UK Politics

Your support helps us to tell the storyFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.Your support makes all the difference.CloseRead moreFarm incomes plummeted by more than 50 per cent in just one year, official figures show, amid growing fears over the impact of the government’s “tractor tax”. Average farm business incomes fell from £103,100 in 2022/23 to £45,300 in 2023/24, figures published by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) show.While the government said the fall in income “followed exceptional highs for some farm types in 2022/23”, in real terms, this is the lowest average farm incomes have been since 2015/16.For cereal farms, business income fell by 73 per cent to £39,400 in 2023/24, something Defra said came as a result of “lower output prices and yields”. For dairy farms, average business income was 68 per cent lower at £70,900, driven by a fall in the price of milk. The latest figures come as thousands of farmers prepare to descend on London later this month in protest against the government’s extension of inheritance tax.Farmers are planning a protest in London (Andrew Matthews/PA) More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.Your support makes all the difference.CloseRead moreThousands could be left without protection from slavery and other human rights abuses as a result of a loophole in the government’s Employment Rights Bill. Charities and campaign groups plan to write to the home secretary to warn that migrant fishermen are “facing breaches of their human rights not to be held in slavery or servitude and not to perform forced or compulsory labour” if the government doesn’t take action to amend the law. Currently, the new protections afforded by the bill would not extend to migrant fishers on the Seafarer Transit Stamp, a type of visa offered to workers on UK fishing vessels that operate outside of UK territorial waters – just 12 nautical miles off the coast. There is no UK labour protection for these workers, even if they are employed by British companies, working on a UK flagged vessel and selling into the UK supply chain, excluding them from even the most basic of employment law protections such as the national minimum wage.In the letter to Yvette Cooper seen by The Independent, charities are demanding the government close this loophole to ensure all workers employed by UK-based firms are covered by new employment legislation. The government has been told it has a “significant opportunity” to protect this group of workers More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.Your support makes all the difference.CloseRead moreBritain saw a bigger increase in net migration last year than any other developed economy, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has said.In a blow to Brexiteers, who promised the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union would bring down net migration, the OECD said Britain had a bigger spike than 28 other economically advanced countries.The UK’s population grew by a record 750,000 in 2023, a 52.9 per cent increase on the net migration figure a year earlier, it said.It meant the flow of immigrants into the UK grew more quickly than the United States, Germany, Canada, France, Australia and Japan.Only the US’s net migration total was higher, 500,000 more than Britain despite having a population almost five times as large.The country with the second biggest percentage spike in migration in 2023 was Korea, which added 87,000 people.Overall net migration to the UK has consistently exceeded pre-Brexit, pre-Covid levels of roughly 200,000 to 300,000, leading to significant anger with the previous Conservative government.When the figures reached record levels under Rishi Sunak, then shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said it demonstrated “Tory chaos and failure”.Prime minister Keir Starmer has promised to cut “sky-high” immigration levels, arguing that British workers can be trained to reduce the country’s reliance on overseas labour.“It is, as a point of fact, the policy of this government to reduce both net migration and our economic dependency on it,” he said in his first Labour conference speech as PM.The OECD said a third of economically advanced countries experienced record immigration in 2023, including Canada, France, Japan, Switzerland and the UK.It said part of the record high immigration to the UK can be explained by the rapid growth of visas granted to the dependants of international students.Labour has confirmed it will go ahead with Tory restrictions on international students bringing family members to the UK.Universities have reported a sharp decline in applications from international students, following the introduction of the measures.The Home Office recently reported an almost 80 per cent reduction in the number of dependents accompanying international students to the UK.More than 26,000 fewer student visa applications were made between January and March 2024 compared to the same period in 2023, according to the report.A Downing Street spokesman said: “The PM has been clear that migration has been far too high in recent years and needs to come down. We have a clear plan to deliver this.” More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.Your support makes all the difference.CloseRead moreSadiq Khan has taken aim once again at Donald Trump, saying his policies are “sexist, homophobic, Islamophobic and racist”.The London mayor had a long-running row with Mr Trump during his first term in the White House, which began after Mr Khan criticised the president’s pledge to ban Muslims from the US, describing the policy as “ignorant”.During his first term in office, Mr Trump described the mayor as “a stone-cold loser” and “very dumb”.Speaking to the High Performance podcast, Mr Khan claimed the president-elect, who swept to victory in the US last week, singled him out as a result of his skin colour and religion.Asked about the ongoing row, he said: “It’s personal, let’s be frank. If I wasn’t this colour skin, if I wasn’t a practising Muslim, he wouldn’t have come for me.Donald Trump and Sadiq Khan have long been involved in a feud More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.Your support makes all the difference.CloseRead moreA right-wing think tank has welcomed Rachel Reeves’ plan to create pension “megafunds” in a bid to boost investment in British infrastructure.The chancellor will tonight set out changes to local government pension pots, consolidating the 86 existing pots into a handful of funds run by professional fund managers.The move is part of a bid to unlock the pension funds of 6.7million local government workers from smaller firms and assets for investment in major infrastructure projects.Rachel Reeves said the shakeup will unlock tens of billions of pounds of investment More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.Your support makes all the difference.CloseRead moreConfusion has broken out over how many farms will be affected by Rachel Reeves’ controversial changes to inheritance tax after new figures showed her claims of one in four may be wide of the mark.Figures produced by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) have been interpreted by farmers’ groups to suggest that up to two thirds (66 per cent) of farms could be hit by the tax grab which critics claim will destroy Britain’s family farms.This is in stark contrast to the 28 per cent that the Treasury had claimed with officials in the two departments understood to be at loggerheads over the chancellor’s shock announcement. But a source close to environment secretary Steve Reed has blamed the National Farmers Union (NFU) for confusing the issue with incorrect analysis of Defra figures.Ms Reeves imposed inheritance tax on farm land for the first time since 1992 with 20 per cent rate being paid for all land valued at £1 million or more, although couples can make use of a pooled allowance of £2m plus personal allowances of up to £500,000 each.Defra figures show that the average farm is worth £2.2 million and 66 per cent are worth £1 million or more.Farmers are planning a protest in London (Andrew Matthews/PA) More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.Your support makes all the difference.CloseRead moreA minister has slapped down civil servants demanding a four-day week, telling them “we are not living in the 1970”. After members of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) said working a four-day week is “critical to attaining a good quality of life” and could help save the government more than £21 million a year, pensions minister Emma Reynolds ruled out the change. “I don’t believe them,” she told Times Radio. Emma Reynolds hit back at civil servants demanding a four-day week More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.Your support makes all the difference.CloseRead morePrice hikes and job cuts are inevitable following Labour’s Budget, business leaders have warned Rachel Reeves as they accused her of failing to grow the economy.The bosses of some of the UK’s biggest firms have said the government failed to engage with them ahead of the Budget, while a survey of business chiefs found that two thirds believe it will make Britain a less attractive country to investors.Despite a manifesto pledge not to increase taxes for working people – including national insurance contributions (NIC), income tax and VAT – the chancellor increased employers’ NICs from 13.8 per cent to 15 per cent at the Budget. She also reduced the threshold at which employers start paying the tax, slashing it from £9,100 per year to £5,000.The Chancellor set out her tax-grabbing Budget last month (Ben Whitley/PA) More