Rachel Reeves set to confirm extra money to spend on areas outside south-east – UK politics live

The attorney general “regrets” remarks in which he compared calls for the UK to leave international courts with 1930s Germany, his spokesperson has said, reports the PA news agency.

In a statement, Richard Hermer’s spokesperson said the peer acknowledged his “choice of words was clumsy” but rejected “the characterisation of his speech by the Conservatives”.

Hermer has faced criticism for a speech on Thursday in which he criticised politicians who argued that Britain “abandons the constraints of international law in favour of raw power”. Arguing that similar claims had been made “in the early 1930s by ‘realist’ jurists in Germany”, Hermer added that abandoning international law would only “give succour to [Vladimir] Putin”.

He also said that because of what happened “in 1933, far-sighted individuals rebuilt and transformed the institutions of international law”. That is the year that Adolf Hitler became German chancellor.

The speech prompted Tory leader Kemi Badenoch, who has suggested the UK would have to leave the European convention of human rights (ECHR) if it stops the country from doing “what is right”, to accuse Hermer of “starting from a position of self loathing, where Britain is always wrong and everyone else is right”.

In a post on social media, she said:

The fact is laws go bad and need changing, institutions get corrupted. Our sovereignty is being eroded by out-of-date treaties and courts acting outside their jurisdiction.

Pointing this out does not make anyone a Nazi. Labour have embarrassed themselves again with this comparison and unless the prime minister demands a retraction from his attorney general, we can only assume these slurs reflect Keir Starmer’s own view.

Hermer’s spokesperson said:

The attorney general gave a speech defending international law which underpins our security, protects against threats from aggressive states like Russia and helps tackle organised immigration crime.

He rejects the characterisation of his speech by the Conservatives. He acknowledges though that his choice of words was clumsy and regrets having used this reference.

In his same speech to the Royal United Services Institute on Thursday, the attorney general said “we must not stagnate in our approach to international rules” and that officials should “look to apply and adapt existing obligations to address new situations”. “We must be ready to reform where necessary,” he added.

Robert Jenrick is perhaps best known to the public as the former government minister who unlawfully intervened in a planning decision involving a billionaire Conservative party donor.

To others, he may be the Tory MP that parliament’s spending watchdog said was centrally involved in wasting nearly £100m on a botched plan to house asylum seekers.

Now, however, Jenrick has a new claim to fame: as the man who released a video of himself delivering “vigilante justice” to people he accused of fare dodging in London.

The failed party leadership candidate posted a video online on Thursday morning in which he accused the London mayor, Sadiq Khan, of “driving a proud city into the ground”, adding: “Lawbreaking is out of control. He’s not acting. So, I did.”

Jenrick is seen approaching people near tube barriers and asking them if they think “it is all right not to pay”.

Addressing the camera during the minute-long clip, Jenrick – who in 2020 accepted that his approval of Richard Desmond’s building project had been unlawful – said it was “so annoying watching so many people break the law and get away with it”. He added that the state needed to “reassert itself and go after lawbreakers”.

Transport for London (TfL) said fare evasion had actually fallen slightly, down 0.3% from 2023-24 to 3.5%. And officials claimed it was lower than many cities around the world, citing the 13% rate in New York City. They said they hoped to cut fare evasion in the capital to 1.5% by 2030.

Nevertheless, it is a serious problem in London, costing an estimated £130m a year.

Hours after the video emerged, Jenrick accepted he had not got permission to film on TfL premises, telling LBC radio he did not want to forewarn the local government body of his plan to potentially embarrass it.

While it is understood he did not breach the letter of TfL’s rules, a spokesperson said: “We expect permission to be sought for filming of this nature.”

The Conservative party has repeatedly proved able to adapt and reinvent itself – but this time might be different, writes senior political correspondent Peter Walker, in this latest analysis:

Responding to reports that the UK government is to sign a new trade agreement with the Gulf states, Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesperson and deputy leader Daisy Cooper said on Friday:

Good trade deals with the Gulf states and others around the world have the potential to boost our economy and improve living standards, but Labour mustn’t repeat the mistake of the last Conservative government by selling out British farmers.

