The prime minister will promise to slash the cost of regulation when he sets out his plan to reshape the state to cope with an “era of instability” later on Thursday.
Thursday 13 March 2025 06:45, UK
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Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood will today hold talks with the Sentencing Council after it rejected her remand to change controversial guidance to judges.
The new guidance, which comes into force from April, asks judges to consider a criminal’s ethnicity before deciding their punishment.
Mahmood previously wrote to the independent body to make clear her “displeasure” and call for the changes to be reconsidered.
The Sentencing Council published new principles for courts to follow when imposing community and custodial sentences, including whether to suspend jail time, last week.
The updated guidance says a pre-sentence report would usually be necessary before handing out punishment for someone of an ethnic, cultural or faith minority, alongside other groups such as young adults aged 18 to 25, women and pregnant women.
The body’s chairman, Lord Justice William Davis, warned Mahmood that the Sentencing Council preserves the “critical” position of the independent judiciary in relation to sentencing.
Mahmood will meet the Sentencing Council today as she continues to press for changes to the guidance.
The prime minister will promise to slash the cost of regulation when he sets out his plan to reshape the state to cope with an “era of instability” later on Thursday.
Sir Keir Starmer is expected to argue that global uncertainty means the government must “go further and faster in reshaping the state to make it work for working people”.
Starmer will vow to cut the cost of regulation for businesses by 25%, while promising to create “an active government that takes care of the big questions, so people can get on with their lives”.
He will say: “The need for greater urgency now could not be any clearer. We must move further and faster on security and renewal.
“Every pound spent, every regulation, every decision must deliver for working people.”
The PM will also take aim at a “cottage industry of checkers and blockers slowing down delivery for working people”, continuing his criticism of regulation in the UK.
Also today, Starmer is expected to expand on his plans to overhaul the Civil Service, reducing its size and doubling the proportion of officials working in digital and data roles in an effort to save taxpayers up to £45bn.
He will set out proposals to recruit 2,000 tech apprentices to boost the take-up of AI on Whitehall.
The prime minister told the Telegraph that the changes will “make sure our civil servants are equipped for the challenges of the modern era”.
Good morning!
Welcome back to the Politics Hub on Thursday, 13 March.
There’s a busy day ahead in Westminster, with Prime Minister Keir Starmer due to deliver a speech promising to overhaul the Civil Service – and slash the cost of regulation.
Starmer will set out his plan reshape the state to cope with an “era of instability”, promising to cut the cost of regulation for businesses by 25%.
He is expected to argue that global uncertainty means the government must “go further and faster in reshaping the state to make it work for working people”.
Meanwhile, more MPs will head to Downing Street today for briefings about controversial welfare changes ministers are preparing to announce.
All 404 Labour MPs have been invited to No 10, though some have argued the party should make “different political choices” to the Tories and impose a wealth tax to raise money.
Also today, Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood will meet with the Sentencing Council in the wake of a row over new guidelines introduced last week.
They recommend taking a criminal’s ethnic, cultural or minority background into account when handing down a sentence.
Mahmood has been critical of the guidance, and has asked the Sentencing Council to rescind it.
We’ll be discussing all of that and more with…
Science Secretary Peter Kyle at 7.15am
Shadow Treasury minister Gareth Davies at 8.15am
Follow along for the very latest political news.
That’s all from the Politics Hub today
Join us again in the morning for another busy day in Westminster.
By Alix Culbertson and Ben Bloch, political reporters
Labour MPs are speaking out publicly against the government’s impending cuts to benefits, arguing the party should make “different political choices” to the Tories and impose a wealth tax to raise money.
Ministers have been priming their MPs and the public for cuts to a ballooning welfare bill since the start of the year, but with a formal announcement expected in the spring statement on 26 March, Labour politicians are starting to make their opposition known.
It comes as all 404 Labour MPs have been called to Downing Street to attend a “welfare roundtable” to discuss the expected cuts in a bid to win over concerned MPs.
The discussions, taking place on Wednesday and Thursday, are being hosted by Number 10’s policy unit.
Richard Burgon MP raised his concerns during Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday, telling the House disabled people in his constituency were “frightened”.
