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JD Vance says Trump ‘pushing forward’ with Golden Dome as he addresses Air Force Academy – US politics live | US politics
Support for the military is why Trump ‘is insistent on increasing defense budget to $1.5tn’, says JD Vance
Vance also brought up Trump’s golden dome during his speech.
You should expect some things out of your civilian leadership, out of the president, the Vice president, the Secretary of war. This is why we’ve pushed forward with Agenda 47 and the Golden Dome, and any number of new and advanced technologies. It’s why the president has made improving military quality of life such a central focus, why he’s insistent on increasing the defense budget to $1.5 trillion, and why he’s proud to support pay raises, new barracks, new hospitals and new schools on base.
Key events
George Chidi
An anti-crime taskforce ordered by Donald Trump on to the streets of Memphis has been accused of targeting community observers with widespread intimidation including “immense force”.
Agents have been “retaliating against, intimidating, and harassing” observers attempting to monitor the federal taskforce’s activity, according to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Tennessee, which alleges that officials have tailed cars, surveilled homes and even “falsely arrested” a community observer.
The ACLU filed a lawsuit this month against Tennessee state and federal officials administering the anti-crime initiative.
Additional declarations filed on Thursday by six community observers detail “cowboy tactics” they say have been used in recent months, from bumper-riding their cars in unmarked vehicles and pretextual traffic stops to an arbitrary arrest.
The taskforce was launched last September by Tennessee’s Republican governor, Bill Lee, following an executive order by Trump, who cited the persistently high rate of violent crime in Memphis. Lee promptly activated the national guard and flooded his state’s second-largest city with more than 2,000 state and federal police officers.
Wendy Frew
US vice-president JD Vance on Thursday told reporters that Washington was “not there yet” with Iran but he said the parties were close, adding that the US was in a position where it could substantially set back Tehran’s nuclear program.
Earlier, Iran’s Tasnim news agency, citing a source close to the negotiating team, said the text of a potential memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the two countries had not yet been finalised or confirmed.
Donald Trump has circulated a draft peace agreement for the war with Iran among allies including Israel as both sides try to prevent fresh breaches of the ceasefire escalating out of control and scuppering any deal.
The US vice-president told reportersthere were a couple of sticking points in talks with Tehran about its enriched uranium stockpile and the question of enrichment.
“It’s hard to say exactly when or if the president is going to sign the MOU. We’re going back and forth on a couple of language points,” Vance said.
“I can’t guarantee that we’re going to get there, but right now I feel pretty good about it,” he said.
Anti-ICE protesters, including Afghanistan War veteran, found guilty of conspiracy to ‘impede or injure a federal officer’
A jury in Spokane, Washington found an Afghanistan War veteran and two others guilty of federal conspiracy charges on Thursday for their part in a protest last June outside the city’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility.
The US military veteran, Bajun Mavalwalla, told the Guardian in March that he had refused to plead guilty and was ready to face justice.
The right to protest is “supposed to be fundamentally American”, he said.
“It’s among the rights that when I joined the military, I thought I was joining to protect,” he said. “You can’t do it violently. You can’t do it in a way that harms other people, but you have a right to stand up for what you believe in.”
Mavalwalla, 36, now faces six years in prison, three years supervised release and a $250,000 fine for conspiring to “impede or injure a federal officer” when he joined other demonstrators who sought to block the transport of two Venezuelan immigrants who had been arrested by ICE at a routine immigration hearing in Spokane in June 2025.
Young MC, the Commodores, C+C Music Factory and Milli Vanilli follow Morris Day in saying they will not play in Trump’s Freedom 250 bash
At least five of the nine featured musical acts recruited to play on the National Mall in Washington DC this summer, in a concert series planned by the Trump administration to mark the nation’s 250th anniversary, have dropped out of the concert series, just one day after the lineup was announced.
The first to drop out, hours after the announcement, was Morris Day, who called his scheduled participation a baseless “rumor”.
