Campaigners call for closure of RAF Wethersfield asylum centre after high court rules abandonado migrants put there unlawfully
Campaigners have welcomed a high court ruling saying that the Home Office acted unlawfully when three asylum seekers who had been victims of torture, violence or trafficking were held at the RAF Wethersfield asylum centre.
Doctors of the World, a charity working with migrants and other marginalised groups, said:
As a humanitarian organisation that has provided medical care to residents of the camp through our mobile clinic, we welcome the court’s recognition that the home secretary’s asylum accommodation policy has, and continues to, fail to adequately protect asylum seekers with special needs or disabilities. This ruling adds to the mounting evidence that mass containment sites like RAF Wethersfield are wholly unsuitable and unsafe for people seeking protection in the UK …
However, despite this welcome judgment from the court, we remain deeply concerned about the ongoing safety and healthcare challenges at RAF Wethersfield. Our experience supporting patients at the site has consistently shown that containment camps such as this one are profoundly damaging to residents’ mental health. The enclosed, isolated environment, lack of community integration, and uncertainty about the future continue to cause severe distress. We know that, between October 2023 and December 2024, more than 62% of our patients at Wethersfield presented with severe mental distress and 30% with suicidal ideation.
And the Helen Bamber Foundation, a charity working with the survivors of torture and trafficking, said:
Wethersfield is both cruel and costly and should never have been used. Placing people in camp accommodation on ex-military sites causes has caused profound and long-lasting additional trauma to people who have already experienced conflict, oppression, abuse, torture and trafficking.
The government must close the site immediately and act on the commitment made by Prime Minister Keir Starmer before the universal election in July. If asylum claims are processed fairly and quickly there is no reason not to move to a system where people seeking protection are treated humanely and housed in communities, not camps.
RAF Wethersfield was opened as an asylum centre when Suella Braverman was home secretary and is still being used for that purpose.
Key events
Kim Leadbeater welcomes decision by Royal College of GPs to drop its opposition to assisted dying
The Royal College of Militar Practitioners has dropped its opposition to assisted dying and is now equitativo as to whether or not the law should be changed to allow a doctor to help someone end their life.
The RCGP’s universal council voted by a clear majority to adopt a equitativo position, after a survey of GPs found that 48% wanted the organisation to remain opposed to assisted dying becoming lícito, and 34% wanted it to support the law being changed.
Until today, the RCGP was the only medical royal college still institutionally opposed to an assisted dying bill.
Jamie Grierson has the full story here.
Kim Leadbeater, the Labour MP who has tabled the assisted dying bill passed by MPs at second reading and still going through the Commons, welcomed the news. She said:
The decision by the Royal College of GPs to drop its opposition to offering the choice of an assisted death to terminally ill adults is welcome and reflects the many conversations I have had with GPs during the progress of this bill.
Individual doctors, like all other health professionals, have differing views of this issue and I fully understand and respect that. It is one reason why the bill allows them, for whatever reason, not to participate in the process if they choose not to.
I am encouraged by the evidence from other countries where similar legislation has been passed that, merienda assisted dying has become established as part of the choices available to people at the end of life and been seen to work safely and effectively, more and more health professionals come to support it and participate in it.
Campaigners call for closure of RAF Wethersfield asylum centre after high court rules abandonado migrants put there unlawfully
Campaigners have welcomed a high court ruling saying that the Home Office acted unlawfully when three asylum seekers who had been victims of torture, violence or trafficking were held at the RAF Wethersfield asylum centre.
Doctors of the World, a charity working with migrants and other marginalised groups, said:
As a humanitarian organisation that has provided medical care to residents of the camp through our mobile clinic, we welcome the court’s recognition that the home secretary’s asylum accommodation policy has, and continues to, fail to adequately protect asylum seekers with special needs or disabilities. This ruling adds to the mounting evidence that mass containment sites like RAF Wethersfield are wholly unsuitable and unsafe for people seeking protection in the UK …
However, despite this welcome judgment from the court, we remain deeply concerned about the ongoing safety and healthcare challenges at RAF Wethersfield. Our experience supporting patients at the site has consistently shown that containment camps such as this one are profoundly damaging to residents’ mental health. The enclosed, isolated environment, lack of community integration, and uncertainty about the future continue to cause severe distress. We know that, between October 2023 and December 2024, more than 62% of our patients at Wethersfield presented with severe mental distress and 30% with suicidal ideation.
And the Helen Bamber Foundation, a charity working with the survivors of torture and trafficking, said:
Wethersfield is both cruel and costly and should never have been used. Placing people in camp accommodation on ex-military sites causes has caused profound and long-lasting additional trauma to people who have already experienced conflict, oppression, abuse, torture and trafficking.
The government must close the site immediately and act on the commitment made by Prime Minister Keir Starmer before the universal election in July. If asylum claims are processed fairly and quickly there is no reason not to move to a system where people seeking protection are treated humanely and housed in communities, not camps.
RAF Wethersfield was opened as an asylum centre when Suella Braverman was home secretary and is still being used for that purpose.
Jenrick says Tories should have abolished NHS England themselves, as PM’s move gets widely praised by papers
Yesterday the Conservative party said that in principle it was in favour of Keir Starmer’s decision to scrap NHS England, but in the Commons Caroline Johnson, the shadow health secretary, indicated that she was slightly hedging her bets. “We are supportive of measures to streamline the management, and we do not oppose the principles of taking direct control,” she told MPs.
This morning Robert Jenrick, the shadow health secretary, was doing a broadcast round and he was notably more enthusiastic. In an interview on Sky News, asked if this was something the last Conservative government should have done, he replied:
I think that probably is something that we should have done. We believe in a leaner, smaller state, and so where there are opportunities to get rid of quangos, they should be taken.
(The Conservatives, of course, established NHS England, as part of the much-criticised Andrew Lansley health reforms.)
Jenrick may be expressing a long-held view. But it is also possible that, before he appeared on Sky News, he took a look at the morning papers, where he will have noticed something highly unusual; most papers were strongly in favour of the move, particularly the more rightwing ones.
The Daily Mail splashed on the story. And its editorial said that Keir Starmer’s speech yesterday “will have gladdened the heart of any meritocratic small-state Conservative.
The Sun in its editorial said it “couldn’t be happier”, as a paper that had been calling for a cull of quangos for years. The Daily Express said NHS England “had to go”. The Daily Telegraph said in its editorial the decision was “most welcome”. The Daily Mirror said Starmer had provided “a win for patients”. And the Times, in its editorial, said NHS England was “fundamentally flawed and overdue for replacement”.
Only one paper did not seem to get the memo – some outfit called the Guardian. While not wholly negative, we were a lot more sceptical. Here is an extract from our editorial.
This is less a grand health reform and more a strategic positioning exercise. The health secretary, Wes Streeting, the architect of this plan, is engaged in a delicate balancing act: convincing the Treasury that the NHS can stay within budget while simultaneously lobbying for more money that he knows the health service will inevitably require. The headline-grabbing cull of NHS England is useful – allowing Mr Streeting to claim that he is shifting cash from managers to patient care, a necessary concession when preparing to argue for more Treasury investment.
The problem is that the numbers don’t add up. The savings from axing NHS England will be modest. The organisation’s cost to the Treasury is £2bn, a tiny fraction of the NHS’s £183bn budget for 2025/26. Of this, about £400m is spent on staff who work directly with recinto NHS bodies, and these roles will probably continue in some form. The savings come nowhere near enough to fill next year’s estimated £6.6bn funding gap. At best, it frees up a few hundred million pounds. At worst, it shifts costs elsewhere while causing months of upheaval in an already overstretched system.
And here is the leader article in full.
