Reeves defends welfare cuts plan after report that over half of cupboard are sad
Good morning. Keir Starmer is more likely to spend a lot of the day making ready for tomorrow’s on-line summit that he’s chairing for European leaders who is likely to be a part of the “coalition of the keen” ready to assist contribute to Ukraine’s defence within the occasion of a peace deal. However Russia’s response to the US/Ukraine ceasefire plan has not been promising, as Jakub Krupa reviews on his Europe reside weblog, the place he’s overlaying all right this moment’s developments on this story.
Domestically, it’s not a lot simpler for the PM both. This morning we realized that the economic system shrank in January. Julia Kollewe is overlaying all this intimately on the enterprise reside weblog.
And now we’re just a few days away from the publication of the federal government’s plans to chop illness and incapacity benfits by a reported £6bn, which in some respects is a good larger downside for Starmer as a result of it threatens to blow aside Labour celebration unity. In a exceptional story for Bloomberg final night time, Ailbhe Rea says that at cupboard this week greater than half of ministers there urged Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, to rethink these proposals. Rea says:
Through the cupboard assembly, ministers voiced their frustration that such tough welfare cuts are coming so quickly after the raid on the help finances, in line with the individuals. They mentioned how tough the cuts can be to promote to the Labour parliamentary celebration.
One particular person mentioned some ministers are on resignation watch, relying on the form of the ultimate package deal. A Labour lawmaker mentioned Anneliese Dodds – who give up as improvement minister after the help lower – gained’t be the final to depart authorities as politicians are requested to abdomen tough cuts. A 3rd particular person famous that Labour was planning a profit lower that even George Osborne, the architect of the newest section of Conservative austerity, didn’t make.
Osborne has been making this very level himself, trolling the chancellor on his Political Foreign money podast.
However Reeves herself appears in no temper to again down. In an interview on BBC Breakfast this morning, the place she was responding to the expansion figures, Reeves was requested concerning the plans for welfare cuts. She replied:
We’ll set out our plans for welfare reform, however it’s completely clear that the present system just isn’t working for anybody.
It’s not working for individuals who want assist, it’s not working to get individuals into work in order that extra individuals can fulfil their potential, and it’s not working for the taxpayer when the invoice for welfare goes up by billions of kilos within the subsequent few years.
So, we do have to get a grip. We have to spend extra on nationwide defence, however we have to reform our public companies, and we have to reform our damaged welfare system.
Right here is the agenda for the day.
9.30am: MPs debate non-public members’ payments, beginning with Scott Arthur’s uncommon cancers invoice.
Morning: Rachel Reeves, the chancellor is visiting a defence agency in Fife.
10.35am: Bridget Phillipson, the schooling secretary, speaks on the Affiliation of College and Faculty Leaders convention.
11.30am: Downing Avenue holds a foyer briefing.
If you wish to contact me, please put up a message under the road or message me on social media. I can’t learn all of the messages BTL, however when you put “Andrew” in a message aimed toward me, I’m extra more likely to see it as a result of I seek for posts containing that phrase.
If you wish to flag one thing up urgently, it’s best to make use of social media. You’ll be able to attain me on Bluesky at @andrewsparrowgdn. The Guardian has given up posting from its official accounts on X however particular person Guardian journalists are there, I nonetheless have my account, and when you message me there at @AndrewSparrow, I’ll see it and reply if crucial.
I discover it very useful when readers level out errors, even minor typos. No error is just too small to appropriate. And I discover your questions very fascinating too. I can’t promise to answer to all of them, however I’ll attempt to reply to as many as I can, both BTL or typically within the weblog.
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Prisons in England and Wales on monitor to expire of area early subsequent yr, MPs say
Prisons in England and Wales are forecast to expire of area once more in early 2026 as years of presidency efforts have didn’t create the additional capability wanted, MPs have warned.
A report from the Commons public accounts committee out right this moment says plans from 2021 to create 20,000 extra jail locations by the mid 2020s had been “utterly unrealistic” and 1000’s of excellent areas are anticipated to be delivered 5 years late for £4.2bn – 80% – greater than deliberate.
The report says:
Because of poor planning and delays, the grownup male jail property was working at 98.0% to 99.7% occupancy between October 2022 and August 2024 and stays alarmingly full.
Overcrowding is endemic, workers are overburdened, and entry to companies and purposeful exercise is poor. The present jail system has needed to concentrate on guaranteeing there are adequate locations to accommodate prisoners. Whereas the efforts of HMPPS [HM Prison and Probation Service] workers to avert catastrophe are admirable, this state of disaster undermines their efforts to rehabilitate prisoners and scale back reoffending.
It additionally represents poor worth for cash for the taxpayer, with MoJ and HMPPS unable to make adequate progress on sustaining current cells, and needing to hire police cells resulting from an absence of capability.
