Keir Starmer announces new ‘once in a generation’ UK-Germany treaty
In a press conference alongside Olaf Scholz, Keir Starmer said he was “delighted” to be back in Germany “at this moment of opportunity for our two countries”.
Starmer announced a new UK-Germany treaty, describing it as a “once in a generation chance to deliver for working people in Britain and in Germany”.
Starmer added:
A new agreement, a testament to the depth an potential of our relationship. With deeper links on science, technology, development, people, business [and] culture. A boost to our trading relations.
Germany, of course already the UK’s second largest trading partner in the world, and through that a chance to create jobs here and in the United Kingdom. And to deliver that most precious of goods for both of our countries: economic growth.”
Key events
Closing summary
This blog will be closing shortly. Thank you for reading it and for the comments below the line. You can keep up to date with the Guardian’s UK politics reporting here.
Here is a summary of today’s key developments:
-
Keir Starmer announced a new UK-Germany treaty at a press conference with German chancellor Olaf Scholz on Wednesday. The British prime minister described it as a “once in a generation chance to deliver for working people in Britain and in Germany” and “a testament to the depth an potential of our relationship”. Prior to his Berlin visit, Starmer had promised to “turn a corner on Brexit” and rebuild productive relationships with EU member states.
-
While Starmer said at Wednesday’s press conference in Berlin with Scholz that the UK did not have plans to join the EU’s youth mobility scheme – with No 10 having previously ruled out such a move – speaking to reporters later, he pointedly did not rule out setting up some sort of system for other link-ups, for example student exchanges. Olaf Scholz had stressed to the British prime minister his wish for closer youth mobility ties.
-
Starmer and Scholz said there were “no new decisions” from either the UK or Germany as regards to the use of weaponry donated by both countries to Ukraine. Asked at a press conference in Berlin if he and the German chancellor had discussed lifting restrictions on weapons given to Ukraine that would allow them to be used inside Russian territory, Starmer said he was “not going to get into tactical questions about the use of weapons”.
-
The Liberal Democrats said Starmer’s treaty talks with Scholz were a “positive step forward” but called on the government to be “more ambitious”. Lib Dem foreign affairs spokesperson Layla Moran said that such ambition should “start with agreeing a youth mobility scheme giving young people the opportunity to easily live and work across the continent”.
-
Earlier on Wednesday morning, Starmer met German president Frank-Walter Steinmeier at the Bellevue Palace in Berlin, making him the first British prime minister to visit the palace since David Cameron in 2015. Steinmeier had made the invitation to Starmer after they met earlier in the summer at Euro 2024.
-
Starmer has said that more prisons will be built to manage overcrowding once the government gets its “hands on the planning laws”. Speaking to broadcasters in Berlin, the prime minister said the lack of prisons being built is one of the reasons for the current capacity crisis in jails across the UK.
-
Chancellor Rachel Reeves defended the decision to restrict winter fuel payments despite rising energy bills, during a growth-related visit to Glasgow on Wednesday. Reeves told broadcasters: “It’s not decision I wanted to make. It was a decision that I had to make in incredibly challenging circumstances to put our public finances on a firm footing.” Reeves also said that the Scottish government was “as guilty” as the Tories on the country’s finances after the Scottish government attacked decisions made at Westminster for the country’s financial strife
-
Reeves refused to rule out a rise in inheritance tax or capital gains tax. Asked directly whether she could rule out the tax increases, she replied during her Scottish visit on Wednesday: “I’m not going to write a budget two months ahead of delivering it. We’re going to have to make difficult decisions in a range of areas.”
-
The UK’s data protection watchdog has taken action against the Labour party for repeatedly failing to respond to people who asked what personal information the organisation held on them. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) issued a formal reprimand after it was revealed that the party had not complied with its legal obligations.
-
Josh Greally, 28, was given a suspended prison sentence at Barnsley magistrates court on Wednesday after throwing items at Nigel Farage during the general election campaign. Greally was sentenced to six weeks in prison, suspended for 12 months, and ordered to carry out 120 hours of unpaid work, 20 rehabilitation activity days and pay £85 court costs and a surcharge of £154.