“They’re again hearing politicians use the language of tough choices, and they know, from bitter experience, when politicians talk about tough choices it means the easy option of making the poor and vulnerable pay.”
Donald Trump’s approach: making America great again – by pushing up the price of goods and materials from overseas – and getting punters and businesses to buy American instead, deputy political editor Sam Coates writes.
That, at least, is one of the motivations behind his decision to weaponise tariffs, with a trade war now enveloping the UK as well.
From 4am on Wednesday, a 25% tariff on all steel and aluminium imports from anywhere outside the US is being imposed.
A president protecting the Rustbelt. Or is it?
What makes Mr Trump’s approach to tariffs so unusual is he is open – more open than any US president I can remember – that it’s also about the politics.
Tariffs are his negotiating tactic of choice. His most beautiful word. They get lowered if you do deals with him. They get raised if you anger him, like Canada did. Remember that when thinking about the role of the EU over Ukraine days after their retaliation.
Sky News chief political correspondent Jon Craig is quick off the mark to give his analysis of Jonathan Reynolds’ apology.
Jon says the Reynolds has been “pilloried” in recent weeks over the matter.
Reading out the original speech in from 2014, Jon quotes what Reynolds said.
“‘Before the last election, I worked as a solicitor in Manchester city centre’ – well, no he didn’t!” Jon says, “he was a trainee solicitor.”
Jon points out that the announcement was made after a vote when many MPs had left the chamber.
“How sneaky is that?” he says.
Unsurprisingly, shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick has been quick to jump on the back of the apology.
He tells Sky News: “Jonathan Reynolds has finally admitted he lied in Parliament about being a solicitor.
“He should apologise for the many other instances, spanning well over a decade, where he deliberately lied about his qualifications.
“As a former Director of Public Prosecutions, Starmer knows Reynolds broke the law. Unless Starmer sacks him, it’ll be another cases of two-tier justice under Two-Tier Keir.”
Reynolds is also being investigated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, as claiming to be a solicitor when you aren’t one breaks the law.
An updated from the SRA is not expected to be coming soon.
Jonathan Reynolds, the business secretary, has come under criticism for claiming to be a solicitor, when he never qualified and was only a trainee.
He has just apologised in the Commons for doing so, including in a speech in the chamber more than a decade ago.
Reynolds says this was an “inadvertent” error, and he wishes to correct the record.
He adds that he should have made clear that he was a trainee solicitor at the time of the anecdote.
The Speaker accepts the apology from the minister.
In his conversation with Sophy, Labour MP and Business and Trade Committee chair Liam Byrne confirms that his party’s increase to Employer National Insurance contributions has led to hiring freezes.
He says: “I don’t think it’s led to job cuts, but it’s definitely led to a number of businesses thinking twice about the investment plans they’re making for this year and the employment plans that they’re making for this year.”
Asked if he means future jobs, Byrne replies in the affirmative.
He adds that businesses are waiting to make further plans until they see Labour’s industrial strategy.
The MP says that many businesses, unions and consumer groups are in lockstep about what could be done to improve growth in the UK – including procuring more stuff in Britain.
Sophy asks what the goverment should do to raise funds, and Byrne suggests capital gains tax should be higher to bring it in line with income tax – using Rishi Sunak’s earnings as an example.
Liam Byrne, Labour MP and chair of the Business and Trade Select Committee, is speaking to Sophy tonight.
It comes in the wake of the announcement that the US would be imposing tariffs on UK steel early this morning.
Byrne seems to have confidence in his party’s leadership – saying the UK has “definitely got a game plan” to respond.
And he cautions that the UK should not “shoot from the hip” on the policy area.
The committee chair says the UK has a “unique possibility” to get a trade deal with America, compared to the EU.
Sophy asks whether the UK should want a trade deal – especially on food – with the US.
Byrne says it depends on how the deal will look.
An agreement on steel, technology, AI and similar sectors would be really good as they’re where the UK is strong, he says.
But on food, the MP suggests that the UK shouldn’t do a deal there, not least because the UK needs to “start looking after our farmers” – perhaps a warning after last night’s decision to pause subisidies.
Byrne warns against retaliatory tariffs, saying it “risks undermining that bigger prize” of a deal”.
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