In his final answer to Meg Hillier, the Labour chair of the liasion committee, Keir Starmer claimed that he could not think of anything he should have done differently in his first months as PM.Hillier asked him about lessons he had learned since he had become PM, and if he would have done anything differently.Starmer devoted his answer to criticising the inheritance he was left.(See 4.19pm.

)Hillier then asked again:Is there anything that you would do differently if you were starting out now, knowing what you know?And Starmer replied:No,We had to do tough stuff,We are getting on with it,I’m very pleased to be delivering, and delivering from a position of power, rather than going around the division lobbies losing every night,I’ve had too much of that.

This answer has generated some surprise from commentators.This is from Robert Peston, ITV’s political editor, on social media.Keir Starmer tells the liaison committee of the Commons there is literally nothing he would have done differently as PM now that he has the benefit of hindsight.Hey hoAnd this is from James Ball, political editor of the New European.There is something quite telling that when Keir Starmer was asked if he had any advice for himself from six months ago all he could do was stammer through an answer about inheriting a £22 billion black hole from the last government, before saying he’d do nothing differently.

Perhaps Starmer really does think there is not a single thing he could have done better.But it is more likely he just decided to say no to avoid the inevitable negative headlines that a more honest answer might have attracted.Keir Starmer has told the Commons liaison committee that he cannot think of anything he would have done differently in his first months as PM.(See 4.55pm.

)Hospices in England are to receive a £100m-plus boost to funding amid worries that some end-of-life services could close because of the impact of the national insurance increase and wage rises.Enormous budget overruns on the HS2 high-speed railway have been blamed by its new chief executive on a “rush to start”, as the Department for Transport admitted it did not know how much it would cost.Keir Starmer has given his full support to Tulip Siddiq, the Treasury minister, after Bangladesh’s anti-corruption commission accused her and family members of embezzling billions as part of a deal for a nuclear power plant.Writers, publishers, musicians, photographers, movie producers and newspapers have rejected the Labour government’s plan to create a copyright exemption to help artificial intelligence companies train their algorithms.The Bank of England has kept interest rates on hold as it warned UK growth is on the brink of stagnation amid the fallout from Rachel Reeves’s budget and threat of Donald Trump reigniting global trade wars.

The UK will not tolerate attempts by foreign countries to harass or intimidate British citizens, Dan Jarvis, the security minister, has warned, after a number of Sikhs complained they were being targeted either by or on behalf of the Indian government.Tom Bradshaw, president of the National Farmers Union, says Keir Starmer’s comments at the liaison committee about the extension of inheritance tax to cover farms (see 3.16pm) show the government did not think about the impact of this measures.In a statement, Bradshaw says:Despite ministers previously claiming this was about punishing wealthy people avoiding tax, it’s clear from the prime minister’s words today that it is simply an indiscriminate revenue-raising measure with no thought given to who it impacts.What’s worse is that the government has clearly forgotten the reason agricultural inheritance tax reliefs were brought in in the first place – which was to ensure that farms would not be sold or broken up following the death of the owner and could continue to produce high quality British food through each generation.

It’s clear that this government has entirely broken with that premise, and it will be farming, then its associated industries, and then consumers who will bear the impact.Here is some video of Keir Starmer at the liaison committee.Labour has kept control of Edinburgh city council, despite being the third largest group, after maintaining its deal with other unionist groups to lock out the Scottish National party.Councillors voted in Jane Meagher today after former leader Cammy Day quit suddenly, on 9 December, after the police confirmed they were investigating allegations he had sent sexualised texts to Ukrainian women refugees.The Scottish National party, which is the city’s largest party, lost an attempt with the Scottish Greens to take control by 32 votes to 28.

Labour has only 10 councillors; the SNP has 17,Meagher, latterly Labour housing convenor, appeared by video link from Tanzania, where she is on a family holiday,In a statement released by the council, she said:This has been an extremely difficult and damaging time for the Council,Today was an opportunity to restore stability and to get on with the business of running the city,As we count down to 2025 – and to the challenging budget and other decisions that await us in the new year – we need stability, confidence and consensus.

As the then Labour group leader, in May 2022 Day had brokered a controversial agreement after the council elections with the Tories and Lib Dems to form a minority administration in Edinburgh which stopped short of a formal coalition,The deal was not sanctioned by Scottish Labour headquarters; Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, had pledged there would be no coalitions with the Tories in any council,The Tories were, however, given the convenorship of two statutory committees by Day,Here are two alternatives takes on the liaison committee hearing from journalists,From Jonathan Eley at the Financial TimesBit of time spare before an internal meeting, so watched Starmer at the Joint Liason CommitteeThe contrast between the rational, detailed and informed Q&A of this forum and the idiotic performative braying of PMQs could not be greater It’s how political scrutiny should beFrom Jason Groves at the Daily MailNot saying the Commons liaison committee is an easy ride for Keir Starmer, but Labour’s Tan Dhesi has just prefaced his question to the PM by saying: ‘Thank you for your service to this nation.

..’In his final answer to Meg Hillier, the Labour chair of the liasion committee, Keir Starmer claimed that he could not think of anything he should have done differently in his first months as PM.Hillier asked him about lessons he had learned since he had become PM, and if he would have done anything differently.Starmer devoted his answer to criticising the inheritance he was left.

(See 4.19pm.)Hillier then asked again:Is there anything that you would do differently if you were starting out now, knowing what you know?And Starmer replied:No.We had to do tough stuff.We are getting on with it.

I’m very pleased to be delivering, and delivering from a position of power, rather than going around the division lobbies losing every night.I’ve had too much of that.This answer has generated some surprise from commentators.This is from Robert Peston, ITV’s political editor, on social media.Keir Starmer tells the liaison committee of the Commons there is literally nothing he would have done differently as PM now that he has the benefit of hindsight.

Hey hoAnd this is from James Ball, political editor of the New European,There is something quite telling that when Keir Starmer was asked if he had any advice for himself from six months ago all he could do was stammer through an answer about inheriting a £22 billion black hole from the last government, before saying he’d do nothing differently,Perhaps Starmer really does think there is not a single thing he could have done better,But it is more likely he just decided to say no to avoid the inevitable negative headlines that a more honest answer might have attracted,Hillier ends the session by asking if there is anything Starmer would have done differently in his first five months in office.

Starmer says it is far better being in government than being in opposition.He came into politics to change things, he says.He says he expected the inheritance to be “pretty awful”, but it turned out to be “worse than I thought, in every respect”, he says.As an example, he cites prison overcrowding.During the summer riots, at a Cobra meeting, he had the prison place numbers in every jail in the country on a screen in the room because they were at “bursting point” and needed to know if they could accommodate people.

He does not get round to saying whether or not there is anything he would have done differently.Hillier asks again if there is anything he would have done differently.No, says Starmer.He says he has had to do tough stuff, but he is very pleased to be delivering.And that is the end of the hearing.

Meg Hillier, the liaison committee chair, is now wrapping up with some final questions of her own.Q: Are you talking to the Migration Advisory Committee about ensuring that the UK has enough skilled workers for the government’s housing ambitions?Yes, says Starmer.He says there has been too much policy making in silos.Q: Are you willing to say the country needs more skilled workers?Starmer says the UK will always need skilled workers.Q: So you would give the green light to more skilled workers coming in?Starmer says he wants a joined-up approach.

He says the UK has had very high immigration because it has not trained up enough people with skills.So it will do that.but in the mean time it will not “chop the legs off our businesses” by refusing them access to foreign workers.Karen Bradley, the Tory home affairs committee chair, is asking about asylum seekers.Starmer says “safe and legal routes” for asylum seekers are needed.

But the goverment should also be taking action “upstream” to tackle the problem.Q: Do you want to open more “safe and legal routes”?No, says Starmer.He says he is happy with the schemes in place for people from Afghanistan, Ukraine and Hong Kong.Tan Dhesi, the Labour chair of the defence committee, goes next.Q: On defence and security, what keeps you awake at night?Starmer says he is not kept awake at night.

He says he has great faith in the military,Q: The new head of Nato has said we need to move to a wartime mindset,He says, if we are not at war, we are not at peace either,Do you agree?Starmer says we are in a more volatile world,Conflict is escalating, he says.

Q: When will defence spending rise to 2,5% of GDP?Starmer says the government will set out a path to that,The defence review is reporting next year,Dhesi says it is not the time to prevaricate,He says the govenment has made several other big defence spending announcements, without waiting for the defence review to conclude.

So why can’t this be addressed now?Starmer says the review is look at the risks the UK faces, what the current capability is, and whether changes are needed to address the gap.He says that is why is does not want to commit money until he has the results of that.Dhesi says the UK’s enemies are not waiting.He says deterring a war is cheaper than fighting one.So why is the UK “prevaricating”?Starmer says defence spending is at 2.

3% of GDP now.And some costs, like the nuclear deterrent, are fixed, he says.Thornberry say the Israeli government is not in favour of a two-state solution.And some members of the Israeli cabinet talk about annexing the West Bank.If that happened, what could we do?Starmer says he is very worried about the situation on the West Bank.

He says any response should be anchored in international law.Emily Thornberry, Labour chair of the foreign affairs committee, goes next.Q: Who are the major players in Syria?Starmer says it is fast moving situation.He says the fall of president Assad was a good thing.He goes on:But we mustn’t make the mistake of thinking that what comes next is necessarily going to be better.