Sir Keir Starmer is set to meet Donald Trump in New York before delivering a speech to world leaders at the UN General Assembly.
As part of a raft of bilateral meetings, he will discuss ongoing conflicts between Israel, Lebanon and Palestine with world leaders and US presidential candidate Kamala Harris.
The prime minister will use tonight’s address to say that the UK is returning to “responsible global leadership” because it is in British interests to address problems around the world.
The 79th UN summit comes as the Middle East teeters on the brink of all-out conflict and the bloody war in Ukraine grinds on.
It follows an intervention at the UN Security Council where he tore into Russia over its actions in Ukraine, saying Vladimir Putin was treating his own citizens as “bits of meat to fling into the grinder” in the conflict.
Sir Keir has been embroiled in a donotations row after borrowing an £18m penthouse flat from Labour donor Lord Waheed Alli during the general election and to film a Covid video. But Downing Street claims he did not break the rules.
Key Points
- Keir Starmer to meet Donald Trump in New York
- Starmer to promise ‘global leadership’ in UN General Assembly speech
- Starmer to hold post-Brexit ‘reset’ talks with EU chiefs
- Pensioners start legal battle against government over winter fuel payment cuts
- PM Covid video urging work from home shot in Lord Alli’s penthouse
Treasury committed to axing non-dom status despite warnings it could cost money
12:55
Salma Ouaguira
The Labour government has recommitted to its crackdown on non-doms after reports emerged that it could cost the Treasury revenue.
Officials told The Guardian how wealthy foreigners could leave the country to avoid the tax raid, leaving a £1billion hole in the government’s planned spending for schools and hospitals.
Responding the claims, a HM Treasury spokesperson said: “These reports are purely speculation - the independent Office for Budget Responsibility will certify the costings of all measures announced at the Budget in the usual way.
“We are committed to addressing unfairness in the tax system, which is why we are removing the outdated non-dom tax regime so we can raise the revenue needed to rebuild our public services, and replacing it with a new internationally competitive residence-based regime focused on attracting the best talent and investment to the UK.”
Bold decisions needed to tackle Scotland’s housing emergency, says minister
12:35
Salma Ouaguira
Scotland needs both “bold decisions” and a “collective effort” to tackle its housing emergency, a government minister has said.
Housing minister Paul McLennan said while there was a “strong track record” on housebuilding in Scotland, public funds needed to be “used more efficiently”.
He spoke out as the Scottish government confirmed investment of £100 million will be used to support the construction of about 2,800 mid-market homes for rent across the country.
The money, announced in First Minister John Swinney’s programme for government earlier this year, will be topped up with cash from institutional investors – which should take the overall funding total to a minimum of £500 million.
The move comes as part of a commitment by the Scottish government to leverage in more private sector cash for housing, helping to make public resources go further.
It comes after the Thriving Investments scheme used an initial £47.5 million of Scottish government cash as part of a £222.5 million project to deliver 1,200 mid-market homes in Scotland.
Starmer announces new investment to create Europe’s largest AI data centre
12:26
Salma Ouaguira
New: we’ve secured investment to create one of the largest AI data centres in Europe, based in the Northeast of England, delivering jobs and wealth creation.
— Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) September 26, 2024
My number one mission is to grow our economy. With my government, Britain is back as a major player on the global stage.
Non-doms tax crackdown may raise no money, Treasury officials warn
12:20
Salma Ouaguira
Rachel Reeves’ plan to crackdown on non-doms could raise no extra funds, leaving a £1billion hole in spending for schools and hospitals, The Guardian reports.
Labour had planned to use the money raised from the tax raid to invest in public services. But it has now emerged Treasury officials believe the policy will fall flat without raising any money because of wealthy non-domiciles leaving the country.
The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) initially predicted that axing the tax break for rich foreigners could raise around £3.2billion per year.
However, the estimates were deemed to be “highly uncertain” as wealthy individuals could leave the UK to avoid the clampdown.
Pensioners start legal battle against government over winter fuel payment cuts
12:19
Salma Ouaguira
Two pensioners are seeking to take the Scottish and UK governments to court over the cut to the winter fuel payment.
Peter and Florence Fanning, of Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire, have raised proceedings with the help of the Govan Law Centre against the Scottish government and the UK Work and Pensions Secretary over the policy.
The judicial review – which has been raised at the Court of Session – now requires a judge’s approval to move to a hearing on the merits, with the Govan Law Centre seeking to expedite both the case and its application for legal aid to ensure a decision can be handed down before the winter.
