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Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Thursday that he had a detailed discussion of possible security guarantees for Ukraine during a “productive meeting” with prime minister Keir Starmer at Downing Street. “We also discussed in considerable detail the security guarantees that can make peace truly durable if the United States succeeds in pressing Russia to stop the killings and engage in genuine, substantive diplomacy,” he wrote on X. Zelenskyy added that the leaders also touched on investment in Ukrainian drone production and urged the UK to join Nato’s Prioritised Ukraine Requirements List (PURL) programme for equipment and munitions.
Keir Starmer and Volodymyr Zelenskyy agreed there was a “powerful sense of unity and a strong resolve” to secure peace in Ukraine during a breakfast meeting on Thursday, Downing Street said. In a readout of the meeting, a Number 10 spokesperson said they “then looked ahead to tomorrow’s talks between President Trump and President Putin in Alaska, which present a viable chance to make progress as long as Putin takes action to prove he is serious about peace”.
The UK economy grew at a faster rate than expected in the second quarter, official figures show, despite a slowdown from a strong start to the year amid pressure from tax increases and Donald Trump’s global trade war. Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed growth in gross domestic product slowed to 0.3% in the three months to the end of June, down from a rate of 0.7% in the first quarter.
Rachel Reeves has said that Thursday’s GDP figures “show that the economy beat expectations in the second quarter of this year”. Speaking at a construction site in Doncaster, the chancellor said “there’s still more to do to make sure that people in all parts of the country benefit” from growth.
The Liberal Democrats urged environment secretary Steve Reed to rule out the sale of Thames Water to Hong Kong infrastructure company CKI, if it enters special administration, and for any deal to receive parliamentary scrutiny before being agreed. In a statement shared on Thursday, the Lib Dems said a “Conservative loophole” in legislation passed by the last government could allow the deal to go ahead without an automatic national security check.
No-fault eviction evictions by bailiffs in England have risen by 8% in the 12 months since Labour came into government, new data shows. The party has pledged to end no-fault evictions under its renters’ rights bill, which is in the final stages of going through parliament. The new data on no-fault evictions published on Thursday by the Ministry of Justice comes a week after Rushanara Ali resigned her role as homelessness minister after a report that she gave tenants at a property she owned in east London four months’ notice to leave before relisting the property with a £700 rent increase within weeks.
The BBC has apologised and retrospectively edited a segment of Radio 4’s Thought for the Day after the head of a refugee foundation described comments by Robert Jenrick about asylum seekers as “xenophobia”. The remarks by Krish Kandiah, a theologian who heads the Sanctuary Foundation, prompted an angry response from Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary. The BBC said it had removed “some of the language used” by Kandiah from a version posted online, saying it was not appropriate for the faith-based radio segment. However, Alf Dubs, a Labour peer who came to the UK as a child refugee, said he believed xenophobia was an accurate description of Jenrick’s comments in the Mail on Sunday last weekend.
Claims of an exodus of wealthy “non-doms” in response to tax rises may be overblown, according to a report that suggests that the number leaving the country is in line with official forecasts. Early monthly payroll data from HM Revenue and Customs appears to indicate that the number of non-dom departures are in line with official predictions, according to sources cited by the Financial Times.
Education secretary Bridget Phillipson has said that the government has no plans to change the figure of 9% interest that people pay on their student loans. Seperately, Phillipson declined to say whether the government would be prepared to allow universities an inflation-linked tuition fee increase each year to improve their financial situation.
Speaking on Thursday – A-level results day in England, Wales and Northern Ireland – the education secretary called the “entrenched divide” in outcomes and the lack of progress for white working-class children “concerning”. Phillipson said: “Every single young person collecting their results today should have the opportunity to pursue their dreams … but, too often, opportunities depend on background rather than talent. The entrenched divide in outcomes seen over the last few years and the lack of progress for children from white working-class backgrounds is particularly concerning.”
Talking to Times Radio on Thursday, Phillipson said international students made an “important contribution” to the UK’s universities and economy, and “will always be welcome in the UK”. But, she added that “some institutions, their business model has allowed them to become too dependent on international students, and therefore too open to any fluctuations that may happen around that”.
Phillipson also said on Thursday said that the government is “taking our time” to make sure it gets right its guidance on gender-questioning children in schools. She added that there is “no obligation” for people to call non-binary teachers Mx instead of Miss or Sir.
“Alarmingly high” levels of toxic forever chemicals have been detected at English airports – in some cases thousands of times higher than proposed EU safe levels – with experts raising concerns over the potential impact on drinking water sources. Seventeen airports recorded elevated levels of Pfas in the ground and surface water sample on their sites, according to unpublished Environment Agency documents, obtained exclusively by the Ends Report and the Guardian via an environmental information request.
The waiting list for routine hospital treatment in England has increased, NHS figures show. An estimated 7.37 million treatments were waiting to be carried out at the end of June, relating to 6.23 million patients – up from 7.36 million treatments and just under 6.23 million patients at the end of May.
