Labour’s new council leaders pledge to take cost of living action within 100 days
Labour’s new council leaders have pledged to deliver emergency cost of living plans within 100 days of taking office.
The party has 22 new council leaders as a result of last week’s local elections, which saw Labour triumph in Tory heartlands including Medway, Swindon and East Staffordshire.
On Tuesday, the new council leaders will meet Sir Keir Starmer along with senior members of the shadow cabinet to reflect on their success and set out how they will govern going forward.
Six councils transferred directly from Tory hands to Labour in last Thursday’s election, while the party was also able to win control of councils that were previously under no overall control, including Plymouth and Stoke-on-Trent.
In total, it picked up 528 seats. The party is now the largest in local government for the first time since 2002.
The Conservatives, by contrast, endured a torrid night, losing more than 1,000 seats and control of 48 councils – meeting the worst possible pre-election predictions.
Labour put the rising cost of living at the heart of its local election campaign, promising to bring in a more substantial windfall tax on oil and gas giants as well as freeze council tax this year if it was in power.
PM promises to ‘work day and night’ after Tories lose over 1,000 council seats – politics latest
Speaking ahead of the meeting, Sir Keir said the election results showed there was “appetite for change, right across the country”.
“Our relentless focus on the number one issue keeping people up at night was because we get it,” he said.
“We understand that times are tough, and prices are biting. That people are making different choices, changing their lifestyles, and they’re despondent about the future.
“Labour offered a positive alternative, and people have given us their trust. It’s now our duty to not waste a day in delivering on the Labour commitment to ease the squeeze on people’s pockets.”
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This is how the local election unfolded.
Each new Labour council will be twinned with an existing Labour-led local authority to help them learn the ropes.
One of the first acts the new council leaders will do is review local housing and development plans “to make sure they reflect local need” after Sir Keir promised not to “abandon the ambitions of generation rent”.
One factor that has been blamed for the Conservatives’ poor performance was Rishi Sunak’s decision to scrap house-building targets, which former levelling up secretary Simon Clarke branded “a major mistake”.
As well as the hybrid meeting on Tuesday, Sir Keir will also hold his weekly shadow cabinet where he is expected to stress that despite the positive showing, there is “still more work to be done” and “the hardest part lies ahead”.
He will say: “The fact that Labour won in all parts of the country was a sign of the strides we have made.
“People who turned away from us during the Corbyn years and the Brexit years are coming back.
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Sky’s political editor Beth Rigby assesses election results
“But there is understandably a lot of scepticism about politics out there and now we need to go from reassurance to hope. We need to show that we will be a big reforming government bringing hope of a better life for working people.”
In the coming weeks, the party will launch three new missions on health, opportunity and clean power.
It will also set out more details on its plan to win back Scotland, where Labour has a chance of regaining territory following the turmoil in the SNP leadership.
In recent weeks the SNP has been turning its fire on the Labour Party, with polls showing that the latter is closing the gap on the SNP’s hegemony.
In a further sign that the SNP intends to turn up the heat on Labour, the party has said it would demand a “close relationship” with the EU in the event of a hung parliament at the next election.
Read more:
Labour would fall 28 short of overall majority in general election, Sky News vote share projection shows
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While Sky’s election analyst Michael Thrasher said Labour was on course to be the largest party in 2024, he said it would still nevertheless be short of a majority, meaning the party may have no option but to form a coalition.
Sir Keir has repeatedly ruled out a coalition with the SNP but the latter believes it could hold “the balance of power” at the next election.
The SNP’s EU Accession spokesperson, Alyn Smith MP said: “While independence is the only way for Scotland to regain our EU membership, the SNP could hold the balance of power at the next election and we would use our influence to undo Brexit as far as possible and demand the UK has a close relationship with the EU.
“With all the signs pointing to a hung parliament, the SNP could force a minority Labour government to rejoin the EU single market, reintroduce free movement and transfer power for an independence referendum to Edinburgh, so Scotland can regain our place in Europe.
“At the next election, voting SNP is the only way to beat the Tories in Scotland.”
US president-elect Donald Trump has suggested Israel and Hamas could agree a Gaza ceasefire by the end of the week.
Talks between Israeli and Hamas representatives resumed in the Qatari capital Doha yesterday, after US President Joe Biden indicated a deal to stop the fighting was “on the brink” on Monday.
A draft agreement has been sent to both sides. It includes provisions for the release of hostages and a phased Israeli troop withdrawal from Gaza.
Qatar says Israel and Hamas are at their “closest point” yet to a ceasefire deal.
Two Hamas officials said the group has accepted the draft agreement, with Israel still considering the deal.
An Israeli official said a deal is close but “we are not there” yet.
More than 46,500 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched its ground offensive in the aftermath of the 7 October attacks, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.
Read more:
What’s in the proposed deal?
Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike on beachfront cafe in Deir al Balah. Pic: Reuters
Biden hails possibility of agreement
President Biden said it would include a hostage release deal and a “surge” of aid to Palestinians, in his final foreign policy speech as president.
