Anderson on the fact that, every time he moves party, he gets a promotion. He is now Reform UK’s chief whip.
Alex Baker (Lab) asks about support for teachers.
Rayner says the budget for schools has gone up. And she says that, as MP for Aldershot, Baker will welcome the extra childcare support for members of the armed forces serving abroad.
Daisy Cooper, the deputy Lib Dem leader, asks for an assurance that the social care sector will get help to cover the impact of the national insurance rise.
Rayner says the government has allocated an extra £600m for the sector.
Cooper asks about a farmer in her constituency who is worried about the inheritance tax extension. Farmers feel betrayed by the Conservatives, she says. But now they also feel they have been lied to by Labour.
Rayner says the government’s plan is “sensible, fair and proportionate”.
Andy McDonald (Lab) asks if the government will accept that Israel has carried out mass forced displacement in Gaza. And will the government accept its duty to stop genocide?
Rayner says the government wants more aid to go into Gaza. And it is urging Israel to ensure Unrwa can carry on doing its work. And sanctions have been imposed in relation to settler violence, she says.
Burghart says the government is just punishing people who did not vote for it.
Rayner says Kemi Badenoch said last week she backed all the measures in the budget. But the Tories won’t support the measures that pay for them, she says.
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Burghart says Rayner did not rule out further tax rises for farmers. He says they will come back for more.
He says the money set aside for public sector pay rises is 20 times as much as what the government will raise from the inheritance tax increase. Why does the government not care about farmers?
Rayner says it is an audacity for Burghart to take about broken promises. The Tories raised taxes to the highest level ever, she says.
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Burghart quotes the case of a farming family that thinks they will have to sell up because their inheritance tax bill will be too high. He says government figures are unreliable. And he asks for an assurance that there will be no further rises.
Rayner says the vast majority of farmers will not be affected by the increase.
Burghart accuses Labour of driving up inflation
Burghart says inflation is going up. It has delivered “high tax, high inflation, low growth, low reform”. He goes on: “There’s a word for that – it’s Starmerism.”
He asks what the government is doing to help farmers.
Rayner says the government is supporting farmers. The last government could not even get money out of the door for farmers, she says.
UPDATE: Burghart said:
It was Ukraine and Covid that drove up inflation. This government is doing it to the British people. High tax, high inflation, low growth, low reform, there’s a word for that, it’s Starmerism.
Yesterday I spoke to farmers from across the United Kingdom. Some of them, families who have farmed their land for centuries. Elderly men in tears, children worried about their parents, all of them worried that their way of life is about to be destroyed. What would she like to say to them?
And Rayner replied:
We are absolutely committed to our British farmers and that’s why we’ve committed £5bn to the farming budget over the next two years. That’s the largest ever amount for sustainable food production in the UK. And it’s alongside £60m to support those affected by extreme wet weather, and over £200m to tackle disease outbreaks.
His party couldn’t even get the money out the door for farmers, failing to spend over £300m on farming budgets. The farmers know they ruined it for them and that’s why we are in government and they are not.
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Burghart says the government is stoking inflation. He says it has given above-inflation pay rises to public sector workers, and the budget was inflationary.
Rayner says inflation was at 11%, and it is now at 3%.
UPDATE: Burghart said:
First, we had above inflation pay rises for the unions. Then, we had a Budget, which the OBR said was going to push up inflation. This morning we had City economists, real economists, saying that next year inflation would hit 3%.
Does [Rayner] agree that this government’s decisions mean higher inflation for working people?
And Rayner replied:
I’ll ask [Burghart], 11.1% or 3%?
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Alex Burghart says he agrees with Rayner’s remarks on Ukraine.
He gets on to his question, and it is a short one. What is the government doing to cut inflation.
Rayner welcomes Burghart to his place, and points out that he was a growth minister under Liz Truss. This government is doing better, she says.
Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Lab) asks if the government will stop auction houses being allowed to sell human remains.
Rayner says this practice is “abhorrent”. She promises Ribeiro-Addy a meeting on this.
Angela Rayner starts by saying Keir Starmer has been at the G20 summit.
And she says this week marks 1,000 days since Vladimir Putin’s barbaric war in Ukraine. The UK will stand with Ukraine “for as long as it takes”.
And she says it’s equal pay day.
Angela Rayner faces Alex Burghart at PMQs
With Keir Starmer still on his way back from the G20 summit in Brazil (they were on the ground refuelling at Cape Verde about two hours ago), Angela Rayner, the deputy prime minister, is standing in for him. Kemi Badenoch does not have a deputy, but today she has asked Alex Burghart, the shadow Cabinet Office minister, to lead for the opposition.
Here is the list of MPs down to ask a question.
Trump won't back peace deal for Ukraine that amounts to victory for Putin, David Lammy claims
Donald Trump’s re-election as US president has prompted fears that he will cut off American support for Ukraine, forcing it into peace talks with Russia that would culminate in a settlement on terms favourable to Vladimir Putin. In an interview with the New Statesman, David Lammy has argued that Trump would not go that far.