Plans to disclose the ethnicity and immigration status of criminal suspects in the UK have been condemned by race campaigners for setting a dangerous precedent for “dog-whistle politics”, which will make “Black and brown communities more vulnerable”. The home secretary, Yvette Cooper, has welcomed new police guidelines released on Wednesday which encourage forces to release the race and nationality of those charged in high-profile cases.
Greenpeace have attached a new work, titled Butchered, by the renowned artist Anish Kapoor on to a Shell platform in the North Sea – the world’s first artwork to be installed on an active offshore gas site. Greenpeace said the work was a stark visualisation of the wound inflicted on humanity and the Earth by the fossil fuel industry, and aimed to represent the collective grief and pain over what has been lost, as well as a call for reparation.
Updated
Struggling Thames Water has said a new reservoir in Oxfordshire could cost more than three times the original budget, pushing the eventual cost to be covered by water bill payers to as much as £7.5bn.
In a blow to government plans for an expansion in the number of reservoirs across south-east England, the heavily indebted utility said a review of the Abingdon project had sent the estimated cost of construction from £2.2bn to between £5.5bn and £7.5bn.
Only last year, Thames told the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) that its assessment of likely costs was “robust”.
But the company has now told regulators that further tests, including of the ground and local waterways, had shown the final bill would be more than twice, and possibly three times, the current forecast.
If the reservoir goes ahead, customers will pick up the tab. About half the costs are due to be recovered from Thames Water’s 16 million customers across London and the south-east, with Affinity Water and Southern Water customers sharing the rest.
Thames customers already face a 35% increase in bills over the next five years under a settlement by the sector regulator Ofwat, while those with Affinity face a 26% lift and with Southern the rise is 53%.
The chancellor, Rachel Reeves, has pledged to build nine major reservoirs – the country’s first in 30 years – in her determination to take on “the blockers” opposing construction projects and renew the UK’s ageing infrastructure.
Plans to disclose the ethnicity and immigration status of criminal suspects in the UK have been condemned by race campaigners for setting a dangerous precedent for “dog-whistle politics”, which will make “Black and brown communities more vulnerable”.
The home secretary, Yvette Cooper, has welcomed new police guidelines released on Wednesday which encourage forces to release the race and nationality of those charged in high-profile cases.
It is meant to combat misinformation on social media, which spread last summer after the murder of three schoolgirls in Southport. False information about the killer’s nationality, religion and asylum status fuelled widespread unrest throughout the country.
But race campaigners believe the move may encourage focus on the racial background of suspects, and will lead to further rightwing conspiracy theories when information is not released to the public.
Enny Choudhury, the co-head of legal at the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, said:
Releasing the ethnicity of everyone suspected of serious crimes will … simply fuel mistrust, deepen divisions, and make Black and brown communities more vulnerable to prejudice and harm.
Some point to cases like Southport, where rumours were quashed by releasing specific information. But building a blanket policy around this is dangerous. It turns race into a variable in policing and public debate – when we know the vast majority of serious crimes, including sexual offences, are committed by white men.
The role of the justice system should be to unite communities in pursuit of justice, not to single people out because of their ethnicity.
“Alarmingly high” levels of toxic forever chemicals have been detected at English airports – in some cases thousands of times higher than proposed EU safe levels – with experts raising concerns over the potential impact on drinking water sources.
Seventeen airports recorded elevated levels of Pfas in the ground and surface water sample on their sites, according to unpublished Environment Agency documents, obtained exclusively by the Ends Report and the Guardian via an environmental information request.
Pfas, short for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are a family of about 10,000 chemicals which persist in the environment and have been linked to a range of serious illnesses. They are used in many consumer products, from frying pans to waterproof coats, but one of their most common uses is in firefighting foams.
The largest Pfas total recorded was at London Luton airport, with total Pfas in one groundwater sample, taken at a location described as “fire training lagoon two”, of 36,084 nanograms per litre.
There is no regulatory limit for Pfas in ground or surface water in the UK, but in the EU a proposed threshold is being considered of 4.4ng/l. While Luton tested for twice the number of Pfas than that included in the EU threshold, the airport’s highest total Pfas level was 8,000 times higher than the draft limit.
Among the specific Pfas detected at these 17 airports were PFOS and PFOA – two banned and toxic chemicals which, respectively, are suspected and known carcinogens.
One sample taken from “borehole four” at London Luton contained 2,555ng/l of Pfas, with 24ng/l of PFOS and 39ng/l of PFOA. This total Pfas level is more than 500 times higher than the EU’s proposed threshold.
A London Luton airport spokesperson said:
Like many airports and other industries in the UK and around the world, we are investing in and working closely with relevant agencies to assess and monitor Pfas.
Lib Dems urge environment secretary to rule out sale of Thames Water to Hong Kong’s CKI
The Liberal Democrats have urged environment secretary Steve Reed to rule out the sale of Thames Water to Hong Kong infrastructure company CKI, if it enters special administration, and for any deal to receive parliamentary scrutiny before being agreed.
