Dear John,

This week saw MPs grill Prime Minister Keir Starmer at the Liaison Committee, Indian leader Narendra Modi sign off on the long-awaited trade deal, and the government announce its plans to scrap Ofwat in a bid to tackle the sewage and water regulation crises.

In international news, the deteriorating situation in Gaza continued to worsen, with Starmer describing it as a “humanitarian catastrophe”. More on those horrific developments below.

From Best for Britain, here is your Weekend Wire. 

Starvation in Gaza

Images of malnourished Gazan children dominated the front pages this week - even unifying both the Daily Express and the Guardian - after more than 100 international aid organisations warned of mass starvation, blaming the Israeli government for not allowing aid trucks into the territory. Israel has said it is distributing aid via the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a private US firm with four food distribution points, criticised by a UN agency as a “death trap”.

Reuters is even reporting that aid agencies are on the brink of running out of specialised therapeutic food needed to save the lives of severely malnourished children, as per the UN.

Late on Thursday evening, Starmer issued a statement calling the suffering “unspeakable and indefensible” and a “humanitarian catastrophe”. He then spoke with E3 partners France and Germany on Friday, and the three leaders later insisted "the time has come to end the war in Gaza". The PM has also said the UK will participate in humanitarian aid airdrops, after Israel said it would allow these to take place.

France has also confirmed it would recognise Palestinian statehood, after President Emmanuel Macron previously urged the UK to do the same. Starmer has since said the such a move needed to part of a “pathway” to peace, despite a letter signed by some 221 MPs calling on the government to take the step at a UN meeting next week.

So instead of supporting Best for Britain this week, please consider donating to one of the organisations working to get aid to the people who desperately need it  including the British Red Cross, Save the Children, Medicines San Frontiers, War Child - or another of your choice.

The Room Where (Not Much) Happened

Ahead of MP’s departing for recess this week, Starmer made one of his thrice yearly appearances before the Liaison Committee, where he studiously avoided making news.

Asked what his priorities were for his premiership, the PM said he wanted Brits to “feel better off”, for the NHS to be “working much better”, and for people to “feel safe and secure”.

He shared that the best moment of his first year in office was “walking into Downing Street and taking up the job of governing”, while the lowest moment, sadly, was when “my brother died”.

However, it was work and pensions committee chairwoman Debbie Abrahams who had the most memorable moment, when she told the PM she “felt ashamed” of the “poor” welfare legislation previously brought by the government, which had to make concessions on the bill.

But Starmer insisted that changes to support more disabled people in the workplace would be swifter than Abrahams claimed, stating: “I don’t accept that everything is going to take years.” 

Clearly, not every issue can be settled by committee. The truly bored can watch the full session back on the Parliament TV website.

Trading update

Modi’s visit to the UK this week saw the Indian and UK Prime Ministers ink a bilateral trade deal which has been years (and years) in the making, and will reduce tariffs on British exports.

But, while welcoming the agreement, our CEO Naomi Smith urged the government to do more to reduce trade friction between Britain and its largest market - the EU.

“While this deal offers significant opportunities they are dwarfed by the continued cost of trade barriers with our largest market, highlighting the urgency of making progress on the areas agreed in May’s UK-EU summit, which voters have made clear is their priority.”

Read her thoughts in this piece by the Daily Business Group, or on our website. Your author also published a blog on why “achievements with India - while beneficial - cannot be allowed to overshadow the work that needs to be done with the EU”.

Flushing the system

On Monday, environment secretary Steve Reed announced an overhaul of water regulation, amid outrage over the sewage crisis in Britain’s rivers and seas, and soaring customer bills, shareholder payouts and bosses’ bonuses which have triggered public anger.

Reed confirmed regulator Ofwat would be scrapped, and that he would combine overlapping regulation by four separate bodies into a “single, powerful” regulator of the whole water sector.

It came after an independent review by Sir Jon Cunliffe called for the move, alongside dozens of other measures to tackle problems.

Ministers have also said the government would cut sewage pollution by half by 2030, and that customers would “never again [be] hit by the shocking bill hikes we saw last year”.

The news comes as Labour MP Clive Lewis continues to campaign for the People’s Plan for Water, arguing “water is a human need - not a money-making machine for investors”. Read more.

Money, money, money

Labour MP and UK Trade and Business commission chair Andrew Lewin proposed a new policy idea this week, sharing a website called Citizens’ Advance.

The concept would allow young people to ‘draw down’ a year’s worth of their pension once they’ve made ten year’s worth of National Insurance Contributions (NICs), in a bid to address rising levels of inequality, thanks to the prevalence of the ‘bank of mum and dad’.

Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) chief executive Nikhil Rathi floated a similar suggestion in March, specifically in relation to house deposits. One to watch?

Party time

Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and former Labour MP Zarah Sultana have unveiled their “new kind of political party”. 

Their fresh left-wing vehicle is, as of yet, unnamed - and currently operating under the interim name of ‘Your Party’, with an inaugural founding conference expected to be held later this year.

Corbyn and Sultana shared a statement describing it as “rooted in our communities, trade unions and social movements” and said it “belongs to you”. 

And in another sign of Britain’s increasingly pluralistic electoral system, according to a poll last month by More in Common, a (then-hypothetical) Corbyn-led party could secure up to 10% of the vote share. We’ll keep you posted.

This has been your Weekend Wire from Best for Britain. 

Keep an eye out this weekend and next week for Trump’s visit to his Scottish golf courses, the White House tariffs deadline on August 1, and ballots opening in the Green Party leadership contest.

Take care.

Jessica Frank-Keyes

Senior Press Officer

Best for Britain