Starmer reveals ‘worry’ for family if he enters No 10 as Sunak ‘excited’ for daughters to complete national service
Sir Keir Starmer has revealed the thing he fears the most about becoming prime minister is the impact it will have on his children.
Speaking to Beth Rigby during Sky News’ Battle For Number 10 in Grimsby, the Labour leader said it was “not the big decisions” he feared the most but the effect his job will have on his teenage children.
He said his children – a boy aged nearly 16 and a girl aged 13 – were at “difficult ages” and it would have been easier if they were younger or older.
Meanwhile, Rishi Sunak – who also underwent questioning by Rigby – defended his record in Number 10 after he was quizzed about “broken promises” he made in January 2023 when he became prime minister.
The prime minister was specifically asked about the tax burden, NHS waiting lists and immigration – which he admitted was “too high”.
He said he could understand people’s “frustrations” but argued the country has “been through two once-in-a-century shocks” – the first the COVID pandemic and the second Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
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“I appreciate people want to see positive change, but you don’t get any change unless you’ve got a plan and you’re prepared to do bold things,” he argued.
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The prime minister also said he is “incredibly excited” for his daughters to do national service in response to a question from William, a student from Grimsby. “I think it will be transformative for our country”, he said.
And on migration, he was challenged about how he thought Brexit voters (in Grimsby 70% opted to leave the EU) – felt upon learning that the total net migration figure for the last three years was 1.9 million people.
He admitted the numbers were “too high” but insisted he had begun to bring them down since becoming prime minister.
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Sunak grilled over migration record
Asked why anyone should believe what he says given that David Cameron and Theresa May both promised to slash migration, he said: “I completely understand people’s cynicism about this,” before adding that numbers were now down 10% and the number of visas issued this year was also down by a quarter.
‘The thing that keeps me up at night is my children’
Sir Keir, who the polls predict will be the country’s next prime minister, said he “relished” the chance he may be given to change the country but that he feared for his teenage children.
“These are really difficult ages,” he said. “My only fear really is the impact it’s going to have on them.”
He said the reason they had not appeared publicly or in a photo shoot with him was to protect them and to ensure they have their “own lives”.
“I don’t fear the big decisions, in fact, I relish the chance to change our country,” he told Rigby.
“My only fear… the only thing that keeps me up at night is worrying about my children.”
‘I want to do things differently’
Sir Keir, who spoke before Mr Sunak took to the stage, also sought to distinguish himself from previous Labour leaders by saying he did not want to reach for the “tax lever” to sort out the country’s finances.
He said his “central mission was to grow the economy” and that he wanted to “do things differently”.
Despite persistent questioning over his tax plans, Sir Keir said there would be “no need” to raise taxes on working people in the party’s manifesto that will be published on Thursday.
“I want to do things differently,” he said. “I want to grow our economy.
“I accept that previous Labour leaders have sort of pulled the tax lever every single time and driven up spending.
“The manifesto tomorrow will be a manifesto, a plan for wealth creation.
“Now, you might not hear a Labour leader say that very often, but for me, that is the most important thing.”
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Awkward moments
After taking questions from Rigby, Sir Keir faced the audience who asked him about his plans to tackle child poverty, housing and the NHS.
He was also asked by one audience member whether he had changed since leading the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to resemble a “political robot”.
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Starmer accused of being a ‘political robot’
After an awkward pause, Sir Keir replied: “I’ve had this constant theme in my life of trying to serve the public. That’s why I took the decision to go into politics.”
Mr Sunak also faced laughter and boos from the audience when challenged about the five pledges he made after he replaced Boris Johnson as prime minister.
He faced laughter when he said inflation “was always meant to come down over time” and the audience expressed frustration when he blamed the lack of progress on cutting NHS waiting lists – which currently stand at 7.54 million – on industrial action.
And asked if he could provide the audience with any personal information that “make them like you a bit more again”, he replied: “People seem to think I have a very kind of healthy lifestyle and I go to the gym and session about my fasting, but I actually have an appalling diet because I eat an enormous amount of sugar, and I’m very unhealthy in that regard.”
