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Jeremy Hunt was unable to name “extremist” groups Rishi Sunak said hijacked pro-Palestine marches in his speech on Friday.Speaking to Trevor Phillips on Sky News on Sunday (3 March), the chancellor said he could not give them the name of a group, but that he and the prime minister were talking about “scenes on television” and emails he says he’s received “from people who’ve been terrified by what they’ve seen in some of these protests.”Mr Hunt was asked several times to name groups referenced by Mr Sunak in his speech but did not.Mr Sunak said the UK’s streets had been “hijacked” by people “hostile” to British values during protests in support of a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war. More

Jeremy Hunt has played down expectations of tax cuts ahead of the spring Budget due to be announced on Wednesday, 6 March.Speaking to Sky News’ Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips programme on 3 March, the chancellor said the fiscal event will see a “prudent and responsible Budget for long-term growth.”It would be deeply unconservative to cut taxes in a way that increased borrowing, wasn’t fully funded.”It comes as Mr Hunt is and Rishi Sunak are reportedly due to meet on Sunday evening to decide whether a 2p cut to income tax is affordable in Wednesday’s statement. More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailThe threat of an imminent terror attack in the UK is rising, senior security officials have allegedly arned MPs.The Mail on Sunday has reported that politicians are increasingly being warned about the danger of terror attacks following an “upsurge in extremist activity” as a result of the conflict in the middle east.One MP with knowledge of the most recent briefings reportedly told the Mail: ‘The level of extremist chatter is off the scale. This is something they’ve seen growing and growing.’Referring to intelligence from the last two weeks, the politician added: ‘It’s like when the Twin Towers came down in 2001, there was a big spike of hate.’ MPs are reportedly concerned about the rising threat level in the UK The claims come just days after the government’s independent reviewer of terrorism said that the Israel/Palestine conflict has presented a “risk to our democracy”.Talking to Times Radio, Jonathan Hall KC said:“When you see last week, MPs literally scared to show [in parliament], apparently wanting to change their behaviour in parliament because of threats that they’ve been receiving.He added: “If those are done in order to affect the way in which the government acts and way parliamentarians operate, then actually that does begin to fall within the scope of terrorism and might even call for counterterrorism response.”In October 2021, David Amess, the Conservative MP for Southend West, was fatally stabbed at a constituency surgery in Essex. The attack was committed by a British Islamic State sympathiser and was around the time parliament voted to carry out airstrikes in Syria.Just five years earlier, Labour MP Jo Cox died after being shot and stabbed multiple times in Birstall, West Yorkshire by a right-wing terrorist. The current terrorism threat level is current at “substantial”, but the Mail reports concerns amongst MPs that it should be raised to “severe” to reflect the level of extremist chatter reaching its highest since the terror attack in New York on September 11, 2001.Prime Minister Rishi Sunak gives his speech on extremism in Downing Street In a speech last week, the Prime Minister warned that extremists are trying to “tear us apart” and called on the country to unite to ‘beat this poison’.His comments followed the election of Workers Party MP George Galloway in the Rochdale by-election, who centered his campaign on the conflict in Gaza.Mr Sunak said that it was “beyond alarming” that the Rochdale by-election “returned a candidate who dismisses the horror of what happened on October 7th, who glorifies Hezbollah and is endorsed by Nick Griffin”.Mr Galloway said he “abhors extremism” and has said he is “not responsible” for who endorses him.The prime minister has since pledged to “redouble our support for the Prevent programme”, which tries to steer people away from radicalisation, and has instructed the Home Office to use existing laws to block hate preachers from entering Britain. The Home Office has been approached for comment. More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailJeremy Hunt has announced a “public sector productivity drive” in a bid to improve services without ramping up government spending.The government says its new measures are part of its plan to move on from the “high spending and high tax approach” that was necessary to “get the UK through the shocks of Covid and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine”. The plans are announced just days before Mr Hunt will deliver his spring Budget in which he is widely anticipated to introduce further tax cuts in the hope of boosting electoral prospects.The £800m investment in public services represent a “new focus” on the “long-term decisions required to strengthen the economy and give people the opportunity to build a wealthier, more secure life for themselves and their family”, the Treasury said. Jeremy Hunt is thought to be considering more tax cuts as he prepares to deliver what is likely to be the last Budget before the general electionThe announcement features a number of cost-saving measures, including the implementation of artificial intelligence and digitisation across government and the creation of 200 additional child social care places in England. The government said the measures will also “free up thousands of police officer hours spent on admin” by rolling out time-saving technologies like drones. It will also see over 130,000 patients, including those waiting for cancer results, receive their test results sooner. It said the changes, due to be in Wednesday’s Budget, have the potential to deliver £1.8bn worth of benefits to public sector productivity by 2029.Mr Hunt is facing pressure to prioritise tax cuts over further public spending as Conservative backbenchers warn the chancellor that only tax-cuts can reverse their electoral fortunes. But hopes of large tax cuts have been dampened as economists have warned against any reductions in public sector spending.The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said that tax cuts would be “very challenging to achieve” considering Britain’s ageing population and mounting debt pile, while the Institute for Fiscal Studies said the chancellor should not announce the tax cuts unless he can “provide more detail on its spending plans”.Recent forecasts from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) have given the chancellor less fiscal headroom than previously thought, leading him to consider unexpected tax rises such as abolishing the non-dom tax status.Last week the OBR informed the government that it would have about £13bn of fiscal headroom in the spring Budget, of which Mr Hunt will leave about £6bn in reserve.Typically, chancellors leave themselves £25bn of headroom to cope with changes in interest rates and inflation without needing to change tax and spending policies, but the chancellor’s room for manoeuvre has been heavily impacted by inflation falling faster than expected, resulting in lower tax revenues, and increased borrowing costs.Bank of England figures show the UK fell into a recession in January The plans announced on Sunday show the chancellor is still eyeing up ways to reduce public spending as the treasury suggest that the proposed measures could return the UK to pre-pandemic levels of productivity.As part of the measures, the Department for Work and Pensions will “move away from paper-based communications” and planning applications will be sped up through the use of a new AI pilot. The government also plan to invest £170m into the justice system which it says will save up to 55,000 hours a year of administrative time through the digitisation of jury bundles and the introduction of new software and more robust data. Introducing the plans, Mr Hunt said: “We shouldn’t fall into the trap of thinking more spending buys us better public services.”“There is too much waste in the system and we want public servants to get back to doing what matters most: teaching our children, keeping us safe and treating us when we’re sick,” he added. “That’s why our plan is about reaping the rewards of productivity, from faster access to MRIs for patients to hundreds of thousands of police hours freed up to attend burglaries or incidents of domestic abuse.”Darren Jones MP, Labour’s shadow chief secretary to the treasury, said: “Nothing in Britain is better off after 14 years of Conservative economic failure.“Millions of people are stuck on hospital waiting lists, our schools are crumbling and our streets are less safe. And yet all the chancellor is offering is more spin without substance.”He added: “It’s time for change. Only Labour offers a long-term plan to grow our economy to deliver more jobs, more investment and to put more money in people’s pockets.” More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailLabour has accused the Conservatives of depriving hospitals and other public services of £18bn by rejecting its calls to scrap tax breaks for “non-doms” for the last nine years. The party also hit out at the “mother of all U-turns” in its first full-throated attack on expectations Jeremy Hunt will steal one of its flagship policies in the Budget on Wednesday. And in comments that will be widely seen as a reference to Rishi Sunak’s wife, Labour’s shadow health secretary Wes Streeting said the prime minister had been “wedded” to the loophole for too long. Akshata Murty hit the headlines two years ago when The Independent first revealed that she was a non-dom. In response, Ms Murty, whose family business is estimated to be worth around £60bn, announced that she would start paying British taxes on all her worldwide income.Despite previously arguing the move would drive high-earners overseas, the chancellor is considering abolishing the loophole for wealthy foreign nationals. The about-turn comes as he scrabbles to find money for tax cuts in a desperate bid to woo disgruntled voters. Rishi Sunak with his wife Akshata Murty, who was a non-dom But a new analysis by Labour, shared with The Independent, says schools and hospitals could have benefitted from billions if ministers had abolished the tax break in 2015, when the Opposition first pledged to scrap it under then-leader Ed Miliband. Labour analysed 2023 research by academics at the London School of Economics (LSE) and Warwick University, which found abolishing the non-dom rules would raise around £2.3bn a year. Adjusting in line with price changes, the party says the Exchequer has missed out on £18bn in lost tax revenue since 2015. The figure is around a tenth of the NHS’s annual budget, and equivalent to its yearly drugs bill, according to a report last year by LSE, the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and the University of York.Wes Streeting, Labour’s shadow health secretary, said: “The Conservatives have thrown everything at defending the non-dom tax status for the past decade, while our schools and NHS have deteriorated. That extra investment could have provided the doctors, nurses, and equipment our NHS desperately lacks today. The Tories chose to keep billions of pounds in the pockets of the wealthiest rather than our public services.