UK Politics

Kemi Badenoch has accused Sir Keir Starmer of having a “brass neck” over his welfare bill, telling the House of Commons that the legislation will “achieve nothing”.Facing off against the prime minister at the despatch box on Wednesday (2 July), the leader of the opposition laughed off the prime minister’s dig that Labour are “clearing up the mess they [the Conservatives] made”. “He’s got some brass neck. Has he read the papers this morning?”, she said, adding: “It is a pointless waste of time and is absolute proof that he doesn’t have a plan.”The bill, which would see changes made to personal independence payment (PIP) and the health-related element of universal credit, passed its second reading during a crunch vote on Tuesday evening. More

The UK has been accused of “hypocrisy” over its lack of high-level participation at a key global development finance summit, on top of cuts to Britain’s aid budget – while talking up its role in helping lower-income nations. The accusations have been made at the fourth Financing for Development Conference (FfD4), a once-a-decade summit happening all week in Seville, Southern Spain, where delegates are aiming to tackle the perennial problem of how to help developing countries access the money they need. Thirty-two African countries currently spend more on debt repayments than on healthcare, and 25 African countries spend more on debt payments than on education, an issue that activists say needs urgent action.Some 50 world leaders are due at FfD4, including Emmanuel Macron of France, Mark Carney of Canada, and Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission. The UK, however, has only sent a government minister in the form of Baroness Chapman, the international development minister. “A level of ambition from the UK government would have been demonstrated clearly by sending higher level participation such as the prime minister or Foreign Secretary,” Lydia Darby, a senior policy advisor at Save the Children, told The Independent. Ahead of fDf4, writing in The Independent, Baroness Chapman called for a “new era for global aid and development”, that would see developing countries helped in building their own tax systems, and greater investment in developing countries from the private sector, among other measures. Hannah Bond, Co-CEO at ActionAid UK, said that it is “hypocritical” for the UK to talk about “fair finance” while cutting overseas aid.“If the UK truly cares about fair finance, it must honour its overseas aid commitments, tackle unfair debts, and pay its fair share in addressing the climate crisis,” Bond said. “Without this, talk of fair finance is nothing more than empty PR.” Baroness Chapman’s appearance comes off the back of the UK cutting its foreign aid budget from 0.5 per cent to 0.3 per cent of Gross National Income (GNI) – which is expected to reduce foreign aid by £6.2 billion by 2025.Alex Farley, from advocacy group Bond, said that it is “impossible” to see how the UK can deliver on existing funding commitments, respond to humanitarian crisis, and tackle climate change, following he 0.5 to 0.3 per cent cut. “Let alone undo the damage these cuts have done to our reputation and credibility with countries,” he added. “It would be nice to hear the government expressing regret for its cuts to the aid budget, rather than blithely claiming that they are somehow doing developing countries a favour,” Michael Jacobs, from the think tank ODI, told The Independent. Mr Jacobs added that the claim that private sector money can substitute public funds is “silly at best, disingenuous at worst”. This is because “the private sector wants returns, while much aid – for health, schools, sanitation, climate adaptation – doesn’t make a profit, so is not investable”, he said. An attendee watches proceedings during the 4th International Conference on Financing for Development, in Seville, Spain More

Watch live as Sir Keir Starmer faces Kemi Badenoch at PMQs on Wednesday (2 July), hours after MPs voted to pass the prime minister’s watered-down welfare bill.The bill, which would see changes made to personal independence payment (PIP) and the health-related element of universal credit, went to a crunch vote on Tuesday evening.It passed its second reading by 335 ayes to 260 noes, a majority of 75, with 49 Labour MPs voting against the welfare cuts, which they believe could push people further into poverty.On Monday, in a bid to convince rebel MPs to back the changes, the PM watered down his original welfare plans to minimise the impact on existing claimants.He will likely take a grilling from the opposition leader, who slammed the bill as a “total waste of time”. Writing on X, Ms Badenoch said: “It effectively saves £0, helps no one into work, and does NOT control spending. It’s pointless.”Sir Keir, who is fresh off facing his largest Commons rebellion to date, could also see backlash from opposing Labour MPs.The bill fallout comes just days after Labour celebrates its one-year anniversary since entering government. More

Angela Rayner has said Nigel Farage “promised the world the moon on a stick” with Brexit and Britain has not seen any of the benefits.Asked about the prospect of Reform UK winning a general election, she said: “Nigel Farage was the key architect for Brexit, and all these wonderful things we were going to get, and we haven’t had those wonderful things. “Now we can argue this, we were promised a lot, and we haven’t had that. So I think you have to be very skeptical about people that will promise the world the moon on a stick, and then there’s no detail of how they can actually deliver it.” More

Reform UK has released a video mocking Labour ahead of their anniversary of winning the general election on July 4.A parody style music advert called “Now That’s What I Call U-Turns” was shared by Nigel Farage’s party on Tuesday (1 July) with the caption: ”One year of Starmer, one year of u-turns”.The video references several of Labour’s controversial policies, including winter fuel payments with the song “Ice Ice Baby” by Vanilla Ice playing in the background, whilst their early release of prisoners was referenced with Queen’s “I Want to Break Free”.Former party chairman Zia Yusuf shared the video with the caption: “The Reform digital team really is in a class of its own.” More

The leader of the rebel Labour MPs who forced Sir Keir Starmer to abandon his welfare reforms has called for a wealth tax to meet the £5bn cost of the U turn.On Tuesday, the prime minister suffered the biggest blow to his leadership since coming into power a year ago after he was forced to shelve a key plank of his controversial benefit cuts in order to get them through parliament.While his welfare reform bill passed its second reading by 335 votes to 260 – a majority of 75 – the prime minister still suffered the largest rebellion of his premiership so far, with 42 Labour MPs voting to reject the legislation.Rachael Maskell, who led the backbench Labour rebellion which forced further changes to the reforms on Tuesday, suggested that as much as £24bn a year could be raised by increases in capital gains tax and other measures.Rachael Maskell called for a wealth tax More

Sir Keir Starmer forced the tattered remnants of his welfare reforms through the Commons on Tuesday night, staving off what would have been an embarrassing defeat. But the prime minister can barely say he won the battle, and may have lit the touchpaper on a wider war for the future of the Labour Party. The unedifying spectacle of a leader with a huge majority after just a year in Downing Street chopping and changing one of his flagship bills to buy off backbench rebels has badly damaged his authority. Worse, a bill that was once set to save the taxpayer £5bn will now end up costing £100m by the end of the decade, leaving Chancellor Rachel Reeves with a gaping hole to fill ahead of the Budget this autumn. The director of the influential Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said the passage of the bill through its second reading was “not a triumph”. Sir Keir Starmer gave in to backbench MPs More

Good Morning Britain’s Ed Balls and Shadow Financial Secretary to the Treasury clashed over welfare cuts, with the presenter chastising the Tory MP for “waffling”.Appearing on the ITV show on Wednesday (2 July), after Gareth Davies failed to say where the Conservatives would be making cuts instead, Mr Balls chastised him for “failing to answer the question”“Don’t go all waffley on us at this point in the interview” he told Mr Davies, to which the MP disputed. “It isn’t waffle, it’s about reform”.The Tory MP critiqued Labour’s watered-down bill that was passed yesterday in the House of Commons, after the party revised some cuts to universal credit. More