Have benefits risen by £20bn under Labour?published at 13:07 BST

13:07 BST

By Ben Chu

Kemi Badenoch asked Keir Starmer earlier how much the UK welfare bill had risen since Labour formed a government - and then claimed that “benefits alone have risen by £20bn since he came to office”.

According to data from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) total benefit expenditure in 2024/25 - the financial year during which Labour came into office in July 2024 - was £289bn, external.

Alongside the 2026 Spring Forecast, the DWP forecast that total benefit expenditure in 2025/26 would rise to £309bn.

That’s an increase between the two financial years of just under £20bn.

However, it’s worth noting that those benefit figures include spending on the state pension, which is projected to be £146bn in 2025/26.

That’s an increase of just under £10bn on the figure in 2024/25, so accounts for around half the total increase on benefit spending between the two years.

Cachella Smith
Live reporter

Reform UK Leader Nigel Farage used his question at PMQs to urge the prime minister to consider that Britons are "living under two-tier policing".

Farage made reference to the police anti-racism guidance, which he said is "clear and written down in ink", that police officers "must treat different ethnic groups in different ways".

His comments come after the National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) said on Tuesday it would review the language used in a document outlining anti-racism commitments, after shadow home secretary Chris Philp raised concerns.

Called the "Police Anti-Racism Commitment", the document sets out broad aims, including being "transparent" about police actions and making sure everyone in policing feels confident challenging racism.

One part that has caused debate in the last 24 hours is a commitment to achieving equality of "policing outcomes". The document says: "It does not mean treating everyone ‘the same’ or being ‘colour blind’ (racial equality)," with the reason given below:

The document, published last year, comes from the Police Race Action Plan which was announced in 2020 and first published in 2022.

The plan said it followed policing's "difficult history in its relationships with Black communities" - referencing the murder of George Floyd and the Stephen Lawrence inquiry.

Policing Minister Sarah Jones called it a "values document" this morning, not a training document. The NPCC says it sets out the "overarching ambition of the plan for a police service that was anti-racist and trusted by Black people".

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Darren Paffey, Labour MP for Southampton Itchen, quotes a statement from Henry Nowak's family following his death.

They say they want Henry's story "to help make our streets safer for everyone", without using his murder to "create further division and tension".

Paffey asks Starmer whether he agrees that the "violence we saw whipped up on the streets of Southampton last night" - which saw injuries to 11 police officers - are "the total opposite of what Henry's family clearly and powerfully called for".

The prime minister says the attacks to police officers yesterday were "disgraceful and completely unacceptable. There is no justification for further disorder."

Independent MP for Canterbury Rosie Duffield says that UK rates of 20% VAT on hospitality are "killing businesses daily" and asks if he will humour Andy Burnham's suggestion to "slash VAT" so it's more in line with the EU.

Starmer says the government is "permanently lowering" business rates for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses, and states that every pub will get "15% off business rates" and see bills frozen "in real terms for a further two years".

He adds that in relation to VAT, it's being cut on children's meals in restaurants as part of savings set out by the chancellor two weeks ago.

Plaid Cymru's Liz Saville Roberts asks says the people of Wales last month voted in a Plaid Cymru government "with a clear message: hope and fairness".

She says this means addressing appropriate financial arrangements and powers for Wales, including over its natural resources. She asks whether the PM is open to turning "conversation into action" in fulfilling the democratic wishes of the people of Wales.

Starmer replies that he has spoken with the first minister and made it clear his government is open to working constructively with him.

Chris Mason
Political editor

Image source, House of Commons

​Plenty may have anticipated that the main exchanges at PMQs this week would be dominated by the case of Henry Nowak.

But the Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has sought to emphasise her desire not to overtly politicise the issue — a position that brought public praise from the prime minister.

The Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey adopted a similar stance.

That in itself is, of course, political — and pointed directly in Reform UK’s direction.

MPs knew that Nigel Farage, the Reform leader, had a question to come.

The prime minister was able to set out his argument — of respecting the Nowak family’s desire for this not to be politicised — immediately before Farage’s question.

Cries of “shame” from Labour MPs greeted the Reform leader standing up, and outrage when he referred to the scenes in Southampton last night and the prospect of further unrest to come.

