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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Nicola Slawson (now) and Andrew Sparrow (earlier)

Gillian Keegan says nothing more important than pupil and staff safety after apology for outburst over concrete crisis – as it happened

Jonathan Slater ​​Rishi Sunak RAAC (Facility) Bridget Phillipson DfE Gillian Keegan

Summary

Here’s a roundup of the key developments:

  • Keir Starmer has completed what is likely to be a final shadow cabinet reshuffle before a general election, keeping his most senior lineup the same but making lots of other promotions and demotions. Starmer’s long-awaited shadow cabinet reshuffle proved more widespread than some had predicted. Robert Peston, ITV’s political editor’s verdict says it shows Keir Starmer is ruthless.

  • Gillian Keegan has apologised after being caught swearing on camera while expressing frustration about the crumbling concrete crisis in schools, claiming that “everyone else has sat on their arse” while she tried to fix the problem. In a seemingly unguarded moment after a TV interview, the education secretary was filmed lamenting that nobody had praised her for doing a “fucking good job”.

  • Downing Street has insisted that “hundreds, not thousands” of schools are likely to be affected by crumbling concrete panels, as the focus shifted to Rishi Sunak’s role in the crisis when he was chancellor. As Sunak struggled to get a grip on an issue, which has caused dismay and chaos as millions of pupils in English schools start the new academic year, the prime minister insisted ministers had acted “as swiftly as possible” once new information emerged about the risks in schools built with reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (Raac).

  • In his TV clip this morning Rishi Sunak dismissed suggestions that he did not fund the school repair programme properly when he was chancellor. “If you look at what we have been doing over the previous decade, that’s completely in line with what we have always done,” he said. But the Institute for Fiscal Studies thinktank has published a briefing note today saying that capital spending on schools in England over the past decade has been low.

  • The Welsh education minister, Jeremy Miles, has hit out at the UK government’s handling of the Raac school building safety crisis. He said a Welsh government official attended a working group on Raac established by the UK government’s Cabinet Office on 24 August. No new evidence about Raac risks or its management were raised at that meeting.

  • Sir Gavin Williamson will have to apologise to the Commons and undergo behavioural training after having been found to have bullied his Conservative colleague Wendy Morton in a series of text messages in 2022. The former cabinet minister was found to have abused his power when he sent Morton the messages in September 2022 complaining about not getting a seat at the queen’s funeral. The messages included Williamson telling Morton, who was then chief whip: “Well let’s see how many more times you fuck us all over. There is a price for everything.”

We are closing this liveblog now. Thanks so much for joining us and for all the emails and comments.

Gavin Williamson apologises 'fully and unreservedly' for bullying former Tory chief whip Wendy Morton

Gavin Williamson has apologised for bullying former Tory chief whip Wendy Morton.

He said he apologised “fully and unreservedly” and said he will do his “utmost to ensure this does not happen again”.

Williamson told the Commons:

During this exchange I used intemperate and inappropriate language which I regret and I apologised for shortly after.

My behaviour led to a complaint, the complaint was initially dismissed by the commissioner for Parliamentary Standards, however this decision was appealed and subsequently reversed by the independent expert panel

I accept the decision that my conduct constituted a breach of the bullying and harassment policy, and have since reflected on my behaviour. I reiterate my apology made to the complainant following the breach.

I apologise to them again now and I apologise to the House fully and unreservedly. I will do my utmost to ensure this does not happen again.

Updated

Former top civil servant and partygate investigator Sue Gray has started her new job.

Sue Gray departure from the Civil ServiceFormer top civil servant and partygate investigator Sue Gray in her office in the Houses of Parliament, London, on her first day in her new role as the Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer's chief of staff. Picture date: Monday September 4, 2023. PA Photo. See PA story POLITICS Labour. Photo credit should read: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire
Sue Gray is pictured in her office in the Houses of Parliament, London, on her first day in her new role as the Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer's chief of staff. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA

The health secretary Steve Barclay has told the Commons he is exploring introducing Martha’s Rule – where patients who believe their concerns are not being taken seriously by medical staff would be given the right to seek an urgent second opinion – in the UK.

Barclay said he has asked his department and the NHS to look at whether it can introduce the measures in a bid to improve patient safety.

Martha’s Rule is named after Martha Mills died aged 13 in 2021 after failures to identify and properly treat a case of sepsis that developed while she was in King’s College hospital in London.

In 2022, a coroner ruled that Martha would have survived had doctors identified the warning signs and transferred her to intensive care earlier.

Her parents are calling on NHS England to urgently put in place “Martha’s rule”, which they said would “effectively formalise the idea of asking for a second opinion, from a different team outside the team currently looking after you if you feel you are not being listened to”.

Barclay told the Commons:

We are exploring introducing Martha’s rule to the UK. Martha’s Rule would be similar to Queensland’s system called Ryan’s Rule.

It is a three-step process that allows patients or their families a clinical review from a doctor or a nurse if their condition is deteriorating or not improving as expected.

Ryan’s Rule has saved lives in Queensland and I’ve asked my department and the NHS to look into whether similar measures can improve safety here in the UK.

Updated

Labour's reshuffle - verdict from commentariat

Turning back to the Labour reshuffle, here are some assessments on what it means from commentators.

Robert Peston, ITV’s political editor, says it shows Keir Starmer is ruthless.

Labour reshuffle nutshell: Blairite re-conquest (McFadden, Kendall, Kyle promotion); all about election (three heavyweights - McFadden, Thomas-Symonds and Ashworth all in generalist Cab office shadow roles); humiliating demotion for Nandy (they feared she would reject it); bigger jobs for Rayner (but who is holding who hostage in Starmer/Rayner relationship? Asks one source); important Northern Ireland job for veteran Benn (they wondered if he would take it); there are now two Mcfaddens at the heart of the Starmer campaign team; in Starmer’s list of shadow cabinet precedence, education is his most important priority (after Treasury); my goodness Starmer is ruthless

Rachel Cunliffe at the New Statesman says Angela Rayner has been sidelined without being demoted. She says:

While Rayner’s new role gives her greater visibility, it also distances her from the command centre of Starmer’s shadow cabinet. Relations between Starmer and his deputy have been strained during his leadership – in May 2021, a botched attempt to demote Rayner backfired and resulted in her being handed a panoply of new roles. The dynamic has clearly changed since then, as Labour has risen in the polls, and Starmer has established himself as a prime minister-in-waiting.

