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We’ve been told the event will go on for 90 minutes, and there are suggestions that every member of the shadow cabinet will get to speak.
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Gillian Keegan, the education secretary, has been giving interviews this morning about new guidance for schools in England on sex education that says “the contested theory of gender identity” should not be taught. The proposals were briefed to right-leaning papers earlier this week, but the Department for Education has only now issued a press notice. The new version of the guidance does not seem to be available online yet.
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In interviews this morning, Keegan claimed the government had to act because pupils were being exposed to “inappropriate” material. She told the Today programme:
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I’ve seen some materials where they talk about gender identity being a spectrum, there being many different genders looking at you know, trying to get children [to] Take a quiz to find out what you know about different gender identities and what they aren’t.
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Regardless, the material I saw ignored biological sex…and much of that material raised concerns.
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When asked how widespread the problem was, she admitted she didn’t know. She answered:
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I don’t think it’s widespread. I mean, we don’t know because we haven’t done any special research.
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keegan She also distanced herself from her comment in 2020 that “trans women are women.” She said she is happy to see men who have undergone gender reassignment and surgery as women, but that is not how she views all trans women.
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Education Secretary Gillian Keegan said in 2020: "trans women are women".has she changed her position, she asks @Emma Barnett?
The answer seems to be both “yes” and “no.” #R4Today
— BBC Radio 4 Today (@BBCr4today) May 16, 2024
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Good morning. Westminster is still waiting for the formal announcement about the date of the general election, but voters will have noticed that the campaign is already well underway and today we are getting a landmark moment; the formal unveiling of the Labour party’s doorstep, retail offer – the six pledges it will prioritise in the short campaign. Pippa Crerar has the story here.
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The Labour promises are very similar to the pledge card used by Tony Blair and New Labour in 1997. At the time this was seen as an innovative, and successful, campaign tactic. Labour is not calling this version a pledge card – as Pippa explains in her story, the party thinks voters are more wary of “pledges” from politicians than they were in the Blair era – but in practice it is the same thing.
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One obvious complaint is that there is nothing very leftwing about the offer – nothing about reducing child poverty, or inequality – and almost nothing that Rishi Sunak would not be happy to put his name to. (The Tories are not proposing a new, publicly-owned energy company, but the other five Labour promises all broadly equate to things the Tories already say they want to do or are doing.)
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Pat McFadden, Labour’s national campaign coordinator, was doing interviews this morning and, on the Today programme, he defended the party’s decision to reach out to the middle ground.
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Prompted by a question about the Natalie Elphicke defection, he said:
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What it says about the party is that it’s changed, and that there are perhaps people looking at it today in a different light.
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And I have an obvious message for listeners, and for anyone thinking of voting at the next election. We will not win the next election just by appealing to the people who always voted labour.
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The only way you’re going to win the next election is by appealing to people who haven’t traditionally voted for you and who have voted Conservative in many cases in recent elections.
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That is what the difference between losing and winning is, and there’s nothing to be ashamed of in that.
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Here is the agenda for the day.
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10am: Keir Starmer launches the Labour party’s election pledge card, described by the party as its “first steps for change” offer, at an event in Thurrock.
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10am: Sue Gray, who is now Starmer’s chief of staff, gives evidence to the UK Covid inquiry in Belfast in her capacity as permanent secretary at Northern Ireland’s Department of Finance during the pandemic.
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11.30am: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.
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After 11.30am: MPs debate the report from the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman saying up to £10bn should be paid to women who lost out because they did not get proper warning about the state pension age rising.
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Noon: John Swinney takes first minister’s questions at Holyrood.
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12.15pm: Tom Tugendhat, the security minister, gives a speech on Taiwan at the Policy Exchange thinktank.
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For technical reasons we are not using the ‘send us a message’ feature any more, and if you want to contact me, please post a message below the line (BTL) or message me on X (Twitter). 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. If you want to flag something up urgently, it is best to use X; I’ll see something addressed to @AndrewSparrow very quickly. 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
Here is the full text of Labor’s six pledges.
rachel reevesThe Shadow Chancellor is the second speaker.
She says Labor has changed parties and may have a chance to change the country.
The first of the six steps to transform Britain announced today is about the economy.
1) Achieving economic stability We have strict spending rules so we can grow our economy and keep taxes, inflation, and mortgages as low as possible.
Mr. Reeves says that, unlike the Conservatives, he will never play shortcuts with the public finances.
Labor announces election manifesto
Labor’s event in Thurrock, where the party will announce its election manifesto, is just getting started. angela linerThe deputy leader begins the proceedings.
We hear the event will last 90 minutes, and there are suggestions that all members of the shadow cabinet will speak.
