UK Politics

Keir Starmer continues defence of winter fuel allowance cutYour support helps us to tell the storyFind out moreCloseMy recent work focusing on Latino voters in Arizona has shown me how crucial independent journalism is in giving voice to underrepresented communities.Your support is what allows us to tell these stories, bringing attention to the issues that are often overlooked. Without your contributions, these voices might not be heard.Every dollar you give helps us continue to shine a light on these critical issues in the run up to the election and beyondEric GarciaWashington Bureau ChiefMPs have voted to cut the winter fuel allowance for ten million pensioners. The Conservative motion to repeal the Government’s cuts to winter fuel payments has been defeated by 348 votes to 228. Sir Keir Starmer has successfully seen off a backbench rebellion but his majority has fell to 120. The Government’s working majority is 167.No.10 have made it clear they will not back down from the “tough decision”, despite strong opposition from its own MPs and trade unions.This comes as the PM said he will not apologise for the changes Labour have made. In a speech at the TUC Congress today, Sir Keir Starmer said “this election would not have been won if we had not changed”. “I make no apologies for any for the decisions we have had to take to begin the work of change and no apologies to those still stuck in the 1980s who believe that unions and business can only stand at odds leaving working people in the middle.”On Monday, the president of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) in Brighton, Matt Wrack, warned that a second wave of austerity will boost the rise of the far right in Britain’s left-behind communities and spoke out against the winter fuel allowance cut.Show latest update 1725979653Labour MP says ‘I could not in good conscience vote to make my constituents poorer’Labour MP Jon Trickett confirmed that he voted against the party’s proposed removal of the winter fuel payment for some pensioners.Mr Trickett, who was a shadow cabinet member during Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership said he feared the measure would cause more pensioners to fall into poverty during the winter.In a statement posted on X, he said: “This winter will be extremely difficult for my constituents of all ages. After years of obscene profiteering by energy companies, they are hiking bills once again.“I fear that removing the payment from pensioners will mean that many more will fall into poverty this winter. We know that the consequences of pensioner poverty are devastating. It can even be a matter of life and death. I have worked behind the scenes to try and change the Government’s position, but to no avail.“Our country is richer than it’s ever been, but the wealth is not shared fairly. In my view the Government should be looking to raise revenues from the wealthiest in society, not working class pensioners.“I could not in good conscience vote to make my constituents poorer. I will sleep well tonight know that I voted to defend my constituents.”Jabed Ahmed10 September 2024 15:471725978951One Labour MP rebels and no vote recorded for 53 government MPsThe division list has shown Labour MP for Normanton and Hemsworth Jon Trickett supported the Conservation motion. No vote was recorded for 53 Labour MPs, although this does not automatically equate to an abstention for each MP as they may have received permission to miss a vote.Jabed Ahmed10 September 2024 15:351725978222Starmer sees off backbench rebellion in winter fuel allowance voteSir Keir Starmer has seen off a backbench rebellion over plans to cut the winter fuel allowance but the Government’s majority fell to 120.MPs voted 348 to 228 against the Tory motion for the controversial policy to be blocked.A list of how MPs voted will be available shortly, though it will not be immediately clear how many actively chose to abstain as it will only show who voted in favour, against and who did not record a vote.The Government’s working majority is 167.Jabed Ahmed10 September 2024 15:231725977591Labour has declared a ‘war on pensioners’, former minister claims Former ‘minister for common sense’ Esther McVey has claimed Labour has “declared war on pensioners”. She told the Commons: “The public knows this decision to rob millions of pensioners of their winter fuel allowance – for which the Government has no mandate – has nothing to do with economics, and everything to do with cynical political calculations, and the haste with which it is being done is breathtaking.”The Tory MP accused Labour of “ditching” its beliefs, adding: “This Government have been telling pensioners they didn’t want to do this, but tough financial decisions must be made, but we all know that’s poppycock, that wasn’t the Government’s message to the already highly paid train drivers, when they met them, money was no object, have as much as you want, the public are not as stupid as this Government thinks they are.”