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He starts by saying that at the election Labour promised change.
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The decision not to classify Axel Rudakubana as a terrorist following the Southport murders was right because it would be unhelpful to stretch the definition of terrorism to cover all extreme violence, Jonathan Hall KC, the UK’s terror watchdog, has concluded. Rachel Hall has the story.
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The Times today is running a story saying that Peter Kyle, the science secretary, “has described himself as a ‘disruptor’ with similarities to Elon Musk or Dominic Cummings” because he wants to use AI to modernise the delivery of public services.
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As explained on the blog yesterday, the government is now in favour of “disruptor” politics.
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But, an in interview with LBC, Kyle was keen to clarify what this meant. Asked if he wanted to be seen as a disruptor like Musk or Cummings, he replied:
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I aspire to be a disruptor in a positive way that takes people with us and excites people for change.
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The issue about disruptors and disruption – in the past, it’s been used in a fearful way, in a threatening way, in a way that actually creates circumstances where people are fearful of change.
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In Keir Starmer as prime minister, you see somebody who wants to lead positively through change, but yes, be assiduous and be determined in delivering the outcome.
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The headline hospital waiting list figure for England has fallen for the fifth month in a row, PA Media reports.
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An estimated 7.43m treatments were waiting to be carried out at the end of January, down from 7.46m at the end of December, NHS England figures show.
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This is the lowest figure since April 2023.
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But 6.25m patients were estimated to be waiting for treatments at the end of January, up slightly from 6.24m at the end of December.
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The two figures are different because some individuals are waiting for more than one procedure.
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The waiting list hit a record high in September 2023, with 7.77m treatments and 6.5m patients.
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Good morning. All prime ministers, sooner or later, get frustrated when they realise that the central government machine isn’t as effective as they would like. They arrive thinking that if they tell their officials to do something, it will happen, and they find out that it’s not that simple. When talking about this, they normally combine their criticism of the system with comments about how the individual civil servants with whom they work personally are excellent.
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Keir Starmer has arrived at this stage more quickly than some of his predecessors and this week there have been a series of announcements about shaking up Whitehall. Pat McFadden, the Cabinet Office minister, has said measures will be taken to ease out officials who are under-performing. On Tuesday Starmer told cabinet that the government should be taking more responsibility for decisions, and not outsourcing them to regulators. And today Starmer is going to say that the state has become “bigger, but weaker”.
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Ahead of the speech (or mini-speech – No 10 are billing it as an intervention, not a proper, set-piece policy speech), Starmer has published an article in the Daily Telegraph setting out his thinking.
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Starmer says he is only interested in making the state more effective, and does not care if it gets bigger or smaller.
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We need to go further and faster on security and renewal. In such uncertain times, people want a state that will take care of the big questions, not a bigger state that asks more from them. We need to be operating at maximum efficiency and strength. I believe in the power of the state. I’m not interested in ideological arguments about whether it should be bigger or smaller. I simply want it to work.
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I saw the state at its best in our response to the riots last summer. It was dynamic, strong and urgent. But for the most part, that’s not the state that most people will recognise.
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And he says the state has become “overcautious” and “flabby”. He cites planning policy as an example.
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I heard from a family business owner in Wales that builds homes for first-time buyers. During the consultation delays and the lengthy planning application, the cost of resources went up. The regulations held him back for so long that he lost the site. Business unable to grow because of red tape. Families unable to buy because an overcautious flabby state got in the way.
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As Rowena Mason reports in her preview, Starmer is also going to use the speech to say artificial intelligence (AI) should be doing more work currently done by civil servants.
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According to the extracts released by No 10 in advance, Starmer will argue that civil service reform should be shaped by the mantra:
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No person’s substantive time should be spent on a task where digital or AI can do it better, quicker and to the same high quality and standard.
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Starmer will be taking questions. Obviously reporters will want to question him about the growing Labour revolt over the proposed sickness and disability benefit cuts, but hopefully someone will ask if this mantra should apply to politicians too. You would not want AI running the control (I presume?), but most ministers who turn up on the morning interview programmes to regurgitate the No 10 line to take could easily be replaced by an AI bot.
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Here is the agenda for the day.
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9.30am: Jonathan Reynolds, the business secretary, takes questions in the Commons.
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9.30am: NHS England publishes its latest monthly performance figures.
