Leader of Welsh Tories resigns saying ‘substantial minority’ of party do not support him – UK politics live | Politics

Catherine West, a Foreign Office minister, is responding to the urgent question about Ukraine.

She says UK support for Ukraine is “ironclad”. In her opening statement, she does not mention negotiations, or the PM’s speech last night.

In her response, Priti Patel, the shadow foreign secretary, says Keir Starmer’s language was last night was new. In the past the government has said the UK will do what it takes to support Ukraine.

She says all MPs want to see Ukraine in the strongest possible postion.

But she goes on:

If the government is now framing this through the lens of negotiation, does the minister believe that this would represent a departure from the current approach and the statements that have been issued in this house?

Priti Patel, the shadow foreign secretary, is asking a Commons urgent question about Ukraine.

In his Mansion House speech last night, Keir Starmer hinted that the the government expects Ukraine to open negotiations with Russia soon about a possible peace deal. He said:

And let’s be clear, the future of freedom in Europe is being decided today. We face a near and present danger with Russia as an erratic, increasingly desperate aggressor, on our continent marshalling all its resources – along with North Korean troops and Iranian missiles – aiming to kill and to conquer.

So there’s no question. It’s right we support Ukraine. But we must also be clear that it is deeply in our self-interest to do so. I would encourage everyone here to stop and think for a moment about what it would mean to us, to our continent, to the world if Russia wins. What would it mean for our values – for democracy, commerce, and liberty?

It means they are weakened. It means that other autocrats would believe they can follow in Putin’s example. And it means that our own security, stability and prosperity – are damaged. The further Russian troops advance, the closer the threat becomes. The more land they control, the more they control grain prices and energy sources, and the more confident Putin becomes.

So we must continue to back Ukraine and do what it takes to support their self-defence for as long as it takes. To put Ukraine in the strongest possible position for negotiations so that they can secure a just and lasting peace on their terms that guarantees their security, independence – and right to choose their future.

This is what Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, told MPs during Treasury questions about the appointment of Tom Hayhoe as her Covid corruption commissioner.

Sound management of the public finances means spending wisely and not sending money to fraudsters. Today I have appointed the health expert Tom Hayhoe as our new Covid counter-fraud commissioner.

As chair of a NHS trust during the pandemic he saw the urgency of getting PPE to NHS staff when they needed it. Now he is at his desk in my department starting the work to investigate the billions of pounds lost to fraud and underperforming contracts and instead ensuring that money is where it belongs in our public services.

Tom Hayhoe will leave no stone unturned in investigating the carnival of fraud that the previous government presided over, including in PPE contracts where they recommended that any attempts to reclaim that money be abandoned.

Welsh Labour says Davies’s resignation shows Tories still ‘naval gazing’ and ignoring needs of voters

Steven Morris

Welsh Labour accused the Tories of focusing on themselves rather than the people of Wales. A spokesperson said:

The Welsh Conservative summer of naval gazing continues into the autumn. Instead of focusing on the needs of the people of Wales and reflecting on why voters so thoroughly rejected them in the General Election, they are choosing to continue to focus on themselves.

The Welsh Conservatives have shown themselves, once more, to not be a serious party. Only Welsh Labour is serious about delivering for the people of Wales.

Welsh Labour has had a terrible year itself with its former leader and first minister Vaughan Gething forced to resign following an election donation scandal.

Reform UK, which is targeting seats at the Senedd election, said:

True to form, the Tories have turfed out another leader thinking that will resurrect their failing party. They care more about jousting for position than they do about serving Welsh people.

It does not matter who they have as leader, the simple fact is they have failed in opposition just as they failed Wales in government in Westminster for 14 years.

Welsh Tory leader Andrew RT Davies resigns, saying his position ‘untenable’ after he almost lost confidence vote

Steven Morris

The leader of the Welsh Tories, Andrew RT Davies, has announced his resignation – despite winning a vote of confidence called following a dismal UK general election campaign and concern over comments he has made on halal meat, the abolition of the Welsh parliament and the country’s 20mph speed limit law.

Nine members of the Welsh parliament’s Tory group backed Davies while seven were against him. But Davies says the fact that he almost lost has made it impossible for him to stay on.

