Chancellor Jeremy Hunt to confirm toughening of benefits sanctions while raising living wage
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt will reiterate the government’s commitments to make benefits sanctions harsher in a speech today – while also committing to raising the national living wage above £11 an hour.
Mr Hunt‘s intervention comes around six weeks ahead of his autumn financial statement.
While not as tumultuous as his predecessor’s party conference speech last year – where Kwasi Kwarteng had to admit his party was U-turning on a key part of his mini-budget – Mr Hunt is still under pressure.
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Many voices within the Conservative Party want him to cut taxes, including cabinet ministers.
Speaking to Sky News’ Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips, Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove said he would “like to see the tax burden reduced by the next election”.
Mr Hunt on Saturday said the government was “not in a position to talk about tax cuts at all” – but all bets are off when it comes to party conferences.
The government has been eyeing welfare changes as a way to cut down on spending, and also encouraging people back into work in a bid to grow the economy.
The chancellor will address conference today
Mr Hunt will tell the party membership in Manchester: “Since the pandemic, things have being going in the wrong direction. Whilst companies struggle to find workers, around 100,000 people are leaving the labour force every year for a life on benefits.
“As part of that, we will look at the way the sanctions regime works. It is a fundamental matter of fairness. Those who won’t even look for work do not deserve the same benefits as people trying hard to do the right thing.”
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A party spokesman said: “To ensure work always pays, the chancellor will also confirm that he and Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride will look again at the benefit sanctions regime to make it harder for people to claim benefits while refusing to take active steps to move into work.
“Proposals will be set out in the upcoming autumn statement.”
Speaking last month, Mr Stride said that he was consulting on changes to the Work Capability Assessment, the test aimed at establishing how much a disability or illness limits someone’s ability to work.
Raising the living wage
On the national living wage, Mr Hunt will say the government is going to accept the Low Pay Commission’s recommendation to rise the baseline to at least £11 an hour from April 2024.
Resisting sizeable pay increases in the public sector has been part of the government’s strategy to keep spending and inflation under control
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Tories tight-lipped on tax cut prospects
Mr Hunt will say: “Today I want to complete another great Conservative reform, the National Living Wage.
“Since we introduced it, nearly two million people have been lifted from absolute poverty.
“That’s the Conservative way of improving the lives of working people. Boosting pay, cutting tax.
“But today, we go further with another great Conservative invention, the National Living Wage.
“We promised in our manifesto to raise the National Living Wage to two thirds of median income – ending low pay in this country.
“At the moment it is £10.42 an hour, and we are waiting for the Low Pay Commission to confirm its recommendation for next year.
“But I confirm today, whatever that recommendation, we will increase it next year to at least £11 an hour.”
Ahead of the speech, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, said: “I’ve always made it clear that hard work should pay, and today we’re providing a well-earned pay rise to millions of people across the country.
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“This means a full-time worker will receive an increase of over £1,000 to their annual earnings, putting more money in the pockets of the lowest paid.
“We’re sending a clear message to hard-working taxpayers across the country; our Conservative government is on your side”.
‘Ban on mobile phones in classrooms’
Elsewhere, Education Secretary Gillian Keegan will also give her speech in the conference hall later, where she is expected to say she will ban mobile phones in classrooms.
Speaking to the Daily Mail, a government source said: “Gillian believes that mobile phones pose a serious challenge in terms of distraction, disruptive behaviour, and bullying.
“It is one of the biggest issues that children and teachers have to grapple with so she will set out a way forward to empower teachers to ban mobiles from classrooms.”
Many schools already ban pupils using phones, but Ms Keegan wants to outlaw them during lessons and break times.
Ministers must do “much more” to explain why Palestine Action is a proscribed terrorist group, Harriet Harman has said.
Speaking to the Sky News Electoral Dysfunction podcast, the Labour peer said the government looked like it was just “arresting octogenarian vicars who are worried about the awful situation in Gaza”.
Baroness Harman, who was a Labour MP from 1982 to 2024, said the government had a “number of incredibly important duties” with regard to the war in Gaza – including protecting the Jewish community while also permitting free speech.
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She said that as well as ensuring the safety of Jewish venues, such as schools and synagogues, the government also needed to “try and create an atmosphere where the Jewish people should not feel that they are under threat and be asking themselves whether this is the right country for them to live in and be bringing up their families”.
Baroness Harman went on: “They also have to support and uphold the right to free speech and the right of protest. And people have felt so horrified.
“We all have about the devastating loss of life and suffering in Gaza. And so it’s right that people are allowed to protest.”
