The Guardian

Labour ‘putting rail passengers first’, says minister as she blames Tories for prolonging strikes – as it happened

By Martin Belam,

17 hours ago

https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=4IP6UJ_0uyfb8t800 — Louise Haigh, the transport secretary, said ‘the previous government deliberately provoked and prolonged these [rail] strikes’. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

4.17pm BST

Closing summary

Transport secretary Louise Haigh said the Labour government was “putting passengers first” after train drivers and the government have reached a deal that could end more than two years of conflict between rail operators and unions, which she said the Tories had deliberately provoked and prolonged. Aslef’s Mick Whelan has said he believes it will be accepted by members. Conservative ministers criticised Labour for being in the control of unions
Education secretary Bridget Phillipson has defended the number of international students at universities, saying that they “have got an important contribution to make in our towns and cities” and “will be cross-subsidising the studies of students from the UK”, but said the government had no plans to remove the visa restrictions set by the outgoing Conservative government
A-level , T-level and BTec results in England, Wales and Northern Ireland were published today
Britain’s economy has extended the recovery from recession last year after recording growth of 0.6% in the three months to June. Chancellor Rachel Reeves said the government was prioritising growth as a national mission
The Metropolitan police is providing an inadequate or failing service in seven of eight key crime-fighting areas, and there are “serious concerns” about its management of dangerous offenders
390 adults have been charged over the far-right led violent disorder in England and Northern Ireland that followed a stabbing attack on children in Southport
Tens of thousands of prosecutions for alleged fare dodging brought by train companies are to be quashed after a court ruling that they were taken to court incorrectly using the single justice procedure
Uncertainty over the future of Tata Steel in south Wales is already causing job losses in the broader industry, the Welsh secretary has warned
Labour donor Ian Corfield was approved for a senior Treasury role without the civil service watchdog being informed of his donation history
Scotland’s cabinet secretary for finance and local government, Shona Robison , has said the Scottish government’s finances require “exceptional measures” to be put in place and confirmed a freeze in public sector recruitment in all but “essential frontline” posts
Headteachers in Scotland will be able to ban mobile phones in schools – but the Scottish government does not intend to bring in a nationwide ban on the devices in classrooms

That is it from me today. I will see you tomorrow. Go and do my quiz .

Updated at 4.23pm BST

4.01pm BST

PA Media have compiled some statistics for those going through the justice system after the recent far-right led violent disorder on the streets of England and Northern Ireland.

A total of 390 adults have been charged so far. At least 65 people under the age of 18 are also believed to have been charged. Of the 390 adults charged so far 349 of them are male, and 18 female, with PA not having data on the gender of the remaining 23. A total of 79 adults have so far been sentenced, 71 of whom have been sent to jail.

3.37pm BST

The Government has confirmed that seven train operating companies have privately prosecuted passengers for fare evasion under the Single Justice Procedure (SJP) when not permitted to do so.

In an update published on Thursday afternoon, the Ministry of Justice, the Courts and Tribunals Service and the Department for Transport said that Northern, TransPennine, Avanti West Coast, Greater Anglia, Great Western Railway, Arriva Rail North, and Merseyrail had prosecuted cases affected by the ruling, with the list to be updated on Monday.

PA Media notes – and we earlier reported – that it was previously understood that only four companies were involved.

I’ll head your questions off at the pass. The SJP was introduced in 2015, and the previous Conservative government said in 2021 that it was “an accessible, proportionate, effective and more efficient way – for both the defendant and the courts – to hear less serious cases that will not involve a prison sentence while maintaining the rigour, fairness and transparency of a standard court hearing.”

Legal fears were raised in the role of SJPs in imposing punishments for Covid restrictions , and Dania Al-Obeid was convicted behind closed doors for breaching Covid restrictions at the Sarah Everard vigil, and did not know she had been given a criminal record until she was informed by the media .

The archbishop of Canterbury was also involved in an issue with the system. He was ordered to pay £510 after an SJP in 2023, having, he said, tried to resolve a speeding fine three times . A Lambeth Palace spokesperson later said the archbishop had no idea his case had reached the courts.

3.20pm BST

We reported earlier that a 15-year-old boy had become the first to be charged with the more serious offence of riot in relation to recent disorder in Sunderland . There appears to be some confusion about the case, with PA Media reporting that the case has been adjourned for two weeks and he has been told not to enter a plea.

District judge Zoe Passfield said the new charge must have come as a “surprise”. The boy had previously pleaded guilty to violent disorder.

The judge said “It is an unusual situation when a new charge is brought after the person has pleaded guilty and it opens up complications that I and the lawyers need to consider carefully. I am sure what has happened today has come as a surprise, and will be confusing for you.”

3.15pm BST

Regular readers will know that when I am on the politics blog, the slightest opportunity to publish pictures of big boats, trains, or infrastructure projects is always seized, so here is the Renfrew Bridge , which had its first operational test today.

The bridge was opened and closed for the first ever time, with the test going to plan as hoped.

PA Media reports Renfrewshire council leader Iain Nicolson said: “It’s fantastic to see this project continue to progress and move through significant milestones as we continue to show that we can deliver significant infrastructure projects successfully.

“Thousands of jobs will be, and have been, created through the project, as well as the opportunity for new homes and investment on the riverside and access to health and leisure for communities on both sides of the river.”

The project is being funded by the UK and Scottish governments through the £1.13bn Glasgow city region city deal.

3.03pm BST

Welsh secretary Jo Stevens has been talking about Tata Steel and Port Talbot on the BBC Radio 4’s World At One programme, where she said: “Everything is on the table in terms of what we want to talk to Tata about, I can’t go into kind of the commercial sensitivities of it, but we want to protect as many jobs as possible.”

PA Media reports Stevens said: “I want to see all types of steel products made in the UK, and I want to see as many as possible made here in Wales.

“As part of the overall discussions with Tata, we want to secure investment from the private sector – and Tata being an obvious partner – into the future of steel making in the UK. And so I think what I can say is that all options are on the table. That better deal has to involve looking at every possible option.”

2.29pm BST

PA Media is carrying a quote from a government spokesperson about today’s court ruling that tens of thousands of people have been wrongly convicted of train fare evasion because of flawed court procedures.

The spokesperson said: “We acknowledge the chief magistrate’s judgment and welcome the apology from train operators. While fare evasion should be tackled, the right process should be followed at all times. The people affected will be directly contacted in due course to resolve the cases in accordance with the judgment.”

In written submissions for a hearing in July, Greater Anglia said it acknowledged “a series of significant errors” had occurred and wanted to “apologise unreservedly” to those affected. A spokesperson for Northern Rail said: “We would like to apologise again for the errors that have occurred. We will now work with the court to implement today’s findings,” adding “We are unable to respond to individual inquiries in the meantime.”

It is unclear that those affected will be content with apologies. PA Media also spoke to Sarah Cook, whose prosecution was one of the test cases.

The 42-year-old pet shop owner from Barnsley was fined £475 under an SJP prosecution after she did not pay a £20 fine for travelling without a ticket between Wombwell and Barnsley in November 2022.

She said that she had been waiting to hear back for a year on an appeal against the original fine, before being told she had been prosecuted.

She said: “It is a kick in the teeth. I know some people would say take the win, sit back, appreciate that. For me, although money at the time was an issue, for me more than the money was the stress. I have not got a criminal record, I’m not somebody out there committing crimes, and for somebody to say you could have a criminal record, you could potentially face jail time if you have been a repeat offender, to me that was terrifying.”

She continued: “For them, their punishment is ‘we’re sorry’, and there is a bit of me that thinks I don’t know if that is good enough.”

2.08pm BST

Another Conservative leadership hopeful, Robert Jenrick , has used today’s growth figures to attack Labour’s assessment of its economic inheritance.

Notably silent on why there was a corner that needed turning, Jenrick posted to social media to say “The UK now has the fastest growth in the G7. Double France. Four times the EU average. Under the Conservatives, the economy turned a corner. Don’t let Labour convince you otherwise.”

Earlier Labour’s chief secretary to the Treasury, Darren Jones , said “The last Conservative government left this new Labour government with the highest tax burden since the 1940s, the highest debt burden for over 60 years and a huge cost for just paying the interest on that debt every single month.”

2.01pm BST

A 15-year-old boy has become the first to be charged with the more serious offence of riot in relation to disorder in Sunderland on 2 August, the Crown Prosecution Service said, PA Media reports.

Most people so far have been charged with violent disorder, which carries a maximum sentence of five years for adults, but the charge of riot for adults carries a maximum sentence of ten years.

