UK Politics

Keir Starmer says first 100 days in power have been a ‘bumpy road’Your support helps us to tell the storyThis election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.CloseRead moreCloseSir Keir Starmer had a playful moment with ex-Google boss Eric Schmidt today as the tech veteran said he was “shocked” at the prime minister’s drive for growth in the UK.The pair were speaking on a panel at the International Investment Summit following Sir Keir’s speech to business leaders in the audience. Tech and AI were key topics of discussion as the PM highlighted reasons to invest in the UK.It came after Sir Keir took a subtle swipe at former prime minister Boris Johnson in his speech, attempting to woo potential investors by criticising the “circus” that followed Brexit and led to less confidence in the UK.He then joked about Mr Johnson’s infamous “f*** business” comments, saying there will be no more “needlessly insulting our closest allies. And of course a few choice Anglo Saxon phrases for business.”Sir Keir Starmer also pledged to slash regulation that “needlessly holds back investment” during his speech, unveiling more than £50 billion in investment deals in AI, life sciences and infrastructure. After a chaotic first 100 days in government, Sir Keir pitched that Labour’s historic election win has given the government a “golden opportunity” to end “chop and change, policy churn and sticking plasters” that are scaring investors.Show latest update 1728902016Pinned: Ex-Google chief says ‘I was shocked when Labour became strongly in favour of growth’The former boss of Google has said he was “shocked” to hear Labour has become “strongly in favour of growth”.In a culmination of Sir Keir Starmer’s attempts to restore his party’s relationship with business, which collapsed under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership, he is sat alongside the tech giant’s former CEO Eric Schmidt and GSK chief Dame Emma Walmsley pitching for investors to pile money into Britain.The PM’s inaugural investment summit, which has brought hundreds of executives from some of the world’s biggest firms to London, is a sign of how much he has changed the Labour Party since succeeding Mr Corbyn in 2020.Responding to Mr Schmidt’s apparent jibe, Sir Keir said “wealth creation is the number one mission of a Labour government”. To which Mr Schmidt replied: “Did you hear that?”It is hard to imagine a similar event taking place under Mr Corbyn’s leadership of the party, when business chiefs shunned Labour for being anti-business, something Mr Corbyn claimed was “complete nonsense”.Albert Toth14 October 2024 11:331728917127Winter fuel payment row still hangs over government after 100 daysAs Labour ministers greet business leaders with a celebratory mood, criticism continues from other sectors ahead of the new government’s first budget on 30 October.Campaigners and charities are maintaining pressure on Labour to scrap or tweak the cutback of winter fuel payments to include more pensioners, as it is feared millions could miss out.Social Affairs Correspondent Holly Bancroft speaks to a pensioner set to miss out on winter fuel help this year because she is just £3 above the weekly threshold for support. Albert Toth14 October 2024 15:451728916227Investment summit about more than Musk, Downing Street saysThe Government’s international investment summit is “not about focusing on any one specific person”, Downing Street said when asked why Tesla owner Elon Musk had not been invited.It has been suggested the billionaire was snubbed after engaging in a Twitter spat with Sir Keir Starmer during rioting in the summer, when he said demonstrators were subject to two-tier policing.Asked why Mr Musk was not attending, the PM’s official spokesman said: “This summit is not about focusing on any one specific person.“What you can see today is 300 of the most significant investors, people who can bring significant amounts of capital to the UK, attending this summit, which is obviously hugely significant.”Albert Toth14 October 2024 15:301728915347Greens criticise Labour’s deregulation driveEllie Chowns, Green Party MP for North Herefordshire, has criticised the prime minister’s promise to strip back ‘unnecessary’ regulation to boost investment.She said: “Starmer’s pledge to investors that he will “cut red tape” is a tired cliché that, in practice, too often means harming environmental standards and workers’ rights. We’ve had fourteen years of successive Conservative governments promising to “cut red tape,” and all we have to show for it is a flatlining economy and falling living standards.“If Starmer is serious about attracting investment to the UK, he will need a bolder approach that delivers on the “change” he promised in his election campaign. He could start by re-evaluating our relationship with our biggest trading partner, the European Union.”Albert Toth14 October 2024 15:151728914447Sadiq Khan: We “shouldn’t be scared” of EU single market Mayor of London Sadiq Khan is also in attendance at Labour’s International Investment Summit today, where he has spoken to reporters about Britain’s relationship with the EU.“I’m quite clear that all successful countries do the most trade with their nearest neighbours, that’s one of the signs of success,” he said.