Starmer praises Biden’s ‘remarkable career’ as PM promises to fix ‘fragmented and broken’ skills system – live

The chancellor has promised that “people won’t have to wait long” for a decision after reports that independent pay review bodies have recommended a 5.5 per cent rise for teachers and around 1.3 million NHS staff.

“There is a cost to not settling, a cost of further industrial action, and a cost in terms of the challenge we face recruiting,” she told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme.

Ms Reeves added: “We will do it in a proper way and make sure the sums add up.”

She said an announcement will be made by the end of July, alongside the publication of a Treasury review into the state of public finances. Schools and hospitals are unlikely to be able to finance a 5.5 per cent pay rise, more than double the current rate of inflation, from their existing budgets.

Our political correspondent Archie Mitchell has the full story:

Education secretary Bridget Phillipson has said VAT on school fees will be rolled out “as quickly as we can”.

She said private schools have has “ample time to prepare” for Labour’s tax raid and suggested the pledge will be delivered earlier than planned.

The tax increase was initially be set to start in September next year but Ms Phillipson did not rule out it could now take effect from January.

She told Times Radio: “Schools should be planning for the introduction of this change which we first set out in 2021. We have been clear about our position on this for some time. We do want to move as quickly as we can.

“But you’ll appreciate further measures in terms of the implementation and timescale around it are matters for the Chancellor in a fiscal event and will be presented before Parliament in the usual way.”

Asked if it would be January, she said: “We want to move as quickly as we can on this. As I say, Rachel Reeves will set out the exact timescale.

“But we first set out this policy in 2021 so I do think schools have had ample time to prepare and my priority is about making sure that we deliver a better education, more teachers and more mental health support in our state schools where 93 per cent of our children will be.”

The shadow work and pensions secretary has revealed there is a “reasonable chance” he could join the Tory leadership race.

Mr Stride told Sky News: “We’ll have to see, I haven’t made any decision. We don’t know what the process is. Colleagues have been talking to me about it, I am considering what I may or may not do.”

Asked for how long Rishi Sunak should remain Tory leader, Mr Stride said: “That is a matter for him. What we don’t know is what the party board is going to come forwards with.”

He also said the Tories should not “appeal” to voters it lost to Reform UK but “those we lost to both the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats.”

While the Tories prepare to choose a new leader, Mel Stride admitted that “there’s no doubt that we have a demographic problem” after analysis showed one in six Conservative voters are likely to die before the next election.

Demographic trends revealed more than a million Tory votes are likely to be lost by 2029, according to analysis on the party’s challenge in appealing young people.

Reacting to the results, the senior Tory told Times Radio: “This isn’t just a challenge that is about leaping onto some wonderful ideological square that will suddenly see all problems resolved. It’s about some deep, painstaking work to work out how we start to attract younger electors.

“And I think this point about the age profile of those that are supporting Conservatives really underscores the depth of the challenge that we have, but it is not insurmountable.”

The shadow work and pensions minister added that “the first thing we need to do the first step is to unite the parliamentary party”.

Bridget Phillipson has been pressed to reveal whether the Labour government would scrap the two-child benefit cap after growing calls from inside and outside the party.

The education secretary refused to commit to lifting the cap but admitted it would be “considered”.

Ms Phillipson claimed she “believes very, very strongly” in reducing child poverty, adding: “That’s why I’m delighted to be leading with Liz Kendall, our work and pensions secretary, a taskforce across government to look at how we can bear down on those numbers.”

However, on scrapping the two-child benefit cap, she said: “This was not a policy that a Labour government introduced.

“We are aware of the evidence around this, and as part of the review that we will conduct in the coming months we will consider that as part of a number of ways in terms of how we can lift children out of poverty.”

The chancellor came under pressure over the limit, which prevents parents from claiming benefits for any third or subsequent child born after April 2017.

Scrapping the policy would lift an estimated 300,000 children out of poverty, according to the Child Poverty Action Group.

Our health correspondent Rebecca Thomas has the full story:

Shadow work and pensions secretary Mel Stride has announced he is considering running to replace Rishi Sunak as Tory leader.

The Tory MP has previously been tipped to enter the race in a bid the “unify” the party.

Speaking to Times Radio, the shadow minister said: “It’s something I’m considering. A number of colleagues have approached me and suggested that I might do that.

“We don’t yet, of course, know what the actual rules of the process will be, and I’ll want to wait to see that before I take a final decision. But it’s certainly a possibility.”

He added: “Well, my main motivation, as I sit here considering this, is that I care about my party and I care about my country, and I’m deeply disturbed at the fact that we have suffered one of our biggest electoral defeats.”

Archie Mitchell looks at how much 5.5 per cent public sector pay increases could cost taxpayers, and whether Rachel Reeves is prepared to find the money for them:

Education secretary Bridget Phillipson has accused her Tory predecessor Gillian Keegan of “a complete dereliction of duty” for failing to act on the pay review body’s recommendations for months.

It comes as Rachel Reeves suggested the government could agree above-inflation pay rises for teachers and other public sector workers.

Ms Phillipson agreed with the chancellor that there is a cost to not settling pay disputes, telling Times Radio: “We saw industrial action previously under the last Conservative government and that had serious consequences because they didn’t take a responsible approach.

“What I’ve set out as education secretary is a different way of doing things, so working together with the brilliant workforce that’s across education because that’s how we will deliver better life chances for all of our children.

“But I do have to say, the last Conservative government and the previous education secretary received this report from the teachers’ review body, sat on it, called the election and disappeared off the scene.

“It was highly irresponsible, a complete dereliction of duty but it falls to us to set this right.”

Ms Phillipson said the Chancellor will present the Government’s response to the recommendations at the end of the month.

Education secretary Bridget Phillipson has said she was “surprised” by the US President Joe Biden’s decision to withdraw as the Democratic candidate.

But claimed she is confident the UK’s relationship with the US will continue despite the election result.

Ms Phillipson told Sky News: “I think what we saw from Joe Biden was what we’ve seen throughout his life, he’s someone who has been a dedicated public servant.

“He wants to put the interests of the American people first, now there’s a process to go through, and what matters to us I think is the relationship between out two countries, our two people.”