Starmer arrives in Germany for talks on Ukraine and Middle East conflicts
The prime minister has arrived in Berlin ahead of a meeting with the leaders of the US, France and Germany. The so-called “Quad” meeting on Friday afternoon is expected to discuss the war in Ukraine and the spiralling conflict in the Middle East.
Keir Starmer was greeted by German chancellor Olaf Scholz as he arrived ahead of the discussions.
The trip comes after Israel announced on Thursday its military had killed the Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar; presenting his death as a turning point in the country’s campaign against the group.
The White House confirmed the US president Joe Biden will meet Starmer and the French president Emmanuel Macron to discuss “the pathway ahead in Ukraine” and “the ongoing and fast-moving developments across the Middle East”.
Biden said Sinwar’s killing was a “good day for Israel, for the United States, and for the world”, with officials in Washington expressing muted optimism that his death may remove a key obstacle in ceasefire talks that have so far failed to produce a breakthrough.
Starmer said the UK “will not mourn” the death of the mastermind of Hamas’ 7 October attacks, as he repeated calls for an immediate ceasefire in the Middle East.
Key events
Here are some images, via the news wires, of Keir Starmer on his visit to Berlin today:
Peers have called for unaccompanied children who come to the UK as refugees to be allowed to bring their families, branding current rules “inhumane”, reports the PA news agency.
The refugees (family reunion) bill seeks to protect the “rights of people who seek safety in the UK, to be joined by their family”, Liberal Democrat Sally Hamwee, who tabled the bill, said.
Former top judge and independent crossbench peer Elizabeth Butler-Sloss argued that children are being “exploited and trafficked” under current rules.
She told peers:
Unaccompanied refugee children are not well cared for in this country, there are many dangers for all of them.
Between 2021 and 2024, children were being placed in asylum hotels and 440 disappeared. 132 have not yet been found, where are they? Almost certainly they’ve been trafficked.”
Lady Butler-Sloss added:
These children, I have to say, need families. They don’t need care homes. It would save a lot of money, the present government might look at the cost to the country of the care of each individual child.
This is a situation which is drifting, this bill is timely, it’s welcome, and it’s important.”
During the bill’s second reading debate, Liberal Democrat peer Sarah Ludford said:
The core proposition is that families belong together, and that we should do what we can to mend the effects of war and persecution that tear them apart. It is simply inhumane to keep families apart.”
Green party peer Natalie Bennett also spoke in support of the bill, saying:
The Home Office cannot be trusted to behave with humanity and justice, and therefore we need this legal provision.”
Conservative frontbencher Andrew Sharpe argued the bill “would potentially jeopardise vulnerable children’s safety as well as having substantial implications for our already stretched public resources”.
Home Office minister David Hanson said:
In our 106th day in office, it would be rash to take those steps today without a reflection on that as a long-term responsibility.”
He added that “wherever possible family reunion is important”, but went on to say: “There are criminal gangs who will watch this debate, watch the progress of this Bill, and will seek to exploit the issues before us.”
Robert Booth
Charities should criticise the government if they disagree on controversial policies areas such as immigration or the environment, the UK culture secretary has said, as she announced plans to restore civil society organisations to “the centre of our national life”.
Lisa Nandy said publicly speaking out was “critical to a healthy, functioning democracy” and that charities should “tell government where we’re getting it wrong and work with us to set it right”. She indicated they should no longer be told to “stick to their knitting”, a reference to a criticism by a previous Conservative government that charities had strayed too far into politics.
She spoke to the Guardian as she unveiled a new deal between the government and the £54bn-a-year charity sector that aims to give charity bosses greater influence and enlist them in the delivery of Labour’s five core missions.
The family of Alex Salmond are gathered at Aberdeen airport as the plane carrying the former first minister’s body lands from North Macedonia, where he died on Saturday.
The acting Alba party leader Kenny MacAskill, who assumed the role following Salmond death, and a piper joined relatives. The flight arrived in Aberdeen at 1.55pm on Friday. Salmond’s body will be taken to his family home in Aberdeenshire.
Starmer arrives in Germany for talks on Ukraine and Middle East conflicts
The prime minister has arrived in Berlin ahead of a meeting with the leaders of the US, France and Germany. The so-called “Quad” meeting on Friday afternoon is expected to discuss the war in Ukraine and the spiralling conflict in the Middle East.
Keir Starmer was greeted by German chancellor Olaf Scholz as he arrived ahead of the discussions.
The trip comes after Israel announced on Thursday its military had killed the Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar; presenting his death as a turning point in the country’s campaign against the group.
The White House confirmed the US president Joe Biden will meet Starmer and the French president Emmanuel Macron to discuss “the pathway ahead in Ukraine” and “the ongoing and fast-moving developments across the Middle East”.
Biden said Sinwar’s killing was a “good day for Israel, for the United States, and for the world”, with officials in Washington expressing muted optimism that his death may remove a key obstacle in ceasefire talks that have so far failed to produce a breakthrough.
