Starmer holds talks with political leaders in Belfast as he continues tour of country – UK politics live | Politics

Last night, after his meeting with Keir Starmer in Edinburgh, John Swinney, Scotland’s first minister, posted a video message on social media indicating that he was optimistic that the two governments would be able to work constructively together. In an interview on the Today programme this morning Kate Forbes, Swinney’s deputy, who attended the meeting, said it was “very positive”.

She said Starmer and Swinney talked about substantive issues, “as well as the need for building a mutual respect to our relationship”.

She also said that what Starmer said about wanting to protect jobs at the Grangemouth oil refinery was “really positive”.

Asked how the SNP should respond to its electoral defeat, Forbes said:

The priority now has got to be to listen to the message that the electorate were sending, take some time to reflect on that. And, might I add, the greatest danger is that you become navel gazing, listening to yourself, rather than listening to the electorate.

They want to see change. This was a change election, and that’s what we’re going to do.

You’ll know that John Swinney and I were only in the post for – I think I was in the post for about 10 days before that the election was called. So we had already set out an agenda for that change.

She also said “competence and integrity” had to be at the centre of the SNP’s leadership.

David Lammy has met his Canadian counterpart, in the first engagement he has hosted as foreign secretary, PA Media reports. Lammy met with Melanie Joly, Canada’s minister of foreign affairs, on Monday morning.

“Can I thank you so much for being my first official visitor as foreign secretary here in the UK,” he said.

“I have known Canada all of my life, it is a country I love, I have family in Canada, so this means the world to me.”

Lammy stressed the two nations had “the closest of relationships” and said he and Ms Joly had got to know each other while he was serving as shadow foreign secretary.

He added: “Lots to discuss this morning, I can’t tell you how pleased I am that you have made this so special by coming to my first official visitation.”

Although the engagement is the first Lammy has hosted, he has already travelled to Europe for talks with key players, with a promise that the UK would be a “good neighbour” after the years of Brexit acrimony.

Patrick Wintour has written a good account of Lammy’s weekend trip here. Here is an extract.

It did not escape UK officials that after years as the sick man of Europe, the opportunity arises for the country to suddenly look like an oasis of stability, led by a government with at least four years in power and an impregnable majority.

Lammy aimed to come not just with warm words, but with the outline of a plan for an EU-UK security pact. That plan, carefully hatched in opposition, and in some ways reviving ideas that fell by the wayside in the original Brexit negotiations, is more ambitious and wide-ranging than commonly recognised, since security is being defined by the Lammy team in its broadest sense, to cover not just defence, but the web of issues that make up modern-day security, from the climate crisis to energy, pandemics, cyber, investment strategies and critical minerals.

And here is the full article.

Sinn Féin leaders have welcomed the election of the Labour government. Speaking after a meeting with Keir Starmer in Belfast, Mary Lou McDonald, the Sinn Féin president who is leader of the opposition in Ireland, and Michelle O’Neill, the first minister and Sinn Féin leader in Northern Ireland, made it clear that they preferred working with a Labour government at Westminster than a Conservative one. McDonald said:

This is the government that we wish to work with in a constructive way. We are very conscious that, 26 years ago, a British Labour government was at the heart of striking the Good Friday agreement. We want this British government to be at the heart of honoring that agreement, fulfilling that agreement in all of its parts. And we’re going to work very, very constructively for that to happen.

Because the opportunities that the challenges that we face as societies are real and substantial, but the opportunities too are there for us to grasp.

So I think that we need to sound a notion of real optimism today that we can move forward together, that we can work closely together to honor the Good Friday agreement, to ensure that public services are funded correctly here in the north of Ireland, to work on pressing issues like the issue of immigration together. So we look forward to that.

In his interviews this morning, Darren Jones, the chief secretary to the Treasury, also rejected suggestions that Labour has a secret plan to put up taxes. He said:

There is not a secret tax plan. This was an attack from the Conservatives. It is not a reflection of reality.

