Burnham to say he wants to unlock positivity in first statement to MPs since becoming PM – UK politics live

Burnham confirms that the prisoner early release scheme rules are being changed to stop the killers of PC Andrew Harper being released.

And he says part of this plan will involve tackling the number of prisoners still in jail on indefinite IPP (imprisonment for public protection) sentences. This is an issue the Commons has “has ignored for too longâ€.

Burnham says he visited Dover in August where the government's efforts to stop small boat crossings are delivering real results. He says numbers arriving over the summer have halved since last year. (See 9.29am.)

Burnham pays tribute to the two police officers killed “in the line of duty on the A66â€.

He expresses condolences to those affected by the flooding on the Nepal/China border.

And he confirms he will attend the next Cop conference on the climate crisis in Turkey.

Burnham says the government will continue to “stand firm in providing what help we can to enable Ukraine to defend itself from this illegal invasionâ€.

He goes on:

Britain's defence starts in Ukraine and the defence of our nation will always be my first priority on public safety.

Andy Burnham is making his statement to MPs on “government directionâ€.

He starts by saying he comes to the Commons having visited every region of the UK, and Ukraine, over the summer.

He says the UK is standing by Ukraine, in line with the policy set out by Keir Starmer.

And he pays tribute to Starmer, saying he took Labour “from one of its worst defeats to one of its best victoriesâ€.

Starmer gave Labour a platform, he says. “And we will use it well.â€

Scotland's NHS boards will be slashed from 14 to two, John Swinney has announced. As the Press Association reports, the Scottish first minister announced the major shake-up of Scotland's health service during his Programme for Government at Holyrood. “This will be the most significant structural reform of our NHS in the devolution era,†he said.

This is from Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, on Keir Starmer's decision to resign from parliament.

Wishing Keir Starmer all the best for the future.

I was surprised to hear he was standing down from Parliament. But I can understand why he would not want to spend time with the Labour MPs who treated him so badly after he won them their seats.

And here are some elections experts on the Holborn and St Pancras byelection.

From the Economist's Owen Winter

Holborn and St Pancras's local election results in May (ish): Labour 38% Green 29% Conservative 10% Reform 9% Lib Dem 7%

The post-Burnham MRPs show Labour winning Holborn and St Pancras with ~41% of the vote versus the Greens on ~22%. By-election dynamics could of course scramble that

From Rob Ford, a politics professor

Starmer's parting gift to his successor: a tricky first by-election defence in a Labour seat where the Greens will fancy their chances…

Labour's vote dropped 17 points to 48% in this seat in 2024, with a combined 29% going to the Greens (10%) and the left independent Andrew Feinstein (19%). A high profile Green candidate (Polanski?) consolidating that vote would only need a 10 point swing from Lab to win

The 2026 Camden local elections also underline Green strength on the ground in this seat – they were first or close second in all but 3 of the 11 wards wholly or partly in the seat (and in two of the others they stood aside in favour of “Camden People's Allianceâ€)

The seat has exceptionally high shares of non-white voters (66%), graduates (51%) and young ppl (47% aged 16-39) – all groups that have swung Lab to Green in recent years. This could be a humdinger of a by-election

Just as Burnham standing in Makerfield transformed that race, Polanski standing here would transform this one, and for similar reasons: the opportunity to elect a national leader changes the nature of the contest

From Josh Housden from Nowcast UK

Holborn & St Pancras is well within the London crescent of seats where Greens are likely to come 2nd to Labour, under normal non-by-election circumstances

Bethnal Green & Stepney is highlighted as the one seat Greens are likely to flip based on current polling. Not too far from Holborn & St Pancras

Ed Miliband is now taking questions in the Commons in his new role as foreign secretary. The first two questions were answered by junior ministers, but Miliband took the third question himself. It was from Labour's James Naish, who asked what the government would do to stop the expansion of illegal settlements on the West Bank.

Miliband condemned the settlements and said that the government would “not acquiesce in the destruction of the two-state solutionâ€. He said the government was consulting with allies, and that an announcement about the measures it would take was coming soon.

He said Andy Burnham himself spoke recently about the need to do more to ban trade with the illegal settlements.

Asked by Labour's Martin Rhodes if a trade ban affecting the illegal settlements would apply to the trade in services, Miliband said Rhodes had made an important point. He went on:

We need to look and we are looking indeed at our wider economic relationship with the occupied territories and the different tools we have to tackle it.

I want to be very clear; we do not want British companies financing, constructing or advertising new settlements. The work we are now undertaking is how we can stop that.

When Kit Malthouse (Con) criticised previous government ministers for mouthing “platitudes†on this issue “like goldfishâ€, and said they had completely failed to stop the expansion of illegal settlements, Miliband said that he agreed with Malthouse “pretty much entirelyâ€.

And when the SNP's Brendan O'Hara attacked Labour's record on this, Miliband said the recognition of Palestinian statehood was significant. He went on:

I think we on this side of the house, as the prime minister has said, recognise the need for a step change in our approach, given the urgency and, as I say, he won't have to wait too long [for an announcement].

Here are some comments from journalists on Keir Starmer's decision to stand down as an MP.

From ITV's Paul Brand

If Polanski stands in Holborn, it's kinda wild that three current party leaders will have all stood in by-elections in the past three months. By-elections rarely been so in vogue! (Burnham, Farage, Polanski)

From the Guardian's Jessica Elgot

Makerfield was proof of concept for Burnham to beat Reform. Now, conveniently, we have another opportunity for him to prove another concept…

From the New Statesman's Ben Walker

It's not a guarantee for Polanski. I imagine he's quite fairly holding out for a Hackney but I don't doubt he'll feel pressure to stand…

I mean if Labour stands an arms dealer or member of Pinochet's cabinet then yeah sure it's an easier ask

From Novara Media's Ash Sarkar

There's an emotionally generous way you could read this (he genuinely thinks it's detrimental to the Labour Party and government to have to fight for his seat at the next election). But, to be honest, my sense is that Keir Starmer is a man who likes Being Important more than he's interested in serving the public.

From the Sun's Harry Cole

Big moment for Whacko Zacko just as Burnham's entire strategy of stemming the Green bleed gets up and running with virtue signalling on Israel etc

Exquisite timing by Starmer.

From the Guardian's Owen Jones

All that crap about Keir Starmer being about public service

He wanted power for its own sake. That's it.

He was only interested in climbing the ladder of power.

The ladder collapsed under the weight of his own cynicism, so now he's off to try and find another ladder.

From the Spectator's Madeline Grant

Having repeatedly taunted Rishi Sunak with suggestions he'd move to California after losing the General Election, Starmer himself is the one who cuts and runs. V apposite that his departure involves one final bit of shameless hypocrisy

In the Commons Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, has been sworn in as MP for Clacton. He was MP for Clacton before the summer anyway, but he triggered a byelection as a protest about the inquiry into claims he broke Commons rules by not declaring a £5m donation from the cryptocurrency billionaire Christopher Harborne.

After he won the byelection in August, Farage gave an interview in which he said “maybe†he should have declared the donation after all – implying he does now accept the inquiry is justified. (But he is also angry about the inquiry being extended to include financial support he received from his friend George Cottrell that also wasn't declared.)

From the start of this academic year student nurses, and other people doing healthcare courses in England, will get upfront payments to cover placement costs. That means they will get the money they need for travel and accommodation costs for clinical placements in advance, instead of having to claim the money back. The Department of Health and Social Care has a news release about this here.