Tag: United Kingdom

  • Mark Carney’s endorsement strengthened Rachel Reeves’ pitch as an ‘iron chancellor’

    In 2013, a 47-year-old Mark Carney was appointed the new governor of the Bank of England by a positively giddy George Osborne, then the chancellor of the Exchequer. 

    A polished technocrat with an international pedigree, Carney had been courted for a year by Osborne before his appointment was announced. And speaking to the House of Common in the aftermath, the then-chancellor described Carney as “the outstanding central banker of his generation”. Elsewhere Osborne gushed that the Canadian native “is quite simply the best, most experienced and most qualified person in the world to do the job”.

    As governor of the BoE, Carney imported North American-style “forward guidance” as a way of sending signals to markets over the timing of future rate hikes. Not everyone was impressed, however, and Pat McFadden — last month promoted from shadow chief secretary to the Treasury to shadow chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster — referred to the smooth-talking Carney as an “unreliable boyfriend” because of a lack of clarity about possible rate rise timings.

    Fast forward a decade and how things have changed. George Osborne now shares a podcast soapbox with his erstwhile shadow, Ed Balls, and Carney has just been beamed into Labour Party conference in Liverpool to endorse Balls’ successor-but-three as shadow chancellor. 

    Carney, once described as a “banking rock star”, incited audible gasps in the conference hall as he described Rachel Reeves as “a serious economist” who “understands the big picture”. 

    So, how did this happen?

    Logistically, Carney met Sir Keir Starmer at a conference in Montreal last month for the international centre-left called the Global Progress Action Summit, and is reported to have discussed the party’s economic policies. One wonders if the possibility of an endorsement was floated then (just as Rishi Sunak sought to curry favour with former US presidential candidate Mitt Romney with a view to a conference speech in a recent visit to the US). 

    But Carney and Reeves are also old colleagues. The shadow chancellor is a former Bank of England economist, a fact naturally referenced by Carney yesterday: “She had a career at the Bank of England, so she understands the big picture. And crucially, she also understands the economics of work, of place and of family”, he explained.

    This is also not Carney’s first intervention in day-to-day politics. Aside from his appearance in Montreal last month, in which he mocked Liz Truss for delivering “Argentina on the Channel”, and hit out at “extreme conservatives” with a “basic misunderstanding of what drives economies”, he is frequently touted as a possible future leader of the Canadian Liberal Party and, therefore, prime minister.

    Politically, however, Carney’s surprise endorsement of Reeves tells us far more about the position of the UK Labour party, than it does of the former BoE governor’s own political ambitions. 

    Indeed, the underlying message of Reeves’ speech was, by now, pretty familiar: she explained that Labour would be “disciplined” in government, “restore economic stability”, and “introduce tough new rules”. Carney’s approving postscript only strengthened her case. 

    Reeves — again, a former Bank of England economist — has for some time personified Labour’s ambition to seize the mantle of fiscal responsibility. Responding to the incentives provided by post-Trussonomics politics, Reeves’ profile has grown vastly over the past year. In total, she has jostled with four Treasury chiefs in three years, taking them to task over budgets both “mini” and large.

    Thus, in her speech yesterday, Reeves claimed that “Liz Truss might be out of Downing Street but she is still leading the Conservative party” — a reference to the former PM’s packed fringe event at Tory party conference last week. “You can’t trust the Conservatives with the economy”, was the unspoken subtext: “they still idolise the person who crashed it”.

    Reeves’ address was immediately interpreted as coming from an “iron chancellor”-in-wait. The former Bank of England economist never directly pitched for this new moniker — but her reference to “iron-clad fiscal rules”, and a further clarion call that “change will be achieved only on the basis of iron discipline”, proved sufficient cause for a roundly wooed media pack. 

    This rhetorical dressing worked to weave a neat narrative through a speech also packed with policy — each designed to highlight Conservative incompetence. She resolved to introduce legislation to ensure the Office for Budget Responsibility can independently publish its own impact assessment of any major fiscal event (aimed at Truss), an inquiry into HS2 costs (aimed at 13 years of Conservative government), limits on ministers using private jets (aimed at prime minister Sunak) and a Covid corruption commissioner (aimed at former chancellor Sunak).

    And, then, after a prolonged standing ovation, Reeves’ rhetoric and the policy substance were underpinned by Carney’s endorsement. Some reports have suggested that, if it hadn’t been for a technical hitch, the message would have come before the speech. But Carney’s spot worked better as a rallying peroration — as if everything Reeves had just related was now rubber-stamped by this serious economic authority.

    Although Carney (since 2018 a British citizen) did not go as far as to endorse the Labour Party in full, his message underlined Reeves’ — and therefore Labour’s — proximity to the “economic orthodoxy” he represents. 

    Consequently, Carney’s postscript also underlined that core message of Labour conference this year: that Keir Starmer’s Labour the party is now a serious operation and ready for government. In this way, Reeves, in pitching to be an “iron chancellor” and Carney — helping his former colleague on her way, have aided Starmer in this task significantly. 

    Josh Self is Editor of Politics.co.uk, follow him on Twitter here.

    Politics.co.uk is the UK’s leading digital-only political website, providing comprehensive coverage of UK politics. Subscribe to our daily newsletter here.



