No 10 rejects claim that disability cuts plan primarily driven by need to save money
Downing Street has rejected claims that its proposed changes to disability benefits are primarily motivated by the need to save money.
At the morning lobby briefing, when it was put to the PM’s spokesperson that ministers are proposing cuts because of the “fiscal backdrop”, he replied:
No, I think when you look at the fact that we have the highest level of working-age inactivity due to ill health in western Europe, we’re the only major economy whose employment rate hasn’t recovered since the pandemic, there is a duty to fix the broken system that is letting millions of people in this country down.
Asked why Britain is the only major economy where employment has not returned to pre-pandemic levels, he said that was because “we’ve got a broken welfare system, a broken labour market system that has not got people back into work adequately”.
But at another point in the briefing the spokesperson said there was both “a moral and an economic case” for fixing the welfare system.
Asked to confirm that some disabled people unable to work would be left worse off as a result of the changes being announced tomorrow, the spokesperson would not rule this out. Instead he replied:
The system clearly needs reform. When you see the significant increase in the numbers of people who are inactive, or who are forecast to go on to the [disability benefits] system, I think it is clear that the system is not working as intended.
But we’re always going to ensure that the system continues to support those with greatest need.
Key events
Meg Hillier, the Labour chair of the Commons Treasury committee, asked about a recent Guardian report saying the Department for Work and Pensions is considering lifting the two-child benefit cap, but just for parents with children under five. Hillier said this would only help a small proportion of households affected by the cap. She asked for an assurance that the government was looking to help all children in poverty.
Alison McGovern, the employment minsiter, said she agreed “all children matter”. But she also said the government was considering a range of matters.
In an interview with Times Radio Paul Johnson, the director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies thinktank, said that cutting £5bn from disability benefits would not be easy. He explained:
It ought not to be so hard because we’re spending on something like £20bn more than we were five years ago. So £5bn saving is only a quarter of the extra spending.
On the other hand, the only way you can really do it is by tightening up on the eligibility criteria … it certainly hasn’t always worked because in the end, there are often ways that you can game the system, ways of getting around it …
So it should be possible but I don’t think anyone should pretend that it’s easy.
In response to a question about the changes to disability benefits, that are being announced tomorrow, Kendall told MPs that the plans would include “proper employment support to help people on a pathway to success”.
In the Commons Liz Kendall, the work and pensions secretary, is taking questions.
She has just told MPs that she is “concerned about the number of young people not in work due to mental health conditions”, and that the government is focusing on early intervention to help address the problem.
Mike Amesbury has said that he will today resign as an MP, triggering a byelection in Runcorn and Helsby. As the party that won the seat at the general election, Labour will get to decide when the byelection takes place. It is likely to coincide with the local elections on Thursday 1 May.
Former Bank of England deputy warns Rachel Reeves against kneejerk cuts
The former Bank of England deputy governor Charlie Bean has warned the chancellor against making kneejerk cuts in next week’s spring statement to try to hit fiscal targets that are five years away, Heather Stewart reports.
At 3.30pm a justice minister will answer an urgent question from Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, about the new guidelines from the Sentencing Council that he claims amount to “two-tier justice”.
After that, at about 4.15pm, David Lammy, the foreign secretary, will make a statement on the meeting of G7 foreign ministers he attended in Canada.
Liberal Democrats revive call for UK to join customs union with EU after OECD revises growth forecast down
The Liberal Democrats have responded to today’s downwards revision of its UK growth forecast by the OECD (see 10.55am) by reviving their call for Britain to join a customs union with the EU. Daisy Cooper, the Lib Dem deputy leader and Treasury spokesperson, said:
The chancellor cannot ignore this steady drumbeat of economic misery any longer. Trump’s senseless tariffs and the government’s own economic policies are acting as an anchor on any meaningful growth.
At the spring statement, Rachael Reeves cannot bury her head in the sand. She must admit that her Budget has failed to break from the years of Conservative economic vandalism.
The chancellor must change course by first scrapping her growth-crushing jobs tax which is about to hammer small businesses, and second, by embracing the idea of a bespoke UK-EU customs union which would unleash growth.
Only then will we see the growth needed to rebuild our public services and properly protect family finances.
No 10 says more than 30 countries now involved in ‘coalition of willing’ plan for Ukraine – some with troops, more in other ways
Downing Street has said that more than 30 countries could be involved in the “coalition of the willing” plan to provide military support to Ukraine in the event of a peace deal.
The PM’s spokesperson said Keir Starmer said, after the virtual summit that he hosted on Saturday, that different countries would be offering different capabilities.