-
Lots of pensioners will need support this winter who won’t be eligible for the new winter fuel payment threshold, an ex-Labour minister has warned. Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, chair of the Committee on Fuel Poverty Caroline Flint said that although the existing scheme was “poorly targeted”, since not all the 10 million pensioners need it to pay their bills, the new plans are too narrow.
-
Vapes should only be sold from “behind the counter”, like cigarettes, and not be on display in shops, according to the British Medical Association. In a report published on Wednesday, the doctors’ union called on ministers to introduce legislation to tackle the “growing epidemic” of vaping in the UK.
-
Labour’s key housebuilding target will not be met if water companies are blocked from significantly increasing bills, the leader of an industry group has said. The government has promised to build 1.5m homes during this parliament as a central pillar to its plans to end the housing crisis. David Henderson, the chief executive of Water UK, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that water companies would not be able to facilitate this without getting the green light from the regulator to substantially raise bills.
-
Tory leadership hopeful Robert Jenrick said he wants to put Farage’s Reform UK “out of business”. The former immigration minister said he wants to make Reform “redundant” by persuading its supporters he can address their concerns on the number of people coming to the UK.
Here is a video of Keir Starmer at a joint press conference with the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz. During a speech to journalists, the prime minister said the UK had agreed a treaty with Germany which he hoped would bring closer relations between the two countries.
Tory leadership hopeful Robert Jenrick said he wants to put Nigel Farage’s Reform UK “out of business”, reports the PA news agency.
The former immigration minister said he wants to make Reform “redundant” by persuading its supporters he can address their concerns on the number of people coming to the UK.
“I know how damaged the party’s brand is, how difficult the present situation is for our party, but I want to begin the long road of turning that around,” Jenrick told ITV’s Good Morning Britain.
He acknowledged the Conservatives have a mountain to climb after the party’s worst election result in history and said winning back voters from Reform will be a key challenge
Jenrick said:
I acknowledge we have a mountain to climb, but the way to do that, I think, is to defend the good things we did in government, like on the economy – a decade of high employment – reforming our schools so our children are now among the most literate, but being honest about the mistakes that we made.”
According to the PA news agency, he rejected the idea of a deal with Farage.
I don’t think Nigel Farage wants to join the Conservative party. I don’t think that he needs to. I want to put Reform out of business. I want to make them redundant, because I want to have clear policies on legal and illegal migration.”
He added:
What we need to do as a party is bring back those voters that we lost, the millions of voters we lost to Reform in the last election. And you do that by having a leader that has credibility on the issues that are of concern to Reform voters, and by adopting very clear positions, as I have done, not just in this leadership election, but for many months.”
From September, working parents in England of all children aged from nine months old have been promised 15 hours a week of state-funded childcare. However, data seen by the Observer reveals early years providers are struggling to attract enough new workers, while many are warning they are continuing to lose staff.
Some fear the childcare expansion will be undeliverable and providers will be unable to fulfil the demand from parents seeking a place.
The Guardian’s community team would like to hear from anyone who has been affected by the rollout of the expansion – parents, early years practitioners, childminders and those working for a local authority. You can share your experience with the team by using the form at this link:
Man who threw objects at Nigel Farage in Barnsley given suspended prison sentence
The PA news agency reports that Josh Greally, 28, has been given a suspended prison sentence at Barnsley magistrates court after throwing items at Nigel Farage during the general election campaign.
He was sentenced to six weeks in prison, suspended for 12 months, and ordered to carry out 120 hours of unpaid work, 20 rehabilitation activity days and pay £85 court costs and a surcharge of £154.
Greally pleaded guilty to a public order offence over the incident on 11 June in Barnsley town centre where he threw what appeared to be a coffee cup and another object at the Reform UK leader, who was campaigning on the top deck of his battlebus. Neither of the objects hit the politician.
Starmer appears to leave door open for potential EU youth exchange scheme
Peter Walker
Keir Starmer has held the door open potentially for some form of youth mobility exchange with EU nations following talks in Germany with Olaf Scholz, who stressed to the British prime minister his wish for closer such ties.
