UK Politics

Rishi Sunak has been branded “Mr Tax” by Labour as they accused him of “acting in his own interest” rather than those of Britons.Shadow work and pensions secretary Jon Ashworth gave the nickname to Mr Sunak while warning that pensioners have been “cutting back on hot meals” and “forgoing hot showers” as they cannot afford the cost.Mr Ashworth told Sophy Ridge On Sunday on Sky News: “Rishi Sunak absolutely had more room for manoeuvre in this spring statement and mini budget, but rather than acting in the interests of the British people, he was playing games.

He’s expecting people to be grateful because two years down the road he’s saying there’s going to be an income tax cut even though that income tax cut nowhere near offsets the 15 tax rises that he has imposed on the British peopleJon Ashworth“He was acting in his own interest because he thinks by offering an income tax cut in two years that’ll help him politically with Conservative MPs if there’s a leadership contest or that’ll fit the Tory election grid.“I don’t believe that putting 1.3 million people into poverty because you’re imposing a very severe real-terms cut to universal credit, you’re imposing the biggest cut to the pension in 50 years, is fair.”The government will uprate benefits by 3.1% in April although the inflation rate is expected to average nearly 8% over the year.Mr Ashworth said Mr Sunak should have imposed a “windfall tax” on the profits of oil and gas companies to generate funds to help struggling families and pensioners with energy bills. More

<img src="https://static.independent.co.uk/2022/02/23/17/3ba1c27812e4121327c6fe3b812f93eeY29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNjQ1NzIwMDM0-2.48677581.jpg?quality=75&width=982&height=726&auto=webp" srcset="https://static.independent.co.uk/2022/02/23/17/3ba1c27812e4121327c6fe3b812f93eeY29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNjQ1NzIwMDM0-2.48677581.jpg?quality=75&width=320&auto=webp&crop=982:726,smart 320w, https://static.independent.co.uk/2022/02/23/17/3ba1c27812e4121327c6fe3b812f93eeY29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNjQ1NzIwMDM0-2.48677581.jpg?quality=75&width=640&auto=webp&crop=982:726,smart 640w" alt=" Children would need to be taught from 8.45am to 3.15pm under the new proposals ” height=”726″ width=”982″ layout=”responsive” data-hero i-amphtml-ssr class=”i-amphtml-layout-responsive i-amphtml-layout-size-defined” i-amphtml-layout=”responsive”> Children would need to be taught from 8.45am to 3.15pm under the new proposals Schools across the country will be told to provide at least […] More

