Starmer say he thinks ‘much’ of what Blair had to say about his record yesterday was wrong
Keir Starmer has said that “much” of what Tony Blair said in his 5,700-word essay yesterday criticising the record of the government was wrong.
During a visit to a train depot in west London, Starmer was asked by a reporter how he felt about being criticised by Labour’s most successful prime minister.
Starmer started with a compliment for his predecessor.
Let me start with where I agree with Tony Blair.
I agree with him, that we should be having a discussion about policy and ideas, and that’s what generates politics. That’s where the focus should be. So Tony is right about that.
But then Starmer, who seemed to be enjoying the chance to hit back, then went on to say he thought Blair was mostly wrong. He said:
You won’t be surprised to know that I don’t agree with much what Tony says about what the government is doing.
We can all argue about individual policies, but the real question is, what’s the change, what’s the difference that is happening in a country we inherited two years ago in a very poor place?
We put the policy in place to stabilise the economy and make sure that it grew so wealth was created in every part of the country.
Because of our policy choices, that is happening.
Starmer then launched into a long defence of his record.
We took policy choices that we needed better public services. They were on their knees when we inherited them.
We took policy choices that we would invest in those public services, that we would introduce new technologies, particularly in the NHS. As a result, waiting lists are coming down with the biggest drop for 17 years actually recorded just two weeks ago. So [we took] the right policy choices there.
We also had to address the question of how do we get migration down without affecting economic growth, which is a difficult balance. Again, we took our policy choices and you see the growth figures are up and the migration figures are down, which tells you the change that we brought about in two short years.
And then on the international stage, which is obviously hugely important at such a volatile time, we have in two short years rebuilt our relationship with many countries, particularly in the EU – we’re now a trusted colleague, an ally of our EU partners – but at the same time as maintaining our relationship with the US. And so many people said that wouldn’t be possible.
So actually, my response to Tony is, yes, it’s right to talk about policy, it’s right to talk about ideas, that’s where the debate should be.
But actually, I don’t agree that the policy choices of this government weren’t the right policy choice given what we inherited – very different situation in 2024 to 1997.
And, dealing with what we had to turn around, the policy choices, we’re vindicated by them because those changes have happened.
Key events
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Starmer indicates he would fight any leadership challenge this summer, saying he won’t ‘walk away’
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Starmer say he thinks ‘much’ of what Blair had to say about his record yesterday was wrong
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Swinney accused of trying to ‘shut down scrutiny’ as he rejects call for inquiry into Peter Murrell’s embezzlement of SNP funds
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Brexit rules on food exports to be scrapped, government confirms
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4 charts from Milburn’s report on Neets showing why he says crisis getting worse
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A record of failure’: what’s in the first part of Milburn’s Neets report?
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Scottish Greens urge Swinney to tax wealth instead of axing jobs at first FMQs since election
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Badenoch criticises British Museum for delaying Jewish event over protest fears
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UK risks £125bn hit a year from youth unemployment, landmark report says
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Milburn says employers need ‘new deal’ to help encourage them to hire more young Britons as immigration falls
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Milburn says UK should learn from Netherlands, where further education system much better and Neet rates much lower
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Milburn says Ofsted system needs to change so schools incentivised to stop pupils becoming Neets
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Milburn says migrants not to blame for Neets crisis – but falling immigration creates ‘opportunity’ to help solve problem
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Milburn says welfare system failing to help get young people into work
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Milburn says he would like to see benefits spending fall, but via getting more people into jobs not via ‘arbitrary’ cuts
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Milburn says he’s not interested in blame game, and wants to focus on solutions
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Milburn warns ‘bad things’ will happen if people conclude politics can’t solve problems like Neet crisis
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Milburn says Labour policies have not helped jobs situation for Neets – but stresses problem goes back much longer
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Milburn says ‘great British promise’, that each generation does better than last, ‘is being broken’
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Milburn says Neet crisis ‘a moral one’, as well as financial, costing Neets £300,000 over their lifetime
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Neet rate could rise to 1 in 6, says Milburn, as he warns detachment ‘becoming permanent’ for young people
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Milburn opens press conference saying Neet crisis ‘probably most significant crisis facing country today’
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Zack Polanski says media scrutiny he gets is ‘incredibly disproportionate’ compared to attention given to Nigel Farage
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Milburn suggests he favours ban on social media for under-16s
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More than one million young people not in education, employment or training, ONS says
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Mitigating Mandelson risks would have been impossible, says former MI6 chief
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Britain ‘sleepwalking into a food crisis’ without urgent action, experts say
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Streeting criticises Blair for wanting to leave too much power in hands of markets
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Minimum wage rise has made it difficult for employers to hire young people, says Alan Milburn
Starmer indicates he would fight any leadership challenge this summer, saying he won’t ‘walk away’
In his pooled interview for broadcasters, Keir Starmer was also asked if he would be a candidate in the event of a leadership contest this summer.
