UK Politics

One of Britain’s leading tax experts has raised serious questions over Rachel Reeves’ planned mansion tax on high-value homes expected in her make-or-break Budget.Dan Neidle, the founder of Tax Policy Associates, is in favour of property tax reform, but has questioned proposals to hit 100,000 of the most expensive properties with an average charge of £4,500, as they would be based on out-of-date valuations.Ms Reeves is understood to be looking to revalue bands F, G and H to raise more cash to fill a black hole in her spending plans of at least £20bn.It comes as her hopes for economic growth to fill the spending gap appear to have been dashed, after reports that Britain’s leading economic watchdog, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), has downgraded its growth forecasts until 2029.The Chancellor is reportedly preparing to bring in a mansion tax (Leon Neal/PA) More

Rachel Reeves is poised to deliver her Budget this week, with intense speculation surrounding potential tax increases designed to stabilise the nation’s finances. The Chancellor is anticipated to outline measures addressing a significant public funds deficit and establishing a more robust financial reserve, aiming to reduce future demands on taxpayers. These proposals are expected to be announced at approximately 12:30pm on Wednesday, 26 November.Income taxChancellor Rachel Reeves has reportedly abandoned plans for a significant income tax hike, a move that would have broken manifesto pledges. This U-turn follows less pessimistic forecasts received by the Treasury from the budget watchdog, leading to the measure being dropped from what Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle described as the “hokey cokey budget”.Instead, Ms Reeves is now said to be favouring an extension of the existing freeze on income tax thresholds. Should this be implemented alongside a freeze on National Insurance thresholds, it could generate an estimated £8.3 billion annually for the Exchequer by 2029/30.By not increasing the thresholds, she will benefit from a process called “fiscal drag”, where as wages go up people are dragged into paying tax for the first time or shifted into a higher rate.Sources familiar with Budget preparations have told the Financial Times that Reeves will cut the annual cash ISA limit from £20,000 to £12,000 in order to push more households to invest their savings into the UK stock market.Rail fares Commuters on the more expensive routes will save more than £300 a year More

As the UK prepares for the budget announcement, familiar debates are taking shape. Should Chancellor Rachel Reeves cut welfare spending? Or reform the “triple lock” on state pensions?Other debates focus on revenue: how should she raise money without breaking Labour’s manifesto promise not to increase taxes on working people? But these discussions are being held in a strange vacuum, where the three enormous expenditures that led the UK to this point are not mentioned.COVID debt, energy support schemes and Brexit have fundamentally shaped the UK’s financial woes. Yet voters and politicians alike seem determined not to talk about them. Instead, they’re treated as shocks imposed on the country, although they involved hugely consequential political choices.Gloomy vibes accompany this Advent budget, and Britain’s awkward collective amnesia is preventing the country from learning the lessons needed for future crises and from talking honestly about the best route forward.Chancellor Rachel Reeves will outline her next Budget in the Commons on 26 November More

Labour is set to announce an end to the two-child benefit cap at Wednesday’s Budget, following months of intense pressure from backbenchers, campaign groups and political opponents.Ahead of the fiscal event on 26 November, government insiders have told The Independent that the chancellor will scrap the controversial policy in a bid to appease discontented MPs and boost ailing poll results.Rachel Reeves hinted earlier this month that Labour could abolish the controversial policy, saying she does not think it is right that children are “penalised” for being part of large families.Speaking on BBC Radio 5Live, the chancellor said it was important not to let the “costs to our economy in allowing child poverty to go unchecked”. She added: “In the end, a child should not be penalised because their parents don’t have very much money.”Rachel Reeves said it was important not to let the ‘costs to our economy in allowing child poverty to go unchecked’ More

Sir Keir Starmer was forced to apologise to a teacher after encouraging pupils to take part in the viral “6-7” trend during a visit to a school in Peterborough.The prime minister was reading with pupils at Welland Academy on Monday, as part of a visit to discuss the importance of free school meals, when one pupil pointed out they were on page 67. Sir Keir then made the hand gesture that accompanies the reference, with many students quickly joining in.The term “6-7” is a nonsensical expression often blurted out when “six” and “seven” are mentioned together, with one person saying “six” and others responding “seