The government has promised to “unleash seismic reforms” to the planning system under major new legislation being published on Tuesday.
Tuesday 11 March 2025 07:10, UK
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Mike Amesbury has announced he will stand down as an MP after he was convicted of punching a man in the street.
A by-election will now be triggered in his seat of Runcorn and Helsby, where constituents will vote to elect a new MP.
Amesbury, who was suspended from the Labour Party, was jailed on 24 February for 10 weeks after he pleaded guilty to assault by beating of 45-year-old Paul Fellows in Main Street, Frodsham, Cheshire, in the early hours of 26 October.
However, following an appeal, his sentence was suspended for two years, so he does not have to serve it in prison.
Amesbury, 55, said in a statement he has decided he “must step down” as an MP, and will do so “in the coming days”.
His resignation will trigger a by-election in his Cheshire seat – the first of Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour government.
Talks on a possible peace for Ukraine will begin today – as defence chiefs gather in France to draw up plans for a “coalition of the willing” to safeguard the country’s security.
All eyes will be on Saudi Arabia as discussions kick off between White House and Ukrainian delegations in the country as part of an intensive week of diplomacy to find a deal to end the war.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer told US President Donald Trump he wanted the talks to have a “positive outcome” that would see military aid and intelligence-sharing resume when the pair spoke on Monday.
The US leader paused the supply of weapons and crucial information for Kyiv’s war effort following his public spat with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Meanwhile, military chiefs from potential members of the so-called “coalition of the willing” will meet in Paris, with French officials indicating around 30 countries could take part.
Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Sir Tony Radakin will attend for the UK before Defence Secretary John Healey meets opposite numbers from France, Germany, Italy and Poland in the French capital on Wednesday.
Sir Keir will lead a call with like-minded allies from the “coalition of the willing” on Saturday.
The call will involve leaders who have expressed an interest in contributing to or supporting a peacekeeping mission to deter Russia’s Vladimir Putin from launching a future attempt to conquer Ukraine if a deal to end the conflict is reached.
By Gurpreet Narwan, business and economics correspondent
Hays, Capita, Petrofac. These are some of Britain’s best known companies and big players in the recruitment industry.
Now, a Sky News investigation has revealed how, over the course of two decades, some of Britain’s biggest recruitment companies were linked to large-scale tax avoidance when placing workers into jobs, including government roles in Whitehall.
Many of these workers, typically agency workers and contractors, were paid by third-party umbrella companies that promised to take care of taxes but were operating tax avoidance schemes.
They worked by paying workers what were technically loans, instead of a salary. This allowed them to circumvent paying income tax.
Often the umbrellas were recommended by recruiters, although there is no suggestion the recruiters knew these third-parties were operating tax avoidance schemes.
It is the latest revelation in a scandal that has caused untold misery for tens of thousands of people, who signed up with umbrella companies and were enrolled in tax avoidance schemes, thinking they were above board.
The government has promised to “unleash seismic reforms” to the planning system under major new legislation being published on Tuesday.
The Planning and Infrastructure Bill is expected to include wide-ranging changes to help deliver on Labour’s promise to build 1.5 million homes and make decisions on 150 major infrastructure projects by the next election in 2029.
Reforms include making the planning process easier, giving communities living near new electricity pylons money off their energy bills and changing the way developers meet environmental obligations.
Deputy Prime Minister and Housing Secretary Angela Rayner said the government would create “the biggest building boom in a generation” by “lifting the bureaucratic burden which has been holding back developments for too long”.
She added: “The Planning and Infrastructure Bill will unleash seismic reforms to help builders get shovels in the ground quicker to build more homes, and the vital infrastructure we need to improve transport links and make Britain a clean energy superpower to protect billpayers.”
Good morning!
Welcome back to the Politics Hub on Tuesday, 11 March.
The government has today promised to “unleash seismic reforms” to the planning system as it published major new legislation.
The Planning and Infrastructure Bill is expected to include wide-ranging reforms, including streamlining the planning process, changing the way developers meet environmental obligations, and giving communities near new electricity pylons money off their energy bills.
