Markus Andrews

A group of senior MPs has warned the government not to cut the cash Isa allowance at the Budget as chancellor Rachel Reeves is understood to be considering the measure.In a candid intervention, the cross-party Treasury Committee has unequivocally told the government that it should not introduce a cut to the £20,000 tax-free allowance granted to every saver.The chancellor is reportedly considering dropping the figure significantly to £10,000 in a bid to boost investment in stocks and shares of British companies.But this “simply will not deliver the change she seeks”, warns Treasury Committee chair Dame Meg Hillier, sharing a new report from the group of MPs that finds savers are unlikely to be incentivised to switch to investing.Chancellor Rachel Reeves will need to find a way to meet her goal of balancing day-to-day spending with tax revenues while maintaining £10 billion ‘headroom’ More

Allied nations have pledged to act to take Russian oil and gas off the global market, Sir Keir Starmer said, after leaders gathered with Volodymyr Zelensky in London. The prime minister urged other nations to follow the US and impose sanctions, and said allies had agreed on a “clear plan for the rest of the year” in supporting Kyiv. Among the further pledges were plans to “push on with the progress” on Russian assets and “keep up the military pressure on Putin” as the conflict heads towards its fourth winter. The UK also said it would “accelerate” its missile production programme to get more weapons to Ukraine.It comes days after the White House imposed new sanctions on Russian oil in an attempt to squeeze Moscow.Keir Starmer and Volodymyr Zelensky speaking to the media following a meeting with the coalition of the willing allies More

Sir Keir Starmer has been issued a stark warning over the direction of the government, with pollsters speculating that he could struggle to turn things around following a devastating defeat in Labour’s heartland. Plaid Cymru snatched the traditionally Labour seat of Caerphilly away from Sir Keir’s party overnight on Thursday. It was the first time that Labour, which came third behind Reform UK, had lost an election in the former mining town in more than a century.Sir Keir said he was “deeply disappointed” by the result, adding: “We clearly need to do much more.”But with many seeing this week’s by-election as a bellwether for the local elections next May as well as national elections for the Scottish and Welsh parliaments, Ipsos pollster Keiran Pedley told The Independent that it is “hard to see how Labour will turn things around”, while Professor Sir John Curtice said the result shows that the party is “in severe trouble in Wales”. The Andy Burnham-allied pressure group Mainstream warned that Labour “will be wiped out in Wales next May without a major reset”, advising Sir Keir to “reject the hyper-factional culture [that is] determined to concentrate power at the top of the party”. But one Labour MP said there is “absolutely nothing Starmer can do to turn the political tide”, urging the prime minister to “consider his position now, not later, before the Labour Party sinks into the abyss”. It comes amid growing concern over the direction of Sir Keir’s government, with many seeing next May’s local and national elections as a crucial test of how Labour is performing in power, and as a deadline for the prime minister to start delivering on the government’s priorities. In this year’s local elections, Reform UK swept to victory across more than half a dozen English councils, winning hundreds of seats – a result it is hoping to replicate in 2026.Keir Starmer is under pressure after a historic by-election defeat in Wales More

The Reform UK-led Nottinghamshire County Council is splurging £75,000 on new flag installations, prompting criticism the money could be better spent on services for local people.The 164 flags are set to be displayed across 82 locations, costing the council £475 each, which will include brackets, traffic management and utilising cherry pickers.Council leader Mick Barton said: “We just feel it’s the right thing to do, and it gives that feel-good factor, that’s what we’re doing it for.“When people are putting all these St George and Union flags up, they’re not going to last forever… so we thought we would support the public in what they want, but long term we can use it for all sorts of events that’s going across the county.” Mr Barton said that flags will also be displayed for Remembrance Day, Armistice Day, Nottinghamshire Day, Christmas, and Easter, among other celebrations. The decision has been criticised by others in the council, who feel it contradicts Reform UK’s promise that it would slash wasteful spending if elected. Labour councillor Helen Faccio, who represents Toton, Chilwell and Attenborough, told the BBC she was “shocked but not surprised” by the announcement. ‘It’s the right thing to do’: Mick Barton has defended his council’s decision to spend thousands on flags More

