Sir Keir Starmer has declared Britain “simply isn’t working” as he unveiled plans to bring more people into work and slash the country’s spiralling benefits bill.
The prime minister is planning to replace the network of Jobcentres with a new National Jobs and Careers Service, while more NHS staff will be sent to areas with higher rates of joblessness.
Young people will be offered additional employment and training opportunities, including with the Premier League, the Royal Shakespeare Company and Channel Four, while extra powers will be handed to mayors to develop their own employment plans.
Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall will announce the plans later today as part of wide-ranging reforms designed to tackle economic inactivity and deliver the Government’s promise to bring more than two million people back into work.
She said: “To get Britain growing, we need to get Britain working again. Our reforms will break down barriers to opportunity, help people to get into work and on at work, allow local leaders to boost jobs and growth, and give our children and young people the best opportunities to get on in life.
Key points
- Starmer declares Britain ‘simply isn’t working’ and unveils plan to slash benefits bill
- Minister declines to say how much will be cut from welfare bill
- UK is not sending troops to Ukraine, foreign secretary confirms
- Starmer could tax Levi’s jeans and Jack Daniel’s whiskey in retaliation against Trump tariffs
Starmer could tax Levi’s jeans and Jack Daniel’s whiskey in retaliation against Trump tariffs
09:10
Joe Middleton
Sir Keir Starmer could hike taxes on American staples including Harley Davidsons, Jack Daniel’s whiskey and Levi’s jeans if Donald Trump targets the UK with tariffs.
The prime minister has been urged to “Trump-proof” Britain after the president-elect overnight threatened to unilaterally impose massive levies on imports to the US on his first day in office.
“On January 20th, as one of my many first Executive Orders, I will sign all necessary documents to charge Mexico and Canada a 25 per cent Tariff on ALL products coming into the United States, and its ridiculous Open Borders,” Mr Trump said on his Truth Social platform.
Archie Mitchell reports
Is assisted dying a compassionate step forward or a dangerous precedent? Join The Independent Debate
09:00
Joe Middleton
The debate on assisted dying pits advocates of compassionate choice for the terminally ill against concerns over ethical risks and potential misuse of the proposed law. Where do you stand?
UK is not sending troops to Ukraine, foreign secretary confirms
08:51
Joe Middleton
The foreign secretary has said the UK is not sending troops into Ukraine, after a news report suggested that Britain and France are discussing the option.
Tensions between Russia and the West have significantly escalated in recent days after US President Joe Biden authorised Ukraine to use American-supplied long-range missiles to attack targets inside Russia.
Le Monde reported on Monday that France and the UK are “not ruling out” sending troops and private defence companies to Ukraine, citing unnamed sources.
But when he was asked about the report in an interview, Foreign Secretary David Lammy said the UK’s longstanding position not to send troops on the ground in Ukraine had not changed.
“We are very clear that we stand ready and continue to support the Ukrainians with training particularly, but there has been a longstanding position that we are not committing UK troops to the theatre of action,” he told newspapers La Repubblica, Le Monde and Die Welt at the G7 foreign ministers’ meeting in Italy.
“That is certainly the UK position, and remains the UK position at this time.”
Asked if that included contractors, he said: “We are not committing UK troops on the ground to Ukraine, but we continue to support Ukraine with training and military assistance, and we have been absolutely clear that we will continue to do that for as long as is required and is needed.”
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said there are “no plans” to send troops to Ukraine.
Rachel Reeves accused of making Britain uninvestable as she insists there is no alternative to tax hikes
08:46
Joe Middleton
Rachel Reeves has been accused by business chiefs of making it hard to invest in Britain, prompting her to insist there was no alternative.
Directly facing her critics at the CBI conference after weeks of negativity about her autumn Budget, a defensive chancellor pledged that businesses in the UK will not have to suffer another one like it before the next election.
Squaring up to her detractors, she told them: “I have heard a lot of feedback about my Budget but not any alternative suggestions.”
Our political editor David Maddox reports
Young people were ‘failed’ in the pandemic, says minister
08:45
Joe Middleton
Employment minister Alison McGovern has said that the pandemic generation of young people were “failed”.
Asked what would happen if people did not take up offers of employment or other help, she told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “When good help is offered, it is taken up, that is normally what happens. Of course, people will always think of that small minority [...] people who are not interested, they don’t want to do it.”
She added: “There are rules in the system. Those rules have got to be made to work to make sure that if you take out in the form of social security, you have to do your part of the bargain.”
Pushed further on what would happen if young people did not take up offers, she added: “My worry about this conversation is that we know that young people have a responsibility to take up support. The government under the Tories completely failed in its responsibility to actually help young people, the pandemic generation were failed.”
Ms McGovern also said it must be ensured that job centres “actually serve employers”, telling the programme that “only one in six of our employers really thinks about using a job centre, that is not OK because it means that the public employment service that’s supposed to be there to support our businesses is failing”.
Starmer declares Britain ‘simply isn’t working’ and unveils plan to slash benefits bill
08:37
Joe Middleton
Sir Keir Starmer has declared Britain “simply isn’t working” as he unveiled plans to bring more people into work and slash the country’s spiralling benefits bill.
The prime minister is planning to replace the network of Jobcentres with a new National Jobs and Careers Service, while more NHS staff will be sent to areas with higher rates of joblessness.
Young people will be offered additional employment and training opportunities, including with the Premier League, the Royal Shakespeare Company and Channel Four, while extra powers will be handed to mayors to develop their own employment plans.
Albet Toth and Archie Mitchell report
Post-pandemic recovery in employment numbers did not happen, minister says
08:35
Joe Middleton
Employment minister Alison McGovern has said that post-pandemic recovery in employment numbers “didn’t happen in Britain”.
She told Times Radio that a “one-size fits all” approach to the issue will not help because “problems are so different depending on where you live”.
Ms McGovern told the station: “If you look at those international statistics, what you see is that post-pandemic almost all of the countries around the world except us recovered in employment terms. The employment rate did increase, people did go back to work.
“That didn’t happen in Britain, something is different, and the level of sickness that we’re experiencing as a country is really high.”
She also said there are other issues such as “really bad” waiting lists in the NHS and “long-term differences in our economy depending on where you live”.
“Some places in our country just have significantly higher rates of inactivity and unemployment, and that’s why we know that we need to change the system, because one size fits all won’t help our country when our problems are so different, depending on where you live,” she added.
Minister declines to say how much will be cut from welfare bill
08:30
Joe Middleton
Employment minister Alison McGovern declined to put a figure on how much the government will reduce the welfare bill by.
Speaking to Times Radio on Tuesday morning, she said that “I’m not going to put a figure on it”.
She added: “Today we’re publishing the framework for reforms in this White Paper, we now need to do a lot of work to bring forward those reforms.”
Welcome
07:59
Tom Barnes
Good morning and welcome to our live politics coverage for Tuesday November 26.
Keir Starmer has declared Britain “simply isn’t working” as he unveiled plans to bring more people into work and slash the country’s spiralling benefits bill.
The prime minister is planning to replace the network of Jobcentres with a new National Jobs and Careers Service, while more NHS staff will be sent to areas with higher rates of joblessness.
Young people will be offered additional employment and training opportunities, including with the Premier League, the Royal Shakespeare Company and Channel Four, while extra powers will be handed to mayors to develop their own employment plans.
The reforms, to be unveiled by work and pensions sectretary Liz Kendall today, will also see an expansion of mental health support and efforts to tackle obesity.
You can read our full story on what measures are set to be announced here:
