So obviously it's the first day back for
parliament MPs going back to school
basically. And obviously Karma it's the
beginning of his second year at
Westminster. So I think for number 10
Downing Street today was all about sort
of showing a little bit of a reset
moment. Now we were expecting a
full-blown reshuffle. I'm told that's
not going to happen now until probably
next week. Um but he has announced a
sort of mini reshuffle of his Downing
Street operation. Um, some of the names
that you might have heard of, someone
called Darren Jones, he's chief
secretary to the Treasury. So, he will
be now going directly into number 10 to
serve as his chief uh, basically chief
secretary to the prime minister. Um, he
will still be attending cabinet, we're
told. But that is quite a move. It's
Rachel Reeves's number two. And I think
it kind of shows to me two things.
Firstly, that the current number 10
operation, at least there there are
people in Downing Street that think that
it hasn't actually worked that well for
the last year. It's obviously if it had
been working then I'm sure they wouldn't
have made any moves at all. So there's
that. Um but secondly I think it shows
just how much this government are going
to really be putting on the economy in
terms of a focus going forward and we
know that Rachel Reeves has got a really
tricky budget later this year and that's
going to really form a key part I think
of of this government sort of uh
narrative going forward. So we've got
actually from number 10 Downing Street
today are three points that they're
focusing on. So one of those things is
growth that people can feel in their
pockets. The second thing, secure
borders, and the third, fixing the NHS.
And actually, not going to trump my own,
you know, trumpet too much, Sheila, but
two of those things are absolutely
things that I've been banging on to
people in number 10 for ages, that these
are just really simple ideas, really
simple priorities that everybody sees
that they they want to see that change
in in society on. And if you focus on
some of these things and focus really
zoning in on actually improving people's
lives in ways that they can see for the
better, then I think that they've got a
chance of of actually holding on to
power at the next election.
>> And just a very quick word on Darren
Jones for people who don't know him. He
was the chair of the business uh select
committee, wasn't he, before he became
chief secretary of the treasury in
government. Um is that significant that
his background is in those two areas
ahead of that budget that you mentioned?
>> Of course it is. Um and he very
successfully led the Treasury's
infrastructure review, the 10-year
strategy that the government sort of
launched over the summer um with
actually sort of how the government are
going to invest and where that money is
going to land. And that was seen, I
think, by some people in government as
quite a successful strategy. He's also a
very good media performer. We have him
on LBC all the time and it's fair to say
that I think he talks in a way that's
very accessible to people. I think he
answers questions quite well and I don't
think he comes across as just another
slippery politician. I think he's quite
good with the narrative and that I'm
sure is a part of Downing Street's
reason.
>> I had a conversation with him about
being the father of girls during the uh
Taylor Swift mania that he was fully
fully engaged in. So you're right, he
does speak human as they say in
politics. Let's get on to this polling
then, this exclusive polling for LBC.
What did it show? So we've been working
with 5654 company and Merlin strategy
who have done some exclusive polling
which we've seen today and I think
really it sort of ties into this
conversation that we're having about
Kstarma's you know sort of reset and
where the country goes next. Now about a
year ago after Kama came into Downing
Street, he gave this very gloomy speech
in the Downing Street Rose Garden where
he was talking about how basically
Britain is broken. And actually two in
three Brits think today that Britain is
broken and needs radical action to fix
it. And most of those people believe
that the cost of living is still the
number one priority for the government
to fix. And again, it just shows as we
go into this budget that is going to be
a real key priority for the government
to get right. And it is going to be
really tricky. Rachel Reeves, according
to some economists, needs to find 40
billion pounds uh worth of of savings
somewhere. So that's going to be really
tricky for her to do. At the same time,
this polling is showing that 51% of
Brits still believe that taxes are
specifically income taxes are too high.