“Labour has basically declared war on pensioners, which will neither be forgotten or forgiven,” she concluded.Jabed Ahmed10 September 2024 15:131725977155MPs now voting on winter fuel paymentMPs have begun voting on the government’s plans to cut the winter fuel allowance for around 10 million people. The results should be with us in 15 minutes. The government expects the motion to win. Jabed Ahmed10 September 2024 15:051725976236Do not expect ‘Houdini-like solutions’ from the government, chair of Treasury committee saysLabour’s Dame Meg Hillier, the new chairwoman of the Treasury Committee has said she will support the winter fuel payment move, adding the solution “isn’t to defer tough choices”. She told the Commons: “The decision we are asked to make today is a difficult one, but sadly it is not going to be the only difficult decision that faces this new Labour Government.”She added: “When I would hear (now Chancellor Rachel Reeves) talk about the challenges ahead and the dire consequences, I would say ‘And you think it’s that bad, I know it’s a lot worse’. We’ve heard of the Chuckle Brothers, I described us as the Misery Sisters because when she said it’s bad, I’d say it’s going to be worse than that.”Dame Hillier later said she knows from “bitter experience” that rushed legislations tends to be bad law. “I do not expect some Houdini-like solution to be announced by (Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall) from the frontbench in the closing speeches, but instead I expect and trust her that she will consider removing these chains of poverty as a key mission for this Government in a thoughtful, carefully planned way, tied up with the next budget but way beyond that.”Jabed Ahmed10 September 2024 14:501725975835Liberal Democrats say scrapping winter fuel allowance is ‘simply wrong’ Scrapping the winter fuel allowance for some pensioners is “simply wrong”, the Liberal Democrats have said.The party’s spokesperson on work and pensions, Wendy Chamberlain, said: “We on these benches accept that the new Government has been left with an unenviable task of re-building our economy after the mess left by the previous government, and nobody is disputing that years of Conservative mismanagement have left the public finances in crisis.“But this cut is simply wrong, it is wrong to strip support from many of the poorest pensioners, just as energy bills are set to rise again, it is wrong to force vulnerable elderly people to make that choice between heating and eating this winter, and it is the wrong answer to the challenges that we face.”She added that the Government has “not properly thought through the consequences or the measures that will be available to support those most in need”.Jabed Ahmed10 September 2024 14:431725974998Mel Stride: ‘You know in your heart that these measures are wrong’Shadow work and pensions secretary Mel Stride, addressing Labour MPs, told the Commons: “Can I make an impassioned plea to those sitting opposite – look to your conscience. You know in your heart that these measures are wrong.“You know in your heart that the party opposite has broken their promises and that these measures are going to lead to untold hardship for millions of elderly and vulnerable people right up and down this country.“You now have an opportunity to join with us and put a stop to it.”Jabed Ahmed10 September 2024 14:291725974181Watch live: MPs debate winter fuel payment cuts for millions of pensionersJabed Ahmed10 September 2024 14:161725973960Comment: There are good reasons why the winter fuel payment must be scrapped – but no one’s talking about themAs the House of Commons debates the government’s plan to withdraw the winter fuel payment from the majority of pensioners, economist Jonathan Portes says those decrying the benefit cut would be better off defending the triple lockMr Portes argues the debate on the winter fuel payment is “hopelessly confused”, and those defending a non-means tested benefit – as it is in its current form – “rarely confront the logic of their arguments”. He adds: “Why should Tony Blair, Elton John and my mother get an extra £200 they don’t need?”Read the full Voices article here. Jabed Ahmed10 September 2024 14:12 More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFind out moreCloseAs your White House correspondent, I ask the tough questions and seek the answers that matter.Your support enables me to be in the room, pressing for transparency and accountability. Without your contributions, we wouldn’t have the resources to challenge those in power.Your donation makes it possible for us to keep doing this important work, keeping you informed every step of the way to the November electionAndrew FeinbergWhite House CorrespondentAn iPhone feature that enables users to contact breakdown services even when they have no phone signal it to launch in the UK with the iPhone 16.Roadside Assistance uses satellites to provide connectivity to people who are outside of mobile or WiFi signal at that moment, and is currently only available in the US.But during the unveiling of the new iPhone 16 range on Monday evening, the technology giant confirmed it will expand the feature to the UK later in the autumn.Breakdown rescue service Green Flag has confirmed it will partner with Apple on the scheme, which will allow users to contact it and ask for assistance when their vehicle has broken down.In a statement, Green Flag said: “Roadside Assistance via satellite is currently available in the US with AAA and Verizon Roadside Assistance. Now its launching in the UK with Green Flag in autumn.”It has been reported that users in the UK will be able to access Roadside Assistance services on a pay-per-use basis, but Apple and Green Flag have not yet confirmed any further details on how the scheme will operate.Apple already offers several satellite-based connectivity tools designed to help users who are in need of assistance or emergency