A set of new dossiers published by the National Audit Office have revealed the real state of government after 14 years of Tory rule.
According to a NAO report, the NHS is at an “unprecedented” breaking point with health workers “working at the limits” of the system.
It has also revealed Rishi Sunak’s decision to scrap the second phase of HS2 will cost up to £100m and it could take three years to shut down sites where work has begun, an official report has revealed.
Sir Keir Starmer will close down the controversial Bibby Stockholm migrant barge after the Home Office announced the contract will not be renewed.
The three-storey vessel, housing hundreds of refugees, will be shut in an effort to “clear the backlog and fix the asylum system”.
The prime minister is facing a major Labour rebellion after several MPs pressured him to scrap the two-child benefit cap and suspend arms sales to Israel.
Today’s King’s Speech debate will end up with a vote on the matter as the Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle selected the SNP’s amendment to scrap the cap, with veteran John McDonnell confirming he will vote against the policy.
Key Points
- NHS at ‘unprecedented’ breaking point, NAO dossiers reveal
- Labour to shut down Bibby Stockholm asylum barge
- Sunak’s decision to scrap HS2 will cost £100m and take up to three years
- Councils spending half their budgets on homelessness as problem hits record high
- Sir Keir faces pressure vote on two-child benefit cap today
- Suella Braverman told to ‘hang her head in shame’ over Rwanda
Disadvantaged children further behind in school than a decade ago despite £9bn spent, watchdog finds
16:45
Holly Evans
The attainment gap between disadvantaged children and their peers is wider than it was a decade ago, despite around £9 billion being spent on the problem over the last year, a damning report has found.
The Department for Education (DfE) does not have a strategy to tackle the problem or “monitoring to understand how much it spends”, according to the public spending watchdog the National Audit Office. ]
The attainment gap measures the educational outcomes of those eligible for free school meals and compares them with pupils who have never received free school meals.
Read the full article here:
The two rebellions Labour could face in Parliament today
16:40
Salma Ouaguira
Sir Keir Starmer faces two potential Labour rebellions today as MPscontinue to debate the bills unveiled in the King’s Speech last week.
There are 11 amendments to the speech tabled by different groups of MPs. Speaker Lindsay Hoyle will decide at the end of the session which will be voted on by MPs.
The two most likely to be worrying Sir Keir will be the one’s tabled by his own MPs.
Several Labour members have put forward an amendment on the two-child benefit cap, which has been backed by 21 more MPs, as well as an amendment to stop arms sales to Israel, which has been backed another 26.
Data watchdog reprimands school over facial recognition for canteen payments
16:20
Salma Ouaguira
A school has been reprimanded by the data protection regulator after using facial recognition technology (FRT) to take cashless canteen payments from pupils.
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) said Chelmer Valley High School, in Chelmsford, Essex, broke the law when it “failed” to complete a data protection impact assessment (DPIA) before starting to use the technology.
Richard Tice has bemoans ‘bureaucrats’ threatening North Sea fishing sector
16:13
Salma Ouaguira
Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice has bemoaned “bureaucrats” who he claims threaten the North Sea fishing sector.
In his maiden speech, the Boston and Skegness MP told the Commons: “Despite the slogan of Skegness ‘the jolly fisherman’, my constituents actually are not feeling very jolly at the moment because seven out of 10 of my constituents voted to leave the European Union.
“They trusted the previous government. They took them at their word but they feel a sense of political betrayal in a number of areas.
“The first people who are not very jolly are indeed the fishermen themselves who feel that various bureaucrats – Environment Agency, Natural England, IFCA (the Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authorities) – are acting in a way as to try and suppress, destroy this great industry of ours for a very seafaring nation, food producing, generating great revenues.”
Mr Tice also said: “Thousands of homes have been flooded and with a failure to properly maintain sea level defences, tens of thousands of homes are at risk, again because of bureaucracy and inertia.