Using the line he has used before, he indicated that he would, saying he “would not walk away”.
He replied:
I‘ve said many times that, I was elected, we were elected, on a mandate of change in 2024. I’m not going to walk away from that because of the great change that we’ve brought about already …
So there’s a lot more to do. And as I’ve said a number of times, I’m not walking away from the responsibility that was invested in me. People invested in me the responsibility to get on and govern. And I think the vast majority of people want us politicians to get on with the job they elected us to do, which is get on, run the country and improve their lives. And that’s what I’ll do.
Given that polling of Labour party members suggests Andy Burnham would beat Starmer quite easily in a leadership election, many MPs believe that, notwithstanding what Starmer is saying now, if Burnham does return to parliament, Starmer would not want to fight what would be a bitter contest. There is an assumption that instead he would agree a timetable to stand down in the autumn, or even early next year.
But no one actually knows and, if there is a plan, it’s a secret. It is more probable that Starmer is putting off a decision until after the byelection. A lot will depend on Burnham’s standing with Labour MPs at that point.
Starmer say he thinks ‘much’ of what Blair had to say about his record yesterday was wrong
Keir Starmer has said that “much” of what Tony Blair said in his 5,700-word essay yesterday criticising the record of the government was wrong.
During a visit to a train depot in west London, Starmer was asked by a reporter how he felt about being criticised by Labour’s most successful prime minister.
Starmer started with a compliment for his predecessor.
Let me start with where I agree with Tony Blair.
I agree with him, that we should be having a discussion about policy and ideas, and that’s what generates politics. That’s where the focus should be. So Tony is right about that.
But then Starmer, who seemed to be enjoying the chance to hit back, then went on to say he thought Blair was mostly wrong. He said:
You won’t be surprised to know that I don’t agree with much what Tony says about what the government is doing.
We can all argue about individual policies, but the real question is, what’s the change, what’s the difference that is happening in a country we inherited two years ago in a very poor place?
We put the policy in place to stabilise the economy and make sure that it grew so wealth was created in every part of the country.
Because of our policy choices, that is happening.
Starmer then launched into a long defence of his record.
We took policy choices that we needed better public services. They were on their knees when we inherited them.
We took policy choices that we would invest in those public services, that we would introduce new technologies, particularly in the NHS. As a result, waiting lists are coming down with the biggest drop for 17 years actually recorded just two weeks ago. So [we took] the right policy choices there.
We also had to address the question of how do we get migration down without affecting economic growth, which is a difficult balance. Again, we took our policy choices and you see the growth figures are up and the migration figures are down, which tells you the change that we brought about in two short years.
And then on the international stage, which is obviously hugely important at such a volatile time, we have in two short years rebuilt our relationship with many countries, particularly in the EU – we’re now a trusted colleague, an ally of our EU partners – but at the same time as maintaining our relationship with the US. And so many people said that wouldn’t be possible.
So actually, my response to Tony is, yes, it’s right to talk about policy, it’s right to talk about ideas, that’s where the debate should be.
But actually, I don’t agree that the policy choices of this government weren’t the right policy choice given what we inherited – very different situation in 2024 to 1997.
