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.
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Up to date at 07.10 EDT
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Badenoch says:
The prime minister can’t inform us why Jonathan Powell had a secret assembly, which the safety minister stated he had no involvement within the case. He can’t inform us why his authorities didn’t present proof that China was a menace. I believe the statements would show that both he’s blaming his civil servants, he’s blaming the media, he’s blaming the final authorities. He can not clarify why he couldn’t see this case via. He ought to have seen this case via.
Starmer says Badenoch is simply “slinging mud”. If the final authorities had modified the Official Secrets and techniques Act earlier, the prosecution might have gone forward, he says.
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Up to date at 07.30 EDT
Badenoch declare “this all stinks of a canopy up”. She asks if the witness statements will probably be revealed right now.
Starmer says:
The one course of I need to undergo is in relation to a number of the people within the statements, to verify they realize it’s developing. I can guarantee the home there’s no substantive delay right here …
It’s a course of I must undergo. The honourable member will perceive why that’s mandatory. Then will probably be revealed in full.
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Up to date at 07.27 EDT
Starmer says Badenoch’s claims about China spy case ‘totally baseless’
Badenoch claims Starmer has contradicted Dan Jarvis, the safety minister. She asks what modified between the 2 accused being charged and the case being dropped.
Starmer says he’s going to publish the federal government witness statements in full, so individuals can see what the final authorities stated. Then Badenoch will realise what she is saying is “totally baseless”.
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Up to date at 07.25 EDT
Starmer says final authorities witness submitted in August, earlier than controversial assembly attended by Jonathan Powell in September
Badenoch asks what’s the level of getting a lawyer for a pacesetter if he can not even get the legislation proper.
Starmer says Badenoch just isn’t a lawyer or a pacesetter.
He says the final authorities witness assertion was submitted in August this yr. The September assembly attended by Jonathan Powell, first written about by the Sunday Occasions, just isn’t related.
This can be a purple herring, a very scurrilous allegation made by the chief of the opposition social gathering.
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Up to date at 07.24 EDT
Badenoch says the accused spies have been charged underneath the Tories, however let off by Labour.
She asks if it will possibly actually be true that the deputy nationwide safety adviser, Matthew Collins, the official who supplied the proof to the CPS, didn’t focus on this with the nationwide safety adviser, Jonathan Powell.
Starmer says that’s what he’s saying. However he concedes that he’ll double test.
He says, after the charging choice, the prosecution have been very cautious about who was allowed to see the witness statements.
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Starmer says ‘substantive’ authorities proof for China spy trial was supplied by final Tory administration
Kemi Badenoch says Starmer needed to be dragged out to make this assertion. She accuses him of “obfuscation”.
She says in 2021 the intergrated overview described China as the largest state based mostly menace to the UK’s financial safety.
In 2022 the MI5 director known as China a menace.
How did the federal government fail to supply 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 overseas secretary, saying calling China a menace can be unimaginable and unwise.
And Badenoch was enterprise secretary on the time. In 2-23, the related yr, she stated “we actually shouldn’t be describing China as a foe”.
And in September 2024 she stated: “I’ve shied away from calling China a menace.”
He accused her of “enjoying politics with nationwide safety”.
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Up to date at 07.17 EDT
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.
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Up to date at 07.10 EDT
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 need 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 carried out. No matter our disagreements, we’re all parliamentarians.
Starmer says all violence and threats towards democracy are unacceptable.
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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.
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Starmer faces Badenoch at PMQs
It’s PMQs. Right here is the record of MPs right down to ask a query.
PMQs {Photograph}: HoCShare
Tory claims about ‘tens of millions’ of individuals getting Motability automobiles for anxiousness or ADHD wholly improper, specialists say
Helen Whately, the shadow work and pensions secretary, misled Conservative members when she advised them “tens of millions” of individuals on advantages get a free Motability automotive, in accordance with Radio 4’s truth checking programme, Extra or Much less.
In her speech to the convention final week, Whately stated:
Thousands and thousands of individuals proper now, are sitting on the couch at residence.