Updated at 2.09pm BST

1.58pm BST

There are, if my abacus is correct, 79 days until we find out who the next leader of his majesty’s official opposition is going to be, which means, especially on quiet news days, we have got a lot more campaigning by Kemi Badenoch, James Cleverly, Robert Jenrick, Priti Patel, Mel Stride and Tom Tugendhat ahead of us.

James Cleverly has just posted a video where he says the key to success is to “make fewer promises, and the ones we do make, make them on the issues that matter the most, and make sure we do what we say we are going to do.”

He then went on to say “it is very tempting” to just make “easy” promises to people when you want their vote, and illustrated it with the suggestion that he was wearing red socks because of one such ill-advised exchange.

1.50pm BST

Headteachers in Scotland will be able to ban mobile phones in schools – but the Scottish government does not intend to bring in a nationwide ban on the devices in classrooms.

A Scotland-wide ban on the devices in schools is “not considered to be appropriate or feasible”, new guidance from ministers has stated.

It comes as SNP education secretary Jenny Gilruth said there “are undoubtedly growing behavioural issues associated with mobile phones”.

As a result, she said the guidance makes clear head teachers will be “empowered to take action up to and including whole school bans” where they believe this to be necessary.

Making clear ministers are “not introducing a monolithic national policy”, PA Media report the education secretary said: “The Scottish government does not intend to dictate approaches to our headteachers – they know better than anyone the specific approach which will work best in their school.”

1.14pm BST

Tugendhat accuses Labour of 'feeding union paymasters' by trying to end rail strikes which Labour say previous government 'provoked and prolonged'

Conservative leadership challenger Tom Tugendhat has said that the proposed pay deal with train drivers that the transport secretary has described as “putting passengers first” is in fact just “feeding union paymasters”.

Speaking to GB News from Ynys Môn, the shadow security minister said “I think this is again the Labour party feeding the union paymasters that they’ve always obeyed.”

Earlier transport secretary Louise Haigh said the new Labour government had promised to “move fast and fix things” and said they were. She said a pay deal whould “hopefully bring an end to over two years of damaging strikes that have cost the taxpayer more than £800m pounds in lost revenue and hurt the economy even more.”

She accused the Tories of “deliberately provoking and prolonging” strikes, and said “In direct contrast, this Labour government will always put passengers first.”

Tugendhat, who was in government from September 2022 until July 2024 during the 14 years that Conservatives were in power, said “I’m afraid what this isn’t focused on is the real need for massive investment that we need to make a commitment to.”

He said: “We need … to make sure that people, the traveling public, those people who are actually delivering the jobs and the opportunities that the British people need to survive, and to deliver a greater future, that they actually have the full opportunity to enjoy the services that we need. Now that’s where the challenge comes.”

He criticised the deal for not having any associated changes in working conditions, saying “Whenever we’ve done pay rises, Conservatives, we’ve always asked for productivity benefits. We’ve always asked for transformations in working environments, to make sure that we’re getting more bang, as it were, for your buck. So that people’s money – after all, it’s not government money, it’s your money – actually goes further.”

Mick Whelan , secretary-general of Aslef , earlier told listeners of LBC that he believed members would vote to accept the pay deal.

12.57pm BST

Tom Tugendhat has played down the impact of people inciting violence online, suggesting that arresting people for what they have posted online is not getting to the root cause of what has been causing violence.

The Conservative leadership candidate told viewers of GB News:

This isn’t about the technology, it’s about the root causes. Of course you and I would both argue that people should be civil online, just as they should be civil on in person. Of course we should, but that’s not the root cause.
The root cause is that there are people with fanatical and hateful ideas in our country, who were trying to divide us, who are secretarian of various different kinds, or who are trying to express political views through violence. Now that’s just wrong.
And it’s also wrong that we have got a series of criminals who simply haven’t been detained over many years. And indeed, as you’ve already seen, those who committed the riots in recent weeks have a pattern of crime, many of them for burglary and assault, and frankly, they should have been in prison years ago. What they’re doing is they’re exploiting the opportunity to commit more crime.
I’ve always been at the opinion that, you know, what happens online is a bit different. Twitter isn’t Britain, right? It’s a perspective. It’s a view. But it’s not the same thing. Crime is actually happening on our streets. And I think that’s priority to be made now.

12.53pm BST

Speaking on GB News, Tom Tugendhat has repeated his call for a change in the culture of police leadership in the country, and for the setting up of a new national security police force.

