Starmer says, when media admitted to Gaza, he expects further debate about ‘full horror’ of what happened there
Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, asks for more detail of what the UK is doing to help ensure more aid gets into Gaza.
He says all the bodies of dead hostages need to be returned.
And he asks what the UK is doing to ensure that the expansion of illegal Israeli settlements on the West Bank stops.
Starmer thanks Davey for the “content and tone” of his response. (He is making a contrast with Badenoch’s.)
On aid, he says there is a need for more trucks be admitted to Gaza.
On the bodies of hostages, Starmer says he agrees with Davey.
He says, when the media are finally admitted to Gaza, he thinks there will be ‘“quite some debate” in the Commons about “the full horror” of what happened.
And he says the UK has told Israel that illegal settlements should not be allowed on the West Bank.
Key events
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Ed Miliband approves UK’s biggest solar farm at Lincolnshire site
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Gavin Williamson issued threat to Boris Johnson after complaining about being ‘screwed over’, Covid inquiry told
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Gavin Williamson claims DfE could not plan for school closures at start of Covid because No 10 resisting lockdown
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Former Lord Speaker Lady D’Souza faces 8-week suspension for writing to Met police chief to contest speeding charge
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UK inflation set to rise to highest in G7, IMF says
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Mark Drakeford urges opposition parties to help Labour pass its £27bn Welsh government budget
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Academic axed from Labour conference panel for criticising energy policy
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Starmer says ‘internationalise the intifada’ amounts to call to attack Jews, and ‘no other interpretation’ possible
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Starmer praises Edward Leigh for defending Palestinians’ right to their own state, saying he’s like ‘old Tory party’
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Starmer says, when media admitted to Gaza, he expects further debate about ‘full horror’ of what happened there
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Starmer criticises Badenoch for ignoring humanitarian crisis in Gaza in her response to his statement
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Badenoch accuses Starmer of lacking influence in Middle East peace process and antagonising Israel
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Starmer says two-state solution now has ‘first real chance’ of being implemented since 1990s
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‘None of this would have been possible without President Trump’, says Starmer of Middle East peace deal
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Government risks losing support over digital ID scheme, Labour MPs warn
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‘Not like other Liberals – he looked liked he could actually run the country’ – Tim Farron pays tribute to Campbell pays tribute to
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‘Good, decent, hopeful politics’ – Ed Davey pays tribute to Ming Campbell
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Farage welcomes five-year jail sentence for Afghan small boat migrant found guilty of threatening to kill him
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Starmer to make statement to MPs on Middle East peace summit
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Trans people at risk of exclusion from many UK public spaces, rights expert says
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Cyber security chiefs describe China as ‘threat actor’, but sidestep questions about wider risk and collapsed spy trial
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Human rights official urges UK to review laws after Palestine Action placard arrests
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Steve Reed says he was ‘horrified’ by women being excluded from Muslim charity run in London park
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76% of Labour members would back breaking manifesto promise on tax to raise cash for public services, poll suggests
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Parenting advice on social media is often poor quality, says Phillipson
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UK labour market shows signs of stabilising after job losses
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Green party reachest highest ever level in YouGov poll, at 13%
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Starmer to face MPs amid continued pressure over collapse of China spying trial
Ed Miliband approves UK’s biggest solar farm at Lincolnshire site
Sally Weale
Ed Miliband has approved the UK’s biggest solar farm, which will be built in a county where Reform UK’s anti-renewables agenda has won rising support. Jillian Ambrose has the story.
Gavin Williamson issued threat to Boris Johnson after complaining about being ‘screwed over’, Covid inquiry told
Sally Weale
Sally Weale is the Guardian’s education correspondent.
Gavin Williamson’s evidence to the Covid inquiry also revealed growing tensions between him and the then prime minister, Boris Johnson, culminating in a furious email over the botched reopening of schools on January 4 2021 and the appointment of Sir Kevan Collins as the government’s education recovery tsar.
Williamson wrote:
Prime minister I always like to be polite in our conversations but I must confess to feeling a little hacked off. Not only do I get completely fucked over by decisions on January 4, that I took the shit and abuse for.
Then I get my legs cut from under me by an appointment that you do not have the proper courtesy to discuss with me and get screwed over again.
Williamson ended his message with a threat.
The last time I was treated like such an utter piece of shit by No 10 was [on] the 1st May 2019 and that didn’t work out well.
The comment about 1 May 2019 was a reference to Williamson being sacked as defence secretary by Theresa May (for allegedly leaking national security council information). Williamson subsequently joined the plot to undermine her, and he is implying he successfully got his revenge – and that Johnson is at risk of the same treatment if he does not treat Williamson with more respect.
The BBC has full coverage of Williamson’s evidence on a live blog here.
Gavin Williamson claims DfE could not plan for school closures at start of Covid because No 10 resisting lockdown
Sally Weale is the Guardian’s education correspondent.
