Starmer criticises ‘disgraceful’ attacks on police after 11 injured in disorder over Nowak murder – UK politics live

Badenoch said McFadden also said that in all meetings with Labour MPs, they wanted to raise taxes to pay benefits. She asks if Starmer will take the advice in Tony Blair’s essay and work with the Tories on welfare reform.

Starmer replied:

They introduced a system that’s broken and they put the bill through the roof. And now they want to give us advice on welfare. No thanks, no thanks.

The question should always be not what benefits people are entitled to, but what help we can give people to change their life.

That’s what the work and pensions secretary was arguing. And he’s right about that.

Referring to revelations in the Mandelson files, Badenoch asked Starmer if he agreed with Pat McFadden, the work and pensions secretary, that the failure of the welfare reform act last year was “the moment he lost his authority”.

Starmer said he was proud of his record.

Despite the war in the Middle East, the OECD forecast UK growth is up and inflation is down.

Net migration, which reached nearly one million under them, and the leader of the opposition was the cheerleader, down by a staggering 82%.

The asylum backlog down by 46%.

We’re delivering the fastest reduction in waiting times in the NHS in the history of the NHS. That’s on top of free school meals, free breakfast clubs and free childcare.

And of course, we’re lifting half a million children out of poverty.

I’m very proud of the work of this Labour government.

Badenoch said the welfare bill went up under the last government because of Covid.

She said Starmer had given up on welfare reform.

On Sunday, the welfare secretary was asked 12 times on national radio if he would make cuts to the benefits bill and 12 times he could not answer. So I will ask the prime minister, is he going to cut the benefits bill?

Starmer said Labour is reforming the system to get young people into work. The Tories left the system broken, he said.

Badenoch said the welfare bill had gone up by £20bn under Labour. She asked why there was no welfare bill in the king’s speech.

Starmer said the government was reforming the welfare system “so it no longer pushes people away from work”.

That’s what we’re doing. They voted against it.

Welfare reform is introducing a right to try, to incentivise people to take up opportunities. That’s what we’re doing. They voted against it.

Welfare reform is providing record funding on apprenticeships. That’s what we’re doing. Apprenticeship starts fell by 40% on their watch.

Under the Tories, welfare spending soared, Starmer said.

Kemi Badenoch, after paying tribute to Alan Haselhurst, asked Starmer how much the welfare bill has gone up under Labour.

Starmer started by thanking Badenoch for her “approach and tone” in relation to the Henry Nowak tragedy.

On welfare, he said

We inherited a broken system from the party opposite. and we are now improving that system, delivering a youth guarantee, rolling out 300,000 work experience placements.

He said the benefits bill went up under the Tories – when the welfare secretary was Mel Stride, now shadow chancellor.

Roz Savage (Lib Dem) asked Starmer to impose a cap on political donations.

Starmer said the government has capped donations. He went on:

But the $5 million question, £5m question still remains. Why is the leader of Reform dodging questions about his donations? And why did he keep it secret in the first place?

Starmer says the news of the Royal Navy helicopter crash is very worrying.

And this is what Starmer says about Henry Nowak in his opening statement.

Henry Nowak’s family have shown extraordinary dignity after their son’s life was stolen in appalling circumstances. He was clearly a kind and thoughtful and much loved young man.

There are serious questions to answer, including how accusations of racism informed police thinking, and are supporting the IOPC to get to the bottom of what happened.

But no matter the pain we feel, there is no justification for more violence and disorder.

The attacks directed towards police officers in Southampton last night were disgraceful and completely unacceptable.

This is a time for serious work, not rage.

Keir Starmer starts by paying tribute to Alan Haselhurst, the former deputy speaker who has died.

Starmer says by referring to the Springhill inquest, covering the deaths of five Catholics killed by the army in Northern Ireland in 1972. He offers an apology on behalf of the state

(He was in Northern Ireland for a funeral on Monday.)

Starmer says:

The government accepts and deeply regrets these findings [from the inquest] and recognises their gravity. On behalf of the government, I want to apologise unreservedly to the families for what happened and for the grief and trauma that they have endured since the tragic deaths of their loved ones.

PMQs is about to start.

Here is the list of MPs who have got a question.

Wes Streeting, the former health secretary, has joined those condemning the Reform UK ad attacking Kemi Badenoch. (See 11.47am.) Even though Badenoch won’t have a vote in any possible future Labour leadership contest, he says it is “disgraceful and dangerous” – and the sort of thing that should be challenged by people from all parties.

I’m not going to amplify Reform’s ad by sharing it, but the wilful misrepresentation of Kemi Badenoch – selectively quoting what she said about ‘white lives matter’ – is disgraceful and dangerous.