“It would be the mother of all U-turns if they reversed their decade-long position now, and far too late for so many patients and schoolchildren. Rishi Sunak should explain why he was so wedded to the non-dom tax status for so long.”The Treasury and No 10 declined to comment.Jeremy Hunt is being urged to increase defence spending ahead of his Budget announcement Mr Sunak and Mr Hunt were forced to rip up their Budget plans earlier this week after the spending watchdog warned they were unaffordable, The Independent understands, prompting expectation they will opt for more revenue-raising measures. But in November 2022, shortly after he became Chancellor, Mr Hunt hit out at calls to scrap the status, saying: “These are foreigners who could live easily in Ireland, France… they all have these schemes. All things being equal, I would rather they stayed here and spent their money here.”He added that he was “not going to do anything that’s going to damage the long-term attractiveness of the UK, even though it gives easy shots to opposition parties”.And last year, Mr Sunak attacked Keir Starmer over the policy at prime minister’s questions, saying: “He talks about this non-dom thing. I think he’s already spent the money that he’s claimed he’s raised on five different things. Because it’s the same old Labour party – they’re always running out of other people’s money.”Mr Hunt is facing intense pressure from MPs on his own benches to offer voters tax cuts in the run-up to the general election.Some Tory MPs privately concede their party would need a “miracle” to win, after trailing Labour in the polls for two years.Many are fearful the trouncing could be so bad it could consign the party to oblivion for a decade or more. Mr Hunt is also facing pressure from the defence secretary Grant Shapps, who has urged him to increase military spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP in the budget. He joins other senior Tories, including former prime minister Sir John Major, who believe the UK needs to ramp up support for the armed forces as war rages on the edge of Europe and tensions rise in the Middle East. Mr Hunt is expected to resist those calls, however, after his fiscal “headroom”, the amount he theoretically has to spend, fell. More

Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the worldSign up to our free Morning Headlines emailPolice used their powers to block a pro-Palestine protest in London on Saturday following Rishi Sunak’s warning that demonstrations and democracy itself were being “targeted by extremists”.The Palestine Solidarity Campaign singled out Barclays Bank for its day of action, assembling at nearly 50 locations including the branch on Tottenham Court Road in central London.Protesters marched from Mornington Crescent to the Barclays branch, accompanied by the controversial “from the river to the sea” chant and flanked by a mass of police officers.At the Barclays branch on Tottenham Court Road, the police blocked protesters and ordered them to move across the road citing Section 14 of the Public Order Act.Luca Salice, 67, co-chair of the Camden Palestine Solidarity Campaign, dismissed the prime minister’s rhetoric around extremists as an election ploy and said protesters were actually grateful for the police.“Rishi Sunak is losing an election. He is scrambling”, Mr Salice said, adding: “I don’t think our protests are extremist. I don’t see how being in favour of human lives is extremist.”The protesters said they targeted Barclays because of its alleged ties to companies supplying weapons to Israel Mr Salice, an Italian who now lives in Camden, added: “There could be one or two extremists who come into the protests. I can’t say that is impossible and luckily we have the police here, who are working with us.“They are helping us organise this protest and making sure they are safe. And whenever they see the odd person who may do something wrong, it is up to them to arrest them.”Speaking at a lectern outside Downing Street on Friday evening, Mr Sunak urged protesters to prevent extremists from infiltrating their ranks and warned of more stringent policing.The Tory leader said: “I want to speak directly to those who choose to continue to protest: don’t let the extremists hijack your marches.“You have a chance in the coming weeks to show that you can protest decently, peacefully and with empathy for your fellow citizens.”Paul Woof, 64, from Dulwich, who attended the protest with a sign that read: “Do I look like an extremist?”, called on politicians to witness the protests first-hand.He said: “These people ought to go on a march and see the sort of people who are on these marches, a lot of whom are Jewish.