UK politics live: McVitie’s boss says it’s hard to understand why businesses would invest in Britain

Downing Street sought to avoid being drawn into a war of words with Elon Musk after the tech tycoon and Donald Trump ally used his X social media site to highlight a petition calling for another election and branding the UK a “tyrannical police state”.

Asked about Mr Musk’s words, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “I’m not going to be drawn on individual comments.”

The spokesman added: “The Prime Minister is focused on the issues that matter most to the British people.

“That’s what the Government was elected to deliver on – protecting our streets is obviously a key part of the Government mission and a key part of the platform the Government was elected on, as well as growing the economy, securing the borders and a number of the other priorities that we have discussed.”

No 10 also insisted it was looking forward to working with US President-elect Trump and his team.

“The Prime Minister looks forward to working with President Trump and his whole team, including Elon Musk, to work on issues, to deepen and develop the special UK-US relationship across trade, investment, security, defence – a wide range of areas the UK and US already share a deep and special relationship on and the Prime Minister looks forward to going further.”

Downing Street declined to agree with Labour peer Lord Falconer’s criticism of the Justice Secretary over her remarks on assisted dying legislation.

Asked whether Sir Keir Starmer agreed with Lord Falconer that Shabana Mahmood was seeking to “impose” her religious beliefs on others, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “The Prime Minister has been very clear that this is a free vote.

“It is up to MPs to determine their position on it. The PM respects that there are strongly held views on all sides of the debate, but the whole of Government is united in respecting the will of Parliament.”

Asked whether the Prime Minister thought Cabinet members had complied with the rules in their comments on assisted dying, he said: “We’ve been clear that the Government will remain neutral but Cabinet members will clearly be voting as MPs with independent views.

“And it will be perfectly normal that there will be different views in that respect and it is obviously expected that they will want to explain to their constituents how they are going to vote on this highly emotive issue.”

After enjoying his beloved Arsenal beating Nottingham Forrest 3-0 at home on Saturday, Sir Keir Starmer took his daughter to an escape room on Sunday.

The prime minister thought he would get away with dropping her off for the birthday treat and enjoying a cup of coffee while he waited.

“No, no, no,” his daughter told him, “you’re in there with me”.

So Sir Keir was dragged into the escape room and was locked in having to decode clues to discover a way out.

He also revealed his new kitten Prince has not yet met Downing Street’s famous mouse catcher Larry, as he spoke about his family’s Christmas plans.

Asked for an update on the Starmer family Siberian kitten, Sir Keir told ITV’s This Morning: “Prince is the name of the kitten.

“So, Prince and Larry haven’t met yet. I am worried that Larry will come off the better – the kitten is tiny.”

I read John Rentoul’s optimistic column (“Rachel Reeves is standing by her ‘tough decisions’ – but for how long?”, Saturday 23 November) with interest, and bow to his political nous about this.

Instead of showing weakness, it would indeed show strength from Rachel Reeves and Keir Starmer – that they had listened, understood and were ready to think again.

I am personally not so sure that they will, because I don’t think they really “get it”, in relation to the removal of the winter fuel allowance. As Martin Lewis states; it was a cliff-edge decision, with so many pensioners just marginally over the pension credit threshold losing out. Of course, it needed reforming, but not in such a punitive, cack-handed fashion.

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Sir Keir Starmer has hyped up his handiness in the kitchen, detailing the deliciousness of his salmon and quorn tandooris.

The prime minister said he loves to cook, especially on Saturdays, because he finds it relaxing. Asked on ITV’s This Morning what his top dishes are, the PM said: “My tandoori salmon and tandoori quorn is coming on very, very nicely.”

But Sir Keir said he is often overruled at dinner time by his kids, who demand a standard pasta bake. “I get the recipe book out and say I am going to do this, then the kids get involved, we negotiate and end up with a pasta bake very often because that is what they will always eat,” Sir Keir added.

Challenged over his cooking, the PM committed to showing up for another episode of the ITV show to present his own cooking segment.

Leading academic experts in the fields of health, end-of-life care and the legal system have joined together to sign an open letter opposing the assisted dying bill which MPs are due to debate on Friday.

The bill tabled by Labour MP Kim Leadbeater would for the first time allow for the NHS to assist people to take their own lives.

Ms Leadbeater and supporters of the legislation claim the bill would provide the “strictest safeguards anywhere in the world” to prevent the system being abused and ensure it only applied to terminally ill patients. Among these are that any requests to end life would need to be signed off by two doctors and a judge.

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Sir Keir Starmer has ruled out calling another general election, but said he was “not surprised” some people who did not support Labour might want a second poll.

The Prime Minister was asked by ITV’s This Morning about a petition calling for another election on the Parliament website, now signed by two million people.

Sir Keir told the programme: “Look, I remind myself that very many people didn’t vote Labour at the last election.

“I’m not surprised that many of them want a rerun. That isn’t how our system works.

“There will be plenty of people who didn’t want us in in the first place.

“So, what my focus is on is the decisions that I have to make every day.”

Salman Amin, chief executive of McVitie’s bakery products’ parent company Pladis, said it is “becoming harder to understand” the case for investing in the UK.

Speaking at the CBI’s annual conference on Monday, he said: “Historically, we’ve been super bullish on the United Kingdom.

“In fact, by far our greatest investment across all of our countries over the last decade or so has come to the UK.”

He added: “Going forward, it’s becoming harder to understand what the case for investment is.

“Small amounts one can understand, but the quantums that I think we need to make a difference in the growth rate of the economy are in the order of tens of millions every year.

“In the last couple of years, it’s just become a lot harder to really see how does that play out.”

A Labour peer has been accused of making “hugely offensive” remarks by an MP from his own party after he suggested the justice secretary’s concerns about the assisted dying bill were “motivated by religious belief”.

Rachael Maskell, the MP for York Central and a devout Christian, said Lord Falconer’s claim that Shabana Mahmood was trying to “impose” her Muslim beliefs on those in favour of assisted dying was “hugely offensive and discriminatory” and urged him to apologise.

The row comes as temperatures are flaring on the Labour benches about the assisted dying bill, which MPs will vote on this Friday.

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