UK politics live: Wes Streeting hints budget cuts will go further than axing winter fuel payment
The Tory leadership contender has drawn criticism for her comments
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Health secretary Wes Streeting has suggested pensioners will not be the only group negatively affected by cuts in the October budget.
Mr Streeting said he can understand why pensioners may feel they are being targeted by the government following cuts to winter fuel payments. However, Chancellor Rachel Reeves said there will be moves to reduce the size of the welfare bill, as well as public spending cuts and tax rises.
In an interview with The New Statesman, the health secretary said: “I can understand why there will be some pensioners sat there thinking, ‘Why us? And what about others?
“Well, there are other choices to come and these aren’t just Rachel’s [Reeves] choices to face up to, these are the choices of the whole government.”
He added: “It would be quite jarring if we were all skipping around Whitehall singing Sam Cooke’s A Change Is Gonna Come or D:Ream’s Things Can Only Better at the same as we’re dealing with a £22 billion black hole and making some tough choices which are really sticking in the throats of people, particularly on the winter fuel allowance.”
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Pat McFadden defends Starmer over donations row
Cabinet minister Pat McFadden has defended Sir Keir Starmer as a man of “enormous integrity”, amid questions over the numerous gifts the PM has accepted.
The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster came to Sir Keir’s defence after claims of cronyism and failing to declare donations of clothing to his wife.
In an interview with the Guardian, Mr McFadden said: “This is not somebody who thinks that somehow the rules don’t apply to them, or there’s one rule for him and another one for others, like predecessors that have occupied his post.
“He is a person of enormous integrity, and that will be reflected in the way that he operates.”
Politics explained: Will Labour raise tuition fees to save struggling universities?
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Universities are in a cash crisis, but Sean O’Grady looks at what else ministers could do to avoid an unpopular rise in the cost of higher education
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Rachel Reeves commits to improving women’s lives by closing gender pay gap
Rachel Reeves has said she intends to use her position as the first female Chancellor to “improve life for women”, as she set out plans to support women in business.
Ms Reeves said it is a “huge responsibility” to head the Treasury and she is aiming to close the gender pay gap, strengthen rights at work and invest in childcare.
Announcing the Government’s support for the Invest in Women Taskforce, which aims to increase investment funding pools for female founders, the Chancellor vowed to improve the economic opportunities available to women.
The taskforce is aiming to create a funding pool of more than £250 million for female-founded businesses through private capital, making it one of the world’s largest investment funding pools aimed solely at female founders.
The Rose Review, an independent review of female entrepreneurship led by Dame Alison Rose, found that if the UK were to have the same share of female entrepreneurs as similar countries, £200 billion of value would be added to the economy.
Ms Reeves is expected to take an active role in steering the taskforce’s priorities and objectives.
Government to hold talks on ending ‘exploitative’ zero-hours contracts
Angela Rayner is set to hold another round of talks with trade unions and business leaders as the Government continues its drive to end “exploitative” zero-hours contracts.
The Deputy Prime Minister and the Business Secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, will meet general secretaries from Britain’s major trade unions along with figures from the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) and Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) on Wednesday afternoon as part of the Government’s ongoing efforts to expand workers’ rights.
The meeting is the latest in a series of discussions with unions and businesses on employment rights, with further such meetings expected over the coming weeks.
However, it is not expected that today’s meeting will come with a major announcement from the government.
There are around one million people across the UK on zero-hour contracts, according to the Office of National Statistics.
You can read more on the government’s “new deal for workers” here.
Wes Streeting says concerns over maternity care keep him awake at night
Speaking at an event for the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), Wes Streeting said that concerns over maternity care keep him awake at night.
“When it comes to the crisis in our maternity services across the country, it is one of the biggest issues that keeps me awake at night worrying about the quality of care being delivered today at the risk of disaster greeting women in labour tomorrow,” the health secretary said.
“I think that what we have seen, in the case of specific trusts, are problems and risk factors that exist right across maternity services across the country.
“And we’re keen to make sure that when it comes to the work that Donna Ockenden has already done, we make sure that those lessons are applied, not just in the case of those specific trusts, actually right across the country.
“We are determined to get this right.”
COMMENT: Has Labour cancelled Lady Archer because of who her husband is?
Lisa Nandy has snubbed the wife of a former Tory MP who was on course to become chair of London’s Royal Parks.
The Independent’s chief political commentator John Rentoul asks: “should someone be judged by their spouse’s politics?”
“On the surface, this looks like a petty and vindictive act by the incoming Labour government that does not reflect well on its ambition to unite the nation after the alleged divisiveness of its predecessor,” Mr Rentoul argues.
“But the case of Lady Archer’s disappointment is also an intriguing whodunit.”
Read the full story below:
Has Labour cancelled Lady Archer because of who her husband is?
Blocking Jeffrey Archer’s wife from taking up a post with the Royal Parks charity could be the start of a purge of Tory appointments made, but not finalised, by the time Keir Starmer took office, says John Rentoul
John Major backs Tony Blair over Brexit’s immigration impact
Former Tory prime minister Sir John Major has issued a devastating verdict on Brexit and described Rishi Sunak’s government as “unconservative” and “un-British” in the way it tried to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda.
It comes after Sir Tony Blair delivered the most devastating critique of the failure of Brexit and how consequently Britain has ended up with mass immigration instead of the promise to “take back control”.
In an exclusive interview with The Independent, Sir Tony highlighted the way “we have weakened ourselves” in the UK as a result of Brexit.
The full report on Sir John Major’s comment can be found here.
You can read Sir Tony’s interview with The Independent here.
THE INDEPENDENT DEBATE: Starmer eyes Italy’s Albania deal, but should the UK outsource its migration crisis? Join The Independent Debate
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As Starmer eyes Italy’s Albania deal, tell us if the UK should outsource migration
There’s been a lot of talk about whether the UK should outsource its immigration solutions, especially after the Conservative government’s controversial Rwanda plan fell apart. Now, Starmer seems to be looking to Italy for ideas...
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