Keir Starmer Compares Rebuilding Britain To The Post-Riots Clean-Up Operation

Posted on 26/08/2024 by Boris Clair

Keir Starmer will compare the job of rebuilding Britain to the clean-up operation which followed the riots.

Hundreds of volunteers came together in the wake of the recent disorder to repair the damage done by far-right thugs.

That included rebuilding walls outside a mosque which was targeted by racists in the wake of the Southport killings.

Three young children were killed at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class last month.

Misinformation spread online about the identity of the alleged killer – amplified by the likes of Nigel Farage – resulted in widespread disorder across England and in Northern Ireland.

In his first major speech since becoming PM, Starmer will tomorrow tell voters that “things will get worse before it gets better” as Labour tries to repair the damage done by 14 years of Tory rule.

Referring to the aftermath of the riots, he will say: “I feel real pride in the people who cleaned up the streets — rebuilt walls, repaired the damage.

“I thought about the obvious parallels. Because imagine the pride we will feel as a nation when after the hard work of clearing up the mess is done, we have a country that we have built together. Built to last.”

The prime minister will also say that the rioters exploited the “cracks” which had developed in the country since the last wave of civil unrest which hit the UK in 2011.

“When I think back to that time, I see just how far we’ve fallen,” he will say. “Because responding to those riots was hard, but dealing with the riots this summer was much harder.

“Not having enough prison spaces is about as fundamental a failure as you can get.

“And those people throwing rocks, torching cars, making threats – they didn’t just know the system was broken. They were betting on it. They were gaming it. They saw the cracks in our society after 14 years of populism and failure – and they exploited them. That’s what we have inherited.”

Labour Sleaze Row Deepens As Tories Demand To Know Who Gave No10 Pass To Top Donor

Posted on 26/08/2024 by Boris Clair

Britain’s top civil servant has been urged to investigate how a top Labour donor was given a No.10 security pass.

In a highly unusual move, Lord Alli was given the pass within days of Keir Starmer’s landslide general election victory on July 4.

He has previously donated a total of £500,000 to Labour, as well as paying for £16,200-worth of “work clothing” for the prime minister.

Downing Street sources have told HuffPost UK that the Labour peer was given the pass on a “temporary” basis and had handed it back “weeks ago”.

Senior ministers have also said they have “no idea” why he was given it in the first place.

Shadow paymaster general John Glen has now written to Simon Case, the cabinet secretary, urging him to probe who signed off on Lord Alli’s pass, which gave him unrestricted access to No.10.

He wrote: “A Downing Street pass should be a privilege reserved for those that require access for work, including civil servants and special advisers, not those requiring occasional access.

“It is therefore deeply concerning that a pass was granted to a Labour donor providing unfettered access to the heart of government after significant cash and non-cash donations were made to the Labour Party.”

On Sunday, cabinet minister Pat McFadden was unable to clear up the controversy.

He said: “I don’t think it’s unusual for people to have passes to attend political meetings, if they need to do so.

“I don’t think he has a pass now but I believe he may have had one in the past.”

He added: “He won’t have been involved in any governmental decisions, he’s not someone who holds a policy responsibility.”

McFadden also told Times Radio that the peer “does bring a huge amount to the Labour Party”.

He said: “He was an important part of the election campaign. And as I say, he’s a very highly respected peer.

“I don’t believe there’s anything being done here that’s in conflict with the rules.”

Keir Starmer Has Outlasted Liz Truss, But Trouble Looms Large On The Horizon

Posted on 23/08/2024 by Boris Clair

Keir Starmer reaches a significant milestone today – but there will be no champagne corks popping in 10 Downing Street to mark it.

It is now 50 days since the Labour leader became prime minister, meaning he has officially outlasted Liz Truss’ time in office.

Defeating the woman who was outlasted by a lettuce may not be much to shout about, but with trouble looming large on the horizon, Starmer would be wise to take any wins he can.

In a month’s time, Labour will gather in Liverpool for its annual conference as a party of government for the first time since 2009.

But amid the understandable celebrations, there will also be simmering discontent among those who are less than impressed with Starmer’s first few weeks in office.

“The two-child cap will be a big issue at conference, we’re expecting some bother with that one,” a senior No10 insider told HuffPost UK.

“There’ll be debates on the floor about it and a lot of people making clear their unhappiness with the government position.”

Starmer made it clear well before the election that scrapping the Tory-era policy – which prevents families from claiming child tax credit or universal credit for any third or subsequent child – was not on his agenda.