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  • Labour are ‘the healers, the modernisers, the builders’ – follow Keir Starmer’s conference speech live

    The Labour leader has argued that the Labour Party are “the healers, the modernisers, [and] the builders” in his now underway conference speech — it is expected to be the last before a general election. 

    Sir Keir has set his sights on at least two terms in power as he vows to lead Britain through a “decade of national renewal”.

    But before he could get underway, a protester interrupted the Labour leader, pouring glitter over the Labour leader. “If he thinks that bothers me, he doesn’t know me”, Starmer says.

    “That’s why we changed our party”.

    Shadow chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Pat McFadden insisted this morning that Sir Keir Starmer is “not presuming anything”, despite the fact that his speech today is expected to talk up the prospect of a “decade” in power.

    “He is not presuming anything. By using that phrase what he is doing is he is setting out realistically that after 13 years of the Conservatives it is going to take time to turn things around”.

    POLITICS LATEST:

    14.18 pm — Keir Starmer warns that “the way back” from 13 years of Conservative government will be “hard”.

    He adds: “What is ruined can be rebuilt. Wounds do heal.”

    He hits out at “chaos” in Westminster.

    14.12 pm — Starmer opens by joking about football: “I know what you’re thinking: please, please, please – no more Arsenal jokes.”

    Referencing the Conservative Party conference, he says: “I do want to offer my sympathies to Manchester. Not because of that [Manchester City loss], but because I really do feel for any city that had to host that circus last week.”

    14.00 pm — A protester interrupts Starmer’s speech, pouring glitter over the Labour leader before he can utter a word beyond “thank you conference”.

    “If he thinks that bothers me, he doesn’t know me”, Starmer says.

    “That’s why we changed our party”.

    13.45 pm Keir Starmer is set to take to the stage in the next fifteen minutes to give his leader’s speech to Labour Party conference.

    He will vow to lead Britain through a “decade of national renewal”.

    This morning, shadow chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Pat McFadden insisted the Labour leader was not getting “carried away” with his pitch to leave the country for a “decade”.

    Read this full story here.

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  • TLT sets 35% ethnic minority target for trainee and apprentice roles

    October 2030


    TLT is aiming to achieve 35% ethnic minority representation across its “early careers roles” within the next seven years as part of its efforts to break down barriers to entry into the legal profession.

    The Bristol headquartered outfit says the new October 2030 target applies to both trainee and solicitor apprenticeship roles. Currently one in five (20%) trainees and apprentices are minority ethnic.

    The Legal Cheek Firms Most List 2024 shows TLT recruits around 47 trainee solicitors each year as well as a number of solicitor and graduate solicitor apprentices.

    The firm hopes to achieve the 35% target through a range of grad recruitment initiatives and increased investment to grow its early career team. Progress against this target will be shared with the firm’s ethnic diversity network.

    The 2024 Legal Cheek Firms Most List

    John Wood, managing partner at TLT said:

    “We have a responsibility as an organisation to look at how we can open up the legal sector and give people from different backgrounds the opportunity to consider a career in law. We are committed to improving diversity at TLT by investing in our early careers, doubling our efforts to raise awareness amongst young people of the career opportunities in law and to continue to create an inclusive working environment. There is still a long way to go, however I am confident that we are one step ahead and are paving the way to diversifying the legal sector.”

    TLT isn’t the firm law firm to set targets in a bid to achieve greater ethnic diversity across its junior ranks, with the likes of Ashurst, Norton Rose Fulbright, Linklaters, Allen & Overy and Simmons & Simmons all making similar moves over the past few years.

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  • ‘Terrorism will not prevail’: Rishi Sunak offers Israel UK support amid ‘horrific violence’

    Rishi Sunak has offered UK support to Israel as he condemned the “horrific violence that Hamas unleashed over the weekend”.

    It comes as at least 800 people have reportedly been killed in Israel, according to local media — and almost 500 have been killed in Gaza, with thousands wounded, since Israel began carrying out airstrikes in response to Hamas’ surprise attack early Saturday morning.

    Palestinian militants claim to be holding over 130 captives.

    Speaking at the Future Resilience Forum, a security conference, the prime minister said: “Last night we flew the Israeli flag over Number 10 to show our solidarity with the people of Israel and our utter condemnation of the horrific violence that Hamas unleashed over the weekend.

    “On Saturday morning terrorists crossed into Israel intent on murder and kidnap. Whole families were killed. Women, children and the elderly were taken hostage.

    “Innocent teenagers at a festival of peace were gunned down in cold blood and the sickening evidence posted online.

    “It is inhuman and it will not stand. Terrorism will not prevail. Israel has the absolute right to defend itself and to deter further incursions.

    “We are working with the Israeli authorities to support them and we’re doing everything possible to support British citizens who were caught up in the attacks and the families of those who perished.

    “I also want to say a word to Jewish communities here at home: I am with you. And we are taking the necessary steps to ensure that you feel safe.”

    In the past few days, Rishi Sunak has spoken to Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as part of a conversation in which Sunak offered his “unequivocal” support.

    Following the two leaders’ phone call, a No10 spokesman said: “The prime minister spoke to Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu this afternoon, following deadly attacks by Hamas against Israel”

    “He reaffirmed that the UK will stand with Israel unequivocally against these acts of terror. The prime minister offered prime minister Netanyahu any support Israel needs.

