Only 8% of voters think Rishi Sunak deserves credit for inflation falling, poll suggests – politics live updates | Politics #voters #Rishi #Sunak #deserves #credit #inflation #falling #poll #suggests #politics #live #updates #Politics

Keir Starmer has said that Labour would close the “loophole” that allows offenders like Lucy Letby to avoid being in court for sentencing. In a post on Twitter he said:

As Director of Public Prosecutions, I saw how crucial it is for victims and their families that perpetrators appear in court. That criminals can cowardly hide away is a shamefully exploited loophole, and one Labour will close. Victims must be at the heart of our justice system.

The government has also said it will address this, although it has not said when. Given that there might be limits to the extent to which force could be used, one option would be to allow the courts to impose extra punishments on offenders who do not appear.

Asked about this issue on her media round this morning, Claire Coutinho, the education minister, said it would be “appalling’’ if Letby refused to appear in the dock for sentencing. She went on:

I know that the justice secretary has said he’s very committed to making changes that are needed to make sure that people who have committed awful crimes have to go to court so they can hear things like the victims’ impact statement, which is really their moment to tell that person how this has impacted them.

But Coutinho did not give details of how the government might address this.

Good morning. The second half of August is normally the worst time of the year for political news, because the summer media campaigns pre-cooked by the political parties (like small boats week) are running out of steam, but today we will at least be hearing from Rishi Sunak, who has a visit planned.

Much of the focus this morning will by on the sentencing of Lucy Letby. It is primarily a horrific crime story, but there are implications for government and this morning Claire Coutinho, the education minister who has been doing an interview round, has been defending the government’s decision not to make the inquiry into the case a statutory one (a non-statutory one would be quicker, she argued) and insisting that ministers do want to change the law to try to stop offenders like Letby not attending court for sentencing. We will be covering these developments in detail in a separate live blog on the Letby proceedings.

Sunak’s visit this morning is linked to an announcement from the Department for Education this morning about childminding. Coutinho was promoting in during her morning media round, and it rather proves the point about late August news announcements from government being a bit thin. She has announced that “housing associations, social landlords and developers in England are being urged to allow childminders to work in their rented properties, to help encourage entry into the profession and increase availability of childcare for parents.”

There was good news for Sunak last week when inflation fell sharply. But there is less good news in the Times today, which is reporting the results of a YouGov poll suggesting that very few people think the PM deserves any credit for this, despite the fact that he has made cutting inflation one of his five key priorities for the year. In the write-up Matt Dathan reports:

A YouGov poll for the Times found that only 8% of voters credited government policy for the fall in inflation, which dropped to 6.8% last month, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics last week.

More people, 17%, believe the Bank of England is responsible despite criticism of its response to high inflation. In June Jeremy Hunt, the chancellor, blamed flaws in the Bank’s economic forecasting after it failed to get a grip on runaway inflation.

The polling suggests that the most commonly believed reason for the fall in inflation is external factors such as global oil and gas prices. Thirty-eight per cent cited external factors, but 31% said they did not know what was responsible for the easing of price rises.

The polling is more stark in red wall seats in northern England, where only 5% thought government policy had brought inflation down.

Sunak is due to be speaking to the media on his visit later this morning, and so perhaps we will get a response from him then. We are also getting a No 10 lobby briefing at 11.30am, but otherwise the news diary is mostly empty.

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