CKI, which invests in power and other utility companies in the UK, is among those lining up to acquire the water and sewerage supplier if it enters a special administration regime (SAR), according to the Times.
In a statement shared on Thursday, the Lib Dems said a “Conservative loophole” in legislation passed by the last government could allow the deal to go ahead without an automatic national security check.
The Lib Dems said:
Water is not currently classed as critical infrastructure under the National Security and Investment Act, passed by the previous Conservative government, meaning foreign takeovers can happen without automatically undergoing stringent national security checks before any sale is approved.
The Liberal Democrats are calling on the government to block the sale of Thames Water to the Chinese firm, also pointing to concerns about the role of Chinese company Jingye in the recent collapse of British Steel.
Farron said:
The government is guilty of shocking weakness when it comes to China. First British Steel, then the super embassy, and now the sale of a big chunk of our critical water infrastructure. It’s time they took our critical national infrastructure more seriously.
It is unthinkable that such vital infrastructure as our own water supply should be sold by the government to a Chinese firm. Even considering such a move would show that the government is fundamentally unserious about protecting infrastructure, and about improving our water system, rivers and seas after years of abuse.
It’s equally shocking that the previous Conservative government left a gaping loophole in our national security legislation, allowing foreign takeovers of our critical water companies to go ahead without automatically going through stringent checks.
Steve Reed must rule any sale to a Chinese firm out as a matter of urgency and any potential sale of Thames Water by the government should be subject to proper parliamentary scrutiny.
One estimate last week said Rachel Reeves will need to find more than £50bn to stick to her fiscal rule with a reasonable margin for error. Even though other forecasts suggest the figure may be lower than that, there will still be difficult choices to make.
Faced with these pressures, Reeves should do two things. First, she should end the freeze on fuel duty, which has been kept in place no matter whether the cost of petrol and diesel is high or low. It is not just that Reeves could well do with the several billion pounds that a rise in fuel duty would harvest. Fuel duty is now a third lower, in real terms, than it was when Alistair Darling was at the Treasury, effectively cutting the cost of motoring and so creating incentives to drive more. Increased congestion and the potholed roads are consequences of that.
The stated rationale for the protracted freeze since 2010 is that it helps hard-pressed motorists, but the main beneficiaries have not been white-van man but the better off, who drive more, own more vehicles and buy gas-guzzling SUVs. The richest fifth of households have benefited twice as much from the fuel duty freeze as the poorest fifth. Raising fuel duty in the budget should be a no-brainer for Reeves.
But the chancellor also needs to come up with a plan for what to do once the era of all-electric vehicles finally arrives, and here there is an obvious solution: road pricing. Conceptually, there should be little problem with this idea. People expect to pay more for a train journey in rush hours. Hotels charge more for rooms on a Friday or Saturday when demand is higher. The same principle should apply to roads.
There are reasons why ministers are reluctant to grasp this nettle. Fuel duty, while a regressive tax, is easy to understand. There are no issues with privacy and surveillance, as there would be with road pricing. Governments are sensitive to charges that they are planning to wage war on motorists. Given that only 5% of vehicles are electric currently, the transition may take longer than originally envisaged. No question, doing nothing has its attractions.
But the costs of inaction will grow over time. A report by the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change (TBI) said the loss of tax revenue from cars would be £10bn by 2030, £20bn by 2035 and £30bn by 2040. This would inevitably lead to chunky tax increases. Reducing the cost of motoring by continually freezing fuel duty would lead to more and longer traffic jams. Those still driving petrol and diesel vehicles would face a triple whammy: spending longer in traffic; paying higher taxes elsewhere to compensate for the lost fuel-duty revenue from those who transferred to electric vehicles; and paying three to four times more for tax and fuel than those who drive EVs.
The education secretary has called the “entrenched divide” in outcomes and the lack of progress for white working-class children “concerning”, reports the PA news agency.
On A-level results day, Bridget Phillipson said:
Every single young person collecting their results today should have the opportunity to pursue their dreams – whether that starts with further study, university, an apprenticeship or the world of work – but, too often, opportunities depend on background rather than talent.
The entrenched divide in outcomes seen over the last few years and the lack of progress for children from white working-class backgrounds is particularly concerning.
Through our plan for change we are breaking the link between background and success, starting with reformed early years and revitalised family services, through to ambitious reforms to our school and post-16 system to make sure every young person, wherever they grow up, is truly ready for life and work.
Updated
People trying to enter the UK by hiding in refrigerated trailers present a “constant threat” to food safety, according to a report.
The study, published by logistics company Oakland International, stated that 4,415 instances of a truck or van being found with stowaways seeking to reach the UK were recorded between 2016 and 2023.
An average of nearly 100 people per month were detected infiltrating trucks entering the UK between January and September last year, PA reported.
People hiding in trailers cause delays, increased costs, potential damage to goods and disposal of produce, researchers found.
Companies transporting food, household goods and healthcare items dispose of an average of 56% of stock on an infiltrated lorry.