The Conservative leadership candidate told viewers:

We need to look at the way in which the National Police Chiefs Council and the College of Policing are operating. We need to make sure we’re getting the right leaders in.
What we’ve got here is a situation where we haven’t got two-tier justice, we’ve got completely inconsistent justice. We don’t have police officers regularly arresting – and I don’t blame the individual officers. This is a question of leadership. This is a question of making sure we get the right decisions by police leaders and political leaders, and that’s not what we’ve seen from Keir Starmer. It’s not what we’ve seen from Yvette Cooper.

Tugendhat again called for the Metropolitan police to be stripped of its counter-terrorism duties, which could be taken up by a new national security police force. He said:

The Metropolitan police have two duties. They have one, which is obviously their territorial policing responsibility, you know, keeping people safe on the streets. And then they have the national responsibility, counter terrorism policing and so on. Now I think, frankly, that’s just too great a span. I’d like to see a new police force, the national security police force, set up, so that it’s actually able to operate supporting counter-terrorism operations around the UK.
You’ve heard me saying how Iranian agents have tried to do harm in our country. You’ve heard that the National Security Act that I introduced has already led to more arrests in my time as security minister of Chinese and Russian agents than in the previous decade. You know, we need to be absolutely up to date on this and responsive to the threats that we really do face.

12.47pm BST

Regardless of whether they cancelled their summer holidays or not – and our community team are harvesting your views of whether Keir Starmer did the right thing here – there are very few politicians on the airwaves this week during recess, and of those that are, most of them are vying to be the next leader of the opposition.

Tom Tugendhat has just appeared on GB News from Ynys Môn where as part of his pitch to lead the Conservatives he was saying that the senior members of the party need to listen to their members more. He told viewers:

It’s an amazingly beautiful place, and it’s not my first visit. I’m here because for me, Unionism is absolutely indivisible from Conservatism. You know, this is all about who we are as a country. We are so much stronger together. We are a fantastic country.
Very sadly, the failures of the Conservative party at the last election, that loss of trust that we all know about, that we’ve really got to fix, has led to there being no Conservative Welsh MPs.
Now we’ve got to turn that around. And that starts by listening to our members, listening to people on Ynys Môn, and listening to people in Wales and across the United Kingdom.

12.34pm BST

Scotland’s cabinet secretary for finance and local government, Shona Robison , has said the Scottish government’s finances require “exceptional measures” to be put in place and confirmed a freeze in public sector recruitment in all but “essential frontline” posts.

PA Media quote her telling BBC Radio Scotland: “We have said essential frontline posts will be able to be recruited.”

She added the Scottish government would be “making sure that the controls on recruitment are enhanced to make sure we prioritise only those essential frontline posts.”

The finance secretary has already imposed emergency spending controls across Scottish government departments, with further spending in 2024-25 said to be only permitted if it is “truly essential or unavoidable.”

The Scottish finance secretary criticised the UK government for failing to ensure rises for NHS workers and council staff are fully funded, and said that “has led to the position where we are having to take these exceptional measures in order to constrain spend and create the headroom to manage.”

12.13pm BST

Education minister Jacqui Smith has appeared on GB News, where she was questioned about Labour plans to support free speech at universities.

Smith said she fully supported free speech on campus – “You don’t go to university only to hear things you agree with or that you feel comfortable with. You go there to be challenged and that has to remain in place” – but said that legislation planned by the previous Tory administration risked bringing in unintended consequences.

She told viewers of GB News :

The problem with the legislation that was being proposed was it came from a place of that I agree with, of wanting to defend that freedom of speech for students, for visitors to universities, for academics, but what people told us, both universities and student unions and others, was, ‘look, it’s not going to work as it was intended’.
If you’re not careful, you’re going to get swamped with complaints about free speech, when actually there are lots of other things that students and universities need to worry about as well.
What we’ve done is we’ve said it was due to come in on the first of August, we’ve stopped that in order that we can think about whether or not this legislation or another way is the best way of safeguarding free speech.

The question of free speech on campus has become politically fraught, with right wing voices frequently complaining that so-called “cancel culture” and a stifling of free speech by the left leaves them unable to voice their views, while also arguing, for example, that pro-Palestinian demonstrations or protest about colonial-era statues should be restricted.

Yesterday, former prime minister Liz Truss insisted that a banner of a lettuce with some googly-eyes and the slogan “I crashed the economy” was an attempt to “intimidate people and suppress free speech.”

