Labour steps up preparations to govern as Reeves attacks ‘unfunded’ Tory tax cuts

Shadow cabinet talk with Whitehall officials after Keir Starmer meets head of civil service

All members of Keir Starmer’s shadow cabinet are to meet top civil servants in Whitehall departments before Easter as Labour steps up preparations to form the next government, according to senior party sources.

The Observer has been told that Starmer recently held a first round of so-called “access talks” with the cabinet secretary Simon Case, the head of the civil service, at a “neutral venue” in London, to kick off an exchange of information between the official opposition and Whitehall in advance of a potential handover of power.