    “The prime minister outlined the diplomatic work the UK is doing to ensure the world speaks with one voice in opposition to these appalling attacks. Prime Minister Netanyahu thanked the prime minister for the UK’s support.

    “The prime minister also stressed his commitment to ensuring the Jewish community in the UK feels safe and secure at this time. The leaders agreed to stay in close contact as the situation develops”.

    Visiting the Israeli Embassy in London yesterday, foreign secretary James Cleverly declared the UK’s support for the nation.

    Posting on X after the meeting, he said: “We will not stay silent as innocent Israelis are murdered by Hamas.

    “Terrorism will not prevail. Earlier today I visited the Israeli Embassy in London to express this government’s support for Israel.”

    Labour has also unequivocally condemned Hamas’s attacks, with Keir Starmer saying there can be “no justification” for the operation.

    “Labour stands firmly in support of Israel’s right to defend itself, rescue hostages and protect its citizens,” he said in a statement.

    “The indiscriminate attacks from Hamas are unjustifiable and have set back the cause of peace.”

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  • World Mental Health Day: Calls to lawyer wellbeing helpline up nearly a quarter 

    LawCare issues fresh guidance to firms


    Wellbeing charity LawCare has seen a 24% increase in the number of legal professionals reaching out for support so far this year as it releases new guidance for employers to mark World Mental Health Day.

    The charity said that legal professionals are finding themselves overwhelmed and stressed amid heavy workloads, unrealistic targets and a global financial crisis.

    The sharp uptick in contacts reflects the increasing pressures of day-to-day life in the law and the lack of protection of mental health in the legal workplace, according to the charity.

    LawCare CEO Elizabeth Rimmer said:

    “Employers need to accept there are risks to mental health in the accepted working practices in law and take steps to mitigate, modify or remove these risks. Employers should focus on how the workplace can protect the mental health of their people, not undermine it.”

    The 2024 Legal Cheek Firms Most List

    In response to the rising numbers, LawCare has launched new guidance for employers to help them take steps to protect their workers from “psychosocial risks”, rather than waiting until they occur.

    Rimmer continued: “The tendency in legal workplaces is to respond to colleagues with work related mental health concerns once a problem has arisen. The goal should be to prevent these developing in the first place. Workplaces need to move from a support based approach to mental health to a risk based approach.”

    Struggling with stress or anxiety? Contact LawCare via its helpline or live chat.

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  • Keir Starmer ‘not presuming anything’ despite promise to oversee a ‘decade of national renewal’

    A senior frontbencher has said Sir Keir Starmer is “not presuming anything”, despite the fact that his speech today is expected to talk up the prospect of a “decade” in power. 

    Sir Keir is expected to set his sights on at least two terms in power as he vows to “heal” Britain after 13 years of Conservative Party in his address to Labour Party conference at 2pm.

    But shadow chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Pat McFadden said this morning the Labour leader is not getting “carried away” with the prospect of the Labour Party winning the next general election. 

    McFadden, who also serves as the party’s national campaign coordinator, told BBC Breakfast: “He is not presuming anything. By using that phrase what he is doing is he is setting out realistically that after 13 years of the Conservatives it is going to take time to turn things around”.

    Asked if Sir Keir was getting “carried away”, he added: “By using the phrase [‘decade of national renewal’] he is assuming nothing. What he is doing is being honest with the people about the time it is going to take to face up to the challenges that the country faces right now.”

    According to a report in the Guardian, Sir Keir is set to promise new powers to towns and cities in England to invest, deliver homes, and create jobs. Sir Keir will promise to “win the war against the hoarders in Westminster” and “put communities in control”.

    According to The Times Sir Keir will promise “a big build” in a bid to release what are deemed low quality areas of greenbelt such as scrubland and car parks for development around cities. 

    He will specify that half of all homes must be built for affordable prices. Labour will also promise a string of new towns along the model of post-war developments.

    Sir Keir will also say: “We should never forget that politics should tread lightly on peoples’ lives, that our job is to shoulder the burden for working people – carry the load, not add to it.”

    The Labour is set to launch Labour’s “Community Policing Guarantee”, with a five-point plan to make Britain’s streets safer. This will involve getting “more police in your town, fighting anti-social behaviour” and “taking back our streets”.

    The Labour leader is expected to tell delegates his government would guarantee town centre patrols through 13,000 more neighbourhood police and PCSOs on the streets.

    Starmer’s speech comes after the former Bank of England (BoE) governor said on Monday that he endorsed Rachel Reeves and Starmer in a major coup for the opposition.

    In a surprise video shown at the party’s conference after the shadow chancellor’s speech, Mark Carney praised her as a “serious economist” who “understands the big picture”.

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  • Squire Patton Boggs becomes latest international firm to secure law license in Saudi Arabia

    Joins likes of HSF, Latham and Clifford Chance


    International law firm Squire Patton Boggs (SPB) has become the latest big legal player to be granted permission to practice law in Saudi Arabia.

    SPB confirmed this morning that it had successful secured its law license from the Saudi Ministry of Justice. It submitted its application after signing a cooperation agreement earlier this year with Saudi outfit The Law Office of Looaye M. Al-Akkas.

    The move has been made possible after Saudi Arabia amended the Saudi Code of Law Practice back in March of this year, which now enables firms to apply for foreign law licenses. A number of firms have already taken advantage of this change, including Clifford Chance, Herbert Smith Freehills, Latham & Watkins and Kirkland & Ellis.

