Newslinks for Tuesday 1st of July 2025

July 1, 2025

Labour MPs dig their heels in as Starmer’s U-turn fails to quash back bench rebellion

“Sir Keir Starmer has been accused by leading rebel MPs of breaking his promises over welfare as he faces the biggest rebellion of his premiership. Debbie Abrahams, the Labour chair of the work and pensions committee, urged the government to “think again” and said she would vote against the reforms or abstain unless there were further changes. Several other senior backbenchers raised concerns and warned that the government’s plans would lead to a “three-tier” benefits system. They urged the government to reconsider the legislation. On Thursday the prime minister agreed to protect all existing claimants of personal independence payments (PIP), a form of disability benefit, and those receiving the health element of universal credit, which is paid to those unable to work. The policy reversal will cost about £3 billion. The government believed the concessions would be sufficient to ensure that the legislation enacting the reforms would pass in the Commons. However, whips believed that about 50 MPs could still rebel, making it easily the biggest rebellion of Starmer’s premiership.” – The Times

Starmer’s benefits deal with rebels unravels – Daily Telegraph
Revised UK welfare reforms to push 150,000 into poverty – FT
As Starmer’s welfare U-turn falls flat…Rebel MPs are set to humiliate the PM – Daily Mail
No 10 plan to avert Labour welfare rebellion in chaos amid division over scale of concessions – Guardian
Labour rebels who forced benefits U-turn think they can end two-child cap – The i
The Starmer facing fresh rebellion over welfare cuts ahead of crunch vote – Daily Express
Crunch vote. Sir Keir Starmer still facing open revolt on welfare after £2.5bn softening fails to appease Labour MPs – The Sun
Who are the key Labour rebels in the revolt against Starmer’s welfare bill? – Guardian
Welfare payments granted for obesity, alcoholism and acne – The Times
Revealed: The areas where one in 20 adults get PIP benefits for depression or anxiety – find out how many are claiming for mental health in your area – Daily Mail
Burnham’s defiance over benefits shows Starmer is doomed – Daily Telegraph
What is in the revised welfare bill? Liz Kendall’s concessions – The Times
Pyrrhic victory on UK welfare shows need for systemic reform, analysts say – FT

Comment

The most cack-handed, incompetent welfare Bill in living memory – Dan Hodges, Daily Mail
Keir’s Starmtroopers are revolting – Rosie Duffield, Unherd
Labour MPs are still sceptical of the Welfare Bill – Isabel Hardman, Spectator
Starmer has shredded Reeves’s credibility. How long can she last? – Adam Smith, Daily Telegraph
Britain used to be a society where people worked. Now, one in 10 adults is claiming benefits. I know the exact moment everything changed… and this is why we’re now heading towards disaster – Dan Hannan, Daily Mail
Labour had a theory for acquiring power, but none for how to wield it – Stephen Bush, FT
Starmer has no energy, vision or strategy for Britain on the world stage. He offers only weakness, decline and a disregard for the sovereignty of this nation: Nile Gardiner, Daily Mail

>Today

Why the Tories won’t be voting for welfare reform

Reform unites with Tories for first time to force data releases on migrant criminals

“The Tories and Reform UK have finally united over a new amendment to force the government to come clean over foreign national offenders. Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick has secured support for his amendment from all five of Reform UK’s MPs and Rupert Lowe. The move, if supported by a majority of MPs, would force the Home Office and the Ministry of Justice to finally reveal the nationality and legal status of all criminals convicted and sentenced in Britain. It’s the first time Nigel Farage has officially sided with the Tories on legislation, and only the second time the two parties have come together in Parliament after both Mr Farage and Kemi Badenoch tabled a petition against the Chagos surrender. A Tory source said: “It is the first time they have worked together, and on immigration. There is no precedent for this.” – Daily Express

Shock Benefits. Fury as Channel migrants offered free eye tests, prescriptions, dental treatment, glasses and even wigs on NHS – The Sun
Just nicked. Illegal Channel migrant delivery riders `arrested as cops swoop on major asylum hotel after Sun exposé – The Sun
Smugglers now allowing small boat migrants to cross Channel from France to UK ‘for free’ – Daily Express
Selfie Sail. Migrants celebrate and take selfies on packed dinghy as they dodge cops to cross Channel – The Sun

Editorial

Only a Rwanda-style deportation scheme will bring this sorry fiasco of illegal immigration to an end – The Sun

Comment

Now even Labour seems to be grasping our courts are out of control – Henry Hill, Daily Telegraph

Rachel Reeves eyes personal savings as spending plans come under threat

“Rachel Reeves is poised to announce a cut to the annual tax-free cash Isa allowance. The Chancellor is expected to confirm that she will reduce the £20,000 cap on the amount that can be shielded from tax in cash Isas each year in her Mansion House speech on July 15. Ms Reeves confirmed last month that she had no plans to reduce the total amount that can be paid into Isa products each year. However, the cash Isa limit is understood to still be under threat, with the Chancellor having previously been urged by City bosses to reduce the allowance to as little as £4,000. The Government wants to reform cash Isas to push more people to invest in stocks and shares. There has been intense lobbying on either side of the debate by building societies who use cash Isa savings to fund loans, and City firms keen to boost investment in the stock market. Industry experts have condemned any move to slash the cash Isa allowance, warning it would damage incentives for long-term investment.” – Daily Telegraph