Regime change in Russia would be “up to the Russian people”, a cabinet minister in Boris Johnson’s government has said following the furore over Joe Biden’s remarks about Vladimir Putin’s removal.The British government distanced itself from the US president’s apparent call for regime change in Russia after he said in an impassioned speech that Putin “cannot remain in power”.The White House has scrambled to row back the US president’s remarks, insisting that Biden was “not discussing Putin’s power in Russia, or regime change” with the comments made in Poland.Asked if the UK government agreed with Joe Biden that Vladimir Putin “cannot remain in power”, Nadhim Zahawi said: “I think that’s up to the Russian people.”Pressed further about the US president’s comments on regime change, the education secretary told Sky News’ Sophy Ridge On Sunday: “It’s an illegal invasion of Ukraine and that must end, and I think that’s what the president was talking about.”Pressed again if Mr Biden was wrong to say what he did, Mr Zahawi said: “No, what I’m saying to you is the White House has been very clear on this, the president gave a very powerful speech on this.”He added: “I think both the United States and the United Kingdom agree that it’s up to the Russian people to decide who should be governing them.”The cabinet minister said the Russian people “are pretty fed up with what is happening in Ukraine, this illegal invasion, the destruction of their own livelihoods, their economy is collapsing around them”, adding: “I think the Russian people will decide the fate of Putin and his cronies.”But he declined to criticise Mr Biden, unlike Tobias Ellwood, the senior Conservative MP who chairs the Commons Defence Committee, who said Mr Putin will now “spin this, dig in and fight harder”.Mr Zahawi also backed foreign secretary Liz Truss’s view that sanctions cannot be lifted from Russia until there is a full withdrawal of troops from Ukraine.He told Sky News: “I think the Russian illegal invasion has to end and the Russian army has to leave the Ukraine, and it’s up to the Ukrainian people, they must be very much the ones who decide what that peace looks like.”Ms Truss said sanctions against Russian oligarchs, banks and businesses could be lifted if Putin ends his invasion and commits to “no further aggression”.The foreign secretary told the Sunday Telegraph a “negotiations unit” had been established in the Foreign Office to aid possible peace talks – but warned that that the threat of “snapback sanctions” would be retained if the Russian president did attack again.The White House has scrambled to play down Biden’s remarks in Poland on Saturday. “For God’s sake this man cannot remain in power,” the US president said at the close of his speech of the Russian president he earlier described as a “butcher”.But a White House official tried to argue that the US president was only making the point that the Russian leader “cannot be allowed to exercise power over his neighbours or the region … He was not discussing Putin’s power in Russia, or regime change”.The Kremlin responded: “That’s not for Biden to decide. The president of Russia is elected by Russians.”The senior Labour MP Dame Margaret Beckett said many people would sympathise with the sentiments that led Biden to say that Putin “cannot remain in power”.Dame Margaret said: “I rather like what we’ve seen in Joe Biden. I know that he gets a lot of criticism but he strikes me as being somebody who has strong feelings and is inclined to then just voice them.“I’m sure that his staff and the people around him are right to say America’s not calling for regime change, but equally I think many people will sympathise with the sentiments that led him to say what he did.”Richard Haass, a veteran US diplomat who is president of the Council on Foreign Relations think tank, said Mr Biden’s remarks made “a dangerous situation more dangerous” when the strategy should be focused on de-escalation. More

Chancellor Rishi Sunak is said to be considering a new tax rebate as part of further support for families after his spring statement failed to ease growing fears about living costs.Mr Sunak is now “weighing up” a further rebate on council tax bills as part of a new multibillion-pound package after No 10 made clear its “panic” over the cost of living crisis, the Sunday Times reported.“We’ve already looked at this and concluded that council tax is the best way to do it,” a Treasury source told the newspaper. “You’ve got an existing mechanism … It would make sense to do it like that again.”The chancellor came in for heavy criticism for his failure to provide any extra help on energy bills and council tax, beyond the previously-announced £200 loan and a rebate of £150 to those living in properties in council tax bands A to D.Boris Johnson and his team are said to be “panicking” about the impact of the rising food and energy bills ahead of the May local elections.Downing Street special advisers have reportedly been shown private polling showing that the cost of living is now the number one public concern for the British public, surpassing the NHS and healthcare.Education secretary Nadhim Zahawi hinted that Mr Sunak is planning further help with living costs in the months ahead. “I think he will continue to keep an eye on this, it’s only right,” he told Sky News’ Sophy Ridge on Sunday.He added: “It’s irresponsible for me to say ‘job done’ because energy prices are volatile, inflation remains high, so it would be absolutely irresponsible to say ‘job done’.”Vicky Pryce, former head of the Government Economic Service, said there was “huge tension” between No 10 and the Treasury. She told LBC the chancellor “would like to be seen as someone that brings the finances back to some sort of normality”.Senior Tory MP Stephen Crabb said the chancellor would have to do “more” to help in the spring and summer – arguing it would not be “sustainable” to wait until the next budget in autumn.Mr Sunak has been branded “Mr Tax” by Labour as they attacked “very severe real-terms cuts to the pension and support like universal credit”.Shadow work and pensions secretary Jon Ashworth gave the nickname to Mr Sunak while warning that pensioners have been “cutting back on hot meals” and “forgoing hot showers” as they cannot afford the cost.Mr Ashworth told Sophy Ridge On Sunday on Sky News: “Rishi Sunak absolutely had more room for manoeuvre in this spring statement and mini budget, but rather than acting in the interests of the British people, he was playing games.”New Labour analysis of the Office of Budget Responsibility figures found that the average households would be hit with rises of £3,000 by 2026/27.The Resolution Foundation think tank has warned that around 1.3 million Britons will be pushed into poverty by the cost-of-living squeeze this year – including some on “middle-incomes”.Senior Tory backbencher Stephen Crabb said the chancellor would have to do “more” to help in the spring and summer – arguing it would not be “sustainable” to wait until the budget in autumn.Food bank bosses have told The Independent that a growing number of middle-class Britons are already coming to them in “desperate” need of help.And there is growing concern about existing poverty in Britain becoming much more intense in the months ahead.Consumer expert Martin Lewis has said some people could “starve or freeze”, while food campaigner Jack Monroe also warned dire poverty could prove “fatal” in some cases.The former Assistant Chief to the Defence Staff has said the government must prepare the British public for a “long-term degradation” in living standards.General Jonathan Shaw told LBC: “We need to be psychologically preparing our people for a long-term degradation of standard of living and a long-term confrontation with Russia.” More