“We’ve got on our doorstep, not just friends and colleagues and family indeed, we’ve got a market of more than 500 million people.“The good news is the Prime Minister spent a lot of the last three months visiting friends in Europe, whether it’s the president of France, the prime minister of Italy, the chancellor of Germany or the European Union, indeed, in Brussels.“The current Brexit deal we have comes up before review next year. I’m hoping, unlike last time, there will be closer alignment, rather than divergence.“We should be looking at a whole host of issues and talking about them – whether it’s a youth mobility scheme, whether it’s seeing what we can do to bring people closer together.“I think the reality is, in the short term, we probably aren’t going to get back as members of the single market. But it’s something we shouldn’t be scared to talk about.”Albert Toth14 October 2024 15:001728913588Green protests outside London’s Guildhall as summit underwayWhile ministers and business leaders gather in London’s glitzy Guildhall, several protestors have gathered outside in the grey, drizzly weather.Those from the Green New Deal Rising group are calling for a wealth tax on the UK’s richest to fund green investment.“Today, we showed up at the International Investment Summit to deliver a clear message: private business won’t save us,” they wrote on Twitter / X, adding: “We need public investment for public priorities”.Another campaign group, Stop Sizewell C, is also present – protesting against the planned twin nuclear reactors in Sizewell, Suffolk.Albert Toth14 October 2024 14:461728912627No safety slips amid bonfire of red tape, Downing Street vowsDowning Street has promised the government will not let safety standards slip amid a bonfire of red tape to speed up building and planning permission.Asked how the Government would ensure consumer safety was not undermined in the context of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry’s conclusions on deregulation, Sir Keir Starmer’s official spokesman said: “I think this exercise is about ensuring that regulators aren’t needlessly getting in the way of growth.“Clearly, there are very important examples of where regulators play a vital role in upholding high safety standards and clearly building safety is one of those examples, and you heard the prime minister speak about that recently in the Houses of Parliament.“Clearly, we are not going to compromise on those things, but it’s about striking the right balance and clearly the prime minister, the chancellor, have heard lots of feedback and representations from industry about the regulatory environment that this government has inherited and they’re determined to ensure we have a pro-business, pro-innovation regulatory environment.”Albert Toth14 October 2024 14:301728912292Government launches new Industrial StrategyAs the investment summit continues, Labour has launched a consultation into its ‘Invest 2035’ Industrial Strategy. The Green Paper sets out a 10-year plan to improve stability and investment in the UK.The foreword by Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves says: “This Industrial Strategy will provide a launchpad for businesses. It provides the firm foundation for investment businesses have told us they need. This government believes it is our role to provide the certainty that inspires confidence, allowing businesses to plan not just for the next year, but for the next 10 years and beyond.”“We will not repeat the mistakes of the past, with policy changing as fast as decision-makers.”Albert Toth14 October 2024 14:241728910827‘High-skilled’ immigration necessary for AI innovation, Starmer toldSpeaking to Sir Keir Starmer in a panel discussion, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt said “A pro-growth agenda would start with high-skilled immigration, which is now in place here and should be expanded.”He adds that, as more graduates become experts in AI, it is essential the UK is able to keep home-grown experts, but also attract international talent.Speaking earlier, Sir Keir had criticised the “consequences” of Brexit, arguing that they gave the international community the impression that the UK was inward-looking and no longer interested in building relationships.Albert Toth14 October 2024 14:001728909927Elton John confirmed as summit special guestLabour ministers and summit guests will enjoy a performance from Sir Elton John later today as the event wraps up. His performance was confirmed by Sir Lucian Grange, chairman and CEO of Universal Music Group.“He’s an ambassador. He wanted to be here,” says Grainge after listing off some of the UK’s best musical exports.“I wish you could see the politicians’ faces. We spend a lot of time in meetings, we don’t get out very often,” Ms Nandy jokingly told the audience.Guests will also enjoy dinner prepared by three-Michelin-starred-chef Clare Smyth at the event in St Paul’s Cathedral, where King Charles II will make an appearance.The lavish affair will perhaps raise some eyebrows given Labour’s recent row over freebies, including some ministers receiving free Taylor Swift tickets worth thousands of pounds while in opposition.Albert Toth14 October 2024 13:45 More