Nevertheless, the PM suffered his first Commons rebellion over the issue less than three weeks after the election, when seven Labour MPs voted with the SNP in calling for the cap to be ditched.

Among the rebels, who were all suspended for six months, was former shadow chancellor John McDonnell.

He told HuffPost UK: “With four million children currently living in poverty, some classified as destitute, there is a child poverty emergency in this country.

“Failing to scrap – or delaying the scrapping – of the two-child limit is far from living up to the promise of change that was the key slogan of the election.”

But the most controversial decision the new government had made so far – and the one which could have the biggest electoral impact – was Rachel Reeves’ announcement that the winter fuel payment for pensioners would no longer be a universal benefit.

Instead, the £200 payment (£300 for over-80s) will only go to those OAPs who also receive pensioner credit, meaning millions will now go without it.

A government source said: “No one wants to have to means test the winter fuel allowance. That’s why we’ve protected those pensioners who need it most. It’s a really difficult decision we had to take to begin to restore the public finances after 14 years of chaos. It won’t be the last one.”

The potential impact of the chancellor’s decision were brought into sharp focus on Friday morning when Ofgem increased the energy price cap by 10%, adding another £12 a month onto the average bill.

More than 400,000 people have so far signed an Age UK petition demanding its reinstatement, a clear indication of the strength of feeling among a section of the public who, worryingly for Starmer, always vote come election time.

Labour have also found time to become embroiled in a cronyism row, with several of the party’s supporters being ushered into plum civil service jobs.

Government insiders insist no rules have been broken, Hannah White of the Institute for Government said Labour “has made an early mistake by attempting to side-step established recruitment practices”.

In a blog, she said: “The established routes protect the civil service from politicisation and ministers from the appearance of impropriety, particularly where in-kind or financial donations are part of the picture.

“Neither objective has been met by this approach, which is all the more unfortunate given Keir Starmer’s focus on ethics and propriety during the election campaign.”

The one unforeseen event which has so far defined Starmer’s time in office was, of course, the riots which erupted after three young girls were killed while attending a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport.

Online misinformation about the alleged killer – amplified by the likes of Nigel Farage – led to a wave of violence and disruption in England and Northern Ireland.

As a former Director of Public Prosecutions, the crisis could almost have been tailor-made for Starmer, and the public appear to approve of how he handled it.

He blamed “right-wing thuggery” for the riots and promised swift justice for those involved – a directive which led to lengthy jail sentences for some.

“The PM was very clear that the best way to stop the disorder was to make people think twice about the consequences,” said a government source.

“The Tories have gone from calling him a lefty lawyer to accusing him of being too tough on law and order. While they dithered, too scared to upset Nigel Farage, the government delivered justice.”

HuffPost UK revealed last week that polling by More in Common showed that voters’ net approval of the prime minister’s response has gone up since the early days of the disorder.

Separate polling by Savanta, shared exclusively with HuffPost UK, shows Starmer remains the most popular politician in the country, but suggests his post-election honeymoon period is coming to an end.

His net favourability is now +2, down from a high of +15 at the end of July.

However, he is still well ahead of Rishi Sunak, who is on -27, and Farage (-21).

Chris Hopkins, Savanta’s political research director, said: “Starmer’s first 50 days in office have been overshadowed, and defined, by his response to the civil unrest that swept the UK this summer.

“Our research suggests the public broadly think the prime minister managed the situation well, and agree with his approach, including his priority of locking up offenders as quickly as possible.

“However, our findings do suggest that the post-election shine has now worn off for Starmer. His favourability ratings have seen a reversion to his normal levels over August, but he is still the most popular politician in the UK.

“In that sense Starmer has managed his tricky first summer pretty well all things considered, although his autumn doesn’t look like it’s going to get any easier.”

‘Played Like A Fiddle’: Ministers Slammed As Union Announces More Strikes Despite Pay deal

Posted on 16/08/2024 by Boris Clair

Ministers have been criticised after a rail union announced a further wave of strikes just a day after agreeing a pay deal with the government.

Aslef, which represents train drivers, said the latest industrial action, which will see walkouts hitting LNER services on 22 days up until November, is in relation to a two-year dispute over their members’ working conditions.

It is unrelated to the 15% wage increase over the next three years which the union negotiated with transport secretary Louise Haigh.

Nevertheless, the timing of Aslef’s announcement is embarrassing for the government, which has pledged to end the strikes which have hit the railway network in recent years.

