King's Speech latest: Keir Starmer pledges 'national renewal' - Liz Truss complains about mini-budget reference (2024)

There was a jovial atmosphere in the House of Commons today, with MPs attempting to make each other laugh in the Loyal Address that came after the King's Speech.

Even Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer appeared to put old differences aside in the House, filmed chatting as they walked through Central Lobby.

You can watch the moment for yourself below:

That's all for the Politics Hub With Sophy Ridge tonight, but stick with us here for all the latest throughout the night.

Andrew Griffith, the shadow science secretary, is then asked if Labour is right to say it has inherited a bad situation from the Conservatives.

His response is clear: "Absolutely not."

"Not every government gets things right all the time," Mr Griffith says.

"But I think the one thing, particularly as it relates to the economy, is that the OBR makes the government books an open book.

"The data is out there."

Mr Griffith says: "Inflation's now back down to 2% having been 11.

"Unemployment's around 4%, one of its lowest rates in history."

He adds that, although all economies are struggling with growth, the UK is "growing the fastest of any G7".

Now joining Sophy Ridge on the Politics Hub is Andrew Griffith, the shadow secretary for science, innovation and technology.

She asks for his reaction to the King's Speech, which set out Labour's legislative agenda for the next parliament.

"There's a lot in it," Mr Griffith says. "This is the moment when the rubber hits the road."

He adds that it is now the job of the Conservatives to be "constructive" in opposition, pointing to Labour's "low mandate".

"The country needs that," the shadow minister says. "The government's got the lowest mandate of any modern day government.

"I'm told there's more bills in this than there are a percentage share of the mandate."

Sophy points out that Labour is pushing for growth - is this not reminiscent of Liz Truss's short tenure in Number 10?

"I think what every government tries to do is to grow the prosperity of people in the United Kingdom, gives them longer, high quality lives," he says.

"There are some inconsistencies, and I'm not saying this is the first time you've ever seen those, but you've got on the one hand, you know, a push for planning deregulation, saying that's going to help growth.

"But you've also got the re-imposition of top down command and control targets.

"You have got some things that are going to make it very hard to mobilise investment.

"You've got that vindictive attack on private education."

Lucy Powell, the leader of the House of Commons, is now asked about a complaint filed by Liz Truss about a reference to her "disaster" mini-budget in the King's Speech paperwork.

Ms Truss complained that references to the "mistakes" of her economic policy, which unleashed chaos in the markets and tanked the pound, were "untrue political attacks".

Has this reference been removed?

"I think it has, because it's a civil service document that is produced alongside the King's Speech," she says.

Next up with Sophy Ridge is Lucy Powell, the leader of the House of Commons.

Asked about the King's Speech, the frontbencher admits there were some subjects that "weren't in there - that we'll get to".

One thing not mentioned was lowering the voting age to 16.

Will it happen?

"Yes, it was a manifesto commitment," she says. "We're still committed to that.

"We had to prioritise things - this is for our first session."

Asked why lowering the voting age wasn't included, Ms Powell says: "We don't have the parliamentary time to do everything."

Sophy then asks if 16 year olds will be able to vote at the next election.

"That's our commitment," Ms Powell says.

Turning to another matter that wasn't mentioned in the King's Speech - scrapping the two-child benefit cap - the minister stresses this "wasn't in our manifesto".

"I don't think there was an expectation it would be in our King's Speech."

However, she says Labour is "absolutely committed" to driving down child poverty.

Jonathan Gullis, the former Conservative MP, has backed Priti Patel to be the next Tory leader.

Launching thinly-veiled criticism at potential contender Suella Braverman, Mr Gullis says former home secretary Ms Patel is "the only adult in the room".

He tells Sky News: "That is something that we're going to need very much."

Our deputy political editor Sam Coates is now joining Sophy Ridge, giving his main takeaways from the King's Speech today.

He says he was struck by the promise of state intervention - but there were some questions unanswered.

Sam adds: "King's Speech day is a funny day.

"It's a bit like a giant, antiquated, very expensive press release, where the government gets its opportunity to tell you what its direction is by publishing - in this case - 40 bills that it hopes to get through parliament in roughly a year.

"We learned a couple of important big picture things.

"One was just a reversal of the direction of travel.

"I was struck by the scale of the promise of state intervention on whether it is taking the railways or buses back into public ownership, or whether its the centralisation of the direction of schools and the curriculum.

"In lots of different areas, there are just things that a Conservative government would never have done.

"Sir Keir Starmer does not have a lot of money - he's putting his faith in the state instead."

However, Sam says, questions remain over what GB Energy actually is.

He also questions what has happened to pledges on lowering the voting age.

While we're on the topic, let us get you up to speed with the announcements made in the King's Speech today.

The announcements focus on improving living standards by driving economic growth, the first of Sir Keir Starmer's five "missions for national renewal".

Big ticket items include a plan to build more houses and infrastructure, nationalise the railways and give greater powers to the UK's fiscal watchdog over spending commitments to prevent a repeat of the Liz Truss mini-budget fiasco.

You can read the key points in the link below:

Our weeknight politics showPolitics Hub With Sophy Ridgeis now live on Sky News.

The fast-paced programme dissects the inner workings of Westminster, with interviews, insights, and analysis - bringing you, the audience, into the corridors of power.

After a busy day in Westminster, Sophy is joined by Lucy Powell, the leader of the House of Commons, and Conservative frontbencher Andrew Griffith.

On Sophy's panel are:

• Former Tory MP Jonathan Gullis;
• Former Labour adviserBaroness Ayesha Hazarika.

Watch live on Sky News, in the stream at the top of this page, and follow live updates here in the Politics Hub.

WatchPolitics Hub With Sophy Ridgefrom Monday to Thursday on Sky channel 501, Virgin channel 602, Freeview channel 233, on theSky News websiteandappor onYouTube.

A short while ago, our chief political correspondent Jon Craig spoke to former minister Chris Philp in Central Lobby, where MPs have been busy today.

He asks the MP how morale is in the Conservative Party in the wake of a dramatic election loss earlier this month.

"It's obviously a very different situation," Mr Philp says.

"When we were in before the election, it's been a pretty bruising defeat and we're now adjusting to being in opposition rather than government.

"It's quite a big change. We're going to have to get used to that."

Jon then asks about a timeline for selecting a new party leader, which Mr Philp says the party will learn more about "as soon as tomorrow".

"My own view is we should take more time to make a thoughtful choice, for the various contenders, to set out their stool and be tested in debates at party conference and so on," he says.

"There's no need to rush into this, so I hope we do take a bit more time to have a considered decision."