PMQs live: Starmer to face Badenoch after Treasury minister Tulip Siddiq resigns

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PMQs is starting soon.

Here is the list of MPs down to ask a question.

PMQs Photograph: HoC

Keir Starmer leaving Downing Street this morning ahead of PMQs. Photograph: Leon Neal/Getty Images

The Commons authorities have just confirmed that Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, will be making a statement this afternoon about the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act. (See 11.24am.) But it may not start until about 2.30/3pm because there are three other things coming first.

Here is the running order.

12.30pm: An environment minister responds to an urgent question on foot and mouth disease in Germany.

Around 1.15pm: A housing minister responds to an urgent question about local government reorganisation.

Around 2pm: Wes Streeting, the health secretary, gives a “winter update” statement about the NHS.

Around 3pm: Phillipson gives her statement on universities.

Labour to revive controversial university freedom of speech legislation

The government is expected to make a statement later this afternoon on its plans to revise the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act, which it paused on taking on office last year.

Although the act was passed in 2023 its provisions had yet to be implemented by the time of the general election last year, allowing education secretary Bridget Phillipson to pause it to take account of concerns inside and outside higher education about its consequences.

Claire Coutinho criticised for continuing to attack 'boiler tax' policy she introduced when she was minister

Claire Coutinho, the shadow energy secretary, has been criticised for continuing to attack a policy that she introduced when she was in government.

The Labour MP Polly Billington has taunted her about this in an open letter on social media, suggesting Coutinho changed her position “for cynical political reasons”.

When Coutinho was energy secretary, she introduced the clean-heat market mechanism (CHMM), setting targets for the sale of heat pumps. Coutinho subsequently delayed the implementation date, but she did not scrap the policy.

Now she is attacking her successor, Ed Miliband, for keeping the policy, branding it a “boiler tax”.

Billington challenged Coutinho over her apparent hypocrisy before Christmas, but did not get a reply. Now she has released another open letter to Coutinho in response to the shadow minister’s continued attacks on the CHMM policy.

In her latest letter Billington says:

Given public concern about taking action to tackle the climate crisis and make the transition to renewables, I would be concerned to think you might be changing your position on this issue for cynical political reasons. Or did you simply forget that it was you who introduced this policy in government?

Given your lack of response to my previous letter, I am becoming concerned that you do not share my belief that voters are right to expect transparency and honestly from their elected representatives, so I hope on this occasion you’ll be more than happy to clear up these inconsistencies.

The Conservatives have been approached for a comment. If I get a response, I will post it on the blog.

Minister ducks question about whether Gerry Adams could get compensation for Troubles-era detention due to law change

Removing a block on former Troubles internees, such as Gerry Adams, seeking compensation will deliver a taxpayer-funded payday for ex-detainees, a thinktank has claimed. As PA Media reports, Policy Exchange has published a report criticising the Government’s proposed repeal of legislation that had put a stop to such civil claims. PA says:

The relevant sections of the Legacy Act had been agreed by parliament in 2023 in response to a supreme court judgment in 2020 that paved the way for former Sinn Féin leader Adams to secure compensation over his internment without trial in the early 1970s.

Adams won his appeal to overturn historical convictions for two attempted prison breaks, after he was interned without trial in 1973 at Long Kesh internment camp, also known as Maze Prison, near Lisburn.

The supreme court ruled that his detention was unlawful because the interim custody order (ICO) used to initially detain him had not been “considered personally” by then secretary of state for Northern Ireland Willie Whitelaw.

At the time of the case, the previous government contended that the ICOs were lawful due to a longstanding convention, known as the Carltona principle, where officials and junior ministers routinely act in the name of the secretary of state.

Adams subsequently successfully challenged a decision to deny an application for compensation for his detention.

However, the Legacy Act stopped such payouts to Adams and other former internees.

The Act retrospectively validated the ICOs to make them lawful and halted civil claims related to the orders.

At the time, the then UK government said the legislation would prevent up to 400 compensation bids by former internees.

