Richard Tice confirms Reform abandoning firm commitment to most of the £90bn tax cuts in its 2024 manifesto – UK politics live

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…

Labour and SNP face byelection battle after Margaret Ferrier suspension – UK politics live

From 3h ago MPs vote to suspend Margaret Ferrier from Commons, paving way for key Labour/SNP byelection battle The Commons has voted to suspend Margaret Ferrier for 30 days by 185 votes to 40 – a majority of 145. That means a recall byelection in Rutherglen and Hamilton West can now go ahead, provided 10% of voters sign a petition calling for one. This threshold should be met quite comfortably. In 2019 Ferrier won the seat for the SNP with a majority over Labour of 5,230. But Labour has already…

Scotland to raise income tax by 1p for those on over £43,666 to raise money for NHS – as it happened

From 1h ago Swinney says all Scots earning more than £43,662 will pay 1% more in income tax, to raise money for NHS Swinney says the starter, basic and intermediate rates of income will stay the same. But the higher and top rate will go up, he says. (See 2.58pm.) He says this means people earning more than £43,662 pounds will have to pay an extra penny in the pound on income tax. He says the money is being raised for a specific purpose – investment in NHS. These changes…

No 10 signals Rishi Sunak no longer committed to blocking all new onshore windfarm developments – UK politics live

From 3h ago No 10 signals Sunak no longer committed to blocking all new onshore windfarm developments At the Downing Street lobby briefing the PM’s spokesperson signalled that Rishi Sunak is no longer trying to block new onshore windfarm developments. The spokesperson did not accept that Grant Shapps’ comments in interviews this morning showed that the government had already implemented a U-turn. He claimed that Shapps’ references to community consent were a description of rules that are in force now. And the spokesperson would not commit the government to accepting…