Minister says government still hasn't decided whether China will join Russia and Iran in Firs enhanced tier
Back in the Commons, Alicia Kearns, a shadow Home Office minister, called for China to be placed in the enhanced tier of the foreign influence registration scheme (Firs). This would mean that, for the purposes of Firs, China would not be treated as a normal country, but as a hostile power. As a result, the Firs rules would be stricter.
She said:
Instead of the communications plan and private closed-door meetings announced today, we urge the government to put China in the enhanced tier of the Firs scheme.
We also hear of multiple government visits planned to China before Christmas and the New Year. Will these now be cancelled? Because what message does it send when, despite an attack on this House, our parliament, ministers are happily jetting off to stride down red carpets with the government responsible?
Kearns also urged the government to reject China’s application to build a “super-embassy” in the centre of London.
In response, on Firs, Dan Jarvis, the security minister, said:
We are looking closely at whether it is necessary to make further additions onto the enhanced tier, but I can say to her that no decision has yet been made.
So far, only Russia and Iran have been placed in the enhanced tier for Firs.
And, on the “super-embassy”, he said that a decision would be made by Steve Reed, the housing secretary (who deals with critical planning applications), acting in “quasi-judicial capacity”.
Starmer urges cabinet colleagues to avoid 'distractions' and focus on delivering for public
Keir Starmer warned his cabinet against “distractions” after days of Labour civil war and Budget leaks, Downing Street has said.
Giving reporters a readout from cabinet today, the PM’s spokesperson said:
The prime minister opened cabinet by setting out the importance of the government’s mandate to renew the country. He said distractions meant our focus shifted from where it mattered most - working every day in the service of the British people.
The prime minister said next week’s budget would prioritise rebuilding the economy, showing what the government stands for. The prime minister said people were rightly impatient for change and we had to deliver that, rather than talk about ourselves. That meant working as one team, delivering opportunity and security and delivering on our mandate.
Given that the government briefing which caused most difficulty last week was the suggestion from No 10 sources that Starmer was getting ready to fight off a leadership challenge from Wes Streeting, ministers may have felt that the PM’s lecture might have been better directed at his own staff.
Asked if the comments could be seen as an apology by Starmer to his colleagues, the spokesperson said he would not accept that characterisation.
The Cabinet Office has sent out details of what it calls the “Counter Political Interference and Espionage Action Plan” announced by Dan Jarvis. It says:
Dan Jarvis has told MPs that he will coordinate a new Counter Political Interference and Espionage Action Plan to disrupt and deter spying from states like China.
The plan will see the intelligence services deliver security briefings for political parties and issue new guidance to election candidates to help them recognise, resist and report suspicious activity; work with professional networking sites to make them a more hostile operating environment for spies; and tighten rules on political donations through a new elections bill …
£170m will be invested in renewing the sovereign and encrypted technology that civil servants use to safeguard sensitive work. A further £130m will be invested on projects such as building Counter Terrorism Policing’s ability to enforce the National Security Act, and fund the National Cyber Security Centre’s and National Protective Security Authority’s work with critical businesses to protect their intellectual property.
[Jarvis] also informed parliament that the government had completed the removal of surveillance equipment manufactured by companies subject to the National Intelligence Law of the People’s Republic of China from all sensitive sites the government operates around the world.
Jarvis says government developing 'proscription-type tool' to counter organisations involved in Chinese spying
In his statement Jarvis said the government was working on new powers to ban organisations like the Chinese ones involved in spying. He said:
I can confirm we are also working on new powers to counter foreign interference, including a Mr Jarvis added: “I can confirm we are also working on new powers to counter foreign interference, including a proscription-type tool to disrupt proxy organisations undermining our security and an extension to maximum penalties for election interference offences.”to disrupt proxy organisations undermining our security and an extension to maximum penalties for election interference offences.
Jarvis says the UK is a trading country, and it trades with countries that have different cultures. China is an important trading partner, he says.
But the government will always act to protect the national interest, he says.
He ends by saying the government will cooperate where it can, but challenge China when it has to.
UPDATE: Jarvis said:
We will always, always, challenge any country, including China, that attempts to interfere, influence or undermine the integrity of our democratic institutions, and we will take all necessary measures to protect UK national security.
That is why we have taken the action today and I am clear that further steps can absolutely be taken. Disrupting and deterring China’s espionage activity wherever it takes place, updating our security powers to keep pace with the threat, helping those who work in politics to recognise, resist and report the threat, and working with partners across the economy to strengthen their security against the threat.
