Newslinks Tuesday the 9th of September 2025

Badenoch challenges Starmer to ‘work with me on welfare cuts’

“Kemi Badenoch will challenge the Prime Minister to work with the Conservatives on a plan to cut the welfare bill. Speaking in London, the Tory leader will tell Sir Keir Starmer that his only chance of getting significant welfare savings through the Commons is by working with the Tories. She will suggest a cross-party committee to draw up a savings programme “in the national interest”, inviting Sir Keir, Pat McFadden and Rachel Reeves for talks, despite her party voting against Labour’s welfare cuts in the summer. The Prime Minister was forced to back down on proposals to cut benefits and shave £5bn off the welfare bill after Labour MPs mounted the biggest rebellion of his premiership.In an attempt to get his reforms back on track, he brought in Mr McFadden as his new Work and Pensions Secretary on Friday as part of a reshuffle of his top team, with a brief to slash the cost of benefits and get unemployed young people into work.Meanwhile, Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor, wants to lower the welfare bill to avoid having to raise taxes in her November Budget.” – Daily Telegraph

• Kemi Badenoch invites Keir Starmer to discuss welfare cuts – The Times
• ‘Get benefits claimants back to work to boost economy’, PM tells new welfare chief – The i

Editorial

• Until Starmer tackles root causes of stagnation in Britain, he won’t stand a chance of improving voters’ lives – The Sun

Comment

• The Tories and Reform MUST unite. I know what will happen if they don’t – it’s what Keir Starmer is praying for – Dan Hodges, Daily Mail
• Starmer is in the Last Chance Saloon. He must ditch the madness of the past year to give Britain a chance – Trevor Kavanagh, The Sun

Today

Labour’s deputy leader race opens Starmer to direct challenges from the left

“Downing Street is struggling to find a loyalist candidate to replace Angela Rayner as deputy Labour leader, as several left-wing backbenchers prepare to launch campaigns for the role. Ministers including the new home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, and culture secretary, Lisa Nandy, ruled themselves out of the contest, narrowing the field of potential candidates. Bell Ribeiro-Addy, an MP who worked for Diane Abbott and will be seen as the probable candidate of the Socialist Campaign Group, became the first to announce her intention to run. She wrote on X: “I look ­forward to explaining why, over the three short and undemocratic days we have to do so.” She was referring to the fact that candidates have until Thursday to win the support of at least 80 MPs.” – The Times

• Labour reveals date new deputy leader elected, as Mahmood and Nandy ruled out- The i
• Labour deputy leader race ‘becoming a referendum on Starmer’s premiership’ – Daily Telegraph
• Sacked Powell emerges as left favourite as No 10 seeks to grip deputy leader race – The i
• Now Labour on the brink of civil war: No 10 accused of ‘mother of all stitch ups’ in battle to replace Angela Rayner – Daily Mail
• Several senior female Labour MPs drop out of party deputy leader contention – Guardian
• On your Marx. Labour’s left jostles to replace Rayner as No2 amid fresh infighting as big beast snubs bid to move him – The Sun
• All the contenders to replace Angela Rayner as Labour’s deputy leader – The i

Comment

• Labour’s deputy leadership race could tear Starmer’s party apart – James Heale, Spectator
• I’m not running for Labour deputy leader. I want the freedom to fight for an economic reset – Louise Haigh, Guardian
• Emily Thornberry for deputy! – Gareth Roberts, Spectator

New Home Secretary promises visa curbs if countries won’t take back migrants

“Indians, Pakistanis and Nigerians will face visa restrictions if their countries refuse or delay efforts to take back illegal migrants from Britain. Shabana Mahmood signalled her willingness to risk diplomatic spats with high-profile nations as she announced plans to suspend visas from countries that did not “play ball” with her efforts to oversee a surge in migrant deportations. She vowed to press ahead with visa sanctions as she hosted Kristi Noem, Donald Trump’s hardline head of homeland security who has overseen the US president’s mass deportation policy. The move reflects a shift towards a more “transactional” approach to using Britain’s visa system to increase the number of deportations, a government source said. Under the policy, the home secretary would threaten an escalating scale of penalties in order to pressurise countries into action. This would range from the threat of introducing visa quotas to an outright ban” – The Times

