Keir Starmer’s biggest U-turns since Labour came to power
Keir Starmer’s mid-air announcement that he was reversing his previous opposition to a national grooming gangs inquiry is the latest in a long line of U-turns that have led allies to worry about a lack of political direction.Before he became prime minister, the Labour leader gained a reputation for U-turning on some of his most significant policies, including spending £28bn a year on green infrastructure and abolishing tuition fees.Since entering government, the pattern has continued, with Starmer having changed his mind on cuts to winter fuel payments and the grooming gangs inquiry within the last few weeks.Here is a list of the biggest policy U-turns – or prospective U-turns – that the prime minister has executed since taking power.When Elon Musk began furiously tweeting about the grooming gangs scandal in January, the prime minister responded robustly.
Faced with calls from Kemi Badenoch and other Conservatives for a national inquiry, Starmer accused them of “calling for inquiries because they want to jump on a bandwagon of the far right”.But at the same time that Starmer was accusing his opponents of jumping on bandwagons, his government was appointing Louise Casey to lead an “audit” into how wide-scale the problem was.This decision was to pave the way for the U-turn that followed.Sources say Lady Casey began her work believing that a national inquiry was unnecessary.But she changed her mind, and when Starmer read her report last week he realised he had little option but to change his position and accept her recommendation.
The chancellor, Rachel Reeves, described her decision last year to cut winter fuel payments for 10 million pensioners as “necessary”, “urgent” and “responsible” after discovering what she said was a £22bn black hole in the public finances.Just under a year later, Starmer sounded a very different note when unravelling the policy for the vast majority of people.“I recognise that people are still feeling the pressure of the cost of living crisis, including pensioners,” he said.“That is why we want to ensure that as we go forward, more pensioners are eligible for winter fuel payments.”Ministers stressed the U-turn had been made possible because of the strengthening economy.
But on several measures, including growth forecasts and government debt levels, the economy was in no better position than it had been when the policy was first announced.Labour’s 2024 manifesto was plain-speaking in its tax offer to voters.“We will not increase national insurance, the basic, higher, or additional rates of income tax, or VAT,” the party promised.So when Reeves used her first budget to raise national insurance by 1.2 percentage points and to reduce the threshold at which companies start paying it, the decision looked like a fairly straightforward violation of the pre-election promise.
Ministers argued it should not be counted as such, given the manifesto also said Labour would not raise taxes on “working people”, and that it was employers rather than employees that were being asked to pay higher tax rates,This did not persuade Paul Johnson, the director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, however, who called the move a “straightforward breach” of the manifesto,Sign up to First EditionOur morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what’s happening and why it mattersafter newsletter promotionLabour went into the election promising to restore aid funding to 0,7% of gross national income “as soon as fiscal circumstances allow” after the Conservatives cut it in 2021,There was no talk of potentially cutting development spending even further.
But in February that is exactly what the prime minister announced, removing nearly half the development budget to pay for extra spending on defence and taking British aid spending to the lowest level in history.Even while making the cut, Starmer insisted he wanted to bring levels back to what they were before 2021 when he was able.But officials admit there is no prospect of this happening in the foreseeable future, as reflected by the recent comments by the aid minister, Jenny Chapman, who said: “The days of viewing the UK government as a global charity are over.”In March 2022, Starmer told the Times: “A woman is a female adult, and in addition to that, trans women are women, and that is not just my view – that is actually the law.”The following year he told the Sunday Times that 99.
9% of women “of course haven’t got a penis”, adding that he did not want to turn the issue into a “toxic divide”.That stance changed, however, after the supreme court ruled that the Equality Act was referring only to biological sex when using the terms “woman” and “sex”.In the days after that ruling, Starmer’s official spokesperson was asked whether the prime minister still believed trans women were women.“No,” he said.“The supreme court judgment has made clear that when looking at the Equality Act, a woman is a biological woman.
