Southport killer will be treated as terrorist in jail because he pleaded guilty to Terrorist Act offence, MPs told
The Labour MP Mike Tapp said that the Southport attacker was a terrorist, because he was charged under the Terrorism Act, but the attack was not labelled as as terrorist attack because of the lack of ideologicial motive. He said the legal framework should change.
Cooper agreed. She said powers should be in place to deal with “acts intended to terrorise”, even if there were no ideological component.
But she said the attacker would be treated as a terrorist offender in jail because he was charged under the Terrorism Act.
Key events
Jones says the Passport Office is a good example of how technology can deliver better services. The service was so poor that it just “fell over and everyone had to fix it quickly”. Now it is very effective, he says.
Jones says government will carry out spending reviews every two years
Jones says the government will be holding multi-year spending reviews every two years “because we don’t want to end up in a position like we inherited, where there were just no spending plans in place”.
And he says in the years when no spending review is taking place, the government will examine problem areas for spending.
In the gap between those two-year spending reviews, we will collectively agree at cabinet which areas of spending are causing our colleagues the biggest grief, not just within the department, but between departments, and we’ll use the resources we have outside the spending review work … to really get into the detail about what are the issues, how do we fix them, and how do we improve outcomes for people
Darren Jones says Treasury using AI to help with spending review
At the IfG Darren Jones is now taking questions.
He says the Treasury will be using AI for its spending review.
In the past officials needed to analyse departmental spending using spreadsheets, he says. But he says this time it will be automated.
We’re going to get all of this information from across the whole of government. And because we can use large language models and AI tools now that are just available off the shelf, unlike in the past where Treasury Excel spreadsheets have been character-limited, restricting permanent secretaries across every department, I actually want as much information as possible, because we can use [AI to] pull out the information across departments and across programmes much more effectively now than we can in the past.
In his speech Jones has just mentioned the importance of growth, and he said announcements from the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology today were valuable in this regard.
The department says:
Technology will be better used to improve public services and AI will make the civil service more efficient to turbocharge the Prime Minister’s Plan for Change, under a shake up that changes how government experiments with, buys and builds new tech.
A new package of AI tools – nicknamed ‘Humphrey’ – will be available to civil servants in an effort to modernise tech and deliver better public services to set the country on course for a decade of national renewal.
This follows a review which found that the government inherited a dire system which over relies on ways of communicating that should be left in the last century – with HMRC taking 100,000 calls a day and DVLA processing 45,000 letters.
But the press release also includes this line – which suggests government spin doctors might be trying just a bit too hard to crowbar “promoting growth” into every government announcement.
It will do away with insensitive and antiquated processes that have been holding this country back for too long. That means scrapping the need for people to queue at the local council to register the death of a loved one, and doing away with the need to post an advert in your local paper if you want to buy a lorry – getting in the way of growth.
Treasury minister Darren Jones says spending review will bring ‘long overdue reckoning with government spending’
Darren Jones, the chief secretary to the Treasury, is currently giving a speech to the Institute for Government. There is a live feed here.
The speech was briefed in advance and Jones has just delivered what was billed as the top line. He said:
We are long overdue a reckoning with government spending, and a realistic appraisal of how we are using taxpayers’ money.
But, just before he started, Jones said he wanted to keep his speech short, because he wanted more time for the Q&A, which he said might be more interesting.
Disciplinary panel confirms Bob Stewart to permanently lose his ex-MP’s Commons pass for breaking conduct rules
The former Tory MP Bob Stewart has been stripped of his right to access the parliamentary estate after he lost an appeal against the sanction for his failure to declare his employment by a defence company for two years.
Stewart, the former MP for Beckhenham, will not be able to use his former members’ pass, a privilege all former MPs are given after they stand down, after parliament’s standards commissioner found he had showed a “blatant disregard” in breaching conduct rules was upheld.
His appeal against the committee on standards, which ruled that his privilege should be permanently revoked, was heard by parliament’s independent expert panel.
Stewart had failed to correctly register his employment as a consultant with Ksantex, a defence firm registered in Luxembourg, and owned by Azerbaijan-born French citizen Khagani Bashirov.
He was employed by the company between 2015 and 2017, and paid more than £70,000 which he also did not declare.