• Britain to suspend visas for countries failing to take back illegal migrants, says Mahmood – Daily Telegraph
• The massive flaws in Shabana Mahmood’s visa plan to crack down on small boats – Daily Mail
• Migrant Crackdown UK could axe visas from countries that don’t ‘play ball’ and take back illegal migrants, new Home Sec vows – The Sun
• Labour’s major blunder is a ‘massive beacon that our door is open’ to illegal migrants – Daily Express
• Now Labour is revising its plans ‘for migrants to live on military bases’ – despite proposals being dropped on cost grounds – Daily Mail
• Afghan pad bill. Taxpayers have funded £2.2million refurbishment of military homes exclusively housing Afghan migrants- The Sun

Comment

• Shabana Mahmood’s immigration overhaul won’t save Labour – Peter Franklin, Unherd

France in fresh political chaos as PM is ousted and pressure mounts on Macron

“President Emmanuel Macron is searching for the fifth prime minister of his tumultuous second term, in the hope they can wrangle a deficit-cutting budget through a hung parliament and ward off another early legislative election. The ousting of premier François Bayrou after he lost a confidence vote on Monday has sparked another political crisis that risks spreading to the streets and the markets, with protests and a potential ratings downgrade looming. The Elysée palace said that Macron would name a new premier in the coming days. But he has few viable options to forge a stable government given he has no parliamentary majority and does not want to call snap elections.” – FT

• Macron rules out snap election – Daily Telegraph
• As a country with staggering debt and a widening inequality gap, who or what can save France from itself? – Daily Mail

Comment

• France is offering a terrifying glimpse into Britain’s future – Matthew Lynn, Daily Telegraph
• François Bayrou was always doomed. To govern is to lose – Richard Vinen, Unherd
• France has been plunged into crisis – again – James Tidmarsh, Spectator

Boris Johnson ‘used contacts from time as PM to fund life after No 10’

“Boris Johnson used the contacts he made as prime minister to help bankroll his life after politics, leaked documents from his private office seen by The Guardian suggest. The paper reports that emails, letters and invoices from the company set up by Johnson to manage his affairs since leaving office show that he lobbied senior Saudi officials he had met as prime minister and received more than £200,000 from a hedge fund after meeting Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela’s controversial president. The documents also reportedly cast light on Johnson’s time in office, revealing that he hosted a dinner for the Tory peer who financed a lavish refurbishment of his Downing Street flat, a day after the second national Covid-19 lockdown came into force.” – The Times

• Revealed: how Boris Johnson traded PM contacts for global business deals – Guardian

Israel is not committing genocide in Gaza, government concludes

“The UK does not consider Israel’s actions in Gaza to be genocide, David Lammy has said in a significant shift in position on the issue. Until last week the UK government had maintained that the question of whether Israel had committed genocide was a matter for the courts and not for national governments to determine. However, in a letter to the chair of the international development committee last week Lammy said that an assessment carried out by the Foreign Office had concluded that Israel’s actions did not constitute genocide. The letter, sent before he was replaced as foreign secretary in the cabinet reshuffle, said: “As per the Genocide Convention, the crime of genocide occurs only where there is specific ‘intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group’. The government has not concluded that Israel is acting with that intent.” – The Times

• Israel is not committing genocide in Gaza, British Government says – Daily Mail

News in Brief

• Eccentric? Definitely. But how can anyone know if Margaret Thatcher was autistic? – Celia Walden, Daily Telegraph
• Don’t trust the BBC on America – Chris Bayliss, The Critic
• Angela Rayner is a victim of our labyrinthine tax system – Andrew Griffith, CapX
• The Jerusalem massacre and the illusion of peace – Jonathan Sacerdoti, Spectator