Today’s reshuffle has allowed Starmer to sideline Rayner without explicitly demoting her – in fact, he has sweetened the pill by making her shadow deputy prime minister. But the Labour leader’s balancing act could also prove risky: the levelling-up brief will give Rayner ample opportunity to challenge the party’s spending plans and build alliances with powerful regional figures, such as Labour’s metro mayors, who share her frustrations with Rachel Reeves’s fiscal conservatism.

Morgan Jones at LabourList says Pat McFadden’s “continued centrality to whatever Starmerism is is one of the ways to easily tag this reshuffle as a political shift to the right”. He says:

Given the general political tenor of the reshuffle, you get the sense that were it not for her independent mandate as deputy and strong connection with the unions, Rayner would be sliding down the ranks alongside Nandy.

Sam Coates in a blog for Sky News says Starmer feels it has gone well.

Most of all, Sir Keir will be relieved it is over. In May 2021, his first big reshuffle went awry when a series of figures from Ms Rayner downwards refused to move and he had to back down.

Asked how it felt, the Labour leader told me: “I was really pleased that we started at nine o’clock this morning. We’d finished by half past 12. And everybody’s pleased with the position they’ve now got in the shadow cabinet. I’m very, very pleased with this reshuffle.”

The body language suggests he was indeed happy with the result.

And Sunder Katwala from the British Future thinktank says the reshuffle shows that Labour is strong on gender equality at the top, but that it cannot quite match the Tory cabinet for ethnic diversity.

Shadow Cabinet confirms that Labour is strong on gender balance in politics (15 women out of 31; compared to 8 out of 23 of the Sunak Cabinet, or 9 out of 31 attending Cabinet) but somewhat weaker on ethnic diversity than the current government, especially in senior roles.

That’s all from me for today. My colleague Nicola Slawson is now taking over.

Mark Francois (Con) tells Keegan that what he is being told by the DfE does not always match what he is being told by schools in Essex about what is actually happening to pupils. He says it is important that, when the list of schools affected is published, it should be accurate.

Back in the Commons, Labour’s Jess Phillips asks if a school in Birmingham due to face an Ofsted inspection this week will still face inspection, even though teachers have had to spent the last few days completely revising their timetables because of a Raac problem.

Keegan asks Phillips to write to her about this case. She says Ofsted is normally willing to delay inspections in cases like this.

No 10 says Keegan right to apologise for her TV outburst

Downing Street said Gillian Keegan was right to apologise for her “fucking good job” remark. (See 3.55pm.) Asked about what she said, the PM’s spokesperson told journalists at the afternoon lobby briefing.

I think that the language used obviously is not acceptable. It is right that the education secretary has apologised for that.

But at the front of parents’ minds will be the situation in their schools and I think that is what they will want to hear more about.

Vicky Ford (Con) says it is important not to frighten children. She says MPs should not present the situation as more dangerous than it is.

Keegan agrees. In most cases, impact is minimal, she says.

Labour’s Dame Diana Johnson says, if the DfE is short of cash, Keegan could install a swear box in the department.

That is the first reference so far to Keegan’s TV outburst earlier.

Keegan jokes that, as a scouser, she has a higher bar for bad language than others.

Labour's Ben Bradshaw implies Sunak would have taken Raac problem more seriously if his children attended state schools

Labour’s Ben Bradshaw asks how big a factor was it, when Rishi Sunak cut the school repair programme, that he and most of his cabinet colleagues do not send their children to state schools.

Keegan says Bradshaw is wrong to say spending on repairs was cut. It remains on the same scale as what was announced in 2020, she says.

She ignores the point about private education.

Keegan claims Scottish government's approach to Raac in school buildings 'worrying'

Carol Monaghan, the SNP’s education spokesperson at Westminster, asks about reports that the Treasury is briefing there will be no new money available to the DfE to deal with the problem.

Keegan says Scotland is not planning to close schools with Raac in their buildings. That is “worrying”, she says.

Dame Maria Miller (Con) asks what happens with suspected cases of Raac. There are two in her Basingstoke constituency, she says. How long does it take for these problems to be resolved.

Keegan says, where there are suspected cases, they will be surveyed in the next two weeks. In about two thirds of cases, there is no need for action.

Keegan says she is acting to deal with the problem. By comparison, she claims Phillipson has ignored problems in Labour-run Wales – even though two schools there have now been closed. (See 2.32pm.)

She says her officials at the DfE are doing a brilliant job.

Phillipson is now asking questions.

Why won’t the government publish the list of schools affected? What plan does the DfE have for dealing with this? Do the emergency services have the guidance they will need? How long will it take for the problem to be sorted out? And what is the threat posed by asbestos if a Raac building collapses?

Bridget Phillipson, the shadow education secretary, says the mark of a politician is the ability to take responsibility – and not just personal responsibility, but collective responsibility for what has been done by their government.

She says Gillian Keegan claims to be doing a good job. And she says schools are not her direct responsibility. But if they are not her responsibility, who’s responsibility is it?

She says the last Labour government started rebuilding schools because it knew that school buildings needed to be replaced after 30 years.

But Nick Gibb, the schools minister now, was the schools minister who scrapped Labour’s Building Schools for the Future programme.

Rishi Sunak was asked to double the rebuilding programme when he was chancellor, she says. But instead he halved it, she says.

Keegan says over the summer there were three instances of Raac that had been deemed “non-critical” suddenly failing.

One was in a commercial setting.

Another was in a difference jurisdication. She says the Raac plank fell down, but remained intact, which meant it could be inspected.

