Starmer says ‘it will take some time’ before living standards improve

Published

12 months ago

December 19, 2024

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Sir Keir Starmer has said “it will take some time” before living standards improve in the UK as he faced a grilling from senior MPs.

The prime minister said “we want people to feel better off” but warned his government could not fix everything “by Christmas”.

He was facing the chairs of several parliamentary committees in his first appearance in front of the powerful liaison committee.

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Sir Keir said the increase in the national living wage was a “pay rise for the three million who are the lowest paid” and public sector workers were also feeling the benefit of pay increases.

“In addition to that, the measures that we put in place will improve living standards,” he said.

He added: “It will take some time, of course it will.

“One of the biggest mistakes, I think, in the last 14 years was the idea that everything could be fixed by Christmas. It can’t.”

He said planning how to fix things “will take time”, as will changing regulations to ensure growth can happen.

The prime minister said the October budget, which has been criticised by several sections of society, was about “stabilising the economy”.

But the prime minister added more needs to be done to grow the economy, with planning reforms a key concern.

The government’s plan to build 1.5 million houses over the next five years will happen, he said.

“I accept it’s difficult, I accept its stretching. But it’s hugely important,” he added.

Sir Keir also defined “blockers” after he pledged to “back the builders, not the blockers”.

Blockers are those who say the UK “shouldn’t have targets” for housebuilding and those who argue “we shouldn’t build here”, he added.

The prime minister gave an example of wind turbines taking 13 years to be installed due to planning objections and delays connecting them to the energy grid.

Sir Keir was also asked about foreign affairs and defence, including on the possibility of tariffs being introduced by Donald Trump.

He said he is “not a fan” of tariffs but thinks he can make progress on trade with the US, and added he does not accept the UK can only be close to the EU or the US.

On defence, the PM was asked by Labour MP Tan Dhesi, chair of the defence committee, what keeps him up at night.

He said he is not kept awake because he is confident in the UK’s defence and security, adding we have “first class personnel here and across the world”.

However, he said he accepts we are “living in a more volatile world” and his government has doubled down on support for NATO.

On migration, Sir Keir said the UK will always need overseas skills but the levels are too high.

“Obviously what I don’t want to do is to choke off businesses that are thriving at the moment by cutting their legs off and say ‘you can’t have inward migration’,” he said.

Sir Keir was thanked by the liaison committee chair Dame Meg Hillier for his “commitment to transparency and scrutiny”.

The PM appears in front of the committee roughly twice a year so the next time could be next summer.

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PM issues warning to European leaders ahead of ECHR talks

Published

3 hours ago

December 10, 2025

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PM issues warning to European leaders ahead of ECHR talks

Sir Keir Starmer has called for a tougher approach to policing Europe’s borders ahead of a meeting between leaders to discuss a potential shake-up of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

The prime minister said the way in which the ECHR is interpreted in courts must be modernised, with critics long claiming the charter is a major barrier to deportations of illegal migrants.

His deputy, David Lammy, will today be in Strasbourg, France, with fellow European ministers to discuss reforms of how the agreement is interpreted in law across the continent.

In an opinion piece for The Guardian, Sir Keir and his Danish counterpart, Mette Frederiksen, said the change was necessary to prevent voters from turning to populist political opponents.

What’s the issue with the ECHR?

The ECHR, which is the foundation of Britain’s Human Rights Act, includes the right to family life in its Article 8.

That is often used as grounds to prevent deportations of illegal migrants from the UK.

There has also been a rise in cases where Article 3 rights, prohibiting torture, were used to halt deportations over claims migrants’ healthcare needs could not be met in their home country, according to the Home Office.

The Conservatives and Reform UK have both said they would leave the ECHR if in power, while the Labour government has insisted it will remain a member of the treaty.

But Sir Keir admitted in his joint op-ed that the “current asylum framework was created for another era”.

“In a world with mass mobility, yesterday’s answers do not work. We will always protect those fleeing war and terror – but the world has changed, and asylum systems must change with it,” the two prime ministers wrote, as they push for a “modernisation of the interpretation” of the ECHR.

What is happening today?

Mr Lammy is attending an informal summit of the Council of Europe.

He is expected to say: “We must strike a careful balance between individual rights and the public’s interest.

“The definition of ‘family life’ can’t be stretched to prevent the removal of people with no right to remain in the country [and] the threshold of ‘inhuman and degrading treatment’ must be constrained to the most serious issues.”

It is understood that a political declaration signed by the gathered ministers could carry enough weight to directly influence how the European Court of Human Rights interprets the treaty.

The UK government is expected to bring forward its own legislation to change how Article 8 is interpreted in UK courts, and is also considering a re-evaluation of the threshold for Article 3 rights.

The plans have been criticised by Amnesty International UK, which described them as weakening protections.

“Human rights were never meant to be optional or reserved for comfortable and secure times. They were designed to be a compass, our conscience, when the politics of fear and division try to steer us wrong,” Steve Valdez-Symonds, the organisation’s refugee and migrant rights programme director, said.

Sir Keir’s government has already adopted several hardline immigration measures – modelled on those introduced by Ms Federiksen’s Danish government – to decrease the number of migrants crossing the Channel via small boats.

Starmer-Macron deal ‘a sticking plaster’

Meanwhile, French far-right leader Jordan Bardella told The Daily Telegraph he would rewrite his country’s border policy to allow British patrol boats to push back small vessels carrying migrants into France’s waters if he were elected.

The National Rally leader called Sir Keir’s “one-in, one-out” agreement with Emmanuel Macron, which includes Britain returning illegal arrivals in exchange for accepting a matching number of legitimate asylum seekers, a “sticking plaster” and “smokescreen”.

He said that only a complete overhaul of French immigration policy would stop the Channel crossings.

Mr Bardella is currently leading in opinion polls to win the first round of France’s next presidential election, expected to happen in 2027, to replace Mr Macron.

Politics

Trump to begin interviews with Fed chair finalists this week: FT

Published

5 hours ago

December 10, 2025

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Trump to begin interviews with Fed chair finalists this week: FT

The race for the new US Federal Reserve chair is nearing the finish line, with US President Donald Trump reportedly set to begin interviewing finalists for the top job this week.

According to a report from the Financial Times on Tuesday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has presented a list of four names to the White House.

One of these is former Fed governor Kevin Warsh, whom Bessent is scheduled to meet with on Wednesday. Another is National Economic Council director Kevin Hassett, who is seen as the frontrunner for the role.

Another two names would be picked from a list of other finalists, which includes Fed governors Christopher Waller and Michelle Bowman, and BlackRock chief investment officer Rick Rieder.

Trump and Bessent are expected to hold at least one interview next week, as a decision looks likely to be announced in January.

However, Trump has revealed he already has his eye on one particular candidate.

“We’re going to be looking at a couple different people, but I have a pretty good idea of who I want,” Trump said to journalists on Air Force One on Tuesday.

Kevin Hassett is a frontrunner for Fed chair role

The upcoming round of interviews suggests that Hassett may not be the clear lock in for the role as previously thought, though he is seen as the favorite.

Earlier this month, prediction market odds on Kalshi and Polymarket shot up for Hassett significantly following comments from Trump at the White House on Dec. 2.

While welcoming guests, Trump labeled Hassett as “potential Fed chair” leading many to assume the president had let a major hint slip.

With Hassett’s odds spiking to 85% after Trump’s comments last week, they have since declined to around 73% for Hassett, while Warsh’s odds sit at 13% on Kalshi at the time of writing, which has floated around this range over December.