If the government further undermines our high food and animal welfare standards and Britain’s food security, we will all be worse off.

Not only that, but it seems the government is selling out our free press for this deal too – permitting foreign stakes in British newspapers, with the UAE set to clinch 15% of the Telegraph.

This shows yet again that parliament must have a proper chance to scrutinise the government’s trade deals with each one being put to a debate and vote for parliament as a whole.

Prevent ‘could be breaching UK equality laws’ over treatment of autistic people

Rajeev Syal

The treatment of autistic people who are referred to the government’s deradicalisation scheme could be in breach of equality laws, a human rights charity has claimed.

The home secretary has been warned that Prevent and Channel, the multi-agency follow-on programme, which seek to identify people at risk of extremism, are overreporting neurodivergent people.

In a pre-action letter to the Home Office, Rights & Security International (RSI) said it was “deeply concerned about a potential ongoing failure to collect and analyse data on the protected characteristics of those referred to Prevent and that this constitutes an ongoing failure to comply with their public sector equality duty”.

There are concerns that autistic people are being referred to the authorities because of a lack of healthcare provision.

The letter states that a 2021 internal Home Office analysis obtained under the Freedom of Information Act found that more than a quarter of those receiving deradicalisation support from the Channel programme had either been diagnosed or had a suspected diagnosis of autism. The Channel programme is for the most serious cases where there is a “genuine risk” of radicalisation.

Having obtained previously undisclosed equality impact assessments carried out in 2023, RSI is concerned that the government is not adequately addressing the risk of “overreporting” autistic people.

Sarah St Vincent, the executive director of RSI, said the documents suggest the government is taking a “casual and even careless approach” to understanding the impact of Prevent on autistic people.

“The government needs to seriously rethink its approach to the Prevent programme, and in the meantime, authorities need to properly monitor the programme’s equality impact,” she said.

A report by the National Audit Office (NAO) in January estimated it would cost about £13.8bn to address the repairs and remedial work backlog for hospitals and other NHS properties in England, and an additional £13.8bn to address the maintenance backlog across the school estate.

The Department for Education has confirmed a £2.1bn investment for the school estate for 2025/26, almost £300m more than the previous year.

According to the PA news agency, Paul Whiteman, general secretary at school leaders’ union NAHT, described the funding boost for school buildings as a “welcome start”. But he added:

It is clear that much more government investment and a long-term plan is needed to restore the school estate to at least a satisfactory condition.

Julia Harnden, funding specialist at the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), said:

The wider problem is that there is a massive £13.8bn maintenance backlog across the school estate and we are still nowhere near the level of investment needed to address this.

The fact that schools and sixth form colleges have to bid for funding for urgent repairs and maintenance is in itself a sign of the inadequacy of overall investment and is effectively an annual exercise in papering over the cracks.

Children and patients deserve to be safe and comfortable in schools and hospitals across England, ministers have said as the government set out funding allocations for building repairs.

About £1.2bn – part of funding packages announced in last year’s autumn budget – will be spent on repairing crumbling schools and hospitals across the country, the government confirmed, reports the PA news agency.

Pupils at 656 schools and sixth forms will benefit from a share of this year’s £470m condition improvement fund (CIF), used for projects like fixing crumbling roofs and removing asbestos.

More than 400 hospitals, mental health units and ambulance sites will be handed £750m to tackle problems such as leaky pipes, poor ventilation and electrical issues.

Projects to deliver improvements to schools and hospital buildings will be delivered during the 2025/26 financial year, with the first upgrades to begin this summer, the government has said.

More than 100 schools, nurseries and colleges across England were forced to shut down days before the autumn term in 2023 amid concerns that classrooms and other buildings containing reinforced autoclaved concrete (Raac) were unsafe.

Education secretary Bridget Phillipson said:

The defining image of the school estate under the previous government was children sitting under steel props to stop crumbling concrete falling on their heads. It simply isn’t good enough.

Parents expect their children to learn in a safe, warm environment. It’s what children deserve and it is what we are delivering.

