Newslinks for Sunday 18th May 2025 | Conservative Home

Starmer: EU reset is good for our borders

“Sir Keir Starmer has promised that his plan to reset relations with the European Union will be “good for our borders” despite warnings that tens of thousands of migrants will flood into the country. The Government is locked in negotiations to determine how long young Europeans will be able to live and work in the UK as part of a deal to be announced on Monday. The Telegraph understands that the EU is pushing for a Youth Mobility Scheme to allow migrants aged between 18 and 30 to stay in the UK for as long as three years. However, MPs from Labour’s Red Wall have warned that the deal amounts to a reversal of Brexit and will alienate voters. The party is battling to fend off the threat from Reform UK, which has vowed to reverse any deal.” – Sunday Telegraph

• PM closes in on food trade deal with EU – FT
• UK on verge of deal to let Britons use European passport e-gates – Observer
• Brexit? What Brexit? – Mail on Sunday
• Fury as Labour’s new deal with the EU ‘will mean return of freedom of movement – Sun on Sunday
• Starmer warned not to deny MPs vote on EU youth mobility scheme – Sunday Express
• Farage exposes Starmer ‘surrender’ to EU in major Brexit betrayal – Sunday Express
• Starmer sees Farage as ‘real opponent’ – FT
• Prime Minister accused of ‘rank hypocrisy’ over £102,000 bill for domestic flights – Mail on Sunday

Comment

>Today:

Labour rebels could force rethink on two-child cap and winter fuel

“Sir Keir Starmer will seek to head off a growing rebellion over welfare reforms by introducing measures to curb child poverty which could include changes to the two-child benefit cap. Senior government figures have told The Sunday Times the administration is considering bringing forward proposals from the child poverty taskforce before next month’s vote on welfare after a backlash from Labour MPs. There are claims Downing Street is investigating changes to the winter fuel payment cut due to growing concerns about the policy’s deep unpopularity. A No 10 source said the issue was “more under discussion” than it had been a week ago, when Downing Street denied the policy was under review.” – Sunday Times

Major backs Labour plan to spare thousands of women jail

“Writing for The Sunday Times, Sir John Major, the former Conservative prime minister, said “too many prisoners are sentenced to short-term imprisonment, when other sentences would be more effective”. He wrote: “This is especially relevant to female prisoners. There are currently about 3,600 women in prison — overwhelmingly for non-violent offences, and for short periods of time. Many are vulnerable: addicts, mentally ill, or, in a distressing number of cases, themselves the victims of trauma and abuse. “Many are also mothers, for whom imprisonment will have a significant impact not only on them, but on their children too.” – Sunday Times

Comment

Iranians accused of spying in UK were asylum seekers

“Three Iranian former asylum seekers have appeared in court accused of spying for Tehran. The three men, who had been granted leave to remain after arriving in Britain in lorries and small boats, were charged with engaging in conduct likely to assist a foreign intelligence service following an investigation by counter-terror police. The trio were held on suspicion of committing offences contrary to the National Security Act 2023 between Aug 14 last year and Feb 16 this year. On Saturday, Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, said that the Government would strengthen national security powers in the wake of the charges, saying that the case raised “very serious wider issues”. – Sunday Telegraph

‘Home Guard’ to protect UK from infrastructure attack

“A home guard will be established to protect British power plants and airports against attack from enemy states and terrorists, under plans put forward in the government’s strategic defence review (SDR). It will be modelled on the citizens’ militia created in 1940, when Britain faced the prospect of invasion by Nazi Germany during the Second World War. It would be made up of several thousand volunteers, who would be deployed to safeguard assets such as nuclear power plants, telecommunications sites and the coastal hubs where internet cables connecting Britain to the rest of the world come onto land.” – Sunday Times

Miliband could axe pylons to fight Reform threat

“Ed Miliband is considering scaling back plans to erect thousands of pylons across the countryside to reach net zero. Sir Keir Starmer previously argued that building new pylons in rural areas was a necessary step to bring down the cost of electricity as part of the drive to reach net zero emissions by 2050.. The decision to commission a government study comes as Labour faces pressure in rural areas from Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party, which has accused the Government of spoiling swathes of countryside with a “spider’s web” of pylons and cables.” – Sunday Telegraph

Mahmood: I will do what it takes to make sure our prisons never run out of space

“I am part of a long tradition in the Labour Party. I am a signed-up, card-carrying member of my party’s law-and-order wing. I expect that’s because of where my life began. I grew up in a part of Birmingham where crime was high. We lived above the family shop, where we were often the victims of thieves. So I don’t just know crime needs punishment. I feel it in my bones. Some criminals should be in prison for a long time. Others must never leave. But there is one thing I abhor above all else: the idea that our prisons could ever run out of space. The consequences are terrifying.” – Sunday Telegraph

Rich List tycoons tell Reeves her tax will kill family firms

“Leading businessmen have warned Rachel Reeves that her tax rises will “kill the geese that lay the golden eggs” after The Sunday Times Rich List showed a record drop in the number of British billionaires. The chancellor’s plans to raise capital gains and inheritance taxes next year are expected to drive more wealth creators out of the country, accelerating an exodus triggered by April’s dropping of “non-dom” status. There are 156 billionaires in this year’s Rich List: 21 fewer than at the peak in 2022 and nine less than last year. A third successive year of declining wealth and a falling billionaire count is unprecedented in the 36-year history of the Rich List.” – Sunday Times

Comment

Reform councils vow to axe low-traffic zones

“Reform UK has vowed to reverse low-traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs) in all of the councils it controls. Nigel Farage’s party has announced that it will block most new schemes and reverse existing ones in the 10 councils it now controls after its sweeping local election victory. LTNs were introduced during the pandemic in 2020 as part of a suite of green policies aimed at encouraging walking and cycling. Cited as a way to reduce pollution, they involve shutting off the majority of side roads in an area to cars. There are now more than 100 permanent Labour-backed LTN schemes in the UK, with the Government also pushing for more 20mph zones in what has been branded a “war on motorists”. – Sunday Telegraph

Other political news and comment

• Ashcroft: Both swept to victory as unfettered mavericks. But Trump may end up in the same trap as Johnson – Mail on Sunday
• Braverman: Arrest of ex-special constable over tweet is national embarrassment – Sunday Telegraph
• Romanian run-off the most crucial on Europe’s ‘Super Sunday’ of elections – Observer
• Government dropped health push after lobbying by ultra-processed food firms – Observer

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