Starmer UN speech live: PM to meet Trump before address amid Middle East conflict

When it comes to seeking advice for my chronic health condition, writes James Moore, I’d rather turn to X/Twitter than my local GP. Wes Streeting is right – things have to change:

Labour MP Siobhain McDonagh has explained that a £1.2 million donation from top party donor Waheed Alli was for her dying sister.

Replying to a post accusing Mr Alli of wanting MPs in his debt, she posted on X: “Waheed Alli was my sister’s best friend for 25years. Tragically she was diagnosed with a Glioblastoma Brain Tumour in Nov 2021 & died on June 24th 2023.

“He took every step of her last terrible journey with her. Lending me money to buy a house with ground floor bed and bathroom.

“The loan will be repaid on gaining probate on Margaret’s Estate. It has been properly registered and Waheed wanted nothing other than his best friend being comfortable in the last months of her life.”

In the first controversy to hit Sir Keir Starmer’s new government, questions have been raised over Lord Alli – the business executive who has donated some £700,000 to the party over the past two decades – being handed a Downing Street pass.

In a row dubbed “passes for glasses”, it has emerged that Lord Alli had gifted the Sir Keir eyewear and work clothing worth £18,000, clothes for his wife Lady Victoria Starmer, and a £10,000 donation to the PM’s chief of staff Sue Gray’s son Liam Conlon’s campaign to become a Labour MP.

The UK stands “shoulder to shoulder” with Australia and the United States amid conflicts around the world, the defence secretary has said.

John Healey acknowledged the global tensions that provided the backdrop to discussions with the Australian deputy prime minister Richard Marles and United States secretary of defence at the Aukus military alliance today.

Mr Healey said: “We have held these discussions under a cloud of growing global insecurity.

“So in our trilateral and in our bilateral meetings, we’ve reinforced the need to stand together against Russian aggression, towards peace in the Middle East and steadfast behind Ukraine for as long as it takes.

“In serious times you need serious partners. So Richard (Marles), Lloyd (Austin), we in the UK stand shoulder to shoulder with you and we will drive the Aukus partnership from strength to strength.

The UK and Australia will begin negotiations on a bilateral treaty to “bind” their Aukus military alliance into law.

The announcement follows their AUKUS Defence Ministers Meeting at the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich.

During a press conference, Mr Healey said the partnership between the three countries “helps our industries to prosper and breaks barriers”.

He said £10 million spending has been allocated to UK nuclear infrastructure since the partnership was established.

The minister added: “In today’s trilateral meeting between the three nations, we agreed to add new torpedoes to our aircraft.

“The UK has today agreed to train hundreds more Australians to operate and regulate modern nuclear powered submarines.”

Announcing a new deal, Mr Healey said: “As part of that work I can announce that deputy prime minister (Richard) Marles and I have agreed that negotiations will soon be under way for a new bilateral treaty to bind our Aukus collaboration into law.

“So this not only reflects our commitment to secure a secure Indo-Pacific region where international rules are respected, it also sends a very strong message that our defence alliance is one that will endure for many decades to come.”

The annual tax-free winter fuel payment of between £100 and £300 was introduced in 1997 to help eligible pensioners meet the costs of heating their homes in winter. It was then expanded to all pensioners in 2000.

The government is facing opposition to its decision to means-test the payment, stripping it from millions of pensioners. It means those in receipt of pension credit or other certain benefits will continue to receive them but others won’t.

Some make the point that rich pensioners wrongly get the payment too, but the unions argue that a universal payment to all pensioners ensures nobody falls through the gaps.

Senior aids have revealed that Labour wants to “avoid” James Cleverly as future Tory leader.

According to the i newspaper, Downing Street officials said it was the former home secretary who they would least like to win the contest.

A Labour party figure said: “I think Cleverly could be a problem. He sounds quite reasonable,” a No 10 aide added: “James Cleverly – that’s who we want to avoid.”

Another government aide said Kemi Badenoch does not represent a threat as the party is “not sure she’d take our votes”.

Former chancellor Jeremy Hunt has claimed that Treasury officials told him higher borrowing could lead to high interest rates.

He was responding to claims that Rachel Reeves is considering to change fiscal rules in an effort to allow more capital spending.

But Mr Hunt warned that “more borrowing means interest rates stay higher for longer”.

The minister in charge of social media and digital technology has not tried to communicate with X (formerly Twitter) owner Elon Musk, despite the platform being linked to the summer riots.

Sources close to Peter Kyle, the secretary of state for science innovation and technology, have said that the two men have not spoken and there has been no attempt by the government to reach out to the world’s richest man.

Sources close to Mr Kyle have explained that he is connected to Mr Musk through “a degree of separation of one” in that they have a number of mutual connections and when the billionaire social media platform owner “tweets something mad, they get in touch to say what he really means.”

Our political editor David Maddox has the full story:

The Scottish government has been accused of having its “head in the sand” over the country’s homelessness crisis, as the First Minister was urged to sack the housing minister.

This week, homelessness applications reached a record high in new figures, with more than 10,000 children forced to live in temporary accommodation.

John Swinney was challenged on the issue at First Minister’s Questions today by Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar.

Mr Sarwar asked if he accepted there was a housing emergency in Scotland – which had been declared by Holyrood earlier this year, to which the First Minister said he did, adding that the Government was “taking action” to fix the issue.

“I welcome that the First Minister recognises there is a housing emergency, but the broader answer demonstrates a government with its head in the sand and oblivious of the struggles of thousands of Scots facing homelessness as we speak,” Mr Sarwar said.

The Scottish Labour leader, who attacked the drop in affordable home building in Scotland, asked the First Minister if he would “change course” on housing, but Mr Swinney compared his Government’s record with the last Labour administration which led Scotland between 1997 and 2007.

The SNP-run government, Mr Swinney claimed, built an average of 7,750 affordable homes a year, compared with Labour’s 5,448 when they governed as part of a coalition with the Lib Dems, adding that the Scottish Government was “getting on with the job”.