dailynewsnblog
Key events
MPs set to pass Hillsborough law bill today after government drops opt-out for spies
Today MPs are expected to pass the so-called Hillsborough law bill – which is officially known as the public office (accountability) bill – after the government dropped its insistence on provisions that would in practice have given the security services an opt-out. Before it becomes law, the bill will still have to go through the Lords.
Libby Brooks has a good account of what led up to this in her First Edition briefing.
Hillsborough law campaigners, including those whose family members were killed in the 1989 disaster, have welcomed the concession.
In a statement, Charlotte Hennessy, Sue Roberts, Steve Kelly and Margaret Aspinall said:
We have shown that true power belongs to ordinary people.
We did not stay silent, we were not ground down, we were not afraid to speak truth to power.
This is not just about legislation, but about changing the way the bereaved and survivors are treated and a change in culture and it is deeply empowering knowing that this protect others, forever.
Reeves to say UK has ‘beaten the odds’ during last 2 years, in probable last big speech as chancellor
Rachel Reeves will say Britain’s economy has “beaten the odds” during her time as chancellor, in a speech defending her record before her expected sacking or demotion next week when Andy Burnham becomes PM.
She is giving her Mansion House speech tonight, and according to extracts released in advance she will say:
Because of the choices I have made, I’m proud to report that the British economy is strong.
At the start of this year Britain had the fastest economic growth in the G7. Last year, borrowing fell from 5.2% to 4.3%, its lowest level in six years.
Investment is up, productivity is up, and wages are up too.
Waiting lists are falling faster than at any time in the last 17 years and half a million children will be lifted out of poverty by the end of this parliament.
She will also urge her successor to continue with her approach.
This government has made huge strides in delivering on the promise of change,” she is expected to say.
Fixing the foundations, restoring economic stability, and proving our capacity to deliver radical change.
That change is only possible if we maintain the credibility that we have earned, and the stability that we have built, with growth and opportunity in every town, city and region of the UK.
Ed Davey urges Burnham to ‘be bold, be brave’ and introduce PR now
Andy Burnham wants to introduce proportional representation (PR). But he accepts that Labour does not have a mandate to introduce PR now, because it was not in the party’s election manifesto, and he says as leader he would develop a PR plan for the party to include in its next manifesto.
In a speech today, Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, will urge Burnham to be bolder, and do it now. According to extracts released in advance, he will say:
So my challenge to Andy Burnham – as he makes the critical decision about what kind of prime minister he wants to be – is this:
Be bold. Be brave.
Fix the broken electoral system by introducing proportional representation. To give everyone an equal vote and an equal voice in our democracy, and make sure no politician or political party can afford to take them for granted.
And do it now. Don’t wait until it is too late. Don’t wait until after the next election – when you might be powerless to do anything about it.
Starmer attends Bastille Day parade in Paris, after coalition of willing allies pay lavish tribute to him
Keir Starmer attended Bastille Day celebrations in Paris today as one of his final engagements on the international stage. The Press Association reports:
The prime minister met British troops involved in the ceremonial events in the French capital before watching the parade alongside Emmanuel Macron and other leaders including Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Starmer will be succeeded as prime minister by Andy Burnham on Monday after the former Greater Manchester mayor secured enough support to make it mathematically impossible for anyone to stand against him for the Labour leadership.
The prime minister and other European leaders watched a military parade and flypast in Paris.
Troops from the Grenadier Guards marched alongside the French Garde Republicaine.
The celebrations follow Starmer’s final “coalition of the willing” summit on Monday, at which fellow leaders Macron, Zelensky and Germany’s Friedrich Merz paid tribute to his impact on the world stage.
Macron, the French president, told Starmer that “we owe you a lot, Prime Minister”, while Merz, the German chancellor, said he would “phone you occasionally to get your opinion on this or that”.
Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian president, thanked Sir Keir for his “constant, steadfast support”, which the prime minister said would continue under his successor.
Andrew McDonald and Megan McElroy have a more colourful account of Starmer’s reception at the summit yesterday in their London Playbook briefing for Politico.
The PM wakes up in a very hot French capital this morning to celebrate Bastille Day alongside Emmanuel Macron … and their farewell could get emotional. Playbook hears Macron introduced a football match-style minute’s applause at the top of the Coalition of the Willing meeting on Monday after thanking Starmer for what he’s done for Ukraine. Macron said the PM has played a “historic role” in setting up the CoW, before Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy described him as a “friend” and a “great PM and great man.”
Here is Kevin Schofield from Huffpost UK on Robert Jenrick boasting about his anti-establishment credentials on the Today programme. (See 9.41am.)
Reform MP Robert Jenrick, a former Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, Housing Secretary, health minister and immigration minister, tells @BBCr4today: “We are not mainstream politicians, we are politicians who are fighting the establishment every single day.”
