UK politics – live: Labour rejects claims it’s returning to austerity ‘ahead of Reeves’ Spring Statement cuts’

The UK called on Vladimir Putin to commit to a “full and immediate ceasefire” as Russian forces continued to bombard Ukraine.

Foreign Secretary David Lammy said the Russian leader should agree to the US and Ukrainian proposal for an unconditional ceasefire.

Military chiefs from the UK and its allies were meeting to discuss how a peacekeeping force could operate in Ukraine to deter further Russian attacks if a deal to end the war is reached.

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Writing on social media platform X in a rare intervention, Mr Lewis said: “PIP (Personal Independence Payment) is often an individual’s lifeline, the difference between an unsustainable life and a manageable one. The govt says those in ‘genuine need’ will be protected, yet that all boils down to matter of definition.”

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Coastal communities deserve “longer, better, healthier lives”, Liberal Democrat MP Steff Aquarone said, as he called for a dedicated minister to have responsibility of coastal communities.

The North Norfolk MP said coastal communities should receive more direct Government attention, as he highlighted the disparity in health and life expectancy compared to those who live inland.

Referring to a report by England’s chief medical officer Professor Sir Chris Whitty on health outcomes in seaside towns, Mr Aquarone said: “What he uncovered was shocking.

“We have higher rates of poor health and disease, the rates of cardiovascular disease and cancer are higher, and those diagnosed with these diseases have poorer outcomes, they also suffer with them for longer.”

He added: “Our coastal communities deserve to live longer, better, healthier lives than they do now.”

Former Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon has said there was not a “scrap of evidence” of wrongdoing against her in the Operation Branchform probe as she was cleared.

Police Scotland said on Thursday it has dropped the investigation into Ms Sturgeon and former SNP treasurer Colin Beattie in relation to the party’s finances.

It came as Ms Sturgeon’s estranged husband and former party chief executive Peter Murrell appeared in court charged with embezzlement.

Ms Sturgeon and Mr Beattie were arrested in 2023 in relation to Branchform, but were released pending further investigation.

Speaking to journalists outside her home near Glasgow, she said she is “relieved” to have been cleared, and admitted the past two years have been “difficult” and “frustrating”.

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Sir Keir Starmer has arrived at a meeting of military chiefs from the UK and its allies to discuss details of a future peacekeeping mission in Ukraine.

The Prime Minister travelled to the meeting at a military site in Greater London after visiting the UK’s latest generation of nuclear submarines in Barrow-in-Furness in the north west of England.

He arrived with Defence Secretary John Healey and was met by the UK’s chief of joint operations, Lieutenant General Nick Perry, as well as his French counterpart Major General Philippe de Montenon.

Independent MP Shockat Adam referred to David Lammy’s family links to slavery before suggesting he could “unshackle his own chains” and ensure the UK ceases all arms licences to Israel.

The MP for Leicester South told the Commons: “I, along with a billion Muslims around the world, began my (Ramadan) fast on Tuesday morning not with just some food and water but with the screams of 400 innocent men, women and children ringing in our ears as they were burnt alive in their makeshift tents.”

Mr Adam criticised Israel for its actions in Gaza and the West Bank before accusing the UK of providing “military support and our airbases in Cyprus”.

He went on: “Can I ask the minister – and take this as it’s sincerely meant, the minister has passionately spoken about his heritage and his ancestors who were shackled in the chains of slavery – to unshackle his own chains and to immediately cease all arms licences and, despite the £6.1 billion economic ties, to impose economic sanctions and put in place a viable process of recognising the state of Palestine?”

Mr Lammy replied: “(Mr Adam) brings powerful rhetoric to this House this afternoon but let me say to him that notwithstanding the horrors of the conflict that has begun, we are three days into that conflict and it’s my job to use all endeavours I can to get back to that ceasefire.”

A Labour Treasury minister has rejected claims that the government is returning to a Conservative-style police of austerity, ahead of Rachel Reeves’ Spring Statement.

Reports in The Guardian have suggested the chancellor will unveil the biggest set of cuts since George Osborne’s era, with certain Whitehall departments facing a seven per cent cut.

In a Q&A at the Institute for Government thinktank, asked about this claim, Jones replied: “Just factually, it would be incorrect to say that we are doing what the Conservatives did after 2010.

“The numbers will be published next Wednesday, but as you saw at the budget last year, we are increasing public spending, and we’ve increased it quite a lot.

“The fact is that we’ve got to do this modernisation and reform agenda. But we’re not, factually, taking an approach that is just blindly cutting spending because we think we should just reduce spending without a plan for how to get there. So I wouldn’t recognise that kind of definition of what’s taking place.”

When I resigned from David Cameron’s government as the secretary of state for work and pensions in 2016, welfare stood at £61.6bn. By the end of this parliament, it is projected to be £108.7bn. Sickness benefit alone, which was £19bn back then, is set to rise to £32bn. So it is with disability benefit, which is set to rise from £11bn to some £31bn. To govern is to choose. Against the backdrop of an increasingly unsafe world, the need to invest significantly more in defence, and a flatlining economy, further reform of welfare is a necessity.

The pandemic response has hit the welfare budget hard. The rise in sickness benefit claims poses a challenge to the government, particularly because some 60 per cent of claims since Covid are from mental health issues. The majority of these are for depression and anxiety. The health department has declared that the best treatment for depression and anxiety is going back to work.

That is why, as sickness benefit moves into universal credit, the possibility of large-scale reform opens up for the government.

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Anas Sarwar has denied that Labour’s decision to slash £5 billion a year from the welfare budget amounts to cuts.

The Scottish Labour leader rejected claims – including from within his own front bench – that the benefits system overhaul amounts to austerity because overall spending on welfare is still set to increase.

He said it is right that the UK Government focuses on encouraging more people into work and he criticised the Scottish Government for an “inefficient” benefits system north of the border which he said had wasted tens of millions of pounds.

UK Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall announced on Tuesday £5 billion worth of proposed welfare changes, largely stemming from a big reduction in support for those off work due to disability and ill health.

Around a million people are expected to lose their disability benefits as part of the welfare overhaul, experts believe.

Speaking to reporters at Holyrood, Mr Sarwar denied the move amounts to cuts, and he said it will not come into effect this year.

Told the UK Government is cutting the welfare budget by £5 billion, he said: “No, you’re wrong actually because currently welfare spending across the UK is £50 billion, and the new proposals will mean it’s projected to be £64 billion.”

Sir Keir Starmer has said there was scope for greater co-operation with the European Union after Brussels’ plans to increase defence spending would block the money being used to buy from UK arms firms.

The Prime Minister told Sky News: “I’m very pleased that the EU is signalling their intent to spend so much on defence.

“I’ve been making the argument, as others have, that all of us in Europe need to step up, not just in relation to Ukraine, but more generally, in our own collective self-defence.

“That does mean more spend, more capability, more co-ordination, and I want to have those discussions with our European allies. We’re continuing those discussions with them, because I do think the scope for more joint work is here.”