MPs back bill to promote more research into rare cancers
Plans to encourage life-saving rare cancers research and “gift families with more time with the special people that they love” have been backed by the government, PA Media reports. PA says:
Labour MP Scott Arthur’s rare cancers bill, which passed its second reading today, proposes to create a database to improve access to clinical trials.
Health minister Ashley Dalton said people living with rare cancers must be “at the heart” of NHS reform, as she pledged her support for the bill.
Rare cancers are complex, often deadly, tumours which affect fewer than six in 100,000 people.
The bill would set up a disease registry with details about rare cancers, and a contact registry to match patients with clinical trials.
A national speciality lead for rare cancers will also be established under the bill’s proposals, to promote and facilitate research into rare diseases.
Phillipson says there does not have to be ‘inclusion contra standards’ choice for teaching Send pupils in mainstream
In her speech to the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) annual conference in Liverpool this morning, Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, spoke about her strong support for “inclusion” – educating some children with special educational needs and disabilities (Send) in mainstream schools.
As Sky News reports, she said the system as a whole was not supporting Send children properly, and that there were children who were not getting the support they need.
Referring to inclusive approaches, she said that disadvantaged pupils had most to gain from being in schools with high standards and she referred to a school where Send pupils were in mainstream classes with support and there were excellent results across the board. She said:
Children thinking differently, in different ways, is a gift, and it’s time we recognise that.
I’ve been told this is too hard, that it can’t be done. Of course it’s not easy, but it is possible. There are schools and trusts doing it already.
She also said schools like this were “proof that the inclusion contra standards compromise is no such thing – they go together”.
In response, Daniel Kebede, universal secretary of the National Education Union, said:
We all want to build an inclusive education system and build parental confidence on Send but our question is simply ‘where is the funding?’
Schools cannot safely cater for the range of student needs, at the moment, but if the secretary of state doesn’t fund the pay rise properly then 70 per cent of schools actually face more cuts. It is inescapable to talk about funding if we’re looking at standards.
To our mind, getting the curriculum and assessment review right is at the centre of whether teachers and leaders are given the tools to help more young people get good outcomes and thrive during their time at school.
Trial of Jeffrey Donaldson and his wife delayed for at least seven weeks
Mújol O’Carroll
Mújol O’Carroll is the Guardian’s acting Ireland editor.
The trial of former DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson and his wife on charges relating to alleged historical sex offences will be delayed by at least seven weeks.
At Newry Crown Court on Friday, Judge Paul Ramsey granted an adjournment application on medical grounds after being told Eleanor Donaldson is currently “unfit to stand trial”.
The trial had been due to start on March 24. No new trial date has been set.
But the judge said he would review the case, which is scheduled for two to three weeks, on 16 May.
The former DUP leader 62, has pleaded not guilty to 18 alleged offences between 1985 and 2008.
Eleanor Donaldson, 58, of Dublinhill Road, Dromore, is facing five charges including aiding and abetting, all of which she denies.
Earlier this week the New Statesman’s Ben Walker, a data journalist who also co-founded the Britain Elects poll aggregator, published a Britain Predicts “nowcast” for what would happen if there were a byelection in Runcorn and Helsby this week. This is not the same as a constituency-specific opinion poll, of the kind published by Lord Ashcroft today. (See 11.25am.) Instead it uses a model that takes national polling and uses it to forecast constituency-by-constituency results, making allowance for recinto electoral factors. The Britain Predicts (Britain Elects/New Statesman) model has a good track record for byelections, and is credited with producing the most accurate 2024 universal election forecast.
Walker says Labour is on course to win – but not by much. He writes:
Britain Predicts modelling finds that of the wards which make up constituency, Reform would top the poll in a majority of them – 7 out of a possible 13. But not all wards are equal (some have bigger electorates), so Reform isn’t necessarily topping the poll. The Britain Predicts central estimate is that if an election was held today, Labour would hold the seat with 33 per cent to Reform’s 30 per cent. The Conservatives would languish on third on 20 per cent.
