In many respects that was a very good speech – inspiring, emotional, well crafted. Many politicians have delivered speeches about how the generational contract has been broken,. few of them have been able to round it off with a line as good as the (Kennedy-inspired) “so the question isn’t whether young people would fight for their country, but when their country is going to fight for them”. (See 3.13pm.) Wes Streeting’s payoff line was terrific too. (See 3.24pm.) On the final day of a party conference, this would have been ideal.
And that’s what gives the game away. This felt like a speech that had been repurposed. It is unlikely that Streeting was drafting it for the Labour conference,. it sounded like a speech orginally written to be delivered at the opening of a leadership campaign – like the one that Streeting notable did not launch when he resigned from the government last week.
I’m the first to agree that you should never let good copy go to waste,. what we ended up with was a speech purportedly linked to Streeting’s resignation from cabinet that in fact told us almost nothing about why Streeting decided to go.
He said that he thinks Labour has been losing the battle against Reform UK (see 2.36pm ), that he thinks it has been “treading water” (see 3.19pm ). that it is missing the chance to do “big things” and to deliver “real change” (see 3.24pm ).
Apart from those assertions, there was nothing in the speech that Keir Starmer would not fully support. Much of the speech was just a celebration of patriotism,. Starmer would have been happy to deliver these passages word for word.
In his resignation letter last week, Streeting gave a fuller account of his reasons for quitting cabinet. He criticised Starmer’s leadership failings,. suggested these played a big role in Labour doing so badly in the local elections. He accused Starmer of offering “drift”. declared that it would be dishonourable staying in cabinet having decided he no longer had confidence in the PM.
But the letter did not clarify whether Streeting believes the main problem with Starmer is a presentational one (his communication skills). or whether it is to do with his policy agenda. And if Streeting does believe it’s Starmer’s policies that are wrong, what else is he proposing?
If he does have answers to that, he certainly did not reveal them today.
Labour must be bolder. deliver real change, Wes Streeting has said in his first Commons speech since resigning as health secretary, saying that he quit the government because it was “currently losing” the fight against populist nationalism.
Chris Bryant, the trade minister, has told MPs that new sanctions imposed on Russia. its oil sales are tougher than what was in place before and that he is to blame for initial media reports wrongly suggesting some sanctions were being relaxed. (See 1.45pm.)
Keir Starmer has announced an extension to the temporary 5p cut in fuel duty. as widely expected, telling the Commons it was a necessary response to cost-of-living pressures.
Rachel Reeves is poised to fast-track clean energy projects in England. Wales with planning reforms to curb the use of judicial reviews against new infrastructure, the Treasury has said.
The Electoral Commission has called for new legal controls over misinformation from AI chatbots. after a thinktank found they had made serious mistakes during the recent Scottish election.
For a full list of all the stories covered on the blog today. do scroll through the list of key event headlines near the top of the blog.
With Andy Burnham as leader. Labour would be three points ahead of Reform UK in general election voting intention, not seven points behind as they are now, a poll for More in Common suggests.
Libby Brooks is the Guardian’s Scotland correspondent.
John Swinney has announced his new cabinet this afternoon. including the appointment of Jenny Gilruth as his deputy first minister, a former education secretary with a track record of taking tough decisions who will appeal to the more progressive wing of SNP members.
Gilruth will also take on the role of cabinet secretary for finance. local government, the closest position to that of chancellor at UK government level.
The streamlined cabinet, which faces serious. immediate spending challenges, is down from 12 to nine members, and suggests a focus on reining in public spending with the promotion of Ivan McKee to the position of cabinet secretary for public service reform, a new cabinet role.
McKee. considered one of the most economically literate of senior SNP figures, was a prominent supporter of Kate Forbes’s leadership bid in 2023, when she was narrowly defeated by Humza Yousaf. His appointment signals that a more business-friendly element continues to have a voice in cabinet.
Before the election. economists with the Fraser of Allander Institute, at the University of Strathclyde, warned that party manifestos failed to address the true scale of the “reckoning” now facing ministers because the last SNP administration consistently spent more money than it received from its core sources of funding. And the Scottish government itself has estimated it faces a £5bn gulf between its spending commitments. income by the end of this decade.
Swinney also appointed Stephen Flynn, the SNP’s most recent Westminster leader who is known to have leadership ambitions, as cabinet secretary for economy, tourism. transport.
Swinney, whose cabinet is majority women, said:
double quotation mark As a leaner, more agile government, our full focus will be on delivering on the things that matter most to the people of Scotland, including supporting people with the cost of living crisis, ensuring easier access to the NHS. delivering a fresh start with independence.
YouGov has released more polling on the views of Labour party members. Two findings are particularly interesting.
Three-quarters of Labour members want the UK to at the very least rejoin the single market or the customs union (33%) or fully rejoin the EU (40%). the poll suggests.
Only a quarter of Labour members want the government’s immigration policy to be more liberal, the poll suggests.
Ben Quinn is a Guardian political correspondent.
Reform UK is advertising for a “meticulous. highly organised vetting officer” after a period in which there has been no-let up in the controversies over the backgrounds of its candidates.
The advert is one of no less than 22 roles being advertised for by Reform. which was the biggest-funded party in Britain last year.
Last year the Guardian revealed that a Reform general election candidate who said Hitler was “brilliant” at inspiring people. described Bashar al-Assad as “gentle by nature” was in charge of its vetting process.
The advert for the vetting officer to join Reform’s campaigns. training team comes as Robert Kenyon, the party’s candidate in the Makerfield byelection, faced immediate scrutiny of his social media activity.
