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Starmer reshuffles top team before election

Hilary Benn, who last served the Labour frontbench in 2016 under Jeremy Corbyn, also made a return to the Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Northern Ireland Secretary…reports Asian Lite News

Keir Starmer has picked his top team to front Labour’s general election campaign, with promotions for Liz Kendall, Angela Rayner and Shabana Mahmood.

The Labour leader said the new-look team meant the party had the “strongest possible players on the pitch” ahead of next year’s vote.

Key figures including Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves, Shadow Foreign Secretary David Lammy and Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper were all kept in post in the first major reshuffle since November 2021. Wes Streeting, Bridget Phillipson and Ed Miliband, all held onto their health, education and net zero briefs respectively.

Deputy Leader Angela Rayner was also handed a promotion to take charge of the Levelling Up and Housing super-department. She will also become Deputy Prime Minister if the party emerges victorious at the next election,

But it meant a brutal demotion for the previous holder of the Levelling Up post, Lisa Nandy, who ran against Mr Starmer in the 2020 leadership contest. The senior Labour MP will still attend the Shadow Cabinet, but in a lower-ranking role as minister for International Development.

Rising star Darren Jones, who chaired the Commons Business and Trade Committee, joined the Labour leader’s top team as Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury. In a key promotion, Ms Mahmood became Shadow Justice Secretary. A Labour source told The Mirror: “This promotion is recognition of the integral role Shabana has played in transforming the Labour party as National Campaign Coordinator”.

Shadow minister Kendall also took over the Shadow Work and Pensions brief from Jonathan Ashworth, who became Shadow Paymaster General. Mr Ashworth’s allies claimed it meant he will effectively become “minister for the Today programme” – touring the media studios on behalf of the party.

Hilary Benn, who last served the Labour frontbench in 2016 under Jeremy Corbyn, also made a return to the Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Northern Ireland Secretary.

But the Shadow Minister for Mental Health Rosena Allin-Khan resigned from her post. She said she will continue to work from the backbenches to deliver a Labour government but said in a letter to Mr Starmer: “You made clear that you do not see a space for a mental health portfolio in the a Labour cabinet, which is why I told you many weeks ago that I would not be able to continue in this role”.

After concluding the reshuffle, Starmer said: “Britain deserves a government that wakes up every morning absolutely determined to take on the challenges we face and to improve the lives of hard-working people. Today shows that’s what the British people will get with Labour. “I’m really pleased that having put in the hard yards to change the Labour Party, we now have such a strong team on the pitch that is ready to deliver the change our country desperately needs.

“My Shadow Cabinet and I will spend every day until the General Election showing that there is an alternative and that Britain can get its future back.” The refreshed team will meet on Tuesday for a Shadow Cabinet meeting as Starmer prepares for a major speech at Labour conference next month.

The reshuffle follows Rishi Sunak’s mini Cabinet re-shuffle, in which he avoided major changes but gave new appointments to close allies Grant Shapps and Claire Coutinho to defence and energy briefs. Some expect the Prime Minister to carry out a wider Government reshuffle in the coming months.

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Starmer pledges to smash ‘class ceiling’

The Labour leader set a goal of half a million more children reaching their early learning targets by 2030…reports Asian Lite News

Sir Keir Starmer pledged to smash the “class ceiling” if his party wins the next election, as he sets out plans to reform the education system in a major speech.

The Labour leader set a goal of half a million more children reaching their early learning targets by 2030 as he expands on the party’s intention to improve teaching for the under-fives.

Modernising the curriculum to abolish the “snobbery” surrounding the “academic/vocational divide” and ensure young people have a grounding in both will also form part of the mission, he said.

The ‘academic for my kids; vocational for your kids’ snobbery. This has no place in modern society

In a speech in Gillingham on Thursday, the Labour leader warned the “class ceiling” is stifling opportunity for too many children across the country in terms of pay, promotions and work opportunities.