    The 2024 Legal Cheek Firms Most List

    Middle East practice co-chairs Gassan Baloul and Tom Wilson commented: “The coming decade promises to be a time of immense growth and development in Saudi Arabia and this marks another exciting milestone in our Middle East expansion strategy.”

    News of SPB’s Saudi license comes just days after the firm announced it had opened an office in Beirut, Lebanon.

    The Legal Cheek Firms Most List 2024 shows SPB has over 40 offices in more than 20 countries across the world. It recruits around 30 trainees each year.

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  • ‘Change will be achieved only on the basis of iron discipline’ – Rachel Reeves’ speech to Labour Party conference in full

    Rachel Reeves today addressed the Labour Party conference in Liverpool, declaring that “change will be achieved only on the basis of iron discipline”.

    Read the shadow chancellor’s speech in full below: 

    It is a privilege to stand here, as your Shadow Chancellor. Today, I make this commitment to you, and to the country: out of the wreckage of Tory misrule, Labour will restore our economic stability. We will lift living standards. Make work pay. Rebuild our public services. Invest in homegrown industries in every corner of our country. And together, we will get Britain its future back.

    This is a momentous week. For too long, we have gathered in these halls with the power to talk, but not the power to do. Thirteen years of opposition to remind us of that eternal political truth: that it is only through power that we can put our principles into action. 

    Under Keir Starmer’s leadership, that opportunity is at last within our grasp. But only if we allow no complacency. Only if we fight for every single vote. Only if we work, every day to show we are the party with the discipline, with the determination and with the vision to rebuild Britain.

    Labour’s task is to restore hope to our politics. The hope that lets us face the future with confidence. With a new era of economic security. Because there is no hope without security. You cannot dream big if you cannot sleep in peace at night. 

    The peace that comes from knowing you have enough to put aside for a rainy day. And the knowledge that, when you need them, strong public services will be there for you and your family. The strength that allows a society to withstand global shocks. Because it is from those strong foundations of security, that hope can spring.

    Conference, the choice at the next election is this: five more years of the Tory chaos and uncertainty, which has left working people worse off or a changed Labour Party offering stability, investment and economic security, so working people are better off. It falls to us to show that Labour is ready to serve, ready to lead and ready to rebuild Britain.

    In chess, you learn to think several moves ahead. But even I couldn’t have predicted the mayhem we have seen, week after week, year after year, from this Conservative government. 

    First austerity. Then Brexit without a plan. And then their kamikaze budget. Growth – weak. Wages – flat. Taxes – up. The price of energy – up. The price of the family food shop – up.

    And mortgage bills, up hundreds of pounds every single month. Never forget – this time last year, in their clamour to cut taxes for those at the top, the Conservatives caused market chaos, crashed the economy, and left working people to pay the price. That is why you cannot trust the Tories with our economy ever again.

    What did we see from the Tories last week in Manchester? A government bereft of ambition for Britain. So ready for opposition, that they are behaving like they are already there. 

    Looking inwards, not out to the country. Queueing to cheer the extremists rather than kicking them out of their party. And telling us what we already know: Liz Truss might be out of Downing Street but she is still leading the Conservative Party.

    The one sensible thing they came up with was their phased smoking ban, which we support. 

    However, I do fear for the Conservative Party. With such a shortage of fag packets, what on earth are they going to write their next policy on?

    And what about the Prime Minister? Rishi Sunak had the chance to denounce the politics and policies of Liz Truss. To make clear that he would never repeat her mistakes. But he didn’t. If he’s too weak to stand up to them one year in – what chance do you give him five years in?

    Be in no doubt: the biggest risk to Britain’s economy is five more years of the Conservative Party. 

    In contrast, Labour’s defining economic mission is to restore growth to Britain. But it is no use simply claiming we want economic growth without new ideas for how we can achieve it.

    That starts with understanding the world as it is today. A world that has been reshaped by new technologies, by the pandemic by war, by great power rivalries and by the climate crisis. In short: globalisation, as we once knew it, is dead. Disruption to supply chains that span the globe has revealed the perils of prizing only the fastest and the cheapest. And our ability to make the things essential to our national security has been depleted. Great gaps have been allowed to open up between different parts of the country. And we have, time and time again, been buffeted by global forces.

    In this new age of insecurity, it is no longer enough – if it ever was – for government to turn a blind eye to where things are made and who is making them. To run an economy based only on the contribution of only a few people, a few industries and a few parts of the country.

    A changed world demands a new business model for Britain. It is an approach that I call ‘securonomics’. That means government putting economic security first. Security for family finances. 

    And security for our national economy. It means we must rebuild our ability to do, make and sell here in Britain so we are less exposed to global shocks.

    Governments around the world have come to understand, as our government cannot, that wealth does not trickle down from a few at the top, but rests on the contribution of the many. On the skill and dedication of those who work in our everyday economy: careworkers, postal workers, supermarket workers and on entrepreneurs, innovators and scientists. 

    Growth from the bottom up and the middle out. An economy rebuilt in the interests of working people.

    Because from security, comes hope. Labour will commit itself to rebuilding that security. To restoring that hope. Labour is ready to serve. Ready to lead. Ready to rebuild Britain.