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10am: Helen Whately, the former care minister, gives evidence to the Covid inquiry as part of its module looking at PPE procurement.
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After 10.30am: Lucy Powell, the leader of the Commons, makes a statement on next week’s Commons business.
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Morning: Keir Starmer is doing a Q&A in Yorkshire where he will deliver a short speech about reforming the state.
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Noon: John Swinney, Scotland’s first minister, takes questions at Holyrood.
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Early afternoon: Kemi Badenoch is on a visit near Glasgow where she is expected to speak to reporters.
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And at some point today Shabana Mahmood, the justice secretary, is holding a meeting with the Sentencing Council to discuss the guidelines that Mahmood claims would implement “two-tier” justice.
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If you want to contact me, please post a message below the line or message me on social media. I can’t read all the messages BTL, but if you put “Andrew” in a message aimed at me, I am more likely to see it because I search for posts containing that word.
“,”elementId”:”014db3a3-9cfd-4c6a-94ac-8f68ec5794e7″},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”
If you want to flag something up urgently, it is best to use social media. You can reach me on Bluesky at @andrewsparrowgdn. The Guardian has given up posting from its official accounts on X but individual Guardian journalists are there, I still have my account, and if you message me there at @AndrewSparrow, I will see it and respond if necessary.
“,”elementId”:”e56a0c67-1682-49ac-abd1-58e85e8bb687″},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”
I find it very helpful when readers point out mistakes, even minor typos. No error is too small to correct. And I find your questions very interesting too. I can’t promise to reply to them all, but I will try to reply to as many as I can, either BTL or sometimes in the blog.
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Important Events
I'm so grateful Switch to Ukraine. Without Ukraine's peace, Britain will face more economic unrest, he says.
He says Russia is threatening Britain. And if that energy supply was threatened by Putin, Britain would not be strong, he says.
If your energy security is being exploited by Putin, you are not strong.
If 80 young people are not educated or working, you are not strong.
If you lose control of your finances, you cannot build your industry.
That's for testing our times, for the goals of my change plan: national security, national renewal.
Priority will be speaking on civil servant reform in Yorkshire Q&A
Keyer priority Talk about civil service reform at an event in Yorkshire. He is at Reckitt & Sons Factory.
He begins by saying that labor has promised change in the election.
Conservatives have argued that Kiel's Starge is “not serious” about civil servant reform. In a statement released last night in response to a preview of the star speech, Alex Burgertthe Minister of Shadow Cabinet Office said:
Labour is not serious about growing the UK.
The Prime Minister has no plans to reform civil servants or reduce public spending. Thanks to his budget, the state's size will reach an astounding 44% of GDP by 2030. Meanwhile, businesses are strangled by Rachel Reeves' taxes and Angela Rayner's red tape.
The decision not to classify Southport Killers as terrorists is correct, says the UK Watchdog
The decision not to classify Axel Ludakbana as a terrorist following the murders in Southport was correct as it would be useless to expand the definition of terrorism to cover all extreme violence. Jonathan Hall KCthe British Terror Watch Dog concluded. Rachel Hall There is a story.
Peter Kyle says that when the pastor is asked about his similarity to Elon Musk, the pastor wants to be a destroyer, but says, “in a positive way.”
Today's Times is running story I'm saying that Peter Kylethe Secretary of Science said he wanted to modernize the provision of public services using AI because he “described himself as a “broker” with similarities to Elon Musk and Dominic Cummings.”
As I explained in my blog yesterday, the government is currently in favour of “destroyer” politics.
However, Kyle, an interview with LBC, was keen to clarify what this meant. Asked if he wanted to be considered a destroyer like Musk and Cummings, he replied:
I aim to be a destroyer in a positive way that brings people along with us and excites people for change.
Issues about destroyers and confusion – in the past, it has been used in a horrifying and intimidating way, in a way that actually creates situations where people are afraid of change.
In Kiel's Starmer as Prime Minister, we see people who want to lead positively through change, but yes, they become enthusiastic and resolve to deliver results.
The numbers on the hospital waiting list in England drop slightly for the fifth consecutive month
According to Pennsylvania media, the numbers on the waiting list at Headline Hospital in England have been ongoing for five months.
NHS England figures show an estimated 7.43 million treatments were waiting for the end of January.
This is the lowest figure since April 2023.
However, the 6.25m patient was estimated to be awaiting treatment at the end of January, a slight increase from 6.24m at the end of December.
