Debbie Abrahams, chair of the work and pensions select committee, has questioned Starmer over the Treasury’s controversial disability cuts, which were rowed back on after the threat of a huge backbench rebellion (Starmer had been forced to dramatically abandoned the bill’s central plank of deep cuts to personal independence payments (Pip) to get it through).

Abrahams, who said the government’s reforms will push 150,000 people into poverty, said the proposed cuts were “far removed” from traditional Labour values of fairness and social justice, as well as compassion and common decency. Abrahams said she felt “ashamed” of the “poor” welfare legislation the government put forward. The Labour MP asked Starmer what he would like to say to the disabled people who experienced “fear and anxiety” before the government made concessions on its welfare bill.

Starmer defended the reforms, saying he wants employers to do more to help people get back into work – something that does not necessarily require legislation. He says ministers have commissioned an independent review tasked with helping people back into employment.

“Reform does not mean cuts to household incomes, already struggling households. We must do better prime minister. You mentioned about reducing poverty – this had the potential of actually increasing it,” Abrahams concluded.

Keir Starmer says that tackling poverty in the UK is a priority for his government and commits to reduce it by the end of his term.

The prime minister said increasing household income, supporting people back into work and “boosting financial resilience” are ways his government is helping to tackle poverty.

He added that his government has set up a taskforce – co-chaired by work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall and education secretary Bridget Phillipson – to look specifically at child poverty and this will inform No 10’s strategy on poverty.

A record 4.5 million children were living in poverty in the UK in the year to April 2024, according to the latest figures. Labour’s flagship child poverty strategy has been delayed until at least the autumn, as it faces growing pressure to end the two-child limit on universal credit.

The chair of the liaison committee, Meg Hillier, has started by asking Keir Starmer what he wants the UK to be like in three years time. The prime minister said he wants:

• People “to feel better off”, in terms of living standards.

• The NHS to work better

• People to feel better in their “immediate” neighbourhoods and as a country.

Liz Kendall was asked if she thought it was impossible to maintain the triple lock guarantee given its cost and if she could guarantee it would be in Labour’s next manifesto.

She said:

The triple lock is out of scope of the (newly resurrected pension) commission. We’ve got a very clear commitment to that for the entirety of this parliament.

And what we’re asking the commission to do is genuinely look medium to longer term, the middle of this century, and how the state pension and second pensions work together.

The Office for Budget Responsibility recently said that the triple lock has already cost three times more than initially expected and suggested it was unaffordable in the long term.

The triple lock, which was introduced in 2011 by the coalition government, means the state pension increases every year in line with either inflation, wage increases or 2.5% – whichever is the highest.

Critics argue that it is “unfair” because many older people enjoy higher standards of living than younger people may expect to enjoy in the future, and believe younger people should not be expected to subsidise older people’s incomes to such an extent via the triple lock.

Pippa Crerar is the Guardian’s political editor

Keir Starmer is to abolish the independent post-ministerial jobs watchdog, which has long been criticised as “toothless”, and – for the first time – financial penalties will be imposed on those who break the rules after leaving government.

As part of a standards overhaul that ministers hope will help improve public faith in the system, the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (Acoba) will be scrapped and a tougher regime introduced.

Under the changes, which come into force from October and which the Guardian first reported last month, former ministers and senior officials found to have seriously breached the rules will be asked to repay any severance payment received.

There is currently no obligation for them to follow the guidance issued by Acoba to ensure there are no conflicts of interest or that lobbying does not take place, and the body has no ability to issue punishments.

Boris Johnson, the Conservative former prime minister, breached the rules on taking jobs after government on three separate occasions without facing a proper sanction, leading to calls to beef up Acoba’s powers.

Eligibility for ministerial severance payments will also be restricted, with those who leave office following a serious breach of the ministerial code or having served less than six months forgoing them entirely. A new independent ethics and integrity commission (EIC) will be set up to oversee standards.

You can read the full story here:

Nigel Farage has been speaking at a press conference in London about what he has framed as “lawless Britain”. Here are some of the highlights of the conference, which you can watch at the top of the blog. The Reform leader did not cite specific evidence or data to back up many of his claims:

• He claims successive home secretaries have based claims that crimes in England and Wales are falling on “completely false data”. He says if you look at police recorded crimes there are “significant” rises in crime, particularly those against the person.

• Farage says we are facing “nothing short of societal collapse” in many parts of the country, with “people scared to go out to the shops” and to “let their kids out”.

• He says criminals and law-abiding citizens respect police less than they used to.

• He says low level offences – like phone snatching and shop lifting – are rife in London and not being prosecuted.

• Most people don’t even bother calling the police to report a crime because they know officers are unlikely to take any action, Farage said.

• Farage said that “nobody in London understands how close we are to civil disobedience” in Britain.

• He said that offenders convicted of more than three serious crimes should be “on a course towards life imprisonment”.

• Reform would put more knife arches in train stations and other transport hubs to clamp down on crime, Farage suggested.

• He said that every shoplifting offence would be prosecuted and every mobile phone theft investigated if Reform got into government at the next election.

