Allies say Kier Stalmer spent the summer
pondering why his government hasn't
achieved more. Today he announced one
part of what he hopes is the solution. A
new team in number 10 who can get the
machinery of government delivering more.
>> I'm not angry. I'm frustrated. I get the
um frustration and anger of voters
because they want change. I mean for a
very long time most people feel that
their living standards haven't gone up.
their public services aren't what they
deserve and they're not really getting
back what they are putting in. So, I
want to deliver that change as quickly
as possible. Today is about moving on to
that second phase. As I say, delivery is
the absolutely key word and that's why
I'm really pleased with the changes
today.
>> Darren Jones will oversee K Star's
dayto-day work in a newly invented job,
chief secretary to the prime minister,
chasing other ministers progress. The
economist and peer Manush Shafi will
become Kier Starmer's economic adviser
and public relations consultant Tim
Allen who first worked for Tony Blair 33
years ago joins as executive director of
communications.
Darren Jones appointment is the biggest
innovation minister explicitly working
directly to the prime minister to chase
progress on his priorities. Darren Jones
is also going to be deployed on TV and
radio where number 10 think he's an
unflapable media performer.
>> One source telling a Sunday newspaper,
"If you want a glimpse into the
dystopian AI future where the world is
run by autocratic robots devoid of any
emotional humanity, then you need to
spend 5 minutes in a meeting with Darren
Jones."
>> Well, nice to be with you. I'll be as
emotion
and creative as possible to distinguish
myself from a AI system.
That jive was prompted by Darren Jones
time controlling spending as a treasury
minister. These and other recent changes
are intended to increase economic
expertise inside number 10 after what K
star's allies admit have been a series
of missteps in government economic
policy. I think we're simply looking at
a prime minister who feels that he's
underserved in terms of the experience
and expertise that he's got
independently.
um of the Treasury so that he's in a
position actually to have probably just
a more intelligent conversation uh with
the chancellor. And let's hope it works
like that. If you end up with an
antagonistic relationship between
Treasury advisers uh and and number 10
advisers, then the government can start
heading into trouble. Chasing progress
on small boats will be amongst Aaron
Jones responsibilities. After an August
of reform, UK generated headlines
attacking government policy. Home
Secretary today announced she'd
temporarily suspend new refugees
applications for family reunion pending
a complete rewrite of the rules.
>> The Home Secretary
>> Vet Cooper told the Commons refugees
used to wait a year or two before trying
to get their families into Britain, but
that had changed. here in the UK. Now,
however, those applications come in on
average in around a month after
protection has been granted, often even
before a newly granted refugee has left
asylum accommodation.
As a consequence, refugee families who
are arrive are far more likely to be
seeking homelessness assistance. And
some councils are finding that more than
a quarter of their family homelessness
applications are linked to refugee
family reunion. That is not sustainable.
>> There's been a vacuum for a few weeks
where Nigel Farage and Reform UK were
able to seize the narrative around small
boats and and asylum hotels and the
government was absent. What we got today
was essentially a restatement of
everything they've done plus um a a
slightly new announcement around um
family members of refugees. So they need
to go further. It doesn't just stop
today. It needs to be more announcements
over the coming days.
Responding to recent asylum hotel
protests, Kstama told the BBC he hoped
to close all asylum hotels even earlier
than his 2029 deadline.
>> Um, we've got the St. George's um flag
in our um in our flat.
>> Kustama said he liked flags, but
disapproved of those who devalue and
belittle the flag by using it to divide
society.
So, let's take a closer look at the
government's tightening of asylum rules.
Let's say a couple with a young child
want to seek asylum in the UK. If all
three come here at the same time, they
can claim asylum together with one
person, most often the husband as the
main applicant and his wife and child
applying as dependent. or under the
current system, the husband might arrive
in Britain alone, leaving his family uh
in his home country. And if the
government agrees that he's at risk of
persecution and he's granted refugee
status, his wife and child can apply for
refugee family reunion visas and
eventually join him in the UK. And it's
this second group of people that the
government is targeting today. Now, the
home secretary says she will temporarily
suspend new applications for family
reunion visas and the home office will
look at tightening these rules in
future. So, how many people would be
affected? Well, experts at the Oxford
Migration Observatory estimate that
about one in five adult refugees, that's
people the government agrees are at risk
of persecution, will end up bringing
family members to Britain through
reunion visas. So, how many people will
actually be put off crossing the channel
then? Well, those Oxford experts told us
family reunion rules are likely one of
the most important factors when people
are choosing where to migrate to. But
they point out that any deterrent would
only apply to the minority of asylum
seekers who have partners and children
and it might just encourage families to
arrive altogether rather than sending
one family member ahead. The government
says it remains committed to supporting
refugee families, but it's not the first
European country to tighten rules on
family reunification. Both Germany and
Austria and others have taken steps to
curb the rights of those granted
temporary asylum being joined by their
families. Kish.
