Star Support. Keir Starmer hosts campaigners and Hollywood actor Idris Elba at a knife crime summit in 10 Downing Street on Monday © Associated Press / Alamy Stock Photo
The Government’s plans to restrict winter fuel payments dominated time in Parliament this week, with the Conservatives choosing to focus on the policy for its opposition debate (after the actual motion had been passed) alongside debates in the House of Lords and Westminster Hall. Senior opposition figures, including Rishi Sunak, Mel Stride (more on him below), Chris Philp and Kevin Hollinrake criticised the Government’s decision to restrict the payments to those receiving pension credit, with Philp arguing that 84% of pensioners living in poverty will have it stripped. Similar to when Labour faced opposition around the two-child benefit cap, where seven Labour MPs had the whip suspended for voting against the Government, Labour saw resistance internally. The MP for Normanton and Hemsworth, Jon Trickett, was however the only Labour MP to vote against the Government’s policy, arguing that the consequences would be ‘devastating’ (though he has yet to also lose the whip). Despite 52 Labour MPs conveniently disappearing when the vote took place, the Government still won by 120 votes.
The NHS in England is in ‘critical condition’, according to a report from Lord Darzi, who conducted a nine-week review assessing patient access, quality of care and the NHS’s overall performance. His report, which he undertook shortly after the election, outlined how public health across the country has deteriorated, waiting lists have surged, and care for serious conditions has lagged behind other countries. Responding to the report, the Prime Minister promised that the Government will draw up a new 10-year plan for the NHS and that there would be “no more money without reform”. Health Secretary Wes Streeting also spoke in the House of Commons, where he outlined the Government’s plan to deliver a shift to the NHS, which would include utilising digital technologies, creating more community-based services, and focusing on preventative measures.
Parliament’s select committee chairs were announced in the Commons this week, as 26 MPs took up their new roles. With some familiar faces and some newbies in the mix, here’s a deep dive into some of the more experienced chairs running the Committees…
Liam Byrne, Sarah Champion and Caroline Dinenage collectively take most experienced, as the three won their re-election as chairs of the Business and Trade Committee, International Development Committee and Culture, Media and Sport Committee respectively. Byrne and Dinenage have also had ministerial roles in the respective fields, as Dinenage served as Minister for Digital and Culture under Boris Johnson and Byrne was Chief Secretary to the Treasury in 2009.
After losing her Attorney General role post-election, Emily Thornberry was a bookies favourite to take one of the chair positions, and she won the selection for the Foreign Affairs Committee. Having served as Shadow Foreign Secretary for 4 years under Corbyn throughout the Brexit years, she will certainly be one to watch.
Having also returned to the backbenches in July, Chi Onwurah won the election for chair of the Science, Innovation and Technology Committee. Onwurah has served in a host of science based shadow ministerial positions including Shadow Industrial Strategy, Science and Innovation Minister under Corbyn and Shadow Science, Research and Digital Minister under Starmer. Her qualifications for the role also stem beyond Parliament, as Onwurah has a degree in Electrical Engineering from Imperial College London.
Former barrister Andy Slaughter is aptly experienced to be new chair of the Justice Committee. Slaughter was called to the bar in 1993, and worked in law until becoming an MP in 2005.
Taking over the Treasury Committee is experienced chair Meg Hillier, who held the role of chair of the Public Accounts Committee from 2015-2024. Her 9 years’ experience of being a committee chair means she was elected into her new position unopposed.
And finally, at the other end of the spectrum as the least experienced, comes new chair of the Scottish Affairs Committee Patricia Ferguson, who was only elected to Parliament in July this year. A new MP was guaranteed to win this post as Ferguson went up against Gregor Poynton, the new MP for Livingston. Though, as with all devolved committee chairs, one could argue that Ferguson will bring a wealth of experience to the role, as a Scot.
1 – 2024 intake of MPs who were successful in getting elected as select committee chairs
50 – Days to go in the Conservative Party leadership contest…
24 – New peers to join the House of Lords so far since the General Election
52 – Labour MPs who didn’t vote on the Winter Fuel Allowance motion on Tuesday evening
1,700 – Prisoners released early on Tuesday due to overcrowding in prisons
0.5% – GDP growth in the three months to July 2024 according to the ONS’ latest figures this week
28% – Fall in the number of children starting reception in Lambeth, South London in the last ten years
Mel Stride was (unsurprisingly) the next casualty of the Tory leadership contest, receiving 16 votes while Tom Tugendhat increased his supporters by four to 21 votes to reach parity with James Cleverly. Frontrunners Kemi Badenoch and Robert Jenrick both increased their tally slightly, with Badenoch taking 28 votes overall and Jenrick leading with 33. The next round of voting at the party’s conference will see two more contenders knocked out.
Early prisoner releases begun across England and Wales as the Government sought to ease overcrowding in prisons. More than 1,700 prisoners were released under the scheme as Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood claimed the prison system was “on the point of collapse”. Although the Conservatives criticised the move, it was reported that prior to the election then-Justice Secretary Alex Chalk had told the Prime Minister the choices were to either release prisoners early or “get down on our knees and pray”.
