Keir Starmer to launch local elections campaign with focus on cost of living
Keir Starmer will say that a vote for Reform UK will put at risk progress Labour is making on the cost of living, arguing that Britain’s values are being tested in a volatile world.Launching the party’s local elections campaign with a new slogan: “Pride in Britain”, Starmer will urge voters to stay the course with Labour.A dire set of results are predicted for the party in Wales, Scotland and English councils, especially in the north-east of England and London.Starmer will put the focus on government action on the cost of living as he launches the campaign at a rally in the West Midlands alongside the Labour deputy leader, Lucy Powell, and other cabinet ministers.But party chiefs have conceded the polls are likely to result in sweeping losses for Labour.
These could include losing power in Wales after 27 years, with polls showing Labour lagging behind Plaid Cymru and Reform,The Scottish National party also looks set to deny Labour’s Anas Sarwar the chance for victory in Holyrood and many Labour councils could be lost to Greens and independents,Starmer will list action on energy bills, the two-child benefit cap, the living wage and pensions increases as ways the government is tackling the cost of living, but will also cite the war with Iran as a reason to stick with the government, rather than risk change,“We’re going to fight to earn every vote,Fight for our values.
And fight for the country we are building together, a Britain built for all,” he will say.“Because, in the context of everything that is happening in the world, those values – that fairness we stand for – it’s never been more important.“That is the thing about the volatile world we live in now.It tests, not just our security, our strength on the world stage.It is also tests our fairness at home.
Our unity.”Starmer will also attempt to draw attention to Kemi Badenoch and Nigel Farage’s early support for the US-Israeli strikes against Iran, which the government did not back, calling it “a question of judgment”.He will say: “Do not forget that the Tories and Reform would have rushed us into this.With no thought of the consequences, including for the cost of living.Utterly reckless.
”Labour said it held 7,000 local campaign events over the weekend, with 30 cabinet visits expected during the first week of the campaign,Labour had previously attempted in campaigning to draw an equivalence between Reform and the Greens, a move that some Labour MPs reacted against,Party strategists have suggested they will not continue to use that framing and will instead accuse the Greens’ Zack Polanski of poor judgment,Starmer will say on Monday: “While Reform have shown time and again they are not on the side of working people and the Greens offer the wrong answers for Britain, this Labour government is firmly focused on the pounds in people’s pockets,“Labour has taken the fair choices needed to support families across Britain by expanding government-funded childcare, rolling out free breakfast clubs for kids, and widening access to free school meals.
”Labour is braced for heavy losses to Reform in the party’s former heartlands in the north-east of England, West Yorkshire and Greater Manchester,There is also particular concern about Birmingham, where there has been a long-running dispute over bin collections,In London, where the party holds 21 of the 32 councils, there are several local authorities where significant Green gains are expected, especially Newham, Hackney and Lewisham,
Mounjaro maker wants NHS drug price rises in return for more investment in UK
The US pharmaceutical group behind the Mounjaro weight-loss drug has said it will unpause its UK investments if ministers agree to regularly increase NHS drug prices and end a rebate scheme.Patrik Jonsson, the president of Eli Lilly’s international business, said the company was in talks with UK ministers and that he was optimistic about reaching an agreement this summer for Britain to pay more for its medicines.He said in an interview with the Financial Times that the talks would also explore “innovative” pricing plans, such as linking payments for anti-obesity drugs to whether the treatment will help patients return to work.It comes as the US pharmaceutical industry ramps up pressure on the UK, with Keir Starmer agreeing last year to the first increase in NHS cost effectiveness thresholds in 27 years. This raised the price the NHS will pay on potentially life-extending drugs, from £20,000 to £30,000 a year for every year of life gained to £25,000 to £35,000
Pessimism takes root in UK as shoppers struggle to afford essentials
The Iran war has led to a surge in pessimism in the UK as half of households are already struggling to afford everyday essentials.The escalating conflict in the Middle East, which has driven the price of oil, gas, crop fertiliser and other raw materials sharply higher, threatens to cause another cost of living shock.The latest Which? consumer insight tracker found that price pressures were forcing half of households, an estimated 14 million, to make at least one adjustment – dip into savings, sell possessions or borrow money – to cover the cost of essentials on a daily basis.Confidence in the future of the UK economy plummeted by 13 points to a score of -56 in the month to 13 March, the lowest level recorded since the end of 2022, the tracker found.Which? said this score reflected “a deep-seated pessimism across the country”, with two-thirds (67%) of UK adults now expecting the national economy to worsen over the next 12 months, while just 12% think it will improve
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Want to buy my business? It’s been very profitable. I’ve run it for more than 25 years. But no, you don’t want to buy it. Like most small businesses in this country, there’s really nothing of value here.According to the Small Business Administration, there are approximately 33m small businesses in the US
One in five UK hospitality businesses fear collapse as costs surge
One in five hospitality businesses fear collapse in the next 12 months, according to an industry-wide survey that comes days before rises in tax and employment costs kick in.From Wednesday, many pub, restaurant and hotel companies face the prospect of a higher bill for business rates paid to their local authority, while an increase in minimum wage thresholds takes effect on the same day.The impending cost crunch has left the sector facing a crisis in confidence and warning of multiple business failures unless the burden is “dramatically reduced”.One in five of the survey respondents, who between them operate more than 20,000 venues, said their businesses were at risk of failing in the next 12 months.Almost half (44%) were pessimistic, while 17% were operating at a loss and 2% believed their businesses were already unviable, according to data shared with the Guardian by sector analysts CGA by NIQ
Oil on track for record monthly surge as Iran war disrupts markets
The Brent crude oil price is on track for its biggest monthly gain on record in March after the Iran war caused mayhem in the markets.Brent crude, the international benchmark, has climbed by 51% since the start of March, LSEG data shows, beating the previous monthly record of 46% in September 1990 after Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait, leading to the first Gulf war.Brent closed at $112.57 a barrel on Friday, up from $72.48 a barrel on 27 February, the day before the US-Israeli war on Iran began
War in Iran erodes the chancellor’s headroom and exposes our fragility | Heather Stewart
It is with no pleasure that I must report a depressing domestic byproduct of the war in the Middle East: headroom chat is back.Of course, shifts in investors’ appetite for gilts – UK government bonds – are trivial in the context of the bloodshed in Iran and beyond. But as a result of the economic chaos unleashed, gilt yields, which determine the interest rate on government borrowing, have resumed their grip on British politics. And one of Rachel Reeves’s proudest boasts, the £23bn in “headroom” she had built up against her fiscal rules, is in jeopardy.Less than a month ago, the chancellor was able to stand up in the House of Commons and report that her headroom had increased since November’s tax-raising budget
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