Yvette Cooper on ‘resignation watch’ amid spending review row with Rachel Reeves
Yvette Cooper is said to be at loggerheads with Rachel Reeves and the Treasury over spending, with Westminster insiders worried she might quit.
The Home Secretary is understood to have issued a warning to the Chancellor that election promises made by Labour over policing were at risk.
Reeves is said to have suddenly brought talks with Cooper to a close, while one senior Home Office official reportedly stopped taking calls from the Treasury.
One senior Whitehall figure told The Telegraph that talks between Cooper and No 11 had been so tense that aides feared she could resign.
The Prime Minister had to step in and bring an end to the standoff between the two.
A Downing Street spokesman said last night the Home Secretary had agreed to accept the Treasury offer, which includes a real-terms increase in policing budgets.
An ally of Cooper denied that she might resign, pointing out she had been talking to aides about her diary engagements for the rest of the month earlier in the day.
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Labour ‘must change course’ over jobless figures – ‘Pig’s ear of a jobs tax’
Deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats Daisy Cooper
Parliament.tv
Labour must “change their course” and “go for growth” ahead of the spending review, according to the Liberal Democrats deputy leader, Daisy Cooper.
Reacting to the news UK unemployment has risen to 4.6 per cent, Cooper said: “These figures could not be a clearer signal to the Chancellor ahead of the spending review that the Government must change course.
“The Chancellor’s pig’s ear of a jobs tax is crushing the growth potential of our high streets and small businesses, pushing people out of work, and ramping up the benefits bill.
“This week, instead of pursuing another round of devastating departmental cuts, the Government needs to take the handbrake off our economy and go for growth.”
Andrew Griffith slams Reeves u-turn – ‘She’s made a series of catastrophic decisions’
Shadow Secretary of State for Business and Trade Andrew Griffith has slammed Rachel Reeves’ u-turn, saying the government has made a “series of catastrophic decisions.”
Griffith told GB News this morning that yesterday’s announcement “just shows what a bad decision it was.”
He added that: “She’s made the economy far worse.”
WATCH: Nigel Farage accused of ‘lecturing Wales’ as First Minister tears into plan to reopen blast furnaces
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has been accused of “lecturing Wales on poverty” by First Minister Eluned Morgan, as she hit out at plans to “reindustrialise” the country.
Speaking in Port Talbot, Farage outlined his ambition to reopen some blast furnaces, to make Britain more “self-sufficient”.
Addressing Wales, Farage declared: “I’m not saying let’s open all the pits, there are certain types of coal for certain types of uses, for the blast furnaces, we can use here.”
Speaking to GB News following the announcement, Morgan branded the plan “absolute nonsense.”
UK unemployment hits highest level since 2021 in fresh blow to Rachel Reeves
UK unemployment has risen to 4.6 per cent in the three months to April, the highest rate recorded since summer 2021, according to new data from the Office for National Statistics.
The increase, up from 4.5 per cent in the previous quarter, adds fresh pressure on Chancellor Rachel Reeves as concerns grow over a weakening labour market.
While regular pay continued to grow, rising by 5.2 per cent year-on-year, this marked a slowdown compared to previous months.
UK warned ‘increase defence spending or learn Russian’
Mark Rutte and Sir Keir Starmer
PA
Nato’s General Secretary has warned that people in Britain had “better learn to speak Russian” if they are not prepared to increase defence spending to five per cent.
Mark Rutte warned that all Nato countries were “on the eastern flank now” and that Russia could threaten the alliance militarily within three to five years.
He told The Times: “If you do not do this, if you would not go to the five per cent, you could still have the National Health Service, the pension system et cetera, but you had better learn to speak Russian.”