Later on Wednesday, Young MC posted a message that began: “I have informed my agents that I will not be performing at the Freedom 250 event”.
“The artists were never told about any political involvement with the event,” he added, before casting doubt on the claim from the Trump-appointed organizer that the series was nonpartisan.
So far on Thursday, the Commodores, C+C Music Factory and Milli Vanilli have all either dropped out or expressed surprise that they were ever booked.
“The Commodores will not be performing”, the group said in a statement. “Our music has always been our voice and we choose not to publicly affiliate with any single political party.”
Freedom Williams, C + C Music Factory’s lead rapper, said in a video statement apparently recorded in a bathroom that he had been blindsided by texts from friends and fellow celebrities horrified that he was “doing the Trump Freedom show” and “fucking with Trump”.
“I’m like, ‘What? What are you talking about?’” Williams said he replied to people “I’ve know for years, who know I don’t fuck with Trump”.
“I’m God Cipher Divine, I know where I stand. I know who the fuck I am,” he added, before explaining that his agent had not mentioned any connection with Donald Trump when he pitched the show.
After going online to research the series on Wednesday, Williams said, he told his agent he was out.
Williams went on to attack Trump, saying, as a New Yorker, “I know the type of fucking anarchy he creates” and singled out the killing of Renee Good in Minneapolis by an ICE officer. But Williams reserved his most intense anger for Democrats who threatened to cancel him if he did not drop out of the series. He went on to also attack Barack Obama and covid vaccines, before suggesting that he might still change his mind and perform with the “Maga crew” out of spite, even though the event was in honor of “250 years of motherfucking capitalism and death; it’s 250 years of straight murder.”
Milli Vanilli singer Jodie Rocco told the Associated Press that no one had even asked her or her sister Linda Rocco or anyone else in the current group to perform. “My sister and I were shocked to see our name, ‘Milli Vanilli’, as one of the performers”, Rocco wrote to the AP in an email.
The poster for the Freedom 250 series included an image of Milli Vanilli’s former frontman, Fab Morvan, who just lip-synched the band’s hits and has been performing apart from the group.
At least one of the featured performers, Vanilla Ice, said in an Instagram video that he was still in. “I’m super honored to do this concert with everybody”, he said, on the apparent assumption that he will not, in the end, be performing alone. The rapper has performed at multiple New Year’s Eve shows at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago beach club.
Last December, as the deadly immigration crackdown by federal ICE agents ramped up, the two leaders of the effort, Stephen Miller and Kristi Noem, were filmed singing along with the rapper to his hit 1990 “Ice, Ice Baby.”
New Jersey health inspector denied full access to Delaney Hall immigration detention center in Newark, governor says
New Jersey’s governor, Mikie Sherrill, said that state health inspectors were denied full access to the privately run Delaney Hall immigration detention center in Newark, where detainees are staging a hunger and labor strike over health and sanitary conditions, and protesters rallying outside have been tased, pepper-sprayed and detained.
“The New Jersey Department of Health today sought to conduct a health inspection of Delaney Hall, but it was denied full access and was allowed to inspect only a limited part of the facility,” Sherrill, a Democrat elected last year in a landslide said.
“As I’ve said repeatedly, refusing to provide full access raises serious questions about what ICE is trying to hide from public view,” she continued. “New Jersey believes in the rule of law, will uphold the Constitution, and Delaney Hall should be closed down. I am calling for ICE to immediately de-escalate the situation as I continue working to keep New Jersey residents safe.”
The Department of Homeland Security tried to push back on reports, like one this week from our Guardian colleagues José Olivares and Julius Constantine Motal, that document complaints from 300-400 Delaney Hall strikers over inedible food containing worms, a lack of air conditioning and proper ventilation, a persistent flu and other viruses spreading throughout the facility, delayed medical care and lags in their immigration cases.
In privately-run ICE detention centers nationwide, detainees perform cooking, cleaning and laundry work, getting paid as little as $1 an hour.
