The health secretaryWes Streetinghas said that Reform is “definitely a real threat” forLabourand one they are taking seriously.
Speaking on Sky News on Sunday morning, Streeting said: “I think there’s clearly, on the right of British politics, a realignment taking place. It’s not yet clear at the next general election whether it will be Reform or theConservativesthat are Labour’s main challengers.”
In other developments:
Reform’s chairman, Zia Yusuf, has said his party would erect statues of “Great British figures” and “end all this woke nonsense” within the first few months of government if they were to win power.Speaking to the Sunday Times, Yusuf also criticised Keir Starmer’s decision not to visit Runcorn in the run-up to the Thursday byelection that Reform won. In contrast, he said Nigel Farage visited the constituency three or four times and walked “50,000 steps” knocking doors on polling day.
Donald Trump’s tariffs tsar has accused Britain of being a “compliant servant of communist China” at risk of having its “blood sucked” dry by Beijing.In comments to the Telegraph, Peter Navarro, the president’s trade adviser, said the Government must resist “string-laden gifts” from Beijing and avoid becoming a “dumping ground” for goods that China can no longer sell to the US.
Kemi Badenoch has apologised for the “bloodbath” of the local elections after the Tories lost 674 councillors.The Conservative leader will appear on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg this morning alongside Streeting and Yusuf.
TheConservativeswill come back from their poor results in the local elections but it will have to be a “slow and steady” effort, party leaderKemi Badenochhas said, PA reports.
She told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme: “I am sorry to all of those councillors who’ve lost their seat”.
The Tory leader added: “Four years agoKeir Starmerhad his worst result, he is prime minister now with a landslide majority
“We live in politically volatile times and what I have been saying is that we are going to take a slow and steady way.
“There will be bumps along (the way) but we can do this, and we will do it in four years, not 18 years, 14 years, 13 years like the previous oppositions.”
“Your new mayor in Greater Lincolnshire,Dame Andrea Jenkyns, said asylum seekers should go in tents, is that now the party policy?” Laura Kuenssberg asks Reform chairmanZia Yusuf.
“That’s what France does, do you think that’s unreasonable?” he replied. “People risk their lives to cross the English channel because we’re a soft touch Laura.”
Pushed on whether this would be Reform policy, Yusuf replied: “We held a press conference around ten days ago, where we announced we will be publishing a plan to deport everybody who is currently in this country illegally in our first term of government.”
Laura Kuenssberg quizzedZia Yusufabout figures in his party claiming they will reject migrants going to council areas under Reform control.
Kuenssberg said it would not be feasible as migrants are housed in hotels through contracts between the home office and private companies – with break clauses not due until 2029.
Yusuf replied: “We’re realistic about the fact that, yes we won an overwhelming victory. But the levers of power at local level pale in comparison to the levers of power in Westminster. That’s why this is part of journey to make Nigel [Farage] the prime minister with Reform.”
“What our commitment is to our constituents and the people who voted for us, this is our mandate, those levers of power with all of our might.”
He cited judicial reviews, injunctions and planning laws as potential options on the table.
Wes Streetinghas said although NHS waiting lists were coming down, he recognised millions were still waiting for their treatment.
He told Sky News’s Sunday With Trevor Phillips that although hundreds of thousands of people had been treated faster, not everyone could be helped as soon as they wanted.
“As I have done before and said, NHS waiting lists are falling. They’ve fallen six months in a row. The three million more appointments we promised, we delivered seven months early, we’re actually over three million, and we’ll be even higher by July,” he said.
“Well, for hundreds of thousands of people who have been seen faster and come off the waiting list, great news (but) if you’re one of seven million cases still on there, this is the point at which you start shouting at the telly, saying, ‘hang on a minute - you’re saying the NHS is improving. I’m still waiting’.
“Now both those things are true, the NHS is improving, but people are still waiting.”
“Does it wash away the cost-of-living crisis? No.”
Reform UK will introduce a taskforce to audit spending in the councils where it has won control, the the party’s chairmanZia Yusufhas said.