And the third case was in a school in England, she says.

She says as a result the government changed its approach to how to deal with the risk from Raac that had been categorised as “non-critical”.

Keegan says nothing more important than safety of children and staff as she makes statement on crumbling concrete

Keegan starts by saying nothing is more important than the safety of children and staff.

When the government knows there is a risk, it takes immediate action, she says.

She says she responded to recent cases, including one emerging only at the end of the school holidays.

Most schools in England are unaffected by Raac, she says.

She says 52 schools and colleges have mitigations in place.

Another 104 schools were last week advised to take measures to contain the risk from Raac. Most of these will remain open, because only part of the school is affected.

The government is taking a “deliberately cautious” approach, she says.

She says England has a better understanding of where Raac is present in schools “than most other counries”.

Once mitigations are in place, the government will publish a list of schools affected. That will happen this week, she says, with details of mitigations in place.

After that, updates will be published as new cases are identified, and cases are resolved.

She says this will include information about the number of pupils doing remote learning.

She says in most cases so far disruption to learning has only lasted a matter of days.

Updated

Gillian Keegan makes statement to MPs on Raac school building crisis

Gillian Keegan, the education secretary, is now making her statement to MPs about the Raac school building crisis.

Henry Zeffman from the BBC says the government is now checking courts built from the 1990s for dangerous concrete.

The government has ordered urgent tests on courts built in the 1990s after dangerous concrete was found at a site in north London.

Govt said earlier this year all courts were safe - turns out it only surveyed those built from 60s to 80s

Tories criticise Starmer for having five former Blair-era special advisers in shadow cabinet

The Conservative party has sent out this comment on the Labour reshuffle from Greg Hands, the Tory chair. He says:

This reshuffle shows Sir Keir Starmer offers no new ideas, just more of the same old short-term approach to politics which has failed this country.

He constantly changes positions to win votes, showing he doesn’t have the strength of character to lead Britain.

In a note justifying the “no new ideas” line, CCHQ says Keir Starmer has promoted two “veteran Blairite Labour party figures” (Pat McFadden and Hilary Benn) and there are now five former Blair-era special advisers in the shadow cabinet: McFadden, Benn, Ed Miliband, Jonathan Ashworth and Liz Kendall.

Updated

Darren Jones, the new shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, was getting ahead of himself as he tweeted about his new appointment.

A reader asks:

You say Lisa Nandy’s move to international development looks like a demotion – do you know what number was levelling up & communities on the shadow cabinet list before it was allocated to Angela Rayner in today’s reshuffle?

I’ve checked, and the last time Labour announced the results of a major shadow cabinet reshuffle, two years ago, the press release listed the appointments mostly by department, in alphabetical order. There was no 1 to 31 ranking as we’ve had today. (See 1.08pm.)

In opposition shadow cabinet ministers do not normally get ranked. But in government where a minister gets ranked in the order of precedence matters, and can decide matters like who gets to chair a committee in certain circumstances. When No 10 publishes the full cabinet list, the order in which names appear isn’t arbitrary; it counts.

Updated

Starmer says Labour reshuffle puts 'strongest possible players on pitch'

Keir Starmer says his reshuffle means that Labour now has “the strongest possible players on the pitch”. Speaking to Sky News, he said:

I think what is important is to recognise that with this reshuffle, we now have the strongest possible players on the pitch for what is going to be a crucial part of the journey.

Asked about Lisa Nandy’s move from shadow levelling up secretary to shadow international development minister (a move that looks like a demotion, particularly given that Nandy is also now ranked 25th out of 31 on the official shadow cabinet list – see 1.08pm), Starmer said that was about wanting to “reset” the UK’s position on the world stage. He said:

I think one of the big challenges facing an incoming Labour government will be to reset our position on the international stage.

That is very important for our reputation, but also of central importance for growth.

So, I think the international development post is crucially important, working with other members of the shadow cabinet.

Keir Starmer
Keir Starmer. Photograph: Sky News

Updated

The Labour party has already posted a campaigning video on X/Twitter using the Gillian Keegan quote. It says:

Your kid’s school is literally collapsing and the Tories want you to thank them for it.

Keegan apologises for 'choice language' in Raac outburst - and claims doing nothing jibe aimed at 'nobody in particular'

Gillian Keegan, the education secretary, has issued a limited apology in connection with her comment earlier saying she had done a “fucking good job” over the problem with Raac in schools, and implying her predecessors hadn’t. (See 2.08pm.)

Referring to her use of the words fucking and arse, she said:

I would like to apologise for my choice language.

But she did not apologise for the broader point she was making. She said she had been frustrated when she spoke out by the interview she had just concluded with ITV’s Dan Hewitt because he had implied that it was all her fault.

And, when asked by ITV’s Anushka Asthana who she was referring to when she complained about “everyone else has sat on their arse and done nothing”, she replied: “Nobody in particular.”

Keegan told Asthana that it was an “off the cuff” remark and that she had been frustrated by the questions she had been asked because she thought the government had been taking a lead on the issue.

She said it was important to understand that the government did not act earlier because the evidence only changed very recently. And she said she understood why parents were frustrated. She said:

I do understand, by the way, the frustration for parents and children.

Updated

Starmer says Keegan's comments show how government's handling of Raac crisis has turned to 'farce'

And Keir Starmer has said Gillian Keegan’s statement shows what a “farce” the government’s handling of the Raac crisis has become.

Asked if he thought Keegan should resign over her comment, Starmer replied:

That’s a matter for Rishi Sunak. It’s his decision.

But, frankly, to see cabinet members coming out today, on an issue of such importance to our children and families, and simply try to blame anyone but themselves, including other members within their team, is to see farce now in this situation.

Rishi Sunak needs to act. Will he have the strength to act? I doubt it.

