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Downing Street has rejected suggestions that Sir Keir Starmer received free Taylor Swift tickets as a “thank you” after she was given taxpayer-funded police security while performing in London.
No 10 would not say whether the prime minister was confident that perceptions of a conflict of interest had been avoided but insisted “operational decisions” were “ultimately” up to Scotland Yard and not the government.
Last week it emerged that London Mayor Sadiq Khan and Home Secretary Yvette Cooper were involved in talks around the security for Swift‘s sell-out summer shows at Wembley before the singer was granted a blue-light escort.
The Sun reported that she was given the motorbike convoy on the way to the stadium despite initial police reservations, with her mother Andrea Swift also negotiating arrangements directly with Number 10 aide Sue Gray.
Asked on Tuesday whether it was the prime minister’s view that there was no perception of a conflict of interest, his official spokesman said: “Operational decisions are for the Met (Metropolitan Police). That’s the bottom line.”
Downing Street cited the terror threat faced by Swift in Vienna, which had forced her to cancel gigs on the Austria leg of her Eras tour, as one of the reasons the government was involved in security talks round her London shows.
No 10 rejects suggestion Starmer got free Taylor Swift tickets as ‘thank you’ for taxpayer-funded security
Downing Street has rejected suggestions that Sir Keir Starmer received Taylor Swift tickets as a “thank you” after she was given taxpayer-funded police security while performing in London.
No 10 would not say whether the prime minister was confident that perceptions of a conflict of interest had been avoided but insisted “operational decisions” were “ultimately” up to Scotland Yard and not the Government.
Last week it emerged that London Mayor Sadiq Khan and Home Secretary Yvette Cooper were involved in talks around the security for Swift‘s sell-out summer shows at Wembley before the singer was granted a blue-light escort.
The Sun reported that she was given the motorbike convoy on the way to the stadium despite initial police reservations, with her mother Andrea Swift also negotiating arrangements directly with Number 10 aide Sue Gray.
Asked on Tuesday whether it was the Prime Minister’s view that there was no perception of a conflict of interest, his official spokesman said: “Operational decisions are for the Met (Metropolitan Police). That’s the bottom line.”
Downing Street cited the terror threat faced by Swift in Vienna, which had forced her to cancel gigs on the Austria leg of her Eras tour, as one of the reasons the government was involved in security talks round her London shows.
Reeves warns there will be ‘difficult decisions’ on spending in Budget
Chancellor Rachel Reeves said the Budget and spending review would be an “opportunity to put the country on a firmer footing”, but warned there would be “difficult decisions” on spending.
The chancellor told a meeting of Sir Keir Starmer’s Cabinet on Tuesday that a £22bn black hole in the public finances left by the Conservatives needs to be filled just to “keep public services standing still”.
She added that “the scale of inheritance meant there would have to be difficult decisions on spending, welfare and tax – and that the long-term priority had to be unlocking private sector investment to drive economic growth”.
She warned that the government would be unable to “turn around 14 years of decline in one year or one Budget” but that it would deliver on priorities to “protect working people, fix the NHS and rebuild Britain”.
Watch: Health secretary Wes Streeting denies using weight loss jabs
Starmer warned that employer national insurance increases could lower wages for workers
Sir Keir Starmer has been warned that any increase to employers’ national insurance contributions in the upcoming Budget could mean lower wages for workers.
Helen Miller, deputy director and head of tax at the IFS said that any increase to employers’ national insurance contributions could be passed onto workers.
She said: “Lots of questions about Employer NICs today. They are a tax on the earnings of working people. In the long run, expect the majority of a rise in employer NICs to be passed on to workers in the form of lower wages.”
David Cameron hits back at claim he threatened Boris Johnson over Brexit backing
David Cameron has hit back at the claim he threatened to “f***” Boris Johnson up forever if he backed Brexit in the 2016 referendum, saying he finds it “hard to believe”.
Lord Cameron channelled the late Queen Elizabeth II in saying “recollections differ” after Mr Johnson had claimed those were his “exact words”.
Speaking out for the first time since Mr Johnson made the explosive claim, Lord Cameron said: “I find that hard to believe.”
Ex-Bank of England chief Mervyn King urges Rachel Reeves to raise national insurance in Budget
Former Bank of England governor Mervyn King has made a dramatic intervention warning Rachel Reeves that she must raise national insurance in her Budget on 30 October.
Our political editor David Maddox reports
Watch: Keir Starmer refuses to rule out raising national insurance contributions
Unemployed to be given weight-loss jab to help them back into work
Unemployed people will be given weight-loss jabs to assist them back into work in a trial.
The UK’s life sciences sector will receive £279 million from drugs giant Eli Lilly, to invest in developing new medicines and ways to deliver treatment.
Amanda Pritchard, Chief Executive of the NHS praised weight-loss drugs as “game-changers” in supporting people to reduce their risk of life-threatening conditions.
Jabed Ahmed reports
Hospitals programme will be delivered on ‘credible’ timetable, says health secretary
Health secretary Wes Streeting has said the new hospitals programme will be delivered on a “credible” timetable.
The government announced in July that all projects within the programme promised by the previous Conservative administration would be placed under a spending review, with 25 schemes still under consideration.
Mr Streeting noted a proposed redevelopment is “desperately” needed for Whipps Cross Hospital, in east London, which serves his Ilford North constituency.
He told Tory former minister Sir Iain Duncan Smith: “That is why, in common with so many Members right across the House, I am absolutely furious that the previous government had a new hospitals programme whose timetable was a work of fiction and where the money runs out in March.
“The assurance I can give him, his constituents, my constituents and the constituents of every other MP across the House whose constituents are waiting for news on the new hospitals programme, is we will deliver that programme, we will deliver it on a timetable that is credible and a programme that is funded, giving our constituents the clarity that they deserve, the consistency that they deserve and also rebuilding faith in government amongst our construction industry and supply chain.”
Analysis: Reeves will need lawyer’s language to break national insurance pledge
During the election Labour made a clear promise “not to raise taxes on working people”. This specifically included income tax, VAT and national insurance contributions.
The problem Rachel Reeves has as her first Budget approaches on 30 October is that somehow she has to pay for an estimated £25bn in spending commitments and encourage economic growth with little room for manoeuvre.
Her former Bank of England mentor Lord Mervyn King has warned her against extra borrowing even by rewriting the fiscals and suggested she raises national insurance instead to invest.
It is clear from the prime minister’s words this morning that national insurance rises on employer contributions is now a strong possibility. But does this mean a breach in the manifesto promises from just over 100 days ago?
The Tories say yes – they would – but so does the independent Institute for Fiscal Studies director Paul Johnson.
It appears that Labour are planning on using a lawyer’s way out – appropriate for the prime minister – to emphasise that their pledge was “for working people” not employers.