“Another reason that my constituents are actually really quite grumpy is because of the implications of the stupid net zero policies which will result in hundreds of massive ugly pylons blighting the environment and countryside in my constituency as well as solar farms planned on incredibly productive agricultural farmland – absolute idiocy.”
Mr Tice earlier said Skegness was home to “the best value, the most delicious and the greatest portion of ice cream, which I’m very partial to”.
Softening of attitudes to fraud putting pressure on welfare system, report warns
16:00
Salma Ouaguira
Society’s attitude to fraud is “softening” with the effects being felt in the billion-pound benefits system, the Department for Work and Pensions has said.
The £266.1 billion welfare budget “is a deliberate target for both organised crime groups and opportunistic individuals”, the department’s annual report warned.
In the year to March, fraud accounted for overpayments of £7.4 billion, the report said.
It estimated that fraud levels could grow at around 5% each year without action to reduce them.
A “rising trend” in fraudulent behaviour towards organisations generally and a “softening of attitudes” around fraud in wider society is “likely to be mirrored in the benefit system”, the DWP said, noting the greater scale of the challenges it faces in trying to prevent and detect fraud as a result.
Research noted included a British Social Attitudes Survey showing the proportion of people who felt it was either “not wrong” or only “a bit wrong” for someone claiming unemployed benefits not to report a cash income from a casual job had risen from 16% to 27%, between 2016 and 2022.
A separate study from the University of Portsmouth suggested the proportion of people who thought falsely claiming benefits was never justified had fallen from 85% in 2011 to 67% in 2023.
Rollout of payment schemes causing ‘widespread uncertainty’ for farmers – report
15:53
Salma Ouaguira
The rollout of new payment schemes for farmers is causing “widespread uncertainty and risks” for the sector, the National Audit Office has warned.
The Farming and Countryside Programme aims to transition the UK’s agriculture sector post-Brexit to ensure profitable farms, food security and environmental health by 2028.
Under the scheme, the Environment Department (Defra) is phasing out EU direct payments to farmers, which were based on land area, and replacing them with agri-environment schemes, based on delivering environmental outcomes alongside food production, such as the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI).
The changes have come at a time when extreme weather, market conditions and sudden rises in input costs are putting farms under immense pressure.
Defra has been taking an iterative approach, making changes and improvements to the new subsidy schemes over time.
But the National Audit Office (NOA) released a 56-page report on Tuesday warning that chopping and changing has made it difficult for farmers to plan their businesses to remain viable, produce food and achieve the programme’s environmental goals.
The spending watchdog said the take-up of the new schemes is rapidly increasing with 40,700 farmers signing up as of April 2024.
Listen: Suella Braverman told to hang her head over Rwanda in shame by angry LBC listener
15:43
Salma Ouaguira
Tory MP: Crime is ‘not an illness to be treated'
15:36
Salma Ouaguira
Conservative former minister Sir John Hayes has argued that crime is “not an illness to be treated, it’s a malevolent choice made by those who are careless of the harm they do”.
Referring to the early release from prison scheme, Sir John said he was “shocked” that the Government intends to “let more of those dangerous people on to our streets” after they’ve served 40% of their sentence.
The South Holland and The Deepings MP argued that “punishment is not a dirty word”, adding: “I hope the new Government will recognise that in order to crack down on crime we really need do have to restore public faith, as I said, that justice will be done.”
He said the Government can’t rely on “wishful thinking”, adding: “The guilty must be punished and the innocent must be protected”
During Sir John’s contribution in the Commons, Labour MP Sarah Champion (Rotherham) intervened and said: “So does that mean you believe people are born wicked? Because I believe if there’s good education at a very early age, and early intervention, crimes can be prevented.”
Farage calls for a referendum to leave ECHR
15:34
Salma Ouaguira
Nigel Farage claimed the European Court of Human Rights has “now completely outlived its usefulness” and called for a referendum to leave the body.
