Starmer rejects Badenoch’s claim Labour are ‘clueless’ and urges Tories to apologise for the ‘mess they made’ – UK politics live | Politics
Starmer says rejects Badenoch’s claim Labour government ‘clueless’, and urges her to apologise for ‘mess’ Tories left
In a pooled clip for broadcasters, Keir Starmer rejected Kemi Badenoch’s claim that the Labour government is “clueless, irresponsible and dishonest”. (See 11.16am.)
On a visit to Orpington primary school, asked about her comment, he replied:
I say I’m not going to take lectures from anyone from the previous government who left the worst possible inheritance.
The country is in a real state, the economy has been badly damaged, nobody really argues in relation to that.
There’s a £22bn black hole unaccounted for, not on the books, the OBR didn’t know about it.
So, I think that what the Conservatives could do was to apologise for the mess that they made.
What we’re doing is cleaning it up. We’re going to strip it out, make sure that we rebuild the foundation so we can bring about the change that we were elected to bring about in this country.
Key events
Cleverly says the third major challenge is to address the crisis facing capitalism.
He says the Tories should prioritise economic growth and home ownership. They should aspire to abolish all stamp duty on homes, he says. And they should relax planning laws to allow more building.
We need to build lots more homes, and we will, but we should be building upwards in our cities, rather than outwards, if our Georgian forebears could see the beauty in three and four storey houses, then why on earth can’t we?
So adding an extra story to a building should enjoy a presumption of planning consent, because it would support small local businesses.
Cleverly says he would revive Rwanda deportation plan
Cleverly says the second major challenge facing the UK is global migration. As home secretary he acted, introducing visa restrictions which have cut legal migration, he says. And, to deal with illegal migration, he would revive the Rwanda deportation plans, he says.
Cleverly says he would raise defence spending to 3% of GDP
Cleverly says there are three major challenges facing the UK.
The first of these is the threat posed by having a “deeply unstable world”.
He says he supported Rishi Sunak’s commitment to raise defence spending to 2.5% of GDP, and accuses Keir Starmer of scrapping that pledge in “an act of vandalism”.
(Starmer says he does want to raise defence spending by 2.5% of GDP, but he has not set a timetable for achieving this, which is why this is not seen as a proper pledge.)
Cleverly says he would go further; as prime minister, he would raise defence spending to 3% of GDP, he says.
James Cleverly stresses need for unity as he makes his pitch for Tory leadership
James Cleverly is now giving his speech at his leadership campaign event.
He starts by stressing the need for the Conservative party to unite.
People don’t vote for divided parties. They don’t trust divided parties, they don’t even listen to divided parties. So we must unite if we want the British people to listen to us again. So when they are fed up, as they inevitably will be with Starmer’s inept, high tax, red tape-loving, big state, crony-filled government, they will look to us again to be the change that they want to see in this country.
Cleverly says he has served in government under four prime ministers. He has defended other people’s policies and decisions. But now he wants to be the person taking the key decisions, he says.
James Cleverly, the former foreign secretary and home secretary, is about to deliver a speech about his campaign for the Tory leadership. Grant Shapps, the former defence secretary, is introducing him. Shapps praises Cleverly as someone who has a record of delivery.
Grant Shapps announces his support for James Cleverly.
Ex-defence sec says Cleverly is “a real do-er” and gets the most out of his team. pic.twitter.com/lvsYEgWmZu
— Aubrey Allegretti (@breeallegretti) September 2, 2024
Starmer says conditions in flats leased by Labour MP were ‘unacceptable’
Keir Starmer has condemned as “unacceptable” conditions for tenants in flats owned by a Labour MP.
Asked about tenants living in the some of the 15 rental flats owned by Jas Athwal, the the new MP for Ilford South, who are having to put up with black mould and ant infestations, and whether this was good enough when housing is supposed to be a priority for Labour, Starmer replied:
No, it’s not good enough. It’s unacceptable for any landlord, and I’ll be really clear about that it doesn’t matter whether it’s a Labour MP or anybody else, it’s unacceptable
What’s happened in this case is this MP has now recognised that, is taking the necessary measures to put it right.
The sooner that’s done, the better, but I’m not going to pretend to you or anybody else that this is in any way acceptable.
Asked if Athwal would lose the Labour whip if he did not deal with these problems swiftly, Starmer replied:
It has to be put right. He’s taking action to put it right, we need to do that as quickly as possible.
In posts on social media yesterday, Athwal said that he did not know about the conditions his tenants were facing until he was alerted by the media and that he had sacked the managing agent. He apologised to his tenants, said that he wanted their homes to be comfortable and promised to reimburse them for any costs they had incurred.