And, dealing with what we had to turn around, the policy choices, we’re vindicated by them because those changes have happened.
Swinney accused of trying to ‘shut down scrutiny’ as he rejects call for inquiry into Peter Murrell’s embezzlement of SNP funds
John Swinney has been accused of “trying to shut down scrutiny” as he again rejected calls for a Holyrood inquiry to be established into Peter Murrell’s crimes, the Press Association reports. PA says:
The former SNP chief executive – and estranged husband of Nicola Sturgeon – this week pleaded guilty to embezzling more than £400,000 from the party.
The issue was raised at first minister’s questions, with Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar alleging Swinney – who appointed Murrell in his first stint as SNP leader – had “helped build” a culture in the party that enabled the crime.
Swinney dismissed that as “victim blaming”, adding that Sarwar should be “ashamed of himself”.
But the Scottish Labour leader insisted a parliamentary inquiry was now needed because “secrecy and cover-up go far beyond one individual or one case”.
Sarwar said: “At its heart is an SNP culture where secrecy became normal, dissent dangerous and people learned that speaking out carried a heavy price. All while those at the top of the SNP machine operated without scrutiny.”
He added that a parliamentary inquiry would not consider criminal behaviour, but would instead “look at the culture, the process of decision-making and lessons for the future”.
The Scottish Labour leader insisted it would “answer the many questions that the public have.
But Swinney told him he did not support a parliamentary inquiry, telling MSPs: “We have just had a police investigation which has gone on for five years and that police investigation has identified criminality as the source of this particular issue, and that is now being remedied.
“So, I don’t think there is anything a parliamentary inquiry can add to a five-year forensic police investigation that has resulted in the successful prosecution of an individual and his guilty plea.”
The SNP leader added: “What I would rather do is concentrate on the priorities of the people of Scotland, as I always do.”
Speaking to reporters after FMQs, Swinney said he did not believe Murrell had embezzled public funds.
He said: “I’m satisfied that we’ve gone through all of the accounting processes that are required to secure that money, which is validated by external bodies.”
Asked if Murrell could have falsified receipts and invoices to steal public funds, Mr Swinney added: “I’m satisfied that that has not been the case.”
The first minister was also asked which checks Ms Sturgeon had made when she previously gave assurances that there were no issues with the party’s finances.
He said: “I don’t know all of the conversations that took place but at the heart of this case is a very simple point: there was a betrayal of trust.”
Brexit rules on food exports to be scrapped, government confirms
Brexit rules affecting UK food exports to the EU, including fresh sausages and burgers, will be scrapped from mid-2027 in the first confirmed result of Keir Starmer’s “reset” negotiations with Brussels, Lisa O’Carroll reports.
Asked about the Guardian’s story, the EU spokesperson on EU-UK relations, Balazs Ujvari, claimed that the negotiations had yet to be finalised. “On the SPS, of course there have been negotiations going on for quite a while, and to my knowledge these negotiations are still ongoing, and of course will not be commenting on them as long as they are not fully completed,” he said.
4 charts from Milburn’s report on Neets showing why he says crisis getting worse
Here are four charts from Alan Milburn’s report on Neets that illustrate why he says the crisis is getting worse.
1) How UK’s youth Neet rate is getting worse compared to other European countries
The report says:
The UK now sits above the average youth Neet rate for high-income countries, the EU and the OECD. In 2025 the EU average for 15 to 24-year-olds was 9%, compared with 12.8% for 16- to 24-year-olds in the UK at the end of 2025. The gap is no longer just with the strongest performers. In 2014, the UK was around the European average. By 2025, only Romania recorded a higher rate.
2) How Neet rates are going up by gender
In the past young women were more likely to be Neet than young men, but that has changed. The report says:
In 2012, the UK female Neet rate exceeded the male rate by 1.8 percentage points. By 2024 males were 2.9 points higher, at 14.3% compared with 11.4%. The improvement for women reflects, in significant part, the decline in teenage pregnancy, with the under-18 conception rate in England and Wales falling 66% between 2007 and 2022.
3) How disability rates are rising for Neets, and for all young people
The report says:
In 2024/25, nearly half of young people who are Neet in the UK, 45%, report having a disability – more than doubling from 21.1% in 2013/14. Disability prevalence among all 16- to 24-year-olds has also doubled, from 10% to 19.7% over the last ten years. Young people considered to have special educational needs or disabilities (Send) are around 80% more likely to be Neet than average.
4) Proportion of Neets with particular health conditions
A record of failure’: what’s in the first part of Milburn’s Neets report?
Here is Peter Walker’s guide to what is in Alan Milburn’s report on Neets out today.
Scottish Greens urge Swinney to tax wealth instead of axing jobs at first FMQs since election
John Swinney should tax the wealthy in Scotland instead of axing public sector jobs, the Scottish Greens have said. Co-leader Gillian Mackay warned the government’s focus on “public sector reform” would likely mean slashing budgets and cutting jobs, the Press Association reports. PA says:
Speaking during the inaugural first minister’s questions since the election, Mackay urged the first minister to agree to a bigger rollout of a four-day work week for public workers.
She also called on the SNP leader to work with her party to reform council tax – something long promised but not delivered by the SNP.
Mackay said: “We know public sector reform is badly needed, but trade unions in particular are rightly concerned that reform is usually a euphemism for slashing budgets and cutting jobs.”
Mackay said more money had to be raised from the “super rich” in Scotland and urged the first minister to “explore all options for taxing wealth before cutting public sector jobs”.
She asked the FM to back calls from Tax Justice Scotland to replace council tax by 2031 “at the latest”.
The group, which brings together more than 50 organisations campaigning for tax reforms, also wants the Scottish government to make faster progress on introducing a new levy on private jets.
It made the demands in an open letter to the first minister, with campaigners arguing “bold steps towards tax justice” could help provide funds to reduce inequality, invest in public services and tackle climate change.
Swinney said he was open to reforming or even abolishing council tax in Scotland but the government had to have “reliable means” in place to fund public services.
On reform, the first minister said while he understood concerns from trade unions, Scotland had “to be open to new ways of delivering public services”, saying Holyrood had to be a “bold” parliament.
He said Ivan McKee, public service reform secretary, would look to improve public services while making the government’s finances more sustainable, suggesting services could be delivered better while costing less.
He added: “Of course, without a majority in this parliament, the government is going to have to work with others to come to common positions, and I look forward to taking those discussions forward with many colleagues across the political spectrum.”
Badenoch criticises British Museum for delaying Jewish event over protest fears
Kemi Badenoch has criticised the British Museum for postponing a talk on Jewish culture because of potential protests, the Press Associaton reports.
The museum said it had postponed the event after being told a “significant proportion” of attendees were planning to disrupt it, PA says. The lecture on ancient Israel and Judah was due to take place this afternoon as part of Jewish Culture Month.
In a statement, the British Museum said:
In recent days, we were informed that a significant proportion of registered attendees were individuals intending to deliberately disrupt the event, preventing others from participating in good faith and undermining the purpose of the programme.
The British Museum fully recognises the importance of lawful protest and freedom of expression in a democratic society. Equally, we have a responsibility to ensure that events hosted within the Museum can proceed safely, securely and without intimidation for speakers, staff and visitors alike.
Following discussions with organisers and security partners, a joint decision was taken to postpone the event to a later date when it can take place in an environment that properly safeguards both the audience experience and the integrity of the programme itself.
In a post on social media, George Osborne, the former Tory chancellor who is now chair of the British Museum, urged people to read the statement before taking a view on the story.
But this morning Badenoch suggested that postponing the event was unacceptable. In a statment she said:
Jewish Culture Month is meant to promote awareness of and celebrate Jewish culture in the UK. This decision achieves precisely the opposite.
Jewish acts and actors are now being routinely cancelled from events across the UK. As with the marches and protests going past Synagogues and knocking on doors intimidating Jews, the end result is an erasure of Jews and Jewish culture from Britain’s public space.
