Liz Kendall has sought to reassure MPs ahead of the government’s benefits announcements tomorrow, promising to bring “trust and security” to the social security system.
false,Monday 17 March 2025 18:34, UK
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One of the protesters who heckled Kemi Badenoch has spoken to the Press Association news agency.
The woman is from a group called Climate Resistance, which has launched its new Abolish Billionaires campaign.
She said it was “shameful” that Badenoch was speaking at an event to honour the legacy of former Tory PM Margaret Thatcher, saying she’d “put us on the path to this mass inequality we’re seeing”.
The Tories have “allowed extreme wealth to be amassed by a tiny minority, fuelling climate crisis and poverty”, she added.
The woman, who did not give her name, said her group was calling for a wealth tax to fund public services and tackle climate change.
After being interrupted by two separate protesters (see previous post), Kemi Badenoch is able to deliver her speech at the event marking 50 years since Margaret Thatcher helped to set up the Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) think tank.
She says: “It just goes to show that the left still believe that she is to blame for everything that is going wrong in their lives, and that is why it is so critical that all of us here honour Mrs Thatcher.”
Badenoch says her predecessor reversed the “decline” of Britain by cutting taxes, backing businesses, and giving people “the right to own their own homes and build their own futures”.
She stood firm against socialism, bureaucracy, and decline – and she won,” Badenoch says, adding Thatcher “shaped my entire view of politics of leadership, and of Britain itself”.
Badenoch recalls her childhood in Nigeria “where the state was strong, and the people were weak”, and says: “I also remember boys in my class at school mocking girls and telling us our place was in the kitchen.
“Two words always shut them up – Margaret Thatcher.”
‘A country transformed’
When she came to the UK later, she saw “a country transformed by Thatcher’s revolution”, which she attributes to “Conservative principles”.
She says she learned from Thatcher that “if you want to change a country, you need courage, you need conviction, and you must never, ever back down from doing what is right”.
Badenoch also praises Thatcher’s foreign policy strength, pointing in particular to the “risky” decision to send troops to retake the Falklands.
“Compare that to today – Labour is giving British territory away in the Chagos Islands,” she says.
Badenoch teases the Tory party’s “biggest policu renewal programme in 50 years”, to be unveiled tomorrow.
Invoking a Trump slogan, the Tory leader adds: “Margaret Thatcher didn’t fight to make Britain comfortable with decline – she fought to make it great again.”
Kemi Badenoch had only uttered a few words at the start of her speech at the Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) when she was interrupted.
A heckler was heard shouting at her as she started speaking, and the CPS cut the stream.
The heckler was a woman holding a banner that said “Abolish Billionaires”, the PA news agency reports.
She was quickly ejected from the central London hall by members of the audience.
The Tory leader then tried to resume her speech – but she was interrupted once again, and the stream was cut a second time.
The second woman appeared to shout about the cost of living crisis as she was ejected from the room.
At the event, which marked 50 years since Margaret Thatcher helped to set up the think tank, Badenoch could be heard saying: “I hardly think Mrs Thatcher can be blamed for the cost of living crisis.”
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch is giving a keynote address at the Centre for Policy Studies.
She’ll be talking about the idea of “remaking conservatism”.
You can watch live in the stream below, and we’ll bring you any noteworthy updates.
The government is due on Tuesday to set out its plans to make cuts to the welfare system.
One of the benefits targeted for £5bn worth of savings is the key disability benefit – Personal Independence Payments (PIP).
Health Secretary Wes Streeting has told Sky News 1,000 people a day apply for PIP, but pressure from Labour’s backbenchers could see plans to reform the benefit watered down.
On today’s Sky News Daily, Niall Paterson speaks to Paul Morrison, a benefits expert and policy adviser for the Methodist Church, on how PIP works and who is eligible, while political correspondent Liz Bates explains the challenges of reforming PIP.
As we reported earlier, Mike Amesbury said he was standing down as an MP after being convicted of assault.
Bear with us… but to actually do so, he had to write to the chancellor asking to be appointed to an office of profit under the Crown – the somewhat archaic procedure to automatically end his tenure as an MP.
That process has now been completed, with the Treasury confirming he has been appointed to be steward and bailiff of the Three Hundreds of Chiltern (yes, really).
It means he is no longer MP for Runcorn and Helsby (because one cannot be an MP and be working for the Crown), and a by-election will take place in the coming weeks – although the formal date has yet to be confirmed.
Amesbury was convicted of assault after punching a man in the street in his constituency last October, and was handed a suspended sentence.
He was suspended by Labour shortly after the incident.
In a statement on social media, he said he “made a serious mistake” and is “sincerely sorry” to his victim, family, colleagues, and constituents.
Reform finished second in the seat in last year’s general election, ahead of the Conservatives, and Nigel Farage earlier today urged people to vote for his as yet unnamed candidate instead of the Tories.
Foreign Secretary David Lammy has been updating MPs on talks with his fellow G7 foreign ministers in Quebec last week.
He told the House: “It was a pleasure to be back in Canada – a proud sovereign nation.”
A subtle message to Donald Trump, who has repeatedly suggested that the US could annex Canada and make it the 51st state?
Lammy’s direct message for Putin
The foreign secretary told MPs there was unity at the G7 meeting – which included his US counterpart Marco Rubio – on supporting Ukraine.
“A ceasefire offer is now on the table, and American intelligence and weapons are flowing once again,” he said.
“This demonstrated what this House has always known to be true – under President Zelenskyy’s leadership, Ukraine is serious about peace, sincere in their efforts to pursue a just and lasting end to this appalling war, unrelenting in their determination to ensure that Ukraine remains democratic, free, strong, and prosperous.”
