John Healey: ‘We will bring the benefits bill down’
Following his first Budget, Chancellor John Healey told the Today programme on Thursday that there would be a reduction in the benefits bill. The Treasury then said there was no timetable for cutting it, and Downing Street said the government was not setting an arbitrary target. The Office for Budget Responsibility has warned that sickness and disability benefits could cost £100bn a year before the end of the decade. On the BBC, Laura Kuenssberg asked Healey whether overall welfare spending would be lower by the next election. Healey said ‘100 per cent’, adding that legislation would follow next year, after reports this month from Alan Milburn on young people out of work and Stephen Timms on personal independence payments. Kuenssberg pointed out that the Treasury had suggested he meant slowing the rate of increase. Healey claimed the government had already slowed the rise, and said he had set out a timetable for changes. He argued there is ‘nothing progressive’ in an ever bigger benefits bill. Pressed again, Healey said the overall bill would come down under Labour.
Kemi Badenoch: ‘I’m interested in shutting down this debate’
Former chancellor Rachel Reeves has written in the Sunday Times that Britain’s future lies in the European Union, and has welcomed Andy Burnham’s decision to open the door to negotiations with Brussels. Reeves helped write Labour’s 2024 manifesto, which ruled out rejoining the EU. On GB News, Camilla Tominey asked Tory leader Kemi Badenoch whether the Conservatives would campaign against rejoining, and whether she would work with Brexiteers across all parties, including Reform. Badenoch called Reeves a ‘failed chancellor’ and said the Conservatives respect the referendum result. She argued that the UK’s levels of borrowing would prevent it from rejoining anyway. Badenoch said she wanted to shut the debate down, not hold another campaign. Tominey suggested a campaign might be needed regardless, and asked if she would team up with Nigel Farage. Badenoch refused to discuss ‘future hypotheticals’, and insisted her life does not ‘revolve around’ Farage. She claimed Burnham was raising the EU because he has no plan to fix the country, and said that discussing campaign alliances would mean ‘opening the door’ to the debate.
Ed Davey calls for ‘free movement of labour’ with the EU
On Sky News, Fraser Nelson asked Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey whether the prime minister was now going further than him on the EU. Davey denied this, saying the Lib Dems had proposed joining the single market with free movement of labour earlier this year and had already called for a youth mobility scheme. He claimed immigration had got ‘completely out of control’ since Brexit. Nelson pointed out that immigration is now at its lowest level for twenty years. Davey said this was because the ‘Boris wave’ had been tackled and argued that the EU’s migration pact has reduced immigration into Europe. Nelson noted protests in European capitals over immigration and integration, and suggested Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood had regained a level of control. Davey claimed the protests were linked to the cost of living, which he blamed on Donald Trump’s ‘mad war in Iran’, and argued that joining the single market and customs union would boost growth. He accused Chancellor John Healey of having ‘no growth strategy’ in his budget.
John Healey: An apology doesn’t mean accepting ‘financial liability’ for slavery
Ahead of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Antigua and Barbuda, Andy Burnham has said he is ‘open to’ calls for a formal apology for Britain’s role in the slave trade, as well as a ‘structured dialogue’ with those affected. He has ruled out reparations. Laura Kuenssberg asked John Healey why the government would not contemplate paying reparations, given that many Commonwealth countries believe Britain’s wealth came ‘off the back of slavery’. Healey said the prime minister was open to discussing an apology and felt it was the right thing to do ahead of the Commonwealth summit, but did not believe reparations were the right approach. He argued that considering a formal apology does not mean British people today should accept ‘financial liability’ for events hundreds of years ago in which they had no role.
Robert Jenrick: Andy Burnham is ‘illiterate when it comes to history’
On Sky News, Fraser Nelson asked Reform’s Treasury spokesperson Robert Jenrick for his view. Jenrick claimed Burnham was ‘illiterate when it comes to history’, and argued that Britain should be proud of its role in abolishing slavery. He pointed to the West Africa Squadron, saying 1,500 British sailors died freeing 150,000 slaves. Nelson suggested there was a ‘mixed picture’, and asked whether Britain could acknowledge the bad as well as the good. Jenrick said we should never ‘paper over’ the bad, but questioned the value of apologising for events from hundreds of years ago. He asked why Burnham was ‘wasting time’ on the debate rather than the cost of living, and accused the prime minister of being a ‘crowd pleaser’ who avoids hard choices. Jenrick claimed the budget showed the 2020s would be the worst decade for living standards since the 1950s.
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