Sir Keir Starmer has spoken with Donald Trump in a phone call this evening. As part of the conversation, the prime minister urged the president-elect to “stand together with Ukraine”.
Wednesday 18 December 2024 18:15, UK
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Sir Keir Starmer and Donald Trump have spoken on the telephone tonight.
As part of the conversation, the PM “reiterated the need for allies to stand together with Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression and to ensure Ukraine is in the strongest possible position”.
A Downing Street spokesperson said: “The prime minister spoke to President-elect Donald Trump this afternoon from Downing Street.
“The prime minister began by congratulating President-elect Trump on his recent team appointments and President-elect Trump warmly recounted his meeting with His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales in Paris earlier this month.
“Both agreed on their joint ambition to strengthen the close and historic relationship between the UK and the US. They looked forward to working together on shared priorities, including international security and delivering economic growth and prosperity.
“Turning to global conflicts, the prime minister reiterated the need for allies to stand together with Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression and to ensure Ukraine is in the strongest possible position.
“On the Middle East, the prime minister underscored the need to work together to ensure peace and security in the region.
“They agreed to keep in touch and looked forward to seeing one another at the earliest opportunity.”
Due to Sir Keir Starmer’s trip abroad at the beginning of this week, a meeting of the cabinet was not held on Tuesday morning.
Instead, the top ministers are gathering now to discuss the government’s agenda.
The government has announced plans to reduce the backlog of driving tests.
Roads minister Lilian Greenwood said that “no one should have to wait six months” for a test as she laid out the changes.
The first is to hire 450 new examiners, which have already been advertised for.
The government also looks to be aiming to reduce tests being booked and then sold on.
Driving instructors and businesses will be told they cannot book tests on behalf of pupils they are not teaching.
The new guidelines will “also stop driving instructors and businesses from using a learner driver’s details to book a driving test that they have no intention of that particular learner driver using”.
The government added: “This is sometimes done to create a placeholder so the test can be swapped to another learner driver later.”
And there will also be a consultation to see if people who fail their test badly, abuse their examiner or don’t show up for a test without giving notice should have to wait longer for a new booking.
A 10-day notice period to get a refund on a booking will be introduced – up from three days currently.
The government will also consider whether to change the 24-week limit for how far in advance a test can be booked.
The government has been providing an update on their steps to tackle the Post Office Horizon scandal.
Speaking in the House of Commons, business minister Gareth Thomas said £499m has been paid to 3,300 victims.
Of that, he said, £79m has been paid to 232 people on the Horizon Convictions Redress Scheme.
Mr Thomas said that, as of 29 November, more than 520 people in England and Wales have had convictions overturned, while authorities in Scotland and Northern Ireland are continuing to notify people impacted in their areas.
Listening to the sentencing in the Sara Sharif trial, it’s hard not to be gripped with anger and disbelief.
Every detail evokes more horror than the last – the description of her small broken body, the note left by her father, her killer, that said “I lost it”, the lengths her abusers went to cover up their crimes.
What follows is the need to blame, to get answers and to feel that something urgent must be done to ensure this never happens again.
Familiar accusations
It is this public sentiment that has led, as it always does in these cases, to accusations levelled at the institutions that could have done more – her school, social services, the council, the police.
Their inaction at crucial moments is condemned and the government responds with reassurances that something is being done, that the gaps in the safety net are being closed.
In this case the vehicle is the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, presented to parliament today, which includes measures ministers say apply specifically to this case.
There will be a new register and a unique identification number to better track absent children and councils will be able to refuse applications for home-schooling made for at-risk pupils.
Watch: ‘Limits’ on Sara Sharif protection
But it wasn’t the ease of home-schooling or the lack of data sharing that caused Sara’s death, it was the troubling misogyny that runs through this case like a deadly thread.
During sentencing, the judge described how she was forced to take on childcare and cleaning duties, was relentlessly beaten for being spirited instead of submissive, how her older brother was spared the same fate.
It is also notable that her father’s pattern of aggression against women was all too evident to authorities, with numerous domestic violence claims made against him, culminating only in him asked to do a course.
When campaigners call violence against women and girls an epidemic, these are the circumstances they have in mind.
