Starmer to face PMQs amid pressure to make trade deal with Trump over steel tariffs: UK politics live – UK Times

A minister has said he is “absolutely” confident that the Government will meet its pledge of 1.5 million homes in this parliament.

Asked on Sky News whether he was confident of reaching the target, building safety minister Alex Norris said: “In terms of big commitments you know our plan for change has Britain building a million-and-a-half homes right at the bedrock.

“We could not have put that in clearer, bigger writing that we intend to do that. That’s our commitment, that’s what we’re going to deliver.”

Pushed further on whether he was as confident today as before that 1.5 million would be the case, he added: “Of course, absolutely”.

Mr Norris told the same programme that there is no “one timeline” for the delivery of homes anticipated from £350 million the Government announced on Wednesday.

Asked about the “measuring sticks” that could be used in the delivery of these new homes, Mr Norris described housebuilding as a “competitive process”.

Under the chancellor’s plan, a 20 per cent inheritance tax rate will be introduced on farms worth more than £1 million from April 2026. But it has sparked a furious backlash in farming communities and created a problem for many newly-elected Labour MPs in rural constituencies.

My colleagues Alex Ross and Alicja Hagopian report:

Ministers have pledged another £350 million to help build affordable and social rent homes, as Angela Rayner has said that the Government “can’t afford not to” hit their 1.5 million housebuilding target.

Officials have said that up to 2,800 extra homes will be built with an extra £300 million for the affordable homes programme committed on Wednesday, half of which will be social rent.

£50 million will also be given to the local authority housing fund, with the expectation that this will produce “over 250” more council homes.

The government has pledged to build 1.5 million homes over the course of the parliament, but there have been warnings that there are not the staff available to fulfil the promise.

Asked whether she was worried about the target being met, Deputy Prime Minister and Housing Secretary Ms Rayner said that she is “determined” to meet the challenge.

“We will meet that target because we can’t afford not to,” Ms Rayner told broadcasters.

“We have 1.3 million people waiting on housing waiting lists, there isn’t a person listening to this show that will not know somebody who is desperate to get on the housing ladder.

“So, therefore, we’re determined to turn that tide.”

The cost of tax-dodging is likely to be far higher than the annual £5.5 billion estimated by HMRC, an influential group of MPs has warned.

The UK’s tax authority has processes which are “far too open to abuse” and is “not sufficiently curious” about the true scale of the problem, the Commons Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said.

In its report, the PAC said that loopholes in the current system are making it easy for fraudulent behaviour to go undetected.

HMRC does not routinely check addresses when businesses register for the levy, but says it has confidence that its “risk-based” assessments, combined with due diligence rules for online marketplaces are “working well,” it said.

“We are concerned that HMRC is not sufficiently curious about the true scale of tax evasion,” the report said.

Ms May has since said the vans were “wrong.”

“There’s something mean and unpleasant and nasty about the way it’s been done,” Mr Towler said of the government’s strategy in a Times Radio interview.

Sixth form college students in England could face walkouts after members of a teaching union voted in favour of strikes in a dispute over pay.

Members of the NASUWT teaching union in 23 sixth form colleges have backed strike action and/or action short of strikes in a fight for a fair pay increase.

The Government announced last year that teachers in schools across England would receive a fully-funded 5.5% pay rise from September 2024.

The Sixth Form Colleges Association (SFCA) has offered teachers in non-academised sixth form colleges 3.5% for September 2024 to March this year – and then 5.5% from April.

Meanwhile, teachers in sixth form colleges with academy status have been offered 5.5% from September 2024, seven months earlier than their colleagues in non-academised colleges.

Sue Gray, the “partygate” investigator who went on to become Sir Keir Starmer’s chief of staff, has taken her seat in the unelected House of Lords four months after leaving the heart of Government.

Taking the title Baroness Gray of Tottenham, the former senior civil servant wore the traditional scarlet robes for the short introduction ceremony in the upper chamber, where she swore the oath of allegiance to the King.

She was supported by former Whitehall chief and independent crossbencher Lord O’Donnell and fellow Labour peer Baroness Harman.

The Times are reporting that 12 Labour MPs and a Green MP are pushing ministers to introduce a four-day working week.

The backbenchers are supporting an amendment to the Employment Rights Bill.

The amendment would commit the government to setting up a body to look into bringing in a four-day week across the economy.

The bill proposes new rights such as flexible working and a ban on exploitative zero-hours contracts.

Kinship carers are set to march to the Treasury to call for financial support.

Up to 50 marchers are set to head to Whitehall, pushing shopping trolleys and a giant list of the essentials the average kinship family has to find a way to pay for each month, representing what they say is the Government’s debt to kinship carers.

This could cover anything from food, uniform, clothing and heating bills.

One kinship carer, whose name was only given as Carmen, said she was living in a council house in south-west London with her 13-year-old grandson, who she has raised since he was a baby after his parents were unable to care for him.

The woman, who is in her 50s, said: “As it is, I go without so that he can eat. For me, it’s often a case of ‘do I eat or do I feed him and pay the bills?’ I have had to give up my home to find somewhere even smaller. I have been in debt.

“We don’t put the heating on – we just come home and get under the duvets. I love him so much – he’s so funny and smart – and I would do anything for him but love doesn’t pay the bills.”

Donald Trump risks an arrest warrant being issued for him after he imposed sanctions on the International Criminal Court (ICC), a top human rights lawyer has warned.

Baroness Kennedy of the Shaws, argued that Article 70 of the Rome Statute forbids the obstruction of justice.

The Labour peer told the House of Lords that, under this law, no officer of the ICC can be impeded in carrying out their duties.

Her comments came after the US president issued an executive order in response to what is described as “illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America and our close ally Israel”.

Lady Kennedy said: “The world will never see peace if there is no entity which will pursue justice for victims of egregious crimes.

“There cannot be impunity for our allies.”