From 1h ago Richard Tice confirms Reform abandoning firm commitment to most of £90bn tax cuts in 2024 manifesto Richard Tice, the Reform UK deputy leader, has confirmed that the party has dropped its commitment to most of the £90bn tax cuts it was promising in its election manifesto last year. In a significant change of tack, the party is now saying that it will not implement tax cuts until it has cut government spending first. Tice and Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, still believe that colossal cuts in…
Tag: Conservatives
Tories would abolish stamp duty, Badenoch tells party conference – UK politics live
From 2h ago Badenoch says next Tory government will abolish stamp duty Badenoch says, because of all the savings she has promised, she can afford one more announcement. As the Conservative party, we know who our people are. They are people who work hard, they are the people who plauy hard, they are the people who understand the importance of putting down roots. They are the people who make sacrifices today for a better life. They are also people who want to own their own home, she says. But there…
Jonathan Powell to face MPs over role in collapse of espionage trial
Jonathan Powell will appear before parliament for the first time amid questions about his role in the collapse of a trial of two Britons accused of spying for China. Keir Starmer’s national security adviser is due to be quizzed by senior parliamentarians at a private hearing of the joint committee on the national security strategy in the coming weeks. Powell’s appearance will mark the end of a year-long standoff between the committee and ministers, who refused for months to make him available for scrutiny before parliament. The prime minister’s spokesperson…
Term ‘disabled’ being used too widely, shadow work and pensions secretary says – UK politics live
From 44m ago Helen Whately, shadow work and pensions secretary, suggests term ‘disabled’ being applied too widely if 25% of people qualify Helen Whately, the shadow work and pensions secretary, has suggested the term “disabled” is being over-used if it applies to around a quarter of people. She made the claim in her speech in which she defended the Tory plan to cut benefits – which the party now says could save £23bn a year. (See 8.09am.) She said: We are here because we know we have a really important…
Badenoch says her migration plan ‘credible’, but won’t say where 150,000 people a year being removed will go – UK politics live
From 3h ago Badenoch says her migration plan ‘credible’, but won’t say where 150,000 people a year being removed will go Badenoch is now being asked about her removals plan. Asked where she would deport 150,000 a year to, Badenoch says “not here”. They do not belong here. They are committing crimes. They are hurting people. We have been trying to deport so many people and have been facing obstacles in the legal system. That’s why we’re leaving the ECHR … I’m tired of us asking asking all of these…
Watchdog cleared ex-Tory minister to work for offshoot of firm linked to China surveillance
A government watchdog advised a former minister that he could work with a subsidiary of a company linked to Chinese surveillance technology, the Guardian can reveal. Richard Fuller, who served as economic secretary to the Treasury in the governments of Boris Johnson and Liz Truss, wrote to the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (Acoba) before joining Investcorp Securities as an advisory board member in 2023. Fuller, 63, is now shadow chief secretary to the Treasury and is due to speak at several events at the Conservative party’s annual conference, which…
The aide, the associate and the ‘Chinese agent’ – and the collapse of a long-awaited UK spy trial
Shortly before 10am on Monday, the Conservative MP Alicia Kearns received an unwelcome phone call. “I don’t know how to tell you this,” said the specialist police officer on the line. Ten minutes later the Old Bailey heard what Kearns now knew. A long-awaited trial of two men – a former parliamentary aide to Kearns, Christopher Cash, and an associate, Christopher Berry – accused of spying for China was to be abandoned. “The cops were equally disappointed,” Kearns told the Guardian. The trial had been expected to be an extraordinary…
Top Starmer aide resigns over explicit Diane Abbott messages in further blow to PM – UK politics live
From 20h ago No 10 director of strategy resigns over revelation about sexually explicit comments about Diane Abbott in private email in 2017 Keir Starmer has been hit by a fresh Downing Street resignation. Paul Ovenden has resigned as director of strategy at No 10 over revelations, first published by the Mail, that in 2017 he made sexually explicit comments about Diane Abbott in a private email. Ovenden was a Labour party press officer at the time. In his story for the Mail, Dan Hodges reports: The Mail understands that…
Starmer calls for ‘lower temperature’ in trans debate as Badenoch says he must admit he was wrong about defining women – UK politics live
From 1h ago Starmer urges MPs to ‘lower the temperature’ in trans debate, as Badenoch challenges him to admit he was wrong about defining women Kemi Badenoch also wishes people a happy St George’s Day. And she says, being married to a Catholic, she knows how much the Pope meant to people. Does the PM accept that, when he said a trans woman was a woman, he was wrong. Starmer says the supreme court ruling has brought clarity. He sets out the principles he is applying. And he says it…
Ditching European trade for China and India was ever a poor bet. Now it’s a farce | Will Hutton
The world has changed since, post-Brexit, “Global Britain” set itself to “pivot” from sclerotic Europe towards booming Asia. Always a fanciful idea that disregarded Asian realities, it has now become farcical. Neither China nor India are proving the easy pickings on which “buccaneering” Britain could ride to economic success, denied through being tied to the “corpse” of an EU economy allegedly shackled by regulation and tax. Brexiter ambitions are turning to ashes. Instead, there is China, run by an ever more openly dictatorial and militarily ambitious communist government. Its economy is…