    Conference, I do not underestimate the scale of the task ahead of us, nor the problems we would inherit in government. They demand hard work, determination and tough decisions. The exhaustion of Conservative ideas does not give us the freedom to push through programmes detached from our present economic reality. Or to take for granted the people we seek to represent.

    Change will be achieved only on the basis of iron discipline. Working people rightly expect nothing less. Because when you play fast and loose with public finances, you put at risk family finances. When the prices of food and energy and housing soar, it is working people who pay that price.

    Like the mum I met in Scarborough earlier this year. A mental health nurse, who had moved back home with her mum for five years with her young family, to save for a deposit to buy a home of her own. 

    Only to find, when she was about to fulfil that dream, after all that sacrifice, that the mortgage costs she would face had outstripped her income. And she had no way of meeting them.

    This is one of thousands upon thousands of similar stories. Stories I hear wherever I go. Of people who have worked hard, done all the right things; But whose dreams have been dashed by the choices of this Conservative government. People who we must not, and will not, let down.

    So, a Labour government will not waver from iron-clad fiscal rules; Nor play the Tory game of undermining our economic institutions. 

    The last Labour government granted operational independence to the Bank of England. I started my career as an economist at the Bank, and I saw the lasting contribution that made to Britain’s economic success first hand. So, we will protect the independence of the Bank, the Office for Budget Responsibility and our civil service.

    And, as Chancellor, I will put forward a new charter for budget responsibility, a new fiscal lock. Guaranteeing in law that any government making significant and permanent tax and spending changes will be subject to an independent forecast from the OBR. 

    Never again will we allow a repeat of the devastation Liz Truss and the Tory Party have inflicted on family finances. Never again will a Prime Minister or Chancellor be allowed to rush through plans that are uncosted, unscrutinised and wholly detached from economic reality.

    But let me address directly those who say that to make hard choices is to make the same choices as the Tory party. To them I say: economic responsibility does not detract from advances for working people. It is the foundation upon which progress is built.

    Hard choices, but Labour choices. The choice to back our high streets and small businesses by requiring online tech giants to pay their fair share. The choice to levy a proper windfall tax on the huge profits the energy giants are making, so that working people do not bear the brunt of a crisis they did not create. 

    The choice to abolish the non-dom tax status and put that money into our national health service. Because conference, if you make your home in Britain, then you should pay your taxes here too. And with Labour, you will.

    And another choice. In my first budget as Chancellor, I will end the tax loophole which exempts private schools from VAT and business rates and we will put that money into helping the 93% of children in our state schools. And if Rishi Sunak wants a fight over this. If the party that has herded children into portacabins while school roofs crumble, wants a fight about who has the most aspiration for our children then I say: Bring. It. On.

    We are ready to serve. Ready to lead. Read to rebuild Britain. I didn’t come into politics to raise taxes on working people. 

    Indeed, I want them to be lower. But the Tories have piled 25 tax rises on the shoulders of working people and businesses, while allowing the wealthiest to avoid taxes, keeping loopholes open, and letting government waste spiral.

    Taxpayers’ money should be spent with the same care with which we spend our own money. I remember my mum would sit at the kitchen table, with her bank statements and her receipts. We weren’t badly off, but we didn’t have money to spare. To my mum, every penny mattered. I learned that same lesson at the Bank of England: responsibility must always come first.

    But for too long, Tory governments have allowed money to be wasted and taxpayers defrauded. So Labour will wage a war against fraud, waste and inefficiency. Today, I can announce three further fronts in Labour’s war on waste.

    First, we will crack down on Tory ministers’ private jet habit. What is Rishi Sunak so scared of up there in his private jet? Meeting a voter? We will enforce the ministerial code on the use of private planes and save millions of pounds for taxpayers in the process.

    Second, we will slash government consultancy spending, which has almost quadrupled in just six years. Consultants can play an important role, but taxpayers must get value for money. 

    So, we will introduce tough new rules. If a government department wants to bring in consultants, they must demonstrate the value for money case. And if they cannot, then that request will be denied. We will aim to cut consultancy spending in half over the next Parliament.

    And third, we will go after those who profited from the carnival of waste during the pandemic. Today, the cost to the taxpayer of Covid fraud is estimated at £7.2bn. With every single one of those cheques signed by Rishi Sunak as Chancellor. And yet just 2% of all fraudulent Covid grants have been recovered.

    So, I can announce today that we will appoint a Covid corruption commissioner. Supported by a hit squad of investigators, equipped with the powers they need and the mandate to do whatever it takes. 

    To chase down those who have ripped off the taxpayer, take them to court, and claw back every penny of taxpayer’s money that they can. That money belongs in our NHS. It belongs in our schools. It belongs in our police. And conference, we want our money back.

    We are ready to serve. We are ready to lead. We are ready to rebuild Britain. Labour will tax fairly and spend wisely. But conference, I must tell you: you cannot tax and spend your way to growth. The lifeblood of a growing economy is business investment. It is investment that allows businesses to expand, create jobs and compete with international rivals, with new plants, factories and research labs coming to Britain – not Germany, France or America.

    But today, we lag well behind our peers for private sector investment as a share of GDP, with tens of billions of pounds less spent on new machinery and infrastructure. Is that because British people aren’t as hard-working? Or as creative? Or as enterprising? No. 

    British businesses – from life sciences to the creative industries, from digital to financial services – can and do lead the world. But they have been held back by the chaos and instability of this government.

