Chancellor of the duchy of LancasterPat McFaddenhas praisedLiz Kendall’s handling of her government brief amid a rebellion byLabourMPs over welfare reform plans.
Asked on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme how long she could stay in her job if she could not convince Labour MPs to vote alongside the government, McFadden said “Liz Kendall is doing an excellent job.”
He continued:
She has been central to the development of these reforms.
She has argued for them, not as a difficult choice, but as the right choice, because she believes in a welfare state that should be there for people.
Because she’s not comfortable about 1,000 people a day signing on for Pip and us just watching that number grow.
And because she’s absolutely passionate about getting more help and support to long term sick and disabled people who could work if they had that extra help and support, and right now, under the unreformed system, they don’t have that.
My colleagueJessica Elgotposts to social media to say that “There are a number of MPs who have significant unease at the cuts who are currently frontbenchers – some considering their positions in order to do so.”
There are a number of MPs who have significant unease at the cuts who are currently frontbenchers - some considering their positions in order to do sohttps://t.co/Y6QvS4t174
Plaid Cymru have called for Wales to hold a national inquiry into maternity units, after health secretary Wes Streeting yesterday announced that England would hold one.
Plaid Cymru health spokesperson,Mabon ap Gwynfor, said:
Wales has had the highest stillbirth rates in the UK since 2014, and while both England and Scotland experienced a decline in neonatal mortality rates between 2010 and 2022, they increased in Wales over this period.
In light of significant and well-publicised issues over recent years at several Welsh health boards, we have similar concerns as to the quality of maternity care here in Wales. Indeed, across several metrics, there is reason to believe that maternity services in Wales are currently in a worse state than those in England.
As was shown by the latest Llais report into the Singleton hospital maternity unit, a lack of institutional accountability is compounding clinical failures. Undertaking an investigation of this nature would go a long way towards rebuilding the trust of the public after years of deteriorating standards.
Shadow foreign secretary Priti Patel has criticised the government for being reluctant to give public support to US strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.
In an appearance on GB News, she told viewers “the British government did not even come out to give a view, to give a view as to whether or not they supported American strikes on that Iranian nuclear facility. And that is not right. It is wrong. The British people need to know that.”
Patel also claimed that the actions of Iran “are affecting us every single day in this country,” saying:
We have Iranian spies in our country. Iranian dissidents in our country. They’ve been active, and they’ve been undermining our national interests.
Yes, it is about the nuclear facilities in Iran. They must never have a nuclear weapon. Yes, it is about their ballistic missiles. Obviously, they’ve been stockpiling them. They’ve been hurting European countries on European soil, such as Ukraine, and they’ve been operating in our country.
That’s why we need a government that is going to invest in our defence and security and actually make sure that we are kept safe. Yes, abroad, when it comes to our bases and British nationals abroad, but also here in this country.
Yesterday several ministers declined to say whether they thought the US strikes were legal, with former foreign secretaryJames Cleverlydescribing current foreign secretaryDavid Lammy’s interview on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme as ““excruitiating”.
In 2017 Patel wasforced to resign from Theresa May’s governmentafter it emerged she had been holding about 14 unofficial meetings with Israeli ministers, businesspeople and a senior lobbyist.
The UK government earlier cautiously welcomed the announcement of a ceasefire betweeen Israel and Iran. Speaking on BBC radio, senior ministerPat McFaddensaid:
We are living in a very unpredictable world. If this ceasefire holds, I think everyone will welcome that. But I think given the exchange of missiles in various directions over the last ten days or so, people will welcome it with caution, because it is a fragile situation.
In a separate appearance on BBC Breakfast, McFadden said:
A number of people have been killed overnight in missile strikes, but I think the whole world will hope that the ceasefire will hold and that Iran will come forward with a credible plan that shows that it will not pursue the development of a nuclear weapon.
Yesterday an RAF flight evacuated “vulnerable” British nationals from Israel. Downing Street said “around 1,000” people had requested a seat on an evacuation flight – a quarter of the 4,000 who had registered their presence in Israel or Palestine with the Foreign Office.