A Department for Transport spokesperson said: “This is extremely disappointing for passengers. The transport secretary has called on both Aslef and LNER to get around the table and work in good faith to resolve this dispute and as quickly as possible.”

Shadow Commons leader Chris Philp told Times Radio: “Clearly the Labour’s trade union paymasters have played them like a fiddle.

“The first rule of negotiation is if you make an offer, in this case a pay offer, you make sure that everything that needs to be settled and agreed is agreed at the same time. You don’t leave things undone, as this Labour government has clearly done.”

Tory leadership contender James Cleverly said: “The Labour government has been played by its union paymasters. This latest wave of strikes will be devastating for families who rely on train travel to see their loved ones.”

The Labour government has been played by its union paymasters.

This latest wave of strikes will be devastating for families who rely on train travel to see their loved ones. https://t.co/F3ytkHAR1V

— James Cleverly🇬🇧 (@JamesCleverly) August 16, 2024

Aslef general secretary Mick Whelan said: “The continued failure of the company to resolve longstanding industrial relations issues has forced us into this position.

“We would much rather not be here. But the company has brutally, and repeatedly, broken diagramming and roster agreements, failed to adhere to the agreed bargaining machinery, and totally acted in bad faith.”

In a statement, LNER said: “Our priority focus will be on minimising disruption to customers during the forthcoming Aslef strikes, which sadly will continue to cause disruption and delays.

“We are surprised and disappointed to hear this news following recent constructive conversations. We will continue to work with Aslef to find a way to end this long running dispute which only damages the rail industry.”

Keir Starmer Warns Social Media Is Not A ‘Law-Free Zone’ After Sadiq Khan Reveals Concerns

Posted on 09/08/2024 by Boris Clair

Keir Starmer signalled that a firmer crackdown on social media may be in the works after the London mayor Sadiq Khan expressed his concerns.

After a week and a half of far-right riots – partially driven by social media disinformation and online conspiracy theories – Khan said the government has “very swiftly” realised the Online Safety Act needs to be amended.

The mayor added: “I think it is not fit for purpose.”

The Online Safety Act became law last October, and allows regulator Ofcom to fine social media companies up to £18m or 10% of their global turnover if they do not take illegal content off their platforms.

However, these fines will not come into effect fully until 2025.

On Friday, the prime minister was asked for his response to Khan’s comments.

He said: “I do agree that we’re going to have to look more broadly at social media after this disorder, but the focus at the moment has to be on dealing with the disorder and making sure that our communities are safe and secure.”

Starmer added: “This is not a law-free zone. And I think that’s clear from the prosecutions and sentencing. Today we’re due sentencing for online behaviour.”

Two people linked to inciting the violence seen all over the UK in the last few days online have now been jailed.

The PM continued: “That’s a reminder to everyone that whether you’re directly involved or whether you’re remotely involved, you’re culpable, and you will be put before the courts if you’ve broken the law.”

He said tech bosses should be “mindful of the first priority, which is to ensure that our communities are safe and secure”.

Starmer did not directly mention the boss of X (formerly Twitter), Elon Musk, who has been in a war of words with the PM over the riots.

He responded to various clips of extremists clashing with the police, claiming “civil war in inevitable” in the UK and pushing conspiracy theories like “two-tier policing”.

Khan, one of the most high-profile Muslim politicians in the UK, also told the Guardian on Thursday that he felt “triggered” by the racist riots.

He said: “I’m somebody who grew up in the 1970s and 80s and experienced the National Front and the BNP and I thought that’s behind us.

“Like a lot of people of my generation, I felt triggered by the events of the last couple of weeks in particular.”

Khan has regularly faced abuse online too – but he noted it was not “realistic” to boycott any social platforms.

“One of the ways we can address people’s fears is using the medium that’s used by citizens and that is social media platforms.” he said.

Police Arrest Labour Councillor For Allegedly Saying Far-Right Protesters Should ‘Have Their Throats Cut’

Posted on 08/08/2024 by Boris Clair

Police have arrested a Labour councillor who allegedly said far-right protesters should all have their throats cut has been suspended by the party.

Ricky Jones is accused of making the comment at an anti-racism rally in Walthamstow, east London, on Wednesday night.

A video of the rally shows a man saying: “They are disgusting Nazi fascists and we need to cut all of their throats and get rid of them all.”

In a statement, the Metropolitan Police said: “Officers have arrested a man aged in his 50s at an address in south-east London.

“He was held on suspicion of encouraging murder and for an offence under the Public Order Act. He is in custody at a south London police station.”

