Kemi Badenoch is set to concede it was a mistake for the Tories to pursue Brexit “without a plan for growth” under Boris Johnson and Theresa May, as she vows not to waste her party’s time in opposition.
The Conservative leader’s admission in a major speech on Thursday will come after new data showed the British economy grew by just 0.1 per cent in November, the month after chancellor Rachel Reeves’s Budget.
While the minimal growth will be of slight relief to the chancellor, after a surprise drop in inflation also helped ease the market turmoil of recent days, the GDP figures were still slightly lower than most economists had expected.
Despite marking a rebound after two months of contraction, the ONS described the economy as “broadly flat” with no growth in the three months to November – with the Institute of Chartered Accountants warning that the “disappointing” figures are “unlikely to ease stagflation concerns”.
And with Donald Trump set to return to the White House next week, business secretary Jonathan Reynolds expressed fears of a tariff war, conceding that the UK is particularly exposed to any resulting economic shocks.
Key Points
- Kemi Badenoch to admit Tories made mistake over Brexit
- UK’s economy grows for first time in three months – but less than expected
- ‘Disappointingly modest’ growth figures ‘unlikely to ease stagflation’ fears
- Minister expresses concern over UK exposure to Trump tariff war
- Breaking: MP Mike Amesbury pleads guilty to assault
Campaigner wins High Court battle over ‘unlawful’ consultation on key disability benefits test
A consultation over plans to reform a key disability benefits test was unlawful, the High Court has ruled.
In autumn 2023, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) announced plans to change the way the work capability assessment (WCA) – the test that deems whether someone with a health condition or disability is fit to work – was scored.
Disability rights campaigner Ellen Clifford brought legal action against the government, arguing that the process did not provide people with sufficient information or time to respond to the proposals.
She alleged that the consultation by the then-Tory government did not properly explain that many people would receive significantly less money under the reforms, and would need to meet more conditions to receive their payments, with a risk of sanctions if they did not meet them.
In a judgment on Thursday, Mr Justice Calver said: “I consider that the claimant has surmounted the substantial hurdle of establishing that the consultation was so unfair as to be unlawful.”
In a statement after the ruling, Ms Clifford said: “I am overjoyed that the court has recognised the importance of properly consulting deaf and disabled people on reforms that would leave many worse off by at least £416.19 per month. This is a life-or-death issue.”
Andy Gregory16 January 2025 12:12
Live: David Lammy speaks as Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal called into question
Andy Gregory16 January 2025 11:50
Use Trump’s ‘craving’ for a UK state visit to secure backing for Ukraine, Starmer told
The UK should only host a state visit with Donald Trump if he “delivers” on support for Ukraine, Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey has claimed.
In a speech in central London on Thursday morning, Sir Ed said the president-elect “craves” a visit, but it should only be granted following a sit-down summit that would examine financial support for Kyiv.
Sir Ed said: “We have something Trump desperately wants: a state visit. The pageantry at Buckingham Palace. A banquet with the King. We all know he craves it, so I say we give it to him, but only if he delivers what we need first for Britain and Europe’s defence and security.”
He said Mr Trump should “sit down with President Zelensky and other European leaders in a summit convened by the UK to agree how we collectively use the hundreds of billions of dollars, pounds and euros of frozen Russian assets to pay for the weapons Ukraine needs to win the war and beat Putin.
“If Trump delivers on that deal, pushing the necessary measures through Congress, then, and only then, do we roll out the red carpet for a state visit.”
Andy Gregory16 January 2025 11:30
Lib Dems call for new customs union deal with EU
Sir Ed Davey has urged the government to seek a new deal with the EU based around a new customs union.
In his first major speech of the year, the Lib Dem leader said: “The UK must be far more positive, far more ambitious, and act with far more urgency. That is why today I’m calling on the government to negotiate, this year, a brand new deal with the EU.
“Not just tinkering around the edges of the botched deal the Conservatives signed a few years ago. But negotiating a better deal for Britain that has at its heart a new UK-EU customs union, to come into force by 2030 at the latest.”
Andy Gregory16 January 2025 11:20
Just 11 per cent of voters expect economy to improve this year, YouGov finds
Just over one in 10 voters expect the UK economy to improve over the next 12 months, new YouGov polling suggests, in a gloomy assessment of Sir Keir Starmer’s vows to “relentlessly” pursue growth.