Former education secretary Gavin Williamson has expressed regret for “many mistakes” made during the pandemic but denied that his failure to plan ahead for school closures amounted to a dereliction of duty.
Giving evidence to the UK Covid inquiry, Williamson said he wished he had done things differently, but appeared to shift blame to No 10, insisting that all key pandemic decisions were taken at the centre of government.
The hearing was told that the Department for Education had made no contingency plans for school closures as late as March 2020, because the whole thrust of the government’s pandemic response was to keep schools and the economy open.
“We were being asked to develop papers and the work that was required in order to be able to keep children within schools,” Williamson told the inquiry, indicating it would not be acceptable for the Department for Education to initiate its own Covid planning.
Something like Covid is being directed from the centre in terms of different departments’ responses. You don’t have quite the freedom just to go and start going out and consulting with lots of people.
Williamson admitted that insufficient weight was put on emerging scientific evidence, which advised that school closures may be necessary, and that the focus and emphasis of government was not sharp enough. He said:
That was the case in my department, of which I’m sorry for. I readily accept I’m secretary of state, it was my responsibility.
Former Lord Speaker Lady D’Souza faces 8-week suspension for writing to Met police chief to contest speeding charge
Lady D’Souza, a former Lord Speaker in the House of Lords, faces being suspended from the house for eight weeks for writing to the Metropolitan police commissioner on Lords headed notepaper to try to get lenient treatment in relation to a speeding offence.
In a report, the Lords conduct committee said this was a breach of the rules because it amounted to trying to intefer with a live police investigation.
Under the code of conduct for peers, members of the Lords “should act always on their personal honour in the performance of their parliamentary duties and activities”. In previous rulings, standards commissioners in the Lord have established that writing to a police officer or a judge to try to influence a case can be a breach of this rule.
An investigation was launched after Sir Mark Rowley, the Met commissioner, referred D’Souza’s letter to the current Lords standards commissioner, Martin Jelley (a former chief constable himself), saying the peer may have broken Lords rules.
In her defence, D’Souza told Jelley:
I did write to Sir Mark Rowley, the reason being that I thought there was a case to be made on the recent 20 mph speed restrictions in London and I know Sir Mark having served with him as a member of the Westminster Abbey Institute Council of Reference. I used House of Lords headed notepaper because this was the context in which I was previously acquainted with Sir Mark. My purpose being the hope that Sir Mark would refer my case to the Fixed Penalty Office for review. The alternative was to institute court proceedings for this speeding offence but I, wrongly in retrospect, chose to write to the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police.
The rationale for the case I made to Sir Mark is as follows: in the particular route I take out of London the roads I follow change from 20 mph, 30 mph and 40mph. Sometimes the same road changes its speeding limits by means of a roadside sign rather than at a traffic light junction. This is sometimes confusing. Reducing speed from say 30 mph to 20 mph can take a minute or more depending on the signage and, possibly, the time of day. It is difficult to judge the difference between speeds of 21 and 27 mph without constantly checking the dash. I believed that there was room for a wider conversation on this issue and that there might be similar concerns expressed by other drivers.
I wrote to a former Commissioner of Police, a member of the House of Lords, for advice who suggested I get a lawyer to argue my case, take the case to court or write to the Chief of Police of the area in which the offence took place. […] In the event I went to Sir Mark directly.
I did consider that it might be the case that I would have to retire from the House of Lords should I lose my driving licence.
D’Souza said she was not asking to be let off; she was just trying to get the case referred to the Fixed Penalty Office for a review.
When Jelley proposed an eight-week suspension, D’Souza appealed on the grounds this was unduly harsh. But the conduct committee rejected her appeal. It said:
Lady D’Souza compares the sanction in this case with those imposed in other recent cases. Those cases are not comparable: they concerned bullying and harassment, and improper use of facilities, while this case engages “personal honour”, a founding principle of the code of conduct.
Moreover, the striking feature of this case, which distinguishes it from all previous cases in which members have sought to influence judicial or police processes, is that Lady D’Souza, by writing to Sir Mark, sought to benefit herself.
D’Souza was subsequently given a temporary driving ban for speeding.
Peers are expected to approve the suspension when they debate the report on Thursday next week.
D’Souza, a former academic, joined the Lords in 2004 as a crossbencher. She was convenor of the crossbenchers before she became Lord Speaker in 2011, serving for five years. The Lord Speaker is the equivalent of Speaker in the Commons.
UK inflation set to rise to highest in G7, IMF says
UK inflation is set to surge to the highest in the G7 in 2025 and 2026, according to the International Monetary Fund, PA Media reports. PA says:
In its latest outlook report, the influential economic body said price inflation in the UK would increase more sharply than expected in both years compared with previous predictions from July.
It came as the IMF increased its UK growth forecast for this year but reduced its prediction for 2026 amid concerns over the labour market.