The value of lost stock can be up to tens of thousands of pounds, research found. This can result in revenue loss several times higher.
Updated
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has urged the UK to join Nato’s Prioritised Ukraine Requirements List (PURL) programme for equipment and munitions.
After his talks with prime minister Keir Starmer, the Ukrainian president wrote on X: “Yesterday, together with all our partners, and today in a bilateral format, we discussed expectations for the meeting in Alaska and possible prospects.
“We also discussed in considerable detail the security guarantees that can make peace truly durable if the United States succeeds in pressing Russia to stop the killings and engage in genuine, substantive diplomacy.
“It is important that, within the framework of the coalition of the willing, we should all be able to achieve effective formats for security cooperation.
“We also discussed the continuation of support programmes for our army and our defence industry. Under any scenario, Ukraine will maintain its strength.
“Keir and I also talked about such mechanisms for weapons supplies as the PURL programme, and I urged the UK to join. Of course, we also discussed our one hundred year partnership agreement. Ukraine is preparing to ratify it in August and, as a result, we will be able to hold an expanded Ukraine-UK meeting.”
Updated
Claims of an exodus of wealthy “non-doms” in response to tax rises may be overblown, according to a report that suggests that the number leaving the country is in line with official forecasts.
In April the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, scrapped the non-domiciled tax status, which allowed wealthy individuals with connections abroad to avoid paying full UK tax on their overseas earnings.
Since then a wave of reports has suggested that changes to the status and other tax policies are triggering an exodus of high net worth individuals.
However, early monthly payroll data from HM Revenue and Customs appears to indicate that the number of non-dom departures are in line with official predictions, according to sources cited by the Financial Times
The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) forecast in January that 25% of non-doms with trusts would leave the UK in response to the abolition of the tax status, while 10% of those without trusts would leave. Official data suggests that this prediction was broadly correct, people briefed on the findings told the FT.
Jeremy Hunt, the chancellor’s Conservative predecessor, first announced moves to phase out the 225-year-old non-dom status that protected overseas earnings from being taxed in exchange for a flat annual fee. However, Labour took the proposals a step further by replacing them with a regime that will include overseas assets in the UK’s 40% inheritance tax rate.
Many non-doms earn income from work or their pensions in the UK, which means they appear in the PAYE (pay as you earn) figures in the payroll data that businesses send to the tax office each month. If they fall off PAYE figures, that suggests that they have left the country.
The FT reported that some of those briefed on early HMRC data said payroll figures suggested that fewer people were leaving than projected by the OBR, while others said the departures were in line with forecasts.
The numbers do not capture the movements of those non-doms who do not work in the UK, which could include some of the richest, but with a shortage of reliable data they will provide some relief to Reeves amid a debate about whether the policy could backfire.
Keir Starmer and Volodymyr Zelenskyy agreed there was a “powerful sense of unity and a strong resolve” to secure peace in Ukraine during a breakfast meeting on Thursday, Downing Street said.
In a readout of the meeting, a Number 10 spokesperson said:
The prime minister hosted President Zelenskyy in Downing Street this morning.
They had a private breakfast, where they discussed yesterday’s meetings. They agreed there had been a powerful sense of unity and a strong resolve to achieve a just and lasting peace in Ukraine.
They then looked ahead to tomorrow’s talks between President Trump and President Putin in Alaska, which present a viable chance to make progress as long as Putin takes action to prove he is serious about peace.
They agreed to stay in close touch in the coming days.
Also posting on X after the meeting in Downing Street today, Keir Starmer said of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy:
Great to see you, my friend @ZelenskyyUa.
Britain will always stand with Ukraine.
Zelenskyy says he discussed security guarantees for Ukraine with Starmer at No 10 meeting
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Thursday that he had a detailed discussion of possible security guarantees for Ukraine during a “productive meeting” with prime minister Keir Starmer.
“We also discussed in considerable detail the security guarantees that can make peace truly durable if the United States succeeds in pressing Russia to stop the killings and engage in genuine, substantive diplomacy,” he wrote on X.
Zelenskyy added that the leaders also touched on investment in Ukrainian drone production.
Alongside a video of the meeting at 10 Downing Street, Zelenskyy wrote in his social media post:
A good, productive meeting with UK prime minister Keir Starmer. We continue to coordinate our positions.
Yesterday, together with all our partners, and today in a bilateral format, we discussed expectations for the meeting in Alaska and possible prospects. We also discussed in considerable detail the security guarantees that can make peace truly durable if the United States succeeds in pressing Russia to stop the killings and engage in genuine, substantive diplomacy. It is important that, within the framework of the coalition of the willing, we should all be able to achieve effective formats for security cooperation.
We also discussed the continuation of support programmess for our army and our defence industry. Under any scenario, Ukraine will maintain its strength. Keir and I also talked about such mechanisms for weapons supplies as the PURL programme, and I urged the UK to join. Of course, we also discussed our one hundred year partnership agreement. Ukraine is preparing to ratify it in August, and as a result, we will be able to hold an expanded Ukraine-UK meeting.
