Latest news with #Tory-era


Daily Mirror
2 days ago
- Politics
- Daily Mirror
Keir Starmer faces poverty grilling from top MPs amid call to axe DWP two-child benefit limit
Keir Starmer, who will appear at the Liaison Committee on Monday, has been warned that without scrapping the Tory-era two-child benefit limit he risks overseeing a rise in poverty Keir Starmer is set to face a grilling from MPs on levels of poverty amid fresh calls to axe the controversial two-child benefit limit. The Prime Minister, who will appear at the Liaison Committee on Monday, has insisted he will leave "no stone unturned" to tackle levels of child poverty But he faces warnings today that without scrapping the Tory-era two-child benefit limit he risks overseeing the first Labour government to see a "significant rise in child poverty". The policy, which has been blamed for trapping kids in poverty, restricts parents from claiming Child Tax Credits and Universal Credit for a third or subsequent child. Recently Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said scrapping the measure remains on the table as part of a delayed child poverty strategy. She said it will be "looking at every lever and we'll continue to look at every lever to lift children out of poverty". Monday's session will give MPs the chance to quiz Mr Starmer on the strategy. Dan Paskins, executive director at Save the Children, told The Mirror: "The Prime Minister has been clear that tackling child poverty is his government's moral mission. mExpanding free school meals and Best Start Family Hubs shows ambition but will not be enough to truly reduce the number of children growing up in hardship." He added: "Every day 109 more children are impacted by the two-child limit, facing growing up without enough to get by, simply because they have more siblings. The Prime Minister has a choice to make ahead of the Autumn Budget: scrap the two-child limit on Universal Credit in full or risk being the first Labour government to oversee a significant rise in child poverty." Alison Garnham, chief executive of the Child Poverty Action Group, added: "The key question for the PM is given his government has a moral mission to reduce child poverty, will he now commit to scrapping the two-child limit in the autumn child poverty strategy as the most cost-effective way to get record child poverty down?" Speaking last month, Mr Starmer said: "I want to get to the root causes of child poverty. One of the greatest things the last Labour government did was to drive down child poverty. I am determined we will do that." MPs on the Liaison Committee include three senior Labour MPs - Debbie Abrahams, Helen Hayes, and Florence Eshalomi. All three signed an amendment to the welfare bill last month to block cuts to a key disability benefit - Personal Independence Payments (PIP). A government analysis of the reforms, which were eventually gutted in a major climbdown, had warned the cuts could result in 250,000 people being pushed into poverty.

The National
15-07-2025
- Business
- The National
Labour rushed to help Lindsey oil refinery. So why not Grangemouth?
Here, Michelle Thomson, the SNP MSP for Falkirk East – which includes Grangemouth, writes on the Labour Government's differing approaches. LIKE many, I was alarmed to hear of the potential closure of Lindsey Oil Refinery in North Lincolnshire at the end of last month. On June 30, Prax Group, the owners of the refinery, announced they were going into administration, and therefore the future of the site was at risk. The very same day, the UK Government sprang into action. Energy Minister Michael Shanks gave a statement to the House of Commons confirming the [[UK Government]] is funding the continued operation of the refinery, adding: 'The Government will ensure supplies are maintained, protect our energy security, and do everything we can to support workers.' Energy Minister Michael ShanksNow, I welcome this, and any action to save jobs is commendable. All options should be considered to keep Lindsey operating. But as the constituency MSP for Grangemouth, I cannot help but think – while the [[UK Government]] sprang into action for the Lindsey refinery the day the news broke, where was that sense of urgency and action for [[Grangemouth]]? Yes, the circumstances are different – but over a period of months, there was nothing even close to what took place for Lindsey in a day – no urgent statement, and little to no meaningful Government intervention. READ MORE: Labour admit 'not a penny' of £200m Grangemouth rescue fund spent This isn't the first time either. Many Scots were quite rightly astounded that the UK Government very quickly spent billions to save British Steel in Scunthorpe but came nowhere close for Grangemouth. It's worth repeating that Scotland generates well over 90% of the UK's crude oil in any given year – but now has no capacity to refine it. It's also worth repeating that Labour promised to save [[Grangemouth]] before the election and failed. Indeed, the leader of the Labour Party in Scotland said: "We would step in to save the jobs at the refinery." This is the second refinery to face closure on Labour's watch, with thousands of related jobs being lost elsewhere in the supply chain. It would appear that, when it comes to industry elsewhere in the UK, Westminster can immediately pull out all the stops – but when it's in Scotland, the [[UK Government]] simply isn't interested. READ MORE: 'Unacceptable': SNP hit out as Labour 'keep Tory-era veto on Scottish laws' Some may argue that these issues are for the Scottish Government to respond to. This is correct – but any response must include the power to take financial action in the form of significant borrowing powers. These are powers that the [[Scottish Government]] lacks. The truth is, Grangemouth is just as important to Scotland's industrial output as Lindsey is to England's. It's no wonder that a growing number in Scotland quite rightly feel that Scotland is an afterthought to this – or any – UK government. It begs the question: if the UK Government can immediately step in to save major industrial sites in England – on more than one occasion – then why not in Scotland? My view is, as it always has been, that the only way to ensure Scotland's massive natural wealth is utilised for the benefit of Scotland's people is with independence for Scotland.