Women ignored, girls treated like second-class citizens in their own homes, society watching on but not speaking up, and a sense of depressing inevitability about how it all ended.
Watch: ‘Campaign of abuse was torture’
This is why the government’s long-term violence against women strategy, which aims to change culture over time and is driven by committed ministers like Jess Phillips, has a better chance than the latest legislation.
The sad reality is that there are so many more Sara Sharifs living in fear of the men in their lives, and many more women being abused and ignored.
A few new powers for councils won’t change that, but dedication to the cause that goes right to the top just might – and that is cause for some hope amid the horror.
By Jenness Mitchell, Scotland reporter
Scottish government ministers and staff are to be banned from using informal mobile messaging apps – including WhatsApp – on official devices.
Deputy first minister Kate Forbes announced the move on Tuesday following the publication of an external review ordered by former first minister Humza Yousaf.
It came after the UK COVID inquiry revealed ministers and top civil servants had deleted WhatsApp messages exchanged during the pandemic.
Any “non-corporate” messaging technology will be removed from Scottish government devices in spring 2025, with updated guidance and training in the run-up.
The Labour government is facing backlash after refusing to pay compensation to women who were affected by the rise in state pension age.
The recommendation was put forward by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) after the campaign group Women Against State Pension Inequality (Waspi) said millions of women suffered financially as they were not given sufficient warning to prepare for the later retirement age.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said on Tuesday he understood the concerns of Waspi women, but their demands were not affordable.
Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall issued an apology for a 28-month delay in sending out letters to those born in the 1950s impacted by state pension changes, but said she does not believe paying a flat rate to women at a cost of up to £10.5bn would be a fair or proportionate use of taxpayers’ money.
There were shouts of “shame” when Ms Kendall made the announcement in the Commons, with the government also facing a barrage of criticism from MPs, some of which from within the Labour Party.
Who are the Waspi women?
In the 1990s under John Major, the government changed the law to make the women’s pension age the same as for men over a ten-year period.
In 2011, the coalition shortened the timetable by two years, and also changed the final age from 65 to 66 – saving £30bn.
Many women complain they weren’t given adequate notice of the changes.
The campaign group calling for payouts to Waspi women has attacked the prime minister over this stance on the payments.
Women Against State Pension Inequality campaigners have accused Sir Keir Starmer of spreading “dangerous misinformation”.
During Prime Minister’s Questions, the PM said he understands their concern but said as an ombudsman report found 90% of Waspi woman knew the pension age was changing and “the taxpayers simply can’t afford the burden”.
The group claims this 90% figure only refers to women who had “a vague awareness of the principle that state pension age changes might happen for others in the future”.
Angela Madden, the chair of Waspi, said: “This isn’t just misleading; it’s an insult to millions of 1950s-born women who were blindsided by these changes. The ombudsman’s findings were based on rigorous evidence showing that 60% of women had no idea their own State Pension age was rising.”
She added: “The fact that 90% of women had some general awareness of potential changes in the future does not mean they knew this would impact them personally.
“That is exactly why the ombudsman identified maladministration and why this government’s continued attempts to muddy the waters are so unacceptable.”
The group now says it is taking fresh legal advice.
The campaigners wanted the government to give at least £10,000 to each woman – at a cost of more than £30bn to the taxpayer.
However, the ombudsman recommended between £1,000 and £2,950.
By Greg Milam, chief north of England correspondent
Police forces need to be better prepared for serious violence and disorder, according to a review of the response to this summer’s riots.
The report also found police failed to realise the significance of a number of events leading up to the riots, leaving gaps in intelligence linked to social media and the dark web.
Violence flared across the country following the deaths of three schoolgirls in a knife attack in Southport in Merseyside in July.
The unrest and disorder continued for several days.
In September, the home secretary asked His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services to carry out a rapid review into the policing response to the disorder.
The first part of the report, which is published today, said that officers had showed “immense bravery and personal sacrifice” throughout the disorder, but that forces were unprepared for the scale of the rioting.
It said the decision by the National Police Chiefs’ Council to implement a national mobilisation plan on 6 August was made too late and should have been activated four days earlier.
The inspectorate said a number of events in 2023 and 2024 were indicators of potential future disorder, but this had not been reflected in police intelligence reviews.
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