Rayner forces councils to build 370,000 homes as Abbott leads Labour rebellion on Reeves’ spending cuts – live

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Deputy prime minister Angela Rayner has declared that the UK is living the “most acute housing crisis in living history” as she announced a radical reform to the country’s housing planning system.

Addressing the Commons, the housing secretary has promised to fix the Tories’ legacy by bringing back mandatory housing targets of 370,000 a year on councils.

Under the plans, Ms Rayner announced a review of the green belt if councils do not meet the housebuilding targets.

Responding to Rachel Reeves spending announcement, Diane Abbott has sparked a Labour rebellion against the chancellor over her public cuts labelling the move “renewed austerity”.

It comes as Ms Reeves warned “more difficult choices” are coming after axing winter fuel payments for many pensioners in a bid to help plug a £22bn black hole in the public finances.

Also challenging the government, Labour peer Lord Sikka argued the move was “taking away” £300 from pensioners by “a measure that was not in our manifesto”.

Following her speech, Ms Reeves doubled down on accusations that Jeremy Hunt “lied” to the public and to MPs during the election campaign about the state of public finances.

Key Points

• Angela Rayner declares UK faces ‘most acute housing crisis in living memory’
• Abbott leads Labour rebellion over Reeves’ spending cuts
• Chancellor faces Labour backbench rebellion over winter fuel payment
• Labour introduces mandatory housebuilding targets of 370,000 per year
• Badenoch: Labour already breaking planning reform election pledges
• Rachel Reeves accuses Jeremy Hunt of ‘lying’ about state of public finances

In full: Rayner’s planning ‘revolution’ slashes London house building target

Angela Rayner’s planning “revolution” will see London’s housebuilding target slashed by 20,000 homes, despite a wider push to boost the number of houses being built each year.

The deputy prime minister and housing secretary unveiled a major overhaul of the planning system today, which will see all councils in England given new, mandatory housing targets as part of a plan to deliver 1.5 million more homes in the UK.

She warned that Britain is facing the “most acute housing crisis in living memory”, claiming that the number of new homes is set to drop below 200,000 this year – something Ms Rayner dubbed “unforgiveable”.

Our political correspondent Millie Cooke has the full story:

Angela Rayner’s planning ‘revolution’ slashes house building target for London

Government officials said London’s target would fall from 100,000 homes a year, to 80,000

French border control zone at Dover to be expanded ahead of new EU rules

The French border control zone at the Port of Dover will be expanded to reduce the risk of queues at peak times when new EU rules come into force.

Under the EU’s Entry/Exit System (EES), expected to come into force in the Autumn, travellers entering from the UK and other non-EU countries will have to register their details at the EU border and provide biometric data.

As the Government prepares for the change, Home Office Minister Seema Malhotra laid a statutory instrument in Parliament on Monday to allow French border officials to operate in an expanded zone at the Port of Dover.

It will commit the Home Office to working with the French Government, local authorities and businesses to streamline EU border checks at the port.

The change in law is part of the preparations to minimise the risk of traffic disruption. The aim is to create more space to process passengers for a better customer experience.

The Home Office is working with the French Interior Ministry to amend the border control arrangements between the two countries to accommodate the expanded zone.

The port plans to change the location of passport control for passengers arriving to board the ferry from the Eastern Docks to a new border control zone at its Western Docks.

The port has also been making major upgrades to its port infrastructure, including building bespoke facilities to carry out the checks.

‘Ambitious’ UK-EU agri-food deal will help ease NI trade issues, says minister

Securing an “ambitious” agri-food deal with the EU will allow for a more free flow of goods from Great Britain into Northern Ireland, a government minister has insisted.

Nick Thomas-Symonds, who is minister for EU relations in the Cabinet Office, said a negotiated sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) agreement between the UK and EU would be mutually beneficial to both sides.

The minister, who will lead the UK side in talks about new links with the EU, was in Northern Ireland on Tuesday to hear from various stakeholders about the post-Brexit trade barriers that have created the need for checks on goods entering the region from across the Irish Sea.

Labour has pledged to “reset” relations with Brussels, with the striking of a deal on food safety and animal and plant health among the new government’s priorities.

Mr Thomas-Symonds told reporters in Belfast that negotiations would not be able to start until early next year – as the new-look European Commission is not yet in place following recent EU-wide elections – but he said the Government wanted to undertake the groundwork before then.

The Cabinet Office minister said Northern Ireland would be at the “forefront” of his mind when it came to the discussions with Brussels.

“I wouldn’t expect hard-edge formal negotiations to begin until the early part of next year, but do I hope that an SPS agreement, an ambitious SPS agreement, is going to ease the situation in terms of GB-NI trade, absolutely,” he said.

Rapid review of environmental plans aim to ‘save nature’ – minister

The Environment Secretary has pledged to “turn the tide and save nature” as he announced a rapid review of improvement plans.

Steve Reed said a review of the environmental improvement plan (EIP) would be completed by the end of the year as part of efforts to deliver legally binding targets.

