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Starmer planning to hold next king’s speech soon after May elections
Jessica Elgot
Jessica Elgot is the Guardian’s deputy political editor.
Keir Starmer is planning for a new king’s speech after the crunch May elections as a reset moment for the government amid speculation over the prime minister’s future.
Senior sources in parliament said planning was under way to end the parliamentary session the week after local elections in England, making it a significantly longer session than normal, and nearly two years since Labour first set out its legislative agenda.
Labour is facing a potentially devastating set of results in England, Wales and Scotland, with the possible loss of hundreds of council seats to Reform and the Greens in England as well as defeat for the first time in Wales, where Plaid Cymru and Reform are leading in the polls.
In Scotland, the Scottish National party are polling on course to maintain power despite pre-election hopes that Labour’s Anas Sarwar could become first minister. Critics of Starmer’s leadership have repeatedly named May as the moment when would-be leadership challengers could call for him to stand aside.
The last king’s speech was in July 2024, weeks after Labour won the general election, but a combination of parliamentary rebellions, international and economic turmoil and defeats in the House of Lords has meant the government needs more time to complete the legislation.
The relatively late end to the session will raise some hopes among supporters of assisted dying that it may be possible to complete the bill, which will fall if it does not pass by the end of the session. They expect many opponents will try to use procedure to talk out the private members’ bill and bar it from progressing.
Further changes to the House of Lords are among a number of measures expected in the king’s speech, including introducing a mandatory retirement age of 80.
SharePotential lack of funding for plan to prevent violence against women ‘deeply concerning’, says victims’ commissioner
Good morning. The government is finally publishing its violence against women and girls (VAWG) strategy. In its manifesto Labour said it wanted to halve VAWG within a decade, and so this is a vital policy area. Publication of the strategy has been delayed three times. In the Commons on Monday, in response to an urgent question on this, Jess Phillips, minister for safeguarding and VAWG, said the delays were down to her. “It is entirely my fault because, with every iteration, the strategy was not ambitious enough. I could have done it more quickly, and then it would not have been as good,” she said.
Although the document is being published today, the VAWG strategy is being promoted via a budget-style, week-long media strategy. We have already had announcements form the Home Office covering extra spending for abuse victims, specialist NHS help for abuse victims, and all police forces introducing specialist rape and sexual offence teams.
And, overnight, the government has been briefing on plans to tackle misogynist behaviour in schools. Alexandra Topping and Rajeev Syal have the details here.
Phillips has been giving interviews this morning and she has described these measures as particularly important because, while other aspects of the strategy deal with the consequences of VAWG, this aspect deals with prevention. She told Times Radio:
I’m a bit sick, I have to say, as somebody who’s campaigned on this for many years, of just trying to put nicer plasters onto ever growing scars, and so we’ve got to – the government is really, really focused on the prevention.
But how good is the strategy overall? Claire Waxman, the incoming victims’ commissioner for England and Wales, has issued a statement saying that, while the plan contains many welcome measures, potential lack of funding is “deeply concerning”. She says she is worried it could end up as “less than the sum of its parts”.
She says:
Ultimately, the success of this strategy hinges on whether delivery partners are equipped to succeed. Early indications around funding are deeply concerning. The strategy introduces welcome measures in schools and the NHS which will, by design, drive up disclosures and referrals to police and victim services. Yet frontline services are already overstretched and struggling to meet need, and the criminal justice system remains in crisis.
Funding is critical. Driving up demand without increasing capacity puts victims at risk and threatens to destabilise the very partners the strategy relies upon. This concern is heightened by the lack of meaningful consultation. Victim services are not an optional extra to this strategy – they must be the backbone of it.
Without clear, sustainable investment and cross-government leadership, I am concerned we run the risk of the strategy amounting to less than the sum of its parts; a wish-list of tactical measures rather than a bold, unifying strategic framework.
Here is the agenda for the day.
9.30am: The Ministry of Justice publishes its latest figures on the courts backlog.
9.30am: Emma Reynolds, the environment secretary, takes questions in the Commons.
11am: Jeremy Corbyn, the former Labour leader, and John McDonnell, the Labour MP, speak at a press conference held by relatives and supporters of the Palestine Action-lined hunger strikers.
After 11.30am: Jess Phillips, the VAWG minister, makes a statement to MPs about the government’s plan to tackle violence against women and girls.
Morning: Kemi Badenoch is on a visit in east Hampshire.
Noon: The Bank of England announces its decision on interest rates.
The government is also making announcements via 13 written ministerial statements, covering police funding, the cost of the government’s response to the Covid inquiry, the Minette Batters review of farm profitability, and the inquiry into conditions at the Manston asylum centre.
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Updated at 04.44 EST