In politics, they say a week is a long time. Seven days ago, Sir Keir Starmer woke up after a turbulent period that saw him appointed Prime Minister of a Labour government with a huge majority.
After visiting King Charles on Friday, appointing his cabinet and speaking on the phone to world leaders including US President Joe Biden, Sir Keir began a whirlwind tour of the devolved nations as his new leadership team got down to work in their new roles.
It must be said that the new government did not wait long to get to work. We took a quick look at what has already changed in the first week of a new government.
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Rwanda expulsion plan abandoned
One of the first steps taken by the new prime minister was to abandon the highly controversial Rwandan immigration plan championed by the previous conservative government.
First announced in 2022, the plan called for the British government to return migrants who arrived in Britain without permission to the east African nation, saying it would act as a deterrent and end the arrival of asylum seekers on small boats.
In his first press conference since becoming prime minister, Starmer said the Rwanda policy would be scrapped because only 1% of asylum seekers would have been deported and it would not have had a deterrent effect.
He told reporters: “The Rwandan project was dead and buried before it even started. It never had any deterrent effect. I am not prepared to continue with schemes that have no deterrent effect.”
‘Absurd’ ban on onshore wind farms lifted
Another measure taken by the new government was to remove the de facto ban on onshore wind farms. This ban was the result of two footnotes in the existing national planning policy, which made it impossible to build new wind turbines. Under the new Labour framework, these footnotes have been removed.
The change will come into force next week and will be confirmed in Parliament.
New water plan
One of the main problems that plagued the previous government was the state of the country’s rivers and waterways, many of which were the scene of sewage spills.
This week, the new Environment Secretary, Steve Reed, called together the country’s water bosses to lecture them about the tough approach the government will take on the issue.
He announced a number of measures, including new powers for consumers to hold water company directors to account, changes to the statutes of water companies and stronger protection and compensation for households and businesses affected by water problems.
Mayors in the spotlight
It is remarkable that former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak never met with the mayors of England’s major cities during his tenure at 10 Downing Street. Sir Keir Starmer corrected that within days.
On Tuesday, the Prime Minister and his deputy Angela Rayner invited all the country’s regional mayors – including Conservative Ben Houchen – to 10 Downing Street for a meeting on expanding their powers and how they can help drive economic growth.
Sir Keir said he wanted devolution to go much further into the regions, which was music to the ears of people like Liverpool City Region Mayor Steve Rotheram and his colleagues Andy Burnham, Sadiq Khan and Tracey Brabin.
Rainbow cords are back and the culture wars are “over”
The previous Conservative government was often accused of stirring up culture wars. Former “common sense” cabinet member Esther McVey reportedly banned people from wearing rainbow lanyards – a symbol of LGBT rights – in government.
Several newspapers reported this week that the ban had been quietly dropped. The new approach was confirmed by the new culture minister, Lisa Nandy, who told her new staff that “the era of culture wars is over”.
Crisis in prisons
One of the many crises inherited by the new Conservative government is prisons – and it is a crisis of great magnitude. On Friday, the new Justice Minister Shabana Mahmood warned that without immediate action to address overcrowding, prisons would run out of space within weeks, leading to “a complete breakdown of law and order”.
In a speech at HMP Five Wells in Northamptonshire, she said prisons were “on the verge of collapse”, with just 700 places left in the adult male ward and prisons operating at 99% capacity since the start of 2023.
The plans presented by Ms Mahmood include a temporary reduction in the proportion of the sentence many prisoners must serve in prison, from 50% to 40%.
The measure would not apply to violent offenders serving sentences of more than four years, sex offenders or people imprisoned for crimes related to domestic violence. Dangerous offenders serving long-term or life sentences would also be exempt from the scheme.
The change is set to come into effect in September, with the justice minister also announcing the recruitment of 1,000 more probation officers by March and the end of the previous government’s early release scheme, which saw 10,000 prisoners released up to 70 days early.
Junior doctors
The NHS is another area of crisis inherited by the new administration, and this includes the ongoing junior doctors’ strike. Upon his appointment as the new health secretary, Wes Streeting announced that he would meet with the British Medical Association in the coming days to try to resolve the dispute.
Those face-to-face talks have now begun, with renewed optimism that an agreement can be reached before further planned strikes.
Liverpool and Merseyside priority
It seems a long time since the needs and hopes of this region have been a central concern of the National Government. Many feel that this Labour-dominated region has been largely ignored, or even negatively targeted, by Conservative administrations.
Local leaders had hoped that a new Labour administration would be more understanding and interested in the plight of Merseyside and the early signs are positive.
Just minutes after Rachel Reeves’ first speech as chancellor, Liverpool was on the agenda, with talk of investing in a major housing scheme in the city’s central docks.
Following his meeting with regional mayors, Sir Keir Starmer also visited the region. In comments published in the Liverpool Echo, he said: “Today we have redefined the relationship and mindset of government, with a renewed intention to put rocket boosters under the control of Liverpool, Merseyside, Sefton and the wider local economy, working closely with Mayor Steve Rotheram.”
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