In response to reports about harsh conditions at the center, Markwayne Mullin, the DHS secretary, recorded a social media video in which he scoffed at the concerns of Democratic elected officials, including the governor and senator Andy Kim, who was pepper-sprayed by masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) personnel outside the facility this week.
In the video, Mullin claimed that the detentions were necessary because of the alleged violent crimes committed by a list of eight foreign nationals the department has arrested “recently”.
The secretary appeared to have some trouble making it through his prepared text in the video, however. There were 21 edits in the first 35 seconds of the published video, to cover apparent flubs in delivery, and Mullin so badly mispronounced the name of one country he said a detained man came from, “Wallamala”, that it was only possible to parse his meaning by consulting the on-screen text, which read: Guatemala.
Hakeem Jeffries, the top US House Democrat, has said a $250 bill with the president’s portrait is a “hard no,” on a post on X. He said:
Get over yourself. The upcoming July 4th anniversary is not about a wannabe King. It’s about celebrating the American journey.
Here’s a recap of the day so far:
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Trump shared a draft Iran peace deal with Israel and other allies. Trump circulated a draft peace agreement for his war with Iran among allies including Israel, as both sides try to prevent fresh breaches of the ceasefire escalating out of control and scuppering any deal.
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The Bureau of Economic Analysis released the latest Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) price index, excluding food and energy. The PCE price index rose in April at an annual rate of 3.8% – that is an increase from 3.5% in March and 2.8% in February.
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Support for the military is why Trump “is insistent on increasing defense budget to $1.5tn”, says JD Vance during his commencement address at the US Air Force Academy. Vance also brought up Trump’s golden dome and the use of AI in warfare, during his speech.
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Scott Bessent held White House press briefing in which he said “I don’t think there’s anything untoward about having the president’s face on the 250th anniversary bill.”
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Trump refiles $10bn defamation suit against Wall Street Journal over its reporting on his ties to Jeffrey Epstein. A judge threw out an earlier version of the suit over legal deficiencies. The lawsuit is one of several that the president has brought in his personal capacity against news organizations.
Political appointees at the Treasury Department told staff at the agency’s Bureau of Engraving and Printing to prepare prototypes of the $250 bill with the president’s portrait, according to current and former employees of the Department, the Washington Post reported Thursday.
At a press briefing Thursday afternoon, Treasure Secretary Scott Bessent said legislation would have to be passed by the Senate, to produce the bill because “no living person can be on US currency,” according to law.
If the proposed legislation is passed, this would be the first appearance of a living person on a US currency in over 150 years.
Bessent said the decision with the $250 bill is not up to the president or the Treasury Department, in fact, “it’s all up on Capitol Hill.”
The Department does “prepare for everything if it gets passed,” he said.
Meanwhile, the US Mint said that Trump’s gold coins won’t be ready before celebrations of the 250th anniversary begin, The Hill reported. The Mint is still designing the coin, and there is no official sell date yet.
The AI executive order that Trump almost signed last week called for AI companies to voluntarily consult with the US government regarding their latest models, reported Politico Thursday.
Companies would allow the federal government to preview the models before they are launched.
Since the delay in signing the order, three camps have formed in the White House about how to regulate AI.
The first favors less regulations to help the industry compete with China – this includes AI leader David Sacks. It was Sacks who urged the president to delay the order last week.
The second camp want there to be more barriers to Mythos-type models – they are concerned that the technology could be used by China. This camp includes Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and his undersecretary Emil Michael.
The third camp including chief of staff Susie Wiles and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent are standing in the middle ground, they want the AI companies to voluntarily provide the government a glance at their new models, according to the Politico’s reporting.
When asked about California governor Gavin Newsom’s 100% tax on money from Trump’s anti-weaponization fund, Bessent said: “There’s no cure for stupid.”
That ended this week’s press briefing.
On sanctions on Russia, Bessent said that Biden’s sanctions on the country were “mild” and that “no one has done more sanctions that the Trump administration on Russian oil.”