He said, “There’s also something more pernicious. A pervasive idea, a barrier in our collective minds, that narrows our ambitions for working class children and says, sometimes with subtlety, sometimes to your face: this isn’t for you. Some people call it the ‘class ceiling’ – and that’s a good name for it. It’s about economic insecurity, structural and racial injustice – of course it is. But it’s also about a fundamental lack of respect. A snobbery that too often extends into adulthood. Raising its ugly head when it comes to inequalities at work – in pay, promotions, opportunities to progress.”

The speech focused on the last of the five missions set by the party, which is well ahead of the Conservatives in opinion polls – a pledge to “break down barriers to opportunity”.

It included promises of skills reform to offer more chances for young people to engage in vocational learning and for adults to retrain in new areas, as well as to ensure every child has a specialist teacher in their classroom.

In an article for The Times, the former director of public prosecutions said a Labour government would put more focus on pupils’ speaking abilities as part of efforts to help youngsters with future careers and life skills.

He said it was “short-sighted” that the current curriculum was not delivering when it came to oracy skills.

“An inability to articulate yourself fluently is a key barrier to getting on and thriving in life,” wrote the qualified barrister. “It’s key to doing well in that crucial job interview, persuading a business to give you a refund, telling your friend something awkward. Oracy is a skill that can and must be taught.”

During his speech in Kent, Sir Keir also touched again upon pledges to change the planning system to build more houses so that 1.5 million people can become homeowners.

He said that including everyone in the new economy is vital if Britain is to succeed in a rapidly changing world, by preparing all children for a future that will be shaped by artificial intelligence, genomics, and technologies that “stretch the boundaries of our imagination”.

The Labour leader said, “I’m serious – the sheep and goats mentality that’s always been there in English education. The ‘academic for my kids; vocational for your kids’ snobbery. This has no place in modern society. No connection to the jobs of the future. No – for our children to succeed, they need a grounding in both. Need skills and knowledge. Practical problem-solving and academic rigour. Curiosity and a love of learning, too – they’ve always been critical. But now – as the future rushes towards us. We also need a greater emphasis on creativity, on resilience, on emotional intelligence and the ability to adapt. On all the attributes – to put it starkly – that make us human, that distinguish us from learning machines.”

Education groups and unions welcomed Labour’s proposals, but said they must be matched by significant extra investment.

This announcement sketches a broad and ambitious programme of reform. If implemented boldly and funded well, it will repair much of the damage of the last 13 years

David Hughes, chief executive of the Association of Colleges, said: “I’m delighted to see Labour’s bold ambition to get 80% of young people educated to A-level or technical equivalent as well as the recognition of the need for a cohesive post-16 education system, with colleges and universities both playing to their strengths.”

Labour last month backtracked on its £28bn green prosperity plan, instead choosing to delay the spending pledge if it gets into Downing Street, while Sir Keir has dropped his leadership campaign commitment to abolish university tuition fees.

Conservative cabinet minister Keegan said: “Labour’s empty words are easy – delivery is difficult. Under Labour we had worse standards in schools, poorer outcomes for kids, and skills training that promoted pole fitness and balloon artistry. Labour offers nothing but flip flop after flip flop, from tax hikes to tuition fees – showing there is no guarantee that they will even stick to their word.”

ALSO READ-Starmer vows to ease tensions between Labour and India

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Starmer vows to ease tensions between Labour and India

Labour’s reputation in Delhi and among British Indian voters in the UK has slipped in recent years, because of the support by some in the party for the independence of J&K…reports Asian Lite News

Keir Starmer has promised to reset relations between the Labour party and India after years of tension between the two.

The Labour leader said on Monday that his party had made mistakes in its approach to relations with the world’s most populous country, and that it would seek closer ties if elected to power next year.

Labour’s reputation in Delhi and among British Indian voters in the UK has slipped in recent years, not least because of the support by some in the party for the independence of of Jammu and Kashmir. Some UK Indians have also complained that the party has focused more on poorer inner-city Pakistani and Bangladeshi communities than on them.