A senior minister in the UK government has said the country is “not starting from zero” when it comes to raising defence spending to 5% of GDP.
Speaking on the BBC,Pat McFaddensaid one of the earliest actions of his party, which came to power of 2024, was to increase defence expenditure to 2.5% of GDP over the next couple of years.
“It was not an easy decision,” he said, “but we said how we would pay for that, and similarly, as we increase beyond that over the next decade, in future spending reviews, will set out how it will be paid for.”
McFadden was keen to stress that the 5% figure of GDP was not just what he called “an out of date concept of defence and national security” that saw it “purely as the budget for the armed forces.”
He told listeners “Critical as that budget is and those capabilities are, you have to look after your broader security. Our cyber systems, for example, are under attack every day, sometimes by state actors, sometimes by non-state actors.
“That is why things like your telecoms infrastructure and other things that help to make our society work are a really important part of our security.”
He criticised the previous UK government, saying that under Rishi Sunak the Conservative party had a spending target of 2.5% but “no credible plan to reach it.”
Chancellor of the duchy of LancasterPat McFaddenhas praisedLiz Kendall’s handling of her government brief amid a rebellion byLabourMPs over welfare reform plans.
Asked on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme how long she could stay in her job if she could not convince Labour MPs to vote alongside the government, McFadden said “Liz Kendall is doing an excellent job.”
He continued:
She has been central to the development of these reforms.
She has argued for them, not as a difficult choice, but as the right choice, because she believes in a welfare state that should be there for people.
Because she’s not comfortable about 1,000 people a day signing on for Pip and us just watching that number grow.
And because she’s absolutely passionate about getting more help and support to long term sick and disabled people who could work if they had that extra help and support, and right now, under the unreformed system, they don’t have that.
Chancellor of the duchy of LancasterPat McFaddenhas defended the government’s handling of a rebellion byLabourMPs over welfare reform changes, and said the vote of the bill will go ahead as planned next week.
Speaking on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme, McFadden said “We will see the vote next week. We will keep talking to people between now and the vote, but there is no escaping the need for reform of the welfare system.”
He said the UK faced “a decade which is set to see the number of people on long term sickness and disability benefits double,” claiming that “1,000 people a day go on toPip” which he said was the equivalent of “a city the size of, for example, Leicester” every year. He said:
We are an outlier in terms of the proportion of people in work in the UK compared to other countries, when you look back at what it was before Covid.
And so the set of reforms that we brought forward are aimed at ensuring the welfare state is there for people who need it.
It should always be there for people who need it in the future, but also making sure that, as the party of labour, as the party of work, we have support in place for that proportion of people on long term sickness and disability benefits who could work if they were given support.
On the rebel MPs, McFadden said “Of course, we’ll engage with people … we’ll always have a dialogue with people … you know, welfare reform is not an easy issue, and to govern is sometimes to have to grasp issues that aren’t easy.”
Welcome to the Guardian’s rolling coverage of UK politics. Here are the headlines …
Labour MPs have launcheda significant rebellion against the government’s benefit cutswith an amendment that could kill its welfare bill, spearheaded by senior select committee chairs. The amendment has been signed by 108 MPs
Britain will commit to spending 5% of its GDP on defence by 2035.The UK’s pledge aligns with Nato’s new spending targets – but at a slower pace than key allies including Poland. Britain pushed for and secured a later date
The UK has welcomed news of a ceasefire between Iran and Israel. Cabinet Office ministerPat McFaddensaid it was “good news, if the ceasefire holds”
It is cabinet this morning, and then the prime ministerKeir Starmeris expected to travel to The Hague for a Nato leaders’ summit.Angela RaynerandLiz Kendallare expected to visit a construction site in London this afternoon.
It is Martin Belam with you today. You can get in touch with me atmartin.belam@theguardian.comif you spot typos, errors or omissions.