However, in February last year, the high court in Belfast ruled that the provisions of the act related to the ICOs were incompatible with the European convention on human rights.

The current government has not appealed that judgment and has tabled a remedial order in parliament that will repeal various parts of the Legacy Act, including the sections on ICOs.

The Policy Exchange paper criticising the move has been backed by 16 peers, including shadow attorney general Lord Wolfson KC. “The government’s decision to repeal sections 46 and 47 of the Northern Troubles Act 2023 is inexplicable and unexplained,” he said.

The Telegraph has splashed on the story.

Asked about this story on the Today programme this morning, Darren Jones, chief secretary to the Treasury, said that he did not know the details of what was happening but that the government inherited a scheme to deal with unresolved Troubles crimes that “didn’t have the support of anybody in Northern Ireland, that was found in many cases to be unlawful, and which actually, under the Conservatives scheme, gave immunity to people who committed appalling acts of terrorism”.

Asked if he would be happy to see Adams get compensation for his detention in the 1970s, Jones said he would not comment on “hypotheticals”, and that Hilary Benn, the Northern Ireland secretary, was working on the details and would make an announcement in due course.

Pensions industry welcomes Torsten Bell's appointment as minister

Tulip Siddiq’s resignation yesterday led to Torsten Bell joining the government as pensions minister. A former chief executive of the Resolution Foundation thinktank, Bell is regarded as one of the most able MPs from the 2024 intake, and is already being tipped as a future chancellor.

The pensions industry has broadly welcomed his arrival. Here are some of their comments.

From Zoe Alexander, director of policy and advocacy at the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association

Torsten Bell is already well known and respected within the pensions industry. We are optimistic that he will bring the leadership that is needed to make progress on both phases of the Pensions Review and look forward to working with him to continue to deliver a system that is adequate, affordable and fair, in the interests of UK savers.

From Sophia Singleton, president of the Society of Pension Professionals

Torsten’s appointment comes at a particularly important time for pensions policy with various consultations in train, dashboards, value for money and other projects mid-progress and a much-needed pensions adequacy review having appeared to have stalled under the previous minister.

We therefore look forward to working with the new minister to drive forward these important initiatives and implement the most effective, evidence-based pensions policy possible.

From Lisa Picardo, chief business officer UK for PensionBee, an online pensions provider

We welcome the new pensions meinister to his new role. With his extensive experience in public policy, we’re keen to see his innovative approaches that prioritise savers and bring much-needed progress to the pensions industry.

We are looking forward to seeing whether Torsten Bell – with a background of campaigning for high retirement living standards – can revive the necessary discussions about increasing automatic enrolment pension contributions.

From Jon Greer, head of retirement policy at Quilter, a wealth management company

Bell’s background as an economist and his tenure as chief executive of the Resolution Foundation provides him with a solid background for the pensions brief and will enable him to grasp the complexities of a sector that is so critical to the financial well-being of millions.

While Bell has previously advocated for radical pension tax reforms – such as moving to flat-rate pension tax relief and capping the tax-free lump sum at £40,000 – these ideas often fail to account for the practical realities facing savers who have relied on the stability of the existing system.

That said, his dual appointment … across Treasury and DWP [Bell is a minister in both departments] reflects the broader implications pensions have for the economy and the public finances. Labour’s commitment to the state pension triple lock, despite fiscal constraints, will test his ability to deliver on manifesto promises while ensuring long-term sustainability.

In his interviews this morning Darren Jones, the chief secretary to the Treasury, was asked about reports that the government is close to finalising a revised deal with Mauritius to give it sovereignty of the Chagos Islands, on condition that the UK will continue to have control of Diego Garcia, where it operates a joint military base with the US.

Jones did not give details, but he confirmed talks are ongoing. He told LBC:

This is an island [Diego Garcia] that is an important military base for the UK, important to our national security. It’s right, therefore, that we secure our presence and operations on that island …

But what I can’t tell you now is the kind of details, because they are mid-negotiation. That will get presented in the normal way to Parliament, like any other treaty, in due course.

