UK election latest: Cabinet announced - as Reform wins fifth seat after Farage speech sabotaged (2024)

Michelle O'Neill has revealed she spoke with Sir Keir Starmer this evening and acknowledged his party's "significant victory".

The Northern Irish first minister said she wanted to "reset British-Irish relations" and called for "fair funding" to be provided for health, education and public services.

"The cuts that our people and public services have endured under a Tory government for over a decade must end now," she said.

Ms O'Neill also called on Sir Keir to follow through on his commitment to bin the Legacy Act, which ends historical inquests and transfers Troubles-era cases to a new body.

"I will continue to press the British government on the things that matter most to people, delivering for public services and all our communities as we engage in the days ahead," she said.

Number 10 has confirmed on X that Keir Starmer has spoken to the first ministers of Scotland and Wales.

"We are resetting our relationship, working together to unite our country," the post read.

New Health Secretary Wes Streeting is speaking to reporters now and says he plans to hit the ground running.

He says he has already spoken on the phone to the BMA's Junior Doctors Committee and that talks will start next week to attempt to end their industrial action.

Junior doctors in England have been holding strikes as they demand a roadmap to restore pay lost over the last 15 years.

"We promised during the campaign that we would begin negotiations as a matter of urgency, and that is what we are doing," he says.

Junior doctors have shown a "willingness to negotiate and compromise", Mr Streeting says, adding he is "sure we can find a way through".

He continues: "The policy of this department is that the NHS is broken. That is the experience of patients who are not receiving the care they deserve and of the staff working in the NHS who can see that despite giving their best, this is not good enough."

Asked what his first priority is as health secretary, Mr Streeting says he wants to cut waiting lists.

'I lost trust over Gaza'

He's also asked about how today could have looked quite different for him, as his majority was slashed from 9,000 to 528 in his Ilford North constituency.

Much of the danger had come from pro-Palestinian independents, with candidate Leanne Mohamad taking 32.2% of the vote.

Mr Streeting says he knows he "lost trust over the issue of Gaza" and that was reflected in the result.

"I'm determined to regain that trust, to rebuild that trust with my community," he says.

However, he says he also saw "appalling fake news, lies and propaganda used to undermine me as the Member of Parliament for Ilford North".

We're hearing now from newly appointed education secretary Bridget Phillipson, who has set out her priorities.

"Opportunity should be for all - not just a lucky few. That's why education is at the heart of the change this new government will make and will be at the forefront of national life," she says.

The education secretary says "too many people of all ages, in too many parts of this great country, simply don’t have the opportunities to succeed" but the new government will make sure they do.

"We'll break down those barriers to opportunity through supporting children to get the best start in life, high and rising school standards for all and skills training to support growth, so that everyone can achieve and thrive," she says.

"Government can't do this alone. From day one we will reset the relationship between government, families and our education workforce; our dedicated teachers and school staff, early years staff, university and college professionals and social workers."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he congratulated Sir Keir Starmer on becoming the UK's prime minister.

He said he was grateful to Sir Keir "for reaffirming the UK's principled and unwavering support for Ukraine".

The two leaders also discussed the "preparation of an unprecedented 100-year partnership agreement between Ukraine and the UK," Mr Zelenskyy tweeted.

Thursday's election results have transformed parliament. Not only do Labour have a huge majority but also the smaller parties such as the Liberal Democrats and Reform made big gains.

There is also now a record number of women MPs, and first-time MPs, many of them much younger than those they are replacing.

Niall Paterson talks to Sky's political commentator Adam Boulton about the new-look parliament and what it means for UK politics in the coming months.

Plus, our correspondents Greg Milam and Tom Cheshire join from Leicester South and Clacton respectively on the part Gaza played in the election and the case for reforming the electoral system.

By Rhiannon Mills, royal correspondent

It's the beginning of one of the most important relationships Sir Keir Starmer will form during his premiership.

Cabinet colleagues and members of staff may come and go - but the monarch is seen as a constant.

The secrecy around the interactions between the King and his prime minister is partly what will make it so significant for both men.

Former prime ministers have talked about the solace they have found in the audience room during those weekly meetings - a place where they can share their every thought, where they find a listening ear in the monarch, and a voice of experience.

In exchange the King expects discretion.

The new prime minister has admitted that as a young man he did call for the abolition of the monarchy, what he now describes as youthful indiscretions.

That put to one side, you can't help but wonder whether we'll have a King and prime minister more aligned and politically in sync on their views.

Read more...

James Timpson OBE has been appointed minister for prisons, parole and probation in the Ministry of Justice.

Mr Timpson is CEO of the Timpson Group - a family retail business based in Manchester.

The company offers a range of services including shoe repairs and key cutting.

More recently Mr Timpson was appointed the HRH Prince of Wales ambassador for responsible business in the North West.

This is the greatest defeat in the Conservative Party's history, and it will not recover soon. Trying to do so will end up prolonging the pain.

This was not a defeat born of an election called too early, or with too thin a manifesto, or because of what happened at D-day or with wayward bets by allies of the PM.

Starting with Boris Johnson and still evident under Rishi Sunak, the Tories were a party who had lost direction of economic, social and foreign policy.

It needs not only to find a new direction, but more importantly to decide on a purpose.

Is the priority growth or the deficit or tax cuts? Is it pro or anti-business? Is it prepared to invest to reform public services, or does it simply dislike the public sector? How does it deal with populism without becoming Reform?

As it prepares for months - possibly years - of bloodletting and recrimination, the Conservative Party looked today like it could agree on just two things.

The first is that Rishi Sunak was to share a large part of the blame. The other is that it seems at present time better to keep Reform's Nigel Farage out of the party. Even these may not hold as Tory truths for that long.

But beyond that, we know little.

So prepare for some arguments about the future in the coming days. But what's really going on behind the scenes is a process row.

The first that needs to be decided, early next week, is the timetable for what happens next.

Rishi Sunak has offered to carry on temporarily but was careful not to specify how long he would do this for.

This means the unedifying prospect for him of having to stand at the despatch box in just under two weeks for Prime Minister's Questions from the opposition benches. Will this continue long into the Autumn? To or beyond party conference? Nothing is known.

Then there is the job of working out the composition of the new Tory parliamentary party.

They will determine which two candidates go through to the members, if the rules remain unchanged. Is this cohort of 121 MPs more included towards Trussonomics or Rishi Sunak's type of conservatism - or do they lean another way? Again nothing is clear.

There are much bigger questions than merely who should be the next leader.

Sir Patrick Vallance has been appointed minister of state for science, innovation and technology.

He was the government's chief scientific adviser from April 2018 to April 2023 and was regularly seen alongside former Prime Minister Boris Johnson at press briefings during the pandemic.

He has also served as national technology adviser (NTA) and head of the government science and engineering (GSE) profession.

Sir Patrick was also a clinical academic atUCL.

Conservative peer Lord Patten has told Sky's Mark Austinthe Tories were "ruined" not by Rishi Sunak but by Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and others.

He said: "It is really important that the Conservative Party recognises that its first job is to be the loyal opposition.

"That means opposing when it thinks things are fundamentally wrong but recognising as patriots that it is in our interest that Starmer should make a success of clearing things up."

He said "you will get more of the Suella Braverman drivel over the next few weeks" which is a "very bad idea".

"Whoever is going to be leader should be as sensible and as responsible as William Hague was," he added.

"This is the oldest party in democratic history and it's now been reduced to rubble by awful fractures and lousy policies and a collapse of any sense of values.

"It hasn't been ruined by Rishi Sunak. It's been ruined by people like Boris Johnson and Liz Truss and others."