During his maiden speech in the Commons, the Reform leader said: “We will only stop this if we start deporting people that come illegally. Then they won’t pay the smugglers. But we will only do that by leaving the ECHR.
“But I have got a fun suggestion that I think would liven up politics, engage the public and see a massively increased turnout. Why don’t we have a referendum on whether we continue to be members of the ECHR?”
Farage claims ‘migrant a minute’ arrives to the UK
15:28
Salma Ouaguira
Nigel Farage has claimed a “migrant a minute” arrives to the UK and the “sheer level of population means we have to build a new house every two minutes”.
The Reform leader said that even if Labour accomplished its pledge to build 1.5 million new homes it would make “no dent at all” on the housing crisis.
He added: “The population crisis is the biggest impact affecting people’s lives, damaging their quality of life and virtually nobody in this place even wants to talk about it.”
Home Office figures show more than 1,000 people have arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel since Sir Keir Starmer became Prime Minister.
The total number of crossings for 2024 to date is 12% higher than the number recorded this time last year (13,200) and up 1% on the same period in 2022 (14,554), according to Government data.
Nigel Farage: I have joined a ‘Remainers Parliament’
15:21
Salma Ouaguira
Nigel Farage has suggested many MPs favour the UK re-joining the European Union, as he claimed Brexiteers are outnumbered in the new Parliament.
The Reform UK leader noted Westminster is “very different” to the European Parliament, where he spent nearly 21 years as an MEP.
Making his maiden speech, the Clacton MP told the House of Commons: “It’s smaller, there is not a chauffeur-driven Mercedes available for each member, no large lump sums of money which you don’t have to spend on anything and show no receipts for and I wonder whether perhaps that’s why so many in the British political system seem to adore the European Union so much, because it is a rather wonderful place to work.
“What I perhaps didn’t expect was to come here and to find I’m more outnumbered with my Reform team, more outnumbered here than we were in the European Parliament.
“Because there are more supporters of Brexit in the European Parliament than I sense there are in this Parliament of 2024.
“This is very much a remainers Parliament, I suspect in many cases it’s really a re-joiners Parliament.”
Tory MP claims Labour will ‘regret' scrapping Rwanda scheme
15:15
Salma Ouaguira
MPs will “regret” scrapping the Rwanda scheme and removing its deterrent effect, a Conservative former minister has claimed.
Sir Desmond Swayne told the Commons: “I do think the House will ultimately come to regret not having such a deterrent to hand, and I think had it been allowed to develop, it could have been such a deterrent. It was never a silver bullet, but it was always part of a complex jigsaw of measures.”
He argued that agreements with third countries are “extraordinarily hard to achieve”, adding: “We can’t take everybody and we certainly needed somewhere else where they could have gone, and Rwanda struck me certainly as something that would have blossomed as such a possibility.”
Sir Desmond (New Forest West) also said that he “had some difficulty in coming to terms” with the Tories defeat at the General Election.
Elsewhere in the debate, Labour MP Zarah Sultana urged the Government to go further on employment rights by “making sure that it bans all zero hours contracts, totally ends fire and re-hire, repeals all anti-trade union legislation and rolls out sectoral collective bargaining across the economy”.
The Coventry South MP also urged the Government to ban arms sales to Israel adding that “the legal threshold for these sales has clearly been met”.
SNP urges ‘all MPs from Scotland’ to support bid to scrap two-child benefit cap
15:10
Salma Ouaguira
SNP’s leader in Westminster Stephen Flynn has urged “all MPs from Scotland” to back his amendment to the King’s Speech urging for the two-child benefit cap to be scrapped.
An amendment tabled by Labour rebels calling for the policy to be abolished was not selected by Sir Lindsay Hoyle, which means the SNP amendment is their only chance to lift the cap.
With thanks to @CommonsSpeaker, there will be a vote tonight on the SNP amendment calling for an end to the two-child benefit cap.