“It’s astonishing the rhetoric”, he said, adding: “They know it isn’t true. They are talking to their grassroots faithful to try and stir up division in this country.”Rishi Sunak giving a press conference in Downing Street on Friday In his Friday address, Mr Sunak said demonstrators should be able to “march and protest with passion” but “cannot call for violent jihad” or “call for the eradication of a state or any kind of hatred or antisemitism”.“I say this to the police, we will back you when you take action,” he said, confirming that senior police chiefs would be expected to police rather than simply manage pro-Palestine protests.In London, PSC targeted Barclays branches in Croydon, Hammersmith, Haringey, Harrow, Newham, Redbridge, Southwark, Streatham, Tower Hamlets, Willesden, and Wimbledon.It comes after the home secretary James Cleverly said pro-Palestinian protesters had “made their point” and questioned: “What are these protests genuinely hoping to achieve?”PSC has called for a boycott of Barclays because it claims the British bank holds “substantial financial ties” with arms companies supplying weapons to Israel. More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailRishi Sunak issued a warning about extremism on Friday night in a speech described as “a sobering warning of the fragility of democracy”.The PM said his Government will give officers its backing when they “take action” at pro-Palestinian demonstrations.He made the comments during a hastily arranged address outside No 10 Downing Street on Friday in which he railed against extremism and Islamism.He said the UK’s streets had been “hijacked” by people “hostile” to British values during protests in support of a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war, which has raged for almost five months.Read his speech in full below:“In recent weeks and months, we have seen a shocking increase in extremist disruption and criminality. What started as protests on our streets, has descended into intimidation, threats, and planned acts of violence. “Jewish children fearful to wear their school uniform lest it reveal their identity. Muslim women abused in the street for the actions of a terrorist group they have no connection with. “Now our democracy itself is a target. Council meetings and local events have been stormed. MPs do not feel safe in their homes. Long standing Parliamentary conventions have been upended because of safety concerns. And it is beyond alarming that last night the Rochdale by election returned a candidate… …who dismisses the horror of what happened on October 7th, who glorifies Hezbollah… …and is endorsed by Nick Griffin, the racist former leader of the BNP. “I need to speak to you all this evening because this situation has gone on long enough… …and demands a response not just from government, but from all of us. Britain is a patriotic, liberal, democratic society with a proud past and a bright future. We are a reasonable country and a decent people. “Our story is one of progress, of great achievements and enduring values. Immigrants who have come here have integrated and contributed. They have helped write the latest chapter in our island story. They have done this without being required to give up their identity. You can be a practising Hindu and a proud Briton as I am. Or a devout Muslim and a patriotic citizen as so many are. Or a committed Jewish person and the heart of your local community… …and all underpinned by the tolerance of our established, Christian church. We are a country where we love our neighbours. “And we are building Britain together. But I fear that our great achievement… …in building the world’s most successful multi-ethnic, multi faith democracy… …is being deliberately undermined. There are forces here at home trying to tear us apart. Since October 7th there have been those trying to take advantage of the very human angst that we all feel… …about the terrible suffering that war brings to the innocent, to women and children… …to advance a divisive, hateful ideological agenda. On too many occasions recently, our streets have been hijacked by small groups… …who are hostile to our values and have no respect for our democratic traditions. Membership of our society is contingent on some simple things… …that you abide by the rule of law, and that change can only come through the peaceful, democratic process. Threats of violence and intimidation are alien to our way of doing things: they must be resisted at all times. “Nearly everyone in Britain supports these basic values but there are small and vocal hostile groups who do not. Islamist extremists and the far right feed off and embolden each other. They are equally desperate to pretend that their violence is somehow justified… …when actually these groups are two sides of the same extremist coin. Neither group accept that change in our country can only come through the peaceful democratic process. Both loathe the pluralist, modern country we are. Both want to set Briton against Briton… …to weaponise the evils of anti-Semitism and anti-Muslim hatred for their own ends. “The faith of Islam, peacefully practised by millions of our fellow citizens… …is emphatically not the same thing as the extremist political ideology of Islamism… …which aims to separate Muslims from the rest of society. Islamist extremists and far rights groups are spreading a poison, that poison is extremism. It aims to drain us of our confidence in ourselves as a people, and in our shared future. “They want us to doubt ourselves, to doubt each other, to doubt our country’s history and achievements. They want us to accept a moral equivalence between Britain and some of the most despicable regimes in the world. They want us to believe that our country, and the West more generally, is solely responsible for the world’s ills… …and that we, along with our allies, are the problem. In short, they want to destroy our confidence and hope. We must not allow that to happen.