Day: September 12, 2025

Scotland secretary Douglas Alexander said of Rayner’s departure that MPs ‘feel quite acutely that sense of loss’

Douglas Alexander said he understood that Labour MPs would be “despondent” as a result of two significant departures in the past two weeks.

The Scotland secretary told BBC Breakfast:

Many of us were devastated by Angela Rayner’s departure from the government last week. She’s an extraordinary woman who’s overcome the most extraordinary challenges and we are grieving and feel quite acutely that sense of loss.

Now to have the dismissal of Peter Mandelson just the next week, I totally get it, of course Labour MPs will be despondent that in two weeks in a row we have seen significant resignations from public service.

We’ll do it by working in partnership with the developers and with the builders. My job is to get every barrier out of the way that is stopping that construction going ahead.

The UK economy flatlined in July, according to official figures, in grim news for Rachel Reeves as she gears up for a challenging budget. It was a slowdown compared with June, when the economy grew by 0.4%, according to the Office for National Statistics.

Britain will not rejoin the EU in the foreseeable future, according to the minister who has piloted Keir Starmer’s recent reset of European relations. Nick Thomas-Symonds said he could not see the country re-entering the bloc in his lifetime, despite the thaw in continental relations that he has helped bring about.

Up to 400 large shops are at risk of closure with as many as 100,000 jobs at risk if the government goes ahead with plans to hit stores with higher business rates, retailers have warned. Some of the UK’s largest retail premises, including supermarkets and department stores, would face higher property tax charges under new rules being considered by the government before November’s budget.

Transport for London has invited the RMT to resume talks as the union’s week of strikes comes to a close, with the tube expected to restart gradually, with early disruption, on Friday. The RMT did not confirm whether it would accept TfL’s invitation to further talks next Wednesday, after saying further strikes could follow.

Special needs reforms for children in England could turn into “welfare reforms mark 2” unless the government can convince parents that it is not aiming to save money, according to a report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies. The thinktank said any changes to the current system of education, health and care plans (EHCPs), which mandate tailored support for children with special needs, will be highly controversial among parents, but said reform was “long overdue” as the number of EHCPs issued has ballooned by 80% since 2018.

Hospices are “on the brink” and two in five are making cuts this year despite the importance of end-of-life care if assisted dying becomes legal, the sector has warned before the first House of Lords debate on the legislation. The terminally ill adults (end of life) legislation is due to have its second reading in the House of Lords on Friday.

Continue reading…