Labour MPs should realise welfare system ‘wants reform’, says Reeves
Labour MPs should realise the welfare system wants reform, Rachel Reeves has stated, as greater than 40 MPs have written to the prime minister urging him to pause and reassess deliberate cuts to incapacity advantages (see 10.33am BST).
Requested what her message to Labour MPs anxious concerning the welfare cuts was, the chancellor advised broadcasters:
I don’t assume anyone, together with Labour MPs and members, assume that the present welfare system created by the Conservative occasion is working right this moment. They know that the system wants reform. We do have to reform how the welfare system works if we’re going to develop our financial system.
However crucially, if we’re going to elevate individuals out of poverty and provides extra individuals the possibility to fulfil their potential, the main focus has received to be on supporting individuals into work.
In fact, should you can’t work the welfare state should all the time be there for you, and with this authorities it is going to be. However there are a lot of individuals which are trapped on advantages which are determined to work, which were reduce out of alternative for too lengthy. That can change beneath this authorities.
Key occasions
US-UK commerce deal has saved jobs at Jaguar Land Rover, says Mandelson
Lisa O’Carroll
The UK’s restricted commerce take care of the US has instantly prevented job losses at Jaguar Land Rover’s (JLR) plant within the West Midlands, Britain’s ambassador to the US has stated.
“This deal has saved these jobs,” Peter Mandelson stated in an interview on CNN. “That’s a reasonably large achievement, in my opinion, and I’m more than happy that the president has signed it.”
Authorities sources stated JLR had plans for imminent cuts amongst its 30,000 workers in Solihull however had not knowledgeable unions within the hope {that a} take care of the US might be struck to eradicate the 25% tariffs on exports of automobiles to the US.
Donald Trump’s import taxes had threatened to cripple British high-end carmakers earlier than they were reduced from 27.5% to 10% in a deal introduced on Thursday by Trump and Keir Starmer, with JLR solely final week resuming exports to the US after a 30-day pause after the US president’s announcement of tariffs final month.
Authorities insiders confirmed the choice to go for a fast deal whereas they might, saying what they stated was a breakthrough agreement to eradicate tariffs on automotive and metal exports.
“It was essential to us to have the ability to financial institution the progress that we had made at this stage,” stated an insider.
The UK enterprise secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, advised the BBC’s Newsnight programme on Thursday that the UK was prone to 1000’s of individuals shedding their jobs within the automotive sector inside days, with one senior authorities insider indicating the job losses would have been at JLR.
AESC to construct second Sunderland gigafactory after securing £1bn funding
Lauren Almeida
Japan’s AESC has introduced it is going to construct a second gigafactory in Sunderland to provide electrical automobile batteries, after it secured a £1bn debt funding deal backed by a £680m assure from the UK authorities.
The Nationwide Wealth Fund and UK Export Finance, each state our bodies, will present monetary ensures that unlock the £680m in financing for the battery maker. An additional £320m in debt funding will come from non-public financing in addition to new fairness from the enterprise.
The £1bn funding will fund constructing and working of the brand new plant in Sunderland, which is anticipated to make use of greater than 1,000 individuals and energy as much as 100,000 electrical automobiles a yr.
The chancellor, Rachel Reeves, who was in Sunderland for the announcement, stated the deal would enhance British industries’ resilience and encourage development. “This funding in Sunderland won’t solely additional innovation and speed up our transfer to extra sustainable transport, however it is going to additionally ship much-needed top quality, well-paid jobs to the north-east, placing more cash in individuals’s pockets,” she stated.
The enterprise secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, described the funding as “one more vote of confidence within the north-east’s thriving auto manufacturing hub”.
The information got here only a day after the UK and the US agreed a commerce deal that dramatically reduced Donald Trump’s tariffs on imports of automobiles, aluminium and metal.
The “absolute focus” of leaders of the UK-led Joint Expeditionary Pressure (JEF) is supporting Ukraine and defending values that have been exhausting gained through the second world warfare, Keir Starmer stated.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy attended a part of the JEF summit nearly on Friday morning, the prime minister confirmed.
Chatting with broadcasters throughout a go to to HMS St Albans navy frigate in Oslo port, Norway, Starmer was requested what the message from leaders was to Russia and China as Chinese language president Xi Jinping attended Victory Day celebrations in Moscow.
In response to the PA information company, Starmer stated:
The message of leaders right here could be very, very clear, and that’s that we’re centered on Ukraine. We’ve been with Nato allies right here in Norway.
