No 10 says Starmer has ‘full confidence’ in Streeting, confirming he’s still in post
Downing Street has now confirmed that Wes Streeting is still health secretary. The PM’s spokesperson told reporters the prime minister has “full confidence” in the health secretary.
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New laws to fine businesses who pay suppliers late ‘historic moment’, SMEs say
Small businesses have hailed a clampdown on late payments as a “historic moment” with new laws set to fine firms that are the worst offenders, the Press Association says. PA says:
double quotation markMeasures to tackle poor practices by firms when it comes to paying their suppliers were welcomed by the industry.
Legislation set out in the king’s speech includes giving the Small Business Commissioner new powers to investigate businesses suspected of poor payment practices and adjudicate disputes outside of the courts.
It also means the potential to fine businesses that persistently pay their suppliers late or do not comply with the laws.
Tina McKenzie, policy chair of the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), said: “The formal commitment to legislation to stamp out late payments is an historic moment for small firms, who have spent years battling a culture of poor payment practices by big businesses towards their smaller suppliers.”
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Cabinet Office publishes details of all bills in king’s speech
Here is the Cabinet Office 129-page briefing document with details of all the bills in the king’s speech.
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No 10 says Starmer has ‘full confidence’ in Streeting, confirming he’s still in post
Downing Street has now confirmed that Wes Streeting is still health secretary. The PM’s spokesperson told reporters the prime minister has “full confidence” in the health secretary.
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Badenoch publishes Tory alternative king’s speeech, as opposition parties claim Labour’s programme underwhelming
Kemi Badenoch has said the king’s speech won’t deliver the change that Britain needs. That’s why the Conservatives have published their own alternative king’s speech.
She said:
double quotation markIt is clear to the country, and increasingly to the Labour party, that Keir Starmer is not up to the job of prime minister and doesn’t have a plan for Britain. The Conservatives do have a plan, which is why I am publishing our alternative king’s speech today.
This is the culmination of eighteen months of detailed, hard work done by a renewed Conservative party. We have thought hard about what the country needs and with this document we are showing we have a plan to deliver it.
If you want a country with strong borders, a country that is properly defended, a country that is a great place to start and run a business, and a country in which the law is upheld, this alternative kings speech delivers just that.
Keir Starmer and Kemi Badenoch at the state opening of parliament. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/Reuters
This is what Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, posted on social media ahead of the king’s speech.
double quotation markThe King’s Speech should be a bold plan to make change happen in Britain. To end the insecurity and the chaos.
Instead we’ll get the same old lines from a PM on his way out
@LibDems are the only non-populist party left standing. Join us to build our country up, not tear it down
The SNP described the king’s speech as underwhelming. This is from their new leader at Westminster, Dave Doogan.
double quotation markThis was a typically and massively underwhelming policy agenda from a dismal prime minister who promised change but has only delivered chaos.
It does nothing to help families with the cost of living, which has soared under the Labour party, and it shows why Scotland urgently needs a fresh start with independence – because real change will never come from Westminster.
And this is from the Green party MP Hannah Spencer.
double quotation markMy Green colleagues and I are so incredibly disappointed in this King’s Speech, but it’s not a surprise. In the wake of a devastating set of local election results for the Labour party, the prime minister and the government should have used this opportunity to lay out an urgent, transformative, progressive programme to redistribute wealth, tackle the nature and climate crisis and make life affordable for everyone.
My Green colleagues and I will seek to amend the government’s plans to include the urgent action needed to bring down people’s bills – rent controls, nationalising water, freezing energy prices, and taxing wealth. We need to see these measures despite the Labour party’s drama, and even if there’s a different prime minister this time tomorrow!
The amendment will include:
-Freezing energy prices in July to stop them going up by over £300
-New powers to control rents
-Funding for councils to buy existing homes from private landlords
-Water utilities to be brought back into public ownership
-Free bus passes for under 22s
-Universal free school meals
-Further measures to tax fossil fuel companies and the extreme wealth of billionaires and multimillionaires
Reform UK does not seem to have put out a statement about the king’s speech yet. They might have other concerns at the moment. (See 1.09pm.)
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Hilary Benn tells BBC he does not know if Streeting still health secretary
Hilary Benn, the Northern Ireland secretary, has just told Radio 4’s the World at One that he does not know if Wes Streeting is still health secretary.
The presenter, Sarah Montague, asked the question after saying earlier that her team had tried to check with No 10 that Streeting was still health secretary and had not yet had confirmation of that.
In an interview earlier James Murray, the chief secretary to the Treasury, told broadcasters that he thought Streeting was still health secretary.
Given that it is now being widely reported that Streeting’s allies expect him to launch a leadership challenge against Keir Starmer tomorrow, it is easy to see why Starmer might be tempted to sack him today if Streeting refuses to disown those reports and pledge his loyalty.
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Consumer groups ‘disappointed’ in delay on tout crackdown
Consumer groups and ticket sellers alike say they are “disappointed” that a crackdown on touts has been relegated to a draft bill in the king’s speech, the Press Association says. PA reports:
double quotation markIn November, the government announced it was planning new rules making it illegal to resell tickets for live events for a profit, claiming it would end the “industrial-scale” touting that has caused misery for millions of fans.
The Labour manifesto promised stronger protections to stop consumers being scammed or priced out of events by touts, who frequently use bots to buy tickets in bulk the moment they go on sale, which they can then sell on for huge mark-ups on secondary ticketing websites.
But the hoped-for full legislation was left out of today’s speech, with a draft ticket tout ban bill confirmed in the supporting documentation.
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Reform UK has issued this statement about the news that Nigel Farage is being investigated by the parliamentary commissioner for standards. A party spokesperson said:
double quotation markMr Farage’s office is in communications with the parliamentary commissioner for standards.
