‘It’s more incrementalism’: Starmer’s safe king’s speech fails to quell mutiny
For Keir Starmer’s Labour critics, his second king’s speech, in which the government set out what it would do in parliament over the next 12 to 18 months, was a crystallisation of everything that was wrong with the prime minister’s strategy.Over 34 bills and three draft ones, Starmer set out a programme he said would “make this country stronger and fairer”.But the package, which included limiting trial by jury, reshaping the NHS and moving the country closer to the EU, fell short of what some in the prime minister’s party feel is needed to win back voters’ trust.“Most of this is incrementalism,” said one Labour MP.“This sums up where we have gone wrong in the first two years in government.
We talk about not going back to the status quo and then propose boosting growth by tweaking the wording of regulators’ remits.”Harry Quilter-Pinner, the head of the Institute for Public Policy Research, called for “much bolder action on the cost of living, including rent controls, alongside longer-term reforms to growth, the state, and Britain’s relationship with Europe”.Starmer’s legislative agenda is made up of measures that have previously been announced but for which the government has not yet found time.Some of them involve major changes to the way public services are run.An NHS modernisation bill will legislate for the abolition of NHS England, which the health secretary Wes Streeting has already announced.
An education bill will enact the sweeping changes to special educational needs provision that the education secretary unveiled at a speech earlier this year.A courts bill will limit trial by jury in a bid to reverse some of the backlog gumming up the courts system.Other bills, however, appear to do less than they promise, and display what critics say is Starmer’s characteristic reluctance to embrace trade-offs.A regulating for growth bill promises to help Britain to “compete on the world stage”, something it will achieve largely by giving regulators a mandate to promote growth.When asked whether this would mean giving less priority to other factors such as safety or the environment, Downing Street said this would not have to be the case.
“It’s not about deregulation,” the prime minister’s spokesperson said,“It’s about giving greater weight to economic growth when making decisions, without weakening safety, environmental or consumer protections,”The problem for the prime minister is that the king’s speech came against the backdrop of a major policy debate within the Labour party, prompted by the manoeuvrings of various potential leadership candidates,In competing publications on Wednesday, two groups of Labour MPs set out their visions for what the party should be doing instead,The Labour Growth Group, whose chair, Chris Curtis, is an ally of Wes Streeting and called this week for the prime minister to resign, wants a significant rise in capital gains tax to pay for a reduction in national insurance.
The group also wants a major package of devolution that would allow mayors to tax and spend, as well as changes to the structure of government, including the creation of a new office of the prime minister.Meanwhile the soft-left Tribune group, many of whose members want to see Andy Burnham replace the prime minister, want greater public ownership of utilities – particularly Thames Water.They are also calling for changes to the government’s fiscal rules to allow it to borrow more, but only after the next election.In the immediate term they want to levy a new land and property tax to replace stamp duty.For some of Starmer’s critics, these proposals show the party is having the kind of in-depth policy conversation it should have had before the election.
“We weren’t discussing ideas for how we were to run the country, and we didn’t develop a good enough or sufficient plan for government for when we got there,” Curtis told an event in Westminster on Tuesday evening.Some of the prime minister’s allies say the ideas being promoted by competing factions within the party are not very different from what the government is doing anyway.Starmer was planning to launch his own plan to create an “office for the prime minister” this week before he was derailed by having to defend his job against a possible leadership coup, sources say.Even his critics argue the party should continue to be bound by the manifesto on which he was elected – limiting the scope for major changes, for example to the UK’s relationship with the EU or the amount the government can borrow.“We need to stick to our manifesto,” said Miatta Fahnbulleh, one of the ministers who resigned this week.
“It’s more about how do we put the manifesto up in lights.”Curtis is blunter in his assessment of the prime minister’s policy failings.“What we need to hear from the prime minister is what are the barriers he needs to remove so change can happen quicker, and so that we can get our economy back into the place where it’s growing and delivering for people,” he said on Tuesday evening.“Because at this moment in time isn’t.”
