UK politics live: Jenrick gets justice role in Badenoch’s shadow cabinet as Stride and Patel land top jobs
It comes as education secretary Bridget Phillipson announced a rise to university tuition fees
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Your support makes all the difference.Robert Jenrick has been named shadow justice secretary in Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch’s new-look shadow cabinet.
It comes just two days after the conclusion of a long Conservative leadership contest, in which Ms Badenoch comfortably beat Mr Jenrick in a run-off.
But Mr Jenrick was not the only high-profile addition to Ms Badenoch’s shadow cabinet.
Priti Patel will return to the front bench as shadow foreign secretary, while Mel Stride will take on under-fire Rachel Reeves as shadow chancellor of the exchequer. All three of them were Ms Badenoch’s rivals in the leadership contest, and will join what is being dubbed a “unity” shadow cabinet.
Earlier today, Badenoch-ally Laura Trott was named shadow education secretary, while Jenrick-supporter Neil O’Brien was named shadow minister for education.
The upheaval of the Tory front bench came as Labour unveiled plans to increase tuition fees for the first time in eight years.
Education secretary Bridget Phillipson announced on Monday afternoon that fees will rise to £9,535 from April 2025 in order to “secure the future of higher education”.
Starmer has congratulated Badenoch on her election as Tory leader, says No 10
Sir Keir Starmer has spoken to Kemi Badenoch following her election as Conservative Party leader.
The PM’s official spokesperson confirmed on Monday that the pair had spoken over the phone since Saturday’s announcement.
Robert Jenrick named shadow justice secretary, according to reports
Conservative leadership race finalist Robert Jenrick has been named the shadow justice secretary in Kemi Badenoch’s brand new shadow cabinet, according to reports.
Mr Jenrick accepted the role after Ms Badenoch offered it following the long leadership selection process, which ended on Saturday, Steven Swinford of The Times reports.
According to Mr Swinford, an ally of Mr Jenrick said he is “eager to expose Labour’s dreadful record on law and order”.
Labour has ‘declared war’ on students, says new shadow education secretary
The new shadow education secretary, Laura Trott, has spoke in her new role for the first time.
Labour has “declared war” on students, Ms Trott warned.
In response to the tuition fee hike announced earlier, Ms Trott told the Commons: “We had a Budget last week which declared war on business, private-sector workers and farmers. It seems today that the secretary of state [Bridget Phillipson] wants to add students to that list.
“Not content with pushing up the cost of living for everyone with an inflationary Budget and pushing down wages with the national insurance increase, we are now in a situation whereby students will suffer from the first inflationary increase in a number of years at a time when students can least afford it.
“And yet again, there was no sign of this in the Labour manifesto.”
Increase is the ‘right thing to do’ - Universities UK
Universities UK (UUK), which represents 140 institutions around the country, has called the increase in tuition fees “the right thing to do”.
UUK chief executive Vivienne Stern said: “Thriving universities are essential to a thriving UK, delivering stronger growth, better public services and improving individual life chances.
“University leaders and government must work together to ensure that our universities are able to fire on all cylinders.
“A decade-long freeze in England has seen inflation erode the real value of student fees and maintenance loans by around a third, which is completely unsustainable for both students and universities.”
Tuition fee rise is ‘economically and morally wrong, says universities union
The University and College Union (UCU) says the Labour government’s tuition fee increase is “economically and morally wrong”.
General secretary Jo Grady said: “Taking more money from debt ridden students and handing it to overpaid, underperforming vice-chancellors is ill-conceived and won’t come close to addressing the sector’s core issues.
“As Keir Starmer himself said last year, the current fees system doesn’t work for students and doesn’t work for universities.
“The model is broken; it has saddled students with decades of debt, turned universities from sites of learning into corporations obsessed with generating revenue, and continually degraded staff pay and working conditions.”
Maintenance loans to increase in line with inflation
Education secretary Bridget Phillipson says maximum maintenance loans will increase in line with inflation.
This will give students an additional £414 per year in 2025/26, Ms Phillipson says.
There is no use in keeping tuition fees down if “students can’t afford to support themselves while they study”, the education secretary told the house.
A “lower fee limit of £5,760 will also be introduced for foundation years in classroom based subjects such as business, social science and humanities”, she added. This will be in place from the start of the 2025/26 academic year.
‘Increasing fee has not been easy decision’, Phillipson says
Bridget Phillipson has just confirmed a rise to tuition fees for the first time in eight years.
Here’s what she had to say about the choice:
“Increasing the fee cap has not been an easy decision. But I want to be crystal clear that this will not cost graduates more each month as they start to repay their loans.
“Universities are responsible for managing their own finances and must act to remain sustainable.
“But members across the house will agree that it is now use keeping tuition fees down for future students if the universities are not there for them to attend.”
Reeves faced ‘very difficult’ choices in Budget, says No 10
Downing Street said that Rachel Reeves had “very difficult” choices at last week’s Budget.
Pressed about the impact of the tax changes on farmers, Sir Keir Starmer’s official spokesperson told reporters: “The chancellor had to set out a range of very difficult, tough choices at the Budget on Wednesday in order to address the fiscal black hole that the government inherited.
“Those decisions were never going to be easy but it means that the government’s able to wipe the slate clean and put our public services and our economy on a sustainable footing.”
Breaking: Education secretary Bridget Phillipson confirms tuition fee rise
Education secretary Bridget Phillipson has confirmed the tuition fee cap will increase for the first time since 2017.
The fees will increase to £9,535 from April 2025 in order to “secure the future of higher education”, Ms Phillipson told parliament in a statement.
“I understand some students may worry about the impact this increase will have on their loan debt. So I want to reassure students already at university: when you start repaying your loan, you will not see higher monthly repayments as a result of these changes to fee and maintenance loans.
“Student loans are not like consumer loans, monthly repayments depend on earnings, not simply the amount borrowed or interest rates,” the education secretary added.
Breaking: Mel Stride appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer
Mel Stride has been appointed as Kemi Badenoch’s new Chancellor of the Exchequer.
He previously served as Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions following the general election earlier this year.
Mr Stride took part in the Conservative leadership election this year, being knocked out in September.
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