Lib Dems say Keegan should apologise for boasting about doing 'good job' over Raac

The Liberal Democrats say Gillian Keegan should apologise for saying she has done a “fucking good job” over the problem of Raac in schools. (See 2.08pm.) Munira Wilson, the Lib Dems’ education spokesperson, said:

Gillian Keegan’s disgraceful comments add insult to injury for parents who’ve seen their children’s return to school ruined by this concrete crisis.

Expecting people to thank her when children are being taught in classrooms at risk of collapse shows Keegan must be living on another planet.

The very least Keegan owes parents for her refusal to take responsibility for her shocking handling of this crisis and out of touch comments is an apology.

IFS says capital spending on schools in England 'low in historical terms'

In his TV clip this morning Rishi Sunak dismissed suggestions that he did not fund the school repair programme properly when he was chancellor. “If you look at what we have been doing over the previous decade, that’s completely in line with what we have always done,” he said. (See 12.02pm.)

But the Institute for Fiscal Studies thinktank has published a briefing note today saying that capital spending on schools in England over the past decade has been low. Luke Sibieta, who wrote the briefing, said:

There was a large increase in spending in the late 2000s, with spending increasing from around £6bn in the mid-2000s to about £10bn in 2009-10 and 2010-11 (all in today’s prices). The large increase reflects the last Labour government’s Building Schools for the Future programme, with delays in this programme leading to the big upticks in spending in 2009-10 and 2010-11.

The Building Schools for the Future programme was largely cancelled and not replaced by the incoming government in 2010. This led to a large decline in capital spending down to about £4.6bn in 2013-14, only just above 2002-03 levels …

The lumpiness and volatility of capital spending on education make it unwise to compare individual years. However, the three-year average up to 2023-24 (focusing on schools and excluding FE) was about £5.2bn. This is about 26% lower in real terms than the three-year average of £7bn up to 2008-09 and about 50% below the peak in 2010. Indeed, the three-year average of £4.8bn up to 2022–23 was lower than any three-year period since at least 2004-05. Capital spending on schools is low in historical terms and lower in real terms than in the mid 2000s.

Capital spending on education in England
Capital spending on education in England Photograph: IFS

Updated

SNP announces reshuffle of SNP frontbench at Westminster

Stephen Flynn, the SNP leader at Westminster, has also announced a reshuffle of his team in the House of Commons. Summing up the key moves, the SNP says:

The reshuffle sees Drew Hendry MP take over as economy spokesperson and Dave Doogan MP take over as energy spokesperson. It also ensures representation from communities across Scotland, and more women promoted – with Amy Callaghan MP joining the frontbench as health spokesperson and Anum Qaisar MP taking over as levelling up spokesperson.

Tommy Sheppard MP takes over as Scotland spokesperson, while David Linden MP, Alison Thewliss MP, Alyn Smith MP and Kirsten Oswald MP are among those staying in place as social justice spokesperson, home affairs spokesperson, Europe and EU accession spokesperson, and women and equalities spokesperson, respectively.

Here is the full list.

Updated

In the Commons Simon Hart, the government chief whip, has just moved the writ for the byelection in Mid Bedfordshire caused by the resignation of Nadine Dorries. He did not announce the date.

Before that, the three new MPs elected in byelections in July – Steve Tuckwell (Conservative – Uxbridge and South Ruislip), Keir Mather (Labour – Selby and Ainsty) and Sarah Dyke (Lib Dem – Somerton and Frome) – took their seats.

Updated

Welsh education minister says it's 'hugely regrettable' DfE did not share information about Raac risk promptly

The Welsh education minister, Jeremy Miles, has hit out at the UK government’s handling of the Raac school building safety crisis.

He said a Welsh government official attended a working group on Raac established by the UK government’s Cabinet Office on 24 August. No new evidence about Raac risks or its management were raised at that meeting.

Since 31 August when the UK government announced new guidance on Raac in schools, the Welsh government has “repeatedly” asked to see the evidence.

In a written ministerial statement Miles said:

Last night (Sunday) at 18.57, the UK government sent some of the evidence that we have repeatedly requested. It is hugely regrettable that the evidence that has apparently been developed over the summer has been withheld until the night before the first day back of term.

It is also incomplete, leaving us without the full rationale for the DfE’s sudden policy change towards the management of Raac in schools.

He went on:

We are undertaking further work to verify the position across Wales and a review of the latest information held by local authorities is under way. We expect to have the results of that within the next two weeks.

Upon receipt of this information we will engage with specialist structural engineers to work at pace with local authorities and further education institutions in Wales in undertaking urgent appraisal of any newly identified instances as to the presence of RAAC in education buildings. We anticipate completion of this work by the end of December.

Jeremy Miles.
Jeremy Miles. Photograph: Dimitris Legakis/Athena Pictures/Athena Pictures

Updated

Two schools in Anglesey (Ynys Môn) in north Wales have been closed so that safety inspections can take place, the Welsh education minister, Jeremy Miles, has said.

Miles said:

The local authority is working with the headteachers of the two schools, Ysgol David Hughes and Ysgol Uwchradd Caergybi, to inform parents and carers that both schools will be temporarily closed for learners so that further safety inspections can be carried out and that alternative planning can take place.

Whilst this will be extremely difficult for parents and carers at such short notice, the health and safety of learners, teachers, staff, parents and carers remains the key priority.

They were the only two schools in Wales identified as having Raac, Miles said in a written statement.

Updated

Keegan implies her predecessors have 'done nothing' over Raac school buildings crisis in sweary outburst recorded on TV

Gillian Keegan, the education secretary, has been recorded complaining that she deserves credit for her handling of the Raac crisis because, unlike other politicians, she has not sat on her arse and “done nothing”.

ITV News has broadcast the clip. Keegan made the comment to the report, Dan Hewitt, after his formal interview wrapped up. She said:

Does anyone ever say, ‘You know what, you’ve done a fucking good job because everyone else has sat on their arse and done nothing.’ No, no signs of that?

Since the interview was over, Keegan will have assumed she was off the record and she may have thought she was no longer being recorded. But politicians are not normally that indiscreet when there is a camera in front of them, and perhaps she wanted her frustration to be more widely known.

