Tag: News Story

STORY

The Government is expected to set out more detailed proposals to relax bank ring-fencing rules, which were introduced after the 2008 financial crisis to protect high street banking from problems in investment banking. The changes were included in the legislative programme for the new parliamentary session.

According to Reuters, citing Sky News, Chancellor Rachel Reeves has approved proposals that would allow Britain’s largest banks to lend at lower funding costs to organisations aligned with the Government’s economic policy objectives. The plans would also allow banks to share more services between ring-fenced and non-ring-fenced parts of their businesses.

Supporters of reform argue that the changes could reduce costs and improve lending to parts of the economy that ministers want to support. Critics are likely to scrutinise whether the new approach maintains sufficient safeguards against financial instability, given that ring-fencing was designed to prevent a repeat of the banking failures seen during the financial crisis.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer is expected to approve an £18 billion increase in defence spending as the Government prepares to publish its delayed defence investment plan. The plan is intended to accelerate the delivery of equipment and technology to frontline forces while also supporting wider economic growth.

The proposal comes as defence policy remains a major part of the Government’s legislative and spending agenda. Starmer has committed to the largest sustained increase in defence spending since the Cold War, with a longer-term aim of reaching 3% of national output in the next Parliament.

Questions remain over how the additional spending would be funded. Chancellor Rachel Reeves has previously indicated that she does not favour tax rises or additional borrowing for defence increases, which could leave ministers looking at other areas of public spending as they seek to meet the commitment.

STORY

Labour’s National Executive Committee has given Andy Burnham permission to seek selection for the Makerfield by-election, opening a possible route back to Westminster for the Greater Manchester Mayor. The decision follows Josh Simons’s move to stand aside in the constituency, creating a contest that is already being watched as a significant test of Labour’s direction.

Burnham has not been formally confirmed as Labour’s candidate, but the NEC decision removes a major procedural obstacle. If he is selected and wins the seat, he would return to Parliament after nearly a decade as mayor and could become a central figure in any future contest over the Labour leadership.

The by-election is expected to be closely fought, with Reform UK preparing to campaign strongly in an area where Labour has long held parliamentary representation but has recently lost ground. The contest will therefore be seen not only as a local election, but as a measure of Labour’s ability to recover support after poor results in the recent local and devolved elections.

STORY

Louise de Sousa has been appointed as His Majesty’s Ambassador to the Republic of Colombia, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office has announced. She will succeed George Hodgson, who is transferring to another Diplomatic Service appointment. De Sousa is due to take up the role in August 2026.

De Sousa is currently serving as His Majesty’s Ambassador in Santiago, a post she has held since 2021. She previously served as Her Majesty’s Ambassador in Tunis from 2016 to 2020.

Her earlier diplomatic career included senior roles in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, including Head of EU Mediterranean Department and Head of Human Rights and Democracy Department. She has also served overseas in Nairobi, Maputo and Brasilia

STORY

James Murray has been appointed Secretary of State for Health and Social Care following the resignation of Wes Streeting from the Government. Downing Street said the King had approved Murray’s appointment as part of a small ministerial reshuffle announced on 14 May. Streeting, who had served as Health Secretary, has left the Government after saying he had lost confidence in Sir Keir Starmer’s leadership.

Murray takes over one of the most politically sensitive jobs in Government, with the NHS still central to Labour’s claim that it can deliver change in office. His appointment comes shortly after the Government pointed to improvements in waiting lists, ambulance response times and NHS productivity, figures that both Starmer and Streeting had cited as evidence of progress before Streeting’s departure.

The new Health Secretary will inherit a demanding policy agenda, including the Government’s 10 Year Health Plan, reforms to social care, the National Cancer Plan and further work on mental health, maternity care and life sciences. Starmer said in his reply to Streeting that those programmes were part of the difference a Labour Government was making, but the change at the top of the department creates immediate pressure for Murray to show continuity.

STORY

Labour MP Josh Simons has announced he will stand down from Parliament to allow Andy Burnham to contest a by-election in Makerfield, giving the Greater Manchester mayor a potential route back to Westminster during Labour’s leadership crisis.