“When these groups claim that Britain is and has been on the wrong side of history, we should reject it, and reject it again. No country is perfect, but I am enormously proud of the good that our country has done. Our place in history is defined by the sacrifices our people have made, …in the service of our own freedom and that of others. And when these groups tell children that they cannot – and will not succeed – because of who they are… When they tell children that the system is rigged against them or that Britain is a racist country… This is not only a lie, but a cynical attempt to crush young dreams, and turn impressionistic minds against their own society. I stand here as our country’s first non-white Prime Minister, leading the most diverse government in our country’s history… …to tell people of all races, all faiths and all backgrounds… …it is not the colour of your skin, the God you believe in or where you were born, that will determine your success… …but just your own hard work and endeavour. “We must be prepared to stand up for our shared values in all circumstances, no matter how difficult. And I respect that the police have a tough job in policing the protests we have seen and that they are operationally independent. But we must draw a line. Yes, you can march and protest with passion… You can demand the protection of civilian life… …but no, you cannot call for violent Jihad. “There is no “context” in which it can be acceptable to beam antisemitic tropes onto Big Ben in the middle of a vote on Israel/Gaza. And there can be no cause you can use to justify the support of a proscribed terrorist group, like Hamas. Yes, you can freely criticise the actions of this government, or indeed any government: that is a fundamental democratic right. But no, you cannot use that as an excuse to call for the eradication of a State – or any kind of hatred or antisemitism. This week I have met with senior police officers and made clear it is the public’s expectation… …that they will not merely manage these protests, but police them. And I say this to the police, we will back you when you take action. “But if we are asking more of the police, we in government must also back up that call with action. To that end, this month the government will implement a new robust framework for how it deals with this issue. To ensure that we are dealing with the root causes of this problem… …and that no extremist organisations or individuals are being lent legitimacy… …by their actions and interactions with central government. You cannot be part of our civic life if your agenda is to tear it down. We will redouble our support for the Prevent programme to stop young minds being poisoned by extremism. We will demand that universities stop extremist activity on campus. We will also act to prevent people entering this country whose aim is to undermine its values. “The Home Secretary has instructed that if those here on visas… …choose to spew hate on protests or seek to intimidate people… …we will remove their right to be here. And our Britain must not be a country in which we descend into polarised camps… …with some communities living parallel lives. It is not enough to live side-by-side, we must live together… …united by shared values and a shared commitment to this country. And I want to speak directly to those who choose to continue to protest: Don’t let the extremists hijack your marches. “You have a chance in the coming weeks to show that you can protest decently, peacefully and with empathy for your fellow citizens. Let us prove these extremists wrong and show them that even when we disagree… …we will never be disunited from our common values of decency and respect. I love this country. My family and I owe it so much. The time has now come for us all to stand together to combat the forces of division and beat this poison. “We must face down the extremists who would tear us apart… …there must be leadership, not pandering or appeasement. When they tell their lies, we will tell the truth. When they try and sap our confidence, we will redouble our efforts. And when they try and make us doubt each other… …we will dig deeper for that extra ounce of compassion and empathy… …that they want us to believe doesn’t exist, but that I know does. If we can do that, we can build on our great achievement in creating today’s Britain… …a country of kind, decent, tolerant people. “We can make this a country in which we all feel a renewed sense of pride. This is our home. So let us go forward together, confident in our values and confident in our future. More

Alicia Kearns rebuked an MP for removing the “T” in “LGBT” as he spoke in the House of Commons on Friday 1 March.The Alba party’s Westminster leader, Neale Hanvey, praised Ms Kearns for making a “really important point” about members of the community “feeling safe” – but dropped the “T” from the acronym, which stands for transgender.“I will not stand for that,” the Tory MP said, hitting back.“When you say LGBT [and] you remove the ‘T’, you suggest that they are lesser… when you choose to eradicate, that is wrong.” More