‘I don’t think there’s anything untoward about having the president’s face on the 250th anniversary bill,’ says Scott Bessent
When asked for a third time about Trump’s face on the $250 bill, Bessent said “we prepare for everything if it gets passed,” but added that the decision is up to House and Senate, not the treasury department. He added:
I don’t think that there’s anything untoward about having the President of the United States’ face on the 250th anniversary bill.
When asked about an update on an investigation about who is funding Antifa, Bessent said significant progress has been made and there’s going to be a lot to report in the coming weeks and months.
On sanctions on the Cuban government, Bessent said the answer lies with the Cuban government.
That’s going to be up to the Cuban government. They can go up, they can go down. We tried to get humanitarian aid in and the regime rejected because they wanted to go through their corrupt system, so they could go up, they could go down.
On the skirmishes and ceasefire violation that have been ongoing this week, Bessent said “President Trump always prefers a peace deal, so everything we have done thus far has been defensive, and at present that is what we will continue doing.”
He said: “We can’t talk about reconstruction in Iran until we reach a peace deal.”
On rising oil prices, Bessent said these are short-term challenges and oil prices have already come down “substantially.”
Bessent said the Trump administration inherited “the worst budget deficit in history, when we were not in a recession or not at war”. He said it was at 6.7% and this administration brought that down to about 5.5% or 5.4% this year.
On the peace deal with Iran, Bessent said “it’s always a mistake to get out ahead of the president, so it is all going to be the president’s decision.” He said as he understand there could be no deal without Iran giving up its highly enriched uranium and nuclear program, and that is what the president is working towards.
UK News
PM accuses Farage of exploiting Nowak case to sow ‘division’ and denies ‘two-tier policing’ claim
The incident, which is being investigated by the policing watchdog, prompted a wave of political reaction on Monday, including a video clip filmed by Farage in which he said the police response was evidence of “two-tier Britain,” and called for an end to “anti-white prejudice”.
UK News
Farage exploiting Nowak’s murder against wishes of his family, says Starmer – UK politics live | Politics
Starmer condemns Farage at PMQs, condemning his ‘rage’ response to Nowak murder as ‘unforgivable’ snub to victim’s family
Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, also asked about the Nowak murder.
He said:
Following the horrendous circumstances of Henry Nowak’s death, can I urge the prime minister to consider this?
It is now clear to growing millions in this country that we are living under two tier policing.
The instructions that are given to police officers from police bosses are clear and written down in ink. It says you must treat different ethnic groups in different ways.
Farage suggested that was behind “the upset and the anger at the circumstances of his death, the anger that you saw spilling out in Southampton last night”.
Some MPs jeered at Farage, saying he should condemn the violence.
Farage went on:
If the public lose trust in being treated fairly by the police, can he take some action to end this divisive practice of two-tier policing and make sure that all British citizens are treated the same?
Starmer said: “I don’t believe there’s two-tier policing in this country.”
And he said that he was “really shocked” by Farage’s approach. He said Farage pretended to respect Nowak’s family. But he was acting like this.
Starmer went on:
The grieving family have asked us not to respond in the way that the leader of Reform has responded. They’ve asked us not to. They have lost their son in the most appalling circumstance. They make a simple plea of us as human beings to please not exploit that.
That is their plea to us. We all need to reflect on those words of Henry’s father.
My response – and the response of others, to be fair – has [been focused] on the lessons to be learned so we can deliver justice.
His response has been to appeal for rage.
That’s his response to a father who’s lost his son and asked for that not to happen.
Exploiting this tragedy to create grievance and division would be wrong in any circumstances, but to do it when the family are expressly saying please don’t is unforgivable. It shows who he is.
Key events
Ben Habib winds up his Advance UK party to create more space for Restore Britain to take on Reform UK
Ben Quinn
Ben Quinn is a Guardian political correspondent.
Advance UK, the hard-right outfit set up by former Reform UK deputy leader Ben Habib, has announced it is stepping aside to make way for Rupert Lowe’s Restore Britain to become the main force trying to emerge as a rival to Nigel Farage’s party.