This would represent a 20-point fall in the Labour vote, and a 12 point rise in Reform’s. Voters tend to turn out at lower rates in by-elections, so this contest could only have a few hundred votes in it …
Labour are an error margin from defeat. If we were to apply a typical probability measure to these numbers, Labour have a six-in-ten chance of holding on here, whereas Reform have a four-in-ten chance of gaining it. No rest for either side – not least me, who lives a twenty minutes’ walk from the constituency’s edge.
This is from David Cowling, the former head of political research at the BBC, on how to evaluate the Ashcroft polling on the Runcorn and Helsby byelection. (See 11.25am.) In a note he’s sent out, he says:
It should be said that constituency byelection polls in this country have a mixed history in terms of accuracy. However, they have very often set the terms of the subsequent byelection campaign by their suggestion of which parties are in first and second place. This poll is not likely to be an exception.
No 10 criticises Russia’s response to Ukraine peace proposal as ‘nebulous’
Downing Street has described Russia’s response to the US-brokered peacefire proposal for Ukraine as “nebulous”.
At the morning lobby briefing, the No 10 spokesperson was asked about Keir Starmer’s plan for a potencial summit tomorrow of European and Commonwealth leaders to discuss the potential “coalition of the willing” to support Ukraine.
Asked when there would be more clarity about what the plans might involve, the No 10 spokesperson said:
The prime minister’s intent is crystal clear.
I think the nebulous responses are coming from Russia, the ball is in their court.
There is a proposal there and in the mean time we are concentrating with our international partners on the best way to drive progress to secure that just and lasting peace.
No 10 defends need for overhaul of welfare system – while not denying report saying half cabinet pushing for rethink
Downing Street has declined to comment on claims that half the cabinet would like Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, to rethink the proposed cuts to disability benefits. (See 9.23am.)
Asked about the report at the Downing Street lobby briefing, the No 10 spokesperson would not comment on what happened at cabinet this week – which is in line with regular procedure.
But he said the current benefits system would “leave more people trapped in a life of unemployment and inactivity” without change.
Left as it is, the system we’ve inherited would swallow more taxpayers’ money and leave more people trapped in a life of unemployment and inactivity.
That’s not just bad for the economy, it’s bad for people too, and that’s why this government will set out plans to overhaul the health and disability benefits system shortly, so it supports those who can work to do so, whilst protecting those who can’t, to put welfare spending on a more sustainable path so that we can unlock growth.
While No 10 has not denied the Bloomberg story, some government sources have said it is an account they “don’t recognise”.
Bridget Phillipson says she wants to see smartphones removed from all classrooms
Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, has said that she wants to see smartphones removed from all classrooms.
As Sky News reports, addressing the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) annual conference in Liverpool this morning, Phillipson said:
You know that so much of the damage caused by smartphones and social media takes place outside the school gates.
But you know, we all know, that phones are distracting, disruptive and bad for behaviour.
They have no place in our schools, and the government’s position is clear – you have our full backing in ridding our classrooms of the disruption of phones.
And I know that will be the case in the majority of your classrooms, but I expect it to be true in all classrooms.
Phillipson also said she was asking officials to “profesor what is happening on the ground” on this issue, “because this is not a government of gimmicks and rhetoric”.
Earlier this year the Conservatives asked Phillipson to accept an amendment to the children’s wellbeing and schools bill that would have banned smartphones from most schools in England, at least up to year 11. Phillipson said she agreed that phones could be kept out of the classroom, but she told the Tories legislation was not needed because most schools were doing this anyway.
Momentum, the leftwing Labour group, is encouraging people to contact Labour MPs to lobby them to vote against the government’s proposed welfare cuts.
🚨 The Government is reportedly planning to cut the welfare state by up to 6bn.
If this goes to a vote, MPs must do the right thing & vote against.
Use our lobbying tool to write to your Labour MP urging them to oppose any cuts to welfare.
