Afternoon summary
Keir Starmer has declined to comment on reports a £1bn investment in the UK has been jeopardised by ministers’ criticism of the company behind it. As PA Media says, Dubai-based DP World is reported to have been planning to announce a major investment in the UK at the government’s International Investment Summit next Monday. But, according to Sky News, that investment is now under review after deputy prime minister Angela Rayner and transport secretary Louise Haigh repeated criticism of P&O Ferries, which is owned by DP World. P&O Ferries was criticised by politicians from both main parties in March 2022 when it suddenly sacked 800 British seafarers and replaced them with cheaper, mainly overseas, staff, saying it was necessary to stave off bankruptcy. On Wednesday, Rayner and Haigh introduced legislation to prevent similar actions, with Haigh describing P&O Ferries as “cowboy operators” and Rayner saying the incident had been “an outrageous example of manipulation by an employer”. Today Sky News reported DP World chairman, Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, ordered Monday’s announcement to be cancelled and the planned investment in the company’s London Gateway port to be reviewed. Asked about the row on Friday, Starmer declined to answer directly, saying there had been “five or six huge investments in the UK” announced in the past four weeks. He said:
We’ve got a massive investment summit coming up on Monday where leading investors from across the globe are all coming to the UK. This is very, very good for the country, very, very good for the future of jobs, it’s just the sort of change that we need to see.
Starmer has claimed that today’s inaugural council of nations and regions meeting will help bring investment to the UK. After the meeting in Edinburgh, asked about the non-attendance of Sue Gray, his new envoy for nations and regions, Starmer replied:
For everybody listening and watching this, who’s concerned to know, is there going to be investment in my region? Are there going to be jobs where I live? The answer is, today, we’ve got a long way down the road of collaborating to that end.
Rhuan ap Iorwerth, the Plaid Cymru leader, has told his party’s conference in Cardiff that Wales cannot afford another 25 years of Labour. In his keynote speech, he said:
Labour’s letting down its own traditional supporters, so many of whom are already embracing Plaid Cymru’s vision.
Labour’s failing them, failing Wales and failing to understand what it takes to turn things around.
We can win by demonstrating we are better than this, we’re bolder and not the bystanders that this government have become.
Be in no doubt – we can win at the ballot box and that must be our goal. This isn’t about winning for us – it’s about winning for Wales.
Robert Jenrick, one of the two Tory leadership candidates left in the contest, has denied telling Tory MPs in private that, if he wins, he will drop his shift to the right and pivot back to the centre. (See 9.52am.)
John Swinney says he expects to see 'concrete, substantive actions' flow from council of nations and regions
John Swinney has warned he and other devolved leaders expect to see “concrete, substantive actions” flow from Keir Starmer’s new council of nations and regions following Friday’s inaugural meeting in Edinburgh.
Briefing reporters after the summit ended, the Scottish first minister said he felt he had “a serious conservation” with the prime minister, who had chaired three rounds of bilateral and round table talks with the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish first ministers, and England’s metro mayors. He said:
I feel I’ve had a serious conversation today, and I’ve been around the blocks of intergovernmental relations for many years, And I’ve had other occasions in the past [where] I’ve had serious conversations. I couldn’t say there were many serious conversations after 2019.
Swinney said that he did not know what Sue Gray’s role would be as Starmer’s new putative envoy on the nations and regions.
I don’t know what the nature of that role is, and it’s not been explained to me. What I expect is that I will have a direct relationship with the prime minister, and that’s what I will pursue.
What has been promised to me by the prime minister is a direct relationship between me and him, and that is that’s been fulfilled. The prime minister made it clear to me again today that if there are issues about which I am concerned, I am to approach him directly, and I have been doing so, and I will do so.
Swinney said he had set out “the critical nature” of increased public spending, particularly on anti-poverty measures, and on infrastructure investment, in his bilateral with Starmer.
He had also pressed the prime minister to prioritise investment in Grangemouth oil refinery, which closes next year, and to support Scotland’s Acorn carbon capture and storage scheme which lost out in the first round of UK funding.
In a clear indication Swinney is currently shy of fuelling political conflicts with Starmer, given the UK government’s efforts to reset relations with Holyrood, the first minister said he would not second guess the UK government’s spending decision in this month’s budget or brief the media every detail of their discussions.
He urged Starmer to scrap the Internal Markets Act, a Conservative piece of post-Brexit legislation which allows UK ministers to sidestep Holyrood and also control Scottish legislation deemed to have UK-wide effects.
I can’t, in all honesty, ask the prime minister to set out his response to my budget challenge on 11 October, when the budget is on 30 October.
[So] I suppose the only answer I can give you is I don’t know what his reaction will be, we’ll see that in due course. I do think, to be fair to the prime minister, he understands the significance of the point that I am making to him about public investment.
