Latest news with #No10
Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Deal with EU will make food cheaper and add £9bn to UK economy, says No 10
A landmark deal clinched between the UK and EU to remove checks on food exports will add £9bn to the UK economy and lower food prices, No 10 has said, as the last-minute agreement was secured early on Monday morning. Keir Starmer said the deal, billed as a 'historic' turning of the page, delivered the 'reset' he had promised after winning the general election last July. It will grant EU fishers access to British waters for an additional 12 years and pave the way for the removal of checks on British food exports, allowing everything from the 'great British burger to shellfish' to be sold again with ease in the EU, Starmer said. The deal also holds out hope for a return of the UK to the Erasmus university exchange programme, and the creation of a youth mobility scheme that would allow young people to experience the EU through work, study, au pairing or travel. The UK said the deal would make 'food cheaper, slash red tape, open up access to the EU market'. But the trade-off for the deal was fishing access and rights for an additional 12 years – more than the UK had offered – which is likely to lead to cries of betrayal from the industry. The two sides will begin talks on the 'youth experience scheme', first reported in the Guardian, which could mirror existing schemes the UK has with countries such as Australia and New Zealand. The UK said it would be 'capped and time-limited', though there is no agreement yet from the EU on the details. Related: From fishing to Erasmus: what the UK's deal with the EU will mean Central to the agreement is the new agrifoods deal, known as an SPS agreement, which removes red tape on food and drink exports, removing some routine checks on animal and plant products completely. In return, the UK will accept some dynamic alignment on EU food standards and a role for the European court of justice in policing the deal. Starmer, responding to a question at a press conference co-hosted by the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, said of the deal: 'It is not about reopening old wounds; it is about turning a new page.' Underlining the political breakthrough behind it, he added: 'The mindset, the mood, the intent are every bit as important as the details.' Von der Leyen said it also sent a message to the world that at a time of great political turbulence, Europe stood together and showed that stability was possible. Starmer and von der Leyen shook hands on the reset deal at Lancaster House just hours after negotiators finished the final three texts. 'It's time to look forward. To move on from the stale old debates and political fights to find common sense, practical solutions which get the best for the British people,' Starmer said. 'We're ready to work with partners if it means we can improve people's lives here at home. 'So that's what this deal is all about – facing out into the world once again, in the great tradition of this nation. Building the relationships we choose, with the partners we choose, and closing deals in the national interest. Because that is what independent, sovereign nations do.' Talks on the deal continued beyond midnight on Sunday with major concessions on both sides. The EU dropped its demand that the SPS deal be time-limited in exchange for a fishing deal lasting until 2038. The government said it would put £360m of modernisation support back into coastal communities as part of the deal, a tacit acknowledgment of the concession. But UK officials said the SPS deal would be a major win for British consumers and should lead to lower food prices and more choice in the supermarkets. It will mean certain products are allowed to be sold in the EU for the first time since Brexit, such as some burgers and sausages, after the 21% drop in exports and 7% drop in imports seen since Brexit. However, Scottish ministers accused the UK government of sidelining Scotland in the fisheries talks despite repeated promises that Westminster would respect its devolved powers and interests. The Scottish government in Edinburgh, which has full devolved powers over fisheries policy in the waters around Scotland, has yet to issue a formal response to the 12-year-long access deal for EU trawlers agreed with the UK. But Angus Robertson, Scotland's external affairs secretary, took to X to lambast Starmer's government, which he said had repeatedly cancelled meetings of the inter-ministerial group for environment, food and rural affairs which includes ministers from all the UK's administrations. Related: How has Britain's economy fared since Brexit? The five charts underpinning the UK-EU summit He said: 'So the UK Government has just reached a 12 year deal on the devolved issue of fishing without any recourse, involvement or approval of Scottish Government and other Devolved Administrations. It follows cancellation of last three EFRA inter ministerial meetings by UK government.' Another agreement reached before the Lancaster House summit will be on linking emissions trading, which the UK said would avoid businesses being hit by the EU's carbon tax due to come in next year. The deal also protects British steel imports from new EU tariffs through a bespoke arrangement, saving about £25m a year. British holidaymakers will also be able to use European gates at airports, ending long holiday queues to use the gates for non-European citizens, and pet passports will be introduced to eliminate the need for animal health checks on each trip. The UK will also now enter formal talks on a number of key topics, including a youth mobility deal, to grant visas for younger Britons and Europeans as well as re-entry to the Erasmus scheme. There will be future talks, too, on access to the EU facial recognition data, a key ask of Starmer as a way of tackling cross-border crime and people-trafficking gangs. But there will be no immediate entry for the UK to the EU's €150bn (£126bn) defence fund to allow UK arms companies to bid for contracts – though the UK said the deal struck on Monday would pave the way for that to happen in the coming months. The UK's chief negotiator, Nick Thomas-Symonds, the Cabinet Office minister, said: 'Today is a historic day, marking the opening of a new chapter in our relationship with the EU that delivers for working people across the UK. 'Since the start of these negotiations, we have worked for a deal to make the British people safer, more secure and more prosperous. Our new UK-EU Strategic Partnership achieves all three objectives. It delivers on jobs, bills and borders. 'Today is a day of delivery. Britain is back on the world stage with a government in the service of working people.'