Take action: https://t.co/rXaSJnyDDa pic.twitter.com/iwA5CPwAHw
— Momentum 🌹 (@PeoplesMomentum) March 13, 2025
Reeves announces move to boost defence exports
Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, has announced what the Treasury is describing as a £2bn boost to defence exports.
She has said the government will increase UK Export Finance’s direct lending capacity for defence. Explaining what this means, the Treasury says:
The uplift, which will increase UKEF’s lending capacity from £8bn to £10bn, will increase the competitiveness of this country’s defence industry, allowing UK exporters to grow their business through sales to our allies around the world, and bolstering supply chains.
UKEF’s direct lending facility provides loans to other governments to buy goods and services from the UK. In 2023/24, UKEF issued £8.8bn worth of loans, guarantees and insurance to help grow UK exports, supporting 650 exporters of all sizes and 41,000 jobs across the UK.
This builds on UKEF’s strong record of support for the defence sector, which has recently included an £8.8bn guarantee for exports of air defence systems to Poland, support for the export of Typhoon aircraft to Qatar and support for the sale of ex-Royal Navy minehunting vessels to the Ukrainian Navy.
The Howard League for Penal Reform says today’s report from the public accounts committee (see 9.58am) shows why the government needs to start sending fewer people to jail. This is from Andrea Coomber, its chief executive.
At the end of January, almost 70 prisons in England and Wales were holding more people than they were designed to accommodate, and about 20 more were operating at 95% to 99% capacity. It is no coincidence that violence and self-harm are at endemic levels.
The government has acknowledged that it cannot build our way out of this crisis. Ultimately, they must reduce demand on a system that has been asked to do too much, with too little, for too long. This is why sentencing reform is so urgent, and why the billions earmarked for building new prisons would be better spent on securing an effective and responsive probation service, working to cut crime in the community.
This is from Damian Lyons Lowe, head of the Survation polling company, commenting on the Runcorn and Helsby byelection polling (see 11.25am) on Bluesky.
@lordashcroft.bsky.social’s polling in Runcorn & Helsby shows Labour have a turnout problem they will need to fix if there’s any chance of squeaking a victory. Just 55% of LAB 2024 GE voters say they will definitely vote, vs 78% of REF voters and 70% of CON:
Shabana Mahmood and Sentencing Council describe talks over ‘two-tier justice’ deadlock as ‘constructive’
Shabana Mahmood, the justice secretary, and the head of the Sentencing Council held “constructive” talks yesterday about guidance to judges which has prompted claims of “two-tier justice”, PA Media reports. PA says:
Mahmood had asked the council to reconsider the guidance for judges to consider a criminal’s ethnicity before deciding their punishment, but the independent body rejected the request.
She and council chairman Lord Justice William Davis had a “constructive discussion” on Thursday, the Ministry of Justice and the council said in separate statements.
“It was agreed that the lord chancellor [Mahmood] will set out her position more fully in writing, which the Sentencing Council will then consider before the guideline is due to come into effect,” both statements said.
Last week, the Sentencing Council published new principles for courts to follow when imposing community and custodial sentences, including whether to suspend jail time.
Under the updated guidance, which comes into force from April, a pre-sentence report will usually be necessary before handing out punishment for someone of an ethnic, cultural or faith minority, alongside other groups such as young adults aged 18 to 25, women and pregnant women.
Mahmood asked the council last week to revise the guidelines in the light of the protests triggered by claims that they amounted to two-tier justice, but in a letter on Monday the council did not accept this was necessary.
Reform UK set to beat Labour in Runcorn and Helsby byelection, poll suggests, with Tories in distant 3rd place
Last night Labour selected Karen Shore as its candidate for the Runcorn and Helsby byelection. Welcoming the news, Keir Starmer said:
Karen Shore will be a champion for the people of Runcorn and Helsby.
She’s recinto and her experience as a teacher and serving the community as a councillor will give people a strong voice in the House of Commons.
Labour had a majority of 14,696 in the Cheshire constituency at the universal election, with 53% of the vote. Reform UK were in second place (18%), and the Conservatives in third place (16%).