Starmer told those attending the UK-India Week conference: “In the past Labour gave the impression we could only see the lives of people in communities who needed our support. But my Labour party understands that what working people in every community need is success, aspiration and security.”

He added: “There are lots of issues in the Labour party where, over the last two years, we have openly taken the decision to change our party to look out to the world in a different way – and to recognise when it comes to India, what an incredible, powerful, important country India is … and to ensure that we have the right relationship as we go forward.”

Labour’s relationship with India, and with Indian voters, has suffered in recent years as the government in Delhi has pursued an increasingly rightwing nationalist agenda, while Labour has been accused of taking sides with Pakistan in the dispute over Kashmir. There are 1.9 million British Indians, making them the largest minority ethnic group in the UK, and a potentially important source of votes in swing constituencies.

In 2019, the party sparked anger among Indian groups when it passed an emergency motion at its annual conference calling for international observers to be allowed into the territory, which is the subject of dispute between India and Pakistan. The party then wrote a letter clarifying that it would not take sides in the dispute.

The incident accelerated a general drift by British Indian voters away from the Labour party. A study in 2021 found that in the previous decade the party had gone from 60% support among UK Indians to 40%, with Muslim voters far more likely to support Labour than Hindus.

Welcoming Starmer to India Global Forum, Founder and Chairman, Manoj Ladwa said, “Whilst British politicians will vigorously seek out every vote, the relationship with India is now of national strategic importance. We cannot and must not allow it to be held hostage to the vagaries of domestic politics.”

Encompassing 12 marquee events with 150 speakers and 2,000+ participants, ‘UK-India Week 2023’ brings together business leaders, policymakers, and thought leaders from India and the UK to discuss opportunities for further collaboration and growth between the two countries. UK-India Week 2023, described as a highly anticipated fixture in the bilateral calendar by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, runs until 30 June 2023.

Indian-origin community in UK

According to the 2011 census of England and Wales, there were 1.4 million people of Indian origin residing in the UK, accounting for 2.5 percent of the overall population.

As a Carnegie Endowment for International Peace study noted in 2021, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the UK in 2015, it was “A time when the British Indian community was growing in stature and showing signs of political evolution. Historically, survey data have suggested that British Indians—like most other ethnic minorities—have been staunch supporters of the left-of-center Labour Party.”

It cites a 2010 survey of ethnic minority voters in the United Kingdom, where 68 per cent of them favoured the Labour Party. Among other reasons, it can be attributed to the Conservatives’ opposition towards immigration and liberalising cultural norms.

Change in position

The Carnegie study said that in recent years, “extant survey data, as well as anecdotal evidence, have indicated that the community’s political leanings are shifting,” particularly the British Hindus.

Devesh Kapur, a professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, and Caroline Duckworth and Milan Vaishnav, at the South Asia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, discussed this in a 2021 The Guardian article.

While noting the erosion of Labour support from Indian and Indian-origin voters in favour of the Conservatives, it added that Labour was still the choice for a majority (54 per cent) of those surveyed. However, this is a fall from previous years and many voters said they were undecided in their preference. They could then play a key role in influencing closely contested electoral seats’ results.

There are also variations across age and religion, with younger voters being more supportive of Labour. “A majority of Muslim and Sikh respondents would vote Labour in a snap election, but among Christians and Hindus the Conservatives would be the most popular party. Given Hindus’ relative demographic weight, Labour’s problem with British Indians is largely driven by the flight of Hindu voters from its ranks,” the article said.

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Starmer pledges to end North Sea exploration

Labour Leader Sir Keir Starmer speaks after Chancellor Rishi Sunak's Budget speech. (UK Parliament_Jessica Taylor)

The Labour pair also met with executives at British banks HSBC and Lloyds, as well as senior leaders at power giants RWE and Drax…reports Asian Lite News

Sir Keir Starmer has vowed to stop investing in new British oil and gas fields if Labour wins the next election. In a major departure from current government policy, the Labour leader ruled out new investment in North Sea fossil fuels as he outlined the party’s mission to go green.