The case asks the court to rule on whether the decision was unlawful, which would then allow the petitioners to ask the court to, in effect, set aside the policy and restore the winter fuel payment to all.
Speaking at a press conference in Edinburgh today, Mr Fanning, 73, said: “We intend to sue both the London and Scottish governments, since both are guilty through action and inaction, of damaging the welfare of pensioners.
“We are hoping to be successful, given the manifest injustice involved, however, my work as a trade unionist and shop steward has taught me that some battles are worth fighting regardless of the outcome – I believe this is one such battle.”
Pictured: Keir Starmer meets US investor ahead of UN speech
12:16
Salma Ouaguira
Tugendhat brands Afghan withdrawal ‘deeply insulting’
12:00
Salma Ouaguira
Tory leadership contender Tom Tugendhat has branded US President Joe Biden’s justification for withdrawing troops from Afghanistan “deeply insulting”.
In 2021 President Biden delivered a speech claiming tha Afghanistan’s political leaders “gave up and fled the country”.
In a video posted on X, Mr Tugendhat said: “I was furious about President Biden, who said that the reason the collapse had happened was because the Afghans had not fought for their freedom.”
Three years ago, I gave the most difficult speech of my life.
— Tom Tugendhat (@TomTugendhat) September 26, 2024
It was about a country I fought to defend alongside so many good men and women.
Last week, I sat down to rewatch it for the first time in years. pic.twitter.com/8mz16a0Rl0
Windrush report slams failure to address decades of racist policy
11:40
Salma Ouaguira
The UK government has published a previously suppressed report into the Windrush scandal’s origins that says laws were specifically designed to strip Black and Asian people of their rights to live in the UK.
The report, The Historical Roots Of The Windrush Scandal, concludes that the scandal was the culmination of three decades of racist immigration laws designed to reduce the UK’s non-white population and disenfranchise Black people.
Our race correspondent Nadine White has the full story:
Ex-Bank of England economist says winter fuel cuts ‘bad politics'
11:25
Salma Ouaguira
A former chief economist at the Bank of England has claimed Sir Keir Starmer’s decision to cut winter fuel allowance for pensioners was “bad politics and bad economics”.
Speaking to Nick Ferrari on LBC, Andy Haldane said: “It felt to me like it was bad politics and probably bad economics as well.
“The principle of means-testing benefits is not at all unreasonable – ultimately this is a failure of design”.
The move has caused strong backlash with unions rebelling against the prime minister by passing a non-binding motion to reverse the cuts at the Labour Party conference on Thursday.
Kemi Badenoch ‘huge fan’ of Elon Musk
11:10
Salma Ouaguira
We’ve just reported that Elon Musk has not been invited to an international investment summit organised by the Labour government.
The controversial billionaire attacked Sir Keir Starmer on his social media platform X over his handling of the far-right riots and posted inflammatory and conspiracy theories about the violence.
But Tory leadership contender Kemi Badenoch would be unimpressed as the former minister said she is a “huge fan” of the social media mogul.
She told The Spectator: “I think Elon Musk has been a fantastic thing for freedom of speech. I will hold my hand up and say, I’m a huge fan of Elon Musk.
“I look at Twitter before he took over and after: there is a lot more free speech. Yes, there are many, many more things that I see on X, as he calls it, that I don’t like.
“But I also know that views are not suppressed the way that they were, that there was a cultural establishment – that was very left – that controlled quite a lot of discourse on that platform.”
Elon Musk hits back at UK snub, says he doesn’t want to go anyway
11:07
Salma Ouaguira
I don’t think anyone should go to the UK when they’re releasing convicted pedophiles in order to imprison people for social media posts
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 26, 2024
Badenoch reveals reason she feels ‘sympathy’ for new Labour government
10:55
Salma Ouaguira
Pictured: UK, US and Australia defence chiefs attend AUKUS meeting
10:40
Salma Ouaguira
Elon Musk ‘not invited’ to International Investment Summit hosted by UK
10:25
Salma Ouaguira
Elon Musk has not been invited to the International Investment Summit the UK government is hosting in October because of his social media posts during last month’s riots.
After three children were killed in a stabbing attack in Southport and violence erupted across the UK, X owner Mr Musk posted on his platform promoting false claims, suggesting that a civil war in the UK was “inevitable” and attacking the Prime Minister.