Our strategy is not just to co-operate. We will engage China where necessary, but we will always act to defend our interests and challenge where our values are threatened.
Updated
Jarvis says government willing to use sanctions to respond to cyber-attacks from Chinese firms
Jarvis says three Chinese firms involved in cyber-attacks have already been called out.
And the government will continue to fight back against malicious cyber-activity from China.
The government will use all the tools at its disposal, including sanctions if necessary.
Jarvis says the government will also increase the support available to businesses to help them respond to the threat from cyber-espionage.
Jarvis turns to education.
This is one of the UK’s most important assets, in part because of its respect for freedom of speech.
States like China are trying to interfer with research done by British universties, and influence what happens on campus.
He says the government has raised this with China.
But the government will also organise an event to discuss the threat with university leaders.
Jarvis says, as security minister, he sees the diligence of law enforcement.
Knowing China’s low-threshold for spying, the government is investing £170m sovereign encrypted technology for use by official bodies.
Surveillance technology linked to China has been removed from UK sites, he says.
Jarvis says penalties of election interference are going to be increased
Jarvis says Yvette Cooper, the foreign secretary, has spoken to her Chinese counterpart about this.
She said any activity that threatened democracy would not be tolerated, he says.
He says today he is announcing a counter-interference and espionage plan.
This will include legislative changes, including a bill tightening the rules on foreign donations, the elections bill. There will be tougher risk assesssment rules for donors and recipients. Penalties for election interference offences will be increased.
There will also be new guidance for politicians and candidates, including security briefings for parties.
And the government will take steps to “degrade the ecosystem of proxy cover companies”. These are organisations being used by foreign states, he says.
Updated
Jarvis tells MPs Chinese spying operation amounts to interference in British democracy
Jarvis says MI5 issued an espionage alert earlier today to MPs, peers and parliamentary staff. (See 12.18pm.)
He urges all parliamentarians to read it.
He says China is trying to contact MPs and peers to get sensitive information about parliament.
He says Chinese agents are trying to contact with access to this sensitive information. They are sometimes posing as headhunters, or as people working for cover companies. He says there is a low threshold for the sort of information they find useful.
This is an attempt to interfere in British politics, he says.
Jarvis added the government will not tolerate “covert and calculated” attempts by China to interfere with the UK’s sovereign affairs.
UPDATE: Jarvis said:
Let me speak plainly.
This activity involves a covert and calculated attempt by a foreign power to interfere in our sovereign affairs in favour of its own interests, and this government will not tolerate it.
It builds on a pattern of activity that we have seen from China with cyber-operations by China state-affiliated actors targeting parliamentary emails in 2021, attempted foreign interference activity by Christine Lee in 2022 and other more recent cases.
We will take all necessary measures to protect our national interests, our citizens and our democratic way of life, including working with our allies and partners.
Updated
Dan Jarvis, security minister, makes statement to MPs about spying by China
Dan Jarvis, the security minister, is making his statement now.
He says it is about Chinese espionage targeting democratic institutions in the UK.
Ofcom receives complaints over GB News item on defendants’ ‘foreign-sounding names’
GB News has been accused of risking inflaming tensions over crime committed by migrants after presenting unscientific research that counted the number of defendants with “foreign-sounding names”, Michael Savage reports. One of the complaints came from Anna Sabine, the Liberal Democrats’ culture, media and sport spokesperson, who said the GB News methodology was “unverified and frankly racist”.
Reform UK's plan to further slash overseas aid would damage national interest, charities say
Peter Walker is the Guardian’s senior political correspondent.
Reform UK’s plans to slash overseas aid by more than 90% would cause “irreversible” damage to the UK’s national interests and would cost money in the long term, aid groups have argued.
The proposal on aid was among a series of measures unveiled at a Reform press conference on Tuesday morning explicitly aimed at spending as little money as possible on foreign nationals.
Zia Yusuf, the party’s head of policy, said there would be a “hard cap” of £1bn a year, allowing commitments to Ukraine and to keep the UK’s place at multinational organisations like the UN and IMF but essentially nothing else.
Spending on overseas aid has already been reduced from 0.7% of national income to 0.5%, and will fall to 0.3% in 2027. Even at 0.3% of national income, aid spending will remain above £9bn annually. Under the Reform plan it would total about 0.03% of national income.