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Trump claims EU is not offering a fair trade deal; Reeves pitches UK as ‘oasis of stability’; oil climbs as shares fall – as it happened
US president Donald Trump has said the European Union was not yet offering a fair deal in trade talks between the United States and the 27-nation bloc.Seaking to reporters on Air Force One, as he returned early from the G7 summit, Trump explained:“We’re talking, but I don’t feel that they’re offering a fair deal yet. They’re either going to make a good deal or they’ll just pay whatever we say they have to pay.”Trump also said there was a chance of a trade deal with Japan, but said Tokyo was being “tough”, Reuters reports.TRUMP SAYS EU NOT YET OFFERING A FAIR DEALTrump added that pharmaceutical tariffs were coming very soon and noted that Canada would pay to be part of his “golden dome” project
Europe will never return to Russian gas, European Commission insists
The European Commission has insisted there will be no return to Russian gas, as it published plans to phase out fossil fuel imports from its eastern neighbour by 2028.The EU energy commissioner, Dan Jørgensen, said a proposed ban on Russian gas imports would remain, irrespective of whether there was peace in Ukraine.EU officials recalled when Russia cut gas supplies in 2006, 2009, 2014, as well as the deliberate reduction of flows in 2021 before the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which contributed to a huge rise in energy prices and surging inflation across the continent.Under the proposals, European companies would be banned from importing Russian gas or providing services at EU liquified natural gas terminals to Russian customers. Any contracts entered into from today would have to be wound up by 1 January 2026, but companies with pre-existing agreements have a final deadline of 1 January 2028
Tell us about your best Reddit moment
Reddit celebrates its 20th birthday at the end of the month. With 17 million daily viewers, the online community forum has brought various issues to people’s attention, from the timely and topical to the bizarre.We’d like to hear about your best Reddit moment. Perhaps you’ve been able to share a personal experience and felt you found your tribe discussing it with others. Or maybe you’ve had a complex issue explained to you like a five-year-old, or just found yourself laughing along with a viral moment with millions of others
DNA testing firm 23andMe fined £2.3m by UK regulator for 2023 data hack
The genetic testing company 23andMe has been fined more than £2.3m for failing to protect the personal information of more than 150,000 UK residents after a large-scale cyberattack in 2023.Family trees, health reports, names and postcodes were among the sensitive data hacked from the California-based company. It only confirmed the breach months after the infiltration started and once an employee saw the stolen data advertised for sale on the social media platform Reddit, according to the UK Information Commissioner’s Office – which levied the fine.The information commissioner, John Edwards, called the months-long incident across the summer of 2023 a “profoundly damaging breach”
Royal Ascot 2025 day one updates: news, previews and more – live
5pm ASCOT STAKES HANDICAPAnd they’re off … this is a long old two and a half mile race … Artistic Star is fast away …5pm ASCOT STAKES HANDICAP bettingPoniros 11/4Reaching High 10/3East India Dock 9/2Manxman 11/1Alphonse Le Grande 14/1Mr Hampstead 14/1Nurburgring 16/1Ascending 20/1Leinster 22/1Divine Comedy 25/1BAR 28/1 - 20 RunnersFull betting here: /horse-racing/royal-ascot/17:00/winnerMost Backed: Reaching High with 13% of bets5pm ASCOT STAKES HANDICAP previewThe first handicap at this year’s Royal meeting and it’s a cracker, with all eyes on Willie Mullins’s Reaching High in his attempt to give the King and Queen their second Royal winner. The four-year-old was bred by the late Queen Elizabeth II from her Gold Cup-winning mare, Estimate, and made a historic switch to the County Carlow yard after Sir Michael Stoute’s retirement at the end of last season, becoming the first horse owned by a reigning British monarch to be trained in Ireland. He is stepping up a mile in trip today, though, and while he was widely expected to set off as the favourite, an interesting betting move has seen him supplanted by his stable companion, Poniros, the mount of William Buick and the 100-1 winner of the Triumph Hurdle at Cheltenham back in March. East India Dock, who is also in today’s field, was the warm favourite for the Triumph and finished less than a length behind the winner, but is carrying 6lb more than Poniros today thanks to a subsequent win in the highly-competitive Chester Cup. The market’s logic seems to be that if East India Dock is still well-handicapped after an 8lb rise for his win on the Roodee, then Poniros is potentially *very* well handicapped back on the Flat, having backed up his Cheltenham run with a strong second in a Grade One hurdle at Punchestown in April
Pressure mounts on Queensland with State of Origin history on NSW’s side | Jack Snape
Queensland’s State of Origin aspirations will evaporate on a wet Australian rules oval in Perth on Wednesday if most commentators and analysts and even some apprehensive Maroons fans are to be believed. The heavily-favoured Blues can wrap up the series in Game 2 following their straightforward 18-6 victory in the opener in Brisbane three weeks ago.In that match the southerners were physically dominant, dictating the contest with a methodical ruthlessness that gave the impression they still had another gear. The Maroons’ only try was direct from a Blues handling error, and Queensland’s lack of attacking potency prompted long nights of introspection and review for Billy Slater and his staff.So dire were their findings, they decided to abandon the state’s famed “pick and stick” philosophy
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