A Labour spokesperson said: “This behaviour is completely unacceptable and it will not be tolerated. The councillor has been suspended from the party.”

It means Jones has had the Labour whip removed and will now sit as an independent councillor while an investigation by the party is carried out.

Ed Balls Slams Labour’s Housing Delays And Says Party Has Been ‘Twiddling Thumbs’ In Opposition

Posted on 31/07/2024 by Boris Clair

‘You’ve had 14 years to get ready. Surely you need to go a bit quicker than that?’@edballs questions Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook on why it could take up to a year to identify where to build more homes. pic.twitter.com/R2HI7M6iHL

— Good Morning Britain (@GMB) July 31, 2024

Ed Balls accused the Labour Party of “twiddling their thumbs” for the last 14 years in a spat over delays to housing reforms.

The ITV Good Morning Britain host was interviewing the minister Matthew Pennycook over the government’s plans to ease the housing crisis this morning.

This includes a new task force “to present a final shortlist of recommendations on appropriate locations” to build new homes to ministers, according to the gov.uk website.

So Balls asked Pennycook: “Given the urgency, is that new towns task force going to report in September or October?”

The housing minister said they had asked to report within a year, to which Balls said with incredulity: “A year? I thought it was urgent? Are you serious?

“Are you actually saying a year from now?”

Pennycook said: “Up to a year, but we’ve made very clear to Sir Michael [Lyons] that if the task force can identify appropriate locations quicker than that, we will get moving on them immediately, shovels in the ground.”

Regeneration expert Sir Michael will be leading the new task force.

Balls pushed: “Why are they taking a year?”

“Because, they are doing in a sense, Ed, a high-level spatial strategy,” Pennycook began, but Balls interrupted.

He said: “You’ve had 14 years to get ready. Surely you need to go a bit quicker than that?”

Pennycook said he had only three years shadowing the housing minister role before the general election.

Balls hit back: “You’ve been in in opposition for 14 years, twiddling your thumbs as a party, ready for this moment – you come in, you say you want new towns and we’re not going to have a report for a year!”

“We want to give the expert task force the time to report back,” the minister said.

It was not an easy morning for Pennycook on the broadcast round, as he was then called out on Radio 4′s Today programme, too – but this time, for setting “unrealistic” targets.

Presenter Amol Rajan said it seemed deputy PM Angela Rayner wanted to see housing completion in new towns within five years.

He said: “Given a normal scheme of 2000+ homes takes around seven years to get to completion, Angela Rayner’s target of five years is totally unrealistic, isn’t it?”

“I don’t think it’s unrealistic to have spades on the ground on several of these large scale housing communities by the end of the five-year parliament.

“That would be our objective,” Pennycook hit back.

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\"Given a normal scheme of 2000+ homes takes around seven years to get to completion, Angela Rayner’s target of five years is totally unrealistic isn’t it?\"@amolrajan asks Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook, as the government announces a new housing taskforce.#R4Today

— BBC Radio 4 Today (@BBCr4today) July 31, 2024

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“Given a normal scheme of 2000+ homes takes around seven years to get to completion, Angela Rayner’s target of five years is totally unrealistic isn’t it?”@amolrajan asks Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook, as the government announces a new housing taskforce.#R4Today

— BBC Radio 4 Today (@BBCr4today) July 31, 2024

‘Ignoring My Question!’ Victoria Derbyshire Calls Out Minister For Not Saying If Taxes Will Go Up

Posted on 28/07/2024 by Boris Clair

Victoria Derbyshire, “Just to be clear with our audience because you said you want to be honest in government. The overall tax burden is going to go up to its highest level ever under this Labour government”

Steve Reed, “The intention over the course of parliament is to reduce… pic.twitter.com/ZeuZQimzYC

— Farrukh (@implausibleblog) July 28, 2024

The BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire called out a minister this morning for refusing to say if the overall tax burden will go up under Labour.

The tax burden is already high by historical standards, after several hikes from the Conservatives – but the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) predicted it would increase by even more under this government.

The economists forecast that the party would take the tax burden to its highest level of record, reaching 37.4% by 2028/29.

So, while hosting Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, Derbyshire pressed environment secretary Steve Reed over his government’s plans for taxes.

She began: “Just to be clear with our audience, because you said you want to be honest in government – the overall tax burden is going to go up to its highest ever under this Labour government, isn’t it?”

Reed said his government’s “intention” is to reduce taxation over the course of this parliament, but Derbyshire cut in: “That wasn’t my question.”