Addressing business leaders and policymakers at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Sir Keir called on countries to form a “clean power alliance” to rival the Opec group of oil exporting countries. Sir Keir claimed an alliance would help bring down energy bills and stressed that Labour’s energy plan did not involve fossil fuels.

“What we’ve said about oil and gas is that there does need to be a transition,” he said. “Obviously it will play its part during that transition but not new investment, not new fields up in the North Sea, because we need to go towards net zero, we need to ensure that renewable energy is where we go next.”

Sir Keir also criticised Rishi Sunak’s absence in Switzerland, describing his own attendance alongside shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves as a “statement of intent” that Britain would be “open for business” under Labour.

He blamed the UK’s economic malaise on Sunak’s lack of a growth plan. He said: “We’ve got all the attributes for investment, we just need to create the circumstances, the environment, in which we can change what I think is the drift. The fact that our Prime Minister is not here I think is evidence of the drift. And we intend to reverse that.”

Sir Keir and Reeves are using a two-day charm offensive to meet senior bankers at all the top US banks. Sir Keir was spotted at drinks hosted by JP Morgan chief executive Jamie Dimon, the most powerful banker in the US.

The Labour pair also met with executives at British banks HSBC and Lloyds, as well as senior leaders at power giants RWE and Drax.

Capping off the tour of senior business figures, the shadow Chancellor attended a party hosted by public relations guru Matthew Freud at which Sting reportedly serenaded the crowd.

Labour’s energy proposals mark a sharp departure from current policy. The UK has just held a new round for oil and gas exploration licences and has held back from joining an international pact to stop new oil and gas field developments.

Sir Keir said: “One of the things that I am proposing is a clean power alliance where countries that are in the advance when it comes to net-zero share information, co-operate and share investment with a view to driving the global prices down. So, this is an inverse Opec. Instead of trying to ensure prices stay at a certain level, it’s to drive them down, to see the common benefit, whether it’s in the UK or across the globe.”

The UK has pledged to reduce its greenhouse-gas emissions to net zero by 2050. However, the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine has exposed the UK’s reliance on foreign sources of energy that have seen prices soar.

Experts have warned that the UK and other countries can not afford to turn their backs on fossil fuels.

Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Singapore’s senior minister and deputy chairman of the country’s sovereign wealth fund, said investment in all forms of energy would be needed to lower prices and ensure a smooth transition to cleaner energy.

“In the next 30 years, we’re going to have to invest significantly more in all forms of energy: Dirty energy, and especially clean energy,” he said. “We’ve under invested and we’re paying the price for it. And we’re going to pay the price for probably a decade or so in the form of higher energy prices.”

Shanmugaratnam told a separate panel in Davos that there was “no scenario, even by the most optimistic, that will give us confidence that renewables can achieve the scale necessary with the urgency we need”.

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Time to widen India-UK ties says Starmer

Labour Leader Sir Keir Starmer speaks after Chancellor Rishi Sunak's Budget speech. (UK Parliament_Jessica Taylor)

“I am looking forward to speaking at India Global Forum. The Labour Party has a long and strong relationship with India which I am very proud of,” he said…reports Asian Lite News

Opposition Leader Sir Keir Starmer has said it was time for the India-UK relationship to be widened across all critical areas as he set out the Labour Party’s foreign policy pitch in the lead up to the general election expected next year.

Starmer said he sees huge scope of mutual benefit from enhancing the bilateral ties.

According to a statement, he would be making a keynote address to open India Global Forum’s (IGF) annual UK-India Week summit in London next month. The address will mark the first major insight into the Labour leader’s vision for the party’s relationship with India, which went through some strain over sensitive issues such as Kashmir under his predecessor Jeremy Corbyn.

