Andy Burnham latest: Healey promises to hike defence spending after Trump’s latest Falklands threat

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch has ruthlessly sacked her shadow chancellor, Sir Mel Stride, and replaced him with one of the architects of Liz Truss’s disastrous mini-Budget.

New shadow chancellor Andrew Griffith was financial secretary to the Treasury – number three in the department – when Ms Truss’s mini-Budget caused a run on the gilt market and almost bankrupted the country.

Ms Truss led the congratulations of Mr Griffith on his appointment, tweeting: “Congratulations to Andrew Griffith on becoming Shadow Chancellor. The economic establishment of the last three decades has failed Britain. They must be taken on.”

Mr Griffith was a strong advocate of the former prime minister’s plans to slash taxes and his appointment appears to be an indication that Ms Badenoch wants the party to take a more aggressive direction after the cautious approach of Sir Mel.

John Healey has suggested he wants to “refresh” the special relationship with the United States, just hours after Donald Trump reignited a row over the Falklands Islands.

The US president suggested he was reconsidering US support for Britain’s sovereignty over the Falkland Islands – remarks which are likely to inflame tensions with the UK even further. The islands are administered by the UK but are claimed by Argentina, whose president, Javier Millei, is an ally of Mr Trump.

But speaking to The Times, the chancellor insisted that, “just like in defence, the US is the UK’s most important economic partner”.

President Donald Trump said he was reviewing the United States’ position on the British sovereignty over the Falkland islands, in a move that will raise alarm for Labour ministers.

It follows reports last week that the US administration was prepared to oppose British rule of the overseas territory as an incentive to encourage Andy Burnham to increase defence spending,

The islands are administered by the UK but are claimed by Argentina, whose president is an ally of Mr Trump.

“I always review every ⁠position,” Mr Trump told reporters on Monday, when asked about the islands’ sovereignty. “That’s just one of ​many,” he added.

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The justice secretary has insisted prisons will “still function properly” amid concerns over government plans to turn laundries into accommodation in a bid to tackle overcrowding.

Asked where clothes would be washed if laundry rooms were converted into cells, Alex Norris told BBC Breakfast: “Of course we’re going to make sure that the prisons can still function properly.

“This is a creative look, as I say, around our estate and being able to use some space that we can re-prioritise.”

He said ministers “want to improve the prison environment”.

The “Burnham bounce” has ended, just weeks after the new prime minister entered Downing Street, leading pollsters have said, as they warned there would be no point in Labour calling an early election.

Labour surged in the polls by around five to six points – finally leapfrogging Nigel Farage’s Reform UK after 18 months – after Andy Burnham took over from Sir Keir Starmer on 20 July.

But experts say any bounce triggered by the change of leadership appears to have already peaked, with Labour failing to make any gains since last week – and even falling behind Reform again in some cases.

The Independent’s political editor David Maddox has this exclusive report:

Plans by ministers to tackle overcrowding in prisons do not go far enough, the leader of the Liberal Democrats has suggested.

Sir Ed Davey told LBC Radio: “They’re talking about turning laundries into prison cells in existing prisons.

“I’m not sure if that cuts it, to be honest … and there’s no new money.

“If they’re going to get serious, they’ve really got to tackle it with a little bit more vigour and verve than I’ve seen so far. It’s really, really important.”

Victims whose perpetrators are due for early prison release will be asked what restrictions they want imposed “so they can live their life fully”, the justice secretary has said.

Alex Norris told BBC Breakfast: “They will be written to. Letters start going out today.

“They will all be contacted individually by a victim liaison officer, who will then talk to them about, firstly, is their perpetrator coming out sooner than they expected? But secondly – and this is really crucial – that if their perpetrator is coming out sooner, or indeed when their perpetrator comes out in the future, what sort of controls do they want to see so they can live their life fully?”

He said offenders would be “subject to the widest range of tools we’ve ever had”, including restriction zones, tagging, bans on attending football games or night clubs.

Mr Norris continued: “We will be talking through our victim liaison officers to victims and survivors to ask them how they live their lives, so that we can design the restrictions on their perpetrator, so that they live around their victims and survivors, rather than the other way round, which has been the case for far too long.”

He encouraged victims to join the victim contact scheme.

Justice secretary Alex Norris has declined to say whether there are fewer prison places than a year ago and insisted Labour’s plans will create “hundreds” of new places.

Speaking to Times Radio on Tuesday morning ahead of setting out the plans to tackle overcrowding in the prisons estate in Parliament, he was asked about the Conservatives’ claim that there are 700 fewer prison places than in 2025.

Mr Norris said: “Those wouldn’t necessarily be the numbers I’d use, but it is possible that places come out of the estate. For example, you know, there can be damage, fire damage. We’ve got a very old estate.

“I talk about the biggest prison-building programme since the Victorian era. Well, that means that a lot of our estate is Victorian estate.”

The estate “fluctuates” because of planned and unplanned conditions, the minister added.

Mr Norris said the plan to convert unused spaces inside prisons, such as shared use areas and offices, into new cells would create “in the hundreds of places”.

“In a system that’s running very hot, a few hundred places here and there makes a really big difference,” he said.

Bridget Philipson, Labour Party chairwoman, said Kemi Badenoch’s shake-up of her shadow cabinet shows the Conservatives “have learnt nothing since they were kicked out of office by the British people”.

She said in a statement: “Promoting a key architect of Liz Truss’s disastrous mini Budget tells you all you need to know about Badenoch’s complete lack of judgement.

“The Tories’ top team is crammed full of the same vandals who hammered family finances and left our public services crumbling. No wonder they’ve made no progress in the last two years.

“Meanwhile, Andy Burnham’s Labour Government is driving good growth in every postcode, giving vital breathing space on the cost of living, and bringing back hope to Britain.”