David Lammy defends ‘young’ Labour government as poll shows most people think they are sleazy
David Lammy has said the government is “young” after Sir Keir Starmer’s chief of staff Sue Gray resigned and a new poll found most people think the government is “sleazy”.
The foreign secretary said Ms Gray was a “superb public servant” after she quit on Sunday following weeks of briefings against her, including her salary being leaked.
After she stepped down less than 100 days into Labour’s premiership, Mr Lammy said: “It’s a young government and we get on with the work ahead of us.”
He thanked Ms Gray for her service and congratulated her on her new job as the PM’s envoy for the UK’s nations and regions.
Ms Gray stepped down after her perceived power and abilities were attacked by other Number 10 staff and civil servants who accused her of not having a handle on the damaging freebies row.
There were also reports of other special advisers having their pay kept down to the same levels as when they were in opposition, but now have much larger jobs, while Ms Gray was paid £170,000 – more than the PM.
She said she resigned because it was “clear to me that intense commentary around my position risked becoming a distraction”.
Sir Keir Starmer and Sue Gray. Pic: Rex/Tayfun Salci/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock
Following weeks of the row over freebies taken by Sir Keir and his top team, a new poll found six in 10 Britons (59%) now describe the Labour government as “sleazy”.
The YouGov poll, published on Monday, also found half (53%) of Britons expected Labour to behave well over standards.
Three in 10 Labour voters (30%) describe the government as sleazy, although six in 10 (59%) Conservative voters say the same of the 2019-2024 Conservative government.
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Disappointment is fairly uniform across parties, with 45% of Conservatives saying they expected Labour to behave better, 42% of Labour voters and 45% of Lib Dem voters.
Just a third of Labour voters (34%) say the new government has behaved as well as they thought it would.
When comparing Sir Keir Starmer with his predecessor, Rishi Sunak, the Labour leader comes off worse, with 35% saying Sir Keir is sleazier than Mr Sunak.
A total of 28% think Mr Sunak was sleazier than Sir Keir, and 23% view them as equally as sleazy as each other.
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Two thirds of Britons (66%) think it is unacceptable for politicians to receive complimentary concert or sports tickets, as Sir Keir and several of his cabinet have done.
But more than eight in 10 Britons (84%) feel it is wrong for party donors to be awarded peerages, as Boris Johnson attempted to do to Tory donor Stuart Marks.
Last week, Sir Keir repaid £6,000 worth of tickets he had taken since becoming prime minister.
YouGov surveyed 2,084 adults across Great Britain from 3-4 October.
Politics
University tuition fee rise branded ‘morally wrong’ – as Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson defends increase
The education secretary has said no decision has been made on whether university tuition fees will increase with inflation each year.
Bridget Phillipson has announced the maximum cap on tuition fees in England will go up in line with inflation from April 2025.
The cost of tuition will increase by £285 to £9,535 next year – the first rise in eight years.
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There will also be a rise in maximum maintenance loans to increase in line with inflation, giving an increase of £414 a year to help students with living costs.
However, the education secretary did not say if the rise would continue after that.
Speaking to Sky News’ Politics Hub with Sophy Ridge, Ms Phillipson admitted she did not know what would happen with tuition fees after April 2026.
“We’re going to look at this and the maintenance support and the sector overall as part of the reform that we intend to set out in the months to come,” she said.
“So no decision, no decision has been taken on what happens beyond this.”
She said the government will be looking at “what is required… to get our universities on a more sustainable footing… but also to deliver a better deal for students as a part of that”.
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University tuition fees to increase
The minister said she also “intends to look at” uprating the threshold at which students need to start paying tuition fees back in line with inflation.
Jo Grady, general secretary of the University and College Union (UCU), said the tuition fee rise was “economically and morally wrong”.
She said: “Taking more money from debt-ridden students and handing it to overpaid underperforming vice-chancellors is ill conceived and won’t come close to addressing the sector’s core issues.”
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The National Union of Students (NUS) said students were being asked to “foot the bill” to keep the lights and heating on in their universities and to prevent their courses from closing down amid the “crisis”.
Alex Stanley, vice president for higher education of the NUS, said: “This is, and can only ever be, a sticking plaster.
“Universities cannot continue to be funded by an ever-increasing burden of debt on students.”
Universities have been making up for fees being frozen since 2017/18 by taking in international students who pay more.
However, student visa numbers have fallen after the previous government made it more difficult for them to come to the UK recently, so universities can no longer rely on the fees.
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Dame Priti Patel has made a comeback as Kemi Badenoch has appointed her shadow foreign secretary, Sky News understands.
Ms Badenoch, who became Conservative leader on Saturday, started officially appointing her shadow cabinet on Sunday evening.
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On Monday afternoon, the two biggest jobs were confirmed, with former home secretary Ms Patel being given the shadow foreign secretary role.
Former shadow work and pensions secretary Mel Stride, who ran in the Tory leadership race and is considered more of a moderate than Ms Badenoch, has been made shadow chancellor.
Robert Jenrick, who lost out to Ms Badenoch, is the new shadow justice secretary, sources told Sky News.
Earlier in the day, Laura Trott, who served as chief secretary to the Treasury under Rishi Sunak, was appointed shadow education secretary.
The new Tory leader made her first appointments on Sunday evening ahead of her new top team meeting for the first time on Tuesday.
Mel Stride was work and pensions secretary and stood to be Tory leader
Now the Conservatives are in opposition, the shadow cabinet’s role is to scrutinise the policies and actions of the government and to offer alternative policies.
Nigel Huddleston and Dominic Johnson, junior ministers under Mr Sunak, were appointed joint chairmen of the Conservative Party.
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The role involves overseeing the party’s headquarters, where staff and committee members have their offices.
Essex MP Dame Rebecca Harris was confirmed as chief whip after the interim chief whip Stuart Andrew said she was replacing him.
She will be responsible for ensuring Tory MPs attend and vote in parliament as the party leadership desires.
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Badenoch: ‘We let standards slip’
Former foreign secretary James Cleverly, who came third in the leadership race, said on Friday he would not be joining Ms Badenoch’s top team.
Ex-prime minister Mr Sunak, his former deputy Sir Oliver Dowden, ex-chancellor Jeremy Hunt and former Brexit, health, and environment secretary Steve Barclay have all said they will be joining him on the backbenches.
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