This investment is about more than just buildings – it’s about showing children that their education matters, their futures matter, and this government is determined to give them the best possible start in life.

Health secretary Wes Streeting said:

A decade and a half of underinvestment left hospitals crumbling, with burst pipes flooding emergency departments, faulty electrical systems shutting down operating theatres, and mothers giving birth in outdated facilities that lack basic dignity.

We are on a mission to rebuild our NHS through investment and modernisation.

Patients and staff deserve to be in buildings that are safe, comfortable and fit for purpose. Through our plan for change, we will make our NHS fit for the future.

Gaby Hinsliff

If Nigel Farage has a secret weapon, it is his seeming refusal to take things seriously.

His habit of repairing to the pub at any opportunity – though in private, he’s said to barely drink now – and the cheerfully unabashed amateurishness of his operation have long made other politicians look stuffy by comparison. But the chaos is also, as it was for Boris Johnson, a means of defence.

Since he makes zero pretence of professionalism, it’s somehow less expected of him, enabling him to slip past the standards applied to others. Rival parties often avoid attacking him, for fear of reminding voters he exists. Even now Reform UK has opened a substantial poll lead over Labour, treating this ramshackle outfit as a potential party of government still feels faintly ridiculous. Prime minister Farage? Are you serious? But he is. And it’s time the country was too.

Read more of Gaby Hinsliff’s opinion piece here:

Bank of England governor urges deeper ties with EU to ‘minimise’ Brexit impact

Richard Partington

Andrew Bailey has urged the UK government to deepen ties with the EU, as he warned a breakdown in global trade would make it harder for the Bank of England to control inflation.

In a speech in Dublin on Thursday, the Bank’s governor said a stronger relationship between London and Brussels could “minimise negative effects” of Brexit on trade.

Calling for closer cooperation on financial services as a priority, Bailey said government efforts to reset relations with the EU were a “welcome step forward” after the UK’s formal departure from the 27-country bloc in 2020.

Bailey said, as a civil servant, he took no position on Brexit, and he understood there could be other reasons why voters backed leaving the EU, but he said the evidence showed that the UK’s changing trade relationship had “weighed” on Britain’s economy.

“This does not mean that Brexit is wrong, because there can be other reasons for it, but it does suggest, I think powerfully, that we should do all we can to minimise negative effects on trade,” he said.

The Bank’s governor has previously called for the UK to strike deeper ties with Brussels to strengthen the economy, ahead of a deal agreed between Keir Starmer and the EU’s Ursula von der Leyen in London earlier this month.

Reform UK will accept donations through bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, Nigel Farage has announced.

During an appearance at the Bitcoin Conference in Las Vegas, where he was introduced as a “UK presidential candidate”, Farage said:

As of now, provided you are an eligible UK donor … we are the first political party in Britain that can accept donations in bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

He said Reform was planning to introduce a cryptoassets and digital finance bill. This would cut capital gains tax on cryptoassets from 24% to 10%, turning the UK into a “crypto powerhouse”, he said. Farage added that the crypto legislation that his party had drawn up would include a “bitcoin digital reserve in the Bank of England”.

Farage said the bill would make it illegal for banks to debank customers who use and trade in cryptocurrency.

On Thursday the Reform website was updated to accept cryptocurrency donations. There was a disclaimer stating that all donations were subject to Electoral Commission rules and that anonymous donations were not permissible.

At the conference, Farage called the acceptance of political donations “innovative”, before commending the US for being “ahead” with their stance on digital assets.

Farage said:

My message to the British public, and my message particularly to young people, is to help us to help you bring our country properly into the 21st century.

Let’s recognise that crypto and digital assets are here to stay.

“Millionaires” should not get “subsidy for their energy bills from the government”, a Treasury minister has suggested, according to the PA news agency

Darren Jones has said that winter fuel payments will “still be targeted to those that need it the most”.

Keir Starmer said at prime minister’s questions last week that he wants to restore the payments to more pensioners, after pressure from campaigners, signalling a partial U-turn on one of Labour’s first announcements in government.

He claimed that the UK’s improving economic prospects could allow for the move at the next fiscal event. The partial U-turn came as ministers are continuing to face calls to scrap the two-child benefit cap.

Speaking to Sky News on Thursday evening, chief secretary to the Treasury Jones was asked about Reform UK’s commitments on both the winter fuel and benefit cap policies.
“All of those things cost money,” Jones said. “It’s right that we set out the detail and how we’re going to pay for those in a proper and orderly way.”

He added:

We’re sticking to the principle that millionaires shouldn’t be getting subsidy for their energy bills from the government, so winter fuel payments will still be targeted to those that need it the most.

Jones also touched on the government’s approach to child poverty, telling the same programme that “we’re a Labour government we want child poverty to be falling in this country, not rising”. He added: “Of course, we want to help families lift themselves out of poverty.”

Starmer said he is looking at “all options” to drive down child poverty when asked if he would like to get rid of the two-child benefit cap on Thursday. Speaking on a visit to the north-west, the prime minister said:

There isn’t a single bullet, but I’m absolutely determined that we will drive this down, and that’s why we’ll look at all options, always, of driving down child poverty.

Kalyeena Makortoff

The energy watchdog for Great Britain has fined three companies £8m for failing to respond to some gas leak emergencies quickly enough, potentially putting the public at “serious risk”.

Ofgem said the three firms – Cadent Gas, Scotland Gas Networks (SGN Scotland) and Southern Gas Networks (SGN Southern) – had agreed to pay the fine after missing callout targets that require them to attend suspected gas leaks within one to two hours in 97% of cases.

An investigation by the regulator found that all three had fallen short of that target between 2022 and 2023. Ofgem said the fines would be paid into the regulator’s voluntary redress fund “in acknowledgment of the potentially serious risk to the public in failing to meet these targets”.

Ofgem’s director of market oversight and enforcement, Cathryn Scott, said:

The potential risk to households and businesses if gas leaks aren’t investigated quickly is significant, so it’s right that the companies involved have acknowledged the seriousness of missing these targets.

Scott said the regulator was confident that all three companies had since improved their systems and processes to “make sure this doesn’t happen again” and had met their targets in the two years since the breach.

Jessica Elgot

The UK is on the brink of signing a £1.6bn trade agreement with Gulf states, amid warnings from rights groups that the deal makes no concrete provisions on human rights, modern slavery or the environment.

The deal with the Gulf Cooperation Council – which includes the countries Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – is within touching distance, making it a fourth trading agreement by Keir Starmer after pacts were struck with the US, India and the EU.

The UK has said it hopes the deal will eventually add an extra £8.6bn a year to trade between the UK and GCC countries by 2035. Sources close to the negotiations in the oil-rich region said the deal was now at its final stages and they expected UK agreement imminently.

The deal is likely to be particularly beneficial for the car industry and financial services, though estimates suggest that a free trade agreement would be worth less than 0.1% of GDP over the next decade.

However, there is likely to be a backlash over a deal on chicken imports, where lower animal welfare standards could significantly undercut British farmers.

The TUC is among those who have urged caution over the deal and has raised concerns with ministers, the Guardian understands.

Human rights groups have previously said the UK should not finalise a free trade agreement without legal commitments on human rights improvements, especially for migrant workers.

Going ahead with welfare reforms will drive more people into homelessness, a number of major charities have warned the government, reports the PA news agency.

Shelter and Crisis are among the signatories to a letter to the work and pensions secretary, Liz Kendall, voicing concerns over the risks from her proposed changes to the benefits system.

The government is already under pressure over the controversial reforms, with more than 40 Labour MPs earlier this month urging the prime minister to pause and reassess planned cuts, saying the proposals are “impossible to support”.

The proposed reforms, set out earlier this year, would tighten the eligibility criteria for personal independence payment (Pip) – the main disability benefit in England – and see the sickness-related element of universal credit (UC) cut.

A letter, coordinated by the St Mungo’s homelessness charity, has stated the “deep concern” organisations within the sector feel about the reforms.