“The time has now come to look to the future and work on how we can deepen and widen our cooperation in critical areas such as trade and investment, technology and innovation, climate action, diversity and inclusion, and healthcare, the future of work, skills and education – all areas where I see huge scope for mutual benefit,” said Starmer.

“I am looking forward to speaking at India Global Forum. The Labour Party has a long and strong relationship with India which I am very proud of,” he said.

The IGF UK-India Week, now in its fifth year, is a five-day series of events to be held between June 26 and 30 to bring together senior politicians, business and thought leaders from the UK, India and around the world to focus on the prospects of strengthening India-UK ties across different sectors.

“I believe it’s timely that Sir Keir will be opening UK-India Week this year. We are at a critical juncture, and so his participation underscores the importance of the need for a bipartisan approach to the relationship with India,” said IGF Founder and CEO Professor Manoj Ladwa.

“Given the ups and downs in Labour’s ties with India in recent years, I am sure his intervention at India Global Forum will be eagerly awaited, and in my view, much needed,” he said.

The UK-India Week 2023, themed around ‘Leading with Purpose’, will cover a range of issues from infrastructure and sustainable finance to technology and innovation and conclude with the UK-India Awards.

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Starmer refuses to rule out Lib Dem deal

After Labour gained hundreds of councillors in last week’s local elections, Sir Keir declared his party was on course to win the next general election…reports Asian Lite News

Keir Starmer has repeatedly refused to rule out a deal with the Liberal Democrats if Labour fails to win a majority at the next election.

The Labour leader insisted that his party’s aim was an outright victory. But he avoided the question of a potential agreement with the Lib Dems at least seven times, even as he said he would not team up with the SNP.

In a series of interviews he also said he was “very relaxed” about the rich and indicated he would not tear up controversial new police powers which have hit the headlines after the arrests of protesters at the King’s coronation.

After Labour gained hundreds of councillors in last week’s local elections, Sir Keir declared his party was on course to win the next general election.

But pollsters have suggested it could fall short of that aim and that Britain could once again be heading for a hung parliament.

Sir Keir insisted he was “going for an outright majority”, but asked about a deal with Sir Ed Davey’s party, told Sky News: “I’m not answering hypotheticals, but we’re aiming for a Labour majority and that’s what we’re confident about.”

However, when asked about the Scottish National Party, he said he was “absolutely clear there are no terms in which we will do a deal with the SNP”.

Sir Keir insisted the difference was that the SNP wanted to break up the United Kingdom.

The spectre of a Labour-led coalition government has hurt the party’s election chances in the past. A Conservative attack ad depicting the party in the pocket of the SNP has been credited with helping David Cameron to secure a Conservative majority in 2015.

As he seeks to encourage more voters to back Labour, Sir Keir also said he was ”very relaxed” about people being rich and getting rich.

In February Rishi Sunak appeared lost for words when asked if he was “stinking rich” in a television interview. Eventually he described his situation as “financially fortunate”.

But asked about an infamous New Labour quote about being “intensely relaxed” about the filthy rich, the Labour leader replied: “I’m very relaxed about people being rich and getting rich. I know what aspiration is, I mean, I came from a working class background and I was able to not only head up the Crown Prosecution Service, but now lead the Labour Party.

“So my story is one of aspiration and opportunity. I understand that in other people. But I want obviously everybody to pay their taxes and I want fairness and I want equality and I want every child to have that opportunity.”

Meanwhile, former Labour prime minister Sir Tony Blair warned Sir Keir against complacency.

He told Bloomberg TV Sir Keir has “done a pretty good job pulling the Labour party back from where it was”. “But of course you can’t be complacent about these things at all,” he added.

On the arrests, Sir Keir said Scotland Yard had got some of its “judgments wrong”.