The minister began: ’We’re all going through a spending review process –”

Derbyshire cut in: “Again, you’re ignoring my question Mr Reed. I thought you were going to be a different kind of government?”

When Reed said they did not have all the information yet, Derbyshire replied: “It’s already out there! The IFS have got the graphs!”

Reed said each government department was looking for efficient ways to save money, adding: “It is very important that we’re open and transparent about that.”

“But not open and transparent about the overall tax burden?” Derbyshire said.

Reed deflected, and said the chancellor Rachel Reeves would be unveiling Labour’s plans in the budget at the end of the spending review period.

He added that the government will not be raising income tax, VAT and National Insurance on working people.

The minister said: “We have to break out of the doom loop that has led us to this situation – because the Conservative government couldn’t grow the economy, taxation is high.

“We intend to grow the economy through things like building 1.5m new homes.”

Cabinet Minister Accuses Rishi Sunak Of ‘Deliberately Covering Up’ Problems Within Government

Posted on 28/07/2024 by Boris Clair

A cabinet minister has accused former PM Rishi Sunak of “deliberately covering up” the country’s crises when he was in government.

Speaking on Sky News’ Sunday with Trevor Phillips, the environment secretary, Steve Reed, said the Tories had left the country in a much worse state than previously expected – and that Labour were only just discovering how bad it is.

Reed claimed the Conservatives left a “catastrophic” inheritance behind – although Phillips replied: “Is there an element of, let’s call it ‘Kabuki theatre’ here?”

He pointed out that chancellor Rachel Reeves herself said in June that, “we’ve got the OBR [Office for Budget Responsibility] now, we know things are in a pretty bad state, you don’t win at the election to find that out.’”

Reeves is expected to say the Tories left a £20bn black hole in a speech to parliament on Monday.

Phillips continued: “Yet now, you’re suddenly going, ‘oh my god, there’s all these things we didn’t know.’

“Was she wrong then or is she just doing theatre now?”

“Well there are things outside of what the OBR are covering,” Reed said, pointing to the overcrowding in prisons which he claimed the Tories had not been upfront about.

But Phillips recalled a previous Labour press release about the overcrowding, suggesting the party knew about the crisis ahead of the getting into government.

“There isn’t anything new that you could not have known,” the Sky News host said.

Reed hit back: “We know now the prime minister received a letter from civil servants a week before he called the election warning him about this critical failure point, and that judges would no longer be able to send convicted criminals to prison if they deserve custodial sentence.”

Phillips said: “My point is, you and your colleagues would come in here, week after week after week, saying, ‘we don’t believe them, it’s worse than they’re saying.’

“And now suddenly you’re discovering that it’s worse than they were saying!”

“It’s not only that we didn’t know – the prime minister deliberately covered it up! They covered it up!” Reed said.

He then pointed to the real cost of the Rwanda scheme.

He said the Tories said they had spent £400m to send four volunteers to Rwanda, but Labour say they have just found out they actually spent £700m.

The cabinet minister added: “We want to get away from the politics of denial and cover-up.”

Did The Tories Really Leave Labour A ‘Shocking’ Inheritance?

Posted on 26/07/2024 by Boris Clair

It’s not exactly a new political tactic – see the Conservatives’ ongoing claim Labour told them there was “no money left” when they took over in 2010 – but it is one they seem to be laying on rather thick so far.

Since getting the keys to No.10, the government has, almost without fail, blamed every major issue on the Tories.

In fact, Keir Starmer said on Thursday the last government “left us the worst inheritance since the Second World War”.

He added: “Every day we are finding more mess they’ve left for us to clear up.”

The prime minister also tried to buy his government some time, saying: “We’ve started the rebuilding but the problems that have been left to fester for years, cannot be fixed overnight.”

His health secretary, Wes Streeting, said their legacy was “shocking”.

Obviously the Conservatives have not taken to this lying down.

Tory leadership hopeful, Mel Stride, on Friday dismissed any such claims against his party, saying: “This is all pitch rolling, smoke and mirrors, to suggest that they’ve come in and it’s far, far worse than they ever could possibly have imagined. ”

So, just how bad is it? Let’s take a step-back from the political spin and a look at some of the cold, hard facts around some of Labour’s most eye-catching claims from recent weeks.

NHS

Streeting ordered an independent investigation into the state of the NHS a week after getting office.

On Friday, he revealed some of the early findings, all of which were pretty damning.

It found the Care Quality Commission, which is responsible for inspecting NHS hospitals, GP surgeries and care homes in England, is not fit for purpose.

