Key events
If you want to listen to these Keir Starmer regional radio interviews, the BBC appears to have helpfully gathered them altogether in one stream. The first question is about winter fuel payments.
Keir Starmer to face regional BBC radio interview round
Keir Starmer will shortly be appearing across a range of different BBC local radio stations. This can sometimes be a tricky assignment to prepare for, with the possibility he will get ambushed with local case studies on any number of contentious issues from the first few months of his government.
The prime minister arguably performs better in interviews when faced with tricky questions channelling the public than his predecessors Rishi Sunak or Liz Truss did, but we can probably expect to hear a lot about “the tough choices” Labour are making as a result of the financial situation and state of public services they inherited from the Tories. I will listen in and bring you the key lines as they emerge.
Tony Snell will be interviewing him first on BBC Radio Mersyside. He’s currently playing Material Girl by Madonna.
Libby Brooks
Libby Brooks is the Guardian’s Scotland correspondent, based in Glasgow
The SNP’s Westminster leader Stephen Flynn has u-turned on his plan to “double job” by sitting in Holyrood and the Commons after a furious backlash.
In a statement released on Thursday evening Flynn said bluntly “Hands up, I’ve got this one wrong and won’t be pursuing a dual mandate.”
The ambitious Aberdeen South MP had faced fierce criticism from his colleagues as well as opposition MSPs after he announced that he was planning to stand for the Holyrood seat of Aberdeen South and North Kincardine, held by his SNP colleague Audrey Nicoll. Flynn also confirmed he would aim to hold his Westminster seat until the next general election, due in 2029, but would not accept two salaries.
The SNP has previously been highly critical of the last Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross for holding seats in both parliaments, and Flynn’s colleagues were privately angry at the implication that a Holyrood position does not amount to a full-time job as well as what many see as the high-handed way he’s attempting to oust a respected female colleague.
As we reported yesterday, first minister John Swinney warned the row was becoming a distraction and last night Flynn saw the writing on the wall, insisting his aim was “to save the public purse from unnecessary strain by potentially overlapping the role of an MP and an MSP for a short period” and that he would now consider his options. It’s a pretty embarrassing climbdown and misjudgement for someone considered a future leader by some in the party.
On assisted dying, YouGov has published some polling this morning, and says its data has “consistently shown strong, bipartisan, support for legalising assisted dying for the terminally ill.”
Our study shows that 73% of Britons believe that – in principle – assisted dying should be legal in the UK, compared to only 13% who say it should not.
Firm majorities across all demographic groups are in favour of legalising assisted dying, with relatively little difference between them. Reform UK voters and Conservatives are more likely to be opposed (17-20%) than Labour and Lib Dem voters (8-10%), but more than two-thirds of each voting group are in favour.
My colleague, senior political correspondent Peter Walker, notes on social media that “It’s quite rare to get such broad and strong support for any political measure, particularly something as controversial as this. Wonder if it could influence some undecided MPs ahead of next week’s vote, who are otherwise facing the noise of their email inbox.”
MPs will have a free vote on assisted dying in the Commons, and this morning home secretary Yvette Cooper has indicated she supports a change in the law on assisted dying, but will follow debate on this particular bill closely.
She told Good Morning Britain viewers:
I have voted for change in the past. These are important and difficult issues, and I haven’t changed my view on the principles of this issue.
But I do also recognise that there is a detailed debate to be had on the detail of legislation on the kinds of safeguards and things that need to be in place.
I think I last voted on this about 20 years ago and so I have supported the principle in the past and continue to believe that change is needed. But we do need to have that debate on the detail, and I’ll continue to follow that debate next Friday.
My colleague Graeme Wearden on our business live blog has some bad news for Chancellor Rachel Reeves:
UK business output is contracting this month for the first time in over a year, as the tax increases announced in last month’s budget hit companies.
Data firm S&P Global says British firms are giving “a clear thumbs down” to the measures in Rachel Reeves’s first budget, such as the increase in employers’ national insurance contributions.
Its flash UK PMI Composite Output Index, which tracks activity across the UK economy, has dropped to a 13-month low of 49.9 this month, down from October’s 51.8. That shows a marginal contraction (50 points = stagnation).
You can follow developments with that with Graeme …
Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey has also reacted to those figures about social care in England from the Nuffield Trust that Patrick Butler has reported on.
Davey said:
These damning figures lay bare the devastating impact of the national insurance hike on social care. The government must immediately do the right thing and exempt care providers from this ill-thought through tax hike.
This hit is creating a perfect storm for a care sector already damaged by the Conservative party’s neglect. Now there is a real danger small care providers will simply not survive.
Ultimately, it’s people in care who will suffer the consequences. The Chancellor must urgently act to help our social care sector before it’s too late.
Patrick Butler
Patrick Butler is the Guardian’s social policy editor
Large parts of England’s adult social care market face collapse as a result of tax and wage rises announced in the budget, with devastating consequences for vulnerable and older people who rely on care services, a leading thinktank has warned.
The Nuffield Trust said that while the government has consistently spoken of its long term ambition to reform the social care sector, there may be “little of it left” to reform unless it takes urgent action to stabilise the care market financially.
The care sector faced an extra £2.8bn cost burden from next April, the trust estimated, adding most care providers will struggle to shoulder their share of the bill, and at least £1bn extra was needed to keep the market afloat.
Read more of Patrick Butler’s report here: Large parts of adult social care market in England face collapse, thinktank warns
During her interview on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme, Yvette Cooper stressed that greater international cooperational was needed to tackle people smugglers.
She said what was being seen was “the complex network of criminal gangs operating right across Europe.”
She continued:
That is why we have set out an approach with new border security commands, with also a big increase in international cooperation and the work that we are doing with other countries. I think that is immensely important.
She argued that after a large increase in Channel crossings in the first half of the year under Rishi Sunak’s Conservative government, “that has stabilised now” and “is still down compared to two years ago, 2022.”
Of the crossings, she said they are “really dangerous” and “deeply damaging,” continuing:
It undermines border security, puts lives at risk, and that’s why we’ve been so clear about needing to take action against these criminal gangs, but also to work with other countries right across Europe on the issues that countries are facing.
Co-leader of the Green party of England and Wales, Adrian Ramsay, has been critical of the rise in energy bills. He said:
This energy price cap news will fuel winter fears for millions, including those set to lose their winter fuel allowance. We need more than ever to cut energy use and bills with a nationwide home insulation programme.