The National
15-07-2025
- Politics
- The National
Polling on Jeremy Corbyn party is uncertain. Labour's worries are not
It appears on the face of it to be the delicious, ultimate irony. Self-styled "moderates" within Labour spent years undermining Corbyn's leadership and ultimately drove him out of the party completely – all supposedly in the interests of "electability". They have now discovered that he's actually more than electable enough to pose an existential threat to Labour from the outside. A note of caution is called for, though, because there's a long track-record of hypothetical polling questions exaggerating the likely popularity of new parties that are in the process of being set up. There were a number of polls in early 2019 suggesting that the breakaway centrist party Change UK could be a major player in British politics – but that failed to materialise and the party folded within less than a year. In 2007, Archie Stirling commissioned a YouGov poll that seemed to suggest his new centre-right Scottish Voice party could expect to take around 20% of the vote in that year's Holyrood election. In the event, Scottish Voice's actual support was only one-hundredth of that estimate. READ MORE: 'Unacceptable': SNP hit out as Labour 'keep Tory-era veto on Scottish laws' It's true that Corbyn is a far better-known figure than Stirling, and will almost certainly attract much more than 0.2% of the vote. It's also true that the Find Out Now poll showing him level with Labour can be regarded as more credible than Stirling's 2007 poll, because it allowed respondents to make a direct comparison between the Corbyn party and the full menu of other parties. But it's still unavoidably a flawed poll, because it's impossible to ask a hypothetical question of this type without drawing special attention to the addition of a new party that does not yet exist. That may in itself have been sufficient to artificially inflate the apparent support for the Corbyn party in the poll. In truth, there's no way to meaningfully measure public backing for the new party until it's up and running, with a name, a public face, and a set of policies. But where the Find Out Now poll – and others like it – are of some value is in identifying which parties Corbyn can expect to attract votes from, if he does indeed enjoy some support. The answer is clear: his votes will be coming overwhelmingly from Labour and the Greens. Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn (Image: Lucy North) A YouGov poll last week found that 31% of people who voted Labour in last year's General Election, and 58% of people who voted Green, are likely to consider voting for the Corbyn party. The Greens are fortunate in that they have an obvious method of transforming the threat into an opportunity. Zack Polanski is currently standing for the Green leadership in England and Wales, and has indicated that he may be open to an electoral pact with Corbyn and Sultana. But there is no equivalent get-out clause for Labour, who burnt their bridges with Corbyn when they expelled him and put up a candidate against him in Islington North. Even if the real support for the Corbyn party turns out to be only half of the 15% suggested by the Find Out Now poll, it looks highly likely that would still harm Labour's vote significantly, possibly reducing them to third or fourth place – and to below 20% of the vote. The UK may start to look very much like a country that is moving on decisively from the Conservative-Labour two-party system that has been in place for a full century.