The spokesperson went on:
In relation to what the coalition are willing to be able to provide, we’re expecting more than 30 countries to be involved, but obviously the contribution capabilities will vary.
But this will be a significant force, with significant number of countries providing troops, and a larger group contributing in other ways.
As an example of how countries could contribute without providing troops, the spokesperson said:
For instance, if one country was able to provide fast jets to Ukraine, it’s not just the jets that you need to think about. Where those jets get fuel? Where they’ll be based? How they dock into the wider military activity on the ground? Who’s providing engineering support? Whether those jets have come off a deployment where another country is required to backfill the deployment? Where those crews are being house? How we’re rotating them in and out? How we can improve any airfields required for landing?
That’s the sort of detail that the military partners will be getting into.
Asked how many countries were willing to provide troops, the spokesperson would not go beyond saying a “significant number”.
When it was put to the spokesperson that only 27 countries participated in the online summit on Saturday, he said that some of the countries willing to contribute to the “coalition of the willing” were not available for the call on Saturday.
No 10 rejects claim that disability cuts plan primarily driven by need to save money
Downing Street has rejected claims that its proposed changes to disability benefits are primarily motivated by the need to save money.
At the morning lobby briefing, when it was put to the PM’s spokesperson that ministers are proposing cuts because of the “fiscal backdrop”, he replied:
No, I think when you look at the fact that we have the highest level of working-age inactivity due to ill health in western Europe, we’re the only major economy whose employment rate hasn’t recovered since the pandemic, there is a duty to fix the broken system that is letting millions of people in this country down.
Asked why Britain is the only major economy where employment has not returned to pre-pandemic levels, he said that was because “we’ve got a broken welfare system, a broken labour market system that has not got people back into work adequately”.
But at another point in the briefing the spokesperson said there was both “a moral and an economic case” for fixing the welfare system.
Asked to confirm that some disabled people unable to work would be left worse off as a result of the changes being announced tomorrow, the spokesperson would not rule this out. Instead he replied:
The system clearly needs reform. When you see the significant increase in the numbers of people who are inactive, or who are forecast to go on to the [disability benefits] system, I think it is clear that the system is not working as intended.
But we’re always going to ensure that the system continues to support those with greatest need.
Ben Quinn
Ben Quinn is a senior Guardian reporter.
Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, said his party needed “old lags” as he announced the names of 29 councillors who have defected to his party from the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats and others. He also said that the announcement was being made to illustrate the inroads which he says Reform has been making across Britain.
However, while the announcement comes ahead of local elections in May, it’s also hard not to view the timing as an attempt to gain the initiative after the outbreak of a Reform civil war after the suspension of the Great Yarmouth MP Rupert Lowe.
Farage told a press conference in central London that there had been “turbulence” as a result of the controversy, but he insisted that any “upset” was at the edges of what he described as the Reform “family”.
He went on to say that a senior member of the party had been subjected to online abuse and “outright racism.” While he didn’t name him, this would appear to be a reference to the Reform UK Chairman, Zia Yusuf.
On Reform Facebook groups in recent weeks, Yusuf has been the target of criticism and remarks that do appear in some cases to be islamophobic in nature.
Among those listening to Farage were the remaining Reform MPs, including Lee Anderson, who was suspended from his last party, the Conservatives over comments he made about the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, which were widely criticised as islamophobic.
Farage names 29 councillors who have joined or defected to Reform UK, saying they show party ‘very much on the up’
Nigel Farage then went on to confirm that 29 councillors have recently defected to Reform UK – or at least joined the party after sitting as independents.
He names them all, explaining in each case where they have come from.
He ends saying:
We are growing, we are building. We are deepening, we are broadening, we are strengthening. We are getting ready for the first of May. This party is very, very much on the up.
Since the list does not seem to be available on Reform’s website, I will post them here for the record.
