Jittery Starmer convenes a crisis Cabinet

CABINET ministers emerged from a marathon six-hour meeting yesterday with glum faces as Sir Keir Starmer tried to stem the crisis threatening to engulf his Government.

- Martyn Brown

Amid rumours of a reshuffle and soaring support for Reform UK, Sir Keir demanded ministers do more to push for growth and transform public services.

At the start of the Cabinet session he said: "My reflection is that while we are working away the world is speeding up. We can either be the disrupters or the disrupted." He also urged ministers to "increase the pace of change" against a background of global and domestic instability.

The PM took aim at "right-wing populists" who claimed to be "on the side of working people" could only but offer "grievances not solutions".

While he praised civil servants, he also warned that caution was "hard-wired" into Whitehall and called for ministers to do more to reform public services and deliver on the Government's agenda.

The special summit was held amid fears that stagflation could cripple the economy. The meeting came 24 hours after the Bank of England halved growth forecasts for this year to 0.75% and warned of spiking inflation in the summer.

Economists warned the UK looked to be heading for stagflation when the economy flatlines even as inflation pressures intensify.