More stories

  • in

    Heseltine accuses Tories of fuelling ‘hate politics’ over plot to strip jobless of free prescriptions

    Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Senior Tories have condemned plans to strip the right to free prescriptions from benefits claimants who don’t look for work, warning that the government risks descending into the politics of “hate”. Former deputy […] More

  • in

    Braverman is a ‘dictator like Putin’ says top Tory after her latest outburst in Rwanda row

    Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Tory infighting over Rishi Sunak’s beleaguered Rwanda plan has descended into civil war as a former deputy prime minister compared Suella Braverman to Vladimir Putin. Damian Green, deputy PM under Theresa May, said […] More

  • in

    Average family ‘could see council tax rise by £120 a year’

    Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email The average family could be expected to pay £120 more a year in council tax despite Jeremy Hunt’s plans to cut inheritance tax in half for the UK’s richest households, according to reports. […] More

  • in

    Jeremy Hunt considering inheritance tax cut and business relief in autumn statement

    Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Jeremy Hunt is considering cutting inheritance tax in half and lowering taxes for small businesses with his autumn statement next Wednesday. The chancellor has been handed a financial boost as official forecasters told […] More

  • in

    Teenage sons watching football on holiday led to £11k iPad bill, Matheson tells MSPs

    Scotland’s health secretary has apologised as he revealed how his teenage sons used his Holyrood-issued iPad to watch football matches while on holiday in Morocco – resulting in a bill of almost £11,000 in data roaming charges for the device.Michael Matheson made a personal statement to MSPs a week after a row erupted about the charges.He initially insisted he had been using the device for parliamentary work during the trip, which he went on with his wife and two sons shortly after Christmas last year.But amid increasing demands to explain the data charges – which amounted to a total of £10,935.74 – Mr Matheson told MSPs that members of his family had “made use of the iPad’s data”. More