UK politics live: Starmer vows EU deal will end ‘huge’ passport queues and Farage misses Brexit reset debate

Our political correspondent Archie Mitchell reports:

Steve Reed has said he is “furious” about how Britain’s water companies are run, but stressed that “nationalisation isn’t the answer”.

The environment secretary said the government is taking action to strengthen how the sector is regulated.

“But the public are furious. I’m furious at the fact that we have record levels of sewage polluting our rivers, lakes and seas under the previous government,” he told Times Radio

He added: “We are determined as a government to clean up our waterways.”

Asked about taking them into public ownership, he said: “The problems here are regulation and governance, not ownership. The Scottish Water Company is in the public sector, and they have similar problems with pollution. So we know that nationalisation isn’t the answer. Nationalisation incidentally would cost over £100 billion.”

Chancellor Rachel Reeves said rising wages would help ease the cost-of-living squeeze.

She told broadcasters: “For the last few months, wages have been rising at a faster level than prices.

“That is welcome, but I do absolutely get that the cost-of-living challenges are still the biggest concern that families up and down our country have, which is why we are taking action with the national living wage, with free breakfast clubs, with freezing fuel duty because I am determined, as Chancellor of the Exchequer, to help relieve some of that pressure that families have been facing.”

Chancellor Rachel Reeves acknowledged that her policies had “consequences” but insisted it was necessary to stabilise the economy.

Asked if the inflation figures had been pushed up by measures including the hike in employers’ national insurance, she said: “When I became Chancellor last year, I faced the very difficult challenge that there was a £22 billion black hole in the public finances.

“We had to fix that, and if we hadn’t have done the Bank of England would not have been able to cut interest rates four times this last year, which has obviously had a direct effect on the mortgages and the rents that people pay.

“And also that money that we raised from national insurance, but also cracking down on non-doms, tax – VAT – on private schools, increasing capital gains, particularly on private equity firms, that money has gone into our National Health Service, which is why waiting lists and waiting times are going down after spiralling out of control the last few years.

“So I do recognise that all policies have consequences, but if I hadn’t have acted to stabilise the public finances, we would be in a worse position today.”

Steve Reed has described the situation in Gaza as “intolerable” and said Benjamin Netanyahu is making things worse, not better.

The environment secretary doubled down on Sir Keir Starmer’s condemnation of the Israeli prime minister, calling for him to halt renewed hostilities.

Speaking to Sky News, he said: “We are working closely with our allies and there are other allies as well who are trying to apply pressure on the Netanyahu government.”

And he added: “This has gone beyond self defence on the part of Israel, this is an attack that we can no longer tolerate.”

Rachel Reeves has said she is disappointed by the rise in inflation, but that the government will go “further and faster” in a bid to cut bills.

The chancellor said the UK is still “a long way” from double digit inflation seen under the Conservatives.“But I’m determined that we go further and faster to put more money in people’s pockets,” she said.

She added: “That’s why we have increased the minimum wage for millions of working people, frozen fuel duty to protect commuters and struck three trade deals in the past two weeks that will go towards cutting bills.”

The Conservatives have said the country is paying the price for Labour’s failings in government.

Responding to the inflation increase, shadow chancellor Mel Stride said the news was “worrying for families”.

He said: “We left Labour with inflation bang on target, but Labour’s economic mismanagement is pushing up the cost of living for families – on top of the £3,500 hit to households from the Chancellor’s damaging Jobs Tax. Higher inflation could also mean interest rates stay higher for longer, hitting family finances hard.”

Cabinet minister Steve Reed acknowledged the rise in inflation was “disappointing”.

The Environment Secretary told Times Radio: “I recognise these are disappointing figures. I know how much people are struggling with the cost of living crisis, but no one said that this problem could be fixed overnight.

“And I think you have to look at these figures in the round, we’ve brought double-digit inflation way down now.

“We’re stabilising the economy. We’re putting money back in people’s pockets with an increase in the minimum wage that puts £1,400-a-year into the pockets of some of the lowest paid.

“We’ve seen fuel duty frozen. We’ve had four interest rate cuts in a row now, and for the first quarter of this year, we now have the fastest growth in the G7 so there’s a lot of positive information out there as well.”

UK inflation surged to its highest level for more than a year last month after households were hit by a raft of “awful April” bill increases, official figures have revealed.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said Consumer Prices Index (CPI) inflation hit 3.5% in April, up from 2.6% in March and the highest since January 2024.

Economists had been expecting a rise to 3.3% last month.

ONS acting director-general Grant Fitzner said: “Significant increases in household bills caused inflation to climb steeply.

“Gas and electricity bills rose this month compared with sharp falls at the same time last year due to changes to the Ofgem energy price cap.

“Water and sewerage bills also rose strongly this year, as did vehicle excise duty, which all pushed the headline rate up to its highest level since the beginning of last year.”

As the Conservatives scream ‘betrayal’ at the new agreement with EU – which will only make life easier for ordinary Brits, and be beneficial to business – they have fallen into an obvious trap set for them by Keir Starmer, says Sean O’Grady.