Keir Starmer says technology can create a ‘better future’ as he addresses AI fears

Keir Starmer has said ministers should be able to “look every parent in the eye” and pledge that tech can create a “better future” for their children.The UK prime minister opened London Tech Week with a series of policy announcements on artificial intelligence, including a boost to AI infrastructure and a new AI tool to transform the planning system.Acknowledging a “social fear” around the impact of AI, Starmer said technology would benefit all of society.“By the end of this parliament we should be able to look every parent in the eye in every region in Britain and say ‘look what technology can deliver for you’,” said Starmer.He added: “We can put money in your pocket, we can create wealth in your community, we can create good jobs, vastly improve our public services, and build a better future for your children

Rachel Reeves in standoff over policing and council budgets days before spending review

Rachel Reeves has been locked in a standoff over the policing and council budgets just days before this week’s spending review, which is set to give billions to the NHS, defence and technology.Yvette Cooper’s Home Office and Angela Rayner’s housing and local government ministry were the two departments still at the negotiating table on Sunday fighting for more cash, after weeks of trying to reach a settlement.Whitehall sources said the policing budget would get real terms rises, but there was still disagreement over the level of investment needed for the Home Office to meet its commitments.Rayner’s department is understood to have reached an agreement with the Treasury late on Sunday night after last-minute wrangling over housing, local councils and growth funds.However, any failure to strike a deal would raise the prospect of a budget being imposed on an unwilling department

NHS to get £30bn boost over three years at expense of other services

The NHS is set to receive a £30bn funding boost in the spending review next week, at the expense of other public services.The Department of Health is expected to emerge as the biggest winner on Wednesday with a 2.8% increase to its day-to-day spending budget over a three-year period, amounting to a £30bn rise by 2028.This amounts to a £17bn real-terms increase according to the Times, which first reported the figure.The cash injection will come at the expense of other public services such as policing and local councils, which are facing real-terms cuts in the spending review

Nigel Farage’s pitch for Welsh elections: bring back coalmining

Nigel Farage has demanded the reopening of domestic coalmines to provide fuel for new blast furnaces, arguing that Welsh people would happily return to mining if the pay was sufficiently high.Speaking at an event in Port Talbot, the south Wales town traditionally associated with the steel industry, the Reform UK leader said it was in the “national interest” to have a guaranteed supply of steel, as well as UK-produced fuel for the furnaces, a close echo of Donald Trump’s repeated pledges to return heavy industry to the US.Pressed on whether this was a realistic plan, particularly given that even if Wales did elect a Reform-run Senedd next May it could be blocked by Westminster, Farage conceded that the idea was most likely only realistic if done in conjunction with the national government.“Our belief is that for what uses coal still has, we should produce our own coal,” he told the event, intended to boost Reform’s prominence in Wales in the run-up to next year’s elections.“I’m not saying, let’s open up all the pits

Sadiq Khan said to be furious over lack of spending review cash for London

Sadiq Khan is understood to be furious at the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, over a lack of funding for London in the forthcoming spending review, with sources close to the mayor suggesting the capital will get none of its key transport requests.The mayor is also understood to share the concerns of senior Met police officers that London will not get a substantial uplift in funding.The Met police commissioner, Sir Mark Rowley, has already written to the chancellor warning about the effects on tackling crime if there is no serious increase in policing budgets.A city hall source said it would “unacceptable if there are no major infrastructure projects for London announced in the spending review and the Met doesn’t get the funding it needs”.Khan is also understood to have asked for powers to introduce a tourist levy in London, which has been rebuffed – though such changes would be likely to take effect at a budget rather than spending review

Reform UK backs plan to put swift bricks in every new home in England

Reform UK has joined MPs from across the political spectrum in supporting an amendment to provide every new home in England with at least one swift brick to help endangered cavity-nesting birds, after a similar amendment was blocked by Labour in the committee stage.Richard Tice, a former housing developer and the Reform deputy leader, said his party’s MPs would support a revised amendment tabled by Labour’s Barry Gardiner to incorporate the measure in the government’s increasingly controversial planning bill. Tice, who is one of five Reform MPs in the Commons, said: “The Conservatives rejected swift bricks in government, and now Labour is backtracking despite supporting them in opposition. Swifts – one of Britain’s most iconic birds – are in steep decline, along with other cavity-nesting species. All they need is a brick with a hole