Starmer says authorities intends to publish in full its three witness statements in China spy case
Starmer is now making an announcement in regards to the China spy prosecution case.
He says he’ll publish the witness statements made by the federal government within the China spy trial case. He says he intends to publish them in full, however they’re being checked first.
And he restates the federal government’s declare that the prosecution failed due to the stance taken by the earlier authorities.
Key occasions
Starmer says ‘substantive’ authorities proof for China spy trial was supplied by final Tory administration
Kemi Badenoch says Starmer had be be dragged out to make this assertion. She accuses him of “obfuscation”.
She says in 2021 the intergrated overview described China as the most important state primarily based menace to the UK’s financial safety.
In 2022 the MI5 director known as China a menace.
How did the federal government fail to offer proof that China was a menace?
Starmer says the substantive witness assertion for this case was submitted in 2023, when the final authorities was in energy.
He quotes James Cleverly, the previous Tory international secretary, saying calling China a menace can be not possible and unwise.
And Badenoch was enterprise secretary on the time. In 2-23, the related 12 months, she mentioned “we definitely shouldn’t be describing China as a foe”.
And in September 2024 she mentioned: “I’ve shied away from calling China a menace.”
He accused her of “enjoying politics with nationwide safety”.
Starmer says authorities intends to publish in full its three witness statements in China spy case
Starmer is now making an announcement in regards to the China spy prosecution case.
He says he’ll publish the witness statements made by the federal government within the China spy trial case. He says he intends to publish them in full, however they’re being checked first.
And he restates the federal government’s declare that the prosecution failed due to the stance taken by the earlier authorities.
Starmer condemns ‘unequivocally’ demise threats towards Nigel Farage, and welcomes conviction of man accountable
Keir Starmer begins by paying tribute to Amess, and to Jo Cox, who was additionally killed.
And he condemns the demise threats to Nigel Farage.
I wish to take this chance to sentence unequivocally the demise threats made towards the honourable member for Clacton.
I do know the home will welcome the justice that has been performed. No matter our disagreements, we’re all parliamentarians.
Starmer says all violence and threats towards democracy are unacceptable.
Lindsay Hoyle begins by telling MPs that audio system from the parliaments in Fiji and Ukraine are within the gallery. And he says it’s 4 years to the day since David Amess was murdered.
Starmer faces Badenoch at PMQs
It’s PMQs. Right here is the record of MPs right down to ask a query.
Tory claims about ‘tens of millions’ of individuals getting Motability automobiles for anxiousness or ADHD wholly mistaken, consultants say
Helen Whately, the shadow work and pensions secretary, misled Conservative members when she instructed them “tens of millions” of individuals on advantages get a free Motability automotive, based on Radio 4’s truth checking programme, Extra or Much less.
In her speech to the convention final week, Whately mentioned:
Thousands and thousands of individuals proper now, are sitting on the couch at residence.
Thousands and thousands have gotten themselves a sick observe from the GP and signed onto illness advantages with only a type and a telephone name.
Thousands and thousands are getting advantages for anxiousness and ADHD, together with a free Motability automotive.
However, in an episode of Extra or Much less broadcast this morning, Tim Harford, the presenter, mentioned that there have been solely round 200,000 individuals working age individuals getting incapacity advantages for anxiousness issues or ADHD with the improved mobility part that might make them eligible for a Motability automotive. And lots of of them won’t be utilizing the Motability scheme. So the declare that “tens of millions” of persons are getting a automotive on this foundation is simply mistaken, Harford mentioned.
Tom Waters, an economist from the Institute for Fiscal Research thinktank, instructed the programme that the full variety of individuals with a Motability automobile is 860,000, and that determine consists of scooters and wheelchairs. So, even when all profit claimants are included, Whately’s assertion that “tens of millions” of persons are getting automobiles remains to be mistaken.
Kemi Badenoch additionally talked about Motability in her speech, saying individuals shouldn’t be capable of get these automobiles on the idea of getting ADHD.
Waters instructed the programme that there are round 43,000 individuals on Pip (the non-public independence cost – a incapacity profit) with the improved mobility part, which means in precept they might qualify for a automotive. However this quantity was “pretty small” as a proportion of the full, he mentioned, and lots of of them wouldn’t have a Motability automotive. They could additionally produce other circumstances affecting their mobility.