While Starmer said at a press conference with the German chancellor that the UK did not have plans to join the EU’s youth mobility scheme – with No 10 having previously ruled out such a move – speaking to reporters later, he pointedly did not rule out setting up some sort of system for other link-ups, for example student exchanges.
Starmer said after the press conference that nothing of this sort had been discussed during his long bilateral meeting with Scholz at the federal chancellery in Berlin, as the focus was on bilateral ties rather than wider European links.
But he added: “We want a close relationship, of course, and I do think that can extend across defence, security, education and cultural exchange and, of course, trade.”
Asked to explicitly rule out any sort of youth mobility scheme, under which young people from within the EU could live, work and study for a limited period in the UK, with reciprocal rights for young Britons, Starmer did not, pointing to the UK-Germany treaty he and Scholz had discussed.
He said simply that any future talks with the EU over an improved post-Brexit deal would be based on red lines including no return to the free movement of people, which was not the same as time-limited exchanges.
“Look, the treaty is a bilateral treaty, so that’s got nothing to do with youth mobility or anything like that. That’s to do with trade, defence, economy, illegal migration etc,” he said. “In relation to youth mobility, obviously, we’ve been really clear – no single market, no customs union, no free movement, no going back into the EU. So the discussion about a close relationship within the EU or with the EU is in that context and within those frameworks.”
You can read Peter Walker’s full article here:
Keir Starmer has said that more prisons will be built to manage overcrowding once the government gets its “hands on the planning laws”.
Speaking to broadcasters in Berlin, the Prime Minister said the lack of prisons being built is one of the reasons for the current capacity crisis in jails across the UK.
Starmer said:
We’ve got to change the planning regulation so we can build the prisons we need, because they’re taking far too long, it’s far too slow, and that’s amongst the reasons we’re in the position we are.
And, as you’d expect from an ex-chief prosecutor, people do need to go to prison, and they need to know that the law is effective.
Asked if he agrees with prisons minister James Timpson that the UK puts too many people in jail, Starmer replied:
I think [Timpson] has got unparalleled experience in rehabilitation, and particularly those coming out of prison.
I mean, he does employ a huge amount of people who come out of prison. His reason for doing that is to help them turn around their lives so they don’t go back straight into prison.
Do I agree with him that, insofar as is possible, people come out of prison, we should give them the chance not to go back into prison? Yes, I do, and the more we can do on that, the better.
I don’t think anybody would disagree with that, because the route back to prison involves another offence, which means another victim. If we can find a different approach for people, then all well and good.
But, look, we need to build those prisons, and we will get our hands on the planning laws in order to do so.
Prime minister Sir Keir Starmer and German chancellor Olaf Scholz have said there are “no new decisions” from either the UK or Germany on the use of weaponry donated to Ukraine.
Speaking at a press conference in Berlin this morning, Starmer told reporters:
We have been providing support and weaponry to Ukraine consistent with the approach of other key allies, including Germany.
We supported the approach and the framework put forward by the previous government in the United Kingdom when we were in opposition, and we are acting consistently with that in government and that’s why I’m very clear that no new or different decisions have been made.
I’m not going to get into tactical questions about the use of weapons for very obvious reasons, but no new decisions have been taken.
Scholz also said that there are “no new decisions from Germany” on the matter and that the country is “going to continue” its support for Ukraine.
He said:
Germany is one of the very large supporters of Ukraine in Europe, within Europe, we are the largest contributor. We are going to continue this support.
As far as weapon supplies are concerned, there are no new decisions from Germany.
Starmer also set out plans for a new treaty with the nation as part of a wider “reset” of relations with Europe.
At the heart of this treaty will be a new defence agreement, an agreement that builds upon our already formidable defence cooperation, but which expands that relationship to face the threats of a volatile world together.
That, of course, means a shared resolve to stand up for the security of our people and the wider European continent, and that begins with our unyielding support for Ukraine, and we discussed that in some detail today.
So, today we affirmed our commitment to stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes.