A number of protests in support of Palestine Action have been organised in recent months following the group’s proscription under anti-terrorism laws in July, after members targeted RAF Brize Norton and damaged two military aircraft.
Protests against the British government’s ban on Palestine Action
Last week, there were calls for the demonstrations to be halted following the attack on Heaton Park Synagogue in Manchester, in which two people were killed – but a number took place across the country, including in London.
The Labour peer said the organisers of such protests had a responsibility not to allow people to support a “terrorist organisation” but that the government also needed to do “much, more more” to explain why Palestine Action had been proscribed.
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“At the moment, it just looks like the police are arresting octogenarian vicars who are worried about the awful situation in Gaza,” Baroness Harman said.
“So they’ve got to actually be much clearer in why Palestine Action is a terrorist group and that they’re justified in prescribing them and making them illegal.
“But also the police have got to police those marches in stopping them being about the spouting of hatred and inciting violence, with people talking about globalising the intifada, which basically means killing all Jewish people.
“And the police do actually have very wide-ranging powers, not just to arrest people, but to actually ban marches.“
EU lawmakers have sought to introduce Chat Control, while the UK and Australia are on track for digital ID systems. Pavel Durov warns that these “dystopian” measures must be stopped.
Politics
‘The time is now to stop Reform’ – Plaid Cymru calls on Labour voters to unite behind Welsh nationalists
One party has held court over Welsh politics for more than a century.
Welsh Labour MPs have been the largest group sent to Westminster in every general election since 1922 – and the party has been in government in the country for more than a quarter of a century.
But if the polls are accurate, Labour’s long-standing grip on politics in Wales is fading.
Plaid Cymru and Reform UK are running almost neck and neck, while Labour trails significantly. A recent YouGov poll put Plaid Cymru on 30%, Reform UK on 29% and Labour at 14%.
Plaid Cymru, heading into its conference this weekend, can sense the mood for change in Wales – and intends to show it is ready for government.
Polling last month put Plaid Cymru and Reform UK almost neck and neck in Wales, with just one point between them – while Labour trails
The party hopes to capitalise on disillusioned Labour voters feeling let down by their party under Sir Keir Starmer, and use this to tackle the rise of Reform – which is key to getting it into power.
In his leader’s speech, Rhun ap Iorwerth is expected to position Plaid Cymru as Wales’s progressive force, and the only party capable of taking on Reform.
He will say: “We’re not here to act as Labour’s conscience. We are not here to repair Labour. We are here to replace them.
“If you’ve never voted for Plaid Cymru before, the time is now.
“The time is now to stop Reform and elect a government more radical, more ambitious, more impatient to bring about positive change than any which has gone before it. A government of progress and of progressive values.”
One in five Labour voters in Wales intend to back Plaid Cymru at the Senedd elections in 2026, according to YouGov. But almost a quarter of Labour voters remain undecided on who to endorse.
The topic of independence will no doubt be a contentious issue for voters who are angry about decisions made by Labour in Wales and Westminster, but do not want an independent Wales.
Plaid Cymru supporters outside the Senedd on 8 October
Mr ap Iorwerth has ruled out an independence referendum if Plaid Cymru wins next year’s elections, signalling that he doesn’t want the campaign to centre on independence.
Throughout the conference, Plaid Cymru will position itself as ready to govern. But voters will expect clear plans for the NHS, education, and the economy. The question for the party, both during this conference and over the coming months, will be whether its proposals can win over Labour voters in its quest to beat Reform.
But Plaid Cymru’s challenge to Nigel Farage’s party faces a critical test sooner than May. Instead, its next battle will be in the Caerphilly Senedd by-election on 23 October.
Historically a Labour stronghold at both Senedd and Westminster levels, Caerphilly has consistently returned Labour representatives, with Plaid Cymru as the main opposition at Senedd elections.
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However, this election introduces a new dynamic, as Reform has emerged as a credible challenger, poised to disrupt the traditional two-party contest.
Coming second at this election won’t be a total loss for Plaid Cymru.
If it can come second at the by-election, it will prove the point Mr ap Iorwerth will be making at the conference in Swansea: that his party is the only credible anti-Reform vote.
The full list of candidates standing at the Caerphilly by-election:
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Labour – Richard Tunnicliffe
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Plaid Cymru – Lindsay Whittle
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Reform UK – Llŷr Powell
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Conservative – Gareth Potter
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Green Party – Gareth Hughes
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Gwlad – Anthony Cook
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UKIP – Roger Quilliam
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Liberal Democrats – Steve Aicheler
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