Robert Jenrick accuses Labour of ‘playing politics’ with safety of Reform UK politicians like Nigel Farage
Good morning. It didn’t last long. Yesterday afternoon in the House of Commons, as John Crace reports, there was a rare outburst of reasonableness as MPs debated the death of Ann Widdecombe. Earlier in the day Richard Tice, the Reform UK deputy leader, had been on social media claiming that the establishment wanted Nigel Farage dead and, after the police revealed counter-terrorism officers were now in charge of the murder investigation, demanding apologies all round from anyone who accused Reform UK of politicising the tragedy. But in the Commons Tice dropped these arguments, and instead focused mostly on a warm and funny tribute to Widdecombe. And Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, avoided the temptation to criticise Reform UK, and instead made a point of saying how much she understood Farage’s concerns.
It was an almost cordial end to a day that had started with social media reaction at its most unpleasant. There is more coverage on Today in Focus here, or in our overnight splash story here.
This morning it was back to normal. Robert Jenrick, the Reform UK Treasury spokesperson, was on the Today programme and he revived all the Farage security grievances from the weekend. Here are the key quotes.
The government chose not to give Nigel the security that he needed. They now have, as a result of Ann Widdecombe’s appalling murder, offered him a meeting.
The home secretary could have offered that meeting a year ago, two years ago. She chose not to.
That, I’m afraid, is playing politics with the safety of politicians.
And I suspect that’s because they don’t like the views the Reform politicians take forward.
Because we are not mainstream politicians. We are politicians who are fighting the establishment every single day. We are not backing down.
Jenrick accepted that Farage had turned down a significant offer of government-funded security last year. He was asked about a report in the i saying Farage “turned down taxpayer-funded security including a bodyguard, car and trained driver last year”. In their story, Arj Singh, Caroline Wheeler and Kitty Donaldson say:
The Reform UK leader was offered the protection following police advice on the threats he faced.
He had already been receiving publicly funded security prior to this, and felt that his package had been downgraded.
It would have given Farage a similar level of security to Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch and some high-profile Cabinet ministers.
Farage declined the offer because he considered the protection to be inadequate.
Asked about the story, Jenrick did not contest the details and accepted that Farage had turned down the security he had been offered because he did not view it as adequate.
Jenrick dismissed claims that politics was not involved in the decision about what security Farage should be offered. Decisions about what security gets offered to politicians like Farage are taken by the Royal and VIP Executive Committee (Ravec), the body in charge of VIP protection. In the Commons yesterday, Mahmood said this body, which is run by officials, was, and should be, “fiercely independent”. But, when this argument was put to Jenrick, he did not accept it. He said:
That’s a choice. The home secretary is not powerless … I think it’s within her power to overrule it if she wished to.
Jenrick brushed off claims that Farage is deliberately talking up the security threats he faces because he wants to distract public attention from the controversy about his failure to register donations from the cryptocurrency billionaire Christopher Harborne and from the convicted fraudster George Cottrell. When this was put to Jenrick, he repeated his point about the security threats to Farage being genuine, and his claim that they weren’t being taken seriously by the government.
But Jenrick did not go as far as endorsing a claim made by his Reform UK colleague Zia Yusuf, who yesterday said: “None of the government, the Speaker nor the police care at all about the security of Reform MPs.”. Jenrick just argued instead that the security concerns of Reform UK MPs were not being taken seriously because of their political views.
Reform MPs are not asking for special treatment.
What Reform MPs want is to be able to go home to their family at the end of the day in safety, and to know that their homes and their loved ones are protected.
There is a legitimate concern that Reform MPs are more endangered than many others, because we raise issues that many mainstream politicians shy away from.
If you talk about Islamist extremism, as I do, and Nigel Farage has done for many years, you are likely to be in considerably more danger than those who don’t.
Nick Robinson, the presenter, pointed out that this was not a view that the family of Jo Cox, the Labour MP murdered 10 years ago by a rightwing extremist, would endorse, or Diane Abbott, the suspended Labour MP who receives a record amount of online abuse.
I do think it was wrong that parts of the media claimed that Nigel was politicising the death of Ann Widdecombe, an appalling claim when he was about mourning the death of a loved colleague.
And he has been vindicated now because the police have admitted that the murderer may well have had a terrorist or political motivation.
Here is the agenda for the day.
9.45am: Andrew Bailey, the governor of the Bank of England, gives evidence to the Commons Treasury committee.
Morning: Keir Starmer attends the Bastille Day parade in Paris.
11.30am: James Murray, the health secretary, takes questions in the Commons.
Noon: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.
After 12.30pm: MPs start their debate on the remaining stages of the public office (accountability) bill, aka the Hillsborough law bill. Keir Starmer is expected to lead for the government at third reading, which may not start until 6pm. First MPs will debate amendments at the report stage.
1.30pm: Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, gives a speech at the Institute for Government.
2pm: Yvette Cooper, the foreign secretary, gives evidence to the Commons foreign affairs committee.
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