[President] Zelenskyy got here in nearly to a part of that assembly. So our focus is on Ukraine with our European allies. In fact, right this moment we additionally introduced our greatest ever sanctions package deal in opposition to the Russian shadow fleet.
Actually essential work, once more, mentioned with our allies this afternoon.
And in order that’s the place our absolute focus is – with Ukraine, defending the values that yesterday at VE Day, we have been remembering and commemorating, that have been hard-won within the second world warfare.
The prime minister has declined to rule out adjustments to the digital companies tax as a part of a future commerce take care of the US.
Chatting with broadcasters on board HMS St Albans throughout a go to to Norway, Keir Starmer stated:
The deal that we signed off yesterday doesn’t cowl that.
That’s predominantly centered on metal and aluminium and lowering these tariffs on automotive manufacturing and lowering the tariffs there, after which future proofing for prescribed drugs, three actually essential sectors, and that, as I say, will likely be measured in 1000’s and 1000’s of jobs that will likely be protected, saved, and can thrive because of this.
On digital companies, there are ongoing discussions, clearly, on different features of the deal, however the essential factor to give attention to yesterday is the sectors that at the moment are protected that the day earlier than yesterday have been very uncovered.
Plaid Cymru would give attention to “deep issues throughout the NHS in Wales”, in addition to training, financial stagnation and poverty, ought to it’s the occasion that leads the subsequent Welsh authorities, Rhun ap Iorwerth stated.
The following Senedd election will see Welsh voters use a brand new proportional system to decide on their representatives. Fourty 9 seats will likely be required for an outright majority, with the Senedd being expanded to 96 members.
The earlier system had an “in-built bias in the direction of Labour”, the Plaid Cymru chief stated.
Ap Iorwerth added:
That adjustments with the brand new electoral system that we now have in Wales, and it’s a real case that wherever individuals are in Wales, the votes that they solid will contribute in the direction of who will be main that authorities subsequent yr, Plaid Cymru is placing itself ahead because the occasion to guide that authorities.
And if individuals need that, they will have it with me as first minister, the primary non-Labour first minister, setting a distinct course for governments in Wales.
Events in Wales are more likely to need to cooperate after the YouGov ballot printed on Tuesday (see 2.08pm BST), the Plaid Cymru chief stated, however he continued to rule out a “formal relationship” with Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.
Ap Iorwerth added:
We’ve two conservative events in Wales now: the Conservative occasion, and the Tories on steroids that Reform are: the pro-Thatcher, the pro-Liz Truss, the pro-Trump political occasion that works in opposition to the pursuits of staff, that works in opposition to the pursuits of companies in Wales.
I simply don’t assume that’s the politics that’s within the pursuits of Wales.
Welsh IndyRef ‘completely may occur in our lifetime’, says Plaid Cymru chief
A referendum on Welsh independence may “completely” be held inside “our lifetime”, Plaid Cymru’s chief has stated, studies the PA information company.
Rhun ap Iorwerth didn’t draw back from suggesting his occasion will be the main political drive in Wales aftera ballot which predicts Plaid Cymru could have the biggest vote share within the 2026 Senedd elections.
Plaid Cymru is projected to be the biggest occasion within the Senedd after the end result of the election, with about 30% of votes and 35 seats within the Siambr, in line with a YouGov ballot printed on Tuesday. Nigel Farage’s Reform UK could be the second largest occasion, with 25% of votes, in line with the ballot.
The Plaid Cymru chief dominated out holding a referendum on Wales leaving the UK within the first time period of a Plaid Cymru-led Welsh authorities, when chatting with the BBC’s Walescast this week. He has beforehand declined to place a timeline on a referendum, after Plaid’s final chief Adam Value promised such a vote inside 5 years.
However ap Iorwerth advised the PA information company a referendum may kind a part of a Plaid Cymru authorities’s platform for the longer term, as soon as it has constructed belief with the Welsh voters.
“The important thing factor is it’s as much as the individuals of Wales. And I’ve many instances stated that I’d have independence tomorrow, nevertheless it’s not what I feel that issues,” ap Iorwerth advised PA. He added:
It’s what the individuals of Wales imagine, and I completely assume we will have that referendum and set us off on a distinct course as a rustic inside our lifetime.
Ought to Plaid Cymru pursue such a referendum in future, it could be more likely to want assist from different events in Cardiff Bay and at Westminster, which is unlikely to be forthcoming.
Libby Brooks
The thinktank Reform Scotland is holding a captivating occasion this lunchtime on the rise of Reform UK north of the border.
Pollster Mark Diffley identified that Reform UK continues to ballot round half of what it does in the remainder of the UK, however this gained’t essentially undermine the impression they might have at subsequent Could’s Holyrood elections.