Your support helps us to tell the storyThis election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.CloseRead moreCloseThe minister in charge of social media and digital technology has insisted he is “absolutely ready to engage” with Elon Musk, despite not having spoken to the world’s richest man since taking office in July.Peter Kyle denied the Tesla chief had been snubbed by the UK government ahead of its inaugural international investment summit, to which Mr Musk was not invited.He insisted that the lack of an invite was not related to Mr Musk’s criticisms of Sir Keir Starmer over the summer, during which he posted a series of images, videos and memes on social media related to ongoing rioting in the UK.Peter Kyle said he is ‘absolutely ready’ to engage with Elon Musk More

Your support helps us to tell the storyThis election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.CloseRead moreCloseWhile London’s legion of Swifties descended on Wembley stadium, trading friendship bracelets and preparing to shake it off along the way, a row over a police escort was taking place in the heart of Downing Street.In an unusual move, the Metropolitan Police provided Taylor Swift with a tax-payer-funded escort to her highly anticipated Eras Tour shows. Such measures are usually reserved for senior royalty and major government officials. Attorney General, Lord Hermer KC, has been dragged into the row after claims emerged that he pressed the Metropolitan Police into granting the singer a taxpayer-funded blue-light escort. Despite an initial reluctance, the Met eventually provided the enhanced security because of safety concerns following a foiled alleged terror plot in Austria. But the decision has raised questions about security protocols and the alleged political influence in policing – with Sir Keir Starmer now facing growing calls to order an independent probe.Attorney General Lord Richard Hermer More

Your support helps us to tell the storyThis election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.CloseRead moreCloseConservative leadership hopeful Kemi Badenoch has been accused of “stigmatising” autism after she endorsed a report that suggested people with the condition get “economic advantages and protections”. The pamphlet, which Ms Badenoch launched, also claimed that they receive “better treatment or equipment at school”.Former Conservative cabinet minister Robert Buckland hit out, saying the document should not be “stigmatising or lumping certain categories in with each other”. The row comes just weeks after Ms Badenoch triggered a furious outcry at Conservative conference after she claimed statutory maternity pay was “excessive”.She later backtracked but also raised eyebrows when she claimed that thousands of civil servants were so bad that they should be in jail. Kemi Badenoch and Robert Jenrick are facing off to become next Tory leader More

Your support helps us to tell the storyThis election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.CloseRead moreClose Britain’s new Labour Party government is announcing billions of pounds in investment in U.K. artificial intelligence, life sciences and infrastructure on Monday at a business summit attended by executives from major international companies — though it was the absence of Elon Musk that made headlines.Prime Minister Keir Starmer ’s center-left administration is eager to attract investment into Britain’s sluggish economy, and to convince corporations that its push to improve workers’ rights won’t come at the expense of businesses. It also needs to reassure trade unions, which are key Labour backers, that wooing business won’t come at workers’ expense.Starmer told about 300 executives from banks, investment firms, pharmaceutical companies, tech firms and others that after several years of economic and political turmoil and “policy churn” under the Conservatives, Britain is once again a stable place for investors.“This is the moment to back Britain,” he said, pledging to oversee a “hard-headed” industrial strategy and “galvanize growth” but slashing unnecessary regulation.“We will rip up the bureaucracy that blocks investment,” Starmer said.Unions worry that may mean lowering standards on health, safety and the environment, a claim the government denies. Technology Secretary Peter Kyle said reducing red tape did not mean “cutting corners or lowering standards, but making sure that the government takes on some of the burden of compliance, so that our nation can benefit.”A sign of the tensions facing the government as it tries to please both employers and employees came after Transport Secretary Louise Haigh last week urged people to boycott P&O Ferries, which in 2022 fired 800 seafarers to replace them with cheaper contract staff.Its parent company, Dubai-based DP World, reportedly threatened to pull out of the investment conference because of the remarks. After Starmer rebuked Haigh and reassured the company that hers was “not the view of the government,” DP World confirmed Monday it would invest in a 1 billion pound ($1.3 billion) expansion of the London Gateway container port.Business executives attending the summit were rubbing shoulders with government ministers at London’s magnificent medieval Guildhall before a reception with King Charles III at St. Paul’s Cathedral.Not among them was Musk, whose social media platform X was used to spread false information during anti-immigrant violence that erupted in Britain this summer. Musk himself posted messages insulting Starmer and saying the U.K. was headed for civil war.After the BBC reported in September that Musk would not attend the investment summit, the Space X and Tesla boss posted on X: “I don’t think anyone should go to the UK when they’re releasing convicted pedophiles in order to imprison people for social media posts.” He was apparently referring to the government’s decision to release hundreds of inmates — though not sex offenders — early because of overcrowded prisons.Kyle, the technology secretary, denied Musk had been snubbed for political reasons.“Elon Musk has never come to any of the past investment summits that have been held under the previous government, he doesn’t tend to do these sort of events,” Kyle said. “But I stand absolutely ready to engage with him, to talk about any potential global investments he’s making. I’m not aware of any at this moment in time.” More