It was a busy week for trans-Atlantic diplomacy, as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken landed in the UK to open an ‘ambitious UK-US Strategic Dialogue’ with Foreign Secretary David Lammy. The two chums then undertook a surprise lads’ holiday to Ukraine, the first US-UK joint visit, where top of the agenda was the debate around loosening restrictions on Ukraine’s use of Western-made long-range missiles inside Russia. This was followed by Keir Starmer’s visit to Washington D.C. today to meet with President Biden to discuss the issue, with it reported that an official announcement could be made at the meeting of the UN General Assembly later this month. Putin has warned that such a move would be akin to NATO directly attacking Russia.
The first (and probably last) debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump saw the vice president come out on top, baiting Trump into rants about the size of his audiences, “transgender operations on illegal aliens” (which created a meme storm online) and…immigrants eating cats and dogs (see here). It was anticipated the debate would be a key moment in the incredibly tight race, and polling found that 53% of respondents believed Harris won, compared to 24% for Trump, although election polling is still too tight to call in most vital swing states. Trump claimed the debate had been biased against him and has refused to take part in another.
A 9pm watershed on TV advertising of junk food is set to be introduced to combat the childhood obesity crisis, with one in five children overweight or obese by the time they start primary school. There will also be a total ban on paid-for online advertising of unhealthy food.
Local authorities will get the powers to run their own bus services after legislation was brought forward to expand franchising rights, as previously only mayoral combined authorities had these powers. The ‘Buses Bill’ will also reverse the ban on setting up new publicly owned bus companies and seek to provide greater flexibility over bus funding.
The Government formed a new ‘Coalition to Tackle Knife Crime’ alongside Idris Elba and technology companies, sport organisations and representatives from the NHS, education and the police. In 2022-23 there were 50,500 knife crime offences in the UK, and Labour proposed a 10-year plan to tackle the issue in its manifesto.
The implementation of the Procurement Act 2023 has been delayed until February 2025, with the Cabinet Office declaring it did not ‘meet the challenge of applying the full potential of public procurement to deliver value for money, economic growth, and social value’. A new procurement statement which ‘clearly sets out this Government’s priorities for public procurement’ will now be drawn up.
A ‘new and improved’ deal was agreed with Tata Steel which will see it receive a £500m bailout to help build a greener electric furnace at Port Talbot in Wales. It also includes a minimum voluntary redundancy payout of £15,000 for full-time employees. GMB Union said it was ‘not something to celebrate’ but was an improvement on the deal agreed by the previous Government.
Wales’ latest First Minister appointed her Cabinet, with Huw Irranca-Davies made Deputy First Minister, Jeremy Miles appointed Health Secretary and Mark Drakeford made Finance Secretary (a full list of appointments can be found here). Vaughan Gething, conspicuous for his absence, also announced he would stand down as a member of the Welsh Parliament at the next election.
The Northern Ireland Executive released its programme for government. It promised to ‘make progress’ on the redevelopment of Casement Park GAA stadium in west Belfast, consider the recommendations of the All-Island Rail Review, and expand Ulster University's Magee campus in Londonderry to accommodate up to 10,000 students.
The Lib Dems lack political influence according to YouGov polling carried out ahead of their Party Conference over the weekend. Only 18% of respondents felt the Lib Dems hold even a little influence, compared to nearly half saying they wield ‘not much’ influence and 22% saying none at all. The polling also revealed that the public are evenly divided on how positively they view the party, with 39% of people having a favourable view against 38% holding unfavourable views.
The police do not use their existing powers effectively to deal with disruptive protests, so concludes a new report by Policy Exchange, arguing that the existing legal regime is not fit for purpose. The report shows how ‘decisions made by the police, prosecutors, courts, Parliament and Government mean that undue weight is being placed on the rights and interests of disruptive (and, at times, criminal) activists at the expense of the rights, wellbeing and interests of ordinary members of the public.’
Legislation should provide for the use of AI in automated decision-making in tax administration, according to latest paper by the Institute for Fiscal Studies’ Tax Law Review Committee, which also sets out further recommendations including ensuring that the datasets used to train AI be kept under review, and for AI Tax Legal Safeguards to require process driven explanations.
Eton College, Oxford University… and Viva Mexico restaurant in Edinburgh, all of these places put you on track to be a senior politician in the UK, after it emerged that Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Pat McFadden and Scottish First Minister John Swinney had both washed dishes in the same Mexican restaurant at the same time nearly 40 years ago. Good to see the two politicians aren’t strangers to power sharing arrangements.
And finally... in an absolutely textbook case of "you couldn't make this up," Policing Minister Diana Johnson was busy telling a room full of police about an "epidemic of antisocial behaviour, theft, and shoplifting" when someone decided to give her speech a live demo — by stealing her bag. Speaking at the Police Superintendents’ Association Conference, surrounded by actual police, Johnson managed to become the latest victim of the very epidemic she was warning them about. If irony were a crime, she'd be the first suspect. The Team at Navigate were wondering what the press team in the Home Office might have made of the incident, so thought who better to ask than ChatGPT (feat. Malcolm Tucker)…
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