• Farage indicated that the party would force Reform UK councils to take new prisons in their areas as part of the party’s plans to tackle crime.
  

Liz Kendall, the work and pensions secretary, has announced the next statutory government review into the retirement age as she launched a new pension commission amid concerns over retirement savings.

The commission is expected to provide recommendations for how to boost retirement income in 2027.

The state pension age is 66 and is already expected to rise to 67 between 2026 and 2028.

Kendall said she was “under no illusions” about how difficult it would be to map out plans for pensions for the coming decades amid cost-of-living pressures.

Giving a speech in west London, she said:

Put simply, unless we act, tomorrow’s pensioners will be poorer than today’s, because people who are saving aren’t saving enough for their retirement.

And crucially, because almost half of the working age population isn’t saving anything for their retirement at all.

Joanna Partridge is a Guardian business reporter

The government is resurrecting the Pensions Commission, amid fears that a retirement crisis could mean today’s workers will be poorer in retirement than the current crop of pensioners.

The move by ministers to revive the landmark commission, established by Tony Blair’s government in 2002, comes as analysis shows that the income of pensioners is set to fall in the coming decades.

There are warnings that people who plan to retire in 2050 will receive £800 a year on average, or 8% less private pension income than those retiring today. Meanwhile, four in 10, or nearly 15 million people, are not saving enough for their retirement, according to analysis by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

The revived Pensions Commission will examine the long-term future of the retirement system and make recommendations for change. Labour hopes its proposals, due to be reported in 2027, will gain cross-party support and be enacted beyond the current parliament.

Liz Kendall, the secretary of state for work and pensions, said she was relaunching the commission to “tackle the barriers that stop too many saving in the first place”.

You can read the full story here:

In other news, the government has announced that a statutory inquiry into the violent confrontation at Orgreave during the 1984 miners’ strike will be established later this year.

The inquiry, expected to launch in the autumn, will investigate the events surrounding clashes at the Orgreave Coking Plant in South Yorkshire on 18 June 1984, which caused 120 injuries.

In total, 95 picketers were arrested and initially charged with riot and violent disorder, but all charges were later dropped after evidence was discredited.

The inquiry will be statutory with powers to compel people to provide information where necessary, the Home Office said.

Joe Rollin, from the Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign (OTJC), founded by strike veterans and activists in 2012, who has been calling for an inquiry for over a decade, said he was “cautiously elated” by the news.

Ofwat, the water regulator for England and Wales, should be overhauled and replaced by an “integrated” watchdog for the industry, according to an independent review of oversight of the sector led by former Bank of England deputy governor Sir Jon Cunliffe.

The report, commissioned amid mounting public anger about pollution, rising bills and executive pay, says Ofwat should be replaced by a single body in England and another one in Wales.

The report also advises removing the regulatory roles of the Environment Agency and Natural England, which monitor the sector’s impact on nature, such as companies illegally dumping sewage into waterways.

Instead, a “joined-up” and “powerful” single integrated water regulator should be established, according to the recommendations.

The report also proposes stronger regulation on abstraction, sludge, drinking water standards and water supply.

You can read more on what was contained within the major review in our business live blog.

Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of UK politics.

Nigel Farage is to lay out plans that he claims would end all early release schemes for sex offenders and serious violent offenders if he were to become prime minister.

In a speech in London later today, the Reform UK leader will also reportedly promise to build 30,000 new prison places to tackle the overcrowding crisis, appoint 30,000 more police officers within five years and deport 10,400 foreign offenders currently in British jails.

He has not said how these policies will be funded and will likely face questions on how he would negotiate return agreements for foreign offenders.

Some of his promises – like sending some of the most serious criminals to overseas jails, including in El Salvador – will also likely face serious legal obstacles if they were ever realised.

Farage, whose Reform party is leading many polls, was quoted by the Daily Telegraph as having said:

Reform UK will be the toughest party on law and order this country has ever seen. We will cut crime in half. We will take back control of our streets, we will take back control of our courts and prisons.

We are expecting more details on Reform’s plans at around 11am. Reform’s attempt to woo voters with a tough on crime message stands in contrast to the proposals recently suggested by Sir Brian Leveson, a former senior judge who was asked by the Lord Chancellor to come up with ways to reduce the backlog of cases in the criminal courts.

Recommendations in the report included increased use of out-of-court resolutions, greater use of rehabilitation programmes and health intervention programmes and increasing the maximum reduction for entering a guilty plea at the first opportunity from 33% to 40%.

Diana Johnson, the policing minister, said that Reform is not serious about implementing real changes to the criminal justice system as the party “voted to try to block measures to crack down on knife crime, antisocial behaviour, shop theft and child sexual abuse”.

“They should focus more on practical solutions to support our police, combat crime, deliver justice for victims of crime, rather than chasing headlines, spouting slogans and trying to divide communities,” she added.

Here is the agenda for the day.

09.45am: Sir Jon Cunliffe, Independent Water Commission chair, to give speech.

11am: Nigel Farage to make a speech in London on the criminal justice system.

13:00pm: Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign press conference in Sheffield.

14.30pm: Keir Starmer to appear at the Liaison Committee.