    So Labour will aim to restore investment as a share of GDP to the level it was under the last Labour government, to bring us in line with our peers. Adding an additional £50bn to our GDP every single year. Worth £1,700 for every household in Britain.

    But we know too that asking business to do all the heavy lifting, while government steps back, is not an option. As our competitors understand, there is a role for government in encouraging and de-risking investment in new and growing industries.

    So, we will provide catalytic investment through a new National Wealth Fund. Financial responsibility means knowing when not to spend. But it also means making sure that when you invest, you get bang for your buck. So we will set that new National Wealth Fund a target: for every pound of investment we put in, we will leverage in three times as much private investment.

    And conference, be in no doubt. No matter what political games the Tories are willing to play over our energy transition. No matter how willing they are to ignore the warnings of businesses, investors and trade unions. No matter how many times they put short-term political calculation over the security and prosperity of the British people. Labour will make the long-term decision – and invest in British industry.

    Driving down bills and creating new jobs; jobs for plumbers, builders and electricians; jobs for scientists, designers and engineers; in green hydrogen and carbon capture and storage, in Grangemouth, Middlesbrough, Swansea and Hull; in steel in Sheffield, Scunthorpe and Port Talbot; in offshore wind in Fife, Plymouth and Newport; making electric car batteries in Coventry, Sunderland and Blyth. And jobs retrofitting homes in Keighley, Rochester, Warrington and in every village, every town and every city across our country.

    Ready to serve. Ready to lead. Ready to rebuild Britain. And conference: If we want to spur investment, restore economic security and revive growth, then we must get Britain building again. 

    The Tories would have you believe we can’t build anything in Britain anymore. In fact, the single biggest obstacle to building infrastructure, to investment and to growth in this country is the Conservative Party itself.

    Just look at the fate of HS2. A major transport project lost, another promise broken; Because the government could not keep costs under control. By the time the government even recognised they had a problem, the project was already £30bn over budget.

    The question must be: how was it ever allowed to get to that point? If I were in the Treasury, I would have been on the phone to the chief executive of HS2 non-stop; demanding answers – and solutions – on behalf of taxpayers, businesses and commuters.

    But with this government, it has become a pattern. When it comes to getting things built and projects delivered, Britain has become the sick man of Europe; with HS2 coming in at ten times the cost of the French equivalent. 

    And that is why our Shadow Transport Secretary Louise Haigh will commission an independent expert inquiry into HS2 to learn lessons for the future. Because many more major government capital projects running over time, over budget and in danger of going undelivered.

    It is incumbent on government to make sure major projects are delivered on time and on budget. I will not tolerate taxpayers’ money being treated with the disrespect we have seen over recent years. I will not turn a blind eye to dither, delay and incompetence. I will hold those responsible to account. And I will demand action when they are not delivering value for money.

    So I have tasked Darren Jones, the Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury, to work closely with industry experts and to examine, line by line, every ongoing major capital project; to make sure that, on day one of a Labour government, we are ready to get Britain building again.

    If the Tories won’t build, if the Tories can’t build, then we will. We will take on our antiquated planning system. 

    Since 2012, decision times for national infrastructure have increased by 65%, now taking four years. With Labour, that will change.

    So today I am announcing our plans to get Britain building. A once-in-a-generation set of reforms, to accelerate the building of critical infrastructure for energy, transport and housing. To fast-track battery factories, life sciences and 5G infrastructure – the things we need to succeed in the decades to come. 

    And to tackle the litigation which devours time and money before we even see shovels in the ground. And to make sure that when a local community hosts national infrastructure, they will feel the benefits, including through lower energy bills.

    Conference, it is time we had a government that matched the ambition that people have for their families and communities. A government siding with the builders not the blockers. A government that will get Britain building again. And with Labour, we will.

    Let me give you one example: Our energy grid. Today, new developments are being forced to wait up to 15 years – until the late 2030s – to connect to the grid. £200bn worth of projects stuck in limbo.

    So today, working closely with Ed Miliband, I can announce Labour’s plans to rewire Britain. Securing the supply chain we need for lower bills. 

    And to build faster and cheaper, opening up new grid construction to competitive tendering. And because the British people should own a stake in their energy system, the publicly owned Great British Energy will look to bid into that competition. 220,000 new jobs. Lower bills, for good. And energy security for Britain.

    And there is more. We will invest in expanding local authorities’ planning capacity, to speed up decisions. And here is how we will pay for it: rocketing interest rates have dealt a hammer blow to the dream of millions of people who want to own their own home, when already that dream was far too remote for far too many people. 

    It is not right that, while so many people are struggling, many homes are bought by overseas buyers, who may own a property but leave it vacant, driving up prices, while families and young people are desperate to get onto the housing ladder.

    So because, one year ago, Keir Starmer set out the ambition for the next Labour government to make 70% of British households homeowners; because a house should be a home not an asset; and because, conference, it is time we built the homes our young people need; we will raise the stamp duty surcharge on overseas buyers to get Britain building.

    Conference: Labour is the party of builders not blockers; Labour is the party of economic growth. And it is now beyond doubt: it is Labour that is the party of homeownership.