He said the Government would develop a statutory plan to meet each of the Environment Act targets – which include halting the decline in species by 2030, cleaning up water bodies and cutting air pollution.

He warned that “nature is dying” and England’s “precious landscapes are in decline”, as an annual report showed mixed progress towards goals in the EIP, including deterioration in some measures for helping wildlife, using resources from nature sustainably and delivering clean air.

The EIP was published by the previous government in 2023 to deliver its goals to boost nature and the environment, including protecting and restoring habitats, cleaning up water and air, boosting recycling and improving flood defences.

But earlier this year, the Office for Environmental Protection watchdog warned the government remained “largely off-track” to meet legally binding green targets and the goals of the EIP .

It warned the government had not been clear enough on how its ambitions will be delivered, and must speed and scale up its efforts.

In the ‘battle of the budgets’, who’s being economical with the truth?

Amid a furious war of words between Rachel Reeves and Jeremy Hunt over the £22bn black hole in Britain’s finances, a clear winner has emerged, says Sean O’Grady:

In this ‘clash of the chancellors’, who’s being economical with the truth?

Amid a furious war of words between Rachel Reeves and Jeremy Hunt over the £22bn black hole in Britain’s finances, a clear winner has emerged, says Sean O’Grady

Starmer says Southport attack ‘touches a nerve with the whole country’

Sir Keir Starmer has said the attack in Southport “touches a nerve with the whole country”.

Speaking to ITV he said: “I think it touches a nerve with the whole country. It’s awful to contemplate, to hear for myself the experiences of the first responders, what they had to deal with.

“It’s really hard to take in for anybody. It’s not what any of them came to work for. But of course, they’re professionals, and they deal with it.”

He added: “I think about the families, the friends, the loved ones, those directly impacted, and, of course, the wider community here. But there’s no pretending I think that anybody in the country is not untouched by what happened yesterday”

Reeves faces Labour backbench rebellion over winter deaths with fuel payment cuts

The chancellor has been tackled by their own side over how many more elderly people will die of cold as a result of stripping 10 million pensioners of their winter fuel payments.

In response to the red-on-red criticism in Parliament, the government frontbench said it understood the “disappointment”, but insisted it was the right, if tough choice, given the state of the public finances inherited from the Tories.

The new administration was also accused of “picking” on pensioners with the move, which it was claimed would wipe out the benefits of the triple lock, which guarantees state payouts rise each year in line with inflation, earnings or by 2.5% – whichever is higher.

Challenging the government, Labour peer Lord Sikka argued the move was “taking away” £300 from pensioners by “a measure that was not in our manifesto”.

He told the upper chamber: “I have received already many messages where pensioners are very, very concerned about this.

“The government could have introduced a taper to lessen the pain to help many pensioners. Would the minister give a commitment that he would have another look at that?”

He also pointed out a document produced by the Treasury “has lots of financial numbers but there is no mention of any human whatsoever”.

Lord Sikka said: “Last year, 5,000 pensioners died because of cold and were unable to afford heating. Has the minister made any estimates of how many more will die because £300 will be taken away from them?”

Pictured: Starmer visits Southport to pay tribute to victims

Angela Rayner’s plans for ‘council house revolution’ welcomed

Social housing plans announced by the Deputy Prime Minister as part of Labour’s overhaul of planning have been welcomed by organisations working with those most impacted by a shortage of homes.

Angela Rayner described the Government’s overhaul of the planning system as “the biggest boost to social and affordable housing in a generation”.

Although not stating a specific figure as a target for the number of social homes to be built annually, Ms Rayner stated an “aspiration” that in 2025-26, which is the first full financial year of the new Parliament, the number of social rent homes “is rising rather than falling”.

Liberal Democrat deputy leader Daisy Cooper, speaking in the Commons in response to Ms Rayner’s announcement, described a “conspicuous absence of a particular target on social homes – not affordable homes but on social homes”.

The Liberal Democrats have repeatedly called for a target of building 150,000 social homes a year.

Charities such as Shelter have long set out a target of 90,000 social homes a year, which they said is “necessary to end homelessness and relieve the extreme pressure on private renting”.

They said building 90,000 social homes “would pay for themselves in just three years and return an impressive £37.8 billion back to the economy, including through jobs, savings to the NHS and the benefits bill”.

Abbott leads Labour rebellion over Reeves’ spending cuts

Diane Abbott has led criticism of Rachel Reeves’s spending plans labelling them “renewed austerity”.

It comes as the chancellor unveiled a raft of brutal cuts to deal with a £22bn black hole in the country’s finances.

But her set of measures to save up on funding has sparked criticism among members of her own party.

The veteran MP for Hackney has accused Ms Reeves of presiding over an era of “renewed austerity”.

Ms Abbott is leading a left-wing backlash over the chancellor’s move to scrap winter fuel allowance payments, cancel transport projects and Boris Johnson’s plan to build more hospitals.

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