4.07pm) because the government wants to take time to get it right.
Asked about Bates’ comments to the business committee, the prime minister’s spokesperson told journalists at the afternoon lobby briefing:
It was obviously right that we took the time to consider the issues raised in the letter to the prime minister, consider our response, make sure it was accurate and substantial and obviously we engaged with relevant departments to ensure that the prime minister’s response was as full as possible.
I think that response was issued earlier today.
On the substance of the issue, the government is committed to getting redress to those affected as quickly as possible and is doing all it can to increase the pace of redress across all schemes.
What we don’t want to do is set an arbitrary cut-off date which could result in some claimants missing the deadline. We obviously don’t want to put pressure on claimants and put them off contesting their claim.
But each postmaster eligible for the GLO scheme should receive substantial redress by the end of March and we are doing everything we can to achieve that goal.
Sinn Féin got the most seats in the 2022 assembly elections, but she did not take office until February this year because until then the DUP blocked the formation of an executive.
She told PA:
Back in February, it was a moment of progress and equality here when I became the first nationalist, republican first minister and I made very firm pledges at that time that I would represent everybody in society.
So when I got this invitation to attend remembrance events this weekend, I thought it was important to take that invitation up because that for me is the fulfilment of my commitment to those people out there from a British and unionist identity who hold this important Remembrance Day very carefully to their own heart.
So, for me, this is about acknowledgement of loss, but it’s also about being respectful to all those people out there and fulfilling my commitment to be first minister for all.
Sinn Féin is committed to a united Ireland and for many years it functioned as the political arm of the republican terrorist group, the IRA. In the past Sinn Féin politicians have boycotted Remembrance Sunday events on the grounds that they honour the British military, and by association British imperialism. But last year the Sinn Féin mayor of Belfast did attend an Armistice day event.
reports three more shadow ministerial appointments.
More Badenoch appointments
Gagan Mohindra is the Shadow Deputy Chief Whip
Mark Francois is the Shadow Minister of State for Defence
Kieran Mullan is the Shadow Minister of State for Justice
(Mohindra backed Cleverly, Francois backed Jenrick, Mullan backed Badenoch)
Labour health plans, and he said the proposals in the budget to extend soft drinks levy build on the sugar tax introduced by George Osborne when he was chancellor. He also pointed out that Labour is introducing a gradual smoking ban originally proposed by Rishi Sunak.
Referring to Argar, Streeting went on:
Because he’s sensible, I know the shadow health and social care secretary will support those measures.
But I can’t say the same for the leader of the opposition, so trapped in the prison of ideological dogma is she, so scared is she of the Reform [UK] dog that’s barking over their shoulders.
So I hope the shadow health secretary will continue to hold the torch for One Nation Conservatism, even as its light dims in his party.
And if we want to know when the Conservative party has changed, maybe we will know when they have learned once again to love George Osborne.
Streeting made a similar point about Argar in a post on social media.
Congratulations to Ed Argar on his appointment to the best job in opposition. He is one of the few keepers of the One Nation Tory flame, now dimmed by the surge of the right wing populism that has swept his party. Wish him every success in restoring reason to Conservatism.
Argar is one of the most prominent Robert Jenrick supporters to get a post in Badenoch’s shadow cabinet.
In his response, Argar claimed that Streeting’s attack on Badenoch meant Labour were scared of her. He said:
I think [Badenoch] should probably take that as a compliment. Because when [Streeting] attacks someone in that way, it probably means they’re somewhat frit of her.
And I think he will see in the coming weeks and months why that is so.
says when Badenoch has to choose someone to shadow Angela Rayner when she is taking PMQs, she will decide who does it depending on the issues of the day.
NEW: Kemi Badenoch is not appointing a deputy party leader, despite it being reported it could go to Ben Houchen – or indeed, I was wondering, Tom Tugendhat.
Instead she will pick a member of the shadow cabinet depending on the question topics to take on Angela Rayner at DPMQs
on the PoliticsHome website.
on social media.
Last night, as I was returning to my flat in London, I was attacked and mugged by a group of individuals.
Luckily, I have no injuries and I am ok. Unfortunately, they just took my phone so I’m without one for the foreseeable future.
I want to thank the @metpoliceuk for their swift response and support. The officers who assisted me went above and beyond. They are a remarkable credit to the force.
he does agree with Hope’s line about this being more of a shallow cabinet than a shadow cabinet. (See 10.06am.)
I don’t think anyone should underestimate Kemi Badenoch, in particular the damage she could do to our society, but I do think that the depiction of the shadow cabinet as the “shallow cabinet” is pretty accurate.
did withhold information from the OBR about the spending pressures it faced, but it did not specifically endorse the £22bn claim. Instead it implied that any black hole would have been about £9.5bn in size.