But he said it was “early days” for the Public Order Act, under which the group was detained for 16 hours before being released and told no charges would be brought. Rather than committing to repeal the legislation, he suggested fresh guidance could make improvements amid concerns it was being used to clamp down on dissent.

A Conservative Party spokesman said Sir Keir would “say and do anything to get into Number 10.”

On Sunday, Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey – whose party gained 12 councils and more than 400 councillors on Thursday – ruled out going into a coalition with the Conservatives but refused to say the same for Labour.

He said it was a “hypothetical question” adding that he would not “take the voters for granted”.

On Tuesday, he added that the party’s strategy was to target Conservatives in so-called “blue wall” areas of southern England and there must be “no sitting back”.

It all adds up to what looks like symmetrical flirting from Labour and the Liberal Democrats.

They each answer the question in exactly the same way, despite being able to be categoric about equally hypothetical situations of deals with the Conservatives and the SNP respectively.

In both local elections and at a general election, in most instances Labour and the Lib Dems are competitive against the Conservatives in different parts of the country.

Expect to see Tory MPs and ministers talk up what they see as the dangers of a hung parliament, with Labour reliant on other parties for support.

In 2010, the Lib Dems formed a coalition government with the Tories but the party paid the price at the next general election, losing 49 seats.

The Conservative-Lib Dem coalition lasted a full term and was arguably more stable than the Conservative-only governments that followed it.

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Starmer says he’s not talking down UK economy

Monday’s announcement from Labour reveals a little bit more about the opposition’s economic priorities. It will measure its G7 chart-topping growth mission on a per capita basis…reports Asian Lite News

Sir Keir Starmer has said he is not “talking down” Britain when warning that Poland is on course to overtake the UK within a decade in terms of the size of its economy per person.

The Labour leader was launching details of his party’s “mission” to make the UK the fastest growing G7 economy.

He was speaking to business leaders and economists in the City of London.

Labour’s analysis said Bulgaria and Romania could also overtake the UK if current trends continued until 2040.

Asked in a BBC interview if he was talking down the British economy, Sir Keir said: “No, I think what’s talking down Britain is having absolutely no plan, burning through three prime ministers and four chancellors in one year.

“My main concern has been that we’ve got fantastic potential and talent and skills and innovation in Britain but we haven’t got the growth that we need. We need a plan for growth, a strategy for growth.”

Monday’s announcement from Labour reveals a little bit more about the opposition’s economic priorities. It will measure its G7 chart-topping growth mission on a per capita basis.

Labour explicitly says a “bad Brexit deal” is exacerbating the nation’s economic challenges, calling for a “reset” to relations with Europe.

It canvases for ideas on both a closer relationship with Europe and the UK response to the US and Europe pouring investment into green and high tech businesses.

Asked to flesh out what Labour’s “reset” in relations with the EU would mean in practice, Sir Kier reiterated that his party would not be rejoining the European Single Market or Customs Union, but did say he wanted to pursue “every opportunity” for trade deals with countries across the world.

He said Monday’s Northern Ireland protocol deal would open the door to stronger post-Brexit relations with Europe, and that was one of the reasons he would lend Labour’s votes to the PM to support the deal.

“I do think we need to reset that relationship with the EU and want to see the UK and EU have a better relationship than we’ve got now. And I do think that progress on the Protocol is a first step”.

Labour announced last week that if elected, it would pursue five “missions”: the first is for the UK to achieve the “highest sustained growth” in the G7.

The other missions – broad themes on what Labour wants to achieve in power – include turning the UK into a “clean energy superpower”, improving the NHS, reforming the justice system and raising education standards.

The party has promised to provide more specific policy proposals later in the year.

“We’ve got to find the courage to take on vested interests,” Sir Keir said in his speech earlier on Monday.

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NHS must reform to survive, says Starmer

The current model sees self-employed GPs run their own practices under contracts awarded by the NHS…reports Asian Lite News

Sir Keir has formally given backing to his shadow health secretary’s reforms to effectively nationalise GP services.