Starmer says rejects Badenoch’s claim Labour government ‘clueless’, and urges her to apologise for ‘mess’ Tories left
In a pooled clip for broadcasters, Keir Starmer rejected Kemi Badenoch’s claim that the Labour government is “clueless, irresponsible and dishonest”. (See 11.16am.)
On a visit to Orpington primary school, asked about her comment, he replied:
I say I’m not going to take lectures from anyone from the previous government who left the worst possible inheritance.
The country is in a real state, the economy has been badly damaged, nobody really argues in relation to that.
There’s a £22bn black hole unaccounted for, not on the books, the OBR didn’t know about it.
So, I think that what the Conservatives could do was to apologise for the mess that they made.
What we’re doing is cleaning it up. We’re going to strip it out, make sure that we rebuild the foundation so we can bring about the change that we were elected to bring about in this country.
In response to the final question, Badenoch said she did not accept that the Conservatives cannot win the next election.
Badenoch rejects claim she is too focused on culture wars
Badenoch rejects suggestions that she is only interested in fighting culture wars. She says the critics who say this ignore the fact that, when she raised these issues in the last parliament, she was doing her job as equalities minister.
UPDATE: Badenoch said:
I got on the dispatch box against Angela Rayner, that video has gone viral.
That’s me in opposition. That is how I will be taking the fight to Keir Starmer.
But people who say that all I did was culture wars were not paying attention. I was doing my job.
I was the equalities minister, I had to look after very, very tricky issues like race and gender – things that everybody ran away from.
I didn’t run away. And not only did I not run away, I defended people who needed help, and I dragged Labour onto our turf.
Badenoch says she is not proposing leaving ECHR to cut illegal migration, dismissing that as ‘easy’ answer
Q: What would you do to cut legal and illegal migration?
Badenoch says David Cameron said he wanted to cap net migation at 100,000 per year. That target was not achieved. She says they need to work out why.
She says people who just say the UK should leave the European convention on human rights are giving “easy answers”.
She has thought about these things. She says the whole system needs rewiring. She goes on:
Yes, some people think we should leave the ECHR. But why is it that other countries that are in the ECHR are deporting 70, 80% of the people who come into their countries, and we’re not able to, because clearly leaving the ECHR will not be enough.
That’s why I don’t want to throw that promise out there. It’s another thing that we would end up doing that doesn’t actually solve the problem. We’ve got to look at the whole system.
Badenoch dismisses claim she is too combative to be effective party leader
Q: Everyone says you are combative. What do you say to people who argue that would make it hard for you to unite your party?
Badenoch says she is combative on behalf of her party, not with her party.
Q: Your campaign slogan is Renwal 2030. Have you written of the next election, which has to be held by 2029?
No, says Badenoch. She says she is thinking about what a next Conservative government would do. Engineers plan ahead, she says.
Badenoch is now taking questions.
Q: [From the BBC’s Chris Mason] You talked about the last government talking right, but governing left. Can you give examples?
Badenoch says the net zero targets were an example. The government was trusting regulation, not innovation, she says.
Badenoch is speaking at the Institute of Engineering and Technology, and she talks about her pre-politics training and career as an engineer. She says:
Getting my engineering degree was much harder than running for the leadership of the Conservative party, but it gave me a whole new way of looking at the world.
Engineers are realists. We see the world as it truly is, but we can also dream, and we can plot a pathfrom idea to reality.
We don’t make things better just by using words. There is little room for error in what we do … If engineers build a plane badly it crashes, a bridge built to the wrong spec comes tumbling down. So we know how to build systems that work.
It is because we understand trade offs. We don’t try to do everything. We understand how to manage limitations and expectations. Every engineer has had to explain the magic triangle of quality, cost and time. Things can be good, they can be fast, they can be cheaper, but they can’t be all free.
Badenoch is now setting out that she says are her guiding principles.
First, she says she believes in responsibility. Her father taught her that, although 20% of what happens to someone might be down to someone else, 80% of it is down to what a person does themselves.
Second, she believes in citizenship, she says. People should not be made to feel guilty about questioning high levels of immigration, legal or illegal, she says.
Third, she says she believes in equality under the law. She says identity politics are “malign and destructive” because they are used by the left to protect certain groups over others.
Fourth, she believes in family, she says. “We need to celebrate families. We need to place them at the center of our politics and our actions,” she says.
And, fifth, she says she believes in truth. She goes on:
I believe in truth. Truth is not relative. Those who know me best know that I don’t do spin – I do do charm, sometimes. But I think life is better when people say what they think. I think politics is better when we tell it like it is. Spin can only get you so far. It is better to deal with hard truths today than big problems tomorrow.