That might sound like wishful thinking, but Lammy and Keir Starmer did have dinner with Trump in the autumn. Lammy discusses that too in the interview with George Eaton. Here are the key lines.
Lammy argued that Trump would not accept a deal over Ukraine that would look like a victory for Putin. Asked about Trump’s stance on Ukraine, Lammy said:
I’ve been a politician for 25 years and I understand the different philosophies at play. There’s a deep philosophical underpinning to friends in the Republican party that I’ve known for many years, thinking back to people like [former US secretary of state] Condoleezza Rice. Donald Trump has some continuity with this position, which is ‘peace through strength’.
What I do know about Donald Trump is that he doesn’t like losers and he doesn’t want to lose; he wants to get the right deal for the American people. And he knows that the right deal for the American people is peace in Europe and that means a sustainable peace – not Russia achieving its aims and coming back for more in the years ahead.
Lammy said he found Trump “very funny, very engaging and very charismatic” when he and Starmer met Trump for dinner at his home in New York. He also said Trump was “a consummate politician” and very interested in learning how Labour won the election in the UK.
Lammy said he was confident that the Trump administration would back the UK deal giving Mauritius sovereignty over the Chagos Islands. Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, has claimed Trump’s team are strongly opposed to the deal. But Lammy said:
The most important thing about that deal was securing the [US-UK] naval base and securing that naval base well beyond any of our lifetimes [99 years]. That secures global security in many, many ways and it certainly keeps that important part of the Indian Ocean out of play for the Chinese.
I’m very confident that when the new administration looks at the detail of this deal that they will stand behind it because Donald Trump knows what a good deal looks like [a reference to his 1987 book The Art of the Deal] – and this is a good deal.
Lammy said the Democrats should have focused more on the economy in their presidential campaign.
When I spoke to friends in the Democratic Party, and I raised this privately, I just felt that they hadn’t centred the economy in the way that we [Labour] had done just coming into our own election cycle.
It felt that the campaign was very focused on 6 January [the pro-Trump riot at the Capitol building in 2021], very focused on Donald Trump personally, very focused on abortion rights. But my view is that you don’t get permission to talk about those things unless you have satisfied the bread and butter – the economy and issues of immigration.
Peter Kyle announces review of impact of social media on children, saying ban for under-16s not ruled out
A ban on social media for under-16s is “on the table” if companies do not take action to protect children, Peter Kyle, the science secretary, has said. PA Media says:
Kyle made the warning while telling Ofcom to be more assertive with tech firms, as both he and the regulator ready themselves for new legal powers in the Online Safety Act to commence from the start of 2025.
The act will see new safety duties placed on social media platforms for the first time, requiring them to protect users, and in particular children, from harmful content. This will include a crackdown on under-13s having access to age-restricted content.
Speaking to the Telegraph newspaper, Kyle suggested the UK would have to move to “another level of regulation” if tech companies do not get together to enforce the Act.
He said he did not want to pursue further law changes until he sees how the Online Safety Act works. But he signalled he had been speaking to politicians from Australia where social media restrictions for under-16s have been considered.
Asked if the UK could push its age limits up to 16, Kyle told the Telegraph: “When it comes to keeping young people safe, everything is on the table.”
As the government prepares to enforce the Act, Kyle has published for the first time a statement of strategic priorities for watchdog Ofcom.
This says Ofcom should ensure the concept of “safety by design” is being followed by platforms from the start so more harm is caught before it occurs, and pushes for more transparency from tech firms on what harms are occurring on their platforms.
Kyle also announced ministers will launch a research project aimed at helping it understand the impact of smartphones and social media use on children.
The British embassy in Ukraine remains open despite the US shutting its own mission in Kyiv because of a “potential significant air attack” from Russia, the government has said.
Police 'losing confidence' to use their powers to protect public for fear of prosecution, Tories claim
Frontline police are losing the confidence to use their full powers after lengthy prosecutions like the trial of the officer who shot Chris Kaba, Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary has said.
Speaking at a policing conference in Westminster, Philp said that if the government did not act, the opposition would present plans to parliament itself. He said:
Many officers I’ve spoken to … feel their reasonable use of force or other police powers is treated disproportionately or unreasonably after the event, in a way that doesn’t reflect and recognise the pressures of dealing with an incident or the split second decision making, which is inevitably required.
Some incidents go into lengthy and bureaucratic Independent Office for Police Conduct investigations, or even prosecutions, where common sense says that is not appropriate.
Martyn Blake was cleared of the murder of Kaba in three hours by a jury at the Old Bailey last month. Philp also cited the case of Pc Paul Fisher, who was cleared of dangerous driving after crashing on the way to a terrorist incident in Streatham, south east London. Philp said:
We need police officers on the front line to be prepared to take the lawful action necessary to protect themselves and the public.
We need them to drive quickly to the scene of an attack by terrorists and save lives.