On the topic of youth mobility, the opinion desk here at the Guardian has just published this piece:
Water bills must rise if Labour is to hit housebuilding target, industry claims
Helena Horton
Labour’s key housebuilding target will not be met if water companies are blocked from significantly increasing bills, the leader of an industry group has said.
The government has promised to build 1.5m homes during this parliament as a central pillar to its plans to end the housing crisis.
David Henderson, the chief executive of Water UK, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that water companies would not be able to facilitate this without getting the green light from the regulator to substantially raise bills. He also said without sharp rises to household bills, companies would continue to spill sewage into the sea.
“Unless we get that full investment amount we are not going to be able to secure economic growth, we are not going to be able to build the 1.5m homes that we desperately need and we are not going to be able to end the sewage flowing into our seas,” he warned.
Water companies have to aid the construction of homes in water-stressed areas by building infrastructure such as sewage pipes and reservoirs.
Water companies in England and Wales, and other stakeholders in the industry, had until Wednesday to submit responses to the regulator Ofwat’s plans for investment and bills.
The companies asked Ofwat for permission to spend £104.5bn over the next investment cycle, which would cause the average household water bill to climb by £144 over five years.
However, the plans were provisionally reined in by the regulator in its “draft determination” last month, when it set out a budget of £88bn for the sector and called for the average bill increase over the period to be capped at £94 – or £19 a year. Ofwat will study the companies’ submissions and make a final decision in December.
You can read the full piece here:
Keir Starmer has denied that disagreements over a proposed youth mobility scheme will affect the UK-German treaty discussions as he reiterated his commitment to “clear red lines” with the EU post-Brexit.
Asked if Olaf Scholz’s desire for a youth mobility scheme would hamper negotiations, Starmer told reporters in Berlin:
The treaty is a bilateral treaty, so that’s got nothing to do with youth mobility or anything like that.
That’s to do with trade, defence, the economy, illegal migration, etc. In relation to youth mobility, obviously, we’ve been really clear: no single market, no customs union, no free movement, no going back into the EU.
So the discussion about a close relationship with the EU is in that context and within those frameworks, I’m convinced, and I think you heard from the chancellor himself, that we can have a closer relationship, notwithstanding those clear red lines that we’ve got, and we’ve always had.”
Asked if he was open to re-joining the EU study abroad scheme Erasmus, Starmer said:
None of the detail like that was discussed today because the focus was on the bilateral treaty that we want to develop.”
The UK’s data protection watchdog has taken action against the Labour party for repeatedly failing to respond to people who asked what personal information the organisation held on them.
According to the PA news agency, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) issued a formal reprimand after it was revealed that the party had not complied with its legal obligations.
Under data protection law, anyone can ask an organisation for a copy of the personal information it is using or storing on them, known as subject access requests (SAR). You also have the right to check if your personal information is accurate, or for it to be updated or deleted.
The PA news agency reports that as of November 2022, the Labour party had received 352 SARs, but 78% did not receive a response within the maximum compulsory time limit of three months, and more than half (56%) were significantly delayed by more than one year. A cyber-attack on the Labour party in October 2021 is said to be the reason for the backlog, as this resulted in an increase of requests from the public.
The party has since assigned three temporary members of staff to tackle the outstanding requests, allocated extra funding and implemented an action plan, according to the ICO.
Deputy commissioner at the ICO, Stephen Bonner, said:
Being able to ask an organisation ‘what information do you hold on me?’ and ‘how is it being used?’ is a fundamental right, which provides both transparency and accountability. It is vital that organisations do not underestimate the importance of responding to these requests on time.
The public need to fully trust that a political party will handle their data correctly and respect their information rights.
We welcome news that the Labour party has now cleared its backlog of SARs and implemented further measures to ensure people receive a prompt response going forward.”
The PA news agency reports that the ICO’s investigation followed more than 150 complaints regarding the party’s handling of SARs in the year from November 2021 to November 2022.
During the investigation, the ICO said it was also informed of the existence of a “privacy inbox” that had not been monitored by the party since November 2021. The inbox contained approximately 646 additional SARs and approximately 597 requests for personal information to be deleted.
The ICO said it was likely that some of these may have been duplications, but that none of the requests had been responded to.