Davies, a farmer from Cowbridge in south Wales, has twice led the Tories in Wales, from 2011 to 2018 and then again from 2021 but his leadership has come under scrutiny in recent months.

The Tories were completely wiped out in Wales at the UK general election.

They are currently the second biggest part in the Senedd, the Welsh parliament, but a poll published this week put them in fourth place behind Plaid, Labour and Reform UK when people were asked who they would vote for at the next Senedd elections in 2026.

Davies has faced criticism after claiming “children should not be forced to eat halal school lunches” in an article for GB News, when a constituent alleged she was told non-halal meat was not available at her daughter’s school.

He was criticised for a post on social media from the Vale of Glamorgan County Show inviting people to have their say on abolishing the Senedd – not a Tory policy.

Davies was also reprimanded for bringing the Senedd into disrepute by calling Wales’ 20mph speed limit a “blanket” policy, which is wrong because there are exemptions.

In his resignation letter, Davies says that even though he won the confidence vote, a “substantial minority” of Tory MSs (members of the Senedd) oppose him. He says this has made his position “untenable”.

Here is an extract from the resignation letter.

And here is a tweet with a link to the full letter.

A Labour candidate who placed a bet on himself during the election campaign says he was “badly treated” by the party and is calling for politicians to be banned from gambling on elections, PA Media reports. PA says:

Kevin Craig was running to become MP for Central Suffolk and North Ipswich when he was suspended by the Labour party for placing a bet on himself to lose.

He has been cleared by the Gambling Commission and is now promoting a bill to bar politicians from gambling on elections so others “do not have to endure the same fate”.

The Labour Party has lifted his suspension. The Gambling Commission said it had closed its investigation into him.

Craig “acted lawfully” when he placed the bet and the gambling watchdog’s conclusion is a “complete and total exoneration”, his lawyer said in a statement.

The law prohibits placing a bet with inside information, but there is no law to prevent a politician betting on the outcome of an election in general, he said. He said the Labour candidate had no inside information, no way of knowing who would win the election, and placed frequent bets on all sorts of outcomes and events.

“It is widely recognised that some people place bets against the result they wish to happen, for example, betting against their football team. Such behaviour helps cushion the disappointment of a loss,” the lawyer said.

No investigation took place before Craig’s name was disclosed and he was publicly suspended from the Labour Party, his lawyer added.

“The first Kevin Craig knew of this matter was when he was publicly suspended and that should not have happened.”

He said there was “no precedent” for such action by the party.

“We trust that everyone will accept Kevin Craig’s exoneration and see him as the diligent, decent and honest man that he is. He has been badly treated. He will now promote a bill banning politicians from gambling on elections in order that there is clarity and others do not have to endure the same fate.”

The Conservatives won the Central Suffolk and North Ipswich seat in the July election with a majority of 4,290, down from 23,391 at the 2019 election.

MPs will vote later today on the second reading of the national insurance contributions (secondary class 1 contributions) bill – the legislation implementing the big rise in employers’ national insurance announced in the budget. This proposal has managed to unite all the main opposition parties, which are opposed.

The Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats have tabled separate amendments opposing the bill. A third amendment that would block it has been tabled jointly by the SNP and Plaid Cymru, and signed by the Green party.

The four main parties tabling the amendments have all released statements ahead of the vote. For the Tories, Mel Stride, the shadow chancellor, said:

Broken promises have consequences. This national insurance increase means lower wages, fewer jobs, the closure of businesses and lower growth.

Daisy Cooper, the Lib Dem Treasury spokesperson,

This government rightly says that its big economic mission is to drive up growth but this tax rise will undermine growth not unleash it.

Small businesses are the engine of growth but these taxes will make it more expensive for them to employ people and harder to expand.

Health and wealth are two sides of the same coin but for community health providers like pharmacies, GPs and our care sector, it will pile on the cost pressure, leaving patients to suffer.

There is no doubt the Conservatives left an enormous mess but this is not the way to fix it. We have said time and again that the government should have looked to the big banks and social media giants to fund our NHS and other vital public services.