Your support helps us to tell the storyThis election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.CloseRead moreCloseRobert Jenrick would “poison” the Conservative Party and wants to go further to the right than Nigel Farage, an influential former Tory MP claimed.In a damning assessment of the former immigration minister, Matthew Parris dubbed him a “slick, smooth-tongued salesman with all the attributes of a crowd-pleaser, except the ability to please a crowd”.He attacked Mr Jenrick as a political chameleon, having moved from being a “former Cameron Remainer” to someone promising to “out-Farage Farage”. He asked: “Which is the real Jenrick: Robert the hard-grafting functionary and one-nation pragmatist we saw in a previous incarnation? Or Rob the Reform-adjacent head-banger, throwing out chunks of stinking raw meat to the Tory right, like his pledge to take Britain headlong out of the European Convention on Human Rights: a folly that would threaten Northern Ireland’s Good Friday agreement?”And, throwing his weight behind Kemi Badenoch in the race to succeed Rishi Sunak, Mr Parris said the shadow business secretary has “thrilling philosophical courage”.Former Tory MP Matthew Parris offered a damning assessment of Robert Jenrick More

Your support helps us to tell the storyThis election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.CloseRead moreCloseWatch live as Sir Keir Starmer is set to address the International Investment Summit 2024 on Monday, 14 October.The prime minister is expected to pledge to get rid of regulation that “needlessly holds back investment” at the major business conference.Labour is set to unveil investment deals worth billions in AI, life sciences and infrastructure as the government is eager to show it is making progress on its mission to deliver economic growth after marking 100 days in office and ahead of the Chancellor’s first Budget on 30 October.Technology secretary Peter Kyle has said he stands “absolutely ready to engage” with Elon Musk after it was reported the Tesla chief was not invited to Monday’s summit.Mr Kyle told Times Radio that Mr Musk “doesn’t tend to do these sort of events”, after previous reports that the tech boss had been snubbed as a result of his social media posts during this summer’s riots.Asked whether the Government should have invited the X owner, Mr Kyle told the station: “Let me just send my very best to him on the safe landing of the booster rocket yesterday, it was a stunning achievement and I did watch slack-jawed at the staggering achievement that that represented.“Elon Musk has never come to any of the past investment summits that have been held under the previous government, he doesn’t tend to do these sort of events, but I stand absolutely ready to engage with him, to talk about any potential global investments he’s making – I’m not aware of any at this moment in time.” More

Your support helps us to tell the storyThis election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.CloseRead moreCloseReform UK supporters have been offered paid tours of parliament in an apparent breach of House of Commons rules, it has emerged.Nigel Farage’s party has emailed some activists offering tours with an MP for up to £300 as part of a fundraising drive.Rules for MPs explicitly forbid the offering of access in exchange for payment.In 2020, Green Party former MP Caroline Lucas was found to have breached parliamentary rules by giving a tour of the Commons in exchange for a £150 contribution to a fundraising campaign.She apologised for the “completely unintentional” breach and said the money had been returned.After becoming aware of Reform’s apparent breach, the right-wing party is offering a refund to those who purchased the tickets.A party spokesman said the ticketholders had been given refunds More