Billionaire Mr Musk has not been invited to the October summit because of his social media posts during the disorder, the BBC has reported.
Sir Keir Starmer will host the International Investment Summit on October 14 – two weeks before the autumn Budget.
The government hopes the summit will attract hundreds of leading chief executives and financiers and is part of efforts to show that the UK is “open for business” after a period of political and economic turmoil.
BNY, Blackstone and CyrusOne have confirmed attendance, according to the Treasury but the official list of attendees has not been released.
Keir Starmer to meet Donald Trump today
10:10
Salma Ouaguira
Sir Keir Starmer plans to meet with Donald Trump as part of his New York trip to the UN General Assembly.
The prime minister previously said he wanted to meet both Kamala Harris and Mr Trump before November’s US presidential election.
During his trip, he said: “As far as the candidates are concerned, look, if possible, it would be very good to meet both of them at some stage before the election. We’ll just have to see what’s possible.
“But I’m going for the General Assembly. I don’t doubt that a lot of time is going to be spent on the Middle East and Ukraine.”
He added: “It will be really important for us to have the conversations with our allies about the situation in both of those areas”.
Tugendhat: Iraq invasion ‘naughtiest’ thing I ever done
10:04
Salma Ouaguira
Tom Tugendhat has come under fire after claiming that the naughtiest thing he had ever done was to invade Iraq in 2003.
When asked by the The Spectator, he said: “I invaded a country once, which was a few years ago, 2003. I was part of the invading army in Iraq.”
The Tory leadership contender served in Iraq and Afghanistan as a soldier and a civilian for the Foreign Office.
During the Tory leaddership race in 2022, he gave the same answer when asked by Sky News, adding: “I’m not terribly naughty actually. I haven’t done any cornfields or anything like that. I’m not a natural rebel.”
Reacting to the comments, director of British Foreign Policy Group has slammed the Tory MP for his “deeply uncomfortable” remarks.
Evie Aspinall posted: “Describing invading a country as ‘naughty’ is deeply distasteful and makes light of conflict at a time of major global instability.”
Cleverly: Covid lockdowns turned Boris Johnson into Oliver Cromwell
09:55
Salma Ouaguira
Tory leadership hopeful James Cleverly has described the pandemic restrictions implemented by Boris Johnson as the least conservative policy of the last 14 years.
During an interview with The Spectator he said the measures taken by the then prime minister were “far, far, far too much”.
The former home secretary, who was a backbencher at the time, said: “I suppose all of us have got to recognise that our response to Covid was inherently interventionist the social restrictions that we introduced, I think all of us now look back and say that was far, far, far too much. “It was the Conservative party and we cancelled Christmas. I mean Boris Johnson and Oliver Cromwell, the two national leaders who in our history cancelled Christmas and you wouldn’t have expected the Venn diagram of Oliver Cromwell and Boris Johnson to have had much of a crossover.”
Pictured: World leaders attend 79th UN General Assembly in New York
09:43
Salma Ouaguira
PM tells investors ‘Britain is open for business’
09:25
Salma Ouaguira
Britain is open for business.
— UK Prime Minister (@10DowningStreet) September 26, 2024
Whilst in New York, Prime Minister @Keir_Starmer has announced a £10 billion investment from @blackstone to create the biggest AI data centre in Europe.
Over 4,000 jobs will be created, driving growth in the Northeast of England.
Find out more:… pic.twitter.com/xAm3hn9hE1
Starmer to hold post-Brexit ‘reset’ talks with EU chiefs
09:10
Salma Ouaguira
Sir Keir Starmer will visit Brussels in an effort to “reset” the UK’s relationship with the European Union.
The visit comes as the prime minister plans to repair post-Brexit ties to boost trade and security co-operation.
He will meet European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen next week after the pair held a bilateral in New York on Wednesday.
After the meeting, Sir Keir said: “I want to reset our relationship with the EU and make Brexit work for the British people.”
Pictured: Keir Starmer meets Volodymyr Zelenskiy during UN General Assembly
09:00
Salma Ouaguira
Labour chair defends Starmer for using flat of donor during pandemic
08:44
Salma Ouaguira
Labour’s Tan Dhesi has appeared on the morning media round to defend Sir Keir Starmer after claims emerged he took £20,000 in donations from Lord Alli.
Sir Keir reportedly used a flat from the donor during his son’s GCSE’s and to record a video urging people to work from home during Covid.