“If you take Lincolnshire County Council, yes, they do not currently have somebody with the job title ‘DEI officer’ (but) they do spend considerable money on DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) initiatives”, he told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme.
“And they have other people who have basically that same job, but under a different title, partly in response to the fact that they’ve been inundated by think tanks and activists putting in FOIs (freedom of information requests).”
He said Reform would send “teams” into councils, adding: “We’ll be opening up application shortly. We want the brightest and the best. “If you’ve got experience in audit, if you’ve got experience in fixing potholes, if you’re a software engineer.
“We’re going to bring taskforces in. We’re now going to have access to the contract, access to the numbers, access to payroll, and we’re going to make these changes.”
Nigel Huddleston, the shadow Treasury financial secretary, has saidLucy Powell’scomments on grooming gangs were “completely inappropriate”.
Speaking on Sky News’s Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips, Huddleston, who took part in the Radio 4 debate on Saturday during which Powwell referred to grooming gangs as a “dog whistle”, said: “This is a really serious issue and to kind of belittle ... it is completely inappropriate.”
“I think that shows that, unfortunately,Wes Streetingand theLabourParty have underestimated how big an issue this is, how it resonates with the public and how they are angry about what they perceive as this government’s lack of action here.”
The head of Unite, the UK’s biggest union, has urged staff at Reform UK-controlled councils to join them afterNigel Faragewarned employees working on diversity or climate change initiatives to seek “alternative careers”.
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Unison general secretaryChristina McAneasays the local election results are a “wake up call” for theLabourgovernment.
Speaking on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, McAnea said: “Just talking in soundbites and rhetoric won’t work anymore. People expect more from a Labour party, especially those who voted for them, obviously, and they’re not getting it at the moment. They need to feel better about the world and about their own lives, sadly that’s not been delivered so far.”
McAnea said Labour could look at relaxing fiscal rules. “That would give them a bit more flexibility in terms of where they could spend money.”
Wes Streetinghas saidLucy Powell’scomments that appeared to describe a question about grooming gangs as a “dog whistle” were not interpreted as his cabinet colleague had intended, PA reports.
Asked if he and hisLabourcolleagues see the grooming gangs scandal as a dog-whistle issue or a “coded signal to racists”, the health secretary said: “No and I don’t think that’s what Lucy intended to imply in a heated debate on Radio 4, and that’s why she’s apologised for what she said.
“I don’t think for a moment she would have meant or wanted to imply that raising these issues, talking about these issues, is dog whistle.”
“We all make mistakes” and the important thing is that “we own it”, Streeting told Sky News’s Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips. Asked if Powell’s job as leader of the House of Commons was safe, he said: “I think she’s made a genuine mistake, she’s owned up to it she’s said sorry and we’ll move on.”
The health secretaryWes Streetinghas said that Reform is “definitely a real threat” forLabourand one they are taking seriously.
Speaking on Sky News on Sunday morning, Streeting said: “I think there’s clearly, on the right of British politics, a realignment taking place. It’s not yet clear at the next general election whether it will be Reform or theConservativesthat are Labour’s main challengers.”
In other developments:
Reform’s chairman, Zia Yusuf, has said his party would erect statues of “Great British figures” and “end all this woke nonsense” within the first few months of government if they were to win power.Speaking to the Sunday Times, Yusuf also criticised Keir Starmer’s decision not to visit Runcorn in the run-up to the Thursday byelection that Reform won. In contrast, he said Nigel Farage visited the constituency three or four times and walked “50,000 steps” knocking doors on polling day.
Donald Trump’s tariffs tsar has accused Britain of being a “compliant servant of communist China” at risk of having its “blood sucked” dry by Beijing.In comments to the Telegraph, Peter Navarro, the president’s trade adviser, said the Government must resist “string-laden gifts” from Beijing and avoid becoming a “dumping ground” for goods that China can no longer sell to the US.
Kemi Badenoch has apologised for the “bloodbath” of the local elections after the Tories lost 674 councillors.The Conservative leader will appear on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg this morning alongside Streeting and Yusuf.