The two numbers are different as some individuals are waiting for multiple steps.
The waiting list reached a record high in September 2023 with 7.77 million treatments and 6.5 million patients.
Today, there are two Commons statements at about 11:30am after business questions. The Health Secretary's first Wes Streeting will provide updates on NHS England. In NHS England, approximately half of the HQ workforce will be cut, avoiding overlap with work carried out by the Ministry of Health and Social Security. And Culture Minister Stephanie Peacock has issued a statement about plans to celebrate the 80th anniversary of Europe Day and to celebrate Japan's victory.
The ancestors of Kiel
good morning. Sooner or later, all prime ministers get frustrated when they realize that the central government machinery is not as effective as they want. They arrive thinking that it will happen when they tell the officials to do something, and it turns out to be not so simple. When talking about this, they usually combine their criticism of the system with comments about how the individual civil servants they personally work with are good.
Keyer priority He reached this stage earlier than some of his predecessors, and this week there was a series of announcements about rocking Whitehall. Cabinet Secretary Pat McFadden said measures will be taken to facilitate underperforming officials. On Tuesday, the priority told the Cabinet that the government would take more responsibility for decisions and not outsource them to regulators. And today I'm going to say that The state has become “large, but weak.”.
Speech (or Mini Speech-10 is not a policy speech of the right set piece, and there are no 10 that are being charged as intervention), ancestors published Daily Telegraph article I'll give him my thoughts.
Starmer says he's only interested in making the state more effective and doesn't care if it gets bigger or smaller.
You need to go faster with security and updates. In these uncertain times, people want to be in a state where they can handle big questions. It should work with maximum efficiency and strength. I believe in the power of the nation. I'm not interested in the ideological debate as to whether it should be big or small. I just want it to work.
Our reaction to the riot last summer saw the state look to be at its best. It was dynamic, strong and urgent. But in most cases, it is not a state most people recognize.
And he says that the nation has become “over-embracing” and “loose.” He cites planning policy as an example.
I heard from a family businessman in Welsh that he built a house for his first buyer. The cost of resources increased between delayed consultations and long planning applications. Restrictions kept him down for a long time, and he lost the site. A business that cannot grow due to red tape. A family that cannot be purchased because excessive aphorism has gotten in the way.
As Rowena Mason In her preview, Starmer uses his speech to say that artificial intelligence (AI) should be doing more work now by civil servants.
According to the extract released by No. 10 in advance, I'm so grateful They argue that civil service reform should be shaped by mantras.
We shouldn't spend substantial time on tasks where digital or AI can make it better, faster, the same high quality and standard.
The priority is to ask questions. Clearly, reporters will want to ask him about the increased labor rebellion over proposed reductions in illness and disability benefits, but I hope someone will ask if this mantra applies to politicians as well. Most ministers who appear in the morning interview program to reflux the No. 10 line can easily be replaced by AI bots, although AI doesn't want to run controls (do I guess?).
This is the agenda for the day.
9:30am: Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds asks questions at the Commons.
9:30am: NHS England has released its latest monthly performance figures.
10am: Former Care Minister Helen Wailey has put evidence of Covid Inquiry as part of a module considering procuring PPE.
After 10:30am: Commons leader Lucy Powell will make a statement about her Commons business next week.
morning: Keir Starmer is doing Q&A in Yorkshire. There, we will give a short speech on state reform.
noon: John Swinney, Scotland's first pastor, asks questions at Holyrood.
Afternoon: Kemi Badennock is visiting nearby Glasgow and is expected to speak to reporters.
And at one point, Attorney General Shabana Mahmoud is holding a meeting with the Judgment Council to discuss guidelines for Mahmoud to implement “two-tier” justice.
If you would like to contact me, please post a message under the line or message me on social media. I can't read all the messages BTL, but if I put “Andrew” in a message directed at me, I'm more likely to see it because I search for posts that contain that word.
If you want to flag something urgently, it's best to use social media. You can contact me on Bluesky at @AndrewsParrowgdn. The Guardian has given up on posting from X's official account, but individual Guardian journalists are there. I still have an account. I'll send a message to me with @andrewsparrow and look at it and respond if necessary.
When readers point out mistakes, I think it's very helpful. The error is too small to fix. And I think your question is also very interesting. I can't promise to reply to all of them, but I try to reply to as many things as I can on BTL or sometimes blogging.
