UK Politics

Rachel Reeves is planning to restrict disabled people’s access to cars through the benefits system in a bid to save £1bn, it has emerged.The chancellor is reportedly considering reforming the Motability scheme in a bid to save money and boost public confidence in the welfare system. She is said to be ready to axe tax breaks worth around £1bn each year in next month’s Budget, cutting an exemption which lets cars leased under the scheme avoid paying VAT or insurance premium tax. And, in another change, luxury cars including Mercedes and BMWs could be removed from the scheme, The Times reports. It comes as the chancellor has been warned by the Institute for Fiscal Studies that she needs to find at least £22bn of tax hikes or spending cuts in her November Budget in order to avoid a financial “groundhog day”.The Motability scheme provides cars to around 815,000 users, including around 40,000 luxury vehicles. It is open to people who claim a qualifying mobility allowance, most commonly through the personal independence payment (PIP).But it has come under fire in recent months, and formed a major part of Kemi Badenoch’s speech at the Conservative Party conference, with critics claiming online “sickfluencers” are teaching people to game the system in order to claim free cars. In her speech in Manchester, Ms Badenoch said: “Those cars are not for people with ADHD.” Rachel Reeves needs to find £22bn to plug the UK’s growing debt More

Birmingham MP defends ban on Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from attending Aston Villa gameThe Home Office was briefed about possible restrictions on the Maccabi Tel Aviv match with Aston Villa last week, police have revealed.The UK Football Policing Unit (UKFPU), a specialist team which works to help reduce incidents of football violence, said they helped West Midlands Police to access full details of previous incidents in Amsterdam.“Following this, the Home Office were briefed last week by the UKFPU about the potential issues and options that the Safety Advisory Group (SAG) may take including restrictions on visiting fans,” the UKFPU said in a statement.The revelation comes after criticism from the prime minister over the decision to ban Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters from attending a match against Aston Villa in Birmingham next month.West Midlands Police said they had classified the fixture as high risk based on “current intelligence and previous incidents”, including violent clashes that occurred during a match between Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv in Amsterdam last year.Downing Street said discussions are happening “at pace, across Government” and Culture secretary Lisa Nandy is among the senior government officials set to meet on Friday in a bid to overturn the decision. PSC express support for fan banThe Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) has said it supports the ban on Maccabi Tel Aviv fans attending a Europa League match at Aston Villa next month and criticised the Prime Minister for opposing the action.Ben Jamal, director of the PSC, said: “(Sir Keir) Starmer’s willingness to conflate opposition to Israel’s crimes with antisemitism has now taken him to a place where he defends, supposedly in the name of anti-racism, the rights of avowedly anti-Palestinian, Islamophobic, violent thugs to demonstrate their hate in a British city and at a football match.“The Maccabi fan base has an egregious track record of racist violence that led them to being banned from the city of Amsterdam. Starmer wants Birmingham to host people who chant for Palestinians to be raped and their villages burned.“The fixture should not be going ahead. Israel and all Israeli clubs should be removed from international competitions.”( More

