Starmer sets out plan to cut reliance on foreign workers – live

Nearly 1,500 migrants have arrived in the UK after a busy week of crossings in the English Channel, figures show.

Some 1,499 people made the journey in 27 boats from July 15 to 21, while the French coastguard confirmed two people died amid rescue operations off the northern French coast.

The maritime prefecture also said on Sunday that a further 71 migrants were saved in the Channel, but some travellers on the boat who were not requesting assistance were allowed to continue the journey.

They said this decision was made given the risk of “falling overboard or of injury to people in the event of forced intervention”.

Some 114 people arrived on Sunday in two boats, according to latest Home Office data, bringing the provisional total for the year so far to 15,831.

This is 9% higher than the number recorded this time last year (14,534) and up 3% on the same period in 2022 (15,314), according to PA news agency analysis of Government data.

Sir Keir Starmer has said it would not have been an easy decision for Joe Biden to abandon his hopes of re-election to the White House.

The Prime Minister said he respected a decision made in the “best interests of the American people” and insisted he would work with whoever won the US election in November.

Mr Biden bowed out of the race in response to mounting pressure about his age and his inability to take on Republican rival Donald Trump.

The US President backed Vice President Kamala Harris to be the Democrat nominee in his place.

Sir Keir, who had talks at the White House with Mr Biden earlier this month while in Washington for the Nato summit, said: “I respect that decision that he has now made.

“Not an easy decision, but a decision that I know that he will have arrived at taking into account the best interests of the American people, and I look forward to working with him for the remainder of his presidency.”

He declined to comment on his relationship with Ms Harris, but insisted the UK would work with whoever became president.

“Obviously in the first instance, it’s for the Democratic Party to decide who they want to put forward. It is then for the American people to decide who they want as their president.

“My approach will be to respect that decision-making and to be clear that we will work with whoever the American people elect into office, as you would expect, particularly given the nature of the special relationship between our two countries, forged in difficult circumstances, endured for years, and very important to me and very important to all American presidents.”

Labour should remove the two-child benefit cap “immediately” to lift thousands of children out of poverty, MPs have said.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has come under pressure from her party’s backbenchers to lift the cap, which prevents almost all parents from claiming universal credit or child tax credit for a third child.

Labour MP for Liverpool Riverside Kim Johnson has tabled an amendment to the King’s Speech that would scrap the cap, with the proposal currently backed by 29 MPs.

She told The Independent that the level of child poverty in her constituency was “unacceptable” and these children “can’t wait two years for a decision to be made”. She added: “Removing the two-child cap needs to be done and it needs to be done immediately”.

Our social affairs correspondent Holly Bancroft has the full story:

Sir Keir Starmer has acknowledged the passion of Labour MPs who may be considering rebelling over the continuation of the two-child benefit limit.

But he said there is “no silver bullet” to reduce child poverty amid a spiraling Labour rebellion to scrap the controversial two-child benefit cap.

In a speech at the Farnborough International Airshow in Hampshire, the prime minister said: “There is no silver bullet. If there was a silver bullet it would have been shot a very long time ago. It is a complicated set of factors that I know and I can see everyday in my own constituency to do with pay, to do with benefits, to do with work, to do with housing, to do with education, to do with health.

”That is why you need a strategy to deal with it which is why we have set up a very strongly chaired body to drive forward that work.

”So I am not surprised we are having a debate about it. It is good that we are having a debate about it. What matters is that we turn that into action and reduce child poverty which is what I am determined that we will do.”

It comes as the education secretary claimed the party could consider abolishing the cap as a strategy to curve child poverty in the UK.

Sir Keir said there was a “complicated set of factors” including pay, benefits, work, housing, education and health “and that is why you need a strategy to deal with it”.

Sir Keir Starmer agreed with Chancellor Rachel Reeves that there is a cost to not settling public sector pay disputes.

Answering media questions after a speech at the Farnborough International Airshow, the Prime Minister said: “Yes, I do. And I think that’s an important consideration when we come to a final view, which we will announce.

“There is a cost. There’s a cost that’s measured in the pounds and pence lost to the economy through industrial action.

“There’s a cost to the other work that we need to do in relation to the public services that we need to deliver. And that has to be taken account of as we come to a final decision in relation to the pay issue, which we will do and obviously announce with full reasoning in due course.”

Sir Keir Starmer did not guarantee he would not undo the changes to visa rules brought in by the previous Tory government.

Asked whether he would pledge not to reverse restrictions on student dependants, the Prime Minister said: “We understand the pressures of migration and why the previous government took the decisions that it did.

“It has led to some pressures now in relation to higher education, but it is right that we get migration down, because it’s too high.”

He said that the Government would seek to address migration levels through Skills England, adding: “That is not to say that no business should ever be hiring from abroad – that is not realistic, it’s not good for business and we don’t want to go down that path.

“But for too long that’s happened because we haven’t had the skills available in this country, and I’m determined to change that.”

Sir Keir Starmer has just delivered a speech to unveil the new Skills England organisation in a bid to “transform the relationship between business and the education system”.

Speaking from Farnborough International Airshow in Hampshire, the prime minister said:

The new body is “a plan to make sure that we’re training young people, not just for any business, but for the businesses that exist in their communities, the skills that you and they need to take each other forward”.

“I do not criticise businesses who hire overseas workers and I certainly don’t diminish the contribution that migration makes to our economy, to our public services, and of course, to our communities – migration is part of our national story. It always has been, always will be.”

But, added “it cannot be right that some people don’t get to feel the pride of making a contribution, that dignity of work, just because we can’t find a way of creating a coherent skills system.”

He will work with the Migration Advisory Committee to identify where there are currently skills gaps and where these might appear in future, and introduce plans to tackle any shortages.

The Government will also work to identify the right types of training.

Sir Keir Starmer has been asked whether he believes the US is still the “dependable, reliable ally it once was” after recent events engulfing the US presidential race.

The Prime Minister replied: “Yes, of course the US is a reliable and trusted ally. It has been for many, many years and you could see that in the Nato council just 10 days or so ago because we are all clear that we face an increasingly insecure world.

“I think we are all clear on the value of Nato and the role that Nato needs to play now, as important now as it was when it was created, in my view.

“And the Americans hosted the council, drove through with president Biden, the leadership of that council and it was a great success.”

The prime minister has been pressed on whether he would scrap the two-child benefit cap after growing cross-party pressure.

Sir Keir agreed with the education secretary Bridget Phillipson after she promised to tackle child poverty.

During the media round this morning, she also admitted abolishing the policy would be “considered”. But the PM refused to commit to lift the ban.

The PM said: “I want to make sure our plan tackles all the bases in tackling child poverty.”

The prime minister has said he is delighted to be at the Farnborough International Airshow launching Skills England, a body aimed at plugging the skills gaps for UK workers, Archie Mitchell reports.

“All too often, young people in our country have not been given access to the right opportunities or training,” Sir Keir Starmer said.

He promised the body would bring together central and local government, training providers, unions and business to identify shortage areas and ensure those gaps are plugged.

“We listened to you during the campaign and over the last few years… when we were developing our plan for growth,” the PM told business leaders at the airshow.

He added: “Together I believe we can deliver that growth and security, fix the foundations, put our economy on a stable footing and create a coherent skills system.”