In interviews this morning Keegan argued that the UK government deserved credit for at least surveying the extent of the Raac crisis. She suggested that that it was ahead of the Labour-run goverment in Wales in assessing what schools were affected.

But her self-pitying tone may go down badly with parents whose children are having their schooling affected as a result of the closures that have already taken place, or future closures that are anticipated. (See 1.35pm.)

And it is hard not to conclude that, in condemning “everyone else has sat on their arse and done nothing”, she is attacking not just the devolved administrations but her predecessors at the Department for Education too. Since 2010, there have been nine of them. It could even be taken as a dig at Rishi Sunak, who is facing criticism for not adequately addressing the problem when he was chancellor.

Updated

Labour blames Sunak after he suggests hundreds more schools could be affected by Raac building safety crisis

In his broadcast clip this morning Rishi Sunak implied that hundreds more schools in England could be affected by dangerous concrete crisis. He said:

New information came to light relatively recently and it’s important that once it had, that the Government acted on it as swiftly as possible.

Of course I know the timing is frustrating, but I want to give people a sense of the scale of what we are grappling with here: there are around 22,000 schools in England and the important thing to know is that we expect that 95% of those schools won’t be impacted by this.

If, as Sunak implied, 5% of schools are affected, that would amount to 1,100 schools. Currently emergency procedures are in place at 104 schools. (See 10.11am.)

In response, Bridget Phillipson, the shadow education secretary, said:

The prime minister has now revealed what many parents feared: this crisis affects many more schools than they were initially led to believe.

The decisions he took directly as chancellor to drastically cut the number of schools to be rebuilt are there in black and white, in a spending review he signed off, and have put children directly at risk from this dangerous form of concrete, which should have been replaced.

It’s time that this Conservative government, including the prime minister, came clean about which schools are affected, what they knew about this dangerous concrete, and the decisions they took which have seen more than a hundred close. If they don’t, Labour will force a vote to release the information in the House of Commons.

Bridget Phillipson
Bridget Phillipson Photograph: Thomas Krych/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock

Rosena Allin-Khan says she quit as shadow mental health minister because Starmer would not make it cabinet job

Rosena Allin-Khan, who was in the previous shadow cabinet as shadow minister for mental health, says she resigned from the role because Keir Starmer would not give her an assurance that mental health would be a cabinet job in a Labour government.

In an open letter to Starmer, posted on X/Twitter, she says:

It has been a pleasure to serve as the shadow cabinet minister for mental health over the last three and a half years. As discussed previously, and in our call earlier, you made clear that you do not see a space for a mental health portfolio in a Labour cabinet, which is why I told you many weeks ago that I would not be able to continue in this role.

Updated

Labour publishes full list of new shadow cabinet as reshuffle of top team concludes

Keir Starmer has completed his shadow cabinet reshuffle. Labour has just sent out this full list of the 31-strong team.

1. Leader of the opposition: Keir Starmer

2. Deputy leader, shadow deputy prime minister and shadow secretary of state for levelling up, housing and communities: Angela Rayner

3. Shadow chancellor of the exchequer: Rachel Reeves

4. Shadow secretary of state for education: Bridget Phillipson

5. Shadow secretary of state for the home department: Yvette Cooper

6. Shadow secretary of state for health and social care: Wes Streeting

7. Shadow secretary of state for energy security and net zero: Ed Miliband

8. Shadow foreign secretary: David Lammy

9. Shadow chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and national campaign coordinator: Pat McFadden

10. Shadow minister without portfolio (Cabinet Office): Nick Thomas-Symonds

11. Shadow paymaster general (Cabinet Office): Jonathan Ashworth

12. Shadow secretary of state for justice: Shabana Mahmood

13. Shadow secretary of state for business and trade: Jonathan Reynolds

14. Shadow secretary of state for work and pensions: Liz Kendall

15. Shadow secretary of state for defence: John Healey

16. Shadow secretary of state for transport: Louise Haigh

17. Shadow secretary of state for culture, media and sport: Thangam Debbonaire

18. Shadow minister for women and equalities and chair of the Labour party: Anneliese Dodds

19. Shadow secretary of state for environment, food and rural affairs: Steve Reed

20. Shadow secretary of state for science, innovation and technology: Peter Kyle

21. Shadow secretary of state for Northern Ireland: Hilary Benn

22. Shadow secretary of state for Scotland: Ian Murray

23. Shadow secretary of state for Wales: Jo Stevens

24. Shadow attorney general: Emily Thornberry

25. Shadow cabinet minister for international development: Lisa Nandy

26. Shadow chief secretary to the Treasury: Darren Jones

27. Deputy national campaign coordinator: Ellie Reeves

28. Shadow leader of the House of Commons: Lucy Powell

29. Opposition chief whip in the House of Commons: Alan Campbell

30. Shadow leader of the House of Lords: Angela Smith

31. Opposition chief whip in the House of Lords: Roy Kennedy

Updated

And here are more Labour announcements.

Darren Jones has been made shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, replacing Pat McFadden. Jones was chair of the Commons business committee, which means there will now be an election for a new chair.

Nick Thomas-Symonds, who was shadow international trade secretary, has been made a shadow Cabinet Office minister. His job has been in jeopardy since Rishi Sunak merged the international trade department with the business department, meaning there has been no international trade secretary to shadow.

And Lucy Powell, who was shadow culture secretary, has been made shadow leader of the Commons.

Hilary Benn returns to shadow cabinet as shadow Northern Ireland secretary

Keir Starmer is tearing through his shadow cabinet reshuffle, and he has brought Hilary Benn back, as shadow Northern Ireland secretary. Benn, who was international development secretary and then environment secretary in the last Labour government, has not served in shadow cabinet since he was sacked by Jeremy Corbyn as shadow foreign secretary in 2016. Benn’s sacking triggered mass resignations and a challenge to Corbyn’s leadership, which he eventually saw off with ease.