In a message directly to Vladimir Putin, Lammy said: “Will you drag your feet and play games? Play lip service to a ceasefire while still pummelling Ukraine?
“My warning to Mr Putin is this – if you are serious, prove it with a full and unconditional ceasefire now.”
He added that “if they reject a ceasefire, we have more cards that we can play”, pointing to the impact of existing sanctions and the ability to go further, particularly in the energy and defence sectors.
On a peace deal, Lammy said: “To be credible, we need US support, but Britain and our allies recognise that we need to step up, and this government is leading the effort on multiple fronts.”
Israel blocking aid ‘appalling and unacceptable’
The foreign secretary went on to say that the G7 is united in support of the “fragile ceasefire” in Gaza, the need for the release of all hostages, and “unhindered humanitarian aid” access.
On the latter point, Lammy said: “The complete blocking of aid in Gaza is appalling and unacceptable. Humanitarian aid should never be used as a political tool. We urge the Israeli government to change course.”
Lammy tells Iran to use diplomacy
On Iran, the foreign secretary told the House: “Tehran is producing highly-enriched uranium at a rate that makes a mockery of the limits set in the JCPOA.”
The JCPOA is the agreement with Iran struck by the Obama administration that set limits on Iran’s ability to enrich uranium and mandated inspections in exchange for the loosening of sanctions.
Lammy added that “Iran can never be allowed to develop and acquire a nuclear weapon”, and demanded that they engage in diplomatic talks.
Today’s Department of Work and Pensions questions was always going to be an unsatisfying appetiser to the long-awaited main event.
The announcements are finally set to come tomorrow, with the publication of the government’s green paper on welfare reform.
Instead, today we heard the Secretary of State Liz Kendall and her deputies dodging questions about the serious concerns raised by weeks of reporting on where the axe could fall in order to save £5-6bn in the benefits budget.
Kendall acknowledged this in her opening statement, without actually telling us anything new.
MPs already know the reforms are due to be unveiled imminently, but her emphasis on “trust and fairness” in the system and talk about ensuring it remains for the people who need it in the long-term echo ministers’ repeated pitch.
They believe the current bill for working age health benefits is unsustainable – it’s risen by £20bn since the pandemic and is set to rise another £18bn in the next five.
It was left to Stephen Timms to repeatedly express the government’s “regret” about the fear and anxiety caused by the reported cuts, described by MP after MP.
Ministers under attack from left and right
The Green Party’s Sian Berry told him she’d had constituents writing to her in “genuine terror” about the prospect.
But when asked directly if he could rule out cuts to benefits for disabled people who are unable to work– such as personal independence payments – he pointedly did not do so.
He promised that when MPs see the plans, they will “welcome” many of the changes.
There were no open attacks from disgruntled Labour backbenchers who have been urging the government to increase taxes for the wealthiest rather than cutting benefits.
Conservative Esther McVey hit out at the government for opposing her past efforts to reduce as “welfare dependency” during her time at the department of work and pensions under David Cameron.
She suggested their “recent conversion to cutting the benefit bill is only about conning the OBR into thinking they can balance the books after their disastrous budget”.
Watch: Will there be a backlash over benefits?
The PM’s spokesperson has been insisting today there is both a moral and an economic case to overhaul the benefits system, and that the cuts aren’t in response to the UK’s fiscal backdrop.
They say it’s because “we have the highest level of working-age inactivity due to ill health in western Europe.”
It’s a philosophical argument which many Labour MPs are far from comfortable with – and when her Tory shadow Helen Whately asked whether she had collective cabinet approval for her plans, she repeatedly refused to answer.
Foreign Secretary David Lammy, is on his feet in the House of Commons making a statement on last week’s G7 meeting of foreign ministers in Canada.
Watch live in the stream above, at the link below – and follow key updates right here in the Politics Hub.
Robert Jenrick secured an urgent question in the Commons on the upcoming changes to sentencing guidelines advising a pre-sentence report (PSR) “will normally be considered necessary” before sentencing a criminal from an ethnic, cultural or faith minority (more here).
Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood did not show up in the House to answer her opposite number’s question, and one of her ministers, Sir Nic Dankin, responded in her place.
He told the House that the Sentencing Council is independent of both parliament and government, and “decides on its own priorities”.
He pointed out that the council consulted on these new guidelines between November 2023 and February 2024 – when the Tories were in government.
“The previous government responded to the consultation on this guideline on 19 February 2024.
“The former sentencing minister, who is now the shadow transport secretary [Gareth Bacon], wrote to the chair of the Sentencing Council thanking him for the revisions to this guideline.
“In particular, he thanked the council for fuller guidance around the circumstances in which courts should request a pre-sentence report.”
He added that the justice secretary has made her opposition to these new guidelines “clear”, and said she will “set out her position more fully in writing, which the Sentencing Council will then consider before the guideline is due to come into effect”.
In response, Jenrick described the new guidelines as “two-tier sentencing” that will “infect our ancient justice system with the virus of identity politics”.
“The stakes are high, but the justice secretary seems clueless. In fact, she isn’t even here at all,” he said, adding that the new guidelines “violate the most foundational principle of equality before the law”.
Hitting back at Jenrick, the minister said: “There’s one thing we do know about Labour governments – they always have to clear up the mess left by Conservative governments.
“And that’s what the Lord Chancellor is doing at the moment – clearing up the mess left by this previous government.”
He added: “This is serious government, not auditioning for government.”
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