Home Secretary Yvette Cooper hit the media round this morning, paving the way for Keir Starmer’s much-touted Plan for Change speech later today—a thinly-veiled attempt at a political reset. Starmer is set to outline a series of six “milestones” tied to the government “missions” he unveiled back in 2023, covering the NHS, green energy, education, policing and the economy (despite now shelving his promise to make Britain the G7’s fastest-growing economy). Notably absent, however, is any official commitment to reducing migration…
Appearing on LBC, Nick Ferrari pressed Cooper on whether border security would feature as one of the six milestones. She responded that the plan included “practical milestones” on the NHS, economic growth and others missions, with some details on border control and migration mentioned in the plan separately. Translation: reducing migration doesn’t make the cut for a specific “milestone”…
Cooper also confirmed there was no target figure to reduce legal or illegal migration. Meanwhile, over 20,000 illegal migrants have crossed the Channel since Labour took office and net migration figures continuing to rise. Labour can hammer the Tories’ record on migration as much as they like, though if border security isn’t even included in as a “practical milestone”, that line won’t wash for long…
Sarah Pochin at Reform Scotland’s manifesto launch event: “I really wanted to come on in a Reform tartan burka, but apparently I wasn’t allowed… One day let’s do one of these events not live-streamed. We’ll do all the naughty stuff…”