Markus Andrews

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    Government stalling in efforts to cut foreign aid spent on asylum seekers

    The government is struggling to cut the amount of money from the foreign aid budget it spends on asylum seekers in the UK, new figures show. Home Office figures show the department expects to spend £2.2bn of overseas development assistance (ODA) this financial year, of which £2.1bn is expected to be spent on asylum support. The predictions for this year are only slightly less than the £2.4bn spent in 2024/25. Official development assistance (ODA) – which was slashed earlier this year to 0.3 per cent of GDP to pay for a boost to defence spending – is used to promote the economic development and welfare in developing countries around the world. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper appeared before the Home Affairs committee on Tuesday (House of Commons/UK Parliament/PA) More

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    The Independent Pride List 2025: the LGBT+ people making change happen

    LGBT+ rights have been at the forefront of the political agenda over the past year, but rarely for positive reasons.April’s Supreme Court ruling on the definition of a woman in the Equality Act, which only refers to biological gender and doesn’t include trans women, has been condemned by resident doctors, and critics say it only perpetuates the polarisation on the issue, despite prime minister Sir Keir Starmer claiming it brought clarity.It makes this Pride month particularly important as we champion those in the LGBT+ community who are trailblazers in their field – from sports to music, politics to fashion. It’s why we need to shine a light not just on the annual showcase of culture and rights, rooted in both celebration and protest, but on what is happening all year round. Around the world, the far right continues to weaponise LGBT+ rights, with Donald Trump’s re-election rolling back progress. We’ve witnessed a slew of policies imposing restrictions on LGBT+ culture, erasing transgender, diversity, equity and inclusion programming not only in government, but also across education and business too, including giants such as Meta, which critics are calling dangerous and immoral. Even more alarmingly, where America goes, other countries often follow. In October, Georgia enacted a law criminalising the promotion of LGBT+ rights, while December saw Mali’s new junta outlaw homosexuality altogether.There are glimmers of hope and positivity, including Australia voting to bolster its LGBT+ rights and protection with legislation that explicitly includes sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, and intersex status in its hate crime laws. Certain Australian jurisdictions has also banned gay conversion therapy. Despite the growing hostility towards the trans community in the UK, the number of lesbian, gay and bisexual people (especially among the young) are continues to grow, according to recent ONS figures.Previous Pride lists have included the likes of presenter Graham Norton, fashion editor Edward Enninful, comedian Rosie Jones and drag artist Bimini Bon Boulash, while honorary mentions have been dedicated to those no longer with us but who made a lasting impact, such as comedian Paul O’Grady. Their omission from this year’s list is not to say their value is no longer felt. This list specifically champions achievements over the past 12 months and was compiled by a panel at The Independent. Reflecting The Independent’s philosophy of making change happen, the Pride List is not just a roll-call of big names but honours the influence of those making a difference to LGBT+ lives in Britain and beyond. Publishing the list today celebrates Pride Month, and looks ahead to the annual Pride in London march on Saturday 5 July.1. Victoria McCloud Victoria McCloud says that trans people will ‘continue to challenge those who wish to marginalise us’ More

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    Zia Yusuf makes astonishing return to Reform UK just 48 hours after quitting as party chair

    Zia Yusuf has announced he is returning to Reform UK – just 48 hours after quitting as the party’s chair. The businessman, who said his decision to leave was an error that came as the result of exhaustion, will take up a new role in the party following peace talks with leader Nigel Farage. While his formal title has not been decided, he is expected to lead Reform’s Elon Musk-inspired Doge unit, modelled on the Department of Government Efficiency set up by Donald Trump in the US. Reform’s Doge UK team was set up to identify spending cuts in councils the party now controls and was formally launched this week.Mr Yusuf will also oversee some aspects of policymaking, fundraising and media appearances for the party. A new party chair is expected to be appointed next week and a deputy chair will be hired too.Zia Yusuf says many party members want him to stay More

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    Unions pile pressure on Reeves to avoid cuts and impose wealth taxes

    Labour’s biggest financial backers are piling pressure on Rachel Reeves to avoid making cuts at next week’s spending review and instead pursue wealth taxes to fund Britain’s public services.Polling commissioned by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) reveals a majority the public (54 per cent) back taxes on big corporations and the most wealthy individuals as an alternative means of raising revenue. Just 28 per cent oppose the move. TUC general secretary Paul Nowak urged the government to “stay on track” and build on the “positive start it made at last year’s budget by providing sustained funding for our public services and infrastructure” – warning that people are “fed up with a system where those with the broadest shoulders don’t pull their weight”.It comes after deputy prime minister Angela Rayner pressed Ms Reeves to consider eight wealth taxes rather than try to impose cuts on departments.Sir Keir Starmer is under growing pressure to change course More

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    Ex-Reform chairman Zia Yusuf ‘snapped’ after a tirade of abuse from ‘extreme right’, claims Farage

    Nigel Farage has claimed ex-Reform UK chairman Zia Yusuf quit the party having snapped after receiving a “tirade of personal racist abuse” on social media.The Reform leader suggested Mr Yusuf was “burnt out”, saying the “very hard extreme right” was to blame for the abuse he received on social media. Mr Yusuf, a Muslim businessman, left the party on Thursday saying he no longer believes “working to get a Reform government elected is a good use of my time”. Zia Yusuf has resigned as Reform UK’s chairman (Ben Whitley/PA) More

