Starmer says Labour should not hold leadership contest when it should be fighting Greater Manchester mayoral byelection
Speaking to reporters at the G7 summit, Keir Starmer said it would be wrong for Labour to hold a leadership challenge ahead of a likely election to replace Andy Burnham as mayor of Greater Manchester.
If Burnham wins the byelection tomorrow (as all the constituency polls suggest he will), he will resign his mayoral job and there will be an election to replace him. It would probably take place on Thursday 30 July. Bev Craig, the leader of Manchester city council, is tipped to be Labour’s candidate. Burnham won easily in the last mayoral election two years ago, but he is personally very popular in the north-west in a way that Craig isn’t. Reform UK trounced Labour in the local elections in May, and holding the mayoralty will be a tough challenge for the party.
Asked about a potential leadership challenge, Starmer told reporters:
First and foremost, I want Andy Burnham to win, and that’s why I’ve encouraged activists and members to go up there during the course of the campaign, and they’ll be up there tomorrow helping to get the vote out.
Then what happens is we’re immediately tipped into a Manchester mayoral contest byelection, one of the biggest byelections that we’ve ever fought, because of the scale of it.
And it’s really important to my mind that the whole of the Labour party and Labour movement focuses on that, which is the next most immediate task.
I don’t think there should be a challenge. I think history, particularly the last government, shows that that isn’t a successful way for a government to behave.
But Starmer also did repeat his intention to fight a challenge if there is one.
If there is a challenge, then I intend to fight.
I’m not going to walk away from that, and I’ve been clear and consistent about that.
Key events
Coutinho says half the cabinet will be getting a pay cut soon. She asks why Ed Miliband ghosted the PM on a matter of national security. (See 11.11am.)
Lammy says Coutinho should not believe everything that she reads in the paper.
The energy department will contribute to the defence investment plan, he says.
And he says energy bills would be higher if the UK had followed Kemi Badenoch’s advice and got involved in the Iran war.
Coutinho claims 1,000 jobs are being lost in the oil industry a month.
She says people from the oil and gas industry are getting new jobs – but they pay only half as much.
Lammy says Coutinho has got her facts wrong.
Oil and gas is coming out of the North Sea 24/7. In the first three months of this year, 52 million barrels of oil came out. 44 million barrels equivalent of gas came out. We’re not turning off the taps. It’s part of a mixed economy.
Coutinho asks how many jobs have been lost in Aberdeen.
Lammy says Coutinho used to champion net zero when she was energy secretary.
He says the government has secured investment “to support more jobs by taking control with renewables, and there are over 100,000 jobs in Scotland, supported by clean power. We’re building on that, led by the Great British Energy, headquartered in Aberdeen.”
Claire Coutinho, who is standing in for Kemi Badenoch, also expresses condolences to the families of Roy Hattersley and Jo Cox, and to the families of the Grenfell Tower victims.
Turning to energy, she asks why Labour is happy to get its oil and gas from Russia or Qatar, but not Aberdeen.
Lammy says Coutinho was a Treasury minister during the biggest fall in living standards for decades.
He goes on:
Don’t believe everything you read in the papers. The prime minister and the energy secretary have been discussing cutting bills by over £100. We’ve got our warm homes plan lifting millions of families out of fuel poverty and securing enough energy projects to power 23m homes.
David Lammy starts by saying he is standing in for the PM.
He says he wants to pay tribute to two “giants of the Labour party”, Roy Hattersley and Jo Cox.
He also recalls the 72 lives lost at Grenfell Tower, saying a safe home for everyone in this country must be their legacy.
And he congratulates Scotland on their first World Cup win for 36 years, and wishes England luck for tonight.
This is from Tom Harwood at GB News on why Claire Coutinho gets the PMQs gig today.
No coincidence the Tories have put up shadow Energy Secretary Claire Coutinho in place of Kemi Badenoch for DPMQs. The Aberdeen South by-election is tomorrow.
Claire Coutinho, the shadow energy secretary, is standing in for Kemi Badenoch, I’m told.
David Lammy to take PMQs
PMQs is starting soon. David Lammy, the deputy PM, will stand in for Keir Starmer, who is still at the G7 in France.
Here is the list of MPs down to ask a question.
England ‘only win World Cups under Labour’, says Starmer ahead of tonight’s match
Alexandra Topping
Alexandra Topping is a Guardian political correspondent.
Among the hard questions about the Makerfield byelection and the potential leadership challenge it may spark, Keir Starmer was also asked about the World Cup by reporters at the G7 this morning.
He broke out a smile, and may even have left the door open to giving the UK a bank holiday if England win the World Cup, saying he did not want to jinx Thomas Tuchel’s team ahead of their first game in Dallas on Wednesday. He said:
I’m not gonna jinx the World Cup but, you know, the last time we won the World Cup it was a Labour government.
And so it’s absolutely clear that we only win World Cups under a Labour government.
So let’s hope that this is the next opportunity. He’s got a great squad. This is going to be a good game tonight, probably the hardest in the group games this evening.
So we’re looking forward to seeing the starting lineup what it’s going to be.
And don’t take it that the lineups in the friendlies are going to be the starting lineup for tonight.
Government says ‘age of outsourcing over’ as ministers commit to bringing more services in-house
Ministers have said “the age of outsourcing is over” as the Cabinet Office set out a plan for bringing services like cleaning and security back in-house, the Press Association reports. PA says:
Central government departments will be required under new guidance to produce five-year roadmaps for how they will strengthen their in-house capabilities.
This will reverse years of contracting out functions to outsourcing giants such as G4S, Serco, OCS and ISS, which diminished the state’s capacity to carry out its own services, the Cabinet Office said.
Departments will have to apply a new public interest test before renewing contracts worth more than £1m, focusing on long-term quality rather than short-term cost savings.
Chief secretary to the prime minister Darren Jones said: “I want to end the era of ‘outsourcing by default’ and build stronger in-house capacity. The British people deserve value for their money – not just the cheapest, short-term option which may not deliver quality in the long-term.
“By introducing this public interest test, and leading the way by looking to bring our cleaners and security staff back in-house when major contracts end in 2028, we are rebuilding our national capacity to deliver high-quality services the British people deserve.”
There is more on the announcement in a written statement here.
Farage does not talk about Brexit because he knows it’s damaged economy, attorney general Lord Hermer says
Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, avoids talking about Brexit because he knows the damage it has caused, Lord Hermer, the attorney general, will say in a speech this afternoon.
Hermer is speaking at a European Movement conference and, according to an extract released in advance, he will say:
Strikingly, the politicians who were key proponents of Brexit, and major figures in the campaign to Leave, now appear reluctant to remind us of the promises that they made.
When was the last time you heard Nigel Farage proudly talk about Brexit? Or make the case for the benefits it’s brought Britain?
The reason he has become uncharacteristically quiet about what he used to describe as his crowning achievement is because he knows the damage it caused Britain, our standing in the world, and our economy.