Inspectors were found to be lacking experience, with some having never been in a hospital before or met a person with dementia.

Its inspections backlog is so large that a fifth of services had never been given a rating – and one NHS hospital has not had an inspection for a decade.

Meanwhile, the independent public spending watchdog, the National Audit Office (NAO) found the “scale of challenge facing the NHS today and foreseeable in the years ahead is unprecedented”.

It found a growing number of NHS bodies “have been unable to break even” with the amount of funding they’ve received, and the “pace of change” has been slow.

The authors of the NAO report said: “We are concerned that the NHS may be working at the limits of a system which might break before it is again able to provide patients with care that meets standards for timeliness and accessibility.”

It suggested policymakers must explain the potential mismatch between demand and funding, adding the NHS would need a larger budget or service levels would “deteriorate further”.

Economy

The full extent of the economic inheritance will be revealed in full by chancellor Rachel Reeves on Monday.

She is expected to reveal a “black hole” in the government finances worth tens of billions of pounds – possibly exceeding £20bn per year.

She already told the BBC last weekend: “I don’t think anyone realised quite how bad things were.”

While we wait for her report, the think tank, the Institute for Fiscal Studies, looked into the Tories’ economic legacy – and found it rather wanting.

It said the last 14 years have been “extraordinary” – with earnings growing at their slowest rate in more than 200 years, and interest rates at a historic low.

“The period from 2010 to 2019 saw the biggest and most sustained cuts to public spending since World War 2,” the report said, adding that this all benefited the older generations.

The last five years have been a particularly lethal combination, due to the uncertainty of Brexit, the Covid pandemic and borrowing “on a scale even greater than seen during the financial crisis”, all of which meant taxes rose by more during the last five years than in any parliament since at least 1945.

“The legacy for the next government will be a difficult one,” the IFS said. “Expected economic growth is slow.

“The fiscal policy responses to the three shocks of the financial crisis, Covid-19 and the cost of living crisis mean that public sector debt is high, and a combination of high interest rates and low growth means that even running a primary surplus will not be enough to get it on a downward trajectory.”

It also called out the repeatedly failed promises to raise fuel duties in line with inflation, which is “another unwanted legacy” for Labour.

It predicted that the future “looks harder” for the British economy compared to its other developed countries’ economies with low productivity and high inflation.

The IFS also noted that Labour’s note to the Tories from 2010 that “there is no money left” can be applied to the current government as it “remains true today”.

“The biggest and most sustained cuts to public spending since World War 2”

– Institute for Fiscal Studies

Prisons

The new justice secretary Shabana Mahmood said last week that the UK is facing “the imminent collapse of the criminal justice system”, which sounded liek “some dystopian film”.

She said: “This is the legacy of the last Conservative government. This is the legacy of the guilty men.”

And figures released by the Ministry of Justice on Thursday showed how deep the overcrowding prison crisis is.

There were 73,804 recorded self-harm incidents in the last year, and 28,292 violent assaults in prisons over the last 12 months.

Overcrowding in prisons increased for a third year in a row, meaning 23.6% of jails now have too many inmates.

Meanwhile, the performance of four in 10 prisons are either of concern or serious concern.

Prisons have been at 99% capacity since the start of 2023, meaning prisoners have struggled to get out of their cells much.

This is all increasing reoffending rates – and worsening the risk to the public.

Interestingly, even the former Tory justice secretary Alex Chalk has backed Mahmood’s plan to reduce some offenders′ sentences to ease the overcrowding.

Lord Chancellor and justice secretary Shabana Mahmood

HS2

The high speed rail project was partially cancelled by Rishi Sunak, who said it had become too expensive and promised to redirect its funding.

The NAO’s latest report found that the Tories spent £592m buying land and property along parts of the route which are no longer going ahead.

Construction costs have soared by £16.1bn just since 2020, too.

It will take three more years to cancel parts of the route at an additional cost of around £100m.

The trains, which will still run between Birmingham and Manchester, will also have less space than current services – a decline of up to 17%, NAO said.

According to the NAO, the government may need to decrease demand by “incentivising people to travel at different times or to not travel by rail”, although the spending watchdog warned that this this may constrain economic growth and increase environmental costs.

Alternatively, the government was advised to try “improving or adding infrastructure” – but that may be expensive and disruptive, too.

With the economy, the NHS, HS2 and the prison system all struggling, it seems Labour may have a point – they really did inherit quite the legacy.

But now they’re in power, they can only blame the Conservatives for so long until the public get bored. The real question now is, how will they fix it?

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