Starmer promises ‘immediate reset’ of relations with devolved governments as he starts four-nations tour

Labour are also focusing on Blair-era figures.

The main story in the Sunday Times is based on an article written by Tony Blair urging Starmer to come up with a plan to control immigration.

And the Sunday Telegraph is splashing on a story saying Alan Milburn, the former health secretary, will have a role helping Wes Streeting, the new health secretary, reform the NHS.

The Observer is splashing on Starmer’s message to his cabinet yesterday.

The Mail on Sunday is splashing on a story about Starmer wanting to improve the Brexit deal with the EU – something he said repeatedly before the election he wanted to do.

And the Sunday Express has splashed on Starmer ending the Rwanda policy – something Starmer also promised.

Here is the agenda for the day.

8.30am: Jonathan Reynolds, the business secretary, is interviewed on Sky’s Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips. Nadhim Zahawi, the Tory former cabinet minister, and Simon Harris, the taoiseach (Irish PM) are also being interviewed.

9am: Reynolds is also interviewed on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg. The other guests include Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, two potential candidates for next Tory leader (the former immigration minister Robert Jenrick and the former health secretary Victoria Atkins) and Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester.

4.30pm: Keir Starmer meets Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, in Scotland.

6pm: Starmer meets John Swinney, the Scottish first minister, at Bute House, his official residence, in Edinburgh.

We don’t have comments open at the moment, but hope to be able to turn them on later.

Filters BETA

Victoria Atkins and Robert Jenrick, she thinks the Tories still do not realise how much people are suffering as a result of the cost of living crisis. She says she hopes the Labour government will be transformational.

Labour.

The Labour manifesto did not mention carers. The Lib Dems will push them on this, he says.

Q: Is it right you got so many more seats than Reform UK, with fewer votes?

Davey says the Lib Dems have long argued for proportional representation. They will continue to do that, he says.

Conservatives attacking each other.

Even though the party lost, people still have conservative instincts, she says. She says they want lower taxes.

Q: Will you stand for the leadership?

Atkins says it is not the time to discuss that now. That is not why she came on the programme, she says.

Kuenssberg puts it to her that, if she is talking about honesty, she should be willing to say if she will stand.

Atkins says the Conservative party is bigger than any one member. It should be focusing on what the country needs, not on individuals at this point.

Labour is in power. But she is a union leader, focused on what is best for workers. She says it is essential that any government offer to Tata Steel includes a jobs guarantee.

On economic policy, she says she hopes Rachel Reeves, the new chancellor, will change the government’s fiscal rules, to allow more borrowing. They have already changed nine times since 1997, she says.

And she says the government could make different choices. The 50 richest families in Britain are worth £500bn, she says. That is unfair.

Labour has lost voters over Gaza?

Burnham says the party has been listening. It changed its position, he says. He was glad Labour won back Rochdale from George Galloway, he says.

Labour mayor of Greater Manchester. She suggests he wishes he was back in government, sitting around the cabinet table.

Burnham says he is happy with his job.

He says he hopes Starmer will commit to carrying on with the Northern Powerhouse agenda promised by the Tories.

Q: How woried are you about the loss of support from Mulsim voters?

Reynolds says the party is taking this issue serious. People want to see progress towards a peace process in the Middle East. The new government will take a leadership role on this, he says.

Q: Are you worried about people backing Reform UK?

Reynolds says he met good people thinking about backing Reform. That does not mean the party itself is made up of good people. They support the economic policies of Liz Truss, and the foreign policy of Vladimir Putin.

Q: So you are saying Reform UK are not good people?

He says the people who voted for them are good people. But often they did not know the agenda of the party. Supporting Putin’s position on Ukraine is not in the national interest, he says.

the future of its steelworksd in Port Talbot, Reynolds says he will be talking to the firm today.

Asked what he will offer the company, Reynolds says he will not reveal his position. But he says, in return for government support, the government will be setting conditions for the company.

He says job guarantees will be part of the negotiation.

Q: When are you going to be able to sort this out? You have had time to prepare?

Reynolds says this is a priority. The timescale is not a large one. But he will need a few weeks, he says.

Q: A few weeks?

Reynolds says there are due diligence issues to consider.

UPDATE: Reynolds said:

I do want things in exchange for money we’ll co-invest with the private sector around jobs and technology.

I think that’s a reasonable way to make sure public money is being well spent and I believe there are things, capacities, the steel industry needs in future that could be part of that conversation and that’s what I’ll be having in the next few days …

I’m going to make sure that job guarantees are part of the negotiation that we’re having.

Michael Howard, the former Tory leader, is one of the guests on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg. Asked about his party’s landslide defeat, he says governing parties all over the world are being punished. But he accepts that it contributed to its own defeat by some of the things it did. (He does no say what.) But he says he wants the new government to succeed, because “their successes will be our successes”.

It sounds like he has been rereading the letter George Bush wrote to Bill Clinton after Clinton beat him in the 1992 US presidential election – which is the model for a gracious message from a loser to a winner in politics.

Q: Do you feel indebted to Nigel Farage for the size of your victory?

No, says Reynolds. He says he does not accept the argument that, if Reform UK had not been standing, all its votes would have gone to the Tories. He says Labour had to earn its victory. And that was a result of good leadership, he says.

And that is the end of this interview – but we are getting another dose of Reynolds on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg shortly.

Labour. Do you have the authority to carry through your changes. You have two thirds of MPs with one third of the voters.

Reynolds says you cannot say the system is unfair just because on side wins. Labour has a mandate to govern, he says.

And he says the smaller parties are subject to far less scrutiny.

Phillips shows a chart that illustrates his point.

Q: Is this system fair?

Reynolds says he has has set out his own views on this in the past. (He is referring to his previous support for proportional representation.)

But he suggests you cannot blame a party for fighting a campaign designed to win under the electoral system in place.

Labour will always put country first, party second.

Q: Voters did not like you stance on Gaza?

Reynolds says there are people who have never seen a proper peace process in the Middle East. He says the UK can show real leadership on this issue.

Labour would like to improve the deal, on issues like food and agricultural standards, or recognising professional standards, or making it easier for artists to tour around the EU.Labour does not have a plan for immigration, he says.

Reynolds says Blair only mentions immigration once in his article.

He says Labour does have a plan. It wants to link immigration policy to the needs of the Labour market.

Q: Blair thinks you don’t have a plan to control legal immigration. He favours ID cards. D you favour that?

Reynolds says he thinks legal migration needs to come down. It is right to recognise public concern about that, he says.

Q: Are digitial ID cards on the table as an idea?

Reynolds says Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, will look at options.

Q: Is this intervention from Blair unhelpful?

Reynolds says people with experience of government can offer invaluable advice.

Q: And you have Jacqui Smith and Alan Miliburn coming back?

Reynolds says the government will use experience where it is available.

Keir Starmer later and that he welcomes what Starmer has said about wanting to improve London/Edinburgh relations. He said:

I was really pleased to have the opportunity to speak to the prime minister on his first day in office and to congratulate him and wish him, and his family well.

I look forward to welcoming the prime minister to Scotland where I hope to have constructive discussions with him on our shared priorities for the people of Scotland. This includes eradicating child poverty, growing the economy, prioritising net zero, and ensuring effective public services.

I welcome the prime minister’s commitment to forge a positive relationship between our governments and for our part, the Scottish government is committed to working constructively with the UK government to build a better Scotland.