Habib used a video message on X to announced that Advance UK would be de-registering as a political party and was “taking a step back” to prevent “confusion” on the party of voters looking for a right-wing alternative to Reform.
Advance UK has a few dozen councillors around England, mainly those who have defected from Reform and other places, while the far-right activist known as Tommy Robinson has identified himself as a supporter in the past.
The move now potentially opens up the potential for Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, to team up with Restore Britain, which was set up by the former Reform MP Rupert Lowe.
Lowe used X to praise Habib’s announcement, adding that his one-time Reform UK colleague and the Advance UK membership would be welcome in Restore Britain, but he added that it was a decision for them to make.
PMQs – snap verdict
In terms of the exchanges between the PM and the leader of the opposition, that was not quite a consensus PMQs. Kemi Badenoch asked about welfare, taunted the PM over his record, and came out with an OK jibe about Starmer being a “caretaker”. But it was all quite gentle, and Badenoch did not really score any hits. Her key decision was not politicise the central news of the day. In fact, Starmer even commended her for her stance on the Henry Nowak murder. (See 12.15pm – did he know in advance she was going to lead on welfare?) Badenoch’s choice of subject matter seems to have come as a disappointment to GB News (aka Reform UK TV), but it meant the Starmer/Badenoch exchanges felt more mature and sensible than they normally do.
One consequence of that was that the most important confrontation of the session came when Nigel Farage asked a question, and Starmer responded. (See 12.46pm.) In PMQs terms, this was a resounding win; Farage was knocked out of the park. But not because Starmer was particularly aggressive, or funny, or because he blindsided Farage with a clever argument; it was a victory of tone. Starmer got it right, and Farage got it wrong. (Unless you are a GB News viewer, perhaps.)
It is hard to imagine that Badenoch is particularly comfortable with being seen as constructive and non-partisan in her dealings with Starmer (particularly if, in doing so, she helped him grind down Farage). This is definitely not her default mode. No doubt normal service will resume next week.
Calvin Bailey (Lab) said that, as chair of the all-party parliamentary group on prostate cancer, he welcomed the news that more black men are being invited in for checks.
He said this was justified because black men have double the risk of getting prostate cancer. But, he said, Reform UK had responded to this news with “divisive weasel words and race baiting”.
Bailey was referring to this social media post from Zia Yusuf, the Reform UK home affairs spokesperson, last night.
On the day the whole political establishment claims we do not live in a two tier country, they announce this.
Note, the NHS makes NO drugs available exclusively to white people.
Starmer said the government was determined to improve cancer care.
Bob Blackman (Con) asked the government to proscribe the IRGC and to take action against Iran-backed charities operating in the UK.
Starmer said proscription-type powers were being introduced for state entities, and he said the government would announce “further steps in coming days”.
Starmer says Reform just offering ‘grievance and division’ in Makerfield byelection
Andrew Rosindell (Ref) asked about Havering, where Reform won the council in the local elections.
That gave Starmer a chance to have a go at the Reform UK candidate in Makerfield, Robert Kenyon. He said:
I have studied the candidate for Makerfield, the Reform candidate, since he brings up election. A self-professed sexist said women who get abortions do it for vanity purposes, encouraged people not to get the Covid vaccine, and said Russia was within its rights to invade Crimea.
Reform have got nothing to offer but grievance and division yet again.
Starmer criticises Farage for past comments opposing taxpayer-funded NHS
Tristan Osborne (Lab) asked Starmer about NHS treatments for memory loss.
He went on:
A very distressing case was recently brought to my attention by a constituent in a village in my constituency, of a man who could not remember his own words, even though he said it on television that the NHS should not be funded through general taxation.
What can we do to ensure my constituents to ecure clarity on future Kent and Medway NHS funding? And what can we do to help the leader of Reform UK [Nigel Farage – the person who claims not to remember previously proposing a different way of funding the NHS].
Starmer replied:
The Reform leader wants everyone to forget that he called for our NHS to be replaced with an insurance based system. You might want to jot it down to jog his memory.