Major blow for savers as Reeves is set to slash tax-free Isa allowance – Daily Mail
Reeves set to make major cash ISA decision – savers won’t be happy – Daily Express

Comment

Rachel’s raid on the tax-free Isa will plunge financial dagger into the hearts of millions – Jeff Prestridge – Daily Mail

BBC boss caught in row over Rapper who whipped festival crowd into IDF death chant

“ BBC boss Tim Davie faced mounting calls to quit last night as it emerged he was at Glastonbury on the day death chants against Jews were broadcast from the festival. In a Commons debate, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said there was clearly ‘a problem’ with the BBC’s leadership because it has had ‘several’ editorial failures in recent months. She threatened to hit it with sanctions if the corporation drags its feet over admitting what went wrong after it expressed ‘regret’ at not pulling the live feed. She said she was still waiting for answers over another fiasco in February, when the BBC aired a Gaza documentary featuring the son of a Hamas official without telling viewers who the boy was. Mr Davie was present at the festival at the time of the livestream of the punk duo Bob Vylan, who launched the rant that Ms Nandy described as ‘the equivalent to calling for the death of every single Israeli Jew’ due to conscription laws.The band’s frontman, who goes by Bobby Vylan, repeatedly chanted ‘death, death to the IDF’ during a performance – referring to Israel’s military, the Israel Defense Forces” – Daily Mail

How did the BBC end up broadcasting Bob Vylan? – Danny Shaw, Spectator
Angry BBC staff demand resignations over Bob Vylan livestream – The Times
Tim Davie dragged into Glastonbury ‘hate chant’ row – Daily Telegraph
Bob Vylan’s visas revoked as police investigate Glastonbury ‘Death to IDF’ chant – Daily Express
Glasto backlash. ‘Two-tier justice’ fury as Bob Vylan free after ‘death to IDF’ chant – as Tory councillor’s wife still in jail for tweet – The Sun
BBC boss Tim Davie was visiting his team at Glastonbury during vile ‘death to IDF’ chant – Daily Express

Comment

Bob Vylan’s vile chants to Glasto sheep who learned politics on TikTok had sole purpose…and it wasn’t to free Palestine – Clemmie Moodie, The Sun
Corporation sent 500 staff to Glastonbury – and not one acted as Bob Vylan shouted ‘death to the IDF’ – Katie Hind, Daily Mail
The rank hypocrisy of Glastonbury’s socialists – Harry Phibbs, CapX
BBC hit new low allowing rap star to call for murder of Jews – sinister move goes beyond double standards – Ian Austin, The Sun
Glastonbury’s hateful chorus of approval Moral doubt was drowned out – Howard Jacobson, Unherd

Shadow Armed Forces Minister welcomes signature support to force debate over Northern Ireland veterans

“The Mail’s Stop The SAS Betrayal campaign to defend Northern Ireland Army veterans from witch hunts was praised by MPs yesterday. Tory frontbencher Mark Francois said a parliamentary petition ‘supported by the Mail’ had more than 160,000 signatures, triggering a Commons debate on July 14. Labour is to repeal the 2023 Legacy Act, which was brought in by the previous Tory government to give troops partial immunity from future prosecutions. Shadow defence minister Mr Francois accused Labour of ‘throwing soldiers to the wolves’, while Tory MP David Davis said veterans faced the ‘double jeopardy’ of prosecution for their actions in the Troubles – decades after they were originally investigated and cleared – despite there being no new evidence. Mr Davis, a former SAS reservist, told MPs: ‘Every time a paramilitary was killed by a British soldier it was subject to judicial investigation – the Director of Public Prosecutions went through the evidence, interviewed people, looked at the facts. It was a rigorous process… and, when necessary, it led to prosecutions. What’s happening now is double jeopardy. It is double jeopardy under new rules with no new evidence.’”- Daily Mail

Miliband to cover Britain’s lakes in floating solar panels

“Lakes and reservoirs will be covered with solar panels under Ed Miliband’s plans to quadruple the use of the technology in Britain. Mr Miliband is hoping to make it more difficult for locals to object to bodies of water being covered in the panels and to the erection of telegraph poles in rural areas. The plans are part of the Government’s new “solar roadmap”, under which an area more than three times the size of Birmingham will be covered in solar panels in the next five years. Ministers believe the strategy will mean the equivalent of seven million more homes are powered by solar electricity by the end of the decade, and claim it will cut energy bills by £500 a year. The Conservatives called the plans “mad” and said they were “exactly what we have been warning of all along”- Daily Telegraph