Thousands and thousands have gotten themselves a sick notice from the GP and signed onto illness advantages with only a type and a cellphone 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, stated that there have been solely round 200,000 individuals working age individuals getting incapacity advantages for anxiousness problems or ADHD with the improved mobility element that might make them eligible for a Motability automotive. And plenty of of them won’t be utilizing the Motability scheme. So the declare that “tens of millions” of individuals are getting a automotive on this foundation is simply improper, Harford stated.
Tom Waters, an economist from the Institute for Fiscal Research thinktank, advised 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 individuals are getting automobiles continues to be improper.
Kemi Badenoch additionally talked about Motability in her speech, saying individuals shouldn’t be capable of get these automobiles on the premise of getting ADHD.
Waters advised the programme that there are round 43,000 individuals on Pip (the private independence fee – a incapacity profit) with the improved mobility element, meaning in precept they might qualify for a automotive. However this quantity was “pretty small” as a proportion of the full, he stated, and lots of of them wouldn’t have a Motability automotive. They could additionally produce other situations affecting their mobility.
Harford additionally stated that, of these 43,000 individuals, nearly half of them have been aged 16 to 19. He additionally stated Pip was assessed not on what situations individuals have, however on what they’ll do. He went on:
Which means that it’s by no means clear how Kemi Badenoch would fulfil her promise of stopping individuals with particular situations, similar to ADHD, from receiving Motability automobiles, as a result of assessments aren’t decided by particular situations. 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 revealed a Guardian explainer on this earlier this yr.
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Up to date at 06.50 EDT
After PMQs there will probably be an pressing query within the Commons, on “the adequacy of Jhoots as a pharmacy supplier”, adopted by two ministerial statements: Yvette Cooper, the overseas secretrary, on Ukraine, and Miatta Fahnbulleh, the communities minister, on the Delight in Place scheme.
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Folks ill extra more likely to vote Reform UK, analysis suggests
Folks in poorer well being usually tend to vote Reform UK, PA Media experiences. PA says:
Specialists from Imperial Faculty London checked out voting patterns in final yr’s basic election, when Reform secured 14.3% of the votes and 5 seats.
Three of the 5 areas (60%) returning a Reform MP have been in essentially the most disadvantaged fifth of the nation, in contrast with 103 (29.7%) of Labour constituencies, in accordance with the examine revealed in BMJ Open Respiratory Analysis.
Reform UK areas had the best proportion of individuals aged over 65, and other people have been extra more likely to undergo from 15 out of 20 well being situations in comparison with different areas.
The sicknesses 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 have 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 principle discovering of our evaluation was an affiliation between poor well being metrics at a constituency stage and votes for Reform UK.
“The outcomes are per work exhibiting a relationship between poor healthcare measures and Republican voting within the US and information from Italy linking dissatisfaction with public providers and voting for the far proper.
“Within the UK, closure of native healthcare services has been proven to cut back reported affected person satisfaction and improve assist for populist proper events.
“Lung well being is especially influenced by well being inequality, and situations inflicting breathlessness (weight problems, COPD in addition to bronchial asthma and cardiac illness) seem in flip to be linked to voting patterns.”
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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 assist the China spy prosecution that was dropped. That is what he says about what they may present.
What the proof from Matthew Collins, the deputy NSA says, will probably 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 based mostly 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 individuals are asking right now is it actually applicable 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’s going to publish this proof, and assuming it doesn’t include any materials that undermines what the federal government has been saying about this to date, then it’d come simply earlier than PMQs. This is able to assist Keir Starmer in his exchanges with Kemi Badenoch as a result of she wouldn’t have time to arrange the very best questions based mostly on what the paperwork reveal.
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Lib Dems urge Reeves to rule out extending freeze on revenue 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’d like is a correct development 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 revenue tax thresholds.
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Shadow chancellor Mel Stride claims UK in ‘tax doom loop’ and Reeves in charge
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 come back again yearly with larger taxes to fill a black gap within the public funds. Rachel Reeves replied: “No one desires 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 properly. 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 right now 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 have been underneath the earlier authorities.