— Stephen Flynn MP (@StephenFlynnSNP) July 23, 2024
We have gained cross-party support in our efforts to lift children out of poverty and I hope that all MPs from Scotland will vote with us tonight. pic.twitter.com/RX7JGcoEDL
Councils spending half their budgets on homelessness as problem hits record high, damning report finds
14:57
Holly Evans
Local authorities are spending as much as half their budgets tackling the UK’s homelessness crisis in the UK, a damning new report has found.
In 2022/23, £2.4 billion was been spent on homelessness services, more than twice the amount spent in 2010/11, including £1.6 billion on temporary accommodation alone. The huge sums are putting a massive strain on local authority finances, according to the report published by the National Audit Office (NAO) on Tuesday.
The NAO said there was a £204.5 million gap in the funding local authorities received to cover the cost of providing temporary accommodation and the actual costs needed in 2022-23, up by more than £150 million in a decade.
Read the full article here:
Reeves warns ‘difficult decisions’ needed on public spending
14:45
Salma Ouaguira
Chancellor Rachel Reeves told the Cabinet that “difficult decisions” would be needed on public spending.
Her comments came as the Labour government faced its first potential rebellion over demands to scrap the two-child benefit limit.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “The Chancellor provided an update on the exercise the Treasury is undertaking to audit the public spending pressures the Government has inherited.
“The Chancellor said that there are significant financial pressures facing departments because of decisions taken by the previous government and that difficult decisions will be needed to fix the foundations of the public finances.”
Yvette Cooper says Tory leadership is ‘cross between Love Island and the jungle’
14:38
Holly Evans
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has said the Tory leadership contest is like “a cross between Love Island and the jungle” as she attacked her shadow counterpart James Cleverly.
She told MPs: “The shadow home secretary, I think, has actually spent his entire speech not actually talking about any of the real challenges the country faces, but simply playing to the backbenches of the Conservative Party with a fantasy leadership application speech.
“And what is it about these former home secretaries and former home office ministers? You know, of the last seven home office ministers in cabinet, six of them are apparently running.”
Ms Cooper went on to say: “We’ve heard today this contest is going to run until November. We’ve got five months of this. We’ve hardly got any Tory MPs here because they’re all off doing their little chats and meetings. It’s like a cross between Love Island and the jungle.”
She added: “Somebody’s had a nervous breakdown and that is probably all of their backbenchers dreading getting a little text saying another candidate is wanting a chat and you can just see it, look at them on there, all of them really saying ‘I’m a Tory MP, get me out of here’.”
The two rebellions Labour could face in Parliament today
14:35
Salma Ouaguira
Sir Keir Starmer faces two potential Labour rebellions today as MPscontinue to debate the bills unveiled in the King’s Speech last week.
There are 11 amendments to the speech tabled by different groups of MPs. Speaker Lindsay Hoyle will decide at the end of the session which will be voted on by MPs.
The two most likely to be worrying Sir Keir will be the one’s tabled by his own MPs.
Several Labour members have put forward an amendment on the two-child benefit cap, which has been backed by 21 more MPs, as well as an amendment to stop arms sales to Israel, which has been backed another 26.
Watch: Cleverly hints he will launch Tory leadership bid
14:25
Salma Ouaguira
Prime minister’s spokesperson rejects racism suggestion over Rwanda policy
14:22
Holly Evans
The prime minister’s official spokesperon rejected the suggestion that racism was at play in the decision to scrap the scheme.
He told reporters: “The decision to scrap the scheme was based on the scheme being a completely ineffective policy.
“You’ve seen the situation where small boat crossings are at a record high this year. Clearly, the current system is not working.
“Our border security is being undermined by criminal gangs, the asylum system is in chaos, we’ve inherited weak security enforcement arrangements, we’ve got tens of thousands of asylum seekers stuck in an endless backlog, housed in hotels without their claims ever being looked at.