Benn replaces Peter Kyle, who has been made shadow science secretary.

The only two other members of the shadow cabinet who have been full cabinet ministers are Yvette Cooper and Ed Miliband. But John Healey, the shadow defence secretary (at least, he was this morning) did have the right to attend cabinet in his last government job as housing minister.

Gillian Keegan’s statement in the Commons this afternoon on the Raac criss will not start until after 5pm. At 2.30pm there are work and pensions questions. Then, after 3.30pm, first there will be an urgent question on the Police Service of Northern Ireland data breach, and then Steve Barclay, the health secretary, will deliver a statement on the inquiry into the Lucy Letby murders at the Countess of Chester hospital.

In a thread on X, or Twitter, Preet Gill has been tweeting about losing her post as shadow international development minister. (See 11.39am.) It starts here.

It has been a great privilege to serve as the Shadow Secretary for International Development through a tumultuous few years: a global pandemic that has set the clock back on years of progress, the UK’s disastrous exit from Afghanistan, and Putin’s abhorrent war in Ukraine.

And she stresses her loyalty to Keir Starmer.

5/ It couldn’t be clearer that we need to turf out this rotten, zombie government and put a mission-driven Labour government in power. It is as clear today as it was three years ago when I supported his campaign to be leader, that Keir Starmer is the Prime Minister Britain needs.

Labour reshuffle continues with extensive changes in lower ranks of shadow cabinet

Back to the shadow cabinet reshuffle, and the appointments are coming thick and fast. Although Keir Starmer is largely leaving his most senior shadow ministers in place (Treasury, Home Office, health, education and energy – the portfolios covered by the five Labour missions), in the lower ranks the shake-up is extensive

Shabana Mahmood, who was the national campaign coordinator, has been made shadow justice secretary, replacing Steve Reed.

Steve Reed has been made shadow environment secretary, replacing Jim McMahon. (See 10.29am.)

Pat McFadden, who was shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, becomes shadow chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster (replacing Angela Rayner in that role – see 11.06am) and national campaign coordinator (replacing Mahmood).

Liz Kendall, who was shadow social care minister, has been made shadow work and pensions secretary, replacing Jonathan Ashworth.

Ashworth becomes shadow paymaster general. This looks like a demotion, but he will stay as a full member of the shadow cabinet and Labour sources say he will play a big role in the general election campaign.

Thangam Debbonaire, who was shadow leader of the Commons, becomes shadow culture secretary. She replaces Lucy Powell.

And Peter Kyle, who was shadow Northern Ireland secretary, has been made shadow secretary of state for science, innovation and technology.

Updated

Sunak denies not properly funding school repairs as chancellor, saying his plans in line with spending over past decade

In a clip for broadcasters, Rishi Sunak has dismissed claims that he failed to properly fund school rebuilding plans when he was chancellor (see 9.07am) as “completely and utterly wrong”.

Asked to respond to Jonathan Slater, the former permanent secretary at the Department for Education, saying Sunak had halved the school repair programme, the PM replied:

I think that is completely and utterly wrong. Actually one of the first things I did as chancellor, in my first spending review in 2020, was to announce a new 10-year school re-building programme for 500 schools.

Now that equates to about 50 schools a year, that will be refurbished or rebuilt.

If you look at what we have been doing over the previous decade, that’s completely in line with what we have always done.

But Slater was not accusing Sunak of cutting school repair spending below the average annual spend for the past 10 years (a period that included austerity). Slater’s argument was that 50 school repair projects a year was half the previous year’s total, and a quarter of what the Department for Education thought was needed.

In his interview, Sunak also said that 95% of schools would not be affected by the current Raac crisis. And he said schools that did need urgent repairs would not have to fund those from their own budgets. He said:

The chancellor has been crystal clear that schools will be given extra money for these mitigations. It won’t come from their existing school budgets.

There will be extra money to the schools, so the school budget won’t be impacted by this. They will be given the extra money to deal with the mitigations …

In our expectation, 95% of schools won’t be impacted by this.

Updated

Lisa Nandy made shadow cabinet minster for international development

Lisa Nandy has been made shadow cabinet minister for international development. She was shadow levelling up secretary.

Lisa Nandy MP @LisaNandy has been appointed Shadow Cabinet Minister for International Development.

Nandy has not been made shadow international development secretary because there is no international development secretary. There used to be one when the Department for International Development was a standalone department, but Boris Johnson merged it with the Foreign Office, in what amounted to a significant downgrading of the status of international development.

Nandy will shadow Andrew Mitchell, the development minister. He attends cabinet, but is not formally a member.

Last year Starmer said he would recreate DfID as a separate department in its own right. But recently there have been reports saying he may keep it as part of the Foreign Office, on the grounds that that would be less disruptive.

Labour has not said yet what is happening to Preet Gill, the former shadow international development minister.

UPDATE: I’ve removed a line from an earlier version of this post saying “Nandy’s title implies she would have full cabinet status.” Labour says it does not make a distinction between people who are full members of the shadow cabinet, and people who attend, and all 31 attendees are full members. But in government there is a legal limit on the number of people who can be paid cabinet ministers (it’s 22), and Labour sources say whether the international development post would be a full cabinet job, along with whether DfID will return as a separate department, are still unresolved matters.

Updated

Sunak faces likely new byelection challenge after Pincher loses appeal against 8-week suspension

Rishi Sunak is facing the prospect of another byelection challenge after the independent expert panel reject Chris Pincher’s appeal against a standards committee report saying he should be suspended from the Commons for eight weeks for groping two men.

Pincher appealed to the IEP, claiming the punishment was disproportionate. In a report out this morning, the IEP says it wasn’t. It says:

We consider the [standards] committee approached this task properly, with the correct considerations in mind, and applying its members’ experience of the House of Commons, fairness and obvious reason to the facts of the case. We consider that the appellant’s arguments are misconceived or erroneous. The sanction is far from being arbitrary or disproportionate.

Because Pincher is being suspended for more than 10 sitting days, a recall election will take place if 10% of constituents sign a petition calling for one. Recent cases suggest that Pincher’s opponents should be able to clear this hurdle easily.

Alternatively, Pincher may decide to resign as an MP. This would also trigger a byelection.

At the last election Pincher had a majority of 19,634 over Labour in his Tamworth constituency, with the Lib Dems in a distant third place. In normal circumstances a majority of that size would be impregnable. But in Selby and Ainsty in July Labour overturned a Tory majority of 20,137.

Updated

Angela Rayner promoted to official shadow deputy PM and shadow levelling up secretary

Angela Rayner, the deputy Labour leader, has been made shadow levelling up secretary in Keir Starmer’s reshuffle. She will replace Lisa Nandy. Where Nandy’s going, we don’t yet know.

Rayner has also officially been made shadow deputy prime minister. This is significant because, as Harriet Harman discovered when she had the role under Gordon Brown, Labour’s deputy leader does not automatically become deputy prime minister.

Rayner stands in for Starmer when he is not at PMQs, going up against Oliver Dowden, who is deputy prime minister. So she was the de facto shadow deputy PM. And she said in an interview last year that she would be deputy PM in a Labour government “otherwise Keir’s got trouble”. But now it is official.

Until today Rayner was “deputy leader, shadow first secretary of state, shadow chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and shadow secretary of state for the future of work”, a multi-pronged title she acquired after the reshuffle in 2021 when she successfully negotiated new roles after Starmer tried to demote her.

This is from the Labour party.

Deputy Leader Angela Rayner MP @AngelaRayner has been appointed Shadow Deputy Prime Minister and Shadow Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.

UPDATE: Rayner will retain her “future of work” responsibilities, Labour has said. A party source said:

Keir is delighted that Angela has accepted this important role. In addition she will continue to be the strategic lead on Labour’s new deal for working people.

Updated

Starmer thanks McMahon, and suggests impact of threats against MP were factor in his resignation from shadow cabinet

And here is Keir Starmer’s reply to Jim McMahon.

Thank you, @JimfromOldham, for your service and support in the shadow cabinet. I have no doubt you will continue to play an important role in the future of @UKLabour and the people of Oldham West & Royton are lucky to have you.

In his letter to Starmer (see 10.29am), McMahon said that he had faced several “personal challenges” in the past year, including a serious illness. He did not directly mention threats to his safety. But Starmer suggested in his response that threats were a factor. He said:

I understand the reasons for your decision. I know that you have faced a number of personal challenges in addition to your frontbench work and that these have taken a personal toll. MPs should never have to deal with abuse or violent threats, and I can appreciate how difficult this must have been for you and your family. You have always risen above this and remained focused on the principles that brought you into politics.

Of course, I am also aware about the ongoing health issues that you have faced. Despite all of these difficulties, you have never wavered in your determination to work, either for your constituents or for me. I am very grateful for this. I know that you will continue to diligently serve our party and your constituents from the backbenches.

Two years ago, in a victim impact statement read out in court, McMahon said dealing with threats and abuse had made him anxious and withdrawn. At the hearing a man who had threatened him on Facebook was sentenced to eight weeks in jail, suspended for 12 months.

Jim McMahon resigns as shadow environment secretary as Starmer's shadow cabinet reshuffle starts

Jim McMahon says he has resigned as shadow environment secretary. He was one of the shadow ministers who had been tipped for demotion or the sack in the reshuffle Keir Starmer is carrying out today.

He has posted these messages on X, or Twitter as most of us still call it.

As the reshuffle begins, I have written to Keir to take the opportunity to step down from the shadow cabinet. I have been and remain a firm supporter of Keir and the project we have built to offer Britain an electable Labour government after 13 wasted yrs under the Conservatives.

After a testing year I want to focus on getting my health back to full strength so that I can make a full and active contribution to the general election campaign heading towards us, and to prioritise my constituents in Chadderton, Oldham and Royton.

Earlier this year McMahon was in hospital for two weeks because of an infection.

Updated

Gavin Williamson should apologise for bullying former chief whip during funeral tickets row, watchdog says

PA Media has just snapped this.

Former cabinet minister Sir Gavin Williamson should apologise to MPs for bullying former chief whip Wendy Morton after he was not allocated tickets to the late queen’s funeral, the independent expert panel said.

The full report is here. I will post more details from it shortly.

Updated

Gillian Keegan says she was being 'very cautious' when she ordered safety measures for schools with Raac

As mentioned earlier, Gillian Keegan, the education secretary, defended the government’s response to the school building crisis during her morning interview round. (See 9.07am.) Here are the main lines from her interviews.

  • Keegan defended the Treasury’s decision to cut funding for school repairs when Rishi Sunak was chancellor. Responding to the criticisms from Jonathan Slater, the former DfE permanent secretary, she said it was normal for departments not to get all the money they wanted. She said:

There’s always a challenge in terms of putting forward your case for funding, and how much you get. And every department will always put forward a case for more than they actually get. What you have to do is demonstrate good value for money.

She also said that she has recently announced 239 school rebuilding projects.

  • She said that she changed the guidance for schools with Raac (reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete) after new evidence emerged over the summer suggesting that buildings deemed “non-critical” were more dangerous than had been assumed. She was being “very cautious”, she said. She explained:

What happened over the summer is we had three cases – not in schools, some in schools, some not in schools – and I sent structural engineers out to see them, some were in commercial settings, and some in different jurisdictions.

And when they went out to see them, they thought there’d been a failure, but it was in a non-critical setting. So that was new evidence and new information …

So I decided to take a very cautious approach. And I knew it was going to be difficult because, you know, obviously, for parents, for teachers, this coming so late in August, but that’s when we got the evidence that a panel had failed in a roof that had previously been classified as non-critical.

I wasn’t willing to take the risk. It was just one panel, but it was in a roof that had been assessed as non-critical.