    Working people need the skills to succeed in the modern economy and the security to utilise them. From security, hope. The parents struggling to balance caring responsibilities and work; the key worker struggling to pay the rent; the would-be entrepreneur struggling to access the finance to turn brilliant ideas into commercial reality; a productive economy cannot be built on such fragile foundations.

    Because there is now a mountain of economic evidence that higher wages and greater job security have real benefits for business. And there is also a mountain of human evidence of too many children growing up in poverty, too many parents skipping meals, too many people waiting by the phone to find out whether they’ve got work that day or not.

    So, as Angela Rayner set out yesterday; the next Labour government will offer a New Deal for Working People. Zero-hour contracts, banned. Fire and rehire, gone. Sick pay, strengthened. And basic rights from day one.

    And conference: it was the last Labour government which finally delivered on the promise of Keir Hardie to implement a national minimum wage. The fight against poverty pay has been at the heart of our movement from the beginning. And so the next Labour government will go further: not a rebrand of the minimum wage, like the Tories. A minimum wage taking account of the real cost of living, and finally, we will have a genuine living wage.

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  • At Labour Party conference, Keir Starmer faces his final frontier

    On the surface, it would seem that Labour, of the two main parties competing for No 10, has the least work to do this conference season. 

    The party’s sustained polling advantage, averaging around 17 per cent over the Conservatives, would suggest Keir Starmer should be concerned, merely, with sealing the deal with the electorate this week. Cue a paint-by-numbers conference speech as Starmer variously presents as a government-in-waiting, shuns complacency and repeats rigorously focus-grouped talking points on “security” and “resilience”. 

    Of course, recent events would appear to strengthen the case for strategic continuity. Last week’s by-election result in Rutherglen and Hamilton West shows Starmer is advancing on all fronts, piecing together the voter coalition he needs to win the next election. A 42-seat “Tartan Wall” (the outcome if Friday’s SNP-to-Labour swing proved uniform in Scotland at the next election), would undoubtedly secure Starmer the keys to No 10 with a sizeable majority.

    As for the outcome of the Conservative Party fête last week, Sunak won no “conference bounce” for his party despite throwing caution to the wind and rubbishing “30 years” of political failure. One post-conference poll placed Labour ahead with 45 per cent indicating their intention to vote for the party — compared to the Conservatives on 25 per cent.

    But, such good news stories aside, there are other indicators that Starmer still has significant work to do as he returns to the driven atmosphere of Labour Party conference this week. In fact, in that aforementioned poll, Starmer was rated by only 34 per cent as “best prime minister”, compared to Sunak’s 25 per cent. 

    It comes after new polling data presented to Keir Starmer’s team (and picked up in Robert Shrimsley’s Financial Times column) showed that while 79 per cent of voters answered yes to the question “Does the country need a change from the Conservative party?”, the figure fell to 37 per cent when people were asked if the country needed a change to Labour.

    And just in case the Labour leader needed the message rammed home further, a word cloud presented to him by the BBC on Sunday found voters responded: “nothing”, “not sure” and “don’t know” when asked what words they associated with the Labour leader.

    The three phases of ‘Starmerism’

    On this point, Starmer recognise that the apparent incongruence between voters’ aversion towards the Conservatives and their lack of enthusiasm for him is a consequence of his party’s political strategy over the past three years. 

    This strategy — conducted before a backdrop of Conservative crisis and tailspin — has taken Labour from electoral oblivion back to being a serious entity in a remarkably short period of time; but it has come at the cost of Starmer’s own profile. 

    The approach is deliberately processual and has been conditioned so far by overbearing fears of Conservative attacks. It is prosecuted by Starmer’s closest confidant Morgan McSweeney, the subject of a must-read piece from Patrick Maguire in the Sunday Times. Maguire sums up McSweeney’s strategy thusly: 

    Stage one: reform Labour. Sack the Corbynites. Sack Labour’s leader in Scotland. Sack Corbyn. Exclude his followers from parliamentary selections. Rewrite the party’s rulebook to make sure the hard left are excluded from any future leadership contest. Sing the national anthem. Hug the flag. Stage two: expose the failures of the Conservative Party. Stage three: convince voters that Labour has a positive offer of its own. On that, despite the polls, the jury is still out.

    This strategy has meant Starmer’s script as Labour leader has been strict indeed: he has trusted that self-contained managerialism will contrast reassuringly with the Conservative party’s perceived chaos. In this way, Sir Keir — ever tetchy and cautious — still offers few commitments, projects but a small target and relies for his political victories on the prime minister of the day getting bogged down in some self-inflicted crisis. Meanwhile, over the past three years, he has ruthlessly exercised any and all power available to him as LOTO: the result is the party’s Corbynite faction is entirely dispossessed of political office and policy influence. 

    You might retort that Starmer has become more confident in outlining his vision for Britain in recent months. But “Five Missions” and five supplementary set-pieces later, and voters still populate Starmer’s word cloud with “don’t know”, “not sure” and “nothing”. 

    In fact, the missions, as I wrote at the time, were as much about exploiting perceived Conservative weakness than they were about pronouncing on some totemic new vision for Britain. In February, Starmer opted to carve out five deliberately long-term pledges, in part at least, to rubbish the Conservatives for their perceived myopic and flailing approach to governance pursued through five prime ministers each with variant ideological convictions.

    The missions, for what it’s worth, are probably consistently understated in their radicalism — but the feeling now is that Starmerism must transpose into phase three, outlined by Maguire in his Times piece, and “convince voters that Labour has a positive offer of its own”. 