The National
15-07-2025
- Business
- The National
Probe launched after MPs accept cash from Israeli arms firm
The National previously told how the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Defence Technology – a cross-party group of MPs – took at least £1499 from RUK Advanced Systems Ltd, a weapons firm which is owned by the Israeli government. RUK Advanced Systems Ltd makes missiles for urban warfare, and is part of Israel's state-owned defence giant, Rafael. READ MORE: Arms firms are buying exclusive access to MPs for as little as £1499 It is against parliamentary rules for APPGs to "accept the services of a secretariat funded directly or indirectly by a foreign government". On Monday, Declassified UK reported that the parliamentary standards commissioner has now launched an official investigation into "due diligence of funding". It is understood that one of the APPG's co-chairs, Conservative MP Dr Neil Shastri-Hurst, referred the case himself after being contacted by Declassified UK. Shastri-Hurst is a practicing barrister and currently sits on Westminster's Standards Committee. When the donation was first reported by Declassified UK, neither the APPG nor any of the MPs involved in the group responded to a request for comment. However, the outlet reported that RUK Advanced System Ltd's name was immediately removed from the group's website. The firm also appeared to delete its website, which remains offline at the time of writing. While RUK Advanced System Ltd describes itself as a "UK company", it is controlled by the Israeli government's ministry of finance, which is led by far-right politician Bezalel Smotrich, who was sanctioned by the UK Government last month for inciting "extremist violence" against Palestinians. The firm's corporate structure has since been changed on Companies House, although it remains under the control of the Israeli government. READ MORE: 'Unacceptable': SNP hit out as Labour 'keep Tory-era veto on Scottish laws' The defence APPG was created in January and has already been sponsored by at least 37 arms firms, including industry titans Leonardo and Lockheed Martin. Leonardo, which has a factory in Edinburgh, is known to have produced targeting systems for Israel's F-35 fighter jets, which have been used to bombard Gaza. Lockheed Martin – the world's largest arms company – also contributes parts to F-35 fighter jets. There are 30 MPs involved in the APPG, five of whom are from Scottish Labour: Gordon McKee (Glasgow South), Graeme Downie (Dunfermline and Dollar), Lillian Jones (Kilmarnock and Loudon), Kenneth Stevenson (Airdrie and Shotts) and Chris Kane (Stirling and Strathallan). Other MPs on the group include Fred Thomas (co-chair), Sarah Bool (officer), Anna Gelderd (officer), Luke Akehurst and Iain Duncan Smith.


Daily Record
14-07-2025
- Politics
- Daily Record
Figures reveal scale of child poverty in North Lanarkshire driven by UK Government's two child benefit cap
The figures, published by the UK Department for Work and Pensions, show more than 100,000 children across Scotland are now affected, including some of the most deprived communities in the country. New figures have revealed the scale of child poverty driven by the UK Government's two child benefit cap, with 7,470 children in North Lanarkshire alone hit by the policy over the past year. The figures, published by the UK Department for Work and Pensions, show more than 100,000 children across Scotland are now affected, including some of the most deprived communities in the country. North Lanarkshire is the second-worst hit area in Scotland, behind only Glasgow. Clare Adamson MSP for Motherwell and Wishaw said: 'These figures are heart-breaking. To think that nearly 7,500 children in North Lanarkshire have been caught in the grip of poverty because of this Westminster-imposed policy is nothing short of shameful. 'We know poverty isn't inevitable – it's a political choice. And Keir Starmer's choice to keep this Tory-era policy shows where his priorities lie. 'In contrast, the Scottish Government is working to lift children out of poverty, not push them further in. It's time for Labour to match that ambition, scrap this cruel cap, and invest in our children's futures.' 'My office regularly provides support at many of the food banks across Motherwell and Wishaw, and we are witnessing first-hand the devastating impact these cuts are having on people, both psychologically and physically. 'These aren't just numbers on a spreadsheet; they are real families, in our communities, struggling to survive.' *Don't miss the latest headlines from around Lanarkshire. Sign up to our newsletters here. And did you know Lanarkshire Live had its own app? Download yours for free here.