In Stewart’s initial defence, he said he registered a role with a company he called VES Consultancy, which was part of “the same group of companies” as Ksantex.
But after examining the commissioner’s findings, the standard’s committee said in December that “for a senior member to commit several breaches, spanning three codes of conduct and a period of 14 years, shows a blatant disregard for the rules”.
Stewart is also said to have failed to “cooperate at all times” with the commissioner’s inquiry which in turn delayed the investigation.
The panel concluded:
The retention of a pass giving access to the parliamentary estate following the end of a career as a member of the House is a significant privilege.
We have no doubt that members of the public, apprised of the serious and longstanding breaches of the codes by Col Stewart, would find it incomprehensible if a lesser sanction than the permanent removal of the pass had been imposed.
Waheed Alli updates political cabinet as he revives fundraising role for Labour ahead of local elections
Pippa Crerar
Labour donor Waheed Alli updated the cabinet on the party’s fundraising plans ahead of the May local elections today, his first time back at the centre of power since the controversy over his own donations, the Guardian can reveal.
The Labour peer, who was appointed the party’s general election fundraising chief, has remained in the role despite a damaging row last year over tens of thousands of pounds of gifts he gave to Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner.
Sources said that Alli, who is worth an estimated £200m, told the gathering of the political cabinet in No 10 that the party was “reinvigorating” fundraising, with the coffers still empty even though it was six months since the general election.
They clarified that Lord Alli had not been given a Downing Street pass, but was invited along with Labour’s new general secretary, Hollie Ridley, to give a presentation on party organisation and resourcing.
The Labour donor became embroiled in the row over ‘freebies’ last year after it emerged that he had been given a temporary Downing Street pass, prompting accusations of cronyism given he had donated to the party and the prime minister but did not hold an official government role.
Alli’s allies said that he had never asked for anything in return for his support, and had no ambitions of his own to hold political office. His appearance at political cabinet suggests that No 10 believes the row has blown over sufficiently for him to take on a more prominent role.
One cabinet minister said: “Waheed knows all the people so it makes sense for him to take on the fundraising role again.” Labour declared more donations than all other parties combined during the general election campaign, taking more than £9.5m in total.
Labour insiders said they were “grateful” for Alli’s continued support for party fundraising, with county elections in England just weeks away in which Reform UK is expected to perform well, at the expense of the Tories. The contests in Scotland and Wales next year are regarded internally as the first major electoral test for the prime minister.
Defending Alli’s role, party sources argued that there would be zero public appetite for the alternative to raising funds through donations from wealthy individuals, which would be for the taxpayer to fund the political system.
A Labour party spokesperson said:
The Labour party’s general secretary, Hollie Ridley, updated the political cabinet on party organisation and resourcing. Waheed Alli also spoke in his fundraising role.
The prime minister thanked them both for the work they were doing to ensure the party was in the best possible place for this year’s elections and beyond.
Benjamin Netanyahu urges Starmer to review ban on some arms sales to Israel following ceasefire
Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, pressed Keir Starmer to review the ban on some arms export licences for his county in a call between the two leaders today.
The Israel government mentioned this in its readout of the call, although the UK govermnent issued a readout in which weapons export licences were not mentioned.
The UK government suspended 30 arms licences for Israel last year because of the risk the weapons could be used in breach of international humanitarian law. Although the move affected less then a tenth of all arms licences for Israel, the decision infuriated the Israeli government – not so much for its practical impact, but because of its reputational impact.
In a statement about the Starmer/Netanyahu call today, the Israeli government said:
Prime minister Netanyahu raised the issue of the weapons export licences to Israel that have been frozen in the UK.
Prime Minister Starmer said that an evaluation of the issue is being carried out.
The UK government readout did not mention this part of the conversation. It said the two leaders discussed the release of hostages, and the need for “the next stages of the ceasefire deal implemented in full”.
At the Downing Street lobby briefing this afternoon, the No 10 spokesperson could not say why the two accounts of the call were different.
On the frozen arms export licences, the spokesperson said:
We’ve been consistent in saying that we keep these things under review. Clearly, the maintenance of that ceasefire is a priority.
Downing Street could also not say whether the ceasefire may lead to a change in the government’s position on the suspended licences.