Gideon Rabinowitz from Bond, a network of UK NGOs, said the policy would “cause irreversible damage to the UK’s safety and national security in an increasingly unstable world, as well as to its global reputation as a reliable partner”.
He said:
Cutting the already-diminished UK aid budget will not fill the hole in the UK’s public finances and only create new challenges. UK aid brings a huge return on investment: it helps to prevent conflict and build peace in fragile countries, fights the spread of diseases before they reach our shores, and leads to fewer people forced to flee their homes due to conflict and crisis. Slashing UK aid now would mean paying far more later down the line in security, health, and humanitarian costs.
George Graham from Save the Children UK said:
Slashing the budget for international aid and co-operation won’t just turn our backs on children and partners around the world, it will undermine our national interest.
Covid 19 was a stark demonstration that no-one is safe until everyone is. And the UK’s security and economy depend on global stability. Conflict, poverty, and climate disasters drive displacement, fuel instability, and ultimately threaten our safety at home.
Our recent polling with More in Common shows that more than 60% of people think the UK should either be a leader or play a large role in international affairs. The public know that you don’t create prosperity by pretending global issues don’t exist.
MPs warned to avoid China-linked agents trying to contact them on LinkedIn, ahead of statement by security minister
Dan Jarvis, the security minister, will soon make a statement to MPs about spying by China. (See 11.41am.)
Ahead of that, MPs and peers have just been sent an email from the parliamentary authorities highlighting an espionage alert sent by MI5. It says:
This alert highlights how the Chinese Ministry of State Security (MSS) is actively reaching out to individuals in our community. Their aim is to collect information and lay the groundwork for long-term relationships, using professional networking sites, recruitment agents and consultants acting on their behalf.
The alert names two recruitment headhunters who are said to be “using LinkedIn profiles to conduct outreach at scale on behalf of MSS”. And it says “other similar profiles are acting as fronts for espionage”.
The email says the alert was issued by MI5 because “the activity is targeted and widespread”.
It also urges MPs and peers to read guidance on how to stay safe on networking sites. And it urges them to report any suspicious activities.
Updated
There are two ministerial statements in the Commons after 12.30pm.
12.30pm: Dan Jarvis, the security minister, on spying by China, and the government’s response.
Around 1.30pm: Yvette Cooper, the foreign secretary, on Gaza and Sudan.
Badenoch accuses Reform UK of deceiving voters with claim it could easily abandon post-Brexit EU trade deal
At her press conference Kemi Badenoch accused Nigel Farage of deceiving voters with his proposal to save £6bn a year by removing benefits from EU nationals with settled status.
She said it was “completely ridiculous” for Farage to claim that he could easily renegotiate the post-Brexit trade deal (which covered the rights for EU nationals with settled status). She said
It would be a bad idea because we spent a lot of time negotiating those rights, not just for EU citizens in this country, but British citizens in other countries of the EU.
You start unpicking that and you start unpicking all of the work that was done, year after year after year, with a lot of pain and effort during those years when we were negotiating Brexit.
Badenoch also said Farage “does not know what he’s talking about”.
I’m a former trade secretary. Even with friendly countries, trade negotiations are very, very difficult.
It is wrong of him to deceive people, lie to them and make them think this is going to be easy.
The Reform UK press conference is over. It covered aid spending and immigration. This morning Chris Mullin, the former Labour Foreign Office minister, made the point on social media that the two topics are linked.
Main driver of illegal migration is the disintegration of countries around periphery of fortress Europe. Only long term solution is to help them become functioning market economies. Yet, ironically, those who feel strongest about migration are equally opposed to overseas aid.
Farege claims Reform UK could get 'much better' post-Brexit trade deal from EU
Q: [From Peter Walker from the Guardian] Have you modelled the consequences of your policy on EU nationals, if the EU were to hit back on trade?
Farage says the UK is still buying lots of cars and champagne from the EU. There are good and bad things that happen. He says he is confident that they can get a “much better” deal with the EU.
Q: And what do you feel about Matthew Goodwin, the new president of your student organisation, saying that minorty ethnic people born in the UK are not necessarily British. Doesn’t that show you are you no longer keeping the far-right at a distance, as you have done in the past?
Farage says Peter is right to say he has always kept the far-right at distance. He says that what Goodwin said was more nuanced than has been reported. And when they set up a youth wing, they knew that people would say difficult things, he says.
Q: On what basis are you saying the NHS surcharge should be £2,718? And, when the surcharge has gone up in the past, the exemptions have increased too.