So how are the government going to
square it this circle? It's it's
obviously very difficult to fix all of
these problems. The government can't do
it all in one go. But I think what
number 10 Downing Street are trying to
say with the strategy with this sort of
reset moment today as we go into
conference, they are trying to set out a
little bit more about the narrative what
we will hear from the government on the
domestic agenda. I think it's fair to
say that Kisama has focused a lot on the
international agenda. He's obviously had
um you know the US, Ukraine, the Middle
East, lots of problems and and things
that he's very much focused his
attention on. But actually in order to
win an election, you of course need to
focus on those domestic priorities. And
I think that number 10 Downing Street
are trying very much to to to give this
big bang moment ahead of the party
conference ahead as well of reforms
party conference which is starting later
this week trying to get on the front
foot and the announcements that we've
got this week the 30 hours of free child
care and some of those narratives very
much focused on putting more money into
people's pockets making them feel off
somehow however labor MPs that I've been
speaking to over the summer Sheila just
want the government to go more radical
go further go faster so I think Sakir
will be under a lot of pressure to set a
more of that out at the party conference
>> and I read that Darren Jones is one such
person in government that wants them not
just people who you've pled but Darren
Jones is deemed to be a sort of quiet
radical there as well.
>> Yeah definitely and I think it's fair to
say that yeah Darren Jones at one point
was probably on the sort of center right
of the party but equally I think he also
had like I say a lot of ideas and he
wanted to see I think the government um
when he was not in in government that is
he wanted to see the Labour party take a
few bigger steps. So I think yeah his
background as the business select
committee chair good media performer and
somebody who's not afraid to speak his
mind will go well in government
>> and can I ask you as well on in the
polling as well as uh people clearly
saying look just make life less tough
please cost of living stuff what about
other issues because as I understand it
asylum which we're going to be talking
about at three came fair much lower in
the list than those practical day-to-day
concerns about health kids education and
costs. Yeah, I think it was something
like number three or four and it was
still fairly high in terms of the the
amount of people who see it as a
priority, but it just wasn't seen as the
top priority. Now, obviously this is
just one poll and if you look at the
YUGV tracker, we've talked about this
before, migration is topping that as an
issue. Um, it just goes to show that
obviously, you know, what comes first,
the sort of chicken or the egg
situation. Is it because the media,
we've got protests, we've got um, you
know, images of of small boats crossing
the channel over the summer. Is that
heightening the number of people who are
concerned about it or is it the other
way around? It's kind of hard to to sort
of see which comes first. I think it's
fair to say that the government and
you've you've seen that in what they've
said of their three domestic priorities
including secure borders today. This
will absolutely be something that K star
is very much determined to focus on.
We'll be hearing a bit more from the
home secretary Iette Cooper in the next
couple of hours talking about the
oneinone out deal, talking about article
8 and article 3, which I spoke with you
about last month about tightening up the
criteria for judges to essentially be
able to use the ECHR without actually
leaving it. And that's another issue
that Karma I'm sure is going to face
pressure on especially as Nigel Farage
and Kimmy Bednob do mostly say the same.
And when the home secretary speaks later
in the Commons about famil family's
rights when somebody is given asylum
here, so the the rest of their family's
right, is that part are we going to hear
that essentially? Are we going to hear
her essentially say we don't need to
leave the EHCR in order to be tougher
here? We can do it with our own rules
and our own laws that exist already.
>> Yeah, absolutely. And if you remember
that sort of chicken nugget case that we
were talking about earlier this year,
which obviously got, you know, lots of
people's backs up and made a lot of
anger there, um that was actually a case
of a UK judge, not a European judge that
was putting forward some sort of um you
know, foreign dictat on us. That was our
judges. And if Cooper has been looking
at article 3 and article 8 of the um ECR
and looking about how she can
essentially change the law and number 10
Downing Street confirmed this lunchtime,
that is exactly what the prime minister
wants to do. That's what the home
secretary wants to do. changed the law
to make it harder for people to use
those. And in terms of what um she's
going to make it harder in terms of
bringing your family, if you are an
asylum seeker, you get accepted into
this country, you will have higher
language requirements, um being able to
speak English and other such sort of
barriers to to make sure that people
aren't just coming here claiming asylum
and bringing, you know, an extortionate
number of family members with them,
Uh-huh.