Today, in evidence to the Commons Treasury committee, Richard Hughes, chair of the OBR, said that withholding information in this way was against the law. He said:
There were about £9.5bn worth of net pressure on departments’ budgets which they did not disclose to us as part of our usual budget preparation … which under the law and under the Act they should have done.
When pressed by Meg Hillier, the Labour chair of the committee, if he was really saying that the Treasury broke the law, Hughes said there may have been a “misunderstanding” about how the law should be interpreted.
Hughes also said that, as a result of what happened, the OBR was moving from a system where it just trusted the Treasury to give it the relevant figures to a “trust but verify” relationship.
Graeme Wearden has more details on his business live blog.
Labour HQ, Ellie Reeves, the party chair, claims this shows the Tories are tainted by the past and have not moved on. She says:
Instead of turning the page on 14 years of Tory government, Kemi Badenoch’s shadow cabinet shows that the Conservatives have learned nothing.
How can the new Conservative leader claim to be changing the Tory party when most of her team were ministers for Liz Truss as they crashed Britain’s economy, or claim to want to uphold standards when most went AWOL for the vote on Boris Johnson’s antics at Partygate?
says we should all just go to bed.
There’s only one thing more futile than Brits staying up on US election night. Shadow cabinet meetings
Conservatives did. She said:
I share the public’s view that there are far too many foreign national offenders (FNOs) in our prisons. Since coming into office we have returned more than 1,500 foreign offenders and I am pleased to say that we are currently on track to remove more foreign offenders this year than at any time in recent years …
We are on track to remove more foreign offenders this year than in previous years. In fact, over the same period when the previous government was in office and in fact the shadow justice secretary [Robert Jenrick] was himself the immigration officer, the number was around 1,300.
Labour should apologise to the public over prison releases.
Speaking during justice questions this morning, Jenrick, who was runner up in the Tory leadership contest, said:
I’ve been a little busy over the summer. But, during that time, the only group this Labour government’s popularity has increased with is criminals.
How many domestic abusers and sex offenders who were released under their early release scheme have gone on to reoffend? And would they like to apologise to the victims?
Alex Davies-Jones, the justice minister, said Jenrick had “a very short memory” and that “it is he who should be apologising to the country as a whole, on behalf of his government’s woeful, absolute misabuse of our justice system and our prisons”.
In a later question, Jenrick asked if the government would review the charging threshold to make it harder for firearms officers to face prosecution following the acquittal of the officer who killed Chris Kaba.
In response Shabana Mahmood, the justice secretary, said that charging decisions were a matter for the CPS, but that the Home Office has announced a presumption of anonymity for firearms officers who are charged following the Kaba case.
Jake Richards, the Labour MP for Rother Valley and a former barrister, posted a message on social media afterwards saying Jenrick’s tone was disappointing.
A depressing tone to @RobertJenrick’s debut as shadow Justice Secretary in the Chamber this morning. Any hope for building a cross-party consensus on sentencing and prison reform seems off the table. A great shame – as the appointment of @DavidGauke was an important opportunity.
12.36pm.) But real cabinet sounds like a more gloomy affair.
According to the readout from No 10, the contributions included Ed Miliband, the energy secretary, talking about the dire risks posed by climate change, Pat McFadden, the Cabinet Office minister, and Wes Streeting, the health secretary, talking about preparations for winter, and Streeting talking about mpox.
In its summary of what Miliband told colleagues, Downing Street says:
[Miliband] said that since the election the government has consented over 2GW of solar power, removed the ban on onshore wind, held a record-breaking renewables auction, established Great British Energy, and invested in CCUS, hydrogen and nuclear projects that will boost growth.
He went on to say that our domestic ambition and international leadership, including at Cop, go hand in hand with the 2008 Climate Change Act – the first of its kind which resulted in many countries following suit.
Climate change is a threat to national security and growth, given climate change could force more than 200 million people globally to migrate, the global economy could be 19% smaller in 2049 than it would be otherwise, and it could put an additional 600,000 people in the UK at risk of flooding.
Talking about the winter, McFadden said the flooding in Spain was a reminder of the impact that for example extreme weather can have on local communities.
And Streeting told cabinet there two further cases of mpox in the UK have been confirmed, taking the total number to three. He said the overall risk to the UK public was low.
on social media. She says:
Delighted to hold my first meeting of the new Shadow Cabinet this morning.
My team draws on talents from across our party, based on meritocracy and with a breadth of experience and perspective, just as I promised during the campaign.
We will now get to work holding Labour to account and rebuilding our party based on Conservative principles and values.
Source: theguardian.com
