‘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.”
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
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
Fortescue ordered to pay Yindjibarndi traditional owners $150m in record native title payout
Mining company Fortescue has been ordered to pay $150m in compensation to traditional owners over cultural losses caused by the multibillion-dollar Solomon Hub iron ore mine – the largest compensation payout in native title history.The mine, which has extracted millions of tonnes of iron ore and generated an estimated $80bn in revenue for Fortescue since operations began in 2013, was approved by the Western Australian government without the consent of the Yindjibarndi traditional owners.The Yindjibarndi Ngurra Aboriginal Corporation (YNAC) launched the compensation claim in 2022 and sought $1.8bn, including $1bn for cultural damage, $678m for economic loss, $34.85m for the destruction of sites, and $112
British Steel: more questions than answers on the future | Nils Pratley
“One of the proudest things we have done in government,” said Keir Starmer in Monday’s big speech about the decision a year ago to recall parliament in order to take control of British Steel at Scunthorpe.It was an odd boast because last year’s action was merely an emergency exercise in saving the patient, as opposed to getting British Steel on its feet and out of the hospital. Taking control meant the Chinese owner, Jingye, could not turn off the two blast furnaces but meant the government was on the hook for operational losses, which will be £615m and counting by next month according to the National Audit Office (NAO).Full nationalisation is now on the cards, which will end the limbo-land state of ownership and give some comfort for 4,000 workers. But it is also the point at which the government will have to choose between its barely described “potential future options” for British Steel
E.ON agrees to buy Ovo in deal to create UK’s biggest energy supplier
The German energy group E.ON has agreed to buy struggling UK rival Ovo in a deal that would create Britain’s biggest gas and electricity supplier by number of households served.The combined company will supply about 9.6 million customers, overtaking the market leader, Octopus, which serves almost 8m homes in the UK.The value of the deal was not disclosed, but reports have estimated it at £600m
Thinktank calls for ‘double lock’ England private rent cap to ease living costs
One of the thinktanks closest to the Labour government is urging ministers to introduce private sector rent controls in England, as the chancellor weighs up how to ease a surge in living costs caused by the Iran war.The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) has published a paper calling for a rent “double lock”, which would link rent increases to either wages or inflation, depending on which was lower.While others on the left have previously called for rent controls, the IPPR’s extensive links inside government will increase pressure on ministers to include the idea in a cost of living package to be announced by Rachel Reeves later in May.The Guardian revealed last month that Reeves had been considering a one-year rent freeze to deal with a rise in inflation which economists say is now inevitable, but the idea was quickly dismissed by Downing Street.Maya Singer Hobbs, the author of the paper, said: “There are millions of people living with unaffordable housing costs, and if you want to bring those down quickly there are not many options
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