11.35am BST

Thousands of prosecutions for alleged fare evasion brought by train companies are set to be declared void after a judge’s ruling, PA Media reports.

Four train companies including Northern Rail and Greater Anglia brought prosecutions against thousands of passengers using the single justice procedure (SJP), despite not being permitted to do so.

At a hearing in June, chief magistrate Paul Goldspring told Westminster magistrates court that he believed the prosecutions were “void” and “probably unlawful”, with lawyers for rail companies telling a further hearing last month that they were “in agreement” the cases should be quashed.

In a ruling at the same court on Thursday, Judge Goldspring said that six “test cases” should be declared a “nullity”, so it was “as if as though the proceedings never existed”.

Giving a summary of his judgment, he said: “Parliament did not envisage these offences being prosecuted through the SJP. They should never have been brought through that process. This is, to my mind, a paradigm nullity.”

The exact number of those affected is unknown, with a previous hearing told that about 75,000 people could have been prosecuted for fare evasion offences under the SJP, and the judge observing that was a “best guess”.

I’ve got to be honest, it isn’t very often you get to type “paradigm nullity” in the politics live blog.

11.05am BST

Transport secretary: government putting 'passengers first' unlike previous Tory decisions to 'deliberately provoke and prolong' strikes

Transport secretary Louise Haigh has said the government is putting “passengers first” in attempting to resolve the train drivers’ pay claim, rather than taking the approach of the previous Conservative government, which she said,“deliberately provoked and prolonged” strikes.

In a video posted to social media, she said:

When I became transport secretary, I said we’d move fast and fix things, and that’s exactly what we’re doing.
I am delighted that we have put forward a three-year pay deal so that drivers across our railways can vote on it, and hopefully bring an end to over two years of damaging strikes that have cost the taxpayer more than £800m pounds in lost revenue and hurt the economy even more.
The previous government deliberately provoked and prolonged these strikes and hurt passengers and the economy. In direct contrast, this Labour government will always put passengers first.

10.50am BST

More shadow cabinet members have piled in to criticise the government for the way it is portraying the economy and to criticise the fact that Labour appears to have successfully struck a pay deal with train drivers.

The shadow chancellor, Jeremy Hunt , addressing GDP figures which show 0.6% growth after several consecutive quarters of stagnation or recession under Rishi Sunak’s government, said :

Today’s figures are yet further proof that Labour have inherited a growing and resilient economy. The chancellor’s attempt to blame her economic inheritance on her decision to raise taxes – tax rises she had always planned – will not wash with the public. Labour promised over 50 times in the election they would not raise people’s taxes and we will hold them to account on their promises.

Shadow leader of the House of Commons, Chris Philp said :

14% rise for train drivers (taking average salaries to £69k for a four day week), 22% for doctors and a further £10bn of pay rises at over 2x inflation for many other public sector workers. These are the choices the Labour government is making that will lead to tax rises this autumn.

Earlier Labour’s chief secretary to the Treasury, Darren Jones , defended Labour saying the economic situation remained challenging for the new government, saying “The last Conservative government left this new Labour government with the highest tax burden since the 1940s, the highest debt burden for over 60 years and a huge cost for just paying the interest on that debt every single month.”

10.25am BST

Shadow home secretary James Cleverly has commented on the publication of a report into London’s Metropolitan police which found the UK’s biggest police force is providing an inadequate or failing service in seven of eight key crime-fighting areas, and there are “serious concerns” about its management of dangerous offenders.

The candidate for the Conservative leadership said “When police forces fall short, it is the public and victims that suffer. As home secretary, I pushed the Mayor of London and Met to improve professional standards and performance. They must do better, and address the issues raised in this report urgently.”

The report on the Metropolitan police was described as “devastating” by one Whitehall source and comes after the Met commissioner, Sir Mark Rowley, who took office almost two years ago, vowed sweeping reforms .

10.22am BST

Most public pronouncements from MPs so far this morning have been along the lines of “congratulations on your A-level/T-levelBTec results and there are still plenty of opportunities if you didn’t get the results you were hoping for”. You can follow the latest on exam results in England, Wales and Northern Ireland in our live coverage, which is being hosted by Rachel Hall …

One variation from that is foreign secretary David Lammy , who has congratulated India on celebrating its independence day. He posted:

Congratulations to the people of India, and Indians around the world on the 77th anniversary of independence. In Delhi, I saw the strength of the UK-India living bridge. Together we will boost investment, create jobs and address future challenges together in the years ahead.