Along with recent changes to national planning policy, Labour hopes the legislation will help deliver on its promise to build 1.5 million homes and make decisions on 150 major infrastructure projects by the next election.
Meanwhile, the prime minister will hold his weekly cabinet meeting this morning, gathering members of his top team in Downing Street.
And later on Tuesday, Sir Keir Starmer will host an International Women’s Day reception inside Number 10.
Away from London, defence chiefs from several European countries are gathering in Paris today to discuss a potential peace deal for Ukraine.
French President Emmanuel Macron is expected to address the summit of the “coalition of the willing”, which is being hosted by Admiral Sir Tony Radakin.
We’ll be discussing all of that and more with…
Charlie Maynard, the Liberal Democrat MP for Witney, at 6.40am;
Housing minister Matthew Pennycook at 7.15am;
Shadow science secretary Andrew Griffith at 8.15am.
Follow along for the very latest political news.
That’s all for today from the Politics Hub.
Join us again tomorrow.
Today’s has been dominated by the news that two ships collided off the coast of England in the North Sea.
Heidi Alexander, the transport secretary, has just released a statement as the day draws to a close.
She said: “I am hugely grateful to HM Coastguard, the RNLI, and emergency services who have responded to this incident.
“They were on the scene swiftly, have helped rescue those in immediate danger and I know they will continue to work tirelessly over the coming days.
“My thoughts are with all those involved, especially the family of the missing crew member.
“The Maritime Accident Investigation Branch has begun a preliminary assessment and I am working closely with the MCA as they conduct an assessment of any counter pollution response which may be required over the coming days.”
The family of murdered MP Sir David Amess have long campaigned for a public inquiry into his killing.
Speaking after the home secretary announced one would not take place, his daughter Katie Amess compared the case to the 2023 Nottingham killings and 2024 Southport murders – both of which have seen the government commit to public inquiries after reports identified failings in how the perpetrators were handled by authorities beforehand.
So too did a review into Sir David Amess’s murder.
What did the review find?
The man who killed the Conservative MP was Ali Harbi Ali.
He was a supporter of Islamic State and had become radicalised by the terror group’s propaganda before he attacked Amess at a church hall constituency surgery in Leigh-on-Sea in October 2021.
Ali had previously been referred to the government’s counterterror programme, Prevent, but had been released “too quickly” – a similar conclusion was drawn from a review into Axel Rudakubana, the teenager who murdered three young girls in Southport last year.
Ali’s case had been closed five years before, after just one meeting at a McDonald’s to deal with his interpretation of “haram” (forbidden under Islamic law), as well as texts and calls with an “intervention provider”.
The key points:
The review found most of the failures in Ali’s case would not be repeated today as the guidance and requirements are much clearer.
It said referrers, in Ali’s case his school, are kept informed and engaged, and other departments and agencies – not just police – have clear roles.
Which records need to be kept is now clear and guidance for detecting underlying vulnerabilities has changed and would have made a difference, the review added.
‘A useless paper review’
This review and Ali’s trial (which saw him get a whole-life jail sentence) are the home secretary’s justification for not granting an inquiry.
But the MP’s daughter said this amounted to nothing more than a “useless paper exercise”, and suggested Yvette Cooper had “strung” the family along for months.
She said she had not even been offered the chance to be part of the Southport inquiry.
By Alex Rogers, political reporter
Residents who live near newly installed pylons will be compensated with £250-a-year off their energy bills, a minister has said.
Housing and planning minister Alex Norris told Sky’s Wilfred Frost on Breakfast that communities “need to share the benefits” of the government’s tilt towards clean energy.
“If you’re making that sacrifice of having some of the infrastructure in your community, you should get some of the money back,” he said.
“So we’re making that commitment – £250-a-year if you are near those pylons.
“We think that’s a fair balance between people who are making that commitment to the country… they should be rewarded for that.”
Ministers are currently pushing through an overhaul of the planning system – long seen as a brake on housebuilding and vital infrastructure projects – to stimulate growth in the economy.
Overnight it was announced parts of the planning system could be stripped away as part of the government’s attempts to speed up house building.
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