Wes Streeting’s proposals to make general practitioners salaried NHS employees have been criticised in some parts of the medical profession.

But Sir Keir said that “if we don’t get real about reform, the NHS will die”.

“Well-meaning reverence for the ideals [the NHS] represents and the care it can deliver has supplanted reality,” he wrote in the Telegraph. Sir Keir set out a series of reforms that a future Labour government would introduce.

They included getting rid of “bureaucratic nonsense” to allow patients to bypass GPs and self-refer themselves to specialists.

He also backed gradually “phasing in a new system” for GPs, turning family doctors into direct NHS employees.

The pledges have echoes of New Labour’s 1997 promises, when Sir Tony Blair swept into power on the back of a manifesto vowing to slash NHS waiting times and make the service more patient-focused.

The current model sees self-employed GPs run their own practices under contracts awarded by the NHS.

But Sir Keir said it was time to accept that the system needed overhauling, with the pressure on GP surgeries causing more people to resort to attending hospital instead.

Sir Keir suggested young doctors were not keen on taking on the “burdens and liabilities” of the current system as older GPs leave the workforce.

“As GPs retire and those contracts are handed back, I want to phase in a new system that sees GPs fairly rewarded within the NHS, working much more closely with other parts of the system,” he said. “Not everyone will want to hear this – but it is the direction we need to go in.”

Labour’s proposals come as the NHS faces added winter pressures, with nurses and ambulance workers staging walkouts during the busiest period. Services have been severely disrupted and army personnel called in to help out amid the chaos.

Last week, figures showed the proportion of patients seen within four hours in England’s A&Es fell to a record low of 65 per cent in December.

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UK govt must abandon budget, says Starmer

The Labour leader said the Government must call back MPs – currently on a conference recess – back to Parliament and abandon its controversial new budget comprising a raft of major tax cuts…reports Asian Lite News

Opposition Labour leader Keir Starmer has called for Parliament to be recalled after the Government’s mini-budget plunged the UK financial market into turmoil.

The Labour leader said the Government must call back MPs – currently on a conference recess – back to Parliament and abandon its controversial new budget comprising a raft of major tax cuts.

Speaking to reporters in Liverpool on Wednesday, Sir Keir said: “The Government has clearly lost control of the economy.

“What the Government needs to do now is recall Parliament and abandon this budget before any more damage is done.”

His comments came as the Bank of England launched an emergency UK government bond-buying programme to prevent borrowing costs from spiralling out of control and stave off a “material risk to UK financial stability”.

The Bank announced it was stepping in to buy government bonds – known as gilts – at an “urgent pace” after fears over the Government’s economic policies sent the pound tumbling and sparked a sell-off in the gilts market.

The Bank’s extraordinary intervention, responding directly to the Government’s tax-cutting strategy announced in its mini-budget unveiling last week, will pile further pressure on Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng to defend a vision for the economy that has spooked markets and shocked most mainstream economists.

While the pound hit an all-time record low of 1.03 against the US dollar on Monday, the yield on 10-year gilts – which is a proxy for the effective interest rate on public borrowing – has also soared by the most in a five-day period since 1976, according to experts.

The scale of the crisis in the markets has led to unease in some quarters of the Conservative Party, just days before Tory MPs and thousands of members will descend upon Birmingham for Liz Truss’ first party conference as Prime Minister.

The Bank of England said, “Were dysfunction in this market to continue or worsen, there would be a material risk to UK financial stability. This would lead to an unwarranted tightening of financing conditions and a reduction of the flow of credit to the real economy. In line with its financial stability objective, the Bank of England stands ready to restore market functioning and reduce any risks from contagion to credit conditions for UK households and businesses.”

The Treasury responded by reaffirming its commitment to the Bank of England’s independence and said the Government “will continue to work closely with the Bank in support of its financial stability and inflation objectives”.