UK inflation is set to surge to the highest in the G7 in 2025 and 2026, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
In its latest outlook report, the influential economic body said price inflation in the UK would increase more sharply than expected in both years compared with previous predictions from July.
It came as the IMF increased its UK growth forecast for this year but reduced its prediction for 2026 amid concerns over the labour market.
In the world economic outlook, which comes as leading politicians and central bank bosses gather in Washington DC, the body highlighted that inflation is picking up in the UK and US.
Most recent figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed that UK consumer price index (CPI) inflation struck 3.8% in July and August, marking the highest levels since January 2024.
The uptick has been particularly linked to accelerating food and hospitality prices, with many firms and industry groups claiming this has been partly driven by increased labour and tax costs.
Graeme Wearden has more coverage of this on his business live blog.
Mark Drakeford urges opposition parties to help Labour pass its £27bn Welsh government budget
Steven Morris
Steven Morris is a Guardian reporter.
The Welsh government’s finance minister, Mark Drakeford, has urged opposition parties to work with it to make sure its £27bn budget is passed amid growing fears that the spending plans may be scuppered.
Unveiling the Labour-run administration’s 2026/27 draft budget, Drakeford said spending on services such as health, education, roads and the environment will rise by £800m in the next financial year – if the budget is passed.
But the plans could be wrecked if other parties refuse to help Labour pass its final budget in the new year because the government does not have a majority.
Its situation could become even more perilous if, as expected, it does not win a byelection in Caerphilly next week.
Should the budget not be passed by the start of the financial year in April, the government will initially only be allowed to spend 75% of last year’s budget, which will lead to spending cuts in public services.
Welsh government officials have already begun making contingency plans in case this happens.
Drakeford said:
My door is firmly open to working with other political parties in the Senedd [the Welsh parliament] who share my belief that a more ambitious budget can be reached and that we have a collective responsibility to pass the Welsh budget.
Academic axed from Labour conference panel for criticising energy policy
A prominent sustainability professor had events cancelled at Labour and Conservative conferences after hosts of a panel he was on said they did not want his views on oil and gas aired in front of MPs, Jessica Elgot reports.
Iqbal Mohamed, the independent MP for Dewsbury and Batley, says there are 10,000 captives still being held by Israel. Some are prisoners, but many are being held without charge. He asks Starmer if the UK will push for their release. And he asks Starmer to oppose illegal settlements on the West Bank.
Starmer just says the government backs upholding international law.
Shockat Adam, the independent MP for Leicester South, said the last thing the people of Gaza needed was having Tony Blair as a “colonial viceroy”. He asked Starmer to condemn this plan and Blair’s involvement.
Starmer said he was not going to condemn a plan he welcomed only yesterday. He said it would be for others to decide who runs the new administration in Gaza. Those appointments were still be be decided, he said. But he said it would be a mistake to try unpicking the plan now.
Danny Kruger, the new Reform UK MP, said he was in Israel recently. He said Israelis would not accept a Hamas-run state on their border.
Starmer said the agreement was clear that Hamas should play no role in the future of Gaza.
Robin Swann (UUP), said decommissioning was not concluded in Northern Ireland in the way that people assumed. He quoted from a government memo saying full decommissioning could not be achieved, and that instead there should be some “big, symbolic acts of decommissioning”, after which the process should be declared over. He said the author of that memo was Jonathan Powell, the PM’s national security adviser. He asked for an assurance that this would not happen in the Middle East.
In response, Starmer says what was achieved in Northern Ireland in relation to decommissioning was very important.
Adnan Hussain, the independent MP for Blackburn, asked what the government would do to ensure that Israelis who were complicit in genocide during the war against Gaza would be brought to justice. He said accountability and justice were needed for peace to be real and lasting.
Starmer said accountability and justice were important. He said the government were strong supporters of international law.
The Lib Dem MP Layla Moran, who is British Palestinian and who has family who escaped from Gaza, told Starmer earlier that she found it hard to be happy this week.
I want to feel happy this week, but I find it impossible, because with so much destruction and so much devastation and so many lives lost, you look back over the last two years and you ask the question, ‘what on earth was it all for?’
But history teaches us that from the depths of that despair can often launch a positive future, and there is only one way to achieve the everlasting peace that President Trump so rightly talks about, and that is that two-state solution, Israelis and Palestinians living side by side in dignity and security.
Moran said the government’s recognition of the state of Palestine was a “promise made to my great-grandfather finally made good”. She asked Starmer to make that a commitment.
Starmer replied:
I give my personal commitment that we will work tirelessly to ensure that this time we build on the signing of the agreement yesterday, through all the work that’s going to have to be done along the way, until we get to that final, lasting solution, which will have to be a two-state solution.
Julian Smith, the Conservative former Northern Ireland secretary, asked Starmer if he agreed that the government should find officials who had experience of working on the peace process in Nothern Ireland to see if they could help with the process in the Middle East.
Starmer welcomed the idea, and paid tribute to the role Smith played in Northern Ireland.