“So many innocent people have been killed, so many communities have been destroyed. Palestinian people deserve peace,” he said.
“The deal would free the hostages, halt the fighting, provide security to Israel, and allow us to significantly surge humanitarian assistance to the Palestinians who suffered terribly in this war that Hamas started.”
Qatari mediators have sent Israel and Hamas a draft proposal for an agreement to halt the fighting.
Analysis:
Deal might be close, but there are many unanswered questions
Pic: Reuters
Trump: ‘We’re very close’
President-elect Donald Trump has also discussed a possible peace deal during a phone interview with the Newsmax channel.
“We’re very close to getting it done and they have to get it done,” he said.
“If they don’t get it done, there’s going to be a lot of trouble out there, a lot of trouble, like they have never seen before.
“And they will get it done. And I understand there’s been a handshake and they’re getting it finished and maybe by the end of the week. But it has to take place, it has to take place.”
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Pic: AP
Israeli official: Former Hamas leader held up deal
Speaking on Tuesday as negotiations resumed in Qatar, an anonymous Israeli official said that an agreement was “close, but we are not there”.
They accused Hamas of previously “dictating, not negotiating” but said this has changed in the last few weeks.
“Yahya Sinwar was the main obstacle for a deal,” they added.
Sinwar, believed to be the mastermind of the 7 October attacks, led Hamas following the assassination of his predecessor but was himself killed in October last year.
Under Sinwar, the Israeli official claimed, Hamas was “not in a rush” to bring a hostage deal but this has changed since his death and since the IDF “started to dismantle the Shia axis”.
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Biden: ‘Never, never, never, ever give up’
Iran ‘weaker than it’s been in decades’
Yesterday, President Biden also hailed Washington’s support for Israel during two Iranian attacks in 2024.
“All told, Iran is weaker than it’s been in decades,” the president said.
Mr Biden claimed America’s adversaries were weaker than when he took office four years ago and that the US was “winning the worldwide competition”.
“Compared to four years ago, America is stronger, our alliances are stronger, our adversaries and competitors are
weaker,” he said.
“We have not gone to war to make these things happen.”
The US president is expected to give a farewell address on Wednesday.
A draft ceasefire deal on the table between Israel and Hamas would see 33 hostages set free and a phased withdrawal of IDF forces from parts of Gaza.
President Joe Biden said an agreement to stop the fighting was “on the brink” and high level negotiations between the two sides resumed in Qatar on Tuesday.
The deal would see a number of things happen in a first stage, with negotiations for the second stage beginning in the third week of the ceasefire.
It would also allow a surge in humanitarian aid into Gaza, which has been devastated by more than a year of war.
Details of what the draft proposal entails have been emerging on Tuesday, reported by Israeli and Palestinian officials.
Relatives and supporters of Israeli hostages hold photos of their loved ones during a protest on 8 January. Pic: AP
Hostages to be returned
In the first stage of the potential ceasefire, 33 hostages would be set free.
These include women (including female soldiers), children, men over the age of 50, wounded and sick.
Israel believes most of these hostages are alive but there has not been any official confirmation from Hamas.
In return for the release of the hostages, Israel would free more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees.
People serving long sentences for deadly attacks would be included in this but Hamas fighters who took part in the 7 October attack would not be released.
An arrangement to prevent Palestinian “terrorists” from going back to the West Bank would be included in the deal, an anonymous Israeli official said.
Read more:
A timeline of events since the 7 October attacks
The hostages who still haven’t returned home
Smoke billows as buildings lie in ruin in Beit Hanoun in Gaza. Pic: Reuters
Phased Israeli withdrawal from Gaza
The agreement also includes a phased withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, with IDF troops remaining in the border perimeter to defend Israeli border towns and villages.
Security arrangements would be implemented at the Philadelphi corridor – a narrow strip of land that runs along the border between Egypt and Gaza – with Israel withdrawing from parts of it after the first few days of the deal.
The Rafah Crossing between Egypt and Gaza would start to work gradually to allow the crossing of people who are sick and other humanitarian cases out of Gaza for treatment.
Unarmed North Gaza residents would be allowed to return to their homes, with a mechanism introduced to ensure no weapons are moved there.
“We will not leave the Gaza Strip until all our hostages are back home,” the Israeli official said.
What will happen to Gaza in the future?
There is less detail about the future of Gaza – from how it will be governed, to any guarantees that this agreement will bring a permanent end to the war.
“The only thing that can answer for now is that we are ready for a ceasefire,” the Israeli official said.
“This is a long ceasefire and the deal that is being discussed right now is for a long one. There is a big price for releasing the hostages and we are ready to pay this price.”
The international community has said Gaza must be run by Palestinians, but there has not been a consensus about how this should be done – and the draft ceasefire agreement does not seem to address this either.
In the past, Israel has said it will not end the war leaving Hamas in power. It also previously rejected the possibility of the Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited governing powers in the West Bank, from taking over the administration of Gaza.
Since the beginning of its military campaign in Gaza, Israel has also said it would retain security control over the territory after the fighting ends.
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