services but do not have mobile signal in order to reach them.To connect to a satellite and use those services, users need to be outside with a clear view of the sky and horizon. More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFind out moreCloseAs your White House correspondent, I ask the tough questions and seek the answers that matter.Your support enables me to be in the room, pressing for transparency and accountability. Without your contributions, we wouldn’t have the resources to challenge those in power.Your donation makes it possible for us to keep doing this important work, keeping you informed every step of the way to the November electionAndrew FeinbergWhite House CorrespondentA former leader of the UK Independence Party, dubbed the “father of Brexit”, has died aged 90.Jeffrey Titford began his political career as a Conservative councillor in Clacton before joining the Referendum Party, which went on to merge with Ukip.The former MEP became leader of the Tory party for three years in 2000 before he briefly returned as acting leader in 2010. He held the post for three months before Nigel Farage took over in the run-up to the 2016 Brexit referendum.Mr Titford quit the Tory party in 1992 in protest over prime minister John Major’s decision to sign the Maastricht Treaty. He described the treaty as the “final straw”, adding: “I could see the writing on the wall and knew it was never going to work.“I resigned from the Conservative Party and I was looking for a group which would say ‘No, this is wrong’.”The Maastricht Treaty, signed in February 1992, formally created the European Union. He was one of the first to join the Referendum Party, standing in Harwich in the 1997 general election. He came fourth with nine per cent of the vote, before being elected to the European Parliament in 1999. A former leader of the UK Independence Party, dubbed the “father of Brexit”, has died aged 90 More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFind out moreCloseAs your White House correspondent, I ask the tough questions and seek the answers that matter.Your support enables me to be in the room, pressing for transparency and accountability. Without your contributions, we wouldn’t have the resources to challenge those in power.Your donation makes it possible for us to keep doing this important work, keeping you informed every step of the way to the November electionAndrew FeinbergWhite House CorrespondentDiane Abbott has said Peter Mandelson declined to give her media training when she was a Labour Party candidate, claiming he and others at the top of the party “tried to ensure black people failed”.Ms Abbott, who is the longest serving black member of Parliament, was elected alongside three other black Labour MPs in 1987.In her book, A Woman Like Me, the MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington recalls being asked to appear on BBC Question Time in 1986 while she was a parliamentary candidate.The Labour politician claims she contacted Lord Mandelson, who was the party’s director of communications, four weeks in advance to ask for a media briefing – but she said it never came. Ms Abbott claims in the book: “Weeks passed and no briefing came. With just a week to go, I was beginning to panic, so I rang him once more, but still Mandelson did not send a briefing.Veteran MP Diane Abbott said Parliament should be recalled because MPs ‘don’t know’ what ministers are doing to tackle the riots (Ian West/PA) More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFind out moreCloseAs your White House correspondent, I ask the tough questions and seek the answers that matter.Your support enables me to be in the room, pressing for transparency and accountability. Without your contributions, we wouldn’t have the resources to challenge those in power.Your donation makes it possible for us to keep doing this important work, keeping you informed every step of the way to the November electionAndrew FeinbergWhite House CorrespondentWatch live as MPs in the House of Commons debate Labour’s proposed cuts to the winter fuel allowance on Tuesday, 10 September.Sir Keir Starmer has faced fierce criticism over the plans, but has said he will not apologise for the changes his government have made.Addressing the Trades Union Congress on Tuesday, the prime minister said: “I make no apologies for any of the decisions we have had to take to begin the work of change and no apologies to those still stuck in the 1980s who believe that unions and business can only stand at odds leaving working people in the middle.”TUC president Matt Wrack has warned that a second wave of austerity will boost the rise of the far right in Britain’s left-behind communities and spoke out against the winter fuel allowance cut.Labour’s Cabinet is united behind plans to dramatically scale back the allowance, Downing Street has insisted amid mounting calls, including within party ranks, for the government to soften the policy.However, Sir Keir is likely to face a backbench rebellion in a Commons vote; some 17 Labour MPs have now signed a motion put forward by Neil Duncan-Jordan, one of the parliamentary party’s newly elected members, calling on the government to delay implementing the cut.The motion has also been backed by six of the seven MPs who lost the party whip in July after voting against the King’s Speech over the government’s refusal to abolish the two-child benefit cap.Labour insists the cut is necessary to help fill