He has always been clear that this was a personal, unconditional gift and no rules were broken.
We look forward to this being put to bed once and for all.
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How parliamentary inquiry into Farage’s £5m donation could potentially lead to recall byelection in Clacton
Here is Peter Walker’s story about Nigel Farage being investigated over his undeclared £5m donation from Christopher Harborne.
Reform UK claims that Nigel Farage was under no obligation to declare the donation because it was a personal gift intended to pay for his security. It was not related to his subsequent work as an MP, the party says.
Although there is an exemption for gifts that are purely personal, the House of Commons rules say that gifts should be registered if people might reasonably assume there could be a political motive behind them. The relevant section says MPs do not have to register:
double quotation markBenefits which could not reasonably be thought by others to be related to membership of the house or to the member’s parliamentary or political activities; for example, purely personal gifts or benefits from partners or family members. However, both the possible motive of the giver and the use to which the gift is to be put should be considered. If there is any doubt, the benefit should be registered.
Harborne has said the gift was just personal. He told the Telegraph: “I wasn’t expecting anything in return apart from ensuring [Farage’s] safety.”
But, given that Harborne donated £10m to the Brexit party before the 2019 election, and £12m to Reform UK (the new name for the Brexit party) in 2025, it is not particularly surprising that the parliamentary commissioner for standards, Daniel Greenberg, has decided that this is matter that merits a proper investigation.
In a story for the Observer at the weekend, Catherine Neilan quoted experts saying that, if an inquiry finds Farage has broken the rules, the punishment could be quite serious. She said:
double quotation markA senior official who was also involved in the partygate investigation added: “It’s hard to see how they wouldn’t investigate and impose a sanction.
“[Farage] is saying it’s about security. Well, if that is true, it’s in part because he’s an MP… But setting aside his own rationale, such a donation for any MP should be disclosed.
“In my view, it is impossible to say there isn’t at least a perception of a conflict or obligation created.”
Another source added: “If Farage received this in the year before he was elected, then it should have been declared, no doubt about it.
“My forecast would be that Farage will receive a lengthy suspension, which could trigger a byelection, but that he would relish this and storm back to victory because the good burghers of Clacton would think that he was being clobbered by the establishment.”
In the US Donald Trump faced multiple prosecutions ahead of the 2024 presidential election, and he was found guilty of falsification of business records in a hush-money case.
But the criminal proceedings had little or no impact on Trump’s popularity because he successfully persuaded his supporters that the investigations were evidence he was being persecuted by the establishment because he was standing up for ordinary people.
It is not hard to imagine Farage trying a similar ploy in a Clacton byelection.
Nigel Farage with other MPs listening to the king’s speech. Photograph: Toby Melville/ReutersShare
Updated at 14.24 CEST
Farage to be investigated by Commons standards watchdog over claim he broke rules by not declaring £5m gift
Nigel Farage will be investigated by the Commons standards watchdog over the revelation that he did not disclose a £5m donation from the crypt billionaire Christopher Harborne that he received shortly before the 2024 election, the BBC is reporting.
double quotation markBREAKING from @ChrisMasonBBC
The BBC understands that the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner has decided to begin an inquiry into whether the Reform leader Nigel Farage has breached the House of Commons Code of Conduct over accepting a £5m gift and not declaring it
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Here is a picture of Wes Streeting in the procession from the Commons to the Lords to listen to the king’s speech. He is alongside James Cleverly, the shadow housing secretary, who earlier posted a message on social media saying it was a mistake for Keir Starmer to humiliate Streeting in the way he did this morning. (See 9.56am.)
Wes Streeting (left) and James Cleverly in the state opening procession. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PAShareA TV in the Royal Gallery in the House of Lords showing Keir Starmer and Kemi Badenoch listening to the king’s speech. Photograph: Adrian Dennis/AFP/Getty ImagesShareSeverin Carrell
Severin Carrell is the Guardian’s Scotland editor.
Amid all the feverish and conspiratorial theories about where Labour leadership contender Andy Burnham could find a safe Westminster seat, only one of those theories puts him in the same category as Winston Churchill.
Scottish political journalists have amused themselves by pointing out there are about to be two vacant Westminster seats in Scotland after last week’s Holyrood elections. Could Burnham head that far north?
Two Scottish National party MPs were elected to the Scottish parliament on Thursday – Stephen Gethins and Stephen Flynn – and, under Scottish legislation introduced last year, they must now quit the Commons and trigger byelections.
Gethins is, for now, the MP for Arbroath and Broughty Ferry which borders the city of Dundee. It might seem deeply implausible an Englishman with pretensions to be prime minister would have the gall to turbocharge their career from a Scottish seat, not least on nationalist Tayside.
Yet from 1908 Churchill was also an MP there, winning five elections for the Liberals in Dundee until losing it in 1922. And he had trudged northwards to Dundee after losing his previous seat in Manchester North West.
Andrew Liddle, a political consultant who is also author of Churchill: The Scottish Years, said Churchill had “gleefully described” Dundee as his “life seat” because it allowed to him to take his first cabinet position, as president of the board of trade, before becoming home secretary.
But there the comparisons may end, Liddle said. With devolution, and the strength of support for Scottish independence, the idea of an English MP carpet-bagging a prize Scottish seat, once seen as quite normal, would now by utterly unacceptable.
Liddle explained:
double quotation markOf course, Churchill operated in a very different world from Burnham. In the pre-devolution era, a Scottish constituency carried the same Westminster status as any other UK seat, he only felt the need to visit the constituency occasionally, and – crucially – there was no Scottish National Party to challenge him for office.
For Churchill, Dundee was the platform that kickstarted his political career. For Burnham, it would surely be a folly that would end it.
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Updated at 13.58 CEST