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    Warning UK’s housing crisis will deepen if Reeves makes further cuts in spending review

    England is facing a social housing crisis if the government pushes ahead with cuts in the spending review, Rachel Reeves has been warned.It comes as the struggle between the Treasury and Angela Rayner’s Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government over its budget continues, just days before Ms Reeves is set to outline the spending plans until the next election on Wednesday.With no agreement having been reached on housing, the chief executive of one of Britain’s largest housing associations has raised fears of a “cliff edge” over building more homes – which means money is set to run out by 2026.The warning from Fiona Fletcher-Smith, chief executive of L&Q and until last week chair of the G15 group of London housing associations, comes as the Local Government Association (LGA) has warned that 51 per cent of councils are now running deficits on their housing budgets.Homeless charities are also warning of an impending crisis, with new supply unable to keep up with increasing demand for social housing.Crisis has pointed out that over the past 10 years, there has been a net loss of more than 180,000 social homes in England. Currently, 1.33 million households in England are currently stuck on council waiting lists for a social home.Ms Fletcher-Smith explained that the problem began with George Osborne’s austerity budgets in 2010, when he slashed 63 per cent of the capital budget to build new homes.She said he then “welched” on a deal to allow them to make up for the loss by charging CPI inflation plus 1 per cent in rent, which housing associations and councils now want restored for a decade. This will allow them to borrow money to build, as it comes through as guaranteed income.The cumulative effect now means that housing associations no longer have the funds to build projects.Building new social housing homes is facing a cliff edge because of a lack of funds More

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    How Robert Jenrick skewered Kemi Badenoch’s Tory leadership reboot

    Robert Jenrick’s attention-grabbing videos have angered other senior Tories as the party desperately tries to raise the profile of their beleaguered leader, Kemi Badenoch. The shadow justice secretary hit the headlines last week thanks to a stunt that saw him chase down and challenge fare dodgers on London trains. The clip, which follows others on a range of issues including bin collections in Birmingham and the government’s deal to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, was watched more than 10 million times. But the move overshadowed Ms Badenoch’s own video meeting grooming gang victims, and is far from the first time Jenrick has garnered publicity apparently at the expense of his party leader. A recent mishap, where hundreds of Westminster insiders were added to a WhatsApp group publicising his London marathon run, led to Badenoch being asked if Jenrick, who ran against her for the leadership of the party, posed a fresh threat to her. She laughed it off. But party insiders have told The Independent his interventions are leading to tensions with other members of the shadow cabinet. Kemi Badenoch and Robert Jenrick More

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    NHS to get up to £30 billion as other services squeezed in spending review

    The NHS is set to be one of the big winners in next week’s spending review – with a boost of up to £30 billion at the expense of other public services.The Department for Health and Social Care is set to get the biggest settlement in the government’s spending review next week, while other areas will face cuts.Chancellor Rachel Reeves will argue that Labour is investing in health, security and the economy, according to reports in The Times. The Department of Health is set to be handed a 2.8% annual increase in its day-to-day budget over a three-year period. This amounts to a cash increase of £30 billion by 2028 – £17 billion in real terms. However, the health services capital spending budget will only increase in line with inflation, according to the reports.Reeves will put £113 billion a year extra in infrastructure spending for projects designed to grow the economy, such as the Sizewell C nuclear power plant and a new generation of mini reactors.Bringing down NHS waiting times was one of Labour’s key commitments. Sir Keir Starmer has pledged to ensure that by the next election 92% of patients in England waiting for planned treatment are seen within 18 weeks of being referred.Latest NHS data suggests around 60% of people are currently seen in this time and figures released last month showed the overall number of patients on waiting lists had risen slightly from 6.24 million to 6.25 million.Meanwhile, in order to meet tough financial savings targets this year and reduce the NHS its deficit by around £6.5 billion, hospital leaders have warned they’re being forced to make cuts to frontline services. The NHS received £3.1 billion in additional capital investment in the 2024 budget, however, health leaders warned this was short of the £6.4 billion a year needed for the NHS to meet its productivity target of 2 per cent a year.A recent analysis by The Nuffield Trust shows that since coming into office, Labour has set healthcare spending to grow at 2.9 per cent for 2024-25 and 2025-26. Between 2011 and 2023-24, budgets grew at 2.4 per cent. For 2025-25, £1.5 billion of the additional funding for the NHS is due to cover the costs of the increase in employer National Insurance contributions, meaning for this financial year, spending growth will actually be less than 2 per cent, the Nuffield Trust estimates. Following the autumn budget, £22.6 billion extra was allocated to the DHSC however, this will be absorbed by spending pressures such as inflation and meeting waiting times targets.Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, told The Times that without big changes to the way the health service treats patients, the funding increase “is not going to enable us to achieve recovery and reform”. “Without additional capital investment, either traditional or through the private sector, I just don’t think it’s possible to combine recovery and reform,” he said. More