In the letter, which has also been sent to deputy prime minister and housing secretary Angela Rayner, they said:

We can only conclude that the proposed changes will increase the number of people at risk of becoming homeless for the first time, increase the number of people we have helped resolve their homelessness fall back into it and increase the length of time it takes to resolve people’s homelessness in the future.

According to the PA news agency, they said that while they share the government’s “ambition to establish a thriving and inclusive labour market and give people the opportunities and support they need to get back to work”, the reforms “will not help achieve your ambition and therefore we as a sector cannot support them”.

The letter said that the reforms will “push people further away from the labour market, increase homelessness and put excessive pressure on statutory services”.

They said increases in already record levels of homelessness “will have a catastrophic impact on mental and physical health, education and employment opportunities” and have a “domino effect of imposing a significant financial cost to the state” in paying for more temporary accommodation and emergency homelessness services.

The charities added:

Homelessness devastates people’s chances of employment. These cuts and eligibility restrictions will not give people a pathway to work and we urge the Government to reconsider its position.

Emma Haddad, chief executive of St Mungo’s, said:

Many people rely on these benefits to manage complex health conditions as part of their recovery from homelessness and pay for essential utilities. With already eyewatering rents, these benefits help people cover their additional costs.

Without them, we fear people will be increasingly unable to afford to secure somewhere safe to live.

Homelessness has already pushed these people to the edge. We should be supporting them to rebuild their lives, not creating more challenges for them to overcome.

A government spokesperson said:

We will never compromise on protecting people who need our support, and our reforms will mean the social security system will always be there for those who will never be able to work.

At the heart of the government’s reforms is a £1bn scheme to help the long-term sick or disabled out of poverty and into good, secure jobs.

We have also raised the national living wage, increased benefits and given additional help to the poorest households, as part of our plan for change.

Schools minister Catherine McKinnell said the government will make “substantial progress” in rebuilding schools, but was unable to provide a target for how much of the maintenance backlog would be dealt with.

Catherine McKinnell told BBC Breakfast on Friday:

We will make a substantial progress on rebuilding our schools during the next few years.

We have just under 600 schools in the rebuilding schools programme, we are really accelerating it actually.

Asked whether she could provide a figure for how much of the £14bn maintenance backlog would be eliminated or how when schools would be free of Raac (reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete), she could not.

She added:

We are working very hard, but you can’t just switch a switch and fix everything overnight.

Asked again about Raac in an interview on Friday with LBC, McKinnell said:

We’re not over that hurdle yet, and we’re not over it in the NHS either.

According to the PA news agency, she went on to say that “we have identified all the Raac” and there are plans for buildings to either be fixed or rebuilt “because [ …] the fact that they have Raac in them means that they’re probably a substantial age as a building”.

Keir Starmer is braced for a major rebellion against his attempts to cut benefits when they come to a vote next month, with dozens of Labour MPs preparing to vote against the measures.

Nadia Whittome, the Labour MP for Nottingham East, has been setting out her reasons for rebelling against the government this morning, telling the Today programme the plan is based on “very weak” evidence.

“How does cutting people’s benefits help? No one can answer this question,” she said. “The government hasn’t provided any evidence of that and is expecting MPs to vote on it without providing that evidence.”

She added:

We can reduce the welfare budget in the long term, but that requires spending in the short term on our public services – on the NHS, on good quality social housing, better wages, etc. Cutting people’s benefits does nothing to help people.

Whittome’s backbench colleague Jake Richards defended the government, however, telling the programme:

The status quo isn’t working, the benefits system is not fit for purpose.

Kemi Badenoch has accused the Labour and Reform leaders of asking people to “fund unlimited child support for others” by scrapping the two-child benefit cap, reports the PA news agency.

Her comments come after Nigel Farage announced his party would abolish the cap as part of a series of spending promises including reinstating the winter fuel allowance and changing rules on tax-free allowances for married couples.

At the same time, Keir Starmer said his government was looking at “all options” to drive down child poverty, but has not committed to getting rid of the cap.