    So is anyone in Labour privately or publicly lobbying for this bold strategic new departure? Well, yes, Keir Starmer — and very publicly. 

    When presented with the BBC’s word cloud on Sunday, the Labour leader’s response was surprisingly steely: “That is why this week is so important for us”, he explained, “we come here to this — the last conference before a general election — to set our positive case”.

    Now, if we assume Starmer is serious when he talks up a “positive case”, this should mean more than merely embracing dividing lines with Sunak’s Conservatives: indeed, the Labour leader has already signalled his desire to embrace wedge issues, and we saw another example of this over the weekend on the Rwanda deportations plan.

    Rather, the feeling now is that Starmer has to announce some policies — if for no other reason than that he believes in them. Only then will he be able to answer that most difficult of questions: “Why Labour?”.

    A ‘positive case’ for Labour and Keir Starmer

    As we weigh up how significant Labour Party conference 2023 will be to Starmer’s political offering, it is worth noting that previous Sir Keir-fronted fêtes have proved forums for rare forays into radicalism. 

    In 2021, for example, shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves announced Labour’s green energy spending plan. “I will be Britain’s first green chancellor”, Reeves declared as she unveiled proposals for a colossal investment in greener technology, committing the party to “an additional £28 billion of capital investment in our country’s green transition for each and every year of this decade”.

    Then, in 2022, Starmer debuted proposals for a new publicly-owned green investment company called “GB Energy” — a state-owned start-up funded through an £8 billion national wealth fund.

    Although the Green Prosperity Plan has been watered down since 2021 (the 28 billion figure will now be invested over the course of a parliament rather than annually), Starmer continues to embrace GB Energy. The plan, which has a natural affinity with green politics, also boasts a distinct patriotic edge: in this way, Starmer has announced the firm will be based in Scotland, selling the proposal as a means of strengthening the 1707 Anglo-Scottish Union.

    What, therefore, will Labour Party conference 2023 have in store?

    ‘Sunakian change’ versus ‘Starmerite change’

    At the Conservative Party’s annual conference last week, it was clear Rishi Sunak was trying to position himself as the “change candidate” at the next election as he denounced a “30-year” stale political consensus and undertook a significant U-turn on the full HS2 rail programme.

    In turn, the prime minister castigated Starmer — an MP since 2015 — as “the walking definition of the 30-year political status quo I am here to end”. And just before Sunak’s speech, leader of the House of Commons Penny Mordaunt said of the Labour leader: “He doesn’t believe in anything. He doesn’t stand for anything”. 

    Thus the Conservative Party takes to weaponising uncertainty around Starmer’s vision for their own ends. If Starmer doesn’t want to seize the mantle of “change candidate”, CCHQ calculates, Sunak will. 

    It means, as Labour conference rumbles on, Starmer is facing his “final frontier” and the last, most important, phase of his long preparation for government: the time for the Labour leader to outline a fuller political approach is now. As Starmer told the Observer in a pre-conference interview: “The battle has hardly begun in terms of this final part of the journey. We need to show the country that we are the change.”

    And if Rishi Sunak’s reinvention exposed the limits of his power, Starmer’s can show — after three years of dogged, ruthless leadership in opposition — the extent of his.

    Josh Self is Editor of Politics.co.uk, follow him on Twitter here.

    Politics.co.uk is the UK’s leading digital-only political website, providing comprehensive coverage of UK politics. Subscribe to our daily newsletter here.



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  • City lawyer granted anonymity despite strike off for child sex offences

    Human Rights Act justification to protect ex-wife and children


    The identity of a lawyer who committed child sex offences while working for a top City law firm has been kept under wraps in a bid to protect the human rights of his family.

    The former Herbert Smith Freehills‘ associate is referred only to as ‘AH’ in the public judgment detailing his misconduct and subsequent strike off. An accompanying note explains this is to “protect the rights under Article 8 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights of the Respondent’s [AH] ex-wife and children”.

    The matter was dealt with by way of agreed outcome, meaning both the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal and Solicitors Regulation Authority approved granting the lawyer anonymity prior to publication.

    AH pleaded guilty in October 2021 to three offences of making indecent photographs of children. He was found to have accessed, downloaded or stored 9,824 indecent images of children over a 10 year period between 2009 and 2019. Over 1,300 of these images were deemed the most serious Category A.

    The 2024 Legal Cheek Firms Most List

    AH, who worked in the firm’s London office, was further convicted of the offences of arranging the commission of a child sex offence and facilitating the commission of a child sex offence. The finding states that the now former lawyer “discussed meeting with” two named individuals “for the purpose of engaging in sexual activity with an 8 year old girl”.

    AH was sentenced to 19 months in prison in December 2022, but this was later changed to a suspended sentence following a successful appeal in March 2023. He was also made subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for 10 years and placed on the sex offenders register for 10 years.

    AH agreed with the regulator that he should be struck off the roll, but advanced a number of points in mitigation. This included attending Sex Addicts Anonymous meetings since 2019 and completing 92 sessions with a therapist at his own expense.

    He also said he had worked “very hard at maintaining an amicable relationship with his ex-wife and to maintain an enduring relationship with his two daughters”.

    HSF and the SRA declined to comment. The SDT has been approached for comment.

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