Asked whether this was acceptable, the defence select committee chair told Sky News Sir Keir was “fearing for the safety of his family” and worried about his son failing his exams.
But when put to him that the prime minister also stayed during the pandemic, he said: “For me the key thing around the accommodation it is a fact that outside the prime minister’s home there were people camped out.”
Mr Dhesi added: “We do need to bear in mind that the hoome of leader of the opposition at the time was constantly being deluged by protesters, journalists, investigators.
“As the prime minister said, nothing illegal happened and all the rules were followed. I will take him by his word. He is a man of integrity.”
POLITICS EXPLAINED | Can Starmer ignore his Labour conference defeat on fuel payments?
08:30
Salma Ouaguira
Rank-and-file members at conference – Labour’s supreme policy-making body – have voted against the government’s decision to means-test pensioners’ winter fuel payments. John Rentoul explains why the cuts will go ahead regardless:
Starmer and Palestinian president urge immediate ceasefire in Middle East
08:15
Salma Ouaguira
Sir Keir Starmer has been busy meeting world leaders at the annual United Nations General Assembly ahead of his keynote speech today.
He held bilateral talks last night with Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas as Israel’s war on Gaza continues.
Both leaders have condemned the attacks of 7 October and agreed on the need of an immediate ceasefire across the Middle East.
In a read out, No 10 said: “He also highlighted the civilian death toll in Gaza since then, with 41,000 killed and 100,000 injured, plus 70 per cent of infrastructure devastated.
“The prime minister agreed that the loss of civilian life had been intolerable.”
Downing Street added: “The president and prime minister also condemned the increase in settler violence and settlement activity there has been on the West Bank.”
£10bn data centre investment shows UK ‘open for business’, says Starmer
08:05
Salma Ouaguira
A £10 billion US investment in a new artificial intelligence data centre will create 4,000 jobs in the UK, the Government has announced.
The deal with private equity giant Blackstone will create Europe’s biggest AI data centre in Blyth, Northumberland.
Sir Keir Starmer, who is in New York attempting to woo US bosses, said the investment showed the UK is “open for business”.
You can read the full story below:
Healey to host Australian and US counterparts to discuss submarines deal
07:52
Salma Ouaguira
Defence secretary John Healey will meet his Australian and US counterparts in London to discuss a deal to build a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines.
He will host Asutralian deputy prime minister Richard Marles and US defence secretary Lloyd James Austin III at an AUKUS security partnership meeting today.
The leaders will discuss a treaty to create a new SSN-AUKUS submarine project worth billions of pounds.
Ahead of the meeting, Mr Healey said: “As AUKUS partners, we stand shoulder-to-shoulder in an increasingly unstable world.
“This is a partnership that will boost jobs, growth and prosperity across our three nations, as well as strengthening our collective security.
“I’m delighted that we will soon be commencing negotiations on a bilateral AUKUS treaty with Australia, which will help create a more secure and stable Indo-Pacific for decades to come.”
Starmer Covid video urging work from home shot in Lord Alli’s £18m penthouse
07:39
Salma Ouaguira
Sir Keir Starmer has been accused of using Labour donor Lord Alli’s £18million penthouse to shot a video urging Britain to work from home during Covid.
The clip from December 2021, showed the then leader of the opposition attacking Boris Johnson’s government for its pandemic response.
According to political news website Guido Fawkes, the penthouse belongs to former fashion boss Lord Alli. But Number 10 has insisted no rules were broken during Sir Keir’s stay.
The flat located in Covent Garden, central London, was also used by Sir Keir’s family during the general election.
ICYMI: Keir Starmer accepted £20,000 of accommodation to help his son study for GCSEs
07:27
Salma Ouaguira
Sir Keir Starmer accepted £20,000 worth of accommodation to help his 16-year-old son study for his GCSEs, it has emerged.
The prime minister was asked by the BBC about a £20,437 donation from Labour peer Waheed Alli between May and July, confirming that the sum was for somewhere his son could study “peacefully”.
He told the broadcaster: “At the beginning of the election, which we didn’t know when it was going to be called, my boy was in the middle of his GCSEs.
“I made him a promise that he’ll be able to get to his school, do his exams without being disturbed.”
Sir Keir said there were “lots of journalists outside our house where we lived”.