Farage argued the case proved there was what he calls “two-tier policing,” something the PM dismisses.Beyond this case, the government and society at large wrestles with how it addresses long standing concerns about racism and how mechanisms to tackle this don’t lead to unintended or perverse consequences.

Image source, House of Commons

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage is up next.

He says that, following the "horrendous circumstances" of Henry Nowak's death, he urges Starmer to consider that Britons are "living under two-tier policing".

Farage says that the "instructions that are given" to police officers "are clear and written down in ink", that "you must treat different ethnic groups in different ways".

The Reform leader says the anger seen "spilling out" in Southampton last night is "in danger of getting considerably worse" if the public lose trust in the police.

As he asks Starmer to "take action" against the "divisive" two-tier policing, MPs can be heard heckling him, saying: "You need to condemn the violence."

Starmer says he doesn't believe there is two-tier policing in the UK, and that he is "really shocked that [Farage] pretends to have respect for Henry's family and then acts in this way".

He says that they are a "grieving family" who "have asked us not to respond in the way the leader of Reform has responded".

"They make a simple plea of us as human beings to please not exploit that," Starmer says.

Davey next references Labour's use of long-form essays as part of their communications and quips that it gives another meaning to the phrase "drone warfare".

He mentions one published by former Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair - which was critical of Starmer - and asks if the prime minister is concerned that "unless he changes course" he will be remembered for being "neither radical, nor sensible".

Starmer quips back that Davey has spoiled "what was quite a good gag".

He jokes that he was "surprised" that the Liberal Democrat leader hadn't more heartily welcomed the recent government announcement that it would subsidise summer holiday day outs for families - a reference to Davey's election campaign stunts that saw him take to paddle boards, water slides and more.

The floor is now opened up for questions from other MPs.

Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey says the murder of 18-year-old Henry Nowak was an "evil crime made much worse by the lies of the killer, and the police response".

He says the investigation - being carried out by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) - must uncover what went wrong and all police forces must act on its conclusions.

Davey says Nowak's father made a "powerful plea" outside court that his son's murder should not be used to create further division, but should be used to treat knife crime as a national emergency.

He asks if Starmer agrees that the victims of knife crime, and their families, deserve a politics where we come together to solve these problems and not use them as a "political football".

The PM replies, saying it is important to reflect on our own leadership role and it is our duty to bring people together and not divide them.

Badenoch says unemployment has risen every month since Labour came to office, adding Starmer doesn't have the votes on his side to reform the welfare system, and the Conservatives have a solution.

She quips that while the government side is "cheering now", the PM is "more than happy to release their text messages" while his own messaging has disappeared.

"Everyone in this House knows he is just a caretaker keeping the seat warm for the mayor of Manchester," she says.

Starmer replies that the Tories "broke" various institutions like prisons, the NHS and the broader economy while in government, adding the Tories are "irrelevant" and that his government is fighting for working people.

Badenoch says the PM "caved" to his MPs last year when he had a chance to cut the welfare bill and decided to U-turn. She asks whether Starmer agrees with his welfare secretary that that was "the moment he lost his authority".

To which the prime minister says he is "proud" of what his side of the House is delivering, including making the UK "the fastest growing economy in the G7".

He says the government has achieved a historic reduction of of waiting times in the NHS, on top of providing free school meals and child care for parents. He says his government is "lifting half a million children out of poverty".

Image source, House of Commons

Kemi Badenoch says the welfare bill went up under the Conservatives "because of the pandemic", and accuses Labour of asking them to "spend more" during that period.

It's not the shadow chancellor who's the problem, "it's the actual chancellor", she says. She mentions that the secretary of state for work and pensions in an interview on the weekend declined to answer if he's planning to cut the benefits bill and asks if the PM will do this.

Starmer says "all the measures" his government are taking are to reduce the costs of welfare and the number of unemployed.

The Tories introduced a "broken" system, he says, but Labour is "reforming it".

Kemi Badenoch then says PM doesn't know the answer to her question on the increase in the cost of welfare, so she'll answer if for him.

She says "benefits alone have risen by £20bn since Starmer came to office", adding that he had promised welfare reforms.