The 29 latest Councillors to join Reform UK are:
Bill Barrett – Ashford Borough Council, Singleton East, (Previously: Independent)
Cathy Hunt – Durham County Council, Woodhouse Close (Previously: Independent)
Christine Palmer – Swale Borough Council, Hartlip, Newington and Upchurch (Previously: Independent)
Claire Johnson-Wood – Powys County Council, Llanyre with Nantmel (Previously: Independent)
Dirk Ross – Kent County Council, Ashford South (Previously: Independent)
Edward Kirk – Wiltshire Council, Trowbridge Adcroft (Previously: Conservative)
Emma Ellison – Blackpool Council, Norbreck (Previously: Conservative)
Felix Bloomfield – Oxfordshire County Council – (Previously: Conservative)
Geoff Morgan – Powys County Council, Ithon Valley (Previously: Independent)
Graham McAndrew – Hertfordshire County Council, Bishop’s Stortford Rural (Previously: Conservative)
Heather Asker – Uttlesford District Council, Saffron Walden Castle (Previously: Residents for Uttlesford)
Iain McIntosh – Powys County Council, Yscir with Honddu Isaf and Llanddew (Previously: Conservative)
Jan O’Hara – North Northamptonshire Council, Burton and Broughton (Previously: Conservative)
Joanne Monk – Worcestershire County Council, Arrow Valley East (Previously: Conservative)
Julian Kirk – King’s Lynn & West Norfolk Borough Council, Walsoken, West Walton and Walpole (Previously: Conservative)
Kirk Harrison – North Northamptonshire, Irthlingborough (Previously: Conservative)
Mandy Clare – Chester West and Chester Council, Winsford Dene (Previously: Independent Labour)
Manzur Hasan – South Holland District Council, Spalding St John’s (Previously: Independent)
Matthew Salter – Lancashire County Council, Wyre Rural Central (Previously: Conservative)
Paul Ellison – Wyre Council, Marsh Mill (Previously: Conservative)
Paul Irwin – Buckinghamshire Council, Stone and Waddesdon (Previously: Conservative)
Reg Kain – Cheshire East Council, Alsager (Previously: Liberal Democrat)
Richard Palmer – Swale Borough Council, Hartlip, Newington and Upchurch (Previously: Independent)
Robert Gibson – South Holland District Council, Spalding St Paul’s (Previously: Independent)
Stephen Atkinson – Ribble Valley Borough Council, Brockhall and Dinckley (Previously: Conservative)
Stephen Reed – North East Derbyshire District Council, Killamarsh East (Previously: Conservative)
Stuart Davies – North Somerset Council, Wick St Lawrence and St Georges (Previously: Independent)
Thomas Sneath – South Holland District Council, Moulton, Weston and Cowbit (Previously: Independent)
Vernon Smith – Gloucestershire County Council, Tewkesbury East (Previously: Conservative)
Farage accuses media of not reporting how Reform UK’s chair Zia Yusuf subject to racist attacks online
Back at the Reform UK press conference, Nigel Farage has just referred briefly to his fall-out with Rupert Lowe, who has been suspended over misconduct allegation he strongly denies that were only made public by the party after Lowe criticised Farage in an interview.
Farage said the row caused some “consternation”, but had not held up Reform’s election planning.
But he said the dispute led to a senior figure in the party (Zia Yusuf, the chair – although Farage did not name him) being subject to racist abuse on social media. He claims journalists would have turned this into a big story if it had happened to a politician from any other party, but it was ignored because it was Reform.
He said the only “honourable exception” was the Times columnist and Tory peer Daniel Finkelstein. He is referring to this column by Finkelstein published last week. Finkeslstein said:
Because he is clearly articulate and clever, and because he is a Muslim and has worked for Goldman Sachs, Yusuf is a symbol of the modernisation — the broadening — Farage believes essential. But, for the same reason, the deepeners [people in the party who want a ‘deeper’ version of Reform – like Lowe] want him gone. Wading through online comments about Yusuf’s ethnicity and commercial success is not an edifying experience.
Tories claim OECD’s downwards revision of UK growth forecast shows ‘warning lights flashing red’
The Conservatives are claiming that today’s OECD downwards revision of its UK growth forecasts (see 10.55am) shows “the warning lights are flashing red”. In a statement, Mel Stride, the shadow chancellor, said:
It should come as no surprise that the UK’s growth forecasts have been downgraded after Labour has trashed the economy.
Things are set to get tougher, with Labour’s jobs tax lurking on the horizon. With nine days to go until Labour’s emergency budget, the warning lights are flashing red.
This is the latest embarrassment for Keir Starmer after he made growth his number one mission.
At the Reform UK press conference Zia Yusuf, the party chair, claims that his party had achieved “the most historic acceleration politically in British history”. He goes on:
We’ve surged from 14% support nationally to 26% in the average of the poll. We’ve signed up over 160,000 new, fully paid up members. We’ve opened 400 branches, we’ve held over 30 events, enjoyed by tens of thousands of attendees across this great country.
(Anyone who remembers the rise of the SDP may contest this.)
Yusuf is followed by Nigel Farage, the party leader, who says Reform have a big opportunity at the local elections. He says Labour has got off to a poor start, the economy is faltering, and the Conservative party stands for nothing.