Harford additionally mentioned that, of these 43,000 individuals, nearly half of them had been aged 16 to 19. He additionally mentioned Pip was assessed not on what circumstances individuals have, however on what they will do. He went on:
Because of this it’s under no circumstances clear how Kemi Badenoch would fulfil her promise of stopping individuals with particular circumstances, reminiscent of ADHD, from receiving Motability automobiles, as a result of assessments aren’t decided by particular circumstances. That promise wouldn’t simply be a tweak. It could require a radical rethinking of how incapacity advantages work.
This isn’t the primary time Tories have made doubtful claims in regards to the Motability scheme. Archie Bland printed a Guardian explainer on this earlier this 12 months.
After PMQs there will likely be an pressing query within the Commons, on “the adequacy of Jhoots as a pharmacy supplier”, adopted by two ministerial statements: Yvette Cooper, the international secretrary, on Ukraine, and Miatta Fahnbulleh, the communities minister, on the Pride in Place scheme.
Individuals unwell extra prone to vote Reform UK, analysis suggests
Individuals in poorer well being usually tend to vote Reform UK, PA Media stories. PA says:
Specialists from Imperial School London checked out voting patterns in final 12 months’s normal election, when Reform secured 14.3% of the votes and 5 seats.
Three of the 5 areas (60%) returning a Reform MP had been in essentially the most disadvantaged fifth of the nation, in contrast with 103 (29.7%) of Labour constituencies, based on the examine printed in BMJ Open Respiratory Analysis.
Reform UK areas had the best proportion of individuals aged over 65, and other people had been extra prone to undergo from 15 out of 20 well being circumstances in comparison with different areas.
The diseases included bronchial asthma, persistent obstructive pulmonary illness (COPD), persistent kidney illness, coronary coronary heart illness, dementia, melancholy, diabetes, studying disabilities, arthritis and weight problems.
The examine discovered that the strongest hyperlinks between voting for Reform and having a situation had been for weight problems, COPD and epilepsy.
A deep evaluation confirmed that Reform constituencies had a median bronchial asthma prevalence of seven.44% and a median COPD prevalence of two.85%, in contrast with 6.58% and 1.99% for Labour areas.
Reform areas additionally had a median prevalence of coronary coronary heart illness of three.90% in contrast with 2.98% in Conservative areas, and a median melancholy prevalence of 14.05% in contrast with 12.84% in Liberal Democrat areas.
The researchers concluded: “The primary discovering of our evaluation was an affiliation between poor well being metrics at a constituency stage and votes for Reform UK.
“The outcomes are according to work displaying a relationship between poor healthcare measures and Republican voting within the US and information from Italy linking dissatisfaction with public companies and voting for the far proper.
“Within the UK, closure of native healthcare amenities has been proven to scale back reported affected person satisfaction and enhance help for populist proper events.
“Lung well being is especially influenced by well being inequality, and circumstances inflicting breathlessness (weight problems, COPD in addition to bronchial asthma and cardiac illness) seem in flip to be linked to voting patterns.”
Steven Swinford, the Occasions’ political editor, says he thinks the federal government will resolve it has to publish the witness statements it supplied to the Crown Prosecution Service to help the China spy prosecution that was dropped. That is what he says about what they could present.
What the proof from Matthew Collins, the deputy NSA says, will likely be fascinating.
Did it make any reference to threats posed by China in any respect? Did it draw on proof from the house workplace or MI5? Did it flag the general public descriptions of China as a menace to nationwide safety by the heads of MI5 and MI6? Or was it solely primarily based on the built-in overview and a speech by James Cleverly?
What threshold did Collins use when he reached his apparently unilateral conclusion that China was not a menace to nationwide safety on the time of the alleged offences?
And as persons are asking at this time is it actually acceptable for a single civil servant to be making a choice of such magnitude given the results for the case, the safety of MPs and British-China relations?
If No 10 decides it will publish this proof, and assuming it doesn’t include any materials that undermines what the federal government has been saying about this so far, then it’d come simply earlier than PMQs. This may assist Keir Starmer in his exchanges with Kemi Badenoch as a result of she wouldn’t have time to organize the perfect questions primarily based on what the paperwork reveal.
