Tory co-chair braces social gathering for giant losses as Kemi Badenoch launches native elections marketing campaign – UK politics reside

Jesse Norman, the shadow chief of the Commons, paid tribute to his father, Sir Torquil Norman, who has simply died, throughout enterprise questions within the chamber this morning. Torquil Norman’s toy firm created the Polly Pocket model.

His son informed MPs:

Nearly precisely 24 hours in the past, my father Torquil Norman died on the age of 91. He was a rare man who flew Seafires and Sea Furies throughout his nationwide service within the Fleet Air Arm.

He created Polly Pocket, a toy which purchased unbelievable pleasure to hundreds of thousands of younger folks across the Home and all over the world.

And he rebuilt the Roundhouse in Chalk Farm in London, not simply as an unbelievable performing arts centre however as a inventive centre for younger folks and for them to seek out their method from no matter backgrounds into jobs.

One individual has died attempting to cross the Channel in an overloaded boat, after one other individual died earlier trying the identical journey, in line with the French authorities, Diane Taylor studies.

The typical Band D council tax invoice in England will rise by £109, or 5%, in 2025-26 in line with authorities figures launched this morning. The typical Band D whole invoice might be £2,280, up from £2,171.

In an interview on the Immediately programme this morning, Nigel Huddleston, the Tory co-chair, mentioned his social gathering’s coverage evaluate would think about different approaches. He mentioned:

We’re going to be utilizing our time in opposition very correctly and Kemi [Badenoch] laid out earlier this week the coverage renewal work and coverage renewal programme that we’ll be doing, which is able to take a look at each single space of presidency – and clearly council tax is an space of main concern as a result of it is a crucial a part of folks’s annual expenditure.

Barrow-in-Furness is a “blueprint” for a way growing defence spending can increase prosperity throughout the UK, Keir Starmer has mentioned forward of a go to to the city on the coronary heart of Britain’s submarine-building trade. PA Media says:

Keir Starmer will lay the keel for the subsequent era of Britain’s nuclear deterrent submarines when he visits the Cumbrian city as we speak, as he argues his plans to spice up defence spending will assist fulfil his mission to develop the economic system.

Simply days in the past, Starmer secretly joined a crew of submariners as they returned residence to their households for the primary time in months, making him the primary prime minister to hitch a so-called “day zero” since 2013.

King Charles is in the meantime resulting from confer the Port of Barrow with the title “Royal”, to recognise the city’s contribution in direction of nationwide safety as a hub of submarine constructing.

In February, the prime minister introduced the federal government will enhance defence spending to 2.5% of the UK’s financial output by 2027, one thing which ministers suppose will assist drive financial development and create jobs throughout the UK.

The prime minister mentioned: “Once I say that our Plan for Change is delivering safety for working folks and renewal for our nation, there isn’t a higher blueprint than Barrow.

“Defence spending here is supporting highly skilled jobs, driving opportunities for young people and delivering world class capabilities to keep us all safe, but it’s also crucially putting money in the pockets of hardworking people.”

In as we speak’s Guardian splash Kiran Stacey, Pippa Crerar and Jessica Elgot reveal that Rachel Reeves will announce the largest spending cuts since austerity at subsequent week’s spring assertion.

That is significantly troublesome for Labour in Scotland, the place their major opponents, the SNP, are fiercely anti-austerity and Labour MSPs are cut up over whether or not to defend the financial insurance policies of the UK authorities or criticise them.

Commenting on the Guardian’s story, Dave Doogan, the SNP’s economic system spokersperson at Westminster, mentioned:

Folks in Scotland won’t ever forgive the Labour social gathering for imposing a brand new period of devastating austerity cuts on public companies and family incomes.

It’s clear the Labour social gathering lied to voters in the course of the election. They promised no return to austerity cuts however they’re chopping billions of kilos from important companies.

Official UK knowledge recording folks’s organic intercourse and their gender identification is commonly unclear or conflated, a government-commissioned report has discovered, inflicting confusion and potential dangers, for instance in healthcare and safeguarding. Peter Walker has the story.