Ms Keegan says she has published guidance to curb “inappropriate” sex education, but she doesn’t know how widespread “inappropriate” sex education is.
Gillian Keegan The Education Secretary gave an interview this morning about new guidance on sex education for schools in England, which says “controversial theories of gender identity” should not be taught. The proposal was explained to a right-wing newspaper earlier this week, but Ministry of Education now or never A press notice has been issued. It appears that the new version of the guidance is not yet available online.
In this morning’s interview, keegan The government claimed it had to take action because students were being exposed to “inappropriate” content. She told the Today show:
I’ve seen some material that talks about gender identity being a spectrum and many different genders existing and trying to have children. [to] Take a quiz to find out what you know about different gender identities and what they aren’t.
Regardless, the material I saw ignored biological sex…and much of that material raised concerns.
When asked how widespread the problem was, she admitted she didn’t know. She answered:
I don’t think it’s widespread. I mean, we don’t know because we haven’t done any special research.
keegan She also distanced herself from her comment in 2020 that “trans women are women.” She said she is happy to see men who have undergone gender reassignment and surgery as women, but that is not how she views all trans women.
Education Secretary Gillian Keegan said in 2020: "trans women are women".has she changed her position, she asks @Emma Barnett?
The answer seems to be both “yes” and “no.” #R4Today
— BBC Radio 4 Today (@BBCr4today) May 16, 2024
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Education Secretary Gillian Keegan said in 2020 that “trans women are women too”.She asks has she changed her position? @Emma Barnett?
The answer seems to be both “yes” and “no.” #R4Today
— BBC Radio 4 Today (@BBCr4today) May 16, 2024
Labor won’t win the election if it doesn’t appeal to Tory voters, shadow minister says before Starmer’s speech
good morning. Westminster is still waiting for official announcements about the general election date, but voters will be aware that the campaign is already well underway and today marks a landmark moment. Labour’s gateway retail proposals – its six short-term campaign priorities – will be formally announced. Pippa Creral Here’s the story.
Labour’s pledge is very similar to the pledge card used by Tony Blair and New Labor in 1997. At the time, this was considered an innovative and successful election tactic. Labor does not refer to this version as a pledge card – as Pippa explains in her story, Labor believes voters are more wary of “promises” from politicians than they were during Blair’s government. thinking – but it’s actually the same thing.
One obvious complaint is that there is nothing very left-wing about this proposal, nothing about reducing child poverty or inequality, anything that Rishi Sunak would rather not name. Almost nothing. (Although the Conservatives are not proposing to create a new public energy company, Labour’s other five pledges are all consistent with what the Conservatives have already said they want to do or are doing.) )
Pat McFadden Labour’s national campaign co-ordinator was interviewed this morning and defended the party’s decision to reach the halfway point on the Today programme.
Prompted by Natalie Elphique’s question about asylum, he said:
What has been written about this party is that it has changed, and perhaps today there may be people who see it in a different light.
And I have a clear message for you, our listeners, and for anyone thinking of voting in the next election. You can’t win the next election just by appealing to people who have always voted Labor.
The only way to win the next election is to appeal to people who have never voted for you before, but who have often voted Conservative in recent elections.
That’s the difference between losing and winning, and there’s nothing to be ashamed of.
The agenda for the day is:
10 am: Keir Starmer unveiled Labor’s election promise card at an event in Thurrock, which he proposed as a “first step to change”.
10 am: Sue Gray, who is currently Starmer’s chief of staff, gave evidence to the UK coronavirus inquiry in Belfast during the pandemic as permanent secretary to the Treasury for Northern Ireland.
11:30am: A lobby briefing session will be held at Downing Street.
After 11:30am: MPs are debating a parliamentary and health ombudsman report that says up to £10bn should be paid to women who suffered losses because they were not properly warned about the state pension age increase.
noon: John Swinney answers Prime Minister’s Questions at Holyrood.
12:15pm: Security Minister Tom Tugendhat speaks about Taiwan at think tank Policy Exchange.
For technical reasons, we do not currently use the “Send Message” feature. If you would like to contact me, please post a message below the line (BTL) or message me at X (Twitter). I can’t read every message on BTL, but if you include “Andrew” in your message, I’ll search for posts containing that word, so it’s more likely to show up. If you want to flag something urgently, it’s best to use X. Anything addressed to @AndrewSparrow will appear immediately. It helps a lot when readers point out mistakes, even minor typos (no mistakes are too small to be corrected). And I think your question is also very interesting. I can’t promise to reply to everything, but I’ll try to reply as much as I can, either on BTL or occasionally on my blog.