Farage says, if he tried to go to Australia and did not have the funds, he would be let in.
Yusuf says the £2,718 figure is based on a government figure based on the per capita cost of the NHS. The last government set the NHS surcharge at just 38% of that, he says.
And he says the birth rate for non-UK nationals is 30% higher than it is for Britons. He says each birth costs the NHS £5,500.
Q: Would you back a visa ban on certain countries?
Farage says the idea of using visa policy as leverage in foreign policy is a good one. But he does not think it will happen.
Q: [From Guido Fawkes] What is Reform’s position on sin taxes, like the milkshake tax?
Farage says Australia has “gone bonkers” on tax on cigarettes. A packet costs about £35, he claims. That means criminals go into cigarette smuggling.
He says there won’t be a black market in milkshakes. But he says, having had one thrwn in his face, he thinks they are “really vile”.
But he says the trend to ban harmful things is “over-reach”.
Q: [From the i] Do you support Shabana Mahmood’s plan to deport children?
Farage says his priority when it comes to deporting illegal immigrants would be young, undocumented many of fighting age, “many of whom” will do great harm to women and girls, he claims.
Farage says any claims made by Reform UK campaigners in local elections to cut council tax were not officially sanctioned
Q: You say you made no promises on council tax. But Reform UK groups made promises. What will you do to make sure that does not happen again?
Farage says he was “incredibly careful” not to make promises during the local election that he could not keep. And he claims that journalists won’t find leaflets that were officially sanctioned that made false promises.
Farage accuses female journalist of playing 'silly little game' after she asks about Reform's likely choice for chancellor
Q: [From the Telegraph’s Camilla Tominey] You say you expect an election in 2027. The fact that Zia Yusuf is here – does that mean he is your preferred candidate for chancellor, not Richard Tice?
Farage says that is a good try. He tells Tominey that is it no wonder she is so well paid. But he goes on: “I’m just not playing your silly little game.”
Farage has got form for patronising female journalists. Recently, being interviewed by Bloomberg’s Mishal Husain, he called her “love” as she asked him difficult questions about his stance on Russia.
Updated
Q: [From the Sun] Are you saying you are opposed to taking assets like jewellery off asylum seekers?
Farage says it is never going to happen. And if he were to propose that, he can imagine what people would say about that. It is not going to happen. It was just a “performative” proposal, he says.
Q: [From the Daily Mail] So will you be happy if Reform councils raise council tax by 5%, the maximum?
Farage says he cannot tell them what to do. But he hopes councils will only raise tax in line with inflation.
He says councils have massive debts.
He says he is worried by reports saying the government will postpone council elections again in areas where reorganisation is taking place. He suggests that is because Reform would win, and fight against reorganisation.
Q: [From Sky News] You talk about massive savings. But Reform UK are in power in councils, and they have not found council tax. They are going to have to put it up.
Farage says during the election campaign he never promised that Reform councils would not raise council tax.
(He may not have done, but Reform candidates for councils did.)
Q: What do you think of Shabana Mahmood saying she is not interested in what Reform UK has to say, and telling you to “sod off”?
Farage says Mahmood has been using a lot of bad language. And he says, for Labour to say they are not interested in Reform, is “utter rot”.
He says, if Reform did not exist, Mahmood would not have made those announcements.
Yusuf says Keir Starmer accused Reform of being racist. But imagine what he would have said if Reform had proposed taking jewellery off migrants, he asks.
Farage says proposal to take items like jewellery from asylum seekers 'a gimmick'
Nigel Farage and Zia Yusuf are now taking questions.
Q: [From GB News] What impact will the increase in the NHS surcharge have on waiting lists? And will the home secretary’s asylum plans stop the boats?
Farage says, in rhetorical terms, what Shabana Mahmood said was very encouraging. But he does not think it will work.
And he describes the proposal to take jewellery off people as a “gimmick”. Even in Denmark, where this has been tried, only 17 people have had items removed from them, he says.
On the NHS surcharge, Yusuf says the changes he is proposing would not have a “meaningful impact” on demand.
Reform UK policy chief Zia Yusuf claims Labour spending on foreigners, to deteriment of British nationals, is 'treachery'
Back at the Reform UK press conference, Zia Yusuf, the party’s head of policy, has just finished outlining his plan to cut spending on foreigners
As he finished, Yusuf claimed this was “treachery”.