A separate and important item on the agenda was investment in our drone production. We have significant potential to increase production volumes and urgently need financing for this. Drones play a decisive role on the frontline, and Ukraine’s capabilities to produce them are exceptional. Therefore, investment in such production can truly influence the situation at the strategic level. We are working with the UK and all our partners on this. Keir, thank you for your support!
Updated
Greenpeace have attached a new work, titled Butchered, by the renowned artist Anish Kapoor on to a Shell platform in the North Sea – the world’s first artwork to be installed on an active offshore gas site.
After securing a 12-metre x 8-metre canvas to the structure, the activists hoisted a high-pressure hose 16 metres above sea level. They then pumped 1,000 litres of blood-red liquid that seeped into the fabric, creating a vast crimson stain.
Greenpeace say the work is a stark visualisation of the wound inflicted on humanity and the Earth by the fossil fuel industry, and aims to represent the collective grief and pain over what has been lost, as well as a call for reparation.
Shelter have described no-fault evictions as one of the leading causes of homelessness, giving landlords the power to evict tenants without any reason given.
The charity said its analysis of the latest figures suggested that for every month a ban on no-fault evictions is delayed, about 950 households could be removed from their homes by bailiffs.
Echoing the call for an urgent ban, homelessness charity Crisis said many are at risk of homelessness if faced with eviction.
According to the PA news agency, the charity’s chief executive, Matt Downie, said:
Despite good intentions from the Westminster government, thousands of people are still being unjustly evicted from their homes and threatened with – or even forced into – homelessness.
We know the UK government has had a packed agenda, but we now need ministers to rebuff efforts to weaken the renters’ rights bill and get this new legislation on to the statute book as soon as possible when parliament returns. Unfreezing housing benefit in the autumn would also ensure that more people in England can afford a safe and stable home.
The Renters’ Reform Coalition, said the year-on-year fall in accelerated procedure claims “blows apart the myth of a ‘landlord exodus’ and eviction surge caused by the renters’ rights bill” and urged the government to “press on and abolish section 21 immediately once the bill is passed”.
The new data on no-fault evictions published today by the Ministry of Justice (see 11.23am BST) comes a week after Rushanara Ali resigned her role as homelessness minister after a report that she gave tenants at a property she owned in east London four months’ notice to leave before relisting the property with a £700 rent increase within weeks.
Ali’s house, rented on a fixed-term contract, was put up for sale while the tenants were living there, and it was only relisted as a rental because it had not sold, according to the i newspaper.
Such a move would probably be prohibited under the renters’ rights bill, which is set to introduce new protections for tenants including banning landlords who evict tenants in order to sell their property from relisting it for rent for six months.
In her resignation letter Ali insisted she had “at all times” followed “all legal requirements” and taken her responsibilities “seriously”, but added that continuing in her role would be “a distraction from the ambitious work of the government” and therefore was stepping down.
Boosting productivity will be main priority of autumn budget, Reeves says
Rachel Reeves has promised to use her autumn budget to prioritise fixing Britain’s dismal record on productivity as she sought to downplay mounting tax speculation with a focus on economic growth.
Setting out her priorities for the budget for the first time, the chancellor said tackling the efficiency of the economy through higher investment and a fresh assault on planning rules would form the backbone of her tax and spending plans.
Writing exclusively for the Guardian, she said:
If Labour’s first year in power was about fixing the foundations, then the second year is about building a stronger economy for a renewed Britain.
However, Reeves pushed back against what she called “speculation” over tax increases being explored by the Treasury to close a yawning gap in the public finances that is estimated to reach more than £40bn.
“The months and weeks before any budget are filled with people speculating about – or claiming to know – what tax and spend decisions I will take or what the Office for Budget Responsibility [OBR] will conclude,” she said.
“This budget is no different – I get that. I will set out the decisions I take in the responsible manner.”
BBC apologises over Thought for the Day ‘xenophobia’ claim against Jenrick
The BBC has apologised and retrospectively edited a segment of Radio 4’s Thought for the Day after the head of a refugee foundation described comments by Robert Jenrick about asylum seekers as “xenophobia”.
The remarks by Krish Kandiah, a theologian who heads the Sanctuary Foundation, prompted an angry response from Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary. The BBC said it had removed “some of the language used” by Kandiah from a version posted online, saying it was not appropriate for the faith-based radio segment.
However, Alf Dubs, a Labour peer who came to the UK as a child refugee, said he believed xenophobia was an accurate description of Jenrick’s comments in the Mail on Sunday last weekend in which Jenrick said the arrival of asylum seekers on small boats made him fear for his daughters’ safety and that he would not want them as neighbours.
Speaking on Wednesday’s episode of the Today programme, Kandiah quoted from the Mail on Sunday. “[Jenrick] said: ‘I certainly don’t want my children to share a neighbourhood with men from backward countries who broke into Britain illegally, and about whom we know next to nothing.’ These words echo a fear many have absorbed. Fear of the stranger. The technical name for this is xenophobia.”