Simons, who was elected as MP for Makerfield in 2024, said he was standing aside so Burnham could “return to his home” and seek election to Parliament. Burnham, who currently serves as mayor of Greater Manchester, has confirmed he will ask Labour’s National Executive Committee for permission to stand as the party’s candidate in the by-election.

The move is politically significant because Burnham cannot stand for the Labour leadership unless he is an MP. He has been widely discussed as a possible successor to Sir Keir Starmer, whose position has come under intense pressure after Labour’s poor local election results and a series of ministerial resignations.

Makerfield is not without risk for Labour. Simons won the seat in 2024 with a majority of 5,399 over Reform UK, and Nigel Farage has said Reform would put major resources into the contest. A Burnham victory would strengthen his claim to be a national Labour figure again, while a narrow result or defeat would be a damaging blow to his leadership prospects.

STORY

Wes Streeting has resigned as Health Secretary after saying he has lost confidence in Sir Keir Starmer’s leadership and believes the Prime Minister cannot lead Labour into the next general election.

In his resignation letter, Streeting said he was proud of his record at the Department of Health and Social Care, pointing to a fall of 110,000 in waiting lists in March, improved ambulance and A&E performance, the recruitment of 2,000 more GPs and increased public satisfaction with the NHS. He said those achievements would normally be strong reasons to remain in post, but that it would be “dishonourable and unprincipled” to do so after losing confidence in Starmer.

Streeting said Labour’s election defeats across England, Scotland and Wales were unprecedented in both scale and consequence. He warned that nationalist parties were now in power across the UK and said Reform UK represented a threat both to the integrity of the United Kingdom and to the values Labour should defend.

He blamed the Government’s unpopularity on a series of policy and political mistakes, including the decision to cut the winter fuel allowance and the Prime Minister’s “island of strangers” speech. Streeting said these had left voters unclear about who Labour was and what it stood for.

Although he praised Starmer for leading Labour to victory in 2024 and for showing “courage and statesmanship” on the world stage, he said the Government now lacked vision and direction. Streeting called for a broad leadership contest based on ideas rather than personalities or factionalism, saying Labour needed the “best possible field of candidates” to decide what came next.

STORY

The UK economy grew unexpectedly in March, delivering a boost for Rachel Reeves as the Chancellor argued that the Government’s economic plan was beginning to work. Official figures showed GDP rose by 0.3% in March, defying forecasts of a 0.2% contraction. The stronger-than-expected monthly figure helped the economy grow by 0.6% across the first quarter of 2026, up from 0.2% in the final quarter of 2025.

The growth was driven largely by the services sector, with computer programming and advertising among the areas performing strongly. Construction also grew in March, while production fell slightly. Across the quarter, services output rose by 0.8%, construction by 0.4% and production by 0.2%.

The figures are politically important for Reeves, who said they showed ministers had the “right economic plan” and warned against putting economic stability at risk during Labour’s leadership turmoil. She argued that a leadership contest could create further uncertainty at a time when the economy was showing signs of recovery.

STORY

Wes Streeting has resigned from his role as the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care saying that it is clear that Keir Starmer “will not lead the Labour Party into the next election”.

STORY

Angela Rayner has said Sir Keir Starmer should reflect on whether he should stand aside, adding to the pressure on the Prime Minister as Labour continues to struggle with the fallout from poor local election results.

The former deputy prime minister stopped short of launching a leadership challenge herself, but said Starmer should “reflect” on his position and on whether he remained the right person to lead the party. Her intervention is significant because she remains one of Labour’s best-known figures and has strong support across parts of the party and trade union movement.

Rayner’s comments came after she was cleared by HMRC of deliberate wrongdoing or carelessness over her tax affairs. The investigation had followed questions about unpaid stamp duty, which she has since paid, and had been seen as a major obstacle to any return to frontline Labour politics.

She also ruled out doing a deal with Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham, saying she was “not doing deals or anything like that”. However, her remarks will intensify speculation about who could succeed Starmer if he is forced into a leadership contest, with Wes Streeting, Burnham, Ed Miliband and others all discussed as possible candidates.