The Citizen
2 days ago
- Sport
- The Citizen
Will bold selection decisions pay off or implode for Stormers?
Stormers stars Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu and Manie Libbok won't be starting together against Glasgow, but could play together in the second half. Stormers Director of Rugby John Dobson has made some bold selection decisions for their United Rugby Championship (URC) playoff game against Glasgow Warriors at the Scotstoun Stadium on Friday night (kick-off 8:35pm). Key among them was the call to not play Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu and Manie Libbok together, even though the unfortunate suspension to star Damian Willemse completely opened the door for it. Instead, Dobson opted to return Feinberg-Mngomezulu to flyhalf, after playing off the bench in their last game against Cardiff, while Libbok who had started at 10 in that match on his return from injury, was dropped to the bench. Scintillating form If Willemse had been available for the quarterfinal, this would not have been a surprising call, as Feinberg-Mngomezulu has been in absolutely scintillating form recently, and has driven a lot of the Stormers' superb play during their stunning end of pool stage run that saw them win six out of seven games. But with the double World Cup winning Springbok unavailable, it was expected that Feinberg-Mngomezulu would start at inside centre, while Libbok would hold on to the No 10 jersey after an impressive 55 minutes on his return from injury against Cardiff. So it came as a surprise when the team was released and Feinberg-Mngomezulu was at flyhalf, and the solid Dan du Plessis at inside centre, with Dobson explaining that it had been a difficult decision. 'That did take a lot of talking through, and discussion around what we think we need for this game. We did consider playing Manie and Sacha together. Sacha and Damian are so alike, so there was a very strong argument for starting them both,' said Dobson. 'But then we had to consider other things, and in the end we had to consider that this would be less disruptive to the team. Sacha has been doing well at flyhalf and we have had a nice rhythm to our game. 'We still have Sacha and Manie, with Manie on the bench. Manie can come on later in the game and then Sacha can go where he is needed.' Hartzenberg decision Another surprising call was young Suleiman Hartzenberg, who has featured mainly on the wing for the Stormers and scored two tries in that position against Cardiff, being named at outside centre for the match, which is admittedly a position he sees himself playing in the future. Wandisile Simelane has also been superb for the Stormers at 13 recently, and is very unlucky to miss out, but Dobson admitted that the nature of the 4G pitch that they will be playing on swung the decision in Hartzenberg's favour, even though he isn't completely sure on whether it is the correct call. 'We looked at the opposition, we looked at how we want to defend and we looked at the surface. The way Suleiman played two weeks ago, admittedly on the wing, was excellent,' explained Dobson. 'And it's not really a stepping kind of surface (which Simelane is known for). You need someone who can work back. We've got some tweaks to our defence where we think Suleiman will be really useful. Some plans around the aerial game. So it's a horses for courses selection. 'But in terms of do I think he's got enough games there under the belt? Probably not ideally, but you can't account for injuries and suspensions. We think this is the best team we can put out.'
The Guardian
2 days ago
- Business
- The Guardian
‘The brand is broken': is there any way back from abyss for Tories?
