Labour’s £1.5bn private school tax windfall leaves education cash to spare

Good morning on a busy day in Labourland. First up, the party’s education team will be cheering a new Institute for Fiscal Studies report which predicts the party’s plan to scrap private schools’ tax breaks will raise up to £1.5bn.

The highly respected think tank’s sums will prove a handy rebuttal to criticism of the policy, which you can expect the right to ramp up closer to the election.

Labour says current proposals funded through the measure, like a teacher recruitment plan, only add up to nearly £1bn. So  the party arguably has a little cash to splash on school pledges in the coming months, though caution may triumph when the IFS reckons there is “still lots of uncertainty” around its estimates.

Labour ‘the party of welfare reform’

Over in the shadow work and pensions team, Jonathan Ashworth will say in a speech today Labour is “the party of welfare reform” and would be a “trailblazer” in using “AI, data, digital and tech to help people find jobs, tackle fraud and improve welfare services”.

If there were a Labour award for parking one policy on the highest number of Tory lawns or ticking off the most buzzwords, that would surely be a contender. Read more in Ashworth’s Times op-ed here.

As new figures show unemployment ticking higher, he also pledged this morning to “get Britain working again”. He had to spend most of a Sky News interview this morning talking about the latest BBC controversy however and shot down the idea MPs should name the individual involved in parliament.

Party plots US sector trade deals

And in Washington, Shadow International Trade Secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds is due to meet senior US politicians today.

In a speech at the Progressive Policy Institute, he’ll promise to target “sector trade deals” with the US, work with America on a “jobs-based green transition” and create a “network of climate jobs export hubs” in every UK region, selling climate science innovations abroad.

In selection news, Dawn McGuinness, who stood for Aberconwy in the 2021 Senedd election, has accused the party of “contempt for members” for reportedly not allowing her onto the longlist for the new Bangor Aberconwy seat, when she said she had two unions’ support.

Labour Hub, which ran her piece, called it “the latest blocking of socialist parliamentary candidates”, while Momentum said “stitch-ups are destroying Labour democracy”. Welsh Labour was not immediately available for comment.

Unite backs Starmer; Starmer backs Birmingham Labour

Also securing a major union’s backing is Labour itself, with a disaffiliation motion at Unite’s Brighton rules conference rejected yesterday, apparently “overwhelmingly”. But general secretary Sharon Graham pointedly warned of “no blank cheques”, shortly after condemning Labour’s refusal to say it would back public sector pay review bodies’ recommendations.

In other selections, Bristol mayor Marvin Rees says he’s made the Bristol North East shortlist, and Nottinghamshire Live reports Claire Ward, Paddy Tipping and John Hess have made the East Midlands mayoral shortlist.

Meanwhile, embattled Birmingham Labour at least secured the backing of Keir Starmer yesterday in a round of regional media interviews. He said new leader John Cotton had “rolled up his sleeves” to address huge financial problems at England’s biggest authority.

They include a costly IT project and further equal pay claim liabilities of up to £760m sparking a freeze in “non-essential” spending.

Note Cotton was appointed after Labour nationally stepped in earlier this year, following a scathing report alleging a “dysfunctional climate” of factionalism and bitter industrial disputes. Deputy leader Sharon Thompson has vowed to do “everything we can” to protect services, but that looks like no mean feat.

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