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Police investigating criminal offence after Daily Telegraph columnist ‘dumbfounded’ by social media post probe
Essex Police say they are investigating an alleged criminal offence of inciting racial hatred, after Daily Telegraph columnist Allison Pearson said she was “dumbfounded and upset” when officers knocked on her door last Sunday.
Ms Pearson revealed she was told she was being investigated over a year-old deleted post online.
She said she wasn’t informed which post had been reported, but suggested it could have been related to the 7 October attacks in Israel or pro-Palestine marches.
She claimed the officers told her she was being investigated for a NCHI (a none crime hate incident) an incident involving an act which is perceived to be motivated by hostility or prejudice towards persons with a particular characteristic, but is not illegal.
NCHI reports have long been controversial, with many citing free speech concerns, and Ms Pearson’s account of the police visit has led to widespread support from Conservatives and online commentators, including Tory leader Kemi Badenoch.
But an Essex Police spokesperson has told Sky News its investigation was never for an NCHI, and that the matter was always being treated as an investigation into an alleged criminal offence of inciting racial hatred.
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Speaking on her Planet Normal podcast on Wednesday, Ms Pearson said she found the visit “chilling”.
“I was dumbfounded, upset, it’s not very nice,” she said. “I was in my dressing gown on the step of the house, these two coppers were there just outside the door.
“There were people gathering for the Remembrance Day parade so there were people watching from the other side of the road.
“Whatever I did or didn’t tweet, if somebody found it offensive, that to me is still not a reason for two policemen to come to my house on a Sunday morning.
“You know, they don’t do that for burglars, do they? We know policing is under-resourced and they are unable to attend often quite serious crimes.
“This was the most extraordinary overreach and state intrusion into my private life and I don’t think I did anything wrong and I think their response was outrageous.”
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In a statement, Essex Police said: “Officers attended an address in Essex and invited a woman to come to a voluntary interview.
“They said it related to an investigation into an alleged offence of inciting racial hatred, linked to a post on social media.
“For clarity: a complaint of a possible criminal offence was made to the police and this is why we called; to arrange an interview.
“Everyone was polite and professional throughout the brief conversation.”
They said an officer told Ms Pearson: “It’s gone down as an incident or offence of potentially inciting racial hatred online. That would be the offence.”
Essex Police say they have complained to the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) over what they call “false reporting” regarding the ongoing investigation.
In an interview with The Telegraph published yesterday, Kemi Badenoch said police visiting a journalist over a social media post was “absolutely wrong” and that “we need to look at the laws around non-crime hate incidents”.
“There has been a long-running problem with people not taking free speech seriously,” she said.
She challenged the prime minister to review the laws, saying: “Keir Starmer says he is someone who believes in these things. Now he needs to actually show that he does believe it. All we’ve seen from him is the opposite.”
Ms Badenoch added: “We need to stop this behaviour of people wasting police time on trivial incidents because they don’t like something, as if they’re in a nursery.
“It’s like children reporting each other. And I think that in certain cases, the police do it because they’re afraid that if they don’t do it, they will also be accused of not taking these issues seriously.”
Essex Police said the officers went to the address to invite Ms Pearson to attend a voluntary interview as part of their investigation, which was passed to them by another force.
“The report relates to a social media post which was subsequently removed,” the statement read.
“An investigation is now being carried out under Section 17 of the Public Order Act.”
Essex Police also said they made attempts to contact Ms Pearson before the visit.
Other prominent Conservative voices such as Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Chris Philp have also leapt to Ms Pearson’s defence online, as has X owner Elon Musk, who quoted a post about the incident and said: “This needs to stop.”
Police commentator Graham Wettone told Sky News the police are “duty bound to investigate allegations of crime”.
“They’ve had an allegation of crime made there,” he said. “They will investigate it. If at the end of this they decide that no criminal offence has been committed – and we’re not at that stage yet – then it can still be recorded as a none crime hate incident.”