Well, earlier I spoke to the women
inequalities minister Baroness Jackie
Smith who was out promoting the
expansion of free child care to 30 hours
a week for working parents during term
time. And I began by asking her why she
thinks Karma and the government are so
unpopular right now.
>> We've actually had to do a lot of work
to fix the foundations that we
discovered when we came into uh
government. But we also understand that
the British people expect to be seeing
even more of a difference in the money
that is in their pockets in the way in
which the NHS is improving the way in
which we're securing our uh borders and
we've really got to shift into delivery
mode and demonstrating to people that
we're delivering on that. You know just
today we've been announcing in the
department for education the delivery of
30 hours free ch free childare
>> that was a Tory policy.
>> Well it was a Tory plan. It had
absolutely uh no uh it was a tillry
pledge. It had absolutely no plan around
it as to how it was going to be
delivered.
>> But but this is the problem. I mean, you
can list off a load of things that
you've done in the last 12 months, but
but they're not being felt. And that's
why you're doing so badly in the opinion
polls um and that's why you've lost
control of the agenda. I mean, how is it
that a year into government you you
can't control the agenda? To be fair,
you know, today we're talking about um
the the the difference in child care
provision that is going to make a big
difference to families and um uh and to
uh the children that need
>> the home secretary's big announcement is
about ending the right to family life
for refugees.
>> Now, what the home secretary was doing
in parliament today, as is appropriate
when you come back to parliament after a
recess, was to update on what has been
happening. she was able to talk about
the agreement that we've signed with
France where we've already detained
people who will be going back to France
in the next uh few weeks. We've already
identified uh those who will be able to
come through,
>> you know, on that French policy which
you're pinning a lot of hope on. I know
the numbers again just don't stack up.
You know, you're you're sending a very
very small number of people back and
every day more and more people are
coming in. The French agreement, which
of course was never able to be made by
the last government, is I think an
important step forward. Uh and and we
will build on it. But that's not the
only thing that's happened over the last
year. You know, one of the big problems
that was attracting people into the
country was a failure to make decisions
about asylum claims quickly and a
failure to be able to return people.
We've increased the number of asylum
decisions being made after the last
government had shockingly frozen at
that. We've increased by 35,000 the
numbers of people. True, but we spoke
about smashing the gangs in the run-up
to the election and you haven't done
that.
>> If your charge, Christian, is that
there's more that we need to do. That is
of course true.
>> No, my charge is that you didn't smash
the gangs, which is what you said you
would do.
>> Well, what it's what we said we would do
over the course of this parliament. Um
yes, it is frustrating that we have not
managed to stop people being so
desperate that they fall into the hands
of the criminals who have been able to
get an absolute foothold uh in this uh
area. But we have been making the
changes in the the the the ways in which
I've been talking about
>> you know about the importance of today's
announcement. This concerns about 20,000
people a year, overwhelmingly women and
children, who will now not be given
visas to join their family members in
Britain. Um, do when did refugees lose
the right to a family life?
>> It's enormously important that we
maintain our position as a country
welcoming people. But what we're also
seeing is some of the pull factors that
are being used by criminals to encourage
people to risk their lives on boats
coming across uh the channel. And one of
those is the suggestion that you can
arrive in the UK, you can become um a
refugee and you can immediately bring
your family. And what was happening?
>> So what you're saying is yes, real
refugees who have a real fear of
persecution will no longer be able to do
that. Six years ago, on average, people
were taking about 18 months after having
their uh their decisions made to uh
apply to bring their families. A period
of time in which they could have got
housing, they could have got a job, they
could be prepared for their family to
come. That's now down to about a month.
So, what the home secretary is saying is
look, we need to look at the whole of
that system. Of course, we need to have
a system which recognizes the right for
families to come uh to be with uh those
who have come here uh and got um refugee
status. Of course, that's important uh
to people in this country.
>> Why does Ukraine get different
treatment? I mean, if you're a
Ukrainian, you get a visa. If you're a
Palestinian or a Sudin person being
persecuted in war, there's no route. In
fact, there's no safe route to come from
Sudan, is there? There is a particular
route for Ukrainians which we've been
proud to
>> Why do they get special treatment?
>> Well, that's well I think that that that
Cooper and the Home Office will want to
look at other ways in which we can
provide that sort of um uh safe route.