According to the Telegraph, ministers in Mauritius are expected to agree the deal today. But the Financial Times says: “Britain will await Donald Trump’s blessing before finalising a deal with Mauritius over the future of a strategic UK-US military base in the Indian Ocean, according to people familiar with the talks.”

Starmer to face PMQs as minister warns of 'tough decisions'

Good morning. Keir Starmer faces PMQs today. As he prepares, two issues seem very likely to come up.

First, the economy. There is some modest good news this morning, and Rachel Reeves easily fought off a Tory attempted hit job on her in the Commons yesterday, but the underlying fundamentals are still pretty grim. Here are the key developments this morning.

• UK inflation unexpectedly fell in December, handing some breathing space to the chancellor, figures out this morning showed. The consumer prices index eased to 2.5%, below a reading of 2.6% in November, meaning prices rose at a slower rate.

• Darren Jones, the chief secretary to the Treasury, said the government would have to take “tough decisions” to meet its fiscal rules. The rise in government borrowing costs means further spending cuts are likely if the government is to meet its fiscal rules and Jones acknowledged that as he gave interviews this morning. He told BBC Breakfast:

People at home know you can’t just keep borrowing every month to pay the bills.

And where we do borrow to invest in the country’s infrastructure, the debt has to be falling as a size of the economy over the next five years.

Those fiscal rules are non-negotiable. That means there are tough decisions for the chancellor and this government to take.

• Jones said the government will not water down its plans to extend workers’ rights in the employment rights bill. In an interview on the Today programme Jones was asked about an interview on Monday where Rupert Soames, the CBI president, said the proposed changes could lead to firms laying off workers. Asked if the government would rethink the plans, Jones said: “No is the short answer.” He said giving workers more protection would be good for the economy.

And the second issue likely to dominate is the fallout from the resignation of Tulip Siddiq. As Pippa Crerar explains, even though Siddiq has now resigned, people are asking whether, given her family relationship with a Bangladeshi leader accused of corruption (and worse), it was wise for Starmer to make her anti-corruption minister.

The bad news for Starmer is that this means people are now “questioning his judgment”. (The good news for Starmer is judgment questioning is primarily a journalistic and political preoccuption, used to keep a scandal going after a resignation has largely killed it off as a story. In the real world, normal people very rarely go round complaining that something “raised questions about the PM’s judgment”.)

Here are the key developments on this.

• Jones has rejected claims the Siddiq affair raises questions about Starmer’s judgment. In an interview with Times Radio, the Treasury minister said:

I don’t think there’s a question about the prime minister’s judgment. The independent process has been followed. It concluded, and Tulip took the decision to step down from government.

Jones also said the fact that there was an inquiry by the PM’s ethics adviser, leading to Siddiq’s resignation, showed “the process is working”.

• Siddiq has been urged to “seek forgiveness from the people of Bangladesh”. As Sky News reports, responding to Siddiq’s resignation, a spokesperson for a Prof Muhammad Yunus, the interim leader of Bangladesh, said the former minister “may not have entirely understood the source of the money and property that she was enjoying in London”. The spokesperson added:

She knows now and should seek forgiveness from the people of Bangladesh …

We remain committed to accountability and justice and will be working with partners around the world to return the stolen funds to the people of Bangladesh.

Here is the agenda for the day.

9.30am: Lord Hermer, the attorney general, gives evidence to the Commons justice committee.

10am: Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, gives evidence to the Commons education committee.

Morning: John Swinney, Scotland’s first minister, gives a speech on child poverty.

Noon: Keir Starmer faces Kemi Badenoch at PMQs.

After 12.30pm: James MacCleary, a Lib Dem MP, introduces a 10-minute rule bill that would require the government to negotiate a youth mobility scheme with the EU.

3pm: Ed Miliband, the energy secretary, gives evidence to the Commons energy committee.

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