The police, he said, are duty bound to keep a record of none crime hate incidents.
“Parliament said they want the police to do this, to investigate and record incidents like this. So they are doing exactly what parliament and society asked them to do, and they are getting criticism for doing what people want.”
UK
Sir Keir Starmer vows to defend budget decisions ‘all day long’ as farmers slam ‘disrespectful’ PM
Sir Keir Starmer has said he will defend the decisions made in the budget “all day long” amid anger from farmers over inheritance tax changes.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced last month in her key speech that from April 2026, farms worth more than £1m will face an inheritance tax rate of 20%, rather than the standard 40% applied to other land and property.
The announcement has sparked anger among farmers who argue this will mean higher food prices, lower food production and having to sell off land to pay for the tax.
Sir Keir defended the budget as he gave his first speech as prime minister at the Welsh Labour conference in Llandudno, North Wales, where farmers have been holding a tractor protest outside.
Sir Keir admitted: “We’ve taken some extremely tough decisions on tax.”
He said: “I will defend facing up to the harsh light of fiscal reality. I will defend the tough decisions that were necessary to stabilise our economy.
“And I will defend protecting the payslips of working people, fixing the foundations of our economy, and investing in the future of Britain and the future of Wales. Finally, turning the page on austerity once and for all.”
He also said the budget allocation for Wales was a “record figure” – some £21bn for next year – an extra £1.7bn through the Barnett Formula, as he hailed a “path of change” with Labour governments in Wales and Westminster.
And he confirmed a £160m investment zone in Wrexham and Flintshire will be going live in 2025.
‘PM should have addressed the protesters’
Among the hundreds of farmers demonstrating was Gareth Wyn Jones, who told Sky News it was “disrespectful” that the prime minister did not mention farmers in his speech.
He said “so many people have come here to air their frustrations. He (Starmer) had an opportunity to address the crowd. Even if he was booed he should have been man enough to come out and talk to the people”.
He said farmers planned to deliver Sir Keir a letter which begins with “don’t bite the hand that feeds you”.
Farmers’ tractor protest outside the Welsh Labour conference in Llandudno, North Wales
Mr Wyn Jones told Sky News the government was “destroying” an industry that was already struggling.
“They’re destroying an industry that’s already on its knees and struggling, absolutely struggling, mentally, emotionally and physically. We need government support not more hindrance so we can produce food to feed the nation.”
He said inheritance tax changes will result in farmers increasing the price of food: “The poorer people in society aren’t going to be able to afford good, healthy, nutritious British food, so we have to push this to government for them to understand that enough is enough, the farmers can’t take any more of what they’re throwing at us.”
Mr Wyn Jones disputed the government’s estimation that only 500 farming estates in the UK will be affected by the inheritance tax changes.
“Look, a lot of farmers in this country are in their 70s and 80s, they haven’t handed their farms down because that’s the way it’s always been, they’ve always known there was never going to be inheritance tax.”
On Friday, Sir Keir addressed farmers’ concerns, saying: “I know some farmers are anxious about the inheritance tax rules that we brought in two weeks ago.
“What I would say about that is, once you add the £1m for the farmland to the £1m that is exempt for your spouse, for most couples with a farm wanting to hand on to their children, it’s £3m before anybody pays a penny in inheritance tax.”
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Welsh farmer Gareth Wyn Jones
Ministers said the move will not affect small farms and is aimed at targeting wealthy landowners who buy up farmland to avoid paying inheritance tax.
But analysis this week said a typical family farm would have to put 159% of annual profits into paying the new inheritance tax every year for a decade and could have to sell 20% of their land.
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The Country and Land Business Association (CLA), which represents owners of rural land, property and businesses in England and Wales, found a typical 200-acre farm owned by one person with an expected profit of £27,300 would face a £435,000 inheritance tax bill.
The plan says families can spread the inheritance tax payments over 10 years, but the CLA found this would require an average farm to allocate 159% of its profits each year for a decade.
To pay that, successors could be forced to sell 20% of their land, the analysis found.
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