The government says it wants to combat antisemitism, it needs to tell publicly funded institutions like the British Museum to do what’s necessary to put this event on. The Conservatives will always make sure that Britain feels a safe place for Jews.
UPDATE: Nadia Khomami has more on the museum’s decision here.
UK risks £125bn hit a year from youth unemployment, landmark report says
Here is Richard Partington’s story about the Milburn report.
Milburn says employers need ‘new deal’ to help encourage them to hire more young Britons as immigration falls
Q: According to a thinktank report, 27 young non-EU migrants have been hired for every one Briton since 2020. Do you think employers should have to offer jobs to British young people first?
Milburn said he thought that would happen anyway because immigration levels are falling. (See 12.20pm.)
But he said employers would need more support from government to allow this to happen. He explained:
You bring in a migrant worker. They’re often experienced. They’re often a bit older. There’s a high work appetite.
A young person might well have a big work appetite, but they’ve had no work experience, never been exposed to the world of work, never had an opportunity to have that Saturday job, a bit of work experience.
And so this is going to mean that employers are going to have to work a bit harder in order to get the very best out of those young British workers. But that’s what they should be doing.
And the deal that we need to construct as a society is if employers are going to do that, how can the government help them and enable them to do that as well?
That’s the new deal. And it’s an important one in a world where levels of migration are seemingly on … a pretty clear downward trajectory.
Q: Do you think there should be a separate welfare system for young people?
Milburn said the benefits system has “different purposes for different cohorts in the population”.
He said the system had to be geared to the needs of young people. That issue should be considered, he said.
Q: Are you worried that the structure of Pip (the personal independence payments) keeps young people out of the labour market? Does the government need to review how it works.
Milburn said:
In a sense it’s unfair to blame Pip for not getting good participation outcomes because that’s not what it was set up to do. It was set up with an entirely different purpose in mind.
But, in the light of how much Pip costs are rising, it is right to review it, he said. He said Stephen Timms is doing that for the government.
Milburn says UK should learn from Netherlands, where further education system much better and Neet rates much lower
Q: Spending on adult apprenticeships and adult education has fallen sharply since 2010. Is that part of the problem?
Yes, it is, Milburn said.
If you look at countries comparable to ours, take Holland as an example. Holland has a third of the Neet rate that we do in the UK.
Is that about Dutch kids being different from British kids? Not all.
Is that about their labour market being different? Maybe a bit.
What is it fundamentally about? It’s about some structural things.
First of all, it’s about the question that you ask, which is they make a priority of vocational education and investment in it. And when you look at the numbers, there’s a far higher proportion of Dutch kids, Dutch young people, in the equivalent of our FE colleges than there are here. So they’ve made a deliberate choice and it’s produced a pretty good outcome.
Secondly, they approach things in different structural way. So one of the very striking features of the Dutch system, for example, is it’s much more integrated. The services pull together. Ours is fractured. They’re integrated. They’re pulled together.
There’s one data set. Critically there’s one organisation responsible. We have no one responsible here because everyone is.
And the final part of the action that they seem to get right, that we get wrong, is that employers are much more engaged from the outset with the education system, so that kids are getting familiarity with employers, with the world of work, with work experience, with all of those things that we know that employers are crying out for.
I’m not saying you can do a lift and shift from the Dutch system because you can’t. There’s different traditions, different cultures, different structures. But, boy o boy, is there something to learn.
Milburn says Ofsted system needs to change so schools incentivised to stop pupils becoming Neets
Milburn said he would like to see schools given better incentives to stop their pupils endinng up Neet. He said:
You get five good GCSEs, that’s great, you get a tick in the box, the school does well, it passes its Ofsted inspection.
What happens if 30% of those kids end up Neet? Is that a good result or is it a bad result? I would say that’s a bad result.
So we’ve got to change the incentive system, we’ve got to change the inspection system, we’ve got to change what it is that schools and colleges are accountable for.
That’s quite a big change. But honestly, it needs to happen.
Milburn said he has been talking to mayors a lot as part of his review. They would be a big part of the solution, he suggested.