He estimates Reform UK may win about 10% of MSPs subsequent yr and emphasises “full change in tradition and context” this could carry to the Scottish parliament.
Ailsa Henderson, the Edinburgh Uni professor who runs the Scottish Election examine, underlines how deeply unpopular Nigel Farage himself is in Scotland – solely Trump is much less widespread with Scots – but in addition that there’s area for a rightwing occasion amongst an voters that’s each small ‘c’ conservative however hate the Conservative occasion.
She provides that the SNP have accomplished numerous Reform UK’s groundwork for them, with their fixed messaging concerning the failure of the Westminster establishment.
There was some query of whether or not lack of Scottish figurehead mattered, given how profitable the occasion has been in tapping into anger and disillusion.
The panel additionally mentioned the probability of Reform UK’s success in English native elections bringing the occasion extra into the mainstream in time for Holyrood and Senedd elections subsequent yr.
Labour ‘throwing trans individuals beneath the bus’ says transgender councillor
Libby Brooks
One among Labour’s solely transgender councillors has resigned from the occasion, accusing it of “throwing trans individuals beneath the bus”.
In a put up on X on Friday morning, Dylan Tippetts, who has represented Compton ward on Plymouth metropolis council since 2022, wrote: “I can’t proceed to characterize a celebration that doesn’t assist my basic rights. I can’t as a trans individual proceed to assist the Labour occasion.”
Tippetts, who was the primary Labour councillor to characterize the world, will now sit as an impartial and confirmed he wouldn’t search re-election.
He stated: “The Labour occasion nationally has thrown transgender individuals beneath the bus and has taken us backwards a long time. Everybody deserves the best to dwell peacefully, and the Labour occasion continues to disclaim transgender folks that primary proper.”
Tippett’s resignation comes after senior authorities figures, together with Keir Starmer, welcomed the “readability” offered by the supreme courtroom’s ruling on organic intercourse.
Britain’s most senior statistician has stepped down citing “ongoing well being points”, amid criticism over flaws in current financial knowledge.
Sir Ian Diamond confirmed he has resigned as head of the Workplace for Nationwide Statistics (ONS) with rapid impact.
He stated: “It has been an honour and a privilege to guide the ONS over the previous five-and-a-half years and I’ve been immensely happy with the outstanding function that impartial statistics and knowledge have performed in informing the essential choices of the day.
“Sadly I’ve made the choice that, because of ongoing well being points, I’m unable to provide the dedication to the function of nationwide statistician that I want to and really feel that it’s the proper time for any person else to select up the baton.”
It comes amid criticism from politicians and Financial institution of England officers over potential inaccuracies in a number of the ONS’s financial knowledge, significantly its labour market survey knowledge.
Downing Road has declined to rule out adjustments to the digital companies tax as a part of a future settlement with the US, studies the PA information company.
Requested whether or not adjustments to the tax could be on the desk in future negotiations, a Quantity 10 spokesperson stated:
The place on the digital companies tax stays unchanged.
Clearly, there are persevering with discussions and, as I say, that is the start of the method.
This deal marks solely the start. We’re persevering with talks on that wider financial deal which is able to have a look at growing digital commerce, which is an amazing alternative.
And that type of work on a digital commerce deal will strip again paperwork for British companies making an attempt to export to the US, opening up the UK to an enormous market that can measurably enhance the UK financial system.
That deal additionally opens the best way to a future UK-US know-how partnership by way of which our science-rich nations will collaborate in key areas of superior know-how, for instance biotech, life sciences, quantum computing, nuclear fusion, aerospace and area.
Conservationists name for brand spanking new legal guidelines to make sure essential bushes are ‘listed’ for cover
Conservationists are calling for brand spanking new legal guidelines to make sure essential bushes are “listed” for cover, like historic buildings, after the Sycamore Hole trial.
The decision by the Woodland Belief to enhance safety for 1000’s of bushes which have essential ecological, cultural and historic worth comes after high-profile felling of landmark bushes precipitated public fury.
Two men have been found guilty of felling the “totemic” Sycamore Gap tree beside Hadrian’s Wall in September 2023, and the Forestry Fee is assessing the felling of a 400-year-old oak in Whitewebbs Park, north London, in April, one among solely about 100 oaks of that measurement in Larger London.
In response to the PA information company, the Woodland Belief stated that present protections comparable to tree preservation orders and necessities for felling licences had limitations and exemptions, comparable to the kind and site of bushes protected, and known as for higher safeguards for the nation’s most treasured bushes.
