Rachel Reeves turning around UK’s finances ‘like Steve Jobs did for Apple’, claims minister

Published

2 months ago

June 8, 2025

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Rachel Reeves will turn around the economy the way Steve Jobs turned around Apple, a cabinet minister has suggested ahead of the upcoming spending review.

Science and Technology Secretary Peter Kyle compared the chancellor to the late Apple co-founder when asked on Sky News’ Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips where the £86bn for his department is coming from.

Politics Live: Winter fuel payment cut to be dealt with ‘in run up to autumn’

The package, confirmed ahead of the full spending review next week, will see each region in England granted £500m to spend on science projects of their choice, including research into faster drug treatments.

Asked by Trevor Phillips how the government is finding the money, Mr Kyle said: “Rachel raised money in taxes in the autumn, we are now allocating it per department.

“But the key thing is we are going to be investing record amounts of money into the innovations of the future.

“Just bear in mind that how Apple turned itself around when Steve Jobs came back to Apple, they were 90 days from insolvency. That’s the kind of situation that we had when we came into office.

“Steve Jobs turned it around by inventing the iMac, moving to a series of products like the iPod.

“Now we are starting to invest in the vaccine processes of the future, some of the high-tech solutions that are going to be high growth. We’re investing in our space sector… they will create jobs in the future.”

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The spending review is a process used by governments to set departmental budgets for the years ahead.

Asked if it will include more detail on who will receive winter fuel payments, Mr Kyle said that issue will be “dealt with in the run-up to the autumn”.

“This is a spending review that’s going to set the overall spending constraints for government for the next period, the next three years, so you’re sort of talking about two separate issues at the moment,” he said.

Scrapping universal winter fuel payments was one of the first things Labour did in government – despite it not being in their manifesto – with minsters saying it was necessary because of the financial “blackhole” left behind by the Tories.

But following a long-drawn out backlash, Sir Keir Starmer said last month that the government would extend eligibility, which is now limited to those on pension credit.

Read more: Spending review 2025 look ahead

It is not clear what the new criteria will be, though Ms Reeves has said the changes will come into place before this winter.

Mr Kyle also claimed the spending review will see the government invest “the most we’ve ever spent per pupil in our school system”.

However, he said the chancellor will stick to her self-imposed fiscal rules – which rule out borrowing for day-to-day spending – meaning that while some departments will get extra money, others are likely to face cuts.

Politics

Tyler Winklevoss claims JPMorgan blocked Gemini over public criticism

Published

6 hours ago

July 26, 2025

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Tyler Winklevoss claims JPMorgan blocked Gemini over public criticism

Tyler Winklevoss claims JPMorgan paused Gemini’s onboarding after he criticized the bank’s data access fees, calling the move anti-competitive.

Politics

25% of young children and pregnant women malnourished in Gaza, charity says, as PM vows to fly critical medical cases to UK

Published

10 hours ago

July 26, 2025

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25% of young children and pregnant women malnourished in Gaza, charity says, as PM vows to fly critical medical cases to UK

A charity has warned 25% of young children and pregnant women in Gaza are now malnourished, with Sir Keir Starmer vowing to evacuate children who need “critical medical assistance” to the UK.

MSF, also known as Doctors Without Borders, said Israel’s “deliberate use of starvation as a weapon” has reached unprecedented levels – with patients and healthcare workers both fighting to survive.

It claimed that, at one of its clinics in Gaza City, rates of severe malnutrition in children under five have trebled over the past two weeks – and described the lack of food and water on the ground as “unconscionable”.

The charity also criticised the high number of fatalities seen at aid distribution sites, with one British surgeon accusing IDF soldiers of shooting civilians “almost like a game of target practice”.

MSF’s deputy medical coordinator in Gaza, Dr Mohammed Abu Mughaisib, said: “Those who go to the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s food distributions know that they have the same chance of receiving a sack of flour as they do of leaving with a bullet in their head.”

The UN also estimates that Israeli forces have killed more than 1,000 people seeking food – the majority near the militarised distribution sites of the US-backed aid distribution scheme run by the GHF.

In a statement on Friday, the IDF had said it “categorically rejects the claims of intentional harm to civilians”, and reports of incidents at aid distribution sites were “under examination”.

The GHF has also previously disputed that these deaths were connected with its organisation’s operations, with director Johnnie Moore telling Sky News: “We just want to feed Gazans. That’s the only thing that we want to do.”

Israel says it has let enough food into Gaza and has accused the UN of failing to distribute it, in what the foreign ministry has labelled as “a deliberate ploy” to defame the country.

‘Humanitarian catastrophe must end’

In a video message posted on X late last night, Sir Keir Starmer condemned the scenes in Gaza as “appalling” and “unrelenting” – and said “the images of starvation and desperation are utterly horrifying”.

The prime minister added: “The denial of aid to children and babies is completely unjustifiable, just as the continued captivity of hostages is completely unjustifiable.

“Hundreds of civilians have been killed while seeking aid – children, killed, whilst collecting water. It is a humanitarian catastrophe, and it must end.”

Sir Keir confirmed that the British government is now “accelerating efforts” to evacuate children from Gaza who need critical medical assistance, so they can be brought to the UK for specialist treatment.

Israel has now said that foreign countries will be able to airdrop aid into Gaza. While the PM says the UK will now “do everything we can” to get supplies in via this route, he said this decision has come “far too late”.

Last year, the RAF dropped aid into Gaza, but humanitarian organisations warned it wasn’t enough and was potentially dangerous. In March 2024, five people were killed when an aid parachute failed and supplies fell on them.

For now, Sir Keir has rejected calls to follow French President Emmanuel Macron and recognise a Palestinian state – despite more than 220 MPs signing a cross-party letter to demand he takes this step.

The prime minister is instead demanding a ceasefire and “lasting peace” – and says he will only consider an independent state as part of a negotiated peace deal.