Joseph Fiennes on parenting, politics and banning children from social media: ‘Stand up, Keir, this is your kids’ generation’
He’s played English titans from William Shakespeare to Gareth Southgate, but what does the actor really think about the country today?The Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more.We are at a corner table in a breakfast place in Chelsea, Joseph Fiennes opposite me on the banquette with his jack russell, Noa. “Dog duty,” he says, apologetic
From The Sheep Detectives to Rivals: your complete entertainment guide to the week ahead
Hugh Jackman and Emma Thompson star in a farmyard mystery, while the spirited bonkbuster returns for a smutty second outingThe Sheep DetectivesOut now Few can claim a writing career as varied as Craig Mazin, creator of TV’s Chernobyl, co-writer of several Scary Movie and The Hangover films, and co-creator of The Last of Us. Here, he turns his hand to a comedy-mystery about sheep, starring Hugh Jackman and Emma Thompson. Adapted from a novel by Leonie Swann.KokuhoOut now Two-time Japan Academy film prize best director winner Lee Sang-il directs this prestige adaptation of Shuichi Yoshida’s novel. It holds the record for the highest-grossing Japanese live-action release ever in Japan – an impressive feat for a nearly three-hour-long period drama set across five decades in the kabuki theatre world
Historic Oxford cinema under threat as Oriel College refuses to extend lease
The survival of one of the UK’s oldest independent cinemas is under threat while its landlord, the University of Oxford’s Oriel College, refuses to extend its lease to allow what its director says are vital renovations.The Ultimate Picture Palace in east Oxford opened in 1911, and has entertained generations of students and residents, including the Oscar-winning director Sam Mendes. It sells tickets for its 106 seats through an old-fashioned box office window to patrons queueing on the street, and its screen is behind a manually opened curtain.After decades of instability, the UPP, as it is known by locals, recently became a community-owned business when more than 1,200 supporters raised funds to keep the cinema operating in the Grade II-listed building.But plans to secure its long-term future have been dashed by Oriel College’s reluctance to approve an extension that would allow further investments and renovations to take place
Arthur Miller opens up about marriage to Marilyn Monroe in newly unearthed recordings
He was one of the greatest playwrights of the 20th century and she was one of the greatest actors. In newly unearthed recordings made over a period of nearly three decades, Arthur Miller opened up about his short-lived marriage to Marilyn Monroe, saying she wanted a husband who was a “father, lover, friend and agent,” and the child she longed for would have been an “additional problem”.In taped conversations with his friend and biographer Prof Christopher Bigsby, Miller said he had felt “death was always on her [Monroe’s] shoulder – always”. He had believed that if he did not “take care of her life” she would come to a “catastrophic end”.“One time I brought doctors to pump her out because she had swallowed enough stuff [drugs] to kill her,” he said
Man charged over bomb hoax after Peter Kay show evacuated
A man has been charged over a bomb hoax after a live show by comedian Peter Kay in Birmingham was stopped when a “potentially suspicious bag” was found around the venue.The Utilita Arena Birmingham was evacuated and a 19-year-old man was taken into custody, West Midlands police said on Friday evening.On Saturday, the force said: “A man has been charged in connection with the events which led to the evacuation of the Utilita Arena in Birmingham last night.“Omar Majed, 19, has been charged with false communications relating to a bomb hoax,” a police spokesperson said. “Majed, of Washwood Heath, Birmingham, has been remanded to appear before magistrates in Birmingham on 4 May
Royal Opera House calls for release of Georgian bass singer jailed over democracy protests
The Royal Opera House in London has urged Keir Starmer to intervene in the case of Paata Burchuladze, a world-renowned bass singer who has been imprisoned in Georgia since October on a charge of leading a coup against the country’s authoritarian leader.The 71-year-old has performed at the Royal Opera House and the Metropolitan Opera House in New York and collaborated with the likes of Luciano Pavarotti, Plácido Domingo and José Carreras. He was arrested after joining a protest outside the presidential palace in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi. Last week he was given a seven-year jail sentence which Burchuladze suggested to the court was equivalent to a life sentence given his age.Burchuladze became a rallying figure at nightly demonstrations against the government’s perceived pivot away from the west last autumn
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