The charity needs the federal government to again a proposed legislation that might “record” heritage bushes with distinctive historic, panorama, cultural or ecological significance, much like the best way historic buildings and monuments are listed or scheduled.
Beneath the heritage bushes invoice, put ahead by Barbara Younger within the Home of Lords as a personal member’s invoice, an inventory of such bushes could be created and maintained by a statutory company. Timber on the record would have provisions guaranteeing their safety, requiring landowners and occupiers to promote the tree’s standing and take steps to take care of and preserve it, and there could be further or increased penalties for breaching new “heritage tree preservation orders”.
Adam Cormack, head of campaigns on the Woodland Belief, stated the proposed legislation would supply “a constant stage of safety, conservation and energetic stewardship for a listed group of bushes”.
A number of thousand of crucial bushes throughout England might be protected with the scheme, he stated, whereas totally different laws would have to be handed in Scotland, Wales and Northern Eire. He highlighted work in Poland, the place a “inexperienced monuments” system preserves tens of 1000’s of bushes, and the same scheme in Romania.
Cormack additionally pointed to a survey after the felling of the Sycamore Hole tree, which discovered 88% of individuals supported laws to guard probably the most helpful bushes. He stated:
Particular bushes present a dwelling backdrop to our nationwide historical past and tradition, in addition to the tales and lives of our native communities, however they’ve few authorized protections within the UK.
Different European international locations have recognised this with laws in place to guard very outdated and essential bushes for his or her immense ecological, cultural and historic worth.
His colleague, Jack Taylor, venture lead for woods beneath risk, added:
There’s a robust nationwide id behind historical and veteran bushes.
We’re not probably the most wooded international locations throughout Europe, however we do have a very sturdy inhabitants of historical and veteran bushes, and that resonates with individuals. If you see bushes just like the Whitewebbs oak, it stops most individuals of their tracks.
Labour MPs should realise welfare system ‘wants reform’, says Reeves
Labour MPs should realise the welfare system wants reform, Rachel Reeves has stated, as greater than 40 MPs have written to the prime minister urging him to pause and reassess deliberate cuts to incapacity advantages (see 10.33am BST).
Requested what her message to Labour MPs anxious concerning the welfare cuts was, the chancellor advised broadcasters:
I don’t assume anyone, together with Labour MPs and members, assume that the present welfare system created by the Conservative occasion is working right this moment. They know that the system wants reform. We do have to reform how the welfare system works if we’re going to develop our financial system.
However crucially, if we’re going to elevate individuals out of poverty and provides extra individuals the possibility to fulfil their potential, the main focus has received to be on supporting individuals into work.
In fact, should you can’t work the welfare state should all the time be there for you, and with this authorities it is going to be. However there are a lot of individuals which are trapped on advantages which are determined to work, which were reduce out of alternative for too lengthy. That can change beneath this authorities.
On unacceptable care, Jim Mackey stated the service should “attempt to get past issues which have turn out to be a bit normalised over current years that we might by no means have accepted”.
He added:
Ten years in the past, we might have by no means accepted outdated women being on corridors subsequent to an [emergency] division for hours on finish and so they have turn out to be regular within the NHS.
We’ve received to get ourselves out of that, and everyone needs to get out of it.
He stated that even in locations “delivering excellence” there are “nonetheless issues occurring there which are fully unacceptable” as he stated that driving down variation would assist to enhance care.
Mackey continued:
There’s numerous examples like that the place I feel we simply type of step by step moved to a degree the place we’ve accepted issues that we must always not likely have accepted, and we have to cease accepting.
The exhausting bit is what we do about it, most individuals know that, the fear is after they’re desensitised to it … it’s really not their downside, they’ve discovered a means of strolling round it. Colleagues used to explain it as ‘studying stroll with a limp’.
Requested about independence from politicians, chief government of NHS England stated:
I’ll haven’t any downside telling anyone what I feel – if I’ve a view, I’m going to precise it, and if I feel one thing’s incorrect, I’m going to say it.
However I’m very assured in the best way that I’ve seen Wes work his political crew and the prime minister, that they really don’t need any person to only sit, simply associate with every thing, and simply roll over and never say if they’ve a they’ve a view, and I’ll take that significantly.
Talking concerning the demise of NHS England, Mackey additionally stated that it was “naive” to imagine an organisation which “is the most important shopper of public useful resource within the nation” might be politically impartial.
“I understood the logic on the time, I feel it was in all probability, in hindsight, a bit naive to assume that we may make one thing politically impartial and fewer immediately managed by the political system for one thing that’s the greatest shopper of public useful resource within the nation,” he stated.