Is there extra to do? Completely, however I’ll by no means take dangers via the general public funds as a result of while you do, it’s abnormal folks that pay the worth.
In fact, no chancellor would rule out tax will increase 13 months forward of a funds, 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 desires to inform in regards to the financial system.)
In a publish on social media, Mel Stride, the shadow chancellor, has claimed the UK is in a doom loop, and Reeves is in charge. He says:
Final yr Rachel Reeves raised taxes by £40 billion. She stated 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 doubt, this tax doom loop is right down to the Chancellor’s financial mismanagement.
Beneath Rachel Reeves we’ve got seen inflation double, debt balloon, borrowing prices at a 27-year excessive, and taxes up – with extra ache on the way in which within the autumn.
A theme is rising: when the numbers don’t add up, it’s by no means Rachel Reeves’ fault – but it surely’s all the time your loved ones that pays the worth.
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Strain on Downing Avenue to launch proof in collapsed China spy case
Downing Avenue is underneath strain to publish its proof within the collapsed China spy case after the Crown Prosecution Service denied having blocked its launch, Emine Sinmaz experiences.
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Brexit has had ‘extreme and lengthy lasting’ influence on financial system, says Reeves, as she confirms taxes to rise in funds
Good morning. In a much-praised FT column yesterday, Stephen Bush argued that one drawback going through the Conservatives right now is that “a vital situation for entry into the higher echelons of [the party] is being keen to a minimum of faux that you just suppose taking Britain out of the EU was a good suggestion”. As Bush memorably put it, “this can be a endless lobotomy for the Tories”.
However, to a a lot lesser extent, Labour has additionally had an issue with Brexit fact telling. On the final election Keir Starmer knew that he would solely win with the assist of people that voted to go away the EU in 2016 and in consequence Labour averted any language on Brexit that implied that this group may need been improper.
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 big tax rises within the funds, this will probably be a minimum of partially as a result of Brexit. Of their story Steven Swinford and Oliver Wright stated:
Starmer and Reeves are anticipated to argue that, if it hadn’t been for Brexit, this 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 greater by 2035 than present forecasts counsel will probably be.
The message is straightforward: [Nigel] Farage is finally in charge as the person who delivered Brexit with “simple sloganeering” then walked away from the aftermath quite than placing within the exhausting yards. Or, to place it one other method: Farage, not us, is chargeable for placing up your taxes.
Referring to the story, Wes Steeting, the well being secretary, advised a ebook pageant on the weekend: “I’m glad that Brexit is an issue whose identify we now dare converse.”
This morning Sky Information has broadcast an interview with Reeves, who will probably be in Washington right now 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 Finances Duty warning Reeves she must increase extra tax. Reeves replied:
Austerity, Brexit, and the continued influence 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 harm by the deal that we did with the EU earlier this yr … however there is no such thing as a doubting that the influence of Brexit is extreme and lengthy lasting and that’s why we try 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 adverse influence of Brexit. The Occasions have been in all probability onto one thing.
Within the interview Reeves additionally confirmed that tax rises are coming within the funds. (Requested if tax rises have 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. “In fact, we’re taking a look at tax and spending as properly,” she stated at one other level.
Graeme Wearden has extra on Reeves on the IMF on his enterprise stay weblog.
Will the Reeves interview come up at PMQs? In all probability not. As an alternative, Kemi Badenoch is more likely to problem Starmer over the collapse of the China spy prosecution. With the CPS now saying it has no objection to the discharge of the three witness statements the federal government ready forward of the path, Starmer is underneath strain to both publish them – or give you an honest motive why he can’t.
Right here is the agenda for the day.
10.30am: The excessive court docket begins listening to a declare by Epping Forest council saying the Bell lodge in Epping shouldn’t be used to deal with asylum seekers. (That is the principle case; authorized motion earlier this yr solely centered on the slender problem of whether or not asylum seekers must be allowed to remain within the lodge, or have to go away, earlier than the principle listening to.)
Morning: Ruslan Stefanchuk, chair of the Ukrainian parliament (their equal of the Speaker), provides 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.
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Up to date at 05.09 EDT