Our manifesto commitments, our priorities that we’re now implementing, our first six steps and our missions are funded with the loophole changes that were in the back of the manifesto that people voted for last Thursday.

Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, is expected to confirm that the new government will relax planning rules in her speech this morning. Giving interviews this morning, Darren Jones, her deputy at the Treasury, said local communities would still get a say in plannng decisions. He told Times Radio:

Local communities will still be involved in the planning process and our policy is not to exclude them.

What we’re talking about today, in which the chancellor will set out in more detail later, is that when in particular it comes to large developments, large national pieces of infrastructure, we need to speed up the decision making process.

That doesn’t mean excluding people’s voices from the decision making process. It just means not waiting years and years and years and then projects being stalled and not delivered as a consequence of inertia in the system.

So people will still be able to contribute their views and they will still be considered within the law in the normal ways but we do want to speed up the delivery of infrastructure.

Keir Starmer has met Northern Ireland first minister Michelle O’Neill and deputy first minister Emma Little-Pengelly in Belfast, PA Media reports. PA says:

The prime minister is visiting Belfast following his trip to Scotland on Sunday, and will also visit Wales to round off a visit to the three devolved nations.

He arrived at Stormont Castle early on Monday morning as he begins his first full week in office, ahead of travelling to the Nato summit in Washington on Tuesday.

O’Neill and Little-Pengelly greeted Starmer and new Northern Ireland secretary Hilary Benn at the castle entrance before they held a meeting inside. O’Neill congratulated him on his electoral success and they discussed Westminster and Stormont parliamentary schedules.

After half an hour with Stormont’s leaders, the new prime minister then moved on to Parliament Buildings, where he was greeted at the foot of the landmark steps by Assembly Speaker Edwin Poots. He is holding talks with representatives from the main Stormont parties.

Good morning, and welcome to the first full working day of the new Labour government. Parliament is not sitting until tomorrow, but many new MPs will be arriving at Westminster in the hope of finding an office (good luck with that – it normally takes a while), and the new cabinet is busy. Keir Starmer is in Belfast, on the latest leg of his tour to meet the devolved governments, Rachel Reeves is making a major speech on growth this morning, Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, is starting the process of setting up a new Border Security Command, Wes Streeting, the health secretary, is meetng the British Dental Association to discuss changes to the dental contract, and Downing Street is holding its first lobby briefing under the new regime.

Darren Jones, chief secretary to the Treasury, was on the media round. Policy-wise he did not really have anything new to say, but in an interview with the BBC he struck a note of confidence that contained a withering put-down to the previous government. Asked if he thought the Tories would not be able to provide a credible opposition given the leadership contest might take a while, he replied:

I expect that we will be challenged in the House of Commons.

Of course the Conservatives suffered a historic loss, but that doesn’t mean there’s no opposition in the House of Commons and of course, we have the House of Lords to get any legislation through as well.

And the key thing that you’ll see from this Labour government is that we’re going to return both to the service of the British people, but also to the norms. The adults are back in the room.

Announcements that we make will be made to parliament, they will follow proper processes through parliament, and we welcome them to be challenged and scrutinised by colleagues from different parties.

That’s the right and proper way to do business and that’s what you will have from this Labour government.

Here is the agenda for the day.

Morning: Keir Starmer is meeting Michelle O’Neill, Northern Ireland’s first minister, and Emma Little-Pengelly, her deputy, in Northern Ireland. There is due to be a press briefing at 10.30am.

10.30am: Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, gives a speech on growth.

11.30am: Downing Street holds its first lobby briefing since Starmer became PM.

1pm: Reeves visits a building site in London with Angela Rayner, the levelling up secretary.

1.30pm: Rhun ap Iorwerth, the Plaid Cymru leader, holds a press briefing at Westminister with the party’s four MPs.

2pm: The Green MPs Carla Denyer and Siân Berry hold a press briefing at Westminster.

Afternoon: Starmer meets Vaughan Gething, the Welsh first minister, in Cardiff.

And at some point today Wes Streeting, the health secretary, has a meeting with the British Dental Association to discuss changes to the dental contract.

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