Markus Andrews

The transatlantic alliance needs a “boot up the backside”, Peter Mandelson has warned, saying that Britain must work closely with the US to take on Chinese technological dominance. The UK’s ambassador to the US argued Beijing represents a “far more dynamic and formidable strategic rival than the Soviet Union ever was”, urging Britain and the US to combine forces to “drive the scientific breakthroughs that will define this century”. “Rather than stifling these transformative technologies through excessive regulation, our two governments must unleash their immense potential for human benefit and Western advantage”, he said. Peter Mandelson speaking at the 2025 Atlantic Council Christopher J. Makins Lecture More

Pensioners will not be affected by Labour’s upcoming changes to Personal Independence Payment (PIP), a minister has revealed.Currently, around 3.7 million people across England, Wales, and Northern Ireland receive PIP, a benefit designed to assist those facing challenges due to long-term physical or mental health issues.Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) figures show that some 690,186 people aged between 65 and 79 were receiving the benefit in January.But the government plans to tighten eligibility for PIP as part of a package aimed at getting more working-age people currently on benefits into jobs.Sir Stephen Timms has replied to questions from MPs about PIP More

Nigel Farage’s promise to slash taxes if he wins the next general election does not add up, Britain’s top economic think tank has warned. The Reform UK leader on Tuesday touted plans to hike the threshold for paying income tax and restore winter fuel payments for pensioners as he declared the party as the “true party of workers”. But, just hours after the arch-Brexiteer’s speech, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said his plans would cost tens of billions of pounds and he had failed to say how they would be funded. Nigel Farage’s tax plans would cost up to £80 billion, the IFS warned More

Something significant has changed with Nigel Farage in 2025 – and it is not only that he is a sitting MP after multiple failed attempts.The Reform UK leader has made his name as a nationalist who believed in low taxes, privatising the NHS and demanding an end to immigration. All traditionally rightwing causes.But after around three decades in British politics, Farage and his party are now openly espousing traditionally leftwing causes.As he declared today: “Reform is now the party of the workers!”Farage addressed a rally in London More

Nigel Farage has made his most direct pitch to Labour voters yet, as he vowed to tear up Sir Keir Starmer’s deals from the last fortnight if he wins power and declared Reform UK as the true ‘party of the workers’.In a wide-ranging speech in central London, the Reform UK leader turned his guns on Labour as he tacked to the left, vowing to reverse the cuts to winter fuel payments for pensioners and end the two-child benefit cap.Farage challenged Starmer to a debate More

Trade tensions from Donald Trump’s sweeping global tariffs will dampen the UK’s economic growth next year, the International Monetary Fund has warned, despite upgrading this year’s growth forecast for Britain. The IMF said the UK is experiencing an “economic recovery,” with GDP expected to rise by 1.2 per cent this year, a step up from the 1.1 per cent growth it predicted in April.Meanwhile, it maintained its projection that the UK economy will expand by 1.4 per cent in 2026. But IMF economists said this will come despite global trade tensions wiping 0.3 percentage points off growth for the year. Chancellor Rachel Reeves has made growing the economy a key priority for the Government More

Labour has called on Nigel Farage to take action after an image emerged from a Reform local election stunt depicting female cabinet ministers as cows in an abattoir.The roadside set-up in Hertsmere, Hertfordshire, shows deputy prime minister Angela Rayner, chancellor Rachel Reeves and education secretary Bridget Phillipson are all depicted as cows waiting to be slaughtered. The stunt, pictured by a passerby and passed to The Independent, was damned as “dehumanising” and “misogynistic.”Reform local election stunt depicting leading female cabinet ministers as cows in an abattoir More