Miliband criticises Blair’s slavery statement and defends Burnham’s plan for proper apology – UK politics live

According to a report by Caroline Wheeler for the i, the government has delayed coming up with its revised plans for Send (special educational needs and disabilities) educational reform. Wheeler says: Ministers had been expected to publish their response to the consultation on special educational needs and disabilities (Send) reform this month. It is suggesting more support in mainstream schools and fewer care plans. But multiple Whitehall sources say the timetable has slipped to the new year, although the Department for Education has declined to confirm when its response will be published. Commenting on the story, Saqib Bhatti, a Conservative education spokeperson, said: Under Labour, educational standards and the requirements of children with special educational needs are being pushed down the agenda. Children with Send can’t afford to wait any longer. They deserve a Government that listens and takes action — not more of the empty promises that have become a defining characteristic of Labour’s time in office. It is not good to gloat – but it can be fun. Chris Bryant, the Northern Ireland secretary, has this morning reposted a video clip of Nigel Farage saying “I don’t go with the consensus that Trump is going to get smashed.” Bryant added: “Just leaving this here.” Here is some reaction to the US midterm election results from British politicians. Progressives – people from Labour, the Lib Dems and the Greens – are delighted. Rightwingers seem to be largely silent about the results on social media so far. Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader who used to boast regularly about his friendship with Donald Trump, last posted on X about 12 hours ago – about migrants. From the Lib Dem leader Ed Davey For anyone who believes in decency, respect and the rule of law, it feels good to see the American people so comprehensively reject Donald Trump’s politics of hate, division and economic harm. From the Green party leader Zack Polanski Congratulations Abdul El-Sayed. Congratulations to everyone celebrating victories across the United States. These are victories for communities standing up to billionaires & the media empires they own. Around the world, we’ve all got a lot of work to do. Let’s go! ✊🏽 From Simon Hoare, a Conservative MP and chair of the Commons public administration and constitutional affairs committee Waking up to some incredible results from US Midterms. A massive and welcome rebuttal of Trump and Trumpism. Heaven knows how he will respond but it’s one hell of a message the American people have sent him. The decent civilised rest of the world will be glad and relieved From Sayeeda Warsi, a former Conservative party chair who now sits as a non-affiliated peer Hope won over hate in the US American voters in large numbers rejected the politics of bigotry and division Those that engaged in maligning, stereotyping lying and subjecting opponents to deeply personal attacks lost Let that be a lesson for those who mimic this form of politics in the UK From the Lib Dem foreign affairs spokesperson Calum Miller Voters punished Trump for crashing the US economy by launching the Iran war and imposing tariffs. British voters will not forget that Trump’s cheerleaders, Kemi Badenoch and Nigel Farage, wanted the UK to back him in Iran From the Labour MP Neil Coyle Trump fanboy Farage should learn from the US results that Reform’s isolationism, dodgy billionaire obsessions and divisive policies would be as damaging to UK families here as that of the man whose boots he has so often licked. From John McDonnell, a Labour MP and former shadow chancellor The US results should give confidence to progressives everywhere. People have rejected the racism displayed by Trump and his supporters and in many states have cited his brutal treatment of migrants as a factor in their decision to reject the politics of Trump. From the Lib Dem international development spokesperson Monica Harding Congratulations to @RepSusieLee reelected in Nevada - I spent time on her campaign in the summer - when today’s Democrat tsunami wasn’t yet clear…. Such an exciting day for us here in the UK who are willing on all those who want to put an end to Trump’s division, corruption and economic harm that hurts us all. 🇺🇸🇬🇧 From Darren Jones, the Labour chief secretary to the PM under Keir Starmer The brilliant election results from our sister party @TheDemocrats in the United States shows us something important about politics: Hope and love trumps money and division. “The first light of dawn is on the horizon” - @ossoff From the Labour MP for Falkirk Euan Stainbank The news this morning is the best thing to come out of the US this year other than Jacob Murrell. The Labour MP Lizzi Collinge has posted a giff implying she is pretty delighted too. Energy bosses in the UK will have their bonuses curtailed when suppliers and brokers break the rules under a crackdown on mis-selling, Pippa Neill reports. Andy Burnham has described the Commonwealth as “more important today than ever before” amid “such