Rishi Sunak wrongly claimed his headline-grabbing move to axe VAT on home solar panels is only possible “thanks to Brexit”, experts say.The move, in the chancellor’s mini-budget – saving householders installing panels around £1,000 by removing the current 5 per cent rate – will also be allowed by the EU, they insist.The row follows the Brexit-supporting Mr Sunak arguing that a 2019 ruling by the European Court of Justice would have prevented him from acting within the bloc.“Thanks to Brexit, we’re no longer constrained by EU law,” he told cheering Tory MPs, adding: “We’ll abolish all the red tape imposed on us by the EU.”Jacob Rees-Mogg then backed up the claim, tweeting after Wednesday’s spring statement: “The EU would not allow us to do this, another benefit of Brexit.”But it has emerged that a directive, put forward by the European Council last December, is extending the current “exemption” from VAT for food, medicines and public transport.The new list includes the “supply and installation of solar panels on and adjacent to private dwellings, housing and public and other buildings used for activities in the public interest”, the document states.Steve Peers, a Brexit expert and law professor at the University of Essex, said of Mr Sunak’s comments: “This is untrue.“A recently agreed amendment to EU VAT law will give member states an option for a VAT exemption for the supply and installation of solar panels.”And the QC Jessica Simor, a specialist in EU law, said the directive will allow a VAT rate “as low as zero”, adding: “Parliament has agreed it. Council now has to rubber stamp it.”Ministers have repeatedly made questionable claims about changes being introduced in their search for the “Brexit dividend” that voters were promised.Mr Sunak has wrongly argued that tax-cutting freeports are only possible outside the EU, despite seven existing in the UK between the mid-1980s and 2012.And Boris Johnson claimed the UK was only able to steal a march with Covid vaccines outside the European Medicines Agency, although membership would not have prevented the UK acting alone.The Treasury has been asked to respond to the criticism that Mr Sunak misrepresented his new freedoms to act on green home energy improvements.In his speech, on Wednesday, the chancellor said: “If homeowners want to install energy saving materials, at the moment only some items qualify for a 5 per cent VAT relief – and there are complex rules about who is eligible.“The relief used to be more generous, but from 2019 the European Court of Justice required us to restrict its eligibility. But, thanks to Brexit, we’re no longer constrained by EU law.”Green campaigners welcomed the VAT removal, also making heat pumps and loft insulation cheaper, but there was no other help to cut insulation or green energy bills.Meanwhile, the mini-budget supported fossil fuels with a 5p cut in fuel duty and the chancellor failed even to mention the term “net zero” in his speech. More