MoJ [Ministry of Justice] and HMPPS have relied on the early launch of prisoners to stop whole gridlock within the prison justice system. Regardless of releasing 1000’s of prisoners early, MoJ nonetheless forecasts it can run out of capability by early 2026.
It’s counting on the continued impartial Sentencing Evaluate to stop this. Nonetheless, any choices to divert extra individuals from jail will probably improve pressures on different components of the system, significantly the Probation Service, which already has points with workers shortages and excessive caseloads.
As PA Media says, the report reveals that one cause why extra jail locations aren’t being created as shortly as deliberate is that MoJ and HMPPS assumed they might acquire planning permission for brand new jails in 26 weeks.
The committee is asking for MoJ and HMPPS to guarantee parliament their plans are actually lifelike and the way they’ll handle dangers, significantly in relation to planning permission.
It additionally needs related our bodies to set out plans to evaluate the impression of jail capability pressures on self-harm and violence and entry to schooling, drug rehabilitation and work alternatives, PA says.
Commenting on the findings, Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, the Conservative MP who chairs the committee, mentioned:
Lives are being put at rising danger by the federal government’s historic failures to extend capability.
Regardless of the latest emergency launch of 1000’s of prisoners, the system nonetheless faces whole gridlock in a matter of months.
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Reeves defends welfare cuts plan after report that over half of cupboard are sad
Good morning. Keir Starmer is more likely to spend a lot of the day making ready for tomorrow’s on-line summit that he’s chairing for European leaders who is likely to be a part of the “coalition of the keen” ready to assist contribute to Ukraine’s defence within the occasion of a peace deal. However Russia’s response to the US/Ukraine ceasefire plan has not been promising, as Jakub Krupa reviews on his Europe reside weblog, the place he’s overlaying all right this moment’s developments on this story.
Domestically, it’s not a lot simpler for the PM both. This morning we realized that the economic system shrank in January. Julia Kollewe is overlaying all this intimately on the enterprise reside weblog.
And now we’re just a few days away from the publication of the federal government’s plans to chop illness and incapacity benfits by a reported £6bn, which in some respects is a good larger downside for Starmer as a result of it threatens to blow aside Labour celebration unity. In a exceptional story for Bloomberg final night time, Ailbhe Rea says that at cupboard this week greater than half of ministers there urged Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, to rethink these proposals. Rea says:
Through the cupboard assembly, ministers voiced their frustration that such tough welfare cuts are coming so quickly after the raid on the help finances, in line with the individuals. They mentioned how tough the cuts can be to promote to the Labour parliamentary celebration.
One particular person mentioned some ministers are on resignation watch, relying on the form of the ultimate package deal. A Labour lawmaker mentioned Anneliese Dodds – who give up as improvement minister after the help lower – gained’t be the final to depart authorities as politicians are requested to abdomen tough cuts. A 3rd particular person famous that Labour was planning a profit lower that even George Osborne, the architect of the newest section of Conservative austerity, didn’t make.
Osborne has been making this very level himself, trolling the chancellor on his Political Foreign money podast.
However Reeves herself appears in no temper to again down. In an interview on BBC Breakfast this morning, the place she was responding to the expansion figures, Reeves was requested concerning the plans for welfare cuts. She replied:
We’ll set out our plans for welfare reform, however it’s completely clear that the present system just isn’t working for anybody.
It’s not working for individuals who want assist, it’s not working to get individuals into work in order that extra individuals can fulfil their potential, and it’s not working for the taxpayer when the invoice for welfare goes up by billions of kilos within the subsequent few years.
So, we do have to get a grip. We have to spend extra on nationwide defence, however we have to reform our public companies, and we have to reform our damaged welfare system.
Right here is the agenda for the day.
9.30am: MPs debate non-public members’ payments, beginning with Scott Arthur’s uncommon cancers invoice.
Morning: Rachel Reeves, the chancellor is visiting a defence agency in Fife.
10.35am: Bridget Phillipson, the schooling secretary, speaks on the Affiliation of College and Faculty Leaders convention.
11.30am: Downing Avenue holds a foyer briefing.
If you wish to contact me, please put up a message under the road or message me on social media. I can’t learn all of the messages BTL, however when you put “Andrew” in a message aimed toward me, I’m extra more likely to see it as a result of I seek for posts containing that phrase.
If you wish to flag one thing up urgently, it’s best to make use of social media. You’ll be able to attain me on Bluesky at @andrewsparrowgdn. The Guardian has given up posting from its official accounts on X however particular person Guardian journalists are there, I nonetheless have my account, and when you message me there at @AndrewSparrow, I’ll see it and reply if crucial.
I discover it very useful when readers level out errors, even minor typos. No error is just too small to appropriate. And I discover your questions very fascinating too. I can’t promise to answer to all of them, however I’ll attempt to reply to as many as I can, both BTL or typically within the weblog.
Share
Up to date at 05.42 EDT