volatile times”. He used the phrase in a meeting with his Antigua and Barbuda counterpart Gaston Browne, who is hosting the Commonwealth heads of government meeting (Chogm). In a readout of the meeting, released this morning, a No 10 spokesperson said: The prime minister thanked Prime Minister Browne for the warm welcome from Antigua and Barbuda and for hosting Commonwealth leaders at such an important time. In such volatile times, it was clear that the Commonwealth was more important today than ever before, the prime minister added. Good morning. Wednesdays are normally the most exciting day of the week at Westminster, because it’s PMQs, but today (unless we get some mega surprise) all the action is taking place somewhere else. In part, that’s because Andy Burnham is still at the Commonwealth summit in Antigua. But mostly because anyone in SW1 with even a passing interest in politics will be far more interested in the outcome of the US midterm elections. You can catch up with all the drama on our US politics live blog. While the US results are undoubtedly fascinating, quite how relevant they are to the UK is a bit harder to discern. Donald Trump is still president for the next two years, and none of the chaos he has caused for Britain and other European allies is going to go away; conceivably, he could end up even more disruptive. Trump was first elected president in 2016 only months after the UK voted for Brexit and there will be progressives in Britain hoping the US results show that what Ed Davey is this morning calling the “politics of hate, division and economic harm” might be on their way out this side of the pond too. Maybe? But it is probably too soon to get carried away. Our US coverage is all here. In so far as there is any interesting UK reaction, I will post it here. Back to the Commonwealth summit, and Ed Miliband, the foreign secretary, has given an interview to the BBC in which he defended Burnham’s decision to open talks about a proper UK apology for slavery. In particular, Miliband was critical of Tony Blair’s attempts to settle this issue with what Miliband described as a “sorry not sorry” apology. Miliband was referring to this statement that Blair issued in 2006, written up at the time by the Guardian here. Blair said the slave trade was “profoundly shameful” and he expressed “deep sorrow that it ever happened”. But he did not formally apologise. In an interview with the BBC’s Newscast podcast, Miliband said Burnham wanted a different approach. He said: People have been honestly a bit bruised by the past, what happened in the past, the sense that we just really just wanted to sweep this issue under the carpet and not confront it. My sense is there’s a bit of a sigh of relief that, OK … at least there’s a sense of we’ve got a shared interest now in moving the Commonwealth on. Miliband said Blair “did sort of do a kind of ‘sorry not sorry’ situation”. He added: “He kind of expressed ‘sorrow, but’ and then said sorry, and then it was walked back by No 10.” (Miliband has for many years had a strained relationship with the former prime minister, who was opposed to the way Miliband criticised some aspects of New Labour’s record when he was party leader between 2010 and 2015. These latest remarks are just the latest example of feuding between the two of them.) Burnham has said he wants a “structured dialogue” with Commonwealth countries about the wording of an apology. Asked whether the government might reach the point of a formal apology by the time it hosts the G20 leaders’ summit in Manchester next November, Miliband said: “Broadly speaking, yes.” But he also stressed that the UK was not offering reparations. Asked whether the government’s new approach could end up costing UK taxpayers a penny more, Miliband replied: No … For us, that’s never been what it’s about. And that’s why it’s been important that … I did have this conversation with our partners in advance. I said, ‘Look, we are going to say we are willing to say that we’re open to an apology, but we’re not going to shift our position on reparations.’ It’s not for us. It’s not the right answer. It’s not practical. It’s not feasible for us, but there are things we can work on co-operatively. Here is the agenda for the day. 9.30am: Yvette Cooper, the health secretary, gives evidence to the Commons health committee. 10am: Lucy Powell, the education secretary, gives evidence to the Commons education committee. Noon: Louise Haigh, the first secretary of state, faces Alex Burghart, the deputy Conservative leader, at PMQs. Afternoon (UK time): Andy Burnham is due to record a pooled TV interview while attending the final day of the Commonwealth heads of government meeting in Antigua and Barbuda. 2.15pm: Jonathan Haskel, chair of the Office for Budget Responsibility, gives evidence with colleagues to the Commons Treasury committee about the budget. I’m afraid we are no longer able to have comments open below the line every day on this blog. If you want to contact me, please email politics.live@theguardian.com. You can use this email to flag up corrections, comments for publication, questions or complaints.