And then he said that if people can pay, they should pay for NHS treatment. So we can help him by jolting his memory here.
You cannot trust Reform with our NHS. The only way to protect it is to vote Labour.
Liz Saville Roberts, the Plaid Cymru leader at Westminster, asked Starmer if he would give more powers to the Senedd.
Starmer said that he had spoken to Rhun ap Iorwerth, the new first minister, and that he would “work constructively, with the first minister and with the government in Wales, because that’s the right thing to do to deliver for Wales”.
Starmer condemns Farage at PMQs, condemning his ‘rage’ response to Nowak murder as ‘unforgivable’ snub to victim’s family
Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, also asked about the Nowak murder.
He said:
Following the horrendous circumstances of Henry Nowak’s death, can I urge the prime minister to consider this?
It is now clear to growing millions in this country that we are living under two tier policing.
The instructions that are given to police officers from police bosses are clear and written down in ink. It says you must treat different ethnic groups in different ways.
Farage suggested that was behind “the upset and the anger at the circumstances of his death, the anger that you saw spilling out in Southampton last night”.
Some MPs jeered at Farage, saying he should condemn the violence.
Farage went on:
If the public lose trust in being treated fairly by the police, can he take some action to end this divisive practice of two-tier policing and make sure that all British citizens are treated the same?
Starmer said: “I don’t believe there’s two-tier policing in this country.”
And he said that he was “really shocked” by Farage’s approach. He said Farage pretended to respect Nowak’s family. But he was acting like this.
Starmer went on:
The grieving family have asked us not to respond in the way that the leader of Reform has responded. They’ve asked us not to. They have lost their son in the most appalling circumstance. They make a simple plea of us as human beings to please not exploit that.
That is their plea to us. We all need to reflect on those words of Henry’s father.
My response – and the response of others, to be fair – has [been focused] on the lessons to be learned so we can deliver justice.
His response has been to appeal for rage.
That’s his response to a father who’s lost his son and asked for that not to happen.
Exploiting this tragedy to create grievance and division would be wrong in any circumstances, but to do it when the family are expressly saying please don’t is unforgivable. It shows who he is.
Noah Law (Lab) asked about the murder of Henry Nowak.
Starmer said he felt sick watching the video of Nowak being arrested.
He went on:
Henry’s father said this we do not want his death to be used to create further division, hatred or tension.
There are the words of a grieving father who’s lost his son.
We do not want his death to be used to create further division, hatred or tension.
I think those words have resonated with people across the country.
We must not allow this tragedy to be hijacked by anyone who seeks to divide us.
His final words seemed designed to set up the next MP to ask a question – Nigel Farage.
With his second question, Davey turned to Labour internal politics. And he delivered a very good joke.
With our armed forces overstretched, Labour now seems to be investing in a new weapon of war – the long-form essay.
It gives another meaning to the phrase drone warfare.
Davey went on:
Tony Blair says the UK should suck up to Donald Trump, kowtow to US tech barons and go slow on Europe.
The prime minister must be grateful for this rare endorsement of his agenda.
Blair also claims that the sensible people aren’t radical and the radical people aren’t sensible.
Is the prime minister concerned that unless he changes course, he will be remembered for being neither radical nor sensible?
Starmer said Davey spoilt what had been a good joke.
And he said he was suprised that Davey was not welcoming the tax cuts for theme parks.
Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, used his first question to ask about Henry Nowak.
The murder of Henry Nowak was an evil crime made much worse by the lies of the killer and the police response. The investigation must uncover all things that went wrong, and all police forces must act on its conclusions.
Outside court, Henry’s father made a powerful plea that his son’s murder should not be used to create further division, but should be used to treat knife crime as a national emergency.
Does the prime minister agree that the victims of knife crime and their families deserve a politics where we come together to solve these problems and not use them as a political football?
Starmer thanked Davey for his approach and said that it was the duty of politicians “to bring people together at a time like this, not seek to divide people”.