Starmer said the UK “will not mourn” the death of the mastermind of Hamas’ 7 October attacks, as he repeated calls for an immediate ceasefire in the Middle East.
Ian Sample
Britain’s plans to boost the economy through sustained innovation have been thrown into doubt amid fears that research funding will suffer deep cuts following the government’s budget at the end of the month.
Dozens of leading research and industry groups have written to the chancellor Rachel Reeves to warn against “the false economy of short-term cuts”, that would “undermine” economic growth and lead to losses in jobs, expertise and momentum in the sector.
The letter, organised by the Campaign for Science and Engineering and signed by the Wellcome Trust, Cancer Research UK and the Russell Group of research-intensive universities, said prospective cuts would have “significant negative consequences” for UK research and development and put the brakes on economic growth.
The concerns focus on the budget for the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology following reports that the Treasury is proposing a flat cash settlement for a year and looking for the department to absorb up to £1bn in costs for participating in the flagship Horizon Europe research programme. The letter states:
Reports of a re-profiling of investment leading to additional costs in Dsit’s 2025/26 budget, with no extra financing provided to cover a shortfall, are very concerning. It would mean deep cuts across other parts of R&D investment.
Alicia Greated, executive director of Case, says:
We recognise that finances are stretched, and the government must make some difficult decisions around where money is spent. However, we are extremely concerned by the prospect of Dsit needing to absorb additional costs relating to Horizon Europe association, without additional money.
To cover these costs would require deep cuts elsewhere in the R&D sector. This would lead to the loss of jobs, expertise, and momentum right when the sector is needed to make a vital contribution to boosting economic growth and productivity.
Dr Tim Bradshaw, the chief executive of the Russell Group says:
Our sector has consistently proved how research and innovation delivers high rates of return, economically and socially, contributing to job creation, regional investment and breakthroughs that improve public services.
We know the tough fiscal environment we’re operating in. But to achieve long-term growth – and build confidence in the UK as an attractive investment prospect – we urgently need stable policies and sustained research and development investment. Otherwise, we risk cutting off the research and innovation pipeline that contributes so much to the economy, services and citizens across the UK.
Alex Salmond’s coffin was draped in a Saltire ahead of the plane bringing him home to Scotland taking off.
The politician died on Saturday from a heart attack while speaking at a conference in the city of Ohrid in the country’s south west.
The flight took off from Ohrid St Paul the Apostle Airport just after 10.20am UK-time.
Salmond’s body will return to the north east of Scotland, close to his home in Strichen, in Aberdeenshire, and the seats he represented at both Westminster and Holyrood, on Friday afternoon. Plans are being put in place for for a private family funeral along with a more public memorial service.
The former SNP MP and Alba Party chairwoman Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh attended the coffin before it was taken to the plane, which was paid for by businessman Sir Tom Hunter. Ahmed-Sheikh draped the coffin in the Saltire, which is understood to have been provided by the Scotland Office, as it was taken from a van on the tarmac.
Small boat crossings are a “national emergency”, The Tory leadership hopeful Robert Jenrick says after French authorities announce a baby died when a boat got into difficulty in the English Channel. Jenrick, who has made opposing migration a central plank of his leadership bid, says:
We’ve seen more deaths this year than ever before. Starmer is condemning people to death for his own ideology.
Rather than strengthening the Rwanda scheme to deter people from making the journey in the first place, he scrapped it all because he didn’t come up with the idea.
Now, European countries are looking to do the same thing. It’s a national emergency and he’s playing politics with it.
The small boats crisis largely arose under the Conservative government of which Jenrick was himself a part. Describing that government’s policy in February 2023, Amnesty International said:
It is a government choice to require refugees wishing to seek asylum in the UK to rely on dangerous journeys and people smugglers.
Instead, hundreds of refugee and human rights organisations have proposed opening safe and legal routes, among other measures, as a way of solving the crisis. Far from settling the problem, those organisations believe Conservative policies such as the Rwanda scheme exacerbated it.
The Rwanda plan cost the UK £700m in the two and a half years between its introduction by the Tories and its scrapping by the current government. Under it, a total of four people went to Rwanda – all of them voluntarily.
Keir Starmer’s thoughts are with Alex Salmond’s family and friends as the former first minister of Scotland’s coffin is returned home, No 10 says.
A spokeswoman also urges people to respect the family’s calls for privacy.
Former archbishop of Canterbury urges C of E bishops in Lords to back assisted dying bill
Harriet Sherwood
George Carey, the former archbishop of Canterbury, has urged Church of England bishops in the House of Lords to back a parliamentary bill on assisted dying, saying that in the past “church leaders have often shamefully resisted change”.
The 26 bishops should “be on the side of those who … want a dignified, compassionate end to their lives”, Lord Carey told the Guardian.