“So that was why the home secretary laid out the next steps yesterday to clear the backlog and protect our border, investing the money that would have gone to Rwanda into law enforcement needed to protect our border, intensifying our returns and enforcement program and getting the asylum system moving again.”
Home secretary Yvette Cooper said on Monday that the Rwanda deportation scheme cost Britain £700m despite only four volunteers being sent to Kigali. She called the policy the “most shocking waste of taxpayer money I have ever seen”.
Defence chief: British army not as strong as it should be because of ‘historic underinvestment’
14:15
Salma Ouaguira
Britain’s army is not as strong as it should be because of “historic underinvestment,” the head of the military has admitted, with “deficiencies in people, equipment, stockpiles, training and technology.”
Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, the chief of defence staff, said there was a need for “humility” to recognise the limitations and “near-term financial challenges” faced by our armed forces.
But he said Russia, the main adversary of the West, has been hugely damaged by brutal losses in Ukraine and will take a decade or more to rebuild its military strength to the level it had at the time of Vladimir Putin’s invasion.
And he rejected the idea that conscription was needed, as proposed in the Conservative manifesto at the election. Baltic and Nordic nations “are talking about mass resilience and conscription,” he said. “That is understandable. They border Russia. The threat is close. Our geography is different.”
Our world affairs editor has the full story:
James Cleverly suggests Labour’s scrapping of Rwanda scheme was racist
14:14
Holly Evans
James Cleverly, who indicated he might be entering the Tory leadership race on Tuesday morning, has suggested the Labour government’s scrapping of the Rwanda deportation scheme was racist.
The prime minister’s official spokesperson rejected a suggestion by the shadow home secretary that there was a racial element to the Labour government deciding to nix the agreement, saying the scheme was scrapped because it was ineffective.
Cleverly told Times Radio that the Labour Government cancelled the agreement with the Rwandan government “without even having the good grace to contact them directly to inform them”, which he said would not have happened had the deal been with a European country.
When asked if he was saying the decision was racist, Cleverly said: “You and I both know that this would never have happened like this had it been with a European country. It’s because there is a below-the-salt disdainful attitude to African countries and the Rwandan government.”
Cleverly accuses Labour of allowing ‘seven days of destruction’
14:10
Salma Ouaguira
Shadow home secretary James Cleverly said Yvette Cooper has “managed seven days of destruction” as he ran down the Home Secretary’s actions in her first week in post during the King’s Speech debate on immigration.
During the King’s Speech debate, he told MPs: “Members of this House would of course be familiar with the seven days of creation. The new Home Secretary has managed seven days of destruction.
“She, on day one, cancelled the partnership with Rwanda, taking away the deterrent, a deterrent which the National Crime Agency said we needed in order to break the business model of people smuggling gangs.
“In doing so, on day two she created a diplomatic row with Rwanda, who sadly had to read about that Government decision in the British media rather than receiving direct communication from this Government, a level of diplomatic indecency, which will, I think, cast a shadow over the relationship not just with that country, but with many others.
“On day three, she announced an effective amnesty for tens of thousands of people who arrived here illegally. We said that the incoming Labour Government would do that. They promised they wouldn’t. And yet that’s exactly what they did.”
He added: “And on the seventh day, I suspect she probably tried to get some rest but she will now know what I have long known, that as Home Secretary you don’t get the luxury of that day of rest.”
Vote with your conscience and scrap two-child benefit cap, SNP tells Labour MPs
14:05
Salma Ouaguira
Labour MPs have been urged to “vote with their conscience” and support a Commons amendment to scrap the two-child benefit cap.
SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn urged Government backbenchers to rebel after Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle selected a King’s Speech amendment pressing for the policy to be abolished “immediately”.
The SNP proposal is backed by Plaid Cymru, the Green Party and other MPs, including former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn – who is now an Independent.
The Government has said work is under way on its plans to tackle child poverty, although it has stopped short of committing to ending the two-child benefit cap.