Lammy had a similar message yesterday for Pakistan , saying:

Wishing Pakistanis in the UK, in Pakistan and around the world a happy 77th independence day. Today we celebrate our deep cultural ties and strong people to people links. I look forward to developing our vibrant relationship further.

India and Pakistan gained independence in 1947 in a bloody partition by British colonial forces, which led to the deaths of at least 1 million people and the displacement of about 15 million .

9.55am BST

The government has said that its child poverty taskforce met yesterday to start the work on its strategy, which it expects to publish in spring.

Co-chaired by work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall and education secretary Bridget Phillipson , the government said it will “hear directly from struggling families and children, frontline staff and leading campaigners, charities and organisations across the UK to shape the strategy.”

Kendall said “Child poverty is a scar on our society. It harms children’s life chances and our country as a whole. We will take action in every department, with a comprehensive strategy to drive down poverty and drive up opportunity.”

Phillipson said “this taskforce, working across government, is essential to ensure all departments are supporting this ambition and delivering on our mission of breaking down the barriers to opportunity for every child.”

The taskforce will be supported by a new child poverty unit in the Cabinet Office, the statement said.

9.46am BST

Martin Kettle has written for us this morning that Keir Starmer made a mistake by cancelling his holiday, partly because of the precedent he has now set for the rest of his time in office. Kettle argues:

Everybody needs a holiday. A proper holiday. A break from routine. A chance to relax, and focus on other people and other things. Prime ministers unquestionably need such moments, too – perhaps more than most. Yet by first postponing and now, it appears, by cancelling his family summer holiday in Europe, Starmer has made holidays a reputational issue. Starmer the human being has lost out to Starmer the politician.

9.41am BST

PA Media report that police investigating a disturbance last month at Manchester airport have passed a “comprehensive” file to the Crown Prosecution Service.

Video widely circulated on social media showed an officer kick and appear to stamp on the head of one man, then further footage emerged showing how the incident, in which police officers were also injured, developed.

One officer is under criminal investigation for assault in connection, while another has been advised they are also under criminal investigation for assault. Four men arrested on suspicion of affray and assault remain on bail.

The initial footage led to protests in Rochdale and Manchester city centre.

Reform UK’s Richard Tice , MP for Boston and Skegness, has repeatedly on social media demanded to know why charges are yet to be bought for the men arrested, implying it is an example of what he styles “two-tier policing” compared to the fast-track justice processing of far-right rioters and some counter-protestors who took part in violent disorder across England and Northern Ireland in recent weeks.

A further three people have been charged today after disorder in Bristol earlier this month, Avon and Somerset police said, and two more men have been charged in Merseyside .

9.39am BST

Conservative politicians have seized on the latest GDP figures to suggest that Labour have inherited a well-functioning economy, and that the party is exaggerating the depths of financial mismanagement it is accusing the last administration of.

Shadow health and social care secretary Victoria Atkins has responded to chancellor Rachel Reeves’ earlier comment “We are under no illusion as to the scale of the challenge we have inherited from the Conservatives after more than a decade of low growth” by saying “You inherited the fastest growing economy in the G7 in the first six months of 2024.”

Chief secretary to the Treasury, Darren Jones , has had no truck with this line of argument. PA Media report he told broadcasters in a clip:

The last Conservative government left this new Labour government with the highest tax burden since the 1940s, the highest debt burden for over 60 years and a huge cost for just paying the interest on that debt every single month.
And as the Chancellor and I set out in parliament a few weeks ago, they left us with over £20bn of bills coming through the door here at the Treasury with no money to pay for it. That doesn’t sound like a good inheritance to me.

Challenged as to whether Labour were attempting to put a negative spin on some positive economic news, he said “What we inherited from the Conservatives was the worst fiscal inheritance since the second world war. We’ve got much, much more work to do to recover from the mess that we are left with.”

9.38am BST

Chief secretary to the Treasury Darren Jones has said the pay deal offered to train drivers was “good deal for the taxpayer”, because it was “resetting the relationship between government and public sector workers” and preventing strikes.

PA Media reports he said:

There is a direct cost to the economy if the strikes continue and we need to work together in partnership with workers and trade unions and business in order to get sustainable growth back into the economy. So this is a good deal for the taxpayer, it’s a good deal for the economy.

