Labour has worked very hard to ‘restore economic credibility’, minister says – UK politics live | Politics

Speaking on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme this morning, Culture secretary Lisa Nandy said “I’m not, for a moment, saying it’s all going swimmingly” when asked about Labour’s first few months in government.

However, she continued by setting out what she said was the party’s ambition for the term of government, saying:

I think there wasn’t a single person in this country who could say that they really felt better off after 14 years of Tory government.

And our ambition and our intention is that in the next few years, people will start to feel significantly better off in their own lives and for the prospects for their children.

Graeme Wearden

On the economic news front, Graeme Wearden is on our business live blog today, and has this:

All eyes are on the UK government bond market today, where the current bond market selloff has been particularly acute.

And in early trading, bond yields are nudging slightly higher, although it’s a small move.

The pound is a little weaker this morning, but higher than the lows touched during Thursday’s choppy trading.

One worrying aspect of the market turmoil this week is that both UK government bonds and the pound have fallen.

In more normal times, a rise in government borrowing costs (caused by a fall in the value of bonds) tends to lead to a stonger currency.

When both fall together, it can be a sign of fiscal de-anchoring, and potentially capital flight out of the UK.

This last happened in the 1970s crisis, a point another former Bank official Martin Weale made yesterday.

You can follow all the latest business and economic news with Graeme Wearden over on his live blog: Reeves may need to consider ‘very severe’ spending cuts, as bond sell-off continues – business live

Culture secretary Lisa Nandy has defended chancellor Rachel Reeves’ decision to visit China amid turbulence in the economy as being “right and proper”.

Speaking on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme, Nandy said fluctuations affecting the bond market and the pound were part of “a global trend that we’ve seen affecting economies all over the world.”

“Rates rise and fall,” she said. “We’ve seen it, most notably in the United States.”

Nandy continued:

We are confident that we’re taking both the short term action to stabilise the economy, but also the long term action that is necessary to get the economy growing again.

That’s why, from my point of view, and I think many others, it is absolutely right and proper that the chancellor is taking seriously our relationship with the world’s second largest economy, and is in China this weekend.

Culture secretary Lisa Nandy has said she believes that the Labour government is still “on track” with its ambition for the UK to be “the fastest growing economy in Europe.”

Conceding that the budget decision to increase national insurance contributions on employers was “a difficult one for many companies”, she told listeners of the BBC Radio 4 Today programme that the government was not going back to the “bad old days” of Tory budgets. She said:

We inherited an economy where it was hard to see who had confidence, both to invest, and particularly for consumers to be able to feel that they could spend, given the huge fluctuations that we’d seen, particularly after the Liz Truss/Kwasi Kwarteng mini-budget.

The chancellor has been absolutely clear that we are not going back to those bad old days. We have had two interest rate cuts since she became chancellor, and we have worked very hard to restore economic credibility.

Boasting that Labour’s attempts to attract investment had seen “a huge vote of confidence” in the UK economy, she continued:

We are not only confident that we’re on track, but the OECD is confident that we’re on track to become the fastest growing economy in Europe.

Good morning, and welcome to our rolling politics coverage for Friday. Here are your headlines:

• Culture secretary Lisa Nandy has defended chancellor Rachel Reeves’ visit to China amid economic turbulence

• Reeves is reported to be considering imposing steeper cuts to public services to repair the government’s finances after a bruising week in which investors drove up the cost of UK borrowing and pushed the pound to a 14-month low

• Health secretary Wes Streeting has defended the growing use of the private sector to help tackle long waiting lists in England for treatment, but said providers must “pull their weight” and not take resources away from the NHS

• The co-leader of the Scottish Greens, Patrick Harvie, has said his party was yet to make a “final decision” on whether to back the draft Scottish budget

• A committee of MPs has criticised the Ministry of Defence for being behind the times on the use of artificial intelligence in the military]

• The number of people in England and Wales who sought help with energy bills jumped by 20% last year, according to Citizens Advice

In the diary today Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey is out and about in Cambridgeshire, and we can expect stunt photos. There is also another Reform UK regional conference event this evening. It is the turn of the south-east, and Nigel Farage is speaking at Sandown Park Racecourse. You can insert your own punchline about runners, riders, odds and gambling etc.

It is Martin Belam with you today. You can get in touch with me at martin.belam@theguardian.com, which is especially useful if you have spotted errors, typos or omissions.