Sir Keir Starmer will chair his first cabinet meeting of the parliamentary term today, after a major shake-up to his Downing Street team ahead of a defining period for the government.
After a summer of unrest over asylum hotels, speculation about tax rises in the autumn budget, and record low polling numbers, the prime minister will head up talks with Chancellor Rachel Reeves, Deputy PM Angela Rayner and other senior ministers.
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It follows a shake-up of Sir Keir’s Downing Street team, headlined by Labour MP Darren Jones moved from the Treasury to Number 10 to oversee the day-to-day delivery of the prime minister’s priorities.
He spent the last year as the chief secretary to the Treasury – essentially Ms Reeves’s deputy. That role will now be taken by James Murray, who was previously the exchequer secretary.
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Starmer: This is a new phase
Sir Keir marked the shake-up with a social media video on Monday, which declared “phase two of my government starts today”.
Speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live, he said he understood the public’s “frustration” – but insisted the first year of his government had been about “fixing the foundations”. He said it will now go “further and faster” to deliver change.
Reports suggest the shake-up has been done with an eye on the autumn budget. Last year’s, the first by a Labour chancellor for well over a decade, was met with significant backlash – notably over the increase in national insurance contributions for employers.
Ms Reeves had already been criticised for her controversial decision to cut the winter fuel allowance for millions of pensioners, which was later reversed.
One source told The i there had been frustration over Ms Reeves’s performance, saying she “made mistakes and Keir got blamed”, while a Labour MP told The Daily Telegraph the PM’s appointments were “a signal that [Ms Reeves] is in a weak position, and it’s deteriorating”.
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‘Two-tier’ sentencing veto proposed
The government made a busy start to the new parliamentary term on Monday by announcing changes to family reunion rules for refugees in a bid to deter small boat crossings.
And Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood will be given the power to veto any changes to sentencing guidelines proposed by an independent body – over claims it amounted to “two-tier” justice.
The Sentencing Council said in April that a pre-sentence report, the results of which are taken into account when considering a criminal’s sentence, would “usually be necessary” before handing out punishment for someone from an ethnic, cultural or faith minority.
Ms Mahmood called the guidance “unacceptable” and said it amounted to “differential treatment before the law” as she urged the council to reverse it.
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Under new rules announced on Tuesday, the Sentencing Council will now be unable to issue any changes without ministerial oversight, and both the justice secretary and the lady chief justice will need to give the green light.
The changes will be brought in as part of the Sentencing Bill, introduced in the House of Commons on Tuesday.
