‘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.”
Milka maker milked shoppers over size of chocolate bars, German court rules
Many chocolate lovers consider shrinkflation a serious crime – and they have been vindicated after a German court ruled that the makers of Milka cheated consumers by cutting the bar’s size, while keeping the wrapper the same.The three-week case in a regional court was brought by Hamburg’s consumer protection office. It accused the chocolate brand’s US owner Mondelēz of deceiving shoppers by cutting the weight of Milka’s classic Alpine Milk bar from 100g to 90g without significantly altering the distinctive purple packaging.Shrinkflation, where product sizes are reduced but prices stay the same (or even go up), has become all too common as manufacturers try to offset rising business and ingredient costs.After last year’s changes, the Milka bar was a millimetre thinner and the price increased from €1
Global oil inventories falling at record pace amid Iran war; US producer price inflation hits four-year high – as it happened
Global oil stocks are being run down at a record pace as supply losses mount due to the ongoing Iran war, the International Energy Agency has warned.In its latest outlook report, the IEA reports that global oil inventories fell by 129 million barrels in March, and by a further 117 million barrels in April, as countries dipped into their reserves to cover the shortfall following the Middle East conflict.The IEA, which ordered the largest release of government oil reserves in its history in mid-March, reports:double quotation markMore than ten weeks after the war in the Middle East began, mounting supply losses from the Strait of Hormuz are depleting global oil inventories at a record pace.The IEA also forecasts weaker demand this year, as the jump in prices for crude oil and refined products leads to demand destruction.World oil demand is forecast to contract by 420,000 barrels per day this year, to 104m bpd, which is 1
Nissan ponders building cars for Chinese rivals at Sunderland plant
Nissan’s chief executive has confirmed he would consider building cars for other manufacturers at the UK’s largest car factory in Sunderland, amid talks with China’s Chery.Ivan Espinosa said Nissan was “looking at options” for Sunderland and its 6,000 workers as the struggling Japanese carmaker on Wednesday reported steep losses for the year to March.Nissan announced last week it was closing one of its two production lines at Sunderland, in north-east England, because of faltering demand for its vehicles. However, it has held talks to produce vehicles on behalf of Chery, according to industry sources. Chery is pushing aggressively into the UK and Europe with its Chery, Jaecoo and Omoda brands
Lab testing group Intertek to back £10.6bn takeover by Swedish firm EQT
The laboratory testing company Intertek has become the latest FTSE 100 business to agree to a takeover, backing a £10.6bn approach from a private equity firm owned by Sweden’s billionaire Wallenberg family.After rebuffing three previous approaches, Intertek’s board said it was “minded to recommend” the £60-a-share tilt from the Swedish buyout firm EQT to shareholders, if there was a firm offer.The deal is worth £10.6bn including debt, or £9
UK housebuilder Vistry warns of ‘significantly’ lower profits amid Iran war uncertainty
One of the UK’s biggest housebuilders has said its profits will be “significantly” lower, as it was forced to cut prices after heightened uncertainty caused by the US-Israeli war on Iran.Vistry’s shares plunged 10.5% in early trading on Wednesday, hitting their lowest level in nearly 15 years, as it told shareholders its first-half profits would be hit by the fallout from the Middle East conflict.In a stock market update hours before its annual general meeting, the housebuilder, which owns Bovis Homes, Countryside and Linden Homes, said circumstances had changed since it last updated investors in March. It said: “The level of macroeconomic uncertainty has increased, and with it the range of potential outcomes for the current year
How new owner became all powerful in ‘high stakes’ attempt to revive former WH Smith chain
Shoppers at WH Smith were once accustomed to being offered cheap chocolate stacked high at the counter while buying their morning newspaper. Now, the chain’s former high street stores have themselves become the subject of a cut-price deal – as the low-profile investment group that snapped them up appears set to pay less than half of the original cash price.The paperclips to books chain had notched up 233 years on the British high street when it was bought by Modella Capital last summer.In less than a year, the future looks very different for the chain, which was hastily rebranded to TG Jones. First established in Little Grosvenor Street in London by Henry Walton Smith and his wife, Anna, WH Smith grew rapidly in the 19th century, building a newspaper distribution business as the railway network expanded
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