Mr Flynn said in a statement: “We now know the SNP amendment will go to a vote tonight – and MPs across the chamber will have the opportunity to scrap the two-child cap and lift thousands of children out of poverty.
“Scrapping the cap is the bare minimum required to tackle the appalling levels of child poverty in the UK. It is unconscionable that the Labour Government is making a political choice to push thousands of Scottish children into poverty by keeping it in place.
“For every day that Keir Starmer fails to act, more children will suffer. This punitive Westminster policy has to go – and it must go now. I urge Labour MPs to do the only right thing, and vote with their conscience, to end the two-child cap immediately.”
Care4Calais: Bibby Stockholm symbol of Tories’ inhumane treatment of refugees
13:57
Salma Ouaguira
Refugee campaigners have welcomed the government’s decision to close down the controversial Bibby Stockholm barge.
Steve Smith, CEO of Care4Calais said: “The Bibby Stockholm became the physical symbol for the last Government’s inhumane treatment of people seeking sanctuary in the UK.
“The despair and suffering the barge has caused will live long in the people who were residents of it. Nor will not renewing the contract bring back Leonard Farruku, whose family have lost their loved one forever.
“Whilst this is a sensible decision, at this very minute, we are in the High Court challenging the government over the inhumanity being inflicted on over 500 men inside the Wethersfield camp. The current government is choosing to fight this case when the solution should have been to end the suffering and close this camp too.”
Braverman: ‘Identity politics got out of control’ under the Tories
13:55
Salma Ouaguira
Suella Braverman said “we had quite a centrist Conservative agenda actually under Rishi Sunak” and that “identity politics got out of control” under the Tories.
Speaking about the government she served in as home secretary, she said: “We had quite high levels of taxation. Immigration was quite high in terms of the actual outcomes. There was a lot of focus on trying to get the public services to work.”
The potential Tory leadership hopeful also said: “We need to be a party that’s firm and credible on immigration.
“We need to give some hope to the British people on taxation, robust on security and defence, and a real champion for common sense British values. None of this divisive identity politics and woke nonsense. It really frustrates me that that has happened on our watch.”
Cleverly accuses home secretary of not taking knife crime seriously
13:45
Salma Ouaguira
James Cleverly has accused Home Secretary Yvette Cooper of not taking knife crime seriously, in a back and forth in the Commons.
The shadow home secretary said: “I really hope that (Ms Cooper) takes this seriously, she can chuckle all she likes, but this is about kids getting stabbed on the streets of London, and she should take this more seriously.”
Intervening, Ms Cooper said: “He knows he should not make disgraceful, unfounded allegations like that about my response to knife crime when he knows I have met with families right across the country who are devastated by knife crime, including in towns and smaller communities and suburbs right across the country, where this terrible crime is going up.
“Where his party when in government repeatedly failed to bring in the bans on serious weapons on our streets, will he now support this party and this Government when we bring in the ban on ninja swords, as well as on dangerous machetes, that he should have brought in long ago?”
Former home secretary Mr Cleverly replied: “I made the observation that whilst I was talking about young people getting stabbed, (Ms Cooper) was chatting and chuckling with her colleagues on the frontbench. That was a statement of fact.”
The Labour frontbenchers could be seen shaking their heads in response to this.
Braverman urges Tories to ‘grapple with this phenomenon of Reform'
13:39
Salma Ouaguira
Suella Braverman said the Tories must “grapple with this phenomenon of Reform” as she set out why she believed the party lost the general election.
The former home secretary, while guest-hosting a programme on LBC Radio, said: “I think people were very frustrated with us, they wanted change.
“I think this is a really big – dare I say – existential question and moment for the Conservatives, because we’ve got a new kid on the block, we’ve got Reform. And Reform really did eat into our core vote at this election. Hundreds of Conservative MPs lost their seats, some of them very good friends of mine, all of them brilliant, brilliant community servants, excellent MPs, lost their seats largely because of Reform.