Dave Doogan, the SNP Westminster economy spokesperson, said:

Two months on from the UK budget and it is clearer by the day that not only was Labour’s massive national insurance tax hike ill-thought out, but that Scotland was clearly an afterthought.

Ben Lake, the Plaid Cymru Treasury spokesperson, said:

The UK government had the opportunity to explore more progressive and fairer ways to raise revenue – such as equalising capital gains tax with income tax or introducing a wealth tax. Instead, they opted for a path that shifts the burden onto those least able to bear it, at a time of significant financial strain on public services and businesses.

Donald Trump has picked investment banker and Republican mega-donor Warren Stephens to serve as ambassador to the UK, Alice Herman reports.

Here is the full list of anti-stalking measures announced by the Home Office today.

These orders can ban stalkers from going within a certain distance of their victims or contacting them, and can also compel them to attend a perpetrator programme to address the root causes of their behaviour.

Currently, these can only be applied when an offender is convicted and when a protection order was in place before they went on trial. Once implemented, under new measures, courts will be given the power to impose restrictions on perpetrators after they have been convicted even if there was no protection order in place before they went on trial, stopping, for example, offenders from contacting their victims from prison. Courts will also be able to directly apply protection orders on those who have been acquitted if there is enough evidence to suggest that they are still a risk to the victim.

Under the package of anti-stalking measures announced today, the courts will be able to impose stalking protection orders on people in prison. Explaining why this was needed, Jess Phillips, the minister for safeguarding and violence against women and girls, told LBC:

Judges will be able to hand out stalking protection orders to people on conviction, which they currently can’t do, which will stop people being stalked by people in prison, which I’m afraid to say, is a very real thing, and it happened to me,.

I had somebody who was in prison for harming – well, seeking to harm me – and then was able to write letters to me, contact me from prison.

Phillips said she had come across “quite a lot of cases” where ex-partners in prison for crimes against their wives or girlfriends were able to stalk them online from prison and contact them from prison.

Asked how stalking affected her, Phillips said:

I think that for most victims, what you try and do is diminish it at first. You try and assume that … it’s just one of those things where it’s somebody who keeps showing advances towards you, or, you know, you live rent-free in someone’s head when you’re a politician, until the point at which it ramps up and it begins to control you. And I’m a person with quite a lot of power. So these, these crimes are usually about power and control.

Good morning. Jess Phillips, the minister for safeguarding and violence against women and girls, was the government voice on the morning broadcast round. She says she is unveiling six measures to protect the victims of stalking, including “right to know” guidance intended to ensure that the police tell victims the identity of online stalkers as soon as they can. Speaking on Times Radio, Phillips said:

I have been a victim of stalking, and I wasn’t told [the identity of the stalker]. I didn’t have the right to know. And in most of the cases of my stalkers, they made it clear who they were as part of their desire to control and frighten me. I’m afraid to say that I’ve had more than one in my life.

Phillips also cited the case of the activist and former Coronation Street actor Nicola Thorp who was stalked online by someone who set up almost 30 social media accounts to send her violent and threatening messages. Phillips said:

This was a case raised by Nicola Thorp, where somebody had been stalking her over multiple identities online, and when they said the police told her that they’d found out who it was, they then told her that they couldn’t tell her who it was.

And so everybody became her stalker – the person she was sat next to on the street – and already, when you’re living through something as harrowing as somebody stalking you and making you feel frightened and anxious, the idea that then you have to distrust all of the people around you as well just seems like a terrible added burden … and so that is what we’re going to eliminate.

I will post more on the package of measures shortly.

Otherwise, it’s a mixed, but busyish day. Here is the agenda.

Morning: Keir Starmer chairs cabinet.

10.50am: Starmer meets Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the Greek prime minister, in Downing Street.

11.30am: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.

11.30am: Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, takes questions in the Commons. She is expected to confirm the appointment of Tom Hayhoe, a former Conservative cabinet adviser, as her Covid corruption commissioner.

After 12.30pm: MPs debate the bill implementing the increase in employers’ national insurance announced in the budget.

2.30pm: Stephen Parkinson, the director of public prosecutions, gives evidence to the Commons justice committee.

4.45pm: Reeves gives a speech and takes part in a Q&A at the Yorkshire Post’s Great Northern conference.

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