  • She said that most schools with Raac problems would remain open. In most of them, only part of a building was affected, she said. She told Sky News:

Most of the schools will be open …

The vast majority of children will be going back today. There will be some where they’ve got quite extensive Raac so they may close so that we can put temporary accommodation in place.

Many schools are either looking for alternative accommodation, if they’re within a multi-academy trust or within a local authority, or moving to another classroom if they’ve got spare classroom.

If it’s across the whole school, then that gets more difficult. So what we’re doing right now is we’ve assigned a caseworker for each one of the schools, for working with the school to figure out what the mitigation plans are.

  • She said she would publish a list of schools affected by the Raac crisis later this week. But she wanted to ensure that schools on the list have the chance to tell parents first, she said.

  • She said there are 104 schools previously classed as non-critical where emergency procedures for structure issues are now in place. But she said potentially hundreds of schools were still responding to surveys about their buildings.

  • She said three portable cabin companies were among the firms helping the DfE respond to the crisis. She said:

We’ve now increased to eight surveying companies. We have a national propping company who’s all prepared to go in and prop.

And we have contracted with three Portakabin or temporary accommodation companies who have on stock the Portakabins available.

Gillian Keegan being interviewed this morning.
Gillian Keegan being interviewed this morning. Photograph: Tayfun Salcı/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock

Updated

Branwen Jeffreys, the BBC’s education editor, suggests that Jonathan Slater’s interview this morning may in part have been retaliation for the way he was forced to resign after the exam grading row in 2020. Many observers felt Gavin Williamson, education secretary at the time, should have gone instead.

Writing on X/Twitter, Jeffreys says:

It is hard to overstate how extraordinary it is for a former senior civil servant to speak out like this – in part Jonathan Slater is speaking out to make utterly clear their advice over RAAC was ignored & Sunak cut back spending further

It’s also hard not to hear the sound of chickens coming home to roost – Slater is just one of the respected permanent secretaries forced out by this government- breaking the tradition that ministers took responsibility for their decisions

Updated

Here is Peter Walker’s story about what Jonathan Slater said in his Today interview. (See 9.07am.)

One aspect that was remarkable was that former permanent secretaries are normally reluctant to speak out directly on political matters, or to criticise the ministers for whom they used to work. Or at least that used to be the case. But in recent years ministers have become increasingly willing to attack their officials in public – Suella Braverman, the home secretary, was at it the other day, saying the Bibby Stockholm debacle was all the fault of civil servants – and Slater’s interview may be evidence that the mandarin class is now minded to retaliate.

(Another example would be Simon McDonald, the former Foreign Office permanent secretary, giving an interview last year that triggered the resignation of Boris Johnson.)

Labour says Sunak has ‘huge culpability’ for Raac school building crisis

Good morning. Although, meteorologically, it may not feel like it, in political terms summer is definitely over and, with the Commons recess over, a new Westminster season is starting. Within the next few weeks we are getting the party conferences, a king’s speech and an autumn statement. Polling day is probably coming in just over a year. If you had to identify any day as the start of the long election campaign, today would be as good a choice as any.

Rishi Sunak needs to defend his record as PM. According to polling published by Politico, “two-thirds of people think Sunak has achieved ‘only a slight amount’ or nothing at all in his premiership so far”. But this morning he is facing criticism for decisions he made as chancellor. In a remarkable interview, Jonathan Slater, a former permanent secretary at the Department for Education, told the Today programme that Sunak halved funding for school building repairs – even though the DfE had made a very strong case that new schools had to be built because of the risk to life posed by weak concrete (reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete, or Raac).

Slater, who was permanent secretary at the DfE from May 2016 to August 2020, said the department thought between 300 and 400 schools needed to be replaced per year. He said the DfE got funding to repair 100 per year. In 2021 it asked for money to fix 200 schools a year, Slater said. He went on:

We know 300 to 400 needed, but the actual ask in 2021 was to double the 100 to 200. I thought we’d get it but the actual decision made in 2021 was to halve down from 100 a year to 50 year.

Asked who was chancellor at the time, Slater confirmed it was Sunak.

I will post more from Slater’s interview shortly. Gillian Keegan, the education secretary, has been responding in her own interview round. She told Today that since she had been in the job, she had got an extra £2bn for schools. I will cover what she said in more detail soon.

Commenting on the Slater interview, Bridget Phillipson, the shadow education secretary, said:

The defining image of 13 years of the Conservative-run education system will be children sat under steel girders to stop the roof falling in.

Rishi Sunak bears huge culpability for his role in this debacle: he doubled down on Michael Gove’s decision to axe Labour’s schools rebuilding programme and now the chickens have come home to roost – with yet more disruption to children’s education.

Labour warned time and again about the risks posed by the crumbling schools estate under the Conservatives but were met with complacency, obstinacy and inaction.

We are also expecting Keir Starmer to conduct a shadow cabinet reshuffle today. Most of the senior figures in his team, including Phillipson, are not due to move, but Angela Rayner, the deputy Labour leader, is likely to be given a new department to shadow. Currently, she shadows the Cabinet Office minister.

Here are other items on the day’s agenda.

Morning: Sunak is due to record a pooled clip for broadcasters.

11.30am: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.

2.30pm: The new MPs elected for Uxbridge and South Ruislip, for Selby and Ainsty and for Somerton and Frome in the byelections in the summer, will be sworn in.

After 3.30pm: Gillian Keegan, the education secretary, is expected to give a statement to MPs about the Raac crisis.

If you want to contact me, do try the “send us a message” feature. You’ll see it just below the byline – on the left of the screen, if you are reading on a laptop or a desktop. This is for people who want to message me directly. I find it very useful when people message to point out errors (even typos – no mistake is too small to correct). Often I find your questions very interesting, too. I can’t promise to reply to them all, but I will try to reply to as many as I can, either in the comments below the line, privately (if you leave an email address and that seems more appropriate), or in the main blog, if I think it is a topic of wide interest.

Updated

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