“Lifelong Conservative voters decided to dump us and vote for Reform at this general election because they were upset with the direction that the party was going in.
“I think for us going forward as a party, we need to really grapple with this phenomenon of Reform.
“So, we need to have credibility on immigration. We need policies and a leader that actually stands for lowering immigration, stands for stopping the boats, restoring some sanity to the immigration debate.”
It comes as Nigel Farage predicted that Tory MPs could be defecting to Reform ahead of the Tory leadership contest, with Ms Braverman tipped as a potential candidate for the right-wing party.
Cooper takes aim at Cleverly after small boats attack
13:29
Salma Ouaguira
Home secretary Yvette Cooper has hit back at James Cleverly after the shadow minister claimed small boat crossings will “only get worse under Labour”.
She told the House of Commons: “You wouldn’t think he has just spectacularly lost a general election when apparently under the Conservatives we have just all had it so good for such a long period of time.
“I am glad to see him enjoying opposition so much. Long may it continue.”
Labour to shut down Bibby Stockholm asylum barge
13:26
Salma Ouaguira
The Home Office has announced the Bibby Stockholm is set to be scrapped as migrant accommodation as part of Labour’s reform of the asylum system.
The contract, which houses 400 migrants, will not be renewed after it ends in January in an effort to clear the backlog of asylum claims.
Asylum seekers previously said they feel like prisoners the Bibbly Stockholm , and are searched every time they go outside unable to see friends because of detention-like conditions.
Another two sites housing migrants are also expected to be closed down by the government.
Angela Eagle, the minister for border security and asylum said: “We are determined to restore order to the asylum system, so that it operates swiftly, firmly and fairly; and ensures the rules are properly enforced.
“The home secretary has set out plans to start clearing the asylum backlog and making savings on accommodation which is running up vast bills for the taxpayer.
“The Bibby Stockholm will continue to be in use until the contract expires in January 2025.”
Tories fell short in delivering National Space Strategy
13:20
Salma Ouaguira
According to dossiers, the UK Space Agency (UKSA) estimates that the total UK space industry income was £17.5 billion in 2020-21.
The National Audit Office reported that the space sector provided an estimated 48,800 jobs while supporting an additional 78,000 jobs across the supply chain in 2020-21.
But the report also found that the Tory government did not have “sufficient planning, monitoring or evaluation arrangements or capabilities in place” to deliver the National Space Strategy.
The document added: “As a result, its funding allocation processes had some weaknesses, some of its projects are behind schedule, and it does not have a complete view of whether it is on course to deliver the government’s ambitions.”
Cleverly: Small boat crossings will ‘only get worse under Labour’
13:11
Salma Ouaguira
James Cleverly has claimed small boat crossings surged since Sir Keir Starmer became prime minister despite a “terrible first week of weather” in the English Channel.
During the final day of debate on the King’s Speech in the House of Commons, the shadow home secretary said: “Despite a terrible first week of weather to bring in the new Labour Government what we saw was almost 500 asylum seekers arrive in that week on small boats.”
Mr Cleverly claimed there had been more than 2,000 small boat arrivals since Labour came into power and accused the government of “doing less on migration and hoping to achieve more”. He added that small boat crossings are “only going to get worse under Labour”.
Health secretary vows to prioritise hospitals affected by collapsing concrete
13:04
Salma Ouaguira
Hospitals built with life-expiring RAAC (reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete) remain at the top of the Government’s list for rebuilding and refurbishment, Wes Streeting has said.
Tory MP for North West Norfolk James Wild asked the Health Secretary whether he planned to “honour that pledge” to approve the New Hospital Programme business case for the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King’s Lynn, where the roof is held up by hundreds of props.
Mr Streeting replied: “When it comes to RAAC hospitals, they are top of my list of priorities.
“I’m extremely concerned about the dire state that the NHS estate is in. I do once again think it is a bit rich for members opposite whose government was in office only weeks ago where they literally had – they literally had – a prime minister local to that particular hospital (Liz Truss, former MP for South West Norfolk).