At a carefully staged factory visit rich in pre-written lines, one part of Keir Starmer's delivery felt entirely unscripted: his insistence that Reform is now his main electoral challenger, rather than a Conservative party 'sliding into the abyss'. This was, one No 10 source said afterwards, 'not posturing', simply an acknowledgement that under Kemi Badenoch there appeared to be no way back for a party slumping in the polls and that followed up a disastrous general election with almost equally bad local results at the start of this month. It has almost become a political truism to speculate whether the Conservatives' sequence of crises are now becoming existential, but there are good arguments against writing a definitive obituary for a party that has repeatedly proved itself able to adapt, reinvent and come back. There are, however, several very compelling reasons for wondering whether this time might be different. For starters, in Reform the Tories face a challenge from the right, one that, unlike Nigel Farage's previous parties, is – at least for now – well organised, heavily funded and able to win elections. Even more importantly, the sense of a party spiralling around the political plughole is shared by increasing numbers of people from a constituency Badenoch should care about – her own party. 'A lot of people are spitting feathers about how the party is being run,' said one senior local Conservative activist in a very traditionally Tory area where the party fared terribly in the local elections. 'We've been effectively wiped out over the last two years – we've lost control of every part of local government and have lost almost all our MPs,' they said. 'What is so scary is that people don't really see a route out of this. It's not even about Kemi or [Robert] Jenrick or whatever. The brand is broken on the doorstep. 'If we can't win places that are so traditionally Conservative, because there's another rightwing party that doesn't have our baggage, then we're in real trouble.' Such sentiment is understandable even from the raw numbers. After a general election in which its 2019 contingent of 317 seats was slashed to 121, in this month's local elections the party lost nearly two-thirds of its 1,000 or so council seats, shedding control of 16 councils. And the losses have continued. Analysis by the BBC this week showed that since the local elections the Conservatives had lost another 47 councillors, some of them to Reform, with others quitting to become independents. As party activists of all persuasions know very well, such attrition is only sustainable for so long. As they also understand, political hopefuls generally enjoy winning elections and are drawn towards parties that look like they can do this. 'We are very quickly reaching that point where it all pivots towards Reform,' the senior Tory activist said. 'I know a lot of people, really senior people, some on the parliamentary candidates list, who are considering defecting to Reform. It is not good.' Badenoch has begun restructuring her increasingly cash-strapped party, with a series of local officials asked to reapply for their jobs – in some cases just before the local elections. 'Fantastic people who have been in the party for 20 or 30 years, and who have been brilliant and loyal, were basically sacked,' the senior activist said. 'And what amazed us all is that they were doing this during the final two or three months of the local election campaign, when stability is really important.' How can the Conservatives fight back? The response to Starmer's comments from Mel Stride, the shadow chancellor, was to present the Tories as the only remaining beacon of fiscal credibility, contrasting this with what he called 'Jeremy Corbyn's uniparty' in Labour and Reform. Aside from the slight mental stretch required to see either Starmer or Farage as Corbynistas, the challenge for the Conservatives is that many traditional Tories who prize sober fiscal policies were scarred by the brief Liz Truss experiment, and often dislike Badenoch's shift towards the culture war, Reform-mimicking harder right. Increasingly, the grassroots disquiet is directed at the top. Badenoch is safe for now, mainly because party rules forbid a challenge in the first year, and she was only elected last November. But what then? The general acceptance had been that nothing would happen before another set of local elections next year. For at least some Tories, matters are now accelerating. It is not only Starmer who can see the abyss ahead.