There are already are those particular
schemes that I've outlined and we'll
want to find other ways to do that.
>> How long before you start panicking? I
mean, if you look at where you are in
the polls, um, and you know, what it
looks like we're heading towards at the
next election, what at what point do you
think you look at this and go, we can't
carry on like this?
>> I I we're not panicking, Krishnan. We
are continuing to take the action at a
really difficult time, uh, having come
into government at a difficult time to
make changes to the lives of British
people.
>> Jackie Smith, thank you very much.
>> Thank you.
Well, with me now to discuss the health
of the government some more is Peter
Heyman, a former adviser to Kia Stalmer
and Tony Blair and author of a new
substack called Changing the Story,
which begins with a look at what Labour
needs to do to get back on track this
autumn. And you've got a sort of
five-point plan and the uncharitable way
of reading it would be the problem is
stmer. He doesn't know what he's doing.
He doesn't know how to communicate it.
He's not in touch with what he really
thinks.
>> Well, I don't think that's right. But
what I do think is needed is a real
sense of strategy and purpose. Let's
start with K himself. I think he's been
forced to be a security prime minister.
When actually he comes alive as an
opportunity one. When you see him with
young people, when you see him talking
about breaking down the barriers to
opportunity, when you see him talking
about his life story, workingass uh made
good, he really comes alive. And yet he
hasn't shown that side of him enough.
Now obviously events in the world make
you more involved in security but the
way of actually beating reform is to
neutralize the security issues and then
play on the opportunity issues which
Farage and reform are very weak on.
>> So you think to keep going on about
immigration even though you know
>> I don't think it's about I don't think
they should keep go it's not about keep
going and for the sake of it and I don't
like this idea that if you want to stop
the boats you're chasing reform. It's a
first duty of government to know who's
coming in the country. So I distinguish
the boats issue and the sense of lack of
control on the borders with a wider
immigration issue. There should be a
principle that Britain takes asylum
seekers and that but you need orderly
routes, you need legal routes, you need
fair roots to do that, but boats have to
be stopped. And what I'm also saying in
that substack is it's got to be taken
more seriously. It's a sort of issue
that should be treated like the vaccine
task force taken out of the home office
though I don't have confidence that
>> treated like a national security
emergency national security you have a
crack multi-disiplinary team it reports
directly to the prime minister it's
chased on a daily basis and then you
sort it out then you deprive reform of
the oxygen of doing so and you can have
a more serious debate about the
immigration needs of the country
>> well I mean isn't that the real problem
though is that if if you do neutralize
immigration, then you're left with the
real problem, and that's the economy and
and the the lack of money with which to
fix anything that's broken.
>> Yeah. So, the other thing we've got to
do, and Labour's got to do this autumn,
is have a growth strategy. And I'm
assuming in the budget, there will be
more flesh on that. If we don't get
growth, there are real problems. So
there needs to be a real sense a real
deep thinking about what are the
elements of growth or the levers to pull
that will have most effect on growth
because things are very tight.
>> How important is the storytelling here
then? I mean you know he's bringing back
in your old colleague Tim Allen
years.
>> Um I mean you know communications can't
really fix the problems of the country
can they? The storytelling is really
important because you've got to say what
the and and it's all about ideas as
well. You've got to win the battle of
ideas. You've got to say what the
animating idea of the government is
because then when you make mistakes or
when times are difficult, people stick
with you because you're telling them a
believable story. And it's happened in
the past that Blair when they got into
sticky patches. People said, "Well,
actually, I know where they're going. I
know what it's
>> they were natural communicators, weren't
they?" That is
>> well you can communicate
>> hard to say about Karan.
>> Yeah but you can communicate in
different ways and he's got to find the
sort of media the sort of authentic
voice as I said before that really gives
him that sense of passion the sense of
fighting for working families to improve
their lives.
>> I mean you say in your article that he
should go more on digital media.
>> Yeah.
>> And can you really imagine Star doing
Tik Tok?
>> Well the thing about digital media and I
was speaking to lots of people about
this. It's not about and some people
misread this. It's about authenticity.
It is surprising who's done well on
Farage has done very well on
>> well far but in a different way. But if
your question is could someone like K
Star work on Tik Tok, my belief is if
he's authentic and if he does it in an
interesting way and repeats doing it and
is visible at the moment, young people
who I've been speaking to a lot don't
think he's visible. They think Farage is
everywhere on social media and Kier's
nowhere. And what you've got at number
10 is a is a legacy media first. Uh and
you need to do some of that. Um but
actually getting on the front page of
the Guardian is no longer as important
as getting into social media and talking
to people where they're at and what
they're consuming. And that is vital for
the left to do really