He said such fears were irrational and that most arrivals on small boats were fleeing “war, persecution and famine”.
Kandiah argued there was no evidence that migrants posed a greater danger to children than others, noting that most offences against children were committed by people they already knew.
While the segment was cleared in advance, it is understood that BBC staff decided to review the programme and edit the language without being prompted by an external complaint. The corporation then apologised to Jenrick.
Education secretary Bridget Phillipson declined to say whether the government would be prepared to allow universities an inflation-linked tuition fee increase each year to improve their financial situation, reports the PA news agency.
When asked a direct question on this, she told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme:
We did give universities an increase through the tuition fee increase that we delivered last year, but we’ll be looking at all of these areas around the long-term financial sustainability of universities as part of that post-16 white paper that we’ll set out later on this year.
We do also believe alongside that further reform will be needed, but also working together with other institutions, like further education, to bring education, training opportunities and skills much closer to where people are, including those people – adults, in particular – who might be further away from the labour market.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has left Downing Street. Keir Starmer walked the Ukrainian president out of Number 10 to his car.
According to the PA news agency, they chatted and hugged before departing, when Starmer walked back inside. He ignored questions from the line of reporters, including: “Has today’s visit been a success?”
Starmer was also asked whether the UK would send more weapons to Ukraine and if there was a “plan B” should US president Donald Trump fail in Alaska.
The red carpet has been removed and the convoy with the Ukrainian president has left.
Updated
No-fault evictions in England up by 8% in Labour's first year in government
No-fault eviction evictions by bailiffs in England have risen by 8% in the 12 months since Labour came into government, new data shows.
The party has pledged to end no-fault evictions under its renters’ rights bill, which is in the final stages of going through parliament.
The PA news agency reports that Shelter said it was “unconscionable” that renters “continue to be marched out of their homes by bailiffs”.
There were 11,402 repossessions by county court bailiffs after a section 21 notice – known as a no-fault eviction – between July last year and June, according to data published by the Ministry of Justice. This was up 8% from 10,576 for the previous 12-month period.
There were 2,679 in the three months to June, which was down from 2,931 the previous quarter and down from 2,915 for the same April to June period last year.
According to the PA news agency, the latest government data also showed 30,729 claims had been issued to households under the accelerated procedure in the year to June. Landlords can apply for an accelerated possession order if the tenants have not left by the date specified in a section 21 notice. The current figure was down 4% from 32,103 for the previous 12-month period.
The waiting list for routine hospital treatment in England has increased, NHS figures show.
The PA news agency reports that an estimated 7.37 million treatments were waiting to be carried out at the end of June, relating to 6.23 million patients – up from 7.36 million treatments and just under 6.23 million patients at the end of May.
Waiting lists last increased in March before falling for two consecutive months. The list hit a record high in September 2023, with 7.77 million treatments and 6.50 million patients.
Government has no plans to change 9% interest on student loans, says education secretary
Education secretary Bridget Phillipson has said that the government has no plans to change the figure of 9% interest that people pay on their student loans.
Speaking to BBC Breakfast, she said:
That was a figure chosen by a previous government.
We are looking at the student finance system. It is complicated. We are looking at it. However, I do think it is right that students through that system make a contribution to their education.
When asked whether the government plans to lower the 9% interest rate on student loans, she said:
We don’t have any immediate plans to change that figure.
I wouldn’t want any young person, however, to be put off from going to university because of the system. And it’s worth just highlighting that you don’t pay anything until you’ve graduated, until you’re working, and going to university is a fantastic investment in your future.
Growth of 0.3% is a positive sign but the chancellor still has major difficulties to confront, writes Phillip Inman:
Britain’s economy has defied the doomsayers. After growing strongly in the first quarter this year, it expanded again in the three months to June – and not by the measly 0.1% forecast by City economists, but a respectable 0.3%.
The latest data shows a 0.4% expansion in June alone as manufacturing recovered its mojo. Meanwhile, the construction sector, hit by a slowdown in new projects, turned its hand to repairs and maintenance, reversing a fall in May to post a solid 1.2% growth rate over the second quarter.
Probably the most cheering aspect for Rachel Reeves from the latest Office for National Statistics data was the feedback from businesses involved in scientific research and development. This sector posted an 8.3% rise in activity in June alone, closely followed by the architectural and engineering sectors, which collectively expanded by 6.7% on the previous month.
The chancellor is keen for everyone to forget about the missteps of the past year when one miscalculation after another has set off fireworks either inside the Labour party or the business community, or both.
Updated
Education secretary Bridget Phillipson has vowed to tackle the “yawning inequalities” in educational attainment.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme, she said:
Alongside the post-16 white paper that we’ll be publishing later on this year, I will also bring a big focus through our schools white paper on how we tackle these thorny generational challenges where white working-class kids across our country don’t get the start that they deserve.
Now the school system is an important part of how we respond to that, but I would say alongside it so much of this develops and opens up in the early years.
