Keir Starmer to gather Cabinet after Downing Street shake-up

Sir Keir Starmer will gather his Cabinet for its first meeting since a major shake-up of his Downing Street operation as he seeks to reset his Government after a challenging summer.

The Prime Minister will chair discussions with Chancellor Rachel Reeves, his deputy Angela Rayner and other senior figures after making a string of new appointments.

Ministers have returned from recess to brimming in-trays after a summer dominated by speculation about tax rises, criticism of the small boats crisis and floundering poll ratings for Labour.

As part of Monday’s reset, Ms Reeves’ former number two in the Treasury, Darren Jones, has become the Prime Minister’s chief secretary and James Murray will replace him as Treasury chief secretary.

Former Treasury official Dan York Smith has been appointed Sir Keir’s principal private secretary and ex-Bank of England deputy governor Baroness Minouche Shafik his chief economic adviser.

The shake-up is a sign that the Prime Minister is seeking to boost Number 10’s economic firepower ahead of the budget this autumn amid dire warnings about the state of the public finances.

“Frustration and anger”

Sir Keir, who turns 63 on Tuesday, has dismissed suggestions that he was angry about the pace of change his team had achieved so far and insisted the reset marks the “second phase” of his plan for Government.

But he conceded he was “frustrated” in an interview with BBC Radio 5 Live after the appointments.

“I get the frustration and anger of voters because they want change,” he said.

Migration and the economy are likely to feature high on the agenda at Tuesday’s meeting, after the Home Secretary announced the first returns of migrants crossing the Channel will begin later this month under a returns deal with France.

The Government has also committed to empty all hotels housing asylum seekers by the end of the parliament, which could be as late as 2029, with Sir Keir saying he understands “why people are so concerned”.

The scale of the challenge facing the Chancellor in the budget was illustrated by the NIESR economic think tank warning last month that she is set for a £41 billion shortfall on her self-imposed rule of balancing day-to-day spending with tax receipts in 2029-30.

That would require tax hikes or spending cuts amounting to around £51 billion if she wanted to maintain her current level of “headroom”, the buffer by which she avoids breaking the rule.

Rayner controversy

Elsewhere, Sir Keir has defended his Deputy Prime Minister and Housing Secretary Angela Rayner amid criticism about her tax affairs and controversy over her purchase of a flat in Hove.

Ms Rayner is reported to have saved £40,000 in stamp duty on the flat because she removed her name from the deeds of a family property in her Ashton-under-Lyne constituency.

Sir Keir said she had “people briefing against her and talking her down over and over again”, which was “a mistake”.

Downing Street suggested that a “court order” restricts the Deputy Prime Minister from providing further information about her arrangements.

Sir Keir’s spokesman told reporters she was “urgently working on rectifying in the interests of public transparency”.