It needs to be challenged, including by those of us who are not Conservatives.

This may be the first time Streeting and Rupert Lowe have agreed on anything. (See 11.47am.)

Yesterday Reform UK posted a message on its official X account saying:

Kemi Badenoch, just like Starmer, doesn’t care.

Only Reform UK will openly say that white lives matter too.

It was accompanied by this attack advert.

This was a version of a message that Robert Jenrick, the former Tory who is now Reform UK’s Treasury spokesperson, posted on X earlier. He also said that Badenoch said she did not want to hear about white lives matter.

Both messages have been condemned as grossly misleading because they are quoting from an interview where Badenoch said she did not want to hear about Black Lives Matter or white lives matter because she thinks everyone matters.

In a sign of how controversial this was, even Rupert Lowe, the Restore Britain leader whose party is even more extreme and provocative than Reform UK, said: “Reform putting out an attack ad on Kemi Badenoch misquoting her over Henry Nowak’s tragic death is a deeply misguided, ugly and offensive move.”

But, in his interview on Sky News this morning, Zia Yusuf, the Reform UK home affairs spokesperson, defended the ad. He said that the words quoted were accurate, and he claimed that it was legitimate to point our the difference between what Badenoch said six years ago and what she said this week.

When it was put to him that the ad implied Badenoch did not care about white lives, Yusuf replied:

You can make that argument … She is unwilling to say that white lives matter. That is the point that we’re making. And that is a perfectly valid point to make.

The Green party has also condemned those trying to create divisions in the light of Henry Nowak’s murder. It issued this statement from the Green MP Siân Berry saying:

Those who seek to use this tragedy to incite violence, create division in our communities and further their own political ambitions, are deeply irresponsible and deserve no place in our public life.”

We also reject attempts to scapegoat the entire Sikh community for an act carried out by a single individual and we stand in solidarity with them.

Southampton community leaders have accused the far right of bussing people into the city to “fuel” violence to further their own agenda following the murder of Henry Nowak, the Press Association reports.

Sarah Bogle, the Labour leader of the Southampton council, said:

They were pretty awful scenes last night and very unwelcome to see that level of disturbance in what is normally a very quiet neighbourhood …

It’s a huge tragedy for [Nowak] and his family and it’s awful when these tragedies are weaponised by people who should know better, whether it’s politicians or the far right – it really is unwelcome.

Caroline Nokes, Conservative MP for Romsey and Southampton North, said:

The Sikh community forms a significant part of Southampton’s social fabric, particularly within the Southampton North part of my constituency. Swaythling is home to one of the city’s gurdwaras, and I know how anxious members of the Sikh faith in the city feel right now.

The city needs calm, restraint and respect for the rule of law.

Darren Paffey, Labour MP for Southampton Itchen, said:

This was not a lawful and peaceful protest. Instead, it was the grotesque and cynical spectacle of a young man’s death being used to whip up division, inflame tensions, and provoke criminal disorder.

Satvir Kaur, Labour MP for Southampton Test, said:

At a time when a family and community are in mourning, we should be coming together, not stoking division and pitting communities against each other.

Rural areas in the UK would be particularly at risk of diesel shortages if the conflict in Iran continues to squeeze supplies, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has warned. Heather Stewart has the story.

In the light of all the comment about the policy bodycam footage released on Monday night showing Henry Nowak being handcuffed as he was dying, it is worth flagging up what Judge William Mousley said about the police in his sentencing remarks at the end of the trial of Vickrum Digwa.

Another consequence of those lies is that the attending police officers honestly believed that there were reasonable grounds for suspecting Henry had committed an offence and arrested him with the consequence he was handcuffed for about a minute before his condition further deteriorated and the arresting officer began CPR. The police were given a convincing but wholly false narrative of the incident. It was dark and Henry was wearing a dark top. The entry damage caused by the knife through it, would not have been obvious. Whilst there was visible blood on Henry, it would not have clearly been seen coming from that wound and the clearly visible facial wound was not lifethreatening. Henry was complaining that he had been stabbed and was struggling to breathe but that would not have necessarily told the officers how serious the situation had become. It is the experience of the criminal courts that sometimes, someone arrested and handcuffed will feign injury in the hope they may be released. These police officers were faced with having to make quick decisions in pressurised circumstances about the best way to act. The genuine shock to the particular police officer, when he realised that he had been giving CPR to Henry when he had a serious chest wound tends to show that he was doing his best in a very difficult situation.

Here is Guardian footage of the police clashing with protesters in Southampton last night.

And here are some pictures from last night.