A public inquiry will help with the “healing process” for the community in Southport, the council leader has said. Marion Atkinson, leader of Sefton council, said:
The community is still hurting and shocked by what happened last summer but there is a feeling of relief that the guilty plea entered this week means that those affected don’t have to relive what happened in a public trial.
We welcome the government’s announcement of a public inquiry – it’s important that we understand the events that led to this tragedy and we hope this will help as part of the healing process for our community and that lessons can be learned.
Almost two-thirds of voters do not believe this government will be effective at improving their lives, even after four years, a new poll suggests.
According to Deltapoll, only 28% of people think the government will be effective at “improving the lives of people like you” after four years. Some 62% of people say it won’t be effective.
This is just one of several gloomy findings for the government in the poll, commissioned by the Institute for Government. The IfG is having its annual conferecen today and Hannah White, its director, has summed up the findings in a blog on the challenges facing the government. She says:
Only just over a fifth of people think that this government is being effective at improving their lives (22%) compared to 28% who now think the last Conservative government, which voters have just ejected, was effective. And, despite Labour’s efforts to highlight the long-term nature of their aspirations – the need for a decade of renewal – the public is only slightly more optimistic about the government being effective at improving their lives after four years (28%), while less than a quarter (23%) believe the size of economy will grow before the next election. Labour may have overperformed in landing its narrative about its difficult fiscal inheritance – and alongside anaemic growth figures and sticky inflation, the government seems to have convinced key economic actors that the outlook as well as the inheritance is poor.
Heathrow third runway plan labelled ‘desperate’ amid Labour divisions
A plan for Rachel Reeves to back a third runway at Heathrow and an expansion of Gatwick and Luton airports has been labelled “desperate”, as the chancellor faces opposition from within Labour, Helena Horton and Gwyn Topham report.
Here is the text of Yvette Cooper’s statement to MPs on the Southport killings inquiry.
Rupert Lowe (Reform) said the agencies that failed in this case had “blood on their hands”. And he called for a review of all the cases referred to Prevent that have been dropped.
Cooper said that David Anderson is going to review Prevent. (See 9.38am.) As independent Prevent commissioner, he will be able to review cases, she said.
Ben Obese-Jecty (Con) asked Cooper when she and the PM were told that the Southport killer was in possession of ricin and an al-Qaide training manual.
Cooper said the Home Office was told about the ricin in August, and about the manual in October. She said the official opposition was also briefed. But operational matters were for the police, she said.
And she said it was “really sad” that so many opposition MPs were asking about when minsters found out information when they knew its disclosure was covered by the Contempt of Court Act. She said they should instead by focusing on how the attack was allowed to happen.
Richard Tice, the Reform UK deputy leader, asked Cooper if she agreed with Jonathan Hall, the independent reviewer on terrorist legislation (see 1.50pm), on the need to revise sub judice rules, so that more information can be released ahead of trial in cases like this.
His question was notably more restrained than his Sky News comments earlier. (See 11.40am.)
Cooper said the Law Commission is reviewing the Contempt of Court Act. But, in the meantime, MPs should follow the law, she said.
Shockat Adam, the independent MP for Leicester South, asked Cooper in the Commons if she agreed that the “obsession with ideology” set out in the Shawcross review of the Prevent programme may have been a reason why the Southport killer was not treated as a threat.
Cooper said the assessment of risk should be the same, regardless of whether ideology is a factor. But the response to that risk might be different depending on whether the person is driven by ideology or not, she said.
Southport killer will be treated as terrorist in jail because he pleaded guilty to Terrorist Act offence, MPs told
The Labour MP Mike Tapp said that the Southport attacker was a terrorist, because he was charged under the Terrorism Act, but the attack was not labelled as as terrorist attack because of the lack of ideologicial motive. He said the legal framework should change.
Cooper agreed. She said powers should be in place to deal with “acts intended to terrorise”, even if there were no ideological component.
But she said the attacker would be treated as a terrorist offender in jail because he was charged under the Terrorism Act.
The Reform MP Lee Anderson said Cooper told the Commons that 162 people were referred to Prevent last year over an interest in school massacres.
Cooper said people were referred to Prevent before they have committed a crime. Prevent is meant to stop them going that far, she said. But she said her concern was powers were not strong enough to stop these people committing crimes. She said that is why she wanted to introduce youth diversion orders, to give the police more powers in these cases.