Conversely, 63 per cent of those surveyed this week expect the economy to deteriorate over the next year, with 17 per cent expecting the situation to remain roughly unchanged.
According to YouGov: “This is a clear increase in negativity, with just 51 per cent having expected the economy to get worse over the next year when we asked following the 2024 October Budget. Indeed, this is the highest level of economic pessimism since late 2022.”
Similarly, 52 per cent believe Rachel Reeves is doing a bad job as chancellor. Just 13 per cent believe she is doing a good job, the fewest Britons saying so of a chancellor since Kwasi Kwarteng in September 2022, the month in which his disastrous mini-Budget was unveiled.
Andy Gregory16 January 2025 11:14
Breaking: MP Mike Amesbury pleads guilty to assault over street attack
MP Mike Amesbury has pleaded guilty to assaulting a man in a street bust-up last year.
The Runcorn and Helsby MP admitted attacking the 45-year-old Paul Fellows in Main Street in Frodsham, Cheshire, when he appeared at Chester Magistrates Court on Thursday morning. The incident happened on 26 October at 2.48am.
Amesbury was suspended from the Labour Party after footage emerged which appeared to show him punching a man. He now sits in Parliament as an Independent.
Bryony Gooch reports:
MP Mike Amesbury pleads guilty to assault over street attack
Mike Amesbury was suspended from the Labour Party after footage emerged which appeared to show him punching a man
Andy Gregory16 January 2025 10:47
Current economic woes ‘do not seem UK-specific’, hedge fund analysts say
The recent turmoil in the UK government bond markets does not seem to be UK specific, hedge fund analysts have suggested.
Comparing the current situation with the Liz Truss Budget debacle, when UK gilt yields soared above US Treasury yields, the Man Institute said, as per the FT: “In contrast, the current episode doesn’t seem UK-specific at all – gilt and Treasury yields are largely moving in tandem. So, can we really blame Rachel Reeves?
“Our lesson here is to be careful of what the media are saying.”
Andy Gregory16 January 2025 10:36
What have Tories and Lib Dems said about the latest GDP figures?
Responding to the latest figures showing the economy grew just 0.1 per cent in November, Tory shadow chancellor Mel Stride said: “Labour inherited the fastest-growing economy in the G7, but this is the third month in a row of disappointing growth figures.
“The chancellor seems content with burying her head in the sand, but this is a crisis made in Downing Street. We need an urgent change of course.”
Lib Dem Treasury spokesperson Daisy Cooper said: “The chancellor has put the handbrake on the economy with her misguided jobs tax and the consequence is this pitiful rate of growth. Every month this persists means less money in struggling families’ pockets and public services without the funding they need.
“After years of the Conservatives’ economic vandalism, the public was crying out for change but this new government is falling well short of fixing this mess.
“Rachel Reeves needs to see sense and scrap her foolish jobs tax, and pursue a real strategy for growth like fixing our broken trade relationship with our European partners and replacing the broken business rates system.”
Andy Gregory16 January 2025 10:26
Kemi Badenoch ‘certainly didn’t like the numbers’ on Brexit hit to economy, former MP recalls
A former SNP MP has suggested that today’s admission that the Tories were mistaken to pursue Brexit without a plan for growth was not the first time Kemi Badenoch displayed scepticism over the economic case for leaving the EU.
Angus Brendan MacNeil – who was among the SNP’s longest-serving MPs and chaired the Commons international trade committee for more than six years – said the now-Tory leader “certainly didn’t like the numbers” on Brexit when they were discussed several years ago.
Andy Gregory16 January 2025 10:18
Rachel Reeves warned not to target farmers again as she searches for spending cuts
Rachel Reeves has been warned that farmers should not be “punished” further as she searches for spending cuts following her inheritance tax raid in the Budget.
The Chancellor has already prompted fury in the countryside with the ‘farming tax’ hike, which critics warn could sound the death knell for family firms in England.
Now fears have been raised that they could be hit by a double whammy if Ms Reeves makes cuts to the Environment Land Management (Elm) scheme.
Our Whitehall editor Kate Devlin reports:
Reeves warned not to target farmers again as she searches for spending cuts
Labour told not to take money from flood defences and farm schemes in wake of inheritance tax raid in the Budget
Andy Gregory16 January 2025 09:57Newer1 / 3Older