Kemi Badenoch says Tories will support Sir Keir Starmer’s welfare cuts – on three conditions
Kemi Badenoch has offered Conservative support, in order to help the government pass its controversial welfare changes.
The Tory leader told Sky News she would be asking for three commitments from Sir Keir Starmer, if he wants to use Conservative votes to pass the reforms to disability benefits, which have triggered an unprecedented rebellion of more than 100 Labour MPs.
Ms Badenoch said: “I’m just making it very clear to Keir Starmer that if he will make commitments at the despatch box to meet our conditions which are to reduce the welfare budget, to get people into work and not to have tax rises, then we can support his bill.
“The bill is a bit of a mess. It needs some work. It looks like it’s been rushed for Rachel [Reeves] to fix other problems that they’ve got. But our welfare budget is far too high, and we really need to bring it down.”
PM warns UK must prepare for war at home – follow latest
The prospect of the bill passing on Conservative votes would outrage Labour MPs.
An amendment they have tabled says they cannot support the bill because it would drive disabled people into poverty, and they are concerned about whether people losing benefits would find work.
Around 119 Labour MPs have now signed the amendment, while Sadiq Khan has become the most senior Labour figure to call for a “rethink”. The mayor of London has warned that the proposed cuts would “destroy [the] financial safety net” for “too many disabled Londonders”.
Welfare Secretary Liz Kendall has tried to reassure Labour MPs about the changes. But the rebels are hoping the government will water down their proposals in order to get Labour support.
The prime minister, speaking at a NATO summit in The Hague on Tuesday, insisted the government would press ahead.
Keir Starmer told Sky News: “We’ve got to get on and make that reform because the options are: leave the system as it is, trusting people and not helping them, that’s not a Labour option. The Labour option is to reform it and make it fit for the future. So we’re going to press ahead with these reforms.”
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Sir Keir Starmer says he wants to see the ceasefire between Israel and Iran maintained.
A vote is looming next Tuesday with Labour MPs deeply concerned about the changes which will see 370,000 current PIP claimants lose benefit, and affect 3 million people in total.
The rebels hope the government will climb down.
One of them, Neil Duncan-Jordan, the MP for Poole, told Sky News that relying on Conservative votes “is not a good look for any government”.
He added: “If you can’t rely on your own party, I think you’re in a serious place.”
Responding to Ms Badenoch’s offer, a Labour spokesperson said the government was “elected to deliver change” and that it’s “prepared to take on the challenges holding the UK back”.
They added: “We’re fixing the abysmal mess the Tories left behind, and MPs can either vote to keep a broken failed welfare system that writes people off, or they can vote to start fixing it.
“Next week’s bill is a test for the leader of the opposition as to whether her party has learned anything at all by being roundly rejected by Britain.”
Coinbase says it helped the US Secret Service seize $225 million in crypto allegedly stolen by scammers, the largest crypto seizure in the agency’s history.
Only five US senators out of the 11 typically on the digital assets subcommittee were available to ask questions about a potential market structure bill.
The UK will buy at least 12 F-35 stealth jets that can carry nuclear warheads in the most significant strengthening of its nuclear capability in a generation, the government has said.
Today, Sir Keir Starmer will tell a summit of NATO allies in The Hague that the new squadron will join an alliance mission that can be armed with US nuclear weapons.
The dramatic move will doubtless draw condemnation and concern from Russia and China.
But it comes at a time of growing global insecurity – and as the prime minister and his European and Canadian counterparts scramble to convince Donald Trump they are serious about bolstering their ability to defend Europe, instead of overly relying on the United States.
The US president, a long-standing NATO sceptic, raised questions about whether he would uphold the alliance’s founding Article 5 principle – that an attack on one is an attack on all – before he even arrived in the Dutch city last night.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
‘There’s numerous definitions of Article 5’
An urgent need to keep Mr Trump on side has prompted NATO allies to agree to increase spending on defence and national resilience to a new target of 5% of GDP by 2035.
As part of this push to rearm, Sir Keir will give the Royal Air Force the ability to carry airborne nuclear warheads for the first time since the 1990s.
“In an era of radical uncertainty we can no longer take peace for granted,” he said.
“These F-35 dual capable aircraft will herald a new era for our world-leading Royal Air Force and deter hostile threats that threaten the UK and our allies.
“The UK’s commitment to NATO is unquestionable, as is the alliance’s contribution to keeping the UK safe and secure, but we must all step up to protect the Euro-Atlantic area for generations to come.”
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
What is NATO’s 5% defence spending goal?
It was not immediately clear when the F-35 jets would be bought or how much they will cost, but the new squadron will be part of a NATO-led nuclear deterrence mission.
That is in contrast to the UK’s national nuclear deterrence, based on a fleet of four nuclear-armed submarines, though they too are used to defend the whole of the alliance.
Mark Rutte, the head of NATO, applauded the plan – saying: “The UK has declared its nuclear deterrent to NATO for many decades, and I strongly welcome today’s announcement that the UK will now also join NATO’s nuclear mission and procure the F-35A.
“This is yet another robust British contribution to NATO.”
Sir Keir watches a demonstration by troops as he visits the Netherlands marines training base. Pic: AP
Aircraft operated by a small number of NATO countries, including Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands, are cleared to carry US-provided nuclear weapons in a war.
The RAF and the Royal Navy already operate F-35B jets that can fly off Britain’s two aircraft carriers, but they are not equipped to drop nuclear warheads.
The new planes will be the F-35A variant, operated by the air force, that take off from land but can fly further and be armed with nuclear or conventional weapons.
The government said they would all be based together at RAF Marham in Norfolk.
The government has long planned to purchase a total of 138 F-35 aircraft, but has so far only acquired around three dozen – seven years since the first jets entered service.
The decision to purchase 12 of the A-variant does not mean extra aircraft.
It just means a diversification in the fleet – something the RAF has long been pushing for – though it’s a decision some in the Royal Navy have long pushed back against, believing it would reduce even further the number of the B-version that operate from their carriers.
Read more:
PM warns of ‘era of radical uncertainty’
Podcast – What is NATO without America?
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Is the UK preparing for war?
The government described the plan to purchase nuclear-capable aircraft as the “biggest strengthening of the UK’s nuclear posture in a generation”.
Defence Secretary John Healey said a major defence review published earlier in the month highlighted new nuclear risks.
“It recommended a new UK role in our collective defence and deterrence through a NATO-first approach,” he said.
However, the public version of the Strategic Defence Review stopped short of making any specific recommendation.
It merely said “the UK must explore how to support the US and its NATO allies in strengthening extended deterrence across the Euro-Atlantic”.
The F-35 aircraft is made by the US defence giant Lockheed Martin, but the British defence company BAE Systems is also a key contributor.
The order will support 20,000 jobs in the F-35 programme in the UK.
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Sports2 years agoButton battles heat exhaustion in NASCAR debut
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike