Joe Bedell-Brill

This week, Keir Starmer and Health Secretary Wes Streeting announced their plan to abolish NHS England, which Starmer has said will ‘cut bureaucracy’ and bring management of the NHS ‘back into democratic control’. Today on Sky News, Streeting told Trevor Phillips that the size of NHS England had doubled since 2010, when the NHS had

Pat McFadden: ‘There’s a whole lot of change coming’ to the civil service The government is set to announce big reforms at Whitehall which it hopes will save money and improve performance in a new ‘era of insecurity’. Among those changes are performance-related pay, a faster exit process for under-performing civil servants, and increased digitalisation

Trump launched a series of extraordinary attacks on President Zelensky this week, describing him as a dictator, and sidelined Ukraine in peace negotiations he began with Putin to end the war with Russia. In anticipation of a crucial meeting with Trump next week, Keir Starmer has insisted that Ukraine must be ‘at the heart of

Jonathan Reynolds: ‘There will be no durable peace [in Ukraine] without European partners’ Keir Starmer will meet European leaders at an emergency summit in Paris next week, after Trump appeared to be sidelining Europe in the Ukraine peace negotiations. On the BBC, Victoria Derbyshire asked Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds why Starmer had called this a

Health Minister Andrew Gwynne has been sacked after he was found to have sent offensive messages in a Whatsapp group with other Labour figures. Gwynne had joked about hoping a constituent would soon be dead, and made sexist and racist comments about Angela Rayner and Diane Abbott. On Sky News, housing minister Matthew Pennycook denounced

Ahead of Keir Starmer’s meeting with European leaders tomorrow, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper joined Sky News and reiterated Labour’s ‘red lines’: no return to the customs union, the single market or to free movement. Cooper told Trevor Phillips that Labour wanted to get rid of some of the bureaucracy around customs arrangements, and said that

Rachel Reeves heavily hints at third Heathrow runway As part of her upcoming speech on economic growth, Rachel Reeves is expected to announce approval for a third runway at Heathrow. Reeves refused to confirm this in her interviews this morning, telling Laura Kuenssberg, ‘You will see the plans [for Heathrow] when we set them out’.

A ceasefire between Israel and Hamas tentatively came into effect at 9.15 a.m. UK time, following a three-hour delay caused by Israel not receiving the names of three female hostages to be freed later today. News of the imminent ceasefire emerged as Laura Kuenssberg interviewed Chief Secretary to the Treasury Darren Jones on the BBC.

Peter Kyle: Tulip Siddiq will lose job if inquiry finds her guilty of breaking ministerial code The Conservatives have called for the prime minister to sack anti-corruption Treasury Minister Tulip Siddiq after she herself became part of a corruption investigation. Reports have emerged that Siddiq may have been living in properties linked to her aunt,

Wes Streeting: Elon Musk’s attacks are a ‘disgraceful smear’ Elon Musk has spent this week calling for the release of the far-right campaigner Tommy Robinson, and launching attacks at British politicians over a failure to prosecute gangs who groomed and raped young girls over a number of years in the north of England. Musk said

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper admits relations with China are ‘a complex arrangement’ An alleged ‘Chinese spy’ with links to Prince Andrew, who also met David Cameron and Theresa May, has been banned from entering the UK on national security grounds. On the BBC this morning, Laura Kuenssberg asked Home Secretary Yvette Cooper if the threat

Deputy PM ‘welcomes the news’ that the Assad regime has fallen Rebel forces in Syria have captured Damascus, and Bashar al-Assad has reportedly fled the capital, ending a regime that begin in 2000. On Sky News this morning, Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner told Trevor Phillips she ‘welcomes that news’, but stressed that a political

Louise Haigh resigned as transport secretary this week after it emerged she had committed a fraud offence in 2013, falsely telling police that her work mobile phone was stolen in a mugging. In 2022, Starmer had declared to the Commons: ‘lawbreakers cannot be lawmakers’. On Sky News, Trevor Phillips asked cabinet minister Pat McFadden if

The number of people not in work has increased significantly since the pandemic, and the government is preparing to cut costs through changes to the welfare system. On Sky News this morning, Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall was keen to stress that it was the government’s ‘responsibility to provide… new opportunities’ for young people

Louise Haigh: ‘If we hadn’t taken the action, the fare cap would have been lifted entirely’ With the current £2 bus fare cap due to expire at the end of this year, Transport Secretary Louise Haigh defended Labour’s decision to guarantee an increased £3 cap until December next year. Haigh said the government’s new £1

Rachel Reeves: ‘I was wrong’ to say no major tax rises would be needed In her first big interviews since last week’s Budget announced tax rises of £40 billion, Rachel Reeves claimed this morning that she had been unaware of the extent of the ‘huge black hole’ in public finances before the election. On Sky

Jonathan Reynolds: Transport Secretary’s comments on P&O Ferries ‘not the government’s position’ This week, Transport Secretary Louise Haigh described P&O Ferries as a ‘rogue operator’ and encouraged consumers to boycott the company, leading parent company DP World to threaten they would pull out of the government’s investment summit on Monday, and put a reported £1bn

Israel won’t rule out strikes against Iranian nuclear capabilities Iran launched missiles against Israel this week, and the world is waiting anxiously to see how Israel will respond. On the BBC this morning, Laura Kuenssberg asked Israeli Ambassador Tzipi Hotovely if Israel would rule out a strike against Iran’s nuclear capabilities, which President Biden opposes.

At the Conservative party conference in Birmingham this morning, the Tory leadership candidates set out their stalls. Speaking to Laura Kuenssberg, Badenoch said it was essential that there was a ‘shared culture and a shared identity’ in the UK, and that it was important to choose ‘who comes into the country’. Asked which cultures in

Angela Rayner: ‘I don’t believe I broke any rules… in fact I think I was overly transparent’ The Labour conference has got off to an awkward start, as senior figures continue to battle controversy around donations, Starmer’s approval rating plummets, and anger persists over the winter fuel allowance. Speaking to Laura Kuenssberg in Liverpool, Deputy