More than half of UK voters think Boris Johnson’s government should ditch visa requirements for Ukrainian refugees to allow unlimited numbers to seek sanctuary here, a new poll for The Independent has found.Just one in five (21 per cent) said the government should stick to its requirement for visas for those fleeing Vladimir Putin’s invasion, compared to 54 per cent who said the policy should be dropped.Charities have warned that the visa process for the Homes for Ukraine scheme, which seeks to match refugees with British sponsors who have spare rooms, was proving much too “slow and bureaucratic”.Lawyers also said long delays getting visas under the family scheme meant some refugees were close to running out of money and becoming increasingly vulnerable to traffickers.The Savanta ComRes poll found that the government’s policy on refugees was souring public opinion on Mr Johnson’s response to the Ukraine war.Unlike EU nations which have opened their doors to Ukrainian refugees for up to three years, the UK is insisting on visas for all those taking part in schemes to come to Britain.The poll found strong support for Mr Johnson’s overall approach to the war, with 53 per cent of those asked saying he had done a good job, against 35 per cent who said he had not.But on the welcome the government has offered to Ukrainian refugees, the picture was reversed, with 47 per cent saying Mr Johnson had done a bad job; just 42 per cent said he had done well.Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said on Saturday that the government should be making it “far, far easier for those who are fleeing Ukraine to come here”.Speaking at a march in support of Ukraine, Mr Khan said: “You compare our government’s actions versus the actions of Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Poland, it’s embarrassing – we’ve got be doing much more.”A small number of successful “matchups” via the Homes for Ukraine scheme have emerged since Friday. But the levelling up department has yet to reveal how many refugees have been able to join sponsors in the UK. More

Boris Johnson’s government must prepare the British public for a “long-term degradation” in living standards, the former Assistant Chief to the Defence Staff has warned.General Jonathan Shaw said the UK still had the “wrong mentality” about the scale of the geopolitical shift sparked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.“We need to be psychologically preparing our people for a long-term degradation of standard of living and a long-term confrontation with Russia,” he told LBC.The ex-Armed Forces chief said Britain’s standard of living would get “much worse” because of the new cold war with Russia. “I don’t think we’re preparing our populations for that sort of hardship.”General Shaw said he did not hear enough in chancellor Rishi Sunak’s spring statement about the “pain” ahead.“We have all these grand plans about transiting to be free on dependence on wheat and oil from Russia – but getting is going to be extraordinarily painful”.He said: “We are obsessed with humanitarian concerns and individual suffering and that makes good TV – but the reality is this is far more serious than that.“For years we’ve placed top priority on economics … we do deals with all sorts of people. Our quality of life back home absolutely depends on them – cheap fuel, cheap access, doing deals with Saudi Arabia and things like that.”The former military chief added: “We’ve now decided that as far as Russia’s concerned we’re going to play geopolitics ahead of economics and that will come at a price. We need to be clear about that.”The warning comes as Mr Sunak was urged to rethink his offer to families struggling with the mounting cost of living crisis, following his spring statement.The chancellor has come in for heavy criticism for his failure to provide any extra help with energy bills – beyond the previously-announced £200 loan coming in October – and his decision not to raise benefits in line with inflation.The Resolution Foundation think tank has warned that around 1.3 million Britons will be pushed into poverty by the cost-of-living squeeze this year – including some on “middle-incomes”.Senior Tory backbencher Stephen Crabb said the chancellor would have to do “more” to help in the spring and summer – arguing it would not be “sustainable” to wait until the budget in autumn.Food bank bosses have told The Independent that a growing number of middle-class Britons are already coming to them in “desperate” need of help.And there is growing concern about existing poverty in Britain becoming much more intense in the months ahead.Consumer expert Martin Lewis has said some people could “starve or freeze”, while food campaigner Jack Monroe also warned dire poverty could prove “fatal” in some cases.Meanwhile, Vladimir Putin is facing the prospect of further setbacks in Ukraine. He appeared to be preparing Russians for a possible scaling back of his ambitions away from seizing Kyiv to fighting for control of the east.Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky hailed his troops as having delivered “powerful blows” to the invading forces as he urged Moscow to negotiate an end to the war.An adviser to the Ukrainian ministry of defence, Markian Lubkivskyi, told the BBC he was sceptical that the Russian’s aims had truly changed away from trying to take the whole nation. But he said it does appear “the enemy is focused on the eastern part of Ukraine”. More