You can read the full story below:
Pictured: Keir Starmer holds bilateral meeting with Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas
07:24
Salma Ouaguira
Starmer to promise ‘global leadership’ in UN General Assembly speech
07:07
Salma Ouaguira
Sir Keir Starmer will address world leaders at the UN General Assembly and woo US business chiefs as his visit to New York continues.
The gathering of world leaders at the UN comes as the Middle East teeters on the brink of all-out war and conflict rages in Ukraine.
The prime minister will use his speech to say the UK is returning to “responsible global leadership” because it is in British interests to address problems around the world.
“War, poverty and climate change all rebound on us at home. They make us less secure, they harm our economy, and they create migration flows on an unprecedented scale,” he will say.
His speech today follows an intervention at the UN Security Council on Wednesday where he tore into Russia over its actions in Ukraine, saying Vladimir Putin was treating his own citizens as “bits of meat to fling into the grinder” in the conflict.
He said Russia, which like the UK is one of the five permanent members of the Security Council, was behind the “greatest violation of the (UN) charter in a generation”.
“I wonder how Russia can show its face in this building,” he added.
Who will be the next leader of the Conservatives?
07:00
Salma Ouaguira
Why do people leave the workforce?
06:30
Salma Ouaguira
Regulator warns employers they must protect workers from sexual harassment
06:00
Salma Ouaguira
Employers are being warned they could face enforcement action from the equalities regulator if they fail to take reasonable steps to prevent workplace sexual harassment as a new law comes into force next month.
The legislation for England, Scotland and Wales introduces a preventative duty on employers to stop workplace harassment, instead of relying on employees to report incidents.
The Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act, due to come in from October 26, is aimed at improving workplace cultures and preventing sexual harassment.
Previously there was no pro-active legal obligation on employers to take steps to prevent sexual harassment at work.
The new obligation comes in the wake of what the Fawcett Society has previously described as a “slew of recent high-profile cases (which) shows it is rife in our workplaces”.
Protections in the legislation were watered down as it made its way through Parliament, with Conservative peers in the Lords having raised concerns about free speech and employers becoming at risk of costly lawsuits.
Hillsborough law to be introduced by April
05:30
Salma Ouaguira
Sir Keir Starmer announced during his speech in Liverpool that he will introduce a Hillsborough Law by April, the anniversary of the disaster, putting a legal duty of candour on all public bodies.
The legislation will include the potential for criminal sanctions for any official or authority that misleads or obstructs investigations.
Campaigners, including the families of the 97 Liverpool fans who were crushed to death at Hillsborough stadium in 1989, have been calling for such legislation for more than three decades.
Speaking on the main stage at Labour’s conference, Sir Keir said it was a law that “people shouldn’t have had to fight so hard to get”.
Here’s everything that was announced in Sir Keir’s Labour conference speech:
Starmer: Long-term benefit claimants need to look for work if they can
05:00
Salma Ouaguira
Sir Keir Starmer has said the “basic proposition” that long-term benefit claimants should look for work is right, after announcing new laws to crack down on welfare fraudsters.
He said people dealing with long-term sickness “need to be back in the workplace where they can”, promising support to help people back into employment.
As well as encouraging people back to work, the prime minister also announced new legislation to deal with welfare fraudsters more quickly, in a proposal Labour estimated would save the taxpayer £1.6 billion over the next five years.
In his speech at the Labour Party conference in Liverpool on Tuesday, the prime minister promised to “leave no stone unturned” in his mission to “rebuild our public services”.
Our political correspondent Millie Cooke has the full story below:
PM plans to make country ‘less reliant’ on migration
04:30
Salma Ouaguira
Starmer is now being asked by Nick Robinson whether the “trade off” of Starmer’s migration policy will make businesses not able to fill roles if they can’t employ foreign workers.
The prime minister insisted he’s “not going to chop your legs off by saying you can’t have the workers you need now”.
He said: “But I’m not going to tolerate this year after year after year.”
Instead, he plans a “skills strategy” that makes the UK “less reliant” on migration.
“And I’m actually convinced that if businesses work with local leaders according to a growth plan that we can achieve that,” he added.
COMMENT | Starmer is right to grasp the nettle of benefits reform
04:00
Salma Ouaguira
Though Labour’s fingers were burned badly by the winter fuel row, the government must once again grapple with another controversial policy to pave the way for growth, writes Andrew Grice:
Latest GDP growth shows Scotland’s economy ‘recovering steadily’, says Forbes
03:30
Salma Ouaguira
Scotland’s economy is “recovering steadily”, Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes said as figures showed GDP rose 0.3% in July.