“They had the chance, but don’t worry, we’ll clean up their mess.”
Conservative shadow health minister Caroline Johnson said two New Hospital Programme schemes were due to end within the financial year and 18 more projects are under construction, but “the Government are now putting this at risk by launching a review of this work, delaying those projects which are of vital importance to patients across the country”.
Mr Streeting replied: “On this one, I would just once again say to the party opposite that they handed over an entirely fictional timetable and an unfunded programme. And she might not know it, because she wasn’t there immediately prior to the election, but the shadow secretary of state sat right next to her knows exactly where the bodies are buried in the department, knows exactly where the unexploded bombs are.”
Homelessness at highest level since records began with councils spending unprecedented amounts
13:00
Salma Ouaguira
A National Audit Office report found the local authority spending on homelessness services has increased 113 per cent in the last 14 years, Jabed Ahmed writes.
From £1.14 billion in 2010-11 to £2.44 billion in 2022-23, an increase of 113 per cent.
In 2022-23, local authorities spent £2.44 billion on homelessness, including over £1.6 billion on temporary accommodation.
Some local authorities have warned the spending on homelessness is unsustainable to the extent that it could result in them effectively declaring bankruptcy.
While the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has developed much better homelessness data and stronger links with local authorities, the government still has no strategy or public targets for reducing statutory homelessness, and DLUHC is falling behind on key programmes to improve housing supply, the report concluded.
MPs to vote on two-child benefit cap in the Commons
12:57
Salma Ouaguira
Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle has selected a King’s Speech amendment calling for the two-child benefit cap to be scrapped has been selected, paving the way for a Commons vote this evening.
The amendment L from the Conservative Party was also chosen, which included raising concerns on defence spending commitments.
And the Liberal Democrat amendment K, which calls for action on healthcare and sewage dumping, was also selected.
No 10 refuses to change view on two-child benefit cap
12:55
Salma Ouaguira
Downing Street said the state of the public finances did not mean action could not be taken to tackle child poverty.
Sir Keir Starmer is under pressure, including from some of his own MPs, to scrap the two-child benefit cap.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “When it comes to that policy, there’s a simple reason that the Government didn’t include in the manifesto, and that is the Government isn’t prepared to make unfunded promises that can’t be kept.”
He added: “The Chancellor has actually set out that the situation facing the public finances is worse than previously thought and that’s why she’ll be providing an update on that in due course.
“But that doesn’t mean we can’t take action to tackle child poverty. And we are developing an ambitious strategy to reduce child poverty and give children the best start in life.”
Streeting hopes to agree pay deal with junior doctors
12:52
Salma Ouaguira
Health Secretary Wes Streeting said the Government hopes to agree a pay deal with junior doctors that “we can deliver and the country can afford”.
Shadow health secretary Victoria Atkins told the Commons: “In opposition, (Mr Streeting) described the 35% pay rise demand by the junior doctors committee as reasonable. What he didn’t tell the public was that this single trade union demand would cost an additional £3 billion, let alone the impact on other public-sector workers.
“So, will he ask the Chancellor to raise taxes or will she ask him to cut patient services to pay for it?”
Mr Streeting, in his reply, said: “What I said was that the doctors were making a reasonable case that their pay hadn’t kept up in line with inflation, but we were clear before the election that 35% was not a figure we could afford.
“We are negotiating with the junior doctors in good faith to agree on a settlement that we can deliver and the country can afford.”
Breaking: Sunak’s decision to scrap HS2 will cost £100m and take up to three years, National Audit Office warns
12:48
Salma Ouaguira
Rishi Sunak’s decision to scrap the second phase of HS2 will cost up to £100m and it could take three years to shut down sites where work has begun, an official report has revealed.
The former prime minister’s plans also mean the government has £592m worth of land and property on the route from Birmingham to Manchester It needs to
