UK Politics

Rachel Reeves has said she will not accept future ‘freebie’ concert tickets after her decision to accept a seat in a box to watch Sabrina Carpenter reignited a furious row. The chancellor came under fire from MPs – including government ministers – for receiving the hospitality as she prepared to slash £5 billion from the welfare bill.Now Ms Reeves has said she will not accept free tickets again in an attempt to draw a line under the issue. She told ITV’s Good Morning Britain: “I do recognise how it looks to people.( More

Rachel Reeves’s personal and political credibility is on a knife edge after a hostile reaction to her spring statement.Economic experts said she could be forced to announce “blockbuster” tax rises in six months to make her sums add up.Critics claimed her future as chancellor is under threat as a result of “errors” she has made since taking charge of the economy last year.They said her decision to increase employers’ national insurance contributions, which takes effect in April, combined with taking freebies to pop concerts, has dealt a further blow to her reputation.The chancellor unveiled a £14bn package to repair the UK economy in her spring statement on Wednesday More

Sir Keir Starmer is in Paris with Emmanuel Macron and Volodymyr Zelensky as he fends off a litany of challenges to keep his so-called coalition of the willing afloat.The prime minister is meeting his French and Ukrainian counterparts, as well as representatives from as many as 30 other countries, to hash out exactly what a peacekeeping force would look like following a deal to end Russia’s war on Ukraine.Chief among the challenges for the PM is to flesh out exactly what members of the coalition are willing to contribute in the event of a permanent ceasefire in Ukraine. But Sir Keir will also have to win the support of Donald Trump for the coalition, and convince him in turn that the force must form a part of the ceasefire after Putin ruled out accepting Nato troops in Ukraine.Macron awaits world leaders More

Donald Trump has announced 25 per cent tariffs on all motor vehicle imports to the United States, in a move that will inflict another blow on the UK economy.During a press conference in the Oval Office, the US president announced that cars and light trucks imported into the US would be subject to the levy in the latest escalation of the Trump administration’s far-reaching trade war.“What we’re going to be doing is a 25% tariff for all cars that are not made in the United States,” Trump said.The announcement raises fears of greater economic pain in the UK, whose largest vehicle export market is the US, having sold £6.4bn in motor vehicles to the country in 2023, according to the Office of National Statistics.Rachel Reeves announced a series of cuts to benefits on Wednesday to balance the budget amid economy uncertainty More

Rachel Reeves has denied her own government’s findings that her welfare reforms will push 250,000 people into poverty while refusing to rule out further cuts.The chancellor wants to save £5 billion from the UK’s ballooning welfare bill by making it harder to claim Personal Independence Payments and cutting Universal Credit.An impact assessment, published today by the Department of Work and Pensions, said 3.2 million families – including current and future benefit claimants – will lose an average of £1,720 a year as a result of the changes.It added: “We estimate there will be an additional 250,000 people (including 50,000 children) in relative poverty after housing costs in 2029/30 as a result of modelled changes to social security.”But in an interview with HuffPost UK, the chancellor rejected those findings, claiming they did not take account of what the government is doing to get people back into work.”Those numbers are based on not a single person moving from welfare into work and we are, alongside this package of welfare reforms, putting in £1 billion of targeted, personalised and guaranteed support for anybody on sickness and disability benefits to help them find work that’s appropriate for the situation that they are in,” Ms Reeves said.Rachel Reeves has rejected DWP findings that 250,000 people will be plunged into poverty More