Thursday, March 13, 2025

Keir Starmer insisted that "we are not going down that route" of "austerity" in answer to questions after his speech in Hull today. 

The most eye-catching line in the speech was the surprise abolition of NHS England, the arms'-length bureaucracy that runs the health service, duplicating many of the functions of the Department of Health. 

But the problem of rising welfare costs continues to press in on the government. Ed Balls, the former shadow chancellor, said on his podcast with George Osborne: "Cutting the benefits of the most vulnerable in our society who can't work to pay for that [the fiscal challenge] is not going to work, and it's not a Labour thing to do."

Osborne said he had tried to "reduce the generosity" of personal independence payments (PIP) in the Budget in 2016 and "made a big case about how we've got to deal with incapacity benefits going up, Iain Duncan Smith resigned as the welfare secretary from the cabinet, and I had to back down on it".

More trouble ahead.

To give some idea of the human cost, our reporter Albert Toth spoke to people with experience of PIP.

Written by John Rentoul

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MOST COMMENTED

A look back at the week in Westminster 

Keir Starmer has gained in confidence

Our editorial yesterday hailed the prime minister as the "careful, unshowy, intelligent and assiduous leader the country needs" and noted that he has grown in confidence, especially since Donald Trump upended assumptions about global security. 

 
This assurance was on show at Prime Minister's Questions again yesterday, when I thought Kemi Badenoch did well to align herself with the discontent of voters facing rising bills – but Keir Starmer won the argument because she does not have an alternative policy. 

"She wants all the benefits of the Budget in terms of investment but she doesn't want to pay for it – that's how we got into this mess in the first place."

And now today's surprise abolition of the NHS England bureaucracy has been universally welcomed, including by Conservatives. 

QUOTATION OF THE DAY

"I wish we'd had the guts to do this"

Jim Bethell, Conservative former health minister, on the abolition of NHS England

Quiz answer: Argentina (thanks to Chris Maume)

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