Labour is making the conscious and deliberate decision to continue funding extortionate amounts to foreign nationals, to the detriment of British citizens.
And I don’t know what to call that. Frankly, in my view, it’s treachery. I think it’s appalling. British people are sick and tired of it.
Updated
Badenoch says Labour is raising taxes in budget 'to pay for Starmer's weakness on welfare cuts'
Kemi Badenoch and Mel Stride, the shadow chancellor, are speaking at their press conference.
The Tories released an extract from Badenoch’s speech overnight, and in it she says Labour will raise taxes in the budget “to pay for Keir Starmer’s weakness on welfare cuts”. She says:
Just a few months ago, Rachel Reeves was saying she couldn’t afford to scrap the two-child benefit cap. Now it looks like becoming her latest U-turn.
This isn’t because the economic circumstances have improved. Quite the opposite.
Remember, a fortnight ago Reeves summoned the media to Downing Street to blame everyone from the OBR, to Brexit, to Trump, for her own economic mismanagement.
We need to call this out for what it is: Labour are raising taxes to pay for Keir Starmer’s weakness on welfare cuts.
He has already U-turned on £5bn of welfare savings in the face of pressure from his left-wing backbenchers.
And because Starmer has no backbone, he is now set to lift the two-child benefit cap. That’s around £8.5bn of additional welfare spending.
I have already said that if this Labour government scraps the two-child benefit cap a future Conservative government will bring it back.
The cap is fair because it forces people on benefits to decide if they can afford to have more children, in the same way those who work have to decide if they can afford more children.
Keir Starmer has already broken his pre-election promise not to raise tax on working people with last year’s Jobs Tax, which has been passed on to all of us through higher prices, lower wages and fewer jobs.
He and Reeves are now set to go even further: freezing income tax thresholds so that more and more people are dragged into higher rates through a stealth tax bombshell.
Rachel Reeves even said at the Budget last year that “extending the threshold freeze would hurt working people” and “take money out of their payslips”.
They’re hiking taxes on people in work, to give handouts to people on benefits, the last group of people who might still vote Labour.
It’s not fair, it’s not right, and we will oppose them every single step of the way.
At the Reform UK press conference Nigel Farage, the party’s leader, opened by saying he agreed with “a lot” of what Shabana Mahmood announced yesterday.
But the real problem was not illegal migration, but legal migration, he said. He went on:
It is doing enormous damage to the British economy. And it’s been so difficult to even talk about this subject without being screamed down.
(Obviously, that has not stopped Farage, who has talked about little else in recent years.)
Farage went on to introduce Zia Yusuf, the party’s head of policy, who is now discussing the proposed spending cuts briefed overnight. (See 9.01am.)
Steve Reed suggests Labour MPs have duty to support asylum plans, saying manifesto promised secure borders
Steve Reed, the housing secretary, has suggested that Labour MPs have a duty to support the asylum plans announced yesterday.
In an interview with Sky News, asked if Labour backbenchers opposed to the plans should join the Green party, Reed replied:
Absolutely not. Every single one of us who is a Labour MP was elected on the same manifesto, and that manifesto committed us now as a government to securing our borders.
It’s very important that we do that. The British people expect us to do that. But we also have to end this vile trade in human lives.
Updated
Rajeev Syal is the Guardian’s home affairs editor.
Net migration under Rishi Sunak’s Conservative government peaked at a slightly higher level than previously estimated, according to new figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
In the year ending March 2023, overall numbers of people entering and leaving the UK reached 944,000 compared with the previous estimate of 906,000 for the year ending June 2023.
The figures were released after an improvement in the method by which the number of UK and EU nationals entering and leaving the country is calculated, the ONS said.
This was followed by a sharper fall than initially reported, with net migration in the year ending December 2024 now estimated to be 345,000, lower than original estimate of 431,000 that was published by the ONS in May of this year.
Most Reform UK voters would back wealth tax on very rich, poll suggests
A majority of potential Reform UK voters would back a one-off wealth tax on the very rich, polling suggests, with about three-quarters supporting windfall taxes on energy companies and banks, Peter Walker reports.
In France the far-right National Rally, whose politics loosely align with Reform UK’s, has backed a wealth tax. But the Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has consistently opposed the idea, saying it would lead to high earners leaving Britain, and the party itself was, in its early days, highly dependent on a relatively small number of wealthy donors.