Andrew Bowie , the Conservative MP for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine and shadow minister for veterans affairs is less impressed, posting on social media:

Making pensioners freeze, slashing services, cutting defence projects, increasing rail fares and raising tax all to fund inflation busting pay deals for trade union donors are political choices made by Labour. They are choosing to placate their union donors over everyone else.

As Mick Whelan , secretary-general of Aslef has pointed out , the headline figure of the pay deal may be above the present level of inflation, but train drivers are not getting a rise at the level inflation was running during the years-long dispute with the previous Tory administration, which, he said, repeatedly refused to meet to negotiate a settlement.

9.33am BST

Whelan: I believe Aslef members will vote to accept pay deal.

Aslef secretary-general Mick Whelan has said that he believes members of the union will accept the pay deal being put to them by the new government.

He told Nick Ferrari on LBC that it was up to the members but “from the feedback I’ve had so far when talking to my representatives, I believe this will go through.”

He told listeners:

The [last] government would not give us a pay rise in a political dispute created by the previous party. They didn’t talk to us for two years, and we were basically in a standoff position. Labour has come to the table, spoke to us very very quickly, wants to make the railways better for the traveling public, the taxpayer and the people who actually work within the industry, and we’ve been able to do a deal to resolve it.

Put to Whelan that the deal was inflation-busting and well above the current rate, Whelan defended the figure, saying that it covers a period when the figure was much higher. He said:

When inflation was 13.8% three years ago, we’re not getting that. When inflation was 8.9% for the second year, we’re not getting that … [the deal is] significantly below the inflation of the aggregated period.”

The interview end on a slightly jocular note, with Ferrari asking when the train drivers would be back at the table “for more cash”. Whelan, as you’d expect when pay is settled annually, said it would be at least “six to eight months” before the next round of talks began.

“Six months!” exclaimed Ferrari. “We’re not going through this again just after Christmas, are we? I haven’t got the strength man!”

“Neither have I,” Whelan replied.

9.30am BST

Phillipson: private schools are business that can make their own choices about budgets and fees after VAT changes

Education secretary Bridget Phillipson has said that “private schools are businesses that can make choices about how they manage their budgets” and that Labour’s well publicised plans to remove VAT exemption from schools fees were about driving up standards in the state sector.

Challenged on Sky News about announcements of private school closures ahead of the change in their tax exempt status, Phillipson said “I think what we’ve seen with some of the examples that have been discussed are schools that were already experiencing big budget shortfalls, weren’t attracting the numbers of students that they might like to attract, and that’s what’s driving what we see.”

She said:

Private schools are businesses that can make choices about how they manage their budgets, the level of fees that they charge, and ultimately, it’s about how attractive they are to families in terms of the numbers of students that are sent there. We have seen private schools in recent years whack up their fees year on year, way beyond inflation, and that has priced out lots of people.
Our plans to impose VAT on private school fees are about driving high standards in our state schools. We’ve got a big challenge at the moment in terms of recruiting and retaining brilliant teachers. I’m determined that we will crack that, that we will make sure that teaching is a great place for people to come and work.
We’ve already made progress in terms of the teaching pay award, that we were able to deliver, but we need to do more, and we do need to raise money to invest in our public services and to invest in our schools. And that’s my focus as secretary of state, making sure that we’ve got brilliant teachers supporting our young people.

The education secretary was also at pains to point out the small number of people affected compared to the state education sector. She told viewers:

I want private schools to be an option for those parents who choose to send their children there, of course, they will be able to continue to do so. I know the parents want to do what’s right by their children, and that’s absolutely as it should be.
But I would just gently point out that 93% of children in our country go to state schools. That’s where I’m determined to focus my efforts as secretary of state.
To tackle some of those big gaps that we see opening up where it comes to outcomes for our young people, making sure that the background that you’re from, the town that you’re born, doesn’t determine what you can go on to achieve.
And that does involve making political choices about how we raise money, how we spend money, and that’s what imposing VAT on private schools is all about, driving up standards in our state sector, where the majority of your viewers will send their children to school.

9.28am BST

Phillipson says raising student tuition fees in England and Wales would be 'unpalatable'

Speaking on Sky News, Education secretary Bridget Phillipson has refused to commit the government to either lifting or freezing the student fees cap in England and Wales. She said she was “looking at what the options around that will be”, but suggested that raising the cap would be “unpalatable”.

