Pat McFadden, the Cabinet Office minister, has been giving interviews this morning to talk about government plans to get rid of 12,000 civil service jobs in London.Rowena Masonhas the details here.
Some of the 12,000 London jobs will be relocated elsewhere in the country, and some will go for good. But, in interviews this morning, McFadden was not able to say how many of the jobs would be retained outside London. He told Times Radio:
Good morning. For the last two days the immigration white paper, andthe rowgenerated by Keir Starmer’s use of Powellite language to defend it, has dominated Westminster politics, and we may well hear more of that today at PMQs. But there is quite a lot of foreign policy on the table too: the Ukraine negotiations with Russiadue to take place in Turkey tomorrow, thecrisis in Gaza, and next week’s summit with the EU (an issueof particular interest to Kemi Badenoch). And, of course, Donald Trump remains a ubiquitous news presence, impossible to ignore.
This morning we’ve had an insight into the extent to which the US president caused a rift between the UK and Canada, two countries that for the most part are very strong allies. Inan interview with Sky News,Mark Carney, the Canadian prime minister, admitted that Canadians were unhappy about Keir Starmer’s decision to offer Trump an unprecedented second state visit to the UK when he visited the White House in February. At the time, Trump was still threatening to annex Canada. Asked how Canadians reacted to state visit invitation, Carney replied:
Asked if a state visit for Trump was appropriate, Carney replied:
Asked if he had a personal view, Carney said:
This was one of those interviews where there was no surprise in the substance of what Carney said; it has been widely known that Canadians were unhappy about the state visit. But what was notable was that Carney was willing to talk about it.
Pat McFadden, the Cabinet Office minister, has been giving interviews this morning, and he claimed to be “completely relaxed” about Carney’s comments. Asked about them on Sky News, he replied:
The government is not going to rescind the state visit offer. But that does not mean all the difficult decisions associated with it are now settled. Trump is expectedto visit Windsor Castle in Septemberto meet King Charles, but this has not been confirmed as a state visit, and suggestions that Trump could be invited to address parliamentare generating strong opposition.
Here is the agenda for the day.
9.30am:Anas Sarwar, the ScottishLabourleader, is due to speak to broadcasters during a visit to a charity in south Lanarkshire.
11am:Tim Davie, the BBC director general, gives a speech where he is due to call for call for a “bold collective choice to take on the trust crisis”.
Noon:Keir Starmer facesKemi Badenochat PMQs.
Lunchtime:Andy Burnham, Greater Manchester mayor, and Steve Rotheram, Liverpool metro mayor, are due to speak to the media at Westminster about their call for a Liverpool-Manchester railway line.
After 12.30pm:MPs will vote on Lords amendments to the Great British energy bill, and then on Lords amendments to the data (use and access) bill.
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