The latest monthly data shows the economy grew in July after experiencing no growth in June.
The Scottish government figures show that overall in the three months to July, GDP was estimated to be up 0.3% on the previous three months.
However this was down from the 0.6% growth recorded over the period April to June.
Ms Forbes, who is also the economy secretary, said: “These figures show that Scotland’s economy is recovering steadily, having grown over the last two quarters.”
She said it was “particularly encouraging” that manufacturing and information and communications services had increased their output in July, as she vowed the Government is “stepping up action to drive economic growth”.
She added: “Our Programme for government and Green Industrial Strategy set out measures to support start-ups, reduce barriers to investment and work in partnership with businesses.”
Starmer convinced pensioners will be ‘better off’ amid unions vote
03:00
Salma Ouaguira
Sir Keir Starmer has told pensioners they will be better off under Labour despite axing the winter fuel payment for millions of elderly people.
Asked for his message to pensioners who have lost their winter fuel allowance, the prime minister told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “So what I’m saying is this, that economic stability is the number one, most important first step.
“That that will only happen we deal with £22 billion pound black hole that we will. This was not on the books. I could pretend it’s not there, I could walk past it. In my view, that would risk losing control of the economy.
“By tackling it, we can commit to, among other things, the triple lock. Every pensioner will be better off under a Labour government.”
Sir Keir will today face a motion from angry unions to reverse the controversial winter fuel allowance cuts.
Full story: Unions win non-binding vote to reverse winter fuel cut
02:30
Salma Ouaguira
Delegates at the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool have voted to reverse the government’s controversial cut to winter fuel payments, in a blow to Sir Keir Starmer.
While motions at the party conference are non-binding, and the government is not required to respond to them, the vote highlights major division within the party over the controversial policy.
In July, Rachel Reeves announced that older people not in receipt of pension credits or other means-tested benefits will no longer receive winter fuel payments from this year onwards.
The decision came as part of a series of spending cuts to address a black hole in the public finances left by the previous Conservative government announced in July by the chancellor.
You can read the full story below:
Keir made a slip of the tongue… but it was still a banger of a speech
02:00
Salma Ouaguira
The PM was so statesmanlike that he even managed to make sausages sound like an extra policy commitment. This was Starmer’s day, writes Joe Murphy:
Labour considering ban on smoking outside pubs
01:30
Salma Ouaguira
Health secretary Wes Streeting has confirmed Labour is considering a ban on smoking outside pubs.
He told Sky News: “We definitely want to see smoking phased out in our country, we committed to that in our manifesto.
“We want to make sure this generation of children are the healthiest generation that ever lived and therefore they will never be able to legally buy cigarettes.
“We are looking at a range of other measures to also help people who are currently smoking to quit, and also to deal with the scourge of second-hand smoke and passive smoking, which is also harmful. We’ll be setting out our proposals on that shortly.”
Asked if he will ban smoking outside pubs, he said: “Look, that’s one of the measures that I’m considering, and I’m up for a national debate on this issue.
“We have got to do two things – reform the health service, but also reform public health, because we might be living longer, but we’re becoming sicker sooner and there is a heavy price being paid for that in our economy, our public finances and in our own health.”
Streeting calls for national debate about smoking outside pubs
01:00
Salma Ouaguira
The health secretary has called for a “national debate” about the prospect of banning smoking outside pubs.
A restriction is being considered by the government as part of a range of measures which will be set out shortly, Wes Streeting said.
Ministers are examining what can be done to help smokers quit and to “deal with the scourge of second hand smoke and passive smoke,” he said.
“We definitely want to see smoking phased out in our country, we committed to that in our manifesto,” Mr Streeting told Sky News.
“We want to make sure this generation of children are the healthiest generation that ever lived and therefore they will never be able to legally buy cigarettes.
“We are looking at a range of other measures to also help people who are currently smoking to quit and also to deal with the scourge of second-hand smoke and passive smoking, which is also harmful. We’ll be setting out our proposals on that shortly.”
What was announced in Starmer’s Labour conference speech?
Thursday 26 September 2024 00:30
Salma Ouaguira
Sir Keir Starmer’s address to the 2024 Labour Party Conference saw him promise to rebuild Britain “brick by brick” after fourteen years of Tory government, telling conference delegates his government will create a “Britain that belongs to you”.
But what exactly was announced? We look at the key developments from the prime minister’s speech below.