The Bank said it would buy bonds “on whatever scale is necessary” in order to steady gilts after Chancellor Kwarteng’s mini-budget last Friday spooked the markets with his package of tax cuts and increased borrowing.

It said the bond-buying programme would be temporary, starting from today until October 14.

“The purpose of these purchases will be to restore orderly market conditions,” the Bank said.

It also postponed next week’s planned kick-off of its £80 billion sale of gilts under the so-called quantitative tightening programme until October 31.

Neither Kwarteng nor Truss have shown any willingness to step back from the policies announced on Friday, many of which made good on the promises she had delivered on her leadership campaign trail over the summer.

But the market angst in recent days has seen the Chancellor step up efforts to reassure the City about his economic plans after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) criticised the Government’s strategy – and as the pound suffered further falls on Wednesday.

At a meeting on Wednesday, Kwarteng “underlined the government’s clear commitment to fiscal discipline” at a meeting with Bank of America, JP Morgan, Standard Chartered, Citi, UBS, Morgan Stanley and Bloomberg amongst others.

He also told the meeting that the plan announced on Friday would “expand the supply side of the economy through tax incentives and reforms, helping to deliver greater opportunities and bear down on inflation”, according to a Treasury readout.

Mortgage borrowers have also been hit by a record overnight drop in the choice of home loan products as the economic fallout from Friday’s mini-budget continues.

Moneyfacts.co.uk said 935 fewer residential mortgage products were on the market on Wednesday compared with Tuesday – the highest since its records began – amid uncertainty over interest rates.

The Bank has been facing calls to convene an emergency meeting to consider hiking interest rates to try and counter the Government’s tax cut measures.

The Bank’s chief economist, Huw Pill, said on Tuesday a “significant monetary response” may be required, but signalled this would not come until policymakers are due to meet as scheduled in November.

Representatives from Bank of America, JP Morgan, Standard Chartered, Citi, UBS, Morgan Stanley and Bloomberg were called to attend a meeting with Mr Kwarteng on Wednesday following days of turmoil.

In an extraordinary statement, the IMF said it was “closely monitoring” developments in the UK and was in touch with the authorities, urging the Chancellor to “re-evaluate the tax measures”.

It warned the current plans, including the abolition of the 45p rate of income tax for people on more than £150,000, are likely to increase inequality.

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Starmer sets out plan for economic growth

Picture Credit: Keir Starmer/Twitter

He will also take aim at the Conservatives’ leadership contest, which pits foreign minister Liz Truss against former finance minister Rishi Sunak in th race to replace Prime Minister Boris Johnson…reports Asian Lite News

British opposition Labour leader Keir Starmer will set out his plan to foster economic growth on Monday, adding his voice to a debate that has dominated the Conservative Party’s race to become the country’s next prime minister.

Starmer, criticised by some in his party for not spelling out clear policies to challenge the Conservatives who are again caught up in a leadership contest, will say his emphasis on economic growth might “challenge my party’s instincts”.

“It pushes us to care as much about growth and productivity as we have done about redistribution and investment in the past,” he will say, according to extracts of his speech.

Starmer will say he wants to see “fair” growth which will maximise “the contribution we all make to national prosperity”, though the excerpts of the speech provided no details of the policies he would pursue to achieve that goal.

He will also take aim at the Conservatives’ leadership contest, which pits foreign minister Liz Truss against former finance minister Rishi Sunak in th race to replace Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Truss and Sunak have clashed over the timing of tax cuts they have both promised but agree on wanting to boost sluggish economic growth at a time when the country is facing rising inflation and a possible recession.

“You will see a clear contrast between my Labour Party and the Thatcherite cosplay on display tonight,” he will say before the two contenders take part in a debate on Monday evening, in a reference to Conservative former prime minister Margaret Thatcher.

“The difference between a Labour party ready to take Britain forward. And a Tory party that wants to take us back into the past.”

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