Good morning. For Keir Starmer, it’s a navy day. This morning Downing Avenue has launched video footage and photos of Starmer assembly the crew of a nuclear-armed submarine earlier this week because it returned to Faslane in Scotland. Later this morning he’s in Barrow, the place he’s going to “lay the keel to the first boat of the next generation nuclear armed submarines, knowns as the Dreadnought class”, No 10 says. He’s additionally asserting that “the king has agreed to confer the ‘Royal’ title to the Port of Barrow in recognition of the town’s unique and critical contribution to national security as home of nuclear submarine building in the UK”. And this afternoon, within the south of England, he’s going to attend a gathering of navy chiefs and planners from the 30-odd international locations which might be a part of the “coalition of the willing” providing to assist shield Ukraine within the occasion of a ceasefire.

I’ll cowl a few of that right here, however Jakub Krupa will lead the Ukraine-focused protection on his Europe reside weblog.

For Kemi Badenoch, a unique kind of battle planning is on the agenda. She is launching the Conservative social gathering’s native election marketing campaign at an occasion in Buckinghamshire.

It will be a low-key launch, we’re informed. Yesterday CCHQ officers have been doing their greatest to influence foyer journalists that it might not be definitely worth the effort attending. And the in a single day phrases launched from Badenoch are story-free. Badenoch says:

The Conservatives are the one social gathering that stands up for households, for rural communities, and for native companies. Labour pander to the unions, the Lib Dems waste your taxes, and Reform haven’t any expertise working something.

The Conservatives might be your voice in your area people, delivering worth for cash, decrease taxes and higher companies – so vote Conservative on 1 Could.

However Nigel Huddleston, the Conservative social gathering co-chair, gave a clue as to what’s actually happening in an interview on Sky Information this morning. It’s not uncommon for events to downplay expectations forward of native elections, however Huddlestone went overboard, implying that the social gathering is anticipating critical losses. He mentioned:

That is us having an election after dropping the overall election final 12 months, [defending the] high-water mark of the 2021 native elections, the place we acquired an unbelievable 65% of all seats. That’s about 30% larger than we usually get in native elections. That is following on from the vaccines roll-out. We received the Hartlepool byelection on the identical day. So 2021 was a very high-water mark, and that’s what we’re going through towards now.

Now, we’re combating for each single vote in each single seat, however it is going to be troublesome.

Are the Tories proper to be apprehensive? Most likely. Earlier this month Electoral Calculus revealed some MRP polling for the native elections and the outcomes recommend the Conservatives are on the right track to lose a whole lot of seats.

Electoral Calculus says:

Our prediction is that the Conservatives will lose a considerable amount of help and councillors to the Reform UK social gathering. The Liberal Democrats are additionally anticipated to make some positive aspects, whereas Labour would possibly lose floor a bit of. The Inexperienced social gathering and impartial candidates are tougher to foretell precisely, so their predictions are topic to a larger quantity of uncertainty.

What would possibly assist the Conservatives is the truth that in a number of the council areas the place elections ought to be happening, voting is being delayed for no less than a 12 months due to the native authorities reorganisations. The expected election ends in the desk above are projected figures together with locations the place voting is occurring in Could, and locations the place voting is delayed. As this desk reveals, once they separated the outcomes, Electoral Calculus discovered that Reform UK have been on the right track to do even higher within the locations the place polling shouldn’t be occurring this 12 months.

In fact, that is solely a ballot. They don’t seem to be all the time correct. However politicians examine them very intently, and CCHQ could have seen figures like this. They clarify why Badenoch isn’t any making a fuss of her native elections marketing campaign launch, and why Huddleston is making ready his social gathering for giant losses.

Right here is the agenda for the day.

9.30am: Steve Reed, surroundings secretary, takes questions within the Commons.

9.30am: The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Native Authorities publishes council tax figures for England for 2025-26.

10.30am: Lucy Powell, the chief of the Commons, makes an announcement to MPs on subsequent week’s enterprise.

10.40am: Kemi Badenoch launches the Conservatives’ native election marketing campaign at an occasion in Buckinghamshire.

Morning: Keir Starmer is in Barrow to put the keel for the primary of the next-generation Dreadnought nuclear-armed submarines which might be being constructed.

11.30am: Downing Avenue holds a foyer briefing.

About 11.30am: David Lammy, the overseas secretary, makes an announcement to MPs about Gaza.

Midday: John Swinney, Scotland’s first minister, takes questions at Holyrood.

12.30pm: Darren Jones, chief secretary to the Treasury, offers a speech on the Institute for Authorities.

2.30pm: Lammy offers at speech on the British Chambers of Commerce convention.

Afternoon: Starmer attends a navy planning assembly for international locations from the “coalition of the willing” providing to assist shield Ukraine within the occasion of a ceasefire.

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