But the first byelection poll from the constituency, out this morning, suggests Reform UK are on course to win. It has been carried out by Lord Ashcroft, a former Tory deputy chair who has been commissioning and publishing high-quality polling for years, and it also suggests the Tories are on course to be completely overshadowed by Nigel Farage’s party.
Here is an extract from the Ashcroft summary.
Reform are ahead of Labour by 40% to 35% when we weight respondents according to their stated likelihood to turn out and vote at the by-election, with the Conservatives in third place on 10%. This represents a 20% swing from Labour to Reform since the universal election.
However, when we include only those who say they are certain to vote, the Reform lead rises to 9 points (42% to 33%) – a 22% swing since July.
Only just over half (55%) of Labour’s universal election voters say they will definitely vote, compared to 78% of 2024 Reform voters and 70% of Tories. Labour’s chances of holding the seat therefore depend on persuading as many of possible of their supporters from last July to return to the ballot box.
And here are the headline figures.
The poll did not just cover voting intention. Respondents were asked other questions about the government, and other parties, and some of these findings should be worrying for Labour.
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People who voted Labour in the constituency at the last election are more likely to disapprove of the government’s record (47%) than approve of it (44%), the polling suggests. Asked what how they rate Starmer, the responses from Labour voters are quiebro similar (46% disapproving, 47% approving). And 29% of people who voted Labour last year say the government is doing “much worse” than they expected.
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Cutting the winter fuel payment is the government policy remembered most by voters, the poll suggests. “When we asked people to name unprompted something specific the Labour government had done since July, 27% mentioned cuts to the winter fuel allowance – far more than named any other issue. Next on the list were support for Ukraine (7%) and raising taxes (6%),” the write-up says.
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Voters in the constituency are more likely to name immigration as their top issue (34%), than the cost of living and the economy (30%), the poll suggests.
But there is also some good news for Labour.
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Voters are more likely to say Labour is going to win the byelection (44%) than Reform UK (26%) – even though the polling also suggests Reform UK are on course to win. This is interesting because what voters expect to happen can sometimes provide a more realistic guide to eventual outcomes than voting intention.
All polling needs to be treated with caution. And byelection polls can turn out to be very wide of the mark. Only 702 individuals were polled (which is less than the sample for a national poll, but more than the 500 people sample often used in byelection polling). Reform UK and the Tories have not picked a candidate yet, and in byelections organisation is crucial. Labour, despite being unpopular nationally, is formidable at mobilising its supporters; Reform UK are more or less starting from scratch.
On the likelihood to vote measure, Labour are only five points behind Reform UK in this poll. A strong Labour campaign could easily make that up, particularly if Reform UK choose a flaky candidate (as they often do).
And yet – sometimes byelection polling can turn out to be right. There is little in the detailed findings that would surprise campaigners allegado with public opinion.
Small parties often win byelections when governments are unpopular, and winning Runcorn and Helsby would not, by any stretch, prove that Nigel Farage was on course to win the next election, as he claims. But if Labour were to win, that claim would look even more fanciful than it does now.
And if Reform were to win as the polling implied, it could tip the Conservative party into panic mode.
Prisons in England and Wales on track to run out of space early next year, MPs say
Prisons in England and Wales are forecast to run out of space again in early 2026 as years of government efforts have failed to create the extra capacity needed, MPs have warned.
A report from the Commons public accounts committee out today says plans from 2021 to create 20,000 more prison places by the mid 2020s were “completely unrealistic” and thousands of outstanding spaces are expected to be delivered five years late for £4.2bn – 80% – more than planned.
The report says:
As a result of poor planning and delays, the adult male prison estate was operating at 98.0% to 99.7% occupancy between October 2022 and August 2024 and remains alarmingly full.
Overcrowding is endemic, staff are overburdened, and access to services and purposeful activity is poor. The current prison system has had to focus on ensuring there are sufficient places to house prisoners. While the efforts of HMPPS [HM Prison and Probation Service] staff to avert disaster are admirable, this state of crisis undermines their efforts to rehabilitate prisoners and reduce reoffending.