Western Telegraph
4 days ago
- Politics
- Western Telegraph
Badenoch to go ‘probably this year', says former No 10 adviser Dominic Cummings
Dominic Cummings described the Conservative Party leader as a 'goner', and said Reform UK could win up to 150 seats at the next election with 'Nigel and an iPhone'. He described Nigel Farage's Reform UK as a 'vehicle' for voters to say they 'despise' Westminster. Conservative shadow work and pensions secretary Helen Whately defended Mrs Badenoch, who she described as a 'good leader' during a 'hard time' for her party, and suggested Mr Cummings was trying to 'rock the boat'. The former No 10 aide said Mrs Badenoch was 'a goner' as Tory leader (Chris Radburn/PA) In a Sky News interview, Mr Cummings said: 'Kemi is going to go, probably this year.' He added: 'There's already people who are organising to get rid of her, and I think that that will work. If it doesn't work this year, it will definitely happen after next May. 'She's a goner, so there's going to be a big transition there.' The former No 10 adviser also said that the Conservative Party had possibly 'crossed the event horizon and actually aren't salvageable', and added that 'it might be dead'. On Reform UK, which has five seats in the Commons, he said: 'They can win 50, 100, 150 seats with Reform as Nigel and an iPhone. 'But they can't win an overall general election and have a plan for government and have a serious team able to take over in Downing Street and govern and control Whitehall with one man and an iPhone.' Mr Cummings said Reform under Nigel Farage could win as many as 150 seats at the next election (Ben Whitley/PA) Mr Cummings told the broadcaster that 'Reform is a vehicle for people to say 'we despise you, Westminster, we hate both the old parties, we hate Whitehall, we hate the old media, we hate the whole f***ing lot of you''. He added: 'Farage going up in the polls is the expression of that core feeling.' Mr Cummings also reflected on Mr Johnson's departure from Downing Street in September 2022, accusing the former prime minister of 'rewriting history, and a lot of the media just kind-of went along with it'. Reflecting on how some insiders felt at the time, Mr Cummings said: ''We told people we were going to do a whole bunch of things, he's now doing the opposite – OK, we should get rid of him.'' Asked about Mrs Badenoch's leadership, Ms Whately told Times Radio on Wednesday: 'It was always going to take some time for people to want to hear from us.' Mrs Badenoch beat rival Robert Jenrick in the head-to-head final stage of her party's leadership election last year. Helen Whately said the Tory leader was doing a good job at a difficult time for the party (Aaron Chown/PA) Ms Whately said she had heard from senior Conservatives who had told her to ''give it at least two years before people are going to want to hear from you again''. Responding to Mr Cummings, she later told Sky News: 'We do know that Dominic Cummings likes to rock the boat, that's something he has a track record of doing. 'My experience working alongside Kemi Badenoch is that she is a good leader and she's leading our party through a hard time. 'Now, we had a really tough election result clearly at the last general election. People told us very clearly at the ballot box that they were frustrated with us, I think particularly frustrated at some of the things that happened at the tail end of our time in government, including the time that Dominic Cummings was in fact involved, clearly when Boris Johnson was prime minister. 'And people were for instance very unhappy about the rising cost of living driven by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, but we need to take the time to listen to what people are telling us, to reflect on that, and to come back with the right offer to the public at the next general election.' Ms Whately said Mr Farage had a 'big state answer' to political problems alongside 'an irresponsible set of unfunded fantasy economics'.
New Statesman
5 days ago
- Business
- New Statesman
Inside Keir Starmer's messy reset
Photo by Tolga Akmen/EPA/Bloomberg The Labour Party, Harold Wilson once observed, is 'like a stagecoach. If you rattle along at great speed everybody is too exhilarated or seasick to cause any trouble. But if you stop, everybody gets out and argues about where to go next.' In some areas, at least, Labour is rattling along. Government officials point to three trade deals in two weeks as evidence of a more 'agile' Britain on the world stage. But Keir Starmer's direction has remained unclear – so everybody is arguing about where to go next. A 'reset' was what aggrieved MPs demanded after Labour's election humbling: a U-turn on the winter fuel payment cuts, the loosening of Rachel Reeves' fiscal rules and higher taxes on the wealthy. When Starmer responded by vowing to go 'further and faster', some were moved to invoke the popular definition of insanity. But the Prime Minister is no longer doing the same thing. The means-testing of winter fuel payments was a policy born in the Treasury – one that cabinet ministers such as Ed Miliband and Liz Kendall grasped immediately would prove toxic. Yet it was Starmer rather than Reeves – away at a G7 meeting in Canada – who announced the U-turn. Though No 10 and the Treasury emphasise that the decision was a joint one, here was a moment rich in symbolism. For MPs it was a reminder of Starmer's other job title: First Lord of the Treasury. The Prime Minister, as Andrew Marr first reported, has also let it be known that abolishing the two-child benefit cap is his 'personal priority'. That stance has prompted reports of tensions between Starmer and his chief of staff Morgan McSweeney who has long been mindful of public support for the policy (and the £2.5bn cost of abolishing it). Sources downplay talk of a rift, noting that the policy is under formal review by the child poverty taskforce (which will report this autumn). But the impression is again of a Prime Minister asserting his authority. 