The description of China as an “enemy” was removed from the final draft of a witness statement in relation to the spying case because it did not reflect government policy at the time. Drafts of a witness statement provided to deputy national security adviser Matt Collins in late 2023 “included the term ‘enemy’ but he removed this term from the final draft as it did not reflect government policy”, according to a letter to MPs published on Friday. The Conservatives were in power at the time. The note to the joint committee on national security strategy – from Mr Collins and national security adviser Johnathan Powell – laid out that a final draft of Collins’ statement was sent to then prime minister Rishi Sunak in December 2023.Sir Keir Starmer and the Tories have faced questions over the collapse of the case against Christopher Cash and Christopher Berry, and the UK’s relationship with Beijing. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has also come under pressure to provide an explanation about why the case was abandoned. The body dropped the charges, issued under the Official Secrets Act, against Mr Cash and Mr Berry in September, a month before a trial was due to take place.The pair have both denied the accusation of spying for China. Christopher Berry and Christopher Cash have both denied spying for China More

Plaid Cymru fought off a challenge from Reform UK to win the Caerphilly by-election on Friday, securing more than 45 per cent of the vote, with Nigel Farage’s party in second and Labour – who have led the Welsh parliament since its inception – coming third. The result comes ahead of crucial elections to the Senedd in 2026, with Labour trailing in the polls. What have Plaid said about the election result, and what could happen next?What happened in Thursday’s vote?Plaid Cymru won the Senedd by-election, with Lindsay Whittle elected to represent the seat of Caerphilly with 47 per cent of the vote. They beat Nigel Farage’s Reform UK into second place, while Labour trailed in third with only 11 per cent of the vote, and the Conservatives in a distant fourth. What has the party leader said? Plaid Cymru’s leader Rhun ap Iorwerth has hailed the by-election result as “real evidence” that people are putting their “faith” in the party. Speaking on Friday in the wake of the by-election result, he said that Welsh Labour “do nothing to stand up for the people of Wales”. “It’s clear from the results here in Caerphilly that the momentum is with Plaid Cymru now, it hasn’t come from thin air,” he said.“We had our best-ever general election results last year, we’ve seen Plaid Cymru topping the polls for some time now.“What we have now is that real evidence through the ballot box of people putting their faith in Plaid Cymru in ways that they’ve never done before, and that all points to people embracing the chance of having a Plaid Cymru-led government for the first time.”He suggested that people are “disillusioned” with the Westminster government, with cuts to winter fuel payment among the issues. “All the time Welsh Labour do nothing to stand up for the people of Wales,” he said. “It’s a catalogue of reasons why people now have recognised that it’s time for Labour to go, and it’s Plaid Cymru now that’s ready to replace them as a government of Wales.”What are some of Plaid’s policies?Plaid Cymru think that independence is the “best way to deliver real fairness” in Wales and have said that they want to prepare papers on how the country could work towards independence. They also believe that the power to call a referendum should lie with the parliament in Cardiff Bay, rather than in Westminster. They also want to raise the “status” of the Welsh language and commit extra funding to support more people to speak Welsh. They want to give targets to increase for the number of subjects taught in Welsh in schools and develop the use of Welsh in healthcare. What could happen in 2026? Next year voters across Wales will go to the polls to elect members of the Senedd, and polling guru Sir John Curtice has said that Plaid are “now well placed to provide Wales with its next first minister”. Labour have run the Senedd since its inception in 1999, but are now polling in third position behind Plaid and Nigel Farage’s Reform UK, according to figures from YouGov released in September. Sir John said that while Reform will be “disappointed” to have not won Thursday’s vote, he told the BBC: “I don’t think we should run away with the idea that this, in any way, suggests that Nigel Farage’s bubble is burst.”( More

Economists have warned Labour they face a number of difficult choices in the upcoming Budget, with chancellor Rachel Reeves already indicating that more tax rises and spending cuts can be expected.The government may need to find at least £22bn at the fiscal event on 26 November, recent research by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) indicated, with speculation about the chancellor’s options mounting.Ms Reeves has said she remains committed to Labour’s manifesto commitment not to raise taxes on ‘working people,’ meaning no increase to the headline rate of income tax, national insurance, or VAT.With these three largest revenue streams ruled out, the Treasury must now look at smaller tweaks to the tax system to raise the funds it needs. This was recently referred to as a “scrabble bag” by tax expert Dan Neidle to the cross-party Treasury Committee.Ms Reeves has said she remains committed to Labour’s manifesto commitment not to raise taxes on ‘working people,’ (PA) More