The UK Government’s plans for a digital ID system in Britain will not be a “silver bullet” to end illegal migration, a minister said.Ian Murray said the scheme, set to be rolled out by the end of the current Parliament, is part of a broader push to clamp down on people working illegally in the UK.The digital government minister pushed back on claims it would be called a “BritCard”, saying “it is not a BritCard”.Mr Murray also said that it was neither “mandatory” nor a card but later added it would be mandatory “for some purposes”.He admitted the Government had to “make the case” for the scheme and “listen and address people’s concerns about safety, security and privacy”.Asked whether it was needed to tackle illegal migration, Mr Murray told the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland programme: “We’ve been very clear this is not a silver bullet but it does have two major positives in terms of having a mandatory right to work check.“It means it’s easier for businesses.“It creates that level playing field and fairness for businesses that always do the right thing but are undercut by those businesses that don’t.”He added that it would help prevent people “disappearing into the shadow economy”.The minister, who was sacked as Scottish secretary last month before being given new roles as a minister, pushed back against claims from Scotland’s First Minister that the card was an attempt “to force every Scot to declare ourselves British”.John Swinney said he would oppose the digital ID scheme and any description of it including the label “BritCard”.Mr Murray accused the SNP leader of opposing the policy for “the sake of objection”.“This is actually SNP policy that was signed off with when the First Minister was deputy first minister in 2021,” he said.“They said they wanted to digitise government, to modernise government, in order for people to be able to access government services easier.“That’s exactly what this policy is and I think it’s just objection for the First Minister for the sake of objection.”Hitting back at claims it would be called a “BritCard”, Mr Murray said: “It’s not a BritCard.“That was something that was made up before the announcement was made from a think tank from many years ago.“It is not a BritCard, it will never be called a BritCard and it never has intended to be called a BritCard.”Mr Murray said there was a “host of ways nationality could be defined” in digital ID as he pointed to Northern Ireland, where he said people could declare themselves as Irish, British or both.“So that will have to be taken into account,” he said.“I’m sure those kinds of discussions with the Welsh and Scottish governments will be exactly the same.”Ivan McKee, Scotland’s public finance minister, said: “The Scottish Government is opposed to the UK Government’s proposals for mandatory ID cards.“Ministers have been clear that as well as concerns around privacy, these UK Government proposals would not be a good use of public money at a time when people are struggling with the cost-of-living crisis.“ScotAccount is not comparable with what the UK Government is proposing – its use is not mandatory and it does not provide a centralised searchable database of people’s personal information.” More

The UK’s borders chief was unable to answer when asked by MPs to name any way in which Brexit has helped “control our borders”. Martin Hewitt, the new border security commander, said he did “not immediately” have an answer to the question. The pro-Brexit campaign promised that the UK could “take back control” of its borders, but since then the number of migrants crossing the Channel in small boats has not decreased. As the number of crossings hit a record high last month, US president Donald Trump even advised Sir Keir Starmer to “call out the military”. Border security commander Martin Hewitt rejected the idea it was a ‘fool’s errand’ to go after smuggling gangs More

Sir Keir Starmer is doing “everything in his power” to ensure supporters of Israel’s Maccabi Tel Aviv can support their team at its match against Aston Villa next month after an initial ban. The prime minister has rounded on Birmingham City Council’s decision to ban Maccabi fans from the fixture, despite fears of violence if the away supporters are allowed to attend. Violent clashes between pro-Palestinian demonstrators and Israeli fans erupted around the Europa League match between Dutch club Ajax and Maccabi in Amsterdam last year.Keir Starmer says Birmingham City Council’s advisory group has made ‘the wrong decision’ More

When voters in Caerphilly in south Wales go to the polls later this month, it will be about far more than one seat in the Senedd, Wales’s devolved parliament.Caerphilly, a postindustrial town just north of Cardiff, has long been considered safe Labour territory. But in recent years, economic upheaval and social change have made once rock-solid seats like these far less predictable.The contest is therefore not just about who wins a single seat, but what kind of Wales will emerge from a period of upheaval. Will it be one clinging to the certainties of its industrial past? Or one looking toward Plaid Cymru and the prospect of Welsh independence as the political voice for such unease? Or, alternatively, will it turn to the populist right?What happens here could indicate whether Labour’s hold on the Welsh valleys is starting to loosen, and whether new political forces are taking root. It’s a local contest with national stakes.Labour remains Wales’s dominant political force, but the past 18 months have been turbulent. Mark Drakeford’s retirement as First Minister was followed by Vaughan Gething’s brief and troubled leadership.Caerphilly Castle is the second largest castle in the UK More

With Labour’s second autumn Budget fast approaching, speculation about further tax rises has grown rife. The chancellor may need to find at least £22bn next month, pre-Budget research from the respected Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) found, as rising borrowing costs and weak growth forecasts drastically reduce her room for manoeuvre.Making matters more tricky for the Treasury is Labour’s continued commitment not to raise taxes on “working people” – meaning no increase to the headline rates of income tax, VAT or national insurance contributions.With these three largest bases of tax revenue closed off, the chancellor has fewer places to look to raise revenue, making it more likely she will pick from a diverse range of taxation tweaks.Changes to how property and capital gains are taxed have now been forecast by many economists, but some have also predicted that changes to pension policy could make an appearance.Pre-Budget research has found that the chancellor may need to find at least £22bn next month More