We need stop and search to be used to take knives off our streets, we need force to be used where necessary to detain suspects, and I’m concerned that officers are losing the confidence to exercise those powers as required to keep the public safe.
Philp said he wanted the government to allow officers to use the fact they were acting in line with their training as a defence to a criminal or misconduct charge. And he said he wanted this in legislation.
If the government doesn’t make those changes, then at the next opportunity, as the shadow home secretary, I will seek to introduce those measures as an amendment to the next piece of legislation that goes through parliament.
Housing minister tells MPs building 1.5m homes 'essential', but will be 'more difficult' than originally expected
Matthew Pennycook, the housing minister, has just started giving evidence to the Commons housing committee. The hearing is about the government’s plan to build 1.5m new homes over the course of this parliament.
Asked if this was deliverable, Pennycook said it was not just deliverable, but also “essential”.
He said it was “an incredibly stretching target”. But he said anything less would have been an inadequate response to the housing crisis. A generation of people were being priced out of home ownership, he said. He went on:
We’ve got millions of low to middle income households forced into insecure, unaffordable and far too often substandard private rented housing. We have 1.3 million people languishing on social housing waiting lists, and to our utter shame as a nation, more than 150,000 homeless children right now living in temporary accommodation. That is the price we’ve paid for not being serious about house building rates.
But Pennycook also said that building 1.5m homes over five years would be “more difficult” than Labour expected when it set the target in opposition. He said the OBR was predicting a fall in housing supply.
Updated
Angela Rayner to take PMQs as Tories attack BBC for questioning farming lobby’s inheritance tax claims
Good morning. Keir Starmer is travelling back from the G20 summit in Brazil, but he won’t be in the Commons in time for PMQs, and so Angela Rayner, the deputy prime minister, will be taking questions on his behalf. In line with recent practice, Kemi Badenoch, the new Conservative leader, won’t go up against a deputy, and she will miss the session too. The Tories don’t have a deputy leader, but Badenoch is getting Alex Burghart, the shadow Cabinet Office minister, to stand in for her.
The PM might not be answering, but that does not mean the questions get any easier. The situation in Ukraine is looking increasingly perilous, inflation is going up, and figures out yesterday have reignited the row about the government’s decision to cut the winter fuel payment. But the Conservatives may also want to ask about farmers, and the plan to extend inheritance tax to some farms. Traditonally the Tories have liked to think of themselves as a pro-countryside, pro-farming party, and they will have been reassured by the fact that, when they lined up alongside farmers at yesterday’s rally, they did not just have Jeremy Clarkson with them; the Liberal Democrats, the Green party, Greenpeace and even Just Stop Oil were on the farmers’ side too.
Now the Tories have combined backing the NFU with another deep-seated rightwing obsession – attacking the BBC. In comments that have provided the Daily Telegraph with its splash, Stuart Andrew, the shadow culture secretary, has attacked the BBC for producing a factcheck analysis saying that some of the claims made by the pro-farming lobby about the impact of the inheritance tax change are exaggerated. He said:
The job of BBC Verify is to do exactly that but they’ve failed on their own terms.
The government is refusing to say how many family farms are subject to their tax raid, only offering partial and out of date statistics which fail to account for the full scale of their reforms.
The taxpayers pay for the BBC to be independent and free from bias, not for them to regurgitate Labour lines.
This matter should be immediately looked into and corrected.
The Telegraph story also makes much of Jeremy Clarkson, the TV celebrity and farmer, accusing the BBC of bias because a BBC reporter had the temerity to ask him at yesterday’s rally about the fact that he bought a farm at least in part to dodge inheritance tax – something that he has been happy to boast about in the past.
DAILY TELEGRAPH: PM claims BBC has backed him over farm raid #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/aEITwfRaUo
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) November 19, 2024
Andrew’s broadside against the BBC seems to have been inspired by this BBC Verify article and this video summary by Ben Chu, a BBC Verify correspondent, in which he said that claims from the Country Land and Business Association that 70,000 farms would be affected by the change was “almost certainly an overestimate”. Chu had sound grounds for saying this, for the reasons set out in a Treasury letter to the Commons Treasury committee, and the BBC is standing by its story. As it should; most reasonable commentators would agree these reports were fair, not biased. But the row illustrates how hard it can be for a governing party to win an argument when attacking media institutions trying to report impartially becomes part of the opposition’s modus operandi.
Here is the agenda for the day.
9am: Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, gives a speech to the National Police Chiefs’ Council’s conference.
9.30am: Lord Darzi, the leading surgeon and former health minister, gives evidence to the Commons health committee about the report he wrote for the government on the state of the NHS.
10am: Matthew Pennycook, the housing minister, gives evidence to the Commons housing committee about the government’s housebuilding plans.
Noon: Angela Rayner, the deputy PM, faces Alex Burghart, the shadow Cabinet Office minister, at PMQs.
3.20pm: Jess Phillips, the minister for safeguarding and violence against women and girls, gives evidence to the Commons women and equalities committee about non-consensual intimate image abuse.
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