“The attainment gap that we see between less well-off students and better-off students opens up before the age of five.It’s why early years has been such a priority, because if we get that right then we set up children to succeed, but we will take more action in the school system to ensure that those gaps that we see, those yawning inequalities, are addressed.
It’s something the last government failed to tackle. It is something this government will grasp.
You can follow the Guardian’s A-level live blog here:
Updated
Starmer welcomes Zelenskyy to Downing Street ahead of Friday's Putin-Trump meeting
Keir Starmer has welcomed Volodymyr Zelenskyy to Downing Street as Europe braces for Donald Trump’s face-to-face discussions with Vladimir Putin on Friday.
The Ukrainian president and the prime minister embraced and posed for the cameras in front of Number 10 with a handshake as he arrived in Westminster on Thursday morning while gathered media in Downing Street shouted questions. A red carpet had been rolled out for his arrival.
The prime minister’s meeting with Zelenskyy comes after he said Britain stands ready to “increase pressure” on Russia if necessary.
Education secretary Bridget Phillipson said that the government is “taking our time” to make sure it gets right its guidance on gender-questioning children in schools.
She told Times Radio this morning:
The last Conservative government published a draft version of the guidance, because the consultation on that concluded after the election in July. What also has happened is that we had the final review from Dr Hillary Cass in the intervening period. And therefore I think it is right that any guidance to schools on gender-questioning children aligns fully with the recommendations put forward by Dr Hillary Cass.
She added:
We’re taking our time to get this right.
I understand the need for guidance, and we do believe that is important, but critically, we’re talking about quite sensitive issues of children’s wellbeing and we want to make sure that any guidance that’s published reflects the important need to get this right for children and young people, but also ensures that schools have the clarity that they want on this important, but quite sensitive, topic.
Phillipson also said there is “no obligation” for people to call non-binary teachers Mx instead of Miss or Sir, reports the PA news agency.
She said:
They are able to make that request, but they’re not able to insist that people use that term. A teacher can, of course, make that request, but you can’t insist that it’s followed.
Asked whether she would call someone Mx, Phillipson told Times Radio:
I think that’s a hypothetical situation. I’ve never been asked to do that.
As a matter of principle, on a wider point, I would usually seek to respond to someone in a way that they would prefer, but there is no obligation for people to do that.
Education secretary Bridget Phillipson has said there has been a “steadying of the ship” after the disruption from the Covid-19 pandemic.
Speaking to BBC Breakfast, she said:
What we’ve seen is a steadying of the ship, both this year and last following some of the disruption that we saw during the pandemic.
These are young people who have not had disruption in recent times, but have had the full normal assessment process. These are also young people who would have been the first to sit GCSEs under normal circumstances. So they’ve gone through the full regular GCSE cycle that you would have expected before the pandemic.
So, this is a normal year, the kind of year that we would have seen before the pandemic hit.
According to the PA news agency, Phillipson also spoke to Sky News about the government’s investment in technical and vocational learning routes. She said:
As a government, we’re also investing more in technical and vocational education as well.
Just this week, I launched 10 new construction technical excellence colleges, one in every region, because there are also great routes that are out there, including apprenticeship opportunities where, you know, young people can have fantastic careers.
Rachel Reeves has said that Thursday’s GDP figures “show that the economy beat expectations in the second quarter of this year”.
Speaking at a construction site in Doncaster, the chancellor said “there’s still more to do to make sure that people in all parts of the country benefit” from growth.
According to the PA news agency, she said:
We are the fastest-growing economy in the G7 for the first half of this year, with a GDP growth of 0.3% this quarter, and that’s after GDP growth of 0.7% the quarter before that.
I recognise there’s still more to do to make sure that people in all parts of the country benefit from that growth, but since the general election, when I became chancellor, the economy has grown by 1.2% and GDP per capita – so for every person in the country – GDP per capita is up by 0.7%.
So, encouraging numbers today but, of course, we need to build on that to make sure people in all parts of the country are better-off.
Preparations have been under way at 10 Downing Street this morning for the visit of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Importantly, Larry the cat is ready.
Updated
UK economy posts surprise 0.3% growth in three months to June
The UK economy grew at a faster rate than expected in the second quarter, official figures show, despite a slowdown from a strong start to the year amid pressure from tax increases and Donald Trump’s global trade war.
Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed growth in gross domestic product slowed to 0.3% in the three months to the end of June, down from a rate of 0.7% in the first quarter.
Although beating forecasts for a slowdown to 0.1% growth made by City economists and the Bank of England, the latest snapshot underscores the challenge for the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, as she considers options for boosting the economy and raising revenues at her autumn budget.
Liz McKeown, an ONS director of economic statistics, said:
Growth slowed in the second quarter after a strong start to the year. The economy was weak across April and May, with some activity having been brought forward to February and March ahead of stamp duty and tariff changes, but then recovered strongly in June.