Deleted posts on his X account – which as suspended before he was unveiled as the candidate – show he appeared to cast doubt on the efficacy of a vaccine, interacted with a Dutch far-right influencer. praised Donald Trump.
A string of candidates in the recent elections in England, Wales. Scotland were also identified as having posted racist and other offensive comments on social media accounts, in some cases leading to their resignation.
The advert for a vetting officer informs would-be applicants:
double quotation mark In this vital role, you will carry out background checks, social media audits,. reputational risk assessments on prospective candidates standing for election under the Reform UK banner.
You’ll play a key role in safeguarding the party’s reputation. ensuring we uphold the highest standards across our candidate pool, directly supporting the delivery of successful election campaigns across the UK.
As Reform moves to build on its election results, it is also recruiting 13 ‘creative’ roles including social media managers. graphic designers in Wales, Scotland and at its head office in London. Other roles being recruited for include a new policy adviser who will be based at the party’s Westminster headquarters.
Jakub Krupa writes the Guardian’s Europe live blog.
At a briefing earlier, the European Commission was asked about the US. UK decisions to relax strict sanctions on Russian crude oil as fuel prices rise. The commission was pointedly asked if their decisions do not undermine the broader approach to put as much pressure on the Russian economy as possible. The chief spokerperson, Paula Pinho, said:
double quotation mark We will not comment on what other countries are doing on sanctions regarding Russia. We remain committed to our sanctions on imports of Russian oil. gas, and we need to reiterate the call for Russians not to be benefiting from the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. It’s too ironic.
In many respects that was a very good speech – inspiring, emotional, well crafted. Many politicians have delivered speeches about how the generational contract has been broken,. few of them have been able to round it off with a line as good as the (Kennedy-inspired) “so the question isn’t whether young people would fight for their country, but when their country is going to fight for them”. (See 3.13pm.) Wes Streeting’s payoff line was terrific too. (See 3.24pm.) On the final day of a party conference, this would have been ideal.
And that’s what gives the game away. This felt like a speech that had been repurposed. It is unlikely that Streeting was drafting it for the Labour conference,. it sounded like a speech orginally written to be delivered at the opening of a leadership campaign – like the one that Streeting notable did not launch when he resigned from the government last week.
I’m the first to agree that you should never let good copy go to waste,. what we ended up with was a speech purportedly linked to Streeting’s resignation from cabinet that in fact told us almost nothing about why Streeting decided to go.
He said that he thinks Labour has been losing the battle against Reform UK (see 2.36pm ), that he thinks it has been “treading water” (see 3.19pm ). that it is missing the chance to do “big things” and to deliver “real change” (see 3.24pm ).
Apart from those assertions, there was nothing in the speech that Keir Starmer would not fully support. Much of the speech was just a celebration of patriotism,. Starmer would have been happy to deliver these passages word for word.
In his resignation letter last week, Streeting gave a fuller account of his reasons for quitting cabinet. He criticised Starmer’s leadership failings,. suggested these played a big role in Labour doing so badly in the local elections. He accused Starmer of offering “drift”. declared that it would be dishonourable staying in cabinet having decided he no longer had confidence in the PM.
But the letter did not clarify whether Streeting believes the main problem with Starmer is a presentational one (his communication skills). or whether it is to do with his policy agenda. And if Streeting does believe it’s Starmer’s policies that are wrong, what else is he proposing?
If he does have answers to that, he certainly did not reveal them today.
Streeting ended his speech quoting Deborah James, the “bowelbabe” bowel cancer campaigner.
Referring to his own experience of cancer, Streeting said:
double quotation mark Another member of the cancer club, the late great bowelbabe Dame Deborah James, famously said, ‘Take risks, love deeply, have no regrets,. always, always have rebellious hope.’
It is with that in mind,. with the belief that we can and must do better, with deep love for my party and my country, with no regrets and with rebellious hope, that I have left the government.
The Labour party was elected to deliver real change. We still can.
Streeting said Labour had no time to waste.
double quotation mark Never waste a minute. That’s been my mantra in government,. it’s why I don’t believe our party has time to waste in government treading water.
Because the thing about emergencies is that they make the impossible possible.
Look back at the crises we’ve confronted. We couldn’t vaccinate against the deadly virus until we could. We couldn’t nationalise the banking system until we could. We couldn’t reorient our entire manufacturing base towards building aircraft until we could. We couldn’t build hundreds of thousands of homes fit for heroes until we could.
In times of greatest peril our country has been capable of doing big things. We still can.
Britain used to punch above its weight in the world. We still can.
Each generation needs to provide a better future for the next. We still can.
Streeting said spreading opportunity should be Labour’s mission.
double quotation mark This is the calling of the Labour party, brought into existence to champion the interests of the working man. woman, the many, not just the privileged few.
It gave this kid from a council estate in Stepney in east London the chance to realise my potential, to go to a great university. spend my career tackling the injustices that hold other kids from backgrounds like mine back. T
The greatest tragedy of Britain today is that the next generation. for the first time in our modern history, faces worse prospects than the last.
So the question isn’t whether young people would fight for their country,. when their country is going to fight for them.
Streeting said this was the generational challenge facing Labour.
Streeting says job security is a particular threat for the young.
double quotation mark For generations. people believe there was a ladder of advancement, an entry level job, skills acquired over time, promotion, security, progress.
Now, many young people fear that artificial intelligence may remove the lower rungs of that ladder altogether.
They ask what skills will still matter? Will there still be roots into stable, middle-class lives for kids from working-class families like mine?
Discussion
Sign in to join the thread, react, and share images.