a £22bn “black hole” in this year’s budget left by their Conservative predecessors. More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFind out moreCloseAs your White House correspondent, I ask the tough questions and seek the answers that matter.Your support enables me to be in the room, pressing for transparency and accountability. Without your contributions, we wouldn’t have the resources to challenge those in power.Your donation makes it possible for us to keep doing this important work, keeping you informed every step of the way to the November electionAndrew FeinbergWhite House CorrespondentBoris Johnson’s former top aide Dominic Cummings has accused him of binning a solution to the current prisons crisis three years ago. In an extraordinary move thousands of prisoners are set to be released early on Tuesday to prevent the UK’s jails running out of space. Mr Cummings said emergency action was taken in 2020 after the prime minister was warned that within just a few years the country’s prisons would be full.But Mr Johnson “binned” the measures in 2021, he added. “The early release disaster is the opposite of ‘shocking’. It was predicted years ago and our Idiocracy has done it deliberately,” he said. The UK’s spending watchdog raised the alarm over prison capacity in 2020Labour ministers have said they had no option but to free offenders, blaming the Tories for the state of the justice system.The policy will prevent the “unchecked criminality” that would erupt if the courts were no longer able to send criminals away because prisons are full, Downing Street has said.But the prisons watchdog has warned it is “inevitable” some of those released will reoffend.Around 1,700 prisoners in England and Wales are set to be let go, on top of the around 1,000 prisoners normally freed on an average week.Mr Cummings, who spectacularly fell out with Mr Johnson before he left Downing Street, said on X, former Twitter, that the then PM had been warned in 2020 that “prisons would run out of space by winter 2023. We started emergency action.” But he added that Mr Johnson “binned” that action just a year later, in 2021. Subsequent prime ministers Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss ignored the problem and “refused to act”, he said. “The early release disaster is the opposite of ‘shocking’. It was predicted years ago and our Idiocracy has done it deliberately. When you see child abusers, killers and repeat rapists released early, remember *The system is working as intended*.”Dominic Cummings, Boris Johnson’s former top aide (James Manning/PA Images) More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFind out moreCloseAs your White House correspondent, I ask the tough questions and seek the answers that matter.Your support enables me to be in the room, pressing for transparency and accountability. Without your contributions, we wouldn’t have the resources to challenge those in power.Your donation makes it possible for us to keep doing this important work, keeping you informed every step of the way to the November electionAndrew FeinbergWhite House CorrespondentWatch as Sir Keir Starmer addressed the Trades Union Congress (TUC) in Brighton on Tuesday, 10 September, after its president warned that a second wave of austerity will boost the rise of the far right in Britain’s left-behind communities.The prime minister is braced for backlash as he continues to back removing winter fuel payments from 10 million pensioners.Labour’s Cabinet is united behind plans to dramatically scale back the allowance, Downing Street has insisted amid mounting calls, including within party ranks, for the government to soften the policy.However, Sir Keir is likely to face a backbench rebellion in a House of Commons vote on Tuesday; some 17 Labour MPs have now signed a motion put forward by Neil Duncan-Jordan, one of the parliamentary party’s newly elected members, calling on the government to delay implementing the cut.The motion has also been backed by six of the seven MPs who lost the party whip in July after voting against the King’s Speech over the government’s refusal to abolish the two-child benefit cap.Labour insists the cut is necessary to help fill a £22bn “black hole” in this year’s budget left by their Conservative predecessors.Matt Wrack, the Fire Brigades Union general secretary and current president of the TUC, has warned Sir Keir that his mandate for power is based on a collapse in support for the Tories “not love for Labour”.“People are in despair, and that’s how [far-right] elements have won support here in the UK and elsewhere in Europe,” he warned. More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFind out moreCloseAs your White House correspondent, I ask the tough questions and seek the answers that matter.Your support enables me to be in the room, pressing for transparency and accountability. Without your contributions, we wouldn’t have the resources to challenge those in power.Your donation makes it possible for us to keep doing this important work, keeping you informed every step of the way to the November electionAndrew FeinbergWhite House CorrespondentThe state pension is set to rise by four per cent in April, giving an extra £460 a year to recipients.As a result of the triple lock, the payment rises by the highest of average weekly earnings, inflation or 2.5 per cent.The state pension is set to rise by four per cent in April, giving an extra £460 a year to recipients More