The latest snapshot showed the economy grew at a faster rate than expected in June of 0.4%, after two consecutive months of shrinking output. The ONS also revised its initial estimate for April’s GDP contraction from -0.3% to -0.1%.
Reeves said the quarterly figures were positive as it showed that Britain had recorded a strong start to the year and continued growth in the second quarter, “but there is more to do to deliver an economy that works for working people”.
International students 'always welcome' says education secretary, but adds some universities have 'become too dependent' on them
Education secretary Bridget Phillipson has said that the government has taken action to help universities, but that there is more to do, reports the PA news agency.
Asked about universities’ financial struggles, Phillipson told Times Radio:
I’ve made it a priority to put our universities on a more sustainable footing.
The action that we’ve taken in turning around the regulator, the Office for Students, [has] much more of a focus on universities’ financial health, but also the difficult but necessary decision that we took quite early on as a government to increase tuition fees to make sure that universities have a more stable funding stream into the future.
There is more to do and later on this year we’ll be setting out our plans for post-16 education overall, including universities, through a white paper we’ll be publishing.
On international students, the education secretary said they made an “important contribution” to the UK’s universities and economy, and “will always be welcome in the UK”.
She added:
It is also fair to say that some institutions, their business model has allowed them to become too dependent on international students, and therefore too open to any fluctuations that may happen around that.
Education secretary Bridget Phillipson has said it is a “day of celebration” for young people ahead of A-level results on Thursday.
Speaking to Times Radio, she said:
I’ll just start by saying that this is a really exciting day for young people. They’ve worked really hard. They’ve had brilliant support from their teachers and parents. It’s a day for celebration for our young people and there are lots of great routes out there.
University is one of them, but for young people who are considering other routes there are apprenticeships and plenty of other opportunities available too, and lots of advice available if you haven’t quite got what you needed, through Ucas and clearing, and also through the National Career Service.
Asked about the drop in pupils choosing to study arts and languages at A-level, Phillipson told Times Radio:
I think it’s a matter of personal choice.
I do think it’s a good thing that more young people are studying subjects like maths. There are often great roots into careers. The same is, of course, true of subjects like languages, and that was my personal passion.
But we, of course, look at some of those trends over time and keep under consideration what some of the reasons might be that we see changes in subject choice.
Keir Starmer to meet Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Downing Street
Keir Starmer will be joined by the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy at Downing Street on Thursday morning, as Europe braces for the outcome of Donald Trump’s face-to-face discussions with his Russian counterpart later this week.
The prime minister’s meeting with Zelenskyy comes after he said Britain stood ready to “increase pressure” on Russia if necessary. Meanwhile, Trump threatened Russia with “severe consequences” if a ceasefire was rejected by its leader.
During a call with the US president and European allies on Wednesday, Starmer praised Trump for his work to bring forward a “viable” chance of an end to the war.
Concerns have been raised over Zelenskyy’s exclusion from the meeting between Trump and Putin, which is scheduled to take place in Alaska.
Speaking on Wednesday, Starmer said:
This meeting on Friday that President Trump is attending is hugely important. As I’ve said personally to President Trump for the three-and-a-bit years this conflict has been going on, we haven’t got anywhere near a prospect of actually a viable solution, a viable way of bringing it to a ceasefire.
And now we do have that chance because of the work of that the president has put in.
Starmer is scheduled to meet Zelenskyy at 9.30am.
Also today, education secretary Bridget Phillipson has been on the morning media rounds as students in England, Wales and Northern Ireland received their A-level exam results. Phillipson is also expected to visit Trafford College in Altrincham, Greater Manchester. The shadow secretary of state for business and trade Andrew Griffith has been on the morning media rounds for the Conservatives. I’ll bring you any lines from them in a moment.
But first, in other developments:
The UK economy grew at a faster rate than expected in the second quarter, official figures show, despite a slowdown from a strong start to the year amid pressure from tax increases and Donald Trump’s global trade war. Figures from the Office for National Statistics showed growth in gross domestic product (GDP) slowed to 0.3% in the three months to the end of June, down from a rate of 0.7% in the first quarter.
Rachel Reeves has promised to use her autumn budget to prioritise fixing Britain’s dismal record on productivity as she sought to downplay mounting tax speculation with a focus on economic growth. Writing exclusively for the Guardian, she said: “If Labour’s first year in power was about fixing the foundations, then the second year is about building a stronger economy for a renewed Britain.”
David Lammy has referred himself to the environment watchdog after going fishing with JD Vance without the required licence during the US vice-president’s trip to the UK. The foreign secretary hosted Vance and his family at Chevening House in Kent last week, where the pair fished from the property’s private lake. Anglers aged 13 and over must hold a rod licence to fish for freshwater species such as carp in England and Wales.
The Scottish Greens have to broaden their appeal beyond middle-class urbanites by talking to voters in industrial towns facing wholesale job losses, a Green leadership candidate says. Gillian Mackay is one of four Scottish Greens bidding to win two co-leader posts after Patrick Harvie, the UK’s longest-serving party leader, quit as co-convener earlier this year.