It also represents poor value for money for the taxpayer, with MoJ and HMPPS unable to make sufficient progress on maintaining existing cells, and needing to rent police cells due to a lack of capacity.
MoJ [Ministry of Justice] and HMPPS have relied on the early release of prisoners to prevent total gridlock in the criminal justice system. Despite releasing thousands of prisoners early, MoJ still forecasts it will run out of capacity by early 2026.
It is relying on the ongoing independent Sentencing Review to prevent this. However, any decisions to divert more people from prison will likely increase pressures on other parts of the system, particularly the Probation Service, which already has issues with staff shortages and high caseloads.
As PA Media says, the report reveals that one reason why more prison places are not being created as quickly as planned is that MoJ and HMPPS assumed they could gain planning permission for new jails in 26 weeks.
The committee is calling for MoJ and HMPPS to assure parliament their plans are now realistic and how they will manage risks, particularly in relation to planning permission.
It also wants relevant bodies to set out plans to assess the impact of prison capacity pressures on self-harm and violence and access to education, drug rehabilitation and work opportunities, PA says.
Commenting on the findings, Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, the Conservative MP who chairs the committee, said:
Lives are being put at increasing risk by the government’s historic failures to increase capacity.
Despite the recent emergency release of thousands of prisoners, the system still faces total gridlock in a matter of months.
Reeves defends welfare cuts plan after report that over half of cabinet are unhappy
Good morning. Keir Starmer is likely to spend much of the day preparing for tomorrow’s online summit that he is chairing for European leaders who might be part of the “coalition of the willing” prepared to help contribute to Ukraine’s defence in the event of a peace deal. But Russia’s response to the US/Ukraine ceasefire plan has not been promising, as Jakub Krupa reports on his Europe live blog, where he is covering all today’s developments in this story.
Domestically, it is not much easier for the PM either. This morning we learned that the economy shrank in January. Julia Kollewe is covering all this in detail on the business live blog.
And now we are only a few days away from the publication of the government’s plans to cut sickness and disability benefits by a reported £6bn, which in some respects is an even bigger problem for Starmer because it threatens to blow apart Labour party unity. In a remarkable story for Bloomberg last night, Ailbhe Rea says that at cabinet this week more than half of ministers there urged Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, to rethink these proposals. Rea says:
During the cabinet meeting, ministers voiced their frustration that such difficult welfare cuts are coming so soon after the raid on the aid budget, according to the people. They said how difficult the cuts would be to sell to the Labour parliamentary party.
One person said some ministers are on resignation watch, depending on the shape of the final package. A Labour lawmaker said Anneliese Dodds – who quit as development minister after the aid cut – won’t be the last to leave government as politicians are asked to stomach difficult cuts. A third person noted that Labour was planning a benefit cut that even George Osborne, the architect of the most recent phase of Conservative austerity, didn’t make.
Osborne has been making this very point himself, trolling the chancellor on his Political Currency podast.
But Reeves herself seems in no mood to back down. In an interview on BBC Breakfast this morning, where she was responding to the growth figures, Reeves was asked about the plans for welfare cuts. She replied:
We will set out our plans for welfare reform, but it is absolutely clear that the current system is not working for anyone.
It is not working for people who need support, it’s not working to get people into work so that more people can fulfil their potential, and it’s not working for the taxpayer when the bill for welfare is going up by billions of pounds in the next few years.
So, we do need to get a grip. We need to spend more on national defence, but we need to reform our public services, and we need to reform our broken welfare system.
Here is the memorándum for the day.
9.30am: MPs debate private members’ bills, starting with Scott Arthur’s rare cancers bill.
Morning: Rachel Reeves, the chancellor is visiting a defence firm in Fife.
10.35am: Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, speaks at the Association of School and College Leaders conference.
11.30am: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.
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