Waspi women latest: Starmer accused of ‘breaking promise’ as he denies ‘misleading’ women over compensation

Three former Tory ministers have been reprimanded by Whitehall’s appointments watchdog Acoba for announcing post-government roles early.

Departing ministers are required for two years to seek and await advice from Acoba before taking on or announcing new jobs or appointments.

Lord Pickles, the watchdog’s chairman, wrote to the three former ministers and reported them to the Cabinet Office for breaking the rules.

Former transport minister Huw Merriman breached the rules by not waiting for the watchdog’s advice before announcing his role of chairman at the Liverpool to Manchester Railway Partnership Board.

James Heappey, a former defence minister, failed to seek advice before joining HPO Technologies Ltd as a senior adviser.

Mark Jenkinson, a former assistant government whip, applied for advice after he had already established an independent consultancy, Redghyll Ltd, and taken up work with Nuvia Group.

Mr Merriman and Mr Heappey did not stand in the 2024 general election. Mr Jenkinson lost his seat.

The Government is considering taking over responsibility from the Post Office for redress schemes for subpostmasters impacted by the Horizon scandal, a minister has said.

Business minister Gareth Thomas gave a statement to MPs where he said that £79 million has been paid to 232 people from the Horizon convictions redress scheme, but that the Government had “concerns” about the Post Office’s ability to deliver the Horizon shortfall scheme and the overturned conviction scheme.

The Horizon Convictions Redress Scheme was launched by the Government to enable people wrongly convicted of a crime because of the Horizon IT system used by the Post Office to apply for financial redress.

The Horizon shortfall scheme allows subpostmasters to apply either for a £75,000 Fixed Sum Award or to have their application fully assessed, and is run by the Post Office.

The overturned conviction scheme is also run by the Post Office and is eligible for anyone whose Horizon-related conviction has been overturned by the courts.

Mr Thomas outlined a number of areas the Government was considering amending some parts of the redress system as there are still “complex cases to resolve”.

By alienating the demographic most likely to turn out to vote, Keir Starmer will now struggle to shake off accusations that his government is happy to say one thing and do another, says John Rentoul

Women Against State Pension Inequality (Waspi) campaigners have accused the Prime Minister of spreading “dangerous misinformation” in his defence of how State Pension age changes were communicated to women born in the 1950s.

Angela Madden, Chair of Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI), said: “This isn’t just misleading; it’s an insult to millions of 1950s-born women who were blindsided by these changes. The Ombudsman’s findings were based on rigorous evidence showing that 60 per cent of women had no idea their own State Pension age was rising.

“The Government’s attempt to cherry-pick data to suggest otherwise is spreading dangerous misinformation, plain and simple.”

Ms Madden added: “The fact that 90 per cent of women had some general awareness of potential changes in the future does not mean they knew this would impact them personally.

“That is exactly why the Ombudsman identified maladministration and why this Government’s continued attempts to muddy the waters are so unacceptable.”

During today’s Prime Minister’s Questions debate, Kemi Badenoch stated that the Conservative Party “protected the triple lock during all our time in Government”.

Shortly afterwards, Labour MP Mark Ferguson wrote on X, formerly Twitter: “Wrong. In 2021 the Tories didn’t uprate pensions in line with earnings. That cost pensioners.”

In 2021, the Conservative government announced that the triple lock pension guarantee was being suspended for one year due to the after-effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Although the state pension still rose, the increase was lower than the rise that would otherwise have been implemented. This temporary change passed the House of Commons with little opposition, and was not objected to by the older people’s charity Age UK.

Urban and rural councils have warned that the increase in funding next year announced by the Government will not relieve acute pressures on local services.

Changes to the draft local government finance settlement included a £700 million uplift in funding for social care and the costs of changes to national insurance.

But the County Councils Network (CCN) said the extra funding would not come close to covering forecast costs facing its members, while the District Councils Network (DCN) said the changes mean “little or no increase” in funding in many areas with worrying consequences for services.

Meanwhile, councils in London have estimated that the settlement will still lead to a collective funding shortfall next year of at least £500 million.

The CCN welcomed the extra funding for social care but warned the national insurance support would not cover forecast costs facing its members, which amount to £488 million.

The body, which represents county and unitary councils covering about 50% of the population, also repeated concerns that the Government was favouring city and town councils by distributing the £600 million Recovery Grant exclusively on a deprivation formula.

A Government minister has quoted AI-generated Adele lyrics to draw attention to how bots can come up with versions of existing artists’ songs without paying them any money.

Technology minister Sir Chris Bryant read out lines from a non-existent song by the Grammy-award winning British singer that he had got an AI company to write, as he announced a consultation on potential new copyright protections for creative industries to stop AI bots from using their material for free.

Sir Chris said the issue posed an “existential threat” for the British music, film, literary and gaming industries.

In response to a question from Conservative MP Julian Lewis (New Forest East) in the House of Commons, urging him to consider looking at Taylor Swift whom he said had been “shrewd” over her copyright, Sir Chris said: “It’s not Taylor Swift that I’ve consulted, but I asked an AI company to come up with a song in the manner of Adele.

“‘Oh I still feel you, deep in my soul. Even though you left me out here on my own, the love we had it’s slipping through my hands, but I can’t forget, I still don’t understand. You’re gone, but your memory is all I see, and in the silence, it’s you haunting me’.

“It’s sort of Adele isn’t it? But it’s not Adele. And again, my question goes, so does Adele know that her material has been used, does her record label know that her lyrics have been used to create that. Because it’s sort of in the territory, but it’s not right.

“I think we can get this right in the UK and provide leadership to the world, that’s what we should strive for.”

Kemi Badenoch wants to see a British version of the soon-to-be set up US department of government efficiency, her spokesman has indicated.

Businessman Elon Musk is expected to lead a cost-cutting drive when President-elect Donald Trump comes to office in January, dubbed the “department of government efficiency”.

Nicknamed “Doge” – an acronym that shares its name with an internet meme about a dog and the cryptocurrency Dogecoin which Mr Musk once backed – the organisation is expected to take the form of an advisory team rather than a government department.

Doge will be chaired by Tesla and SpaceX owner Mr Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, a businessman who stood as a Republican presidential candidate.

Tory leader Mrs Badenoch is an “enormous fan of Elon Musk and what he’s done with X”, her spokesman said, adding she was “following what he is doing with Doge in the US very closely”.

Asked by journalists if she wanted to replicate the programme in the UK, her spokesman added: “Yes, she does. And in fact, that was one of the things that she was looking to do in the Department of Business and Trade with the smarter regulation program, to sort of finesse government and reduce regulation.”