Carey, who retired as leader of the C of E in 2002 and still sits in the Lords, said he would back Kim Leadbeater’s bill to legalise assisted dying “because it is necessary, compassionate and principled”.
He said it was “ironic that I will represent the vast majority of Anglicans who favour change, and the bishops in the House of Lords will not”.
Carey’s position is in stark contrast to that of the current archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, who this week described Leadbeater’s bill as dangerous, saying it could put pressure on people to ask for an assisted death.
Stephen Cottrell, the archbishop of York, also said the state “should not legalise assisted suicide”, saying better resourcing of palliative care was the right response to end-of-life suffering.
Alan Smith, the bishop of St Albans and convener of bishops sitting in the Lords, said: “In the past, bishops have consistently opposed legislation to introduce assisted dying/suicide. It is likely that we will do the same in the future.”
According to the Rev Canon Rosie Harper, a former member of the C of E’s ruling body, the General Synod, “there is a real disconnect between the [church] hierarchy and what people in the pews think. And I suspect there’s a disconnect between what the bishops feel they have to say and what many of them actually think.”
You can read the full piece here:
An independent crossbench peer has called for schoolchildren to be taught the “values of British citizenship”, reports the PA news agency.
Lord Harries of Pentregarth has proposed that democracy, the rule of law, freedom, individual worth, and respect for the environment are taught in schools as “values of British citizenship”, as part of the education (values of british citizenship) bill.
Opening the bill’s second reading debate on Thursday, Lord Harries said:
I believe passionately that fundamental values should be taught in schools, at a time when the world has a growing number of dictatorships, autocracies, and managed democracies, it’s vital that pupils in our schools should understand the fundamental political values on which our society is founded.”
Lord Harries added:
For young people this is often the key moral issue of our times. I believe that the addition of respect for the environment would help young people see the importance of this set of values as a whole.”
He went on to say that the bill would “give a boost to citizenship education, it would show clearly the political values that are to be taught, [and] it would give the subject a much sharper focus”.
British values should be taught in schools or the UK will live to “regret” it, Labour peer Lord Blunkett said.
The former education secretary told peers:
We have seen over the summer the riots taking place across our country sadly, and because of course we see the most enormous threats both from the distortion on social media, and the re-emergence of the far right across the world, so this is the moment to reinforce the importance of those values which do hold us together, the ties that bind.
Let us take this bill and use it as a mechanism to go forward, genuinely believing if we don’t teach this now, we’ll regret it later.”
Lord Blunkett also argued that teachers should receive additional training and funding to accomplish the bill’s ambitions, saying:
We must train teachers, we must give bursaries – which we’re not doing – to enable that to take place.”
Richard Partington
Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, is taking action to ensure her budget plan for a multibillion-pound increase in government borrowing to fund infrastructure projects avoids a Liz Truss-style meltdown in financial markets.
Ahead of her tax and spending event on 30 October, the chancellor is convening on Friday the first meeting of a taskforce of leading City figures to advise on infrastructure projects. The government will also launch a watchdog to oversee public works and ensure value for money for the taxpayer.
It is understood Reeves is preparing to announce changes in the budget to the Treasury’s self-imposed fiscal rules to pave the way for billions of pounds in additional borrowing to finance major public works including roads, railways, schools and hospitals.
Darren Jones, the chief secretary to the Treasury, told journalists on Thursday it was important to have “guardrails” to ensure major public works offered value for money, after years of overspending and delays in big projects.
City investors have warned that a badly managed increase in government borrowing risked prompting a “buyers’ strike” in the market for UK debt, threatening a repeat of the turmoil witnessed after Truss’s 2022 disastrous mini-budget.
Sources close to the Treasury said the government understood that if it was going to add to borrowing, it needed to be clear with the public, parliament and the markets that what it was doing was sensible.
Keir Starmer will gather with leaders of the US, France and Germany to discuss the war in Ukraine and spiralling conflict in the Middle East as he visits Berlin on Friday.
The prime minister will be greeted by chancellor Olaf Scholz before holding talks as part of the so-called “Quad” of western allies, reports the PA news agency.
The White House confirmed that US president Joe Biden would meet Starmer and French president Emmanuel Macron to discuss “the pathway ahead in Ukraine” and “the ongoing and fast-moving developments across the Middle East”.
The chancellor has warned that a £22bn “black hole” in the public finances – which Labour claims it inherited from the Conservatives – will persist over the next five years, forcing the new government to take “difficult decisions” on spending, welfare and tax.
Rachel Reeves is aiming to make £40bn worth of tax rises and spending cuts a year to overcome the shortfall, in order to meet her “golden rule” of balancing day-to-day spending with tax receipts. This would help to avoid a fresh round of cuts to departmental budgets.
My colleague, Richard Partington who is the Guardian’s economics correspondent, has written an explainer on the tax raising options under consideration. You can read it at the link below.