The labour market in Middlesbrough is just a different labour market from Islington.
And the people who’ve got to decide about what is right in that labour market for matching supply with demand have got to be based in those local areas.
And a big part of this equation is further education and vocational education more generally.
Milburn says migrants not to blame for Neets crisis – but falling immigration creates ‘opportunity’ to help solve problem
Q: Is immigration part of the problem?
Milburn replied:
We found no evidence that there is a link between levels of migration and higher levels of Neets.
Milburn said it was true to say that immigration has been high over the past 10 to 15 years, and that migrants were working in sectors of the economy, like hospitality and retail, where traditionally young people worked.
He went on:
I’d like to sort of couched it in a slightly different way if I can, which is I think migration is now an opportunity to help solve the problem.
We’re on a downward trend, migration levels down, not up. I don’t know how long that’s going to last, but it seems to be pretty consistent. All the economists tell me that it will keep falling, and we could have a minus net level of migration figure before too long.
And frankly, to be honest, too many employers have been on Easy Street. They’ve been able to import labour from overseas rather than grow labour and skills at home.
I know they’ve all got a problem. Talk to any employer, talk to employers and hospitality at the bottom end of the labour market, talk to employers in technology at the top end of the labour market, and they will all complain about the same thing, which is a shortage of skilled labour.
So where they’re going to recruit from. There’s a pool of labour [young people – the Neets]
Is it straightforward, is it easy? No. Is the pastoral burden for an employer higher? Yes it is. And that means back to some of these questions about national insurance contributions.
And we’ve got to accept that the pastoral burden for employers will be higher and therefore the support that employers will need, particularly small and medium sized enterprises will be higher too.
Reverting to what he said earlier (see 11.48am), Milburn said this should not be a “blame game” issue.
It’s one of those issues that’s a blame game issue. We just blame immigration as the problem. It’s not really, it isn’t.
Milburn says welfare system failing to help get young people into work
Q: Do you want to see more conditionality in the benefits system, with people losing welfare payments if they don’t take part in work or training?
Milburn said that he was not making policy recommendations today.
But he said the report explains how the system works, and he said that some of incentives in the welfare system were “perverse”.
He went on:
There’s a backlog of two million waiting for a reassessment of their work capability. That’s two million people who could be helped into being in a job.
We’re not doing face to face assessments in the way that we once were. That means you can’t have a meaningful conversation with a young person who might have autism, might be living in a rural area where there’s no public transport. You want to be able to have a meaningful conversation with these people.
Milburn says he would like to see benefits spending fall, but via getting more people into jobs not via ‘arbitrary’ cuts
Q: Do you think Labour has the appetite for welfare reform in the light of what happened last year when it tried to cut Pip (the personal independence payment – a disability benefit)?
Milburn replied:
I’ve always taken the view that you live and learn. And I like to think that people in government – and Pat [McFadden] is one of them – have lived and learned.
Look, if you frame welfare reform is all about cost out and taking money away from people, particularly those who are sick and disabled, you are going to get an appropriate response. And that is what has happened.
So what are we trying to do here? We’re trying to do something entirely different, which is to say what is going on for young people from early years all the way through to the welfare system. What is it that we need to do to enable them to do what they want to do, which is to be in work?
Miliburn said he was regularly asked if he thought the benefits bill should be lower. He went on:
The honest answer to that question is yes, it should.
But the sustainable way to reduce the benefits bill is not by plucking an arbitrary figure out of thin air and saying, we’re going to cut it.
The way to do it is to get more young people into work, because if they’re working, they’re earning. If they’re earning pay, paying taxes. If they pay in taxes, they’re less reliant on benefits.
Milburn said the problem with the system now was that it was set up in the wrong way.
The first instinct is to say to a young person, particularly with a health condition or a disabled person, you can’t work, rather than saying to them, what would it be that would enable you to work? How can we help and support you to do so?
So I think honestly, that is the right question.
Milburn said he thought cabinet ministers agreed.
My sense is that there is an appetite to go back into this [welfare reform], but to go back into it in the right way.