Asked “will you at any point in the five years ahead cut the tuition fees caps for domestic students?” she said:

I do want to ensure that we reform the system overall. I’ve been looking at what the options around that will be, and I hope at a later stage to be able to say more about that.

It had been pointed out to her that there had only been a £250 increase in the maximum domestic student tuition fee in the last 12 years, which had seen periods of rampant inflation and which was applying financial pressure to institutions.

Phillipson, who during the interview also pointed out that foriegn students paying higher uncapped fees were cross-subsidising students from the UK, said:

I do recognise the challenge, and I hear that message from institutions as well, but I think [raising fees is] a really unpalatable thing to be considering, not least because I know that lots of students across the country are already facing big challenges around the cost of living, housing costs. Lots of students I speak to are already working lots of jobs, extra hours, in order to pay for their studies.

9.25am BST

Phillipson: Tory goverment had too much focus on 'picking fights' over education

Labour’s education secretary Bridget Phillipson has criticised the previous government for being “too focused on picking fights” over education rather than assisting the troubled university sector.

She told viewers:

[Universities] face lots of challenges at the moment, that is absolutely crystal clear, and that’s why I took urgent action, immediate action on becoming secretary of state, to refocus the work of the regulator, the Office for Students, on financial sustainability.
Because I think the last government were far too focused on picking fights and on suggesting somehow that university wasn’t for some people, rather than actually acting in the national interest to make sure that our brilliant universities, who are a beacon around the world and are so well respected, are able to succeed into the future.

Rishi Sunak ’s government had been acting to cut down the number of what it called “low-value” degrees in England. Courses that did not have a high proportion of graduates getting a professional job, going into postgraduate study or starting a business were to be capped.

At the time the plans were announced vice-chancellors said the measures would act as a “red flag to students”, who would be turned off the idea of entering a capped course, while critics said the plan effectively penalised universities and courses with a high proportion of working-class students, who have fewer financial resources or family support and so are more likely to drop out.

9.20am BST

Education secretary Bridget Phillipson has said that A-level results are expected to be “broadly in line with last year”. The results for England, Wales and Northern Ireland are published at 9.30am, and you can follow that live with my colleague Rachel Hall …

9.18am BST

Reeves says 'economic growth' is our national mission after GDP figures released

The chancellor, reacting to those GDP figures, echoed the messaging of her colleague Darren Jones yesterday about inflation, saying the government is “under no illusion” about the situation.

Rachel Reeves said:

The new government is under no illusion as to the scale of the challenge we have inherited after more than a decade of low economic growth and a £22bn black hole in the public finances.
That is why we have made economic growth our national mission and we are taking the tough decisions now to fix the foundations, so we can rebuild Britain and make every part of the country better off.

9.18am BST

UK economy continues recovery from recession with GDP growth of 0.6%

Britain’s economy has extended the recovery from recession last year after recording growth of 0.6% in the three months to June.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show gross domestic product continued to grow in the second quarter, after growth of 0.7% in the first three months of 2024. City economists had forecast growth of 0.6%.

The UK has grown at a faster pace this year than many forecasters predicted. However, it comes after a lacklustre performance over the past decade, while high living costs, elevated interest rates, and faltering productivity gains keep a lid on momentum.

9.16am BST

Phillipson: international students make 'important contribution' to towns and cities, but no plan to lift Tory visa restrictions

Education secretary Bridget Phillipson has defened the number of international students at universities, saying that they “have got an important contribution to make in our towns and cities” and “will be cross-subsidising the studies of students from the UK”, but said the government had no plans to remove the recent cap on numbers set by the outgoing Conservative government.

She told viewers of Sky News:

I do think international students have got an important contribution to make in our towns and cities. They’re part of the growth and the opportunities that will be available for the whole community. And our universities are a tremendous engine of growth in so many of those places, and I want to help them to succeed.
In economic terms, where it comes to the communities where they will live – Sunderland, where I’m the member for parliament – we have lots of students that come from around the world, often as post graduate students, that study and make a contribution.
But it’s also a big part of our reach around the world, the impact that we can have as a country, the business links, the trading links, the opportunities and the bridges that we build between nations. And I think education is just a force for good across our world, and we should recognise that and work together as nations.

Asked specifically “the visa restrictions for foreign students that the last government imposed right at the end of their government, we haven’t really seen the full effects of it yet. Should those be reversed?”, she said “We don’t intend to change that.”