Markus Andrews

Sir Keir Starmer is reportedly facing another rebellion from his backbenchers over reforms to support for children with special needs in England, just days after he was forced into a humiliating climbdown on welfare cuts. On Sunday, education secretary Bridget Phillipson insisted that ministers are committed to reforming support for children with learning difficulties or disabilities, which currently costs £12bn a year.But she refused to rule out scrapping key documents that families rely on to guarantee specialist help. Education, health and care plans (EHCPs) are statutory documents which outline the support needed to help children with special needs and disabilities achieve key life outcomes. Many seeing them as the only way to get schools to provide the support children need. Asked whether she could rule out getting rid of EHCPs, Ms Phillipson described it as a “complex and sensitive area”.Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said the Government’s new strategy would ‘help give our youngest children the very best start in life’ (Jeff Overs/BBC/PA) More

The European Union and the United States have just 48 hours to resolve a trade dispute or face Donald Trump unleashing billions of dollars worth of transatlantic tariffs. A 90-day pause on the imposition of the US president’s so-called “Liberation Day” import taxes expires on Wednesday, and leaders across Europe are bracing for the threat of 50 per cent tariffs on goods sold in the US. A split has emerged in the bloc, with some urging European trade commissioner Maros Sefcovic to pursue a UK-style deal to resolve the trade dispute, sparing the EU from the worst of Mr Trump’s wrath. The US and EU’s trade relationship is strained More

Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana are working on the creation of a “Farage assistance party”, Neil Kinnock has said. The former Labour leader said left-wingers Mr Corbyn and Ms Sultana would “only assist the enemies of Labour” by forming a breakaway challenger party. Lord Kinnock said that division on the left “can only assist the parties of the right”, including Kemi Badenoch’s Conservatives and Nigel Farage’s Reform UK. Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana More

Scrapping the two-child benefit cap has been made harder by Sir Keir Starmer’s climbdown over last week’s welfare cuts, Bridget Phillipson has said. The education secretary said future spending decisions had been squeezed by the £5bn U-turn over reforms to personal independence payments (PIP), the main disability benefit. It means a change in the controversial cap, introduced when George Osborne was chancellor, is now less likely. Ms Phillipson told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg that ministers are “looking at every lever and we’ll continue to look at every lever to lift children out of poverty”.Pushed on whether the chances of the benefit cap going are now slimmer, Ms Phillipson said: “The decisions that have been taken in the last week do make decisions, future decisions harder.Keir Starmer will face pressure from MPs if Labour keeps the cap More

Sir Keir Starmer’s approval rating has hit an all time low, with voters blaming him for the chaotic £5bn U-turn on his benefit cuts. The prime minister’s support among the public reached fresh depths after the climbdown and in the wake of Rachel Reeves being seen crying in the Commons, a new poll shows. Conducted in the hours after Wednesday’s PMQs, the More in Common survey found Sir Keir’s approval rating at -43. Sir Keir Starmer’s approval ratings have tanked More

Rachel Reeves must U-turn on her manifesto pledge not to raise taxes for working people or Sir Keir Starmer’s government will be forced to abandon other key priorities, one of the chancellor’s former top advisers has warned. Jim O’Neill, a former Goldman Sachs chief turned Treasury minister who quit the Conservatives and later advised Ms Reeves, said she faces no choice but to abandon key parts of her economic policy – including her commitment not to raise income tax, national insurance contributions for employees or VAT.Questioning whether that promise was now sustainable, he told The Independent: “Without changing some of the big taxes, welfare and pensions, they [Labour] can’t commit to things like Northern Powerhouse Rail, small modular nuclear reactors, and various other things that will make an investment and growth difference.”His comments come in the wake of a disastrous week for Sir Keir’s government as ministers were forced to abandon key parts of welfare reforms to stop a rebellion by Labour MPs, leaving a £5bn black hole in its spending plans.Jim O’Neill is a former Goldman Sachs chief and economist who coined the acronym Brics More

David Lammy has brought a team of Britain’s elite diplomats home in a bid to finally kickstart economic growth and combat the global impact of Donald Trump’s tariffs.Senior ambassadors and high commissioners have come back to the UK to take part in a roadshow around the country to encourage businesses to export more and link up with the countries they are posted in.It comes as the E-Commerce Trade Commission recently reported that 70,000 businesses in Britain which are ready to export are still not exporting.The commission estimated that £7bn of growth could be unlocked in the economy if UK businesses fulfil their potential by linking up with foreign markets.With economic growth in the UK at a mere 0.7 per cent for the first quarter and concerns that a failure to hit potential has left an unwelcome £18bn hole in chancellor Rachel Reeves’s budget, the government is desperate to use all its resources to turn things around.Ambassador to Belgium Anne Sherriff visiting Belgian brewing group AB InBev, Budweiser UK&I in South Wales More

Reform UK is under fire for letting teenagers run vital public services after storming to power in councils across the country in May’s local elections. The party has been criticised for letting 18-year-old George Finch run Warwickshire County Council, which has a budget of around £500m and assets of £1.5bn. Now, some two months after it took over 10 councils in the local elections, it has emerged a slew of other high profile roles have been taken on by teenagers. Charles Pugsley, left, and Joseph Boam, have been appointed to major jobs at Leicestershire county council More