Markus Andrews

Rachel Reeves may be forced to raise taxes to plug holes in Britain’s public finances, a leading think tank has warned, after the government failed to rule out watering down plans to slash the benefits bill. It comes ahead of the chancellor’s spring statement on March 26, where she is expected to make a raft of public spending savings to make up for tightening fiscal headroom and balance the books.Initial reports had suggested that Personal Independence Payments (PIP) would be frozen from rising in line with inflation for a year, but the plan has been met with strong opposition – and is now expected to be dropped. Rachel Reeves said the current welfare system is not working (Peter Cziborra/PA) More

Two tales of maverick MPs, both incredibly popular with the party membership but both forced out because they represented a challenge to the leader’s authority and were considered too outspoken and too rightwing.One man links both those tales – Ashfield MP Lee Anderson. In 2024 he was the maverick MP ousted from Rishi Sunak’s Tories by an unbending chief whip. But in 2025 he is the party chief whip forcing the latest outspoken right winger Rupert Lowe out of Reform.By chance, memories of his painful episode with the Conservatives have been replayed in detail with the publication of the diaries of Rishi Sunak’s former Tory chief whip Simon Hart entitled “Ungovernable: Diaries of a Chief Whip”.Farage embraced Anderson as a Reform MP More

At least 44 fires have broken out in the Houses of Parliament over the past decade, with more than 1,000 incidents of asbestos uncovered, figures have shown. Concerns have been raised repeatedly that the iconic Westminster building could face a Notre-Dame style blaze if restoration work is not completed, with four fires in 2024 alone.However, plans to restore the Palace of Westminster are likely to cost billions, with the fastest option likely to take more than a decade and would consist of both the House of Lords and Commons relocating on a temporary basis. Details of the toxic materials were released to Labour peer Peter Hain, which showed that asbestos had been found in 1,057 items. Plans to restore the building cost billions of pounds (John Walton/PA) More

The Tory Party is calling for a ban on phones in schools, after admitting guidance issued under former prime minister Rishi Sunak hasn’t worked. The Conservatives are expected to push for MPs to be given a vote on banning the devices in schools this week, by attempting to amend Labour’s Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill to include the ban.The previous Conservative government issued non-statutory guidance to schools in England intended to stop the use of mobile phones during break and lunch periods in schools, as well as in lessons.But on Sunday, shadow education secretary Laura Trott admitted the guidance “hasn’t worked”. “Now it is time to make it law”, she said. “When I go into schools, headteachers are asking for this. Shadow education secretary Laura Trott More

Nigel Farage reportedly met with Brexit architect Dominic Cummings as Reform UK attempts to pick itself back up after an explosive row with one of its own MPs. Despite the pair having once been bitter political enemies, Mr Farage and Mr Cummings are said to have discussed how to tackle civil service bureaucracy – an issue figures on the right have blamed for problems in government. It comes after the Met Police launched an investigation into suspended Reform UK MP Rupert Lowe, who was stripped of the whip amid allegations he made “verbal threats” against Zia Yousaf, the party’s chairman – allegations Mr Lowe denies.At the time, he dismissed them as “vexatious” and suggested he had been stitched up by the party leadership, including Nigel Farage.Reform UK leader Nigel Farage (Jordan Pettitt/PA) More

A former Conservative MP has detailed his love affair with the UK’s shortest-serving prime minister Liz Truss – claiming it led to the breakdown of his marriage.Mark Field, MP for Cities of London and Westminster from 2001 to 2019, revealed the “first serious signs of cracks” in his marriage began “just as Elizabeth Truss entered his life”.In his new book serialised in the Mail on Sunday, Mr Field said he met the 49-day prime minister at the Conservative Party Conference in October 2002 in the “romantic dimmed lights” of the Highcliff Hotel in Bournemouth. She was married to Hugh O’Leary at the time.He claims the pair had a brief conversation, he wished her luck in her search for a parliamentary seat and casually said, “Please get in touch if I can be of any help.”Ms Truss took him up on the offer almost immediately, he wrote, requesting advice on candidate selection.Mr Field says Truss ‘lacked the self-awareness to realise the need for trusted advisers’ as PM (PA) More

The National Health Service is “addicted to overspending”, Wes Streeting has said, indicating that the abolition of NHS England was just the beginning of efficiencies being made to the health service. The health secretary also admitted there would be significant job losses, adding that he was “genuinely sorry” that people working for NHS England would be “deeply anxious” about their jobs.It comes after Sir Keir Starmer announced the abolition of NHS England on Thursday, as part of an attempt to cut bureaucracy and save money – with up to 10,000 jobs at risk. Mr Streeting has since suggested hundreds more quangos could be in the firing line, warning that scrapping NHS England was “the beginning, not the end”. Ministers said the plans would help deliver savings of hundreds of millions of pounds every year, which would be used to cut waiting times by slashing red tape to help speed up improvements in the health service.Speaking to Sky News, the health secretary said that integrated care boards were being required to make 50 per cent cuts “with a particular focus on management costs”.Health Secretary Wes Streeting said the NHS ‘is not up for grabs’ (Jonathan Brady/PA) More