Alf Dubs says he's 'depressed' by Labour's asylum plans, which are 'going in wrong direction'
Alf Dubs, the Labour peer and former MP who came to the UK on Kindertransport in 1939 and who campaigns on behalf of migrants, told the Today programme this morning that he was “depressed” by the asylum politicies announced by the government yesterday. He explained:
I find it upsetting that we’ve got to adopt such a hard line – what we need is a bit of compassion in our politics, and I think that some of the measures were going in the wrong direction, they won’t help.
The hard line approach will not, in fact, deter people from coming here – at least on the basis of people I spoke to in Calais, for example – I don’t think it will deter them.
There are some some minor things in the proposal which will be okay but on the whole I think we’re going in the wrong direction – very much so.
He said he was particularly concerned by the proposal for the government to focus more on deporting families with children.
I think there is a proper case for children, there’s a proper case for family reunion – when there are children who are on their own and who’ve got family in this country, then I think the right thing to do is to have family reunion and bringing children over here.
But to use children as a weapon, as the home secretary is doing, I think is a shabby thing – I’m lost for words, frankly, because my concern was that if we remove people who come here, what happens if they’ve had children in the meantime?
What are we supposed to do with children who are born here, who’ve been to school here, who are part of our community, our society? We can’t just say, ‘oh well, out you go because your parents don’t claim to be here’.
Reform UK's plan to cut EU citizens’ benefits would risk trade war with Europe, Labour claims
Good morning. Yesterday, as the government announced drastic plans to curb the number of asylum seekers able to stay in the UK, it was accused of adopting the politics of Reform UK, the anti-immigration party with a big lead in the opinion polls. In response, ministers argued that Labour would be doing even worse if it just ignored the legitimate concerns of voters who are supporting Nigel Farage’s party.
But, when mainstream parties move on to the territory of the more extreme parties, those parties often respond with a further lurch to the right, and we will see an example of that today. Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, is holding a press conference where he is going to announce proposals that cover immigration and the budget (the other huge story preoccupying Westminster politics at the moment). As Peter Walker reports, Farage will propose spending cuts which he clams would save £25bn a year.
At the heart of the plan are three proposals, all of which involve penalising foreigners. They are:
The virtual elimination of all foreign aid spending. Currently aid spending runs at almost £14bn a year, but Reform would slash this to £1bn.
Removing the right of EU nationals living in the UK to claim benefits, which Reform UK says would save £6bn.
Increasing the cost of the NHS surcharge, the fee paid by non-UK residents when they get a visa to stay in the UK. This would rise form £1,035 to £2,718 a year, which Reform UK says would save £5bn.
Yesterday the Home Office triggered outrage by suggesting that the government might remove jewellery from asylum seekers to help compensate for what they cost the taxpayer. According to Politico, one Reform official described this as “vindictive”. But the ‘jewellery’ plan (which does not even mention jewellery at all – that story only emerged from a hypothetical comment in an interview) would probably only raise paltry sums. Farage is proposing a huge fiscal rethink that would appropriate billions earmarked for people who aren’t British.
With nationalism an increasingly powerful force in politics, Farage is clearly calculating that this will go down well with voters.
In advance of the Reform press conference, Labour has issued a press notice criticising the proposals. But it does not refer to aid spending, or the NHS surcharge. Instead it points out that removing benefits from EU nationals would be a breach of the post-Brexit trade deal, which potentially could mean a trade war with Europe. A Labour party spokesperson said:
Nigel Farage’s fantasy numbers don’t add up, and he’d leave British taxpayers footing a hefty bill.
Farage is happy to slap British shoppers with higher prices at the checkouts by risking a trade war with Europe. He’d betray working people and hammer British businesses who want to trade with the EU.
Farage seems to think that the threat of trade retaliation from the EU is just a bluff, but he will explain more at his press conference. It is all a bit reminiscent of Brexit, when leavers were accused of having a rosy view of quite how strong their leverage would be in talks with Brussels.
Here is the agenda for the day.
Morning: Keir Starmer chairs cabinet.
10am: Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, and Zia Yusuf, the party’s head of policy, hold a press conference.
10am: Kemi Badenoch and Mel Stride, the shadow chancellor, hold a press conference.
11.30am: Ed Miliband, the energy secretary, takes questions in the Commons.
Noon: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.
After 12.30pm: MPs debate the Northern Ireland Troubles bill at second reading.
Afternoon: Keir Starmer flies to Berlin, where he is having dinner with the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, and the French president, Emmanuel Macron.
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