Why then, she asks, was there no such bill in the King's speech?

Starmer says that welfare reforms are all about balancing universal credit, so it no longer pushes away from work.

He adds the government is introducing a "right to try", incentivising people to take up opportunities, and providing record funding on apprenticeships.

He says that is what Labour is doing, but Tories voted against it.

He adds the welfare bill soared by £88bn on the Tories' watch and nearly three million people were written off.

Starmer says the person who signed off those changes was the shadow chancellor Mel Stride.

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Starmer begins his answer by thanking Badenoch for her approach and tone in relation to Henry Nowak's death.

In relation to welfare, he says the government "inherited a broken system" from the Tories, adding the government is now improving the system by delivering on youth unemployment.

He adds that the costs of welfare went up "hugely" under the watch of the Conservatives.

Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch is now asking Keir Starmer her first question.

She shares her "deepest condolences" to the friends and family of Henry Nowak, and says his death "must be a wake up call to the entire country and our institutions that every life matters".

Badenoch then moves on to the country's welfare bill, asking how much has it risen since the prime minister came into office?

Image source, House of Commons

Henry Nowak's family "have shown extraordinary dignity", Starmer first says, and pays tribute to him as a "kind, thoughtful, much-loved young man".

There are "serious questions to answer" and the government is supporting the police watchdog to "get to the bottom" of what happened, he says - including "how accusations of racism informed police thinking".

But there is "no justification for more violence and disorder" and attacks on police overnight in Southampton are "disgraceful", he says.

Anyone found engaging in disorder will "meet the full force of the law", he says, and calls this a time "for serious work, not rage".

For context: Southampton saw violence and disorder overnight, after protesters clashed with police near where 18‑year‑old Henry Nowak was fatally stabbed. Two people were arrested and 11 officers injured.

It's just gone 12:00 BST and Keir Starmer is on his feet for Prime Minister's Questions.

We'll bring you all the key lines here and a reminder that you can watch live at the top of the page.

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A former chief superintendent for the Metropolitan Police has warned against politicians "taking advantage" of Henry Nowak's murder.

Dal Babu tells the BBC's Politics Live that the investigation into Nowak's murder should not take "advantage of the situation" for politicians, and yet "certain individuals" have done so.

He says that they have "suddenly come to the idea" that race training has had a "disproportional impact" on how Nowak was treated, without "looking at the facts".

He says Nowak's handcuffing and arrest when he had been stabbed comes down to a "fundamental operational failure", adding that the public "need to have more information coming in before we can come to any decisions".

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The drop of the second tranche of files relating to Lord Peter Mandelson's appointment as UK ambassador to the US has dominated headlines in Westminster this week - but it's not the only story.

• The UK will not have to pay Rwanda millions of pounds over the collapsed asylum agreement cancelled by Starmer after he came into office, an international court ruled
• Wes Streeting has suggested cutting employers' National Insurance (NI) could be a way to incentivise businesses to hire more young people, and that some new North Sea drilling for oil and gas should be allowed to raise more tax
• Nicola Sturgeon said she feels like she is "serving a sentence for a crime I did not commit" after her estranged husband admitted embezzling the SNP as chief executive - Peter Murrell used charge cards, bank transfers and fake invoices to embezzle more than £400,000 from the party
• An inquiry by MPs into the student loan system in England has begun, as new research published separately suggests a third of people now think a university degree isn't worth the time and money

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Cabinet Office minister Nick Thomas-Symonds spoke to the BBC yesterday about the file release.

He was asked about Pat McFadden's comments that, when speaking with other Labour politicians, "Every meeting I have is 'who can we tax in order to pay benefits to others'."

For context, McFadden was a Cabinet Office minister at the time, but has since been appointed as work and pensions secretary.

Thomas-Symonds told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "Look they are embarrassing, I'm not hiding from that."

But he said the reason the messages are in the public domain is to comply with the Humble Address, which required government transparency.

Asked by BBC Breakfast about comments made by Mandelson in the files that no-one in government knows what Sir Keir wants, Thomas-Symonds said "I don't agree with that view about the prime minister".

He added: "The government is delivering, which was exactly the purpose of the changes the prime minister made last September."