'I don't know where this 'just fucking do it' energy has come from but I like it,' said one Labour MP, recalling Tony Blair's sudden pledge in 2000 to raise health spending to the European average (which so enraged Gordon Brown). Call it a messy reset. At times after entering office, Starmer appeared indifferent or outright hostile to Labour MPs' opinions. Seven lost the whip last July after voting for an SNP amendment backing the abolition of the two-child cap. Critics of the winter fuel cuts – an 'almost suicidal' policy, one new MP told me back in August – were greeted with lectures on fiscal responsibility. Subscribe to The New Statesman today from only £8.99 per month Subscribe No 10's imperial phase continued at the start of this year. The foreign aid budget was reduced by 40 per cent to fund higher defence spending (prompting the resignation of Anneliese Dodds, one of Starmer's original allies, as international development minister). The largest welfare cuts since George Osborne occupied the Treasury in 2015 were announced by Reeves. Tory MPs watched with envy at the decisiveness of a government with a majority larger than any since Blair. But a Downing Street chastened by defeats is now sounding a more emollient tone. 'It's a tough time to be a Labour MP, they're having to decide all the time to take money off somebody and to give it to someone else,' reflects one source. What has changed? A leadership that defined its priority as winning over the country could not remain obstinate as voters revolted. Nor, as welfare rebels threaten to eradicate the government's 165-seat majority, can it remain dismissive of the party (with concessions to prevent defeat anticipated). Labour's 'soft left' – the tribe from which Starmer himself originally hailed – is rediscovering its voice (a development some in No 10 welcome). It was Louise Haigh, the former transport secretary, who led public calls for an 'economic reset' after the local elections. Angela Rayner and Gordon Brown have, in different ways, shown what that could look like. On 3 June, Renewal, the social democratic journal now published by Compass (which helped anoint Ed Miliband in 2010), will hold an event to celebrate its relaunch. Its attendees will be much like the typical Labour member: someone who voted for Starmer in 2020 and is increasingly attracted by Rayner. The Prime Minister, who welcomed conflict with the radical left as a chance to define himself, has baulked at all-out war with the soft left. So another reset is underway. But it remains fraught. When he announced the winter fuel U-turn, Starmer cited an improving economy (GDP growth was 0.7 per cent in the first quarter, the highest of any G7 country). But even if this trend continues – and economists fear it won't – it will do nothing to help cabinet ministers, such as Rayner, locked in fierce disputes with Reeves over the 11 June Spending Review. 'The envelope has been set,' a Treasury source says, confirming that there will be no leeway (unprotected departments were told to model real-terms cuts of between 5.8 per cent and 11.3 per cent). Ministers believe that Reeves will once again need to raise taxes and revise her fiscal rules at the Budget this autumn but the word that the Chancellor so loathes – austerity – will be brandished against her in the coming weeks. Over all this looms a familiar question: what defines Starmer? A winter fuel U-turn seemingly driven by polling rather than values has further muddied the waters. Friends of Starmer reject the charge that he lacks what Tony Blair called an 'irreducible core'. It is, they say, his belief in the dignity of work and the innate worth of every human being (one informed by his parents, and his late brother who had learning difficulties). In opposition he told aides that he wanted to be able to look voters in towns such as Burnley in the eyes in five years' time and tell them that Labour had made 'a genuine difference to your lives'. But in the heat of government, even allies fear this message has been lost. 'We haven't done enough to articulate what Keir's about,' concedes one senior No 10 source. After Brown U-turned on the abolition of the 10p tax rate – an event Labour MPs have recalled in recent weeks – he spoke of how 'it really hurt that suddenly people felt I wasn't on the side of people on middle and modest incomes – because on the side of hard-working families is the only place I've ever wanted to be. And from now on it's the only place I ever will be.' By then, the political damage was done but Brown still conveyed genuine remorse. As Starmer seeks to reset his own premiership, can he find the language he needs to do the same? [See also: Angela Rayner has fired a warning shot at Keir Starmer] Related