Writing in the Daily Mail, the Tory leader accused Starmer and Farage of engaging in a “race to the bottom” on welfare.

She said:

Apparently, Starmer and Farage now believe in getting taxpayers – many of whom are struggling to raise their own children or choosing not to have them in the first place – to fund unlimited child support for others.

That’s not fair, it’s not sustainable and it’s not even compassionate. Welfare traps people, builds dependency and it drives up costs for everyone.

Badenoch said both leaders’ comments on the cap showed they were “content to make promises they can’t keep”, arguing the Conservatives were “going to be the party of sound money and fiscal responsibility again”.

The cap, introduced by the Conservatives in 2017, prevents universal credit claimants from receiving additional benefits for a third or subsequent child born after 5 April 2017.
Campaigners say the cap exacerbates child poverty and has had a minimal impact on birthrate or family-size.

The Child Poverty Action Group has said abolishing the cap would lift 350,000 children out of poverty and mean another 700,000 were in less deep poverty.

Rachel Reeves is preparing to announce billions of pounds’ worth of extra spending for areas outside south-east England at next month’s spending review, after rewriting Treasury investment rules.

Reporting on the story, the Guardian’s political correspondent, Kiran Stacey writes:

The chancellor will unveil the extra capital spending after a review of the Treasury’s “green book”, which determines how officials calculate the costs and benefits of a scheme.

Critics say the rules are biased in favour of more economically productive areas of the country, and Reeves has promised a review to be published on the same day as the spending review.

The announcement, which was first revealed by the Times, comes as ministers look for ways to combat the threat of Reform UK in the “red wall” of seats in the north and Midlands, which were won by the Conservatives in 2019 and taken by Labour last year. Those areas are likely to be hit by reduced departmental spending, which Reeves will also lay out at the spending review.

In other news today, the government is setting out funding allocations for building repairs, with ministers saying children and patients deserve to be safe and comfortable in schools and hospitals across England.

Schools minister Catherine McKinnell and shadow paymaster general Richard Holden are on morning media round, so we’ll be hearing from them soon. And, Farage has announced Reform UK are now accepting donations in bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

More on all of the above in a moment, but first, here are some other developments:

• The UK is on the brink of signing a £1.6bn trade agreement with Gulf states, amid warnings from rights groups that the deal makes no concrete provisions on human rights, modern slavery or the environment. The deal with the Gulf Cooperation Council – which includes the countries Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – is within touching distance, making it a fourth trading agreement by Keir Starmer after pacts were struck with the US, India and the EU.

• Andrew Bailey has urged the UK government to deepen ties with the EU, as he warned a breakdown in global trade would make it harder for the Bank of England to control inflation. In a speech in Dublin on Thursday, the Bank’s governor said a stronger relationship between London and Brussels could “minimise negative effects” of Brexit on trade.

• Kemi Badenoch has accused the Labour and Reform leaders of asking people to “fund unlimited child support for others” by scrapping the two-child benefit cap. Writing in the Daily Mail, the Tory leader accused Starmer and Farage of engaging in a “race to the bottom” on welfare.

• Nigel Farage has launched a second attack video aimed at Anas Sarwar and accused the Scottish Labour leader of being “obsessed about race”, escalating the increasingly personal row before a key Holyrood byelection. The campaign for the central Scotland seat of Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse is rapidly evolving into a head-to-head contest between the two party leaders. A Reform UK advert that incorrectly claims Sarwar has promised to prioritise Pakistani communities is now subject to formal complaints to Meta from Scottish Labour and the SNP.

• “Millionaires” should not get “subsidy for their energy bills from the government”, a Treasury minister has suggested. Darren Jones has said that winter fuel payments will “still be targeted to those that need it the most”.

• The treatment of autistic people who are referred to the government’s deradicalisation scheme could be in breach of equality laws, a human rights charity has claimed. In a pre-action letter to the Home Office, Rights & Security International (RSI) said it was “deeply concerned about a potential ongoing failure to collect and analyse data on the protected characteristics of those referred to Prevent and that this constitutes an ongoing failure to comply with their public sector equality duty”.