In an interview with the Times this week, Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove suggested that the country’s broken housing market could cause young people to lose faith in democracy. This morning, Laura Kuenssberg showed Gove a variety of statistics emphasising the worsening of the problem since the Conservatives came to power, and asked him who was responsible. Gove suggested there were ‘a variety of factors that have driven the challenges we face’. He claimed the government was taking action, and promised that Section 21, which allows tenants to be evicted without reason, would be scrapped by the next election.
Gove backs PM’s refusal to apologise over trans jibe
Rishi Sunak was criticised this week for mocking Starmer’s inability to define a woman at PMQs. The Labour leader had pointed out that Esther Ghey, mother of murdered trans teenager Brianna, was in the public gallery. There were many calls for the Prime Minister to apologise, including from Tory MP Penny Mordaunt, but Sunak refused to do so. Sky News’ Trevor Phillips asked Michael Gove if Sunak should think again about ‘the way he made his point’. Gove said no, Sunak was right to draw attention to Starmer’s U-turns, and described him as ‘a great Prime Minster’.
Labour’s scrapping of £28 billion green pledge is confirmed
After weeks of speculation, Labour has halved their financial commitment to their big green pledge. On Sky News, Trevor Phillips asked Pat McFadden why Labour changed their minds. McFadden claimed that Labour were simply responding to rising interest rates, but stressed that the party was not abandoning the core strategies of the plan. Phillips pointed out that Labour had previously stated they were not dropping the pledge, despite interest rates already being high. He asked whether Labour had actually just dropped what they knew was an ‘electoral albatross’. McFadden denied this, and said that the ‘radicalism of a policy’ should not be judged by how much money is spent on it.
Israel prepares for Rafah ground offensive
More than half the population of Gaza are taking refuge in the city of Rafah, and Foreign Secretary David Cameron has said he is ‘deeply concerned’ by Israeli plans for a military offensive in the area. There is no obvious place for an evacuation, and there could be huge numbers of civilian casualties. Asked about the situation by Kuenssberg, Michael Gove said there had to be an end to the ‘terrorist threat’ of Hamas, but also drew attention to the suffering of the Palestinian population. He called once more for a ‘sustainable ceasefire’.
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