Badenoch says Starmer just ‘caretaker’ PM, ‘keeping seat warm’ for Burnham
Badenoch said Labour MPs were cheering for Starmer even though he released their text messages.
He is more than happy to release all their text messages while all of his have disappeared.
Disappearing messages from a disappearing PM.
There is a conservative solution benefits bill down, taxes down, growth up.
Badenoch said that Starmer was now just “a caretaker, keeping the seat warm for the mayor of Manchester”.
Starmer replied:
Forgive me if I don’t take too much notice of the leader of the opposition.
For 14 years they broke our welfare system, lost control of our borders, presided over the biggest fall in living standards on record, broke the economy, prisons, the NHS. I could go on and on.
No wonder she and they are totally irrelevant.
Starmer backs McFadden over his position on welfare reform
Badenoch said McFadden also said that in all meetings with Labour MPs, they wanted to raise taxes to pay benefits. She asks if Starmer will take the advice in Tony Blair’s essay and work with the Tories on welfare reform.
Starmer replied:
They introduced a system that’s broken and they put the bill through the roof. And now they want to give us advice on welfare. No thanks, no thanks.
The question should always be not what benefits people are entitled to, but what help we can give people to change their life.
That’s what the work and pensions secretary was arguing. And he’s right about that.
Referring to revelations in the Mandelson files, Badenoch asked Starmer if he agreed with Pat McFadden, the work and pensions secretary, that the failure of the welfare reform act last year was “the moment he lost his authority”.
Starmer said he was proud of his record.
Despite the war in the Middle East, the OECD forecast UK growth is up and inflation is down.
Net migration, which reached nearly one million under them, and the leader of the opposition was the cheerleader, down by a staggering 82%.
The asylum backlog down by 46%.
We’re delivering the fastest reduction in waiting times in the NHS in the history of the NHS. That’s on top of free school meals, free breakfast clubs and free childcare.
And of course, we’re lifting half a million children out of poverty.
I’m very proud of the work of this Labour government.
Badenoch said the welfare bill went up under the last government because of Covid.
She said Starmer had given up on welfare reform.
On Sunday, the welfare secretary was asked 12 times on national radio if he would make cuts to the benefits bill and 12 times he could not answer. So I will ask the prime minister, is he going to cut the benefits bill?
Starmer said Labour is reforming the system to get young people into work. The Tories left the system broken, he said.
Badenoch said the welfare bill had gone up by £20bn under Labour. She asked why there was no welfare bill in the king’s speech.
Starmer said the government was reforming the welfare system “so it no longer pushes people away from work”.
That’s what we’re doing. They voted against it.
Welfare reform is introducing a right to try, to incentivise people to take up opportunities. That’s what we’re doing. They voted against it.
Welfare reform is providing record funding on apprenticeships. That’s what we’re doing. Apprenticeship starts fell by 40% on their watch.
Under the Tories, welfare spending soared, Starmer said.
Starmer thanks Badenoch for ‘tone’ she has taken in relation to Nowak tragedy
Kemi Badenoch, after paying tribute to Alan Haselhurst, asked Starmer how much the welfare bill has gone up under Labour.
Starmer started by thanking Badenoch for her “approach and tone” in relation to the Henry Nowak tragedy.
On welfare, he said
We inherited a broken system from the party opposite. and we are now improving that system, delivering a youth guarantee, rolling out 300,000 work experience placements.
He said the benefits bill went up under the Tories – when the welfare secretary was Mel Stride, now shadow chancellor.
Roz Savage (Lib Dem) asked Starmer to impose a cap on political donations.
Starmer said the government has capped donations. He went on:
But the $5 million question, £5m question still remains. Why is the leader of Reform dodging questions about his donations? And why did he keep it secret in the first place?
Almost 100 properties in a former Clackmannanshire mining village were evacuated last week after reports of “unsafe structures”.
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PM accuses Farage of exploiting Nowak case to sow ‘division’ and denies ‘two-tier policing’ claim
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