Lib Dems urge Reeves to rule out extending freeze on earnings tax thresholds
And that is what Daisy Cooper, the Lib Dem deputy chief and Treasury spokesperson, is saying in regards to the Rachel Reeves interview.
Thousands and thousands of individuals up and down the nation are fearful they might face extra damaging tax hikes, after the Conservative social gathering saddled them with a stealth tax and this authorities hit them with an unfair jobs tax.
Prolonging this uncertainty for weeks will depart individuals deeply fearful about what this might imply for his or her payslips and payments.
Rachel Reeves should rule out a cloak-and-dagger effort to lift income by extending the Conservatives’ stealth tax and dragging much more working individuals into larger tax charges. What we want is a correct progress plan and for the large banks, social media giants and playing firms to pay their justifiable share of tax.
By “stealth tax”, Cooper is referring to the freeze on earnings tax thresholds.
Shadow chancellor Mel Stride claims UK in ‘tax doom loop’ and Reeves guilty
In his Sky Information interview with the chancellor, Sam Coates put it to her that the UK was in a “doom loop” the place the federal government wanted to return again yearly with larger taxes to fill a black gap within the public funds. Rachel Reeves replied: “No one needs that cycle to finish greater than I do, Sam.”
However, when Coates requested her if she might rule out having to place taxes up once more in 2026, Reeves simply averted the query, telling him:
Our financial system is doing nicely. I recognise that the price of dwelling challenges are nonetheless very actual for individuals. Within the final parliament, dwelling requirements fell. That’s the primary time that’s ever occurred. Dwelling requirements are rising at this time due to the will increase within the nationwide dwelling wage, the nationwide minimal wage, and since inflation and rates of interest are decrease than they had been underneath the earlier authorities.
Is there extra to do? Completely, however I’ll by no means take dangers by the general public funds as a result of once you do, it’s strange those who pay the value.
In reality, no chancellor would rule out tax will increase 13 months forward of a finances, and so the truth that Reeves didn’t reply the query is meaningless. (However I quoted her phrases anyway as a result of they inform you one thing in regards to the story she needs to inform in regards to the financial system.)
In a put up on social media, Mel Stride, the shadow chancellor, has claimed the UK is in a doom loop, and Reeves is guilty. He says:
Final 12 months Rachel Reeves raised taxes by £40 billion. She mentioned she wouldn’t come again for extra. Now the Chancellor has confirmed she’s about to interrupt her promise.
Rachel Reeves doesn’t want to lift taxes. She must get a grip of presidency spending – together with the welfare invoice.
Be in little question, this tax doom loop is right down to the Chancellor’s financial mismanagement.
Below Rachel Reeves now we have seen inflation double, debt balloon, borrowing prices at a 27-year excessive, and taxes up – with extra ache on the best way within the autumn.
A theme is rising: when the numbers don’t add up, it’s by no means Rachel Reeves’ fault – nevertheless it’s at all times your loved ones that pays the value.
Stress on Downing Road to launch proof in collapsed China spy case
Downing Road is underneath stress to publish its proof in the collapsed China spy case after the Crown Prosecution Service denied having blocked its launch, Emine Sinmaz stories.
Brexit has had ‘extreme and lengthy lasting’ impression on financial system, says Reeves, as she confirms taxes to rise in finances
Good morning. In a much-praised FT column yesterday, Stephen Bush argued that one downside dealing with the Conservatives at this time is that “a necessary situation for entry into the higher echelons of [the party] is being prepared to no less than faux that you simply suppose taking Britain out of the EU was a good suggestion”. As Bush memorably put it, “it is a endless lobotomy for the Tories”.
However, to a a lot lesser extent, Labour has additionally had an issue with Brexit reality telling. On the final election Keir Starmer knew that he would solely win with the help of people that voted to depart the EU in 2016 and because of this Labour averted any language on Brexit that implied that this group might need been mistaken.
Regularly that’s altering and on the weekend the Occasions ran a narrative saying that Starmer and Rachel Reeves plan to make the argument that, with a downgrade in productiveness forecasts set to necessitate large tax rises within the finances, this will likely be no less than partially as a consequence of Brexit. In their story Steven Swinford and Oliver Wright mentioned:
Starmer and Reeves are anticipated to argue that, if it hadn’t been for Brexit, the sort of downgrade wouldn’t have been wanted, and to quote official figures suggesting that if Britain had not left the European Union the financial system can be about £120bn larger by 2035 than present forecasts recommend it is going to be.
The message is straightforward: [Nigel] Farage is in the end guilty as the person who delivered Brexit with “straightforward sloganeering” then walked away from the aftermath relatively than placing within the laborious yards. Or, to place it one other approach: Farage, not us, is liable for placing up your taxes.
Referring to the story, Wes Steeting, the well being secretary, instructed a e-book competition on the weekend: “I’m glad that Brexit is an issue whose title we now dare converse.”
This morning Sky Information has broadcast an interview with Reeves, who will likely be in Washington at this time for IMF and World Financial institution conferences, and Sam Coates requested her if it was true that the federal government is now blaming Brexit for the anaemic productiveness figures which have led to the Workplace for Funds Accountability warning Reeves she must increase extra tax. Reeves replied:
Austerity, Brexit, and the continued impression of Liz Truss’s mini-budget, all of these issues have weighed closely on the UK financial system. Already, individuals thought that the UK financial system can be 4% smaller due to Brexit. Now, after all, we’re undoing a few of that injury by the deal that we did with the EU earlier this 12 months … however there isn’t any doubting that the impression of Brexit is extreme and lengthy lasting and that’s why we are attempting to do commerce offers world wide, US, India, however most significantly with the EU.
“Extreme and lengthy lasting” is stronger than the language that Reeves usually makes use of when speaking in regards to the unfavourable impression of Brexit. The Occasions had been in all probability onto one thing.
Within the interview Reeves additionally confirmed that tax rises are coming within the finances. (Requested if tax rises had been coming down the observe, she replied sure earlier than swiftly transferring on.) Maybe extra surprisingly, she additionally implied she is taking a look at potential spending cuts. “After all, we’re taking a look at tax and spending as nicely,” she mentioned at one other level.
Graeme Wearden has extra on Reeves on the IMF on his enterprise dwell weblog.
Will the Reeves interview come up at PMQs? In all probability not. As a substitute, Kemi Badenoch is prone to problem Starmer over the collapse of the China spy prosecution. With the CPS now saying it has no objection to the release of the three witness statements the federal government ready forward of the path, Starmer is underneath stress to both publish them – or give you a good purpose why he can’t.
Right here is the agenda for the day.
10.30am: The excessive courtroom begins listening to a declare by Epping Forest council saying the Bell resort in Epping shouldn’t be used to accommodate asylum seekers. (That is the primary case; authorized motion earlier this 12 months solely centered on the slim situation of whether or not asylum seekers must be allowed to remain within the resort, or have to depart, earlier than the primary listening to.)
Morning: Ruslan Stefanchuk, chair of the Ukrainian parliament (their equal of the Speaker), offers a speech to MPs and friends, earlier than attending PMQs.
Midday: Keir Starmer faces Kemi Badenoch at PMQs.
Afternoon (UK time): Rachel Reeves is in Washington for IMF conferences the place she is anticipated to talk to the media.
If you wish to contact me, please put up a message under the road when feedback are open (usually between 10am and 3pm BST in the intervening time), or message me on social media. I can’t learn all of the messages BTL, however should you put “Andrew” in a message aimed toward me, I’m extra prone to see it as a result of I seek for posts containing that phrase.
If you wish to flag one thing up urgently, it’s best to make use of social media. You possibly can attain me on Bluesky at @andrewsparrowgdn.bsky.social. The Guardian has given up posting from its official accounts on X, however particular person Guardian journalists are there, I nonetheless have my account, and should you message me there at @AndrewSparrow, I’ll see it and reply if mandatory.
I discover it very useful when readers level out errors, even minor typos. No error is just too small to right. And I discover your questions very fascinating too. I can’t promise to answer to all of them, however I’ll attempt to reply to as many as I can, both BTL or typically within the weblog.
