Waspi women latest: Starmer accused of ‘breaking promise’ as he denies ‘misleading’ women over compensation

The Government has announced new funding in an attempt to fix the “dire straits” of local government finances, including £700 million extra for councils.

Local government minister Jim McMahon said councils across the country are “in crisis” after 14 years of Conservative-led governments.

“I take the responsibility to lead this Government’s work to rebuild the sector with the seriousness that it’s due and also with the urgency that’s required,” Mr McMahon said. This work has already begun, and today marks a major milestone in our mission to rebuild local government and to put councils on a firmer financial footing.”

He added: “This is why today I am announcing over £700 million of additional grant. This includes over £200 million of extra funding for social care since the policy statement.”

Mr McMahon said £515 million would be given to councils to help them with the rise in employers’ national insurance.

He said: “Taken together, the additional funding made available at this settlement and the Budget delivers over £5 billion of new funding for local services over and above local council tax.”

He went on to say: “We must ensure that public investment is used too for long-term prevention and the reform of local public services, rather than expensive short-term crisis responses which we know often have much worsening outcomes. We are determined to end the cycle of failure that we have seen for too long. We will provide certainty by making sure that no authority will see a reduction in their core spending power after accounting for council tax flexibilities next year.”

Energy bill payers have been promised more protections and better customer service as part of plans to reform the regulator Ofgem.

The watchdog could get new consumer-facing powers including shortening the eight-week mandatory response time when people complain to their energy supplier.

Customers could also get better access to automatic compensation when things to wrong with their energy bills.

Ministers say they want to rebuild trust in the sector after energy price spikes in 2022 led to soaring bills and caused a swathe of smaller suppliers to go bust.

Larger companies have faced accusations of profiteering off the sharp increase in wholesale costs caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Energy consumers minister Miatta Fahnbulleh said the Government has “learned from the energy crisis”.

Ms Fahnbulleh said: “We will ensure that working people have access to the best possible support to choose more affordable, smarter, clean energy that is right for them.

“Energy bills are still too high and that is why we worked with suppliers to announce £500 million of additional winter support.”

Measures designed to increase the representation of women bishops in the House of Lords are on the verge of becoming law.

The Lords Spiritual (Women) Act 2015 (Extension) Bill continues for a further five years the policy of filling any vacancies that appear on the bishop’s benches in the unelected house with female bishops.

The Bill received an unopposed third reading in the Commons on Wednesday and has already been supported by the House of Lords.

Five of the 26 guaranteed places for Church of England bishops in the upper chamber are filled by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, and the Bishops of London, Durham and Winchester.

The remainder were traditionally filled on the basis of length of tenure, but this was changed following the 2014 decision to grant women the right to serve as bishops.

Legislation was introduced in 2015 to prevent female bishops having to wait many years to join the upper chamber and therefore give them priority over long-serving men.

The Government brought forward the extension Bill after it was requested by the Church of England.

Three former Tory ministers have been reprimanded by Whitehall’s appointments watchdog Acoba for announcing post-government roles early.

Departing ministers are required for two years to seek and await advice from Acoba before taking on or announcing new jobs or appointments.

Lord Pickles, the watchdog’s chairman, wrote to the three former ministers and reported them to the Cabinet Office for breaking the rules.

Former transport minister Huw Merriman breached the rules by not waiting for the watchdog’s advice before announcing his role of chairman at the Liverpool to Manchester Railway Partnership Board.

James Heappey, a former defence minister, failed to seek advice before joining HPO Technologies Ltd as a senior adviser.

Mark Jenkinson, a former assistant government whip, applied for advice after he had already established an independent consultancy, Redghyll Ltd, and taken up work with Nuvia Group.

Mr Merriman and Mr Heappey did not stand in the 2024 general election. Mr Jenkinson lost his seat.

The Government is considering taking over responsibility from the Post Office for redress schemes for subpostmasters impacted by the Horizon scandal, a minister has said.

Business minister Gareth Thomas gave a statement to MPs where he said that £79 million has been paid to 232 people from the Horizon convictions redress scheme, but that the Government had “concerns” about the Post Office’s ability to deliver the Horizon shortfall scheme and the overturned conviction scheme.

The Horizon Convictions Redress Scheme was launched by the Government to enable people wrongly convicted of a crime because of the Horizon IT system used by the Post Office to apply for financial redress.

The Horizon shortfall scheme allows subpostmasters to apply either for a £75,000 Fixed Sum Award or to have their application fully assessed, and is run by the Post Office.

The overturned conviction scheme is also run by the Post Office and is eligible for anyone whose Horizon-related conviction has been overturned by the courts.

Mr Thomas outlined a number of areas the Government was considering amending some parts of the redress system as there are still “complex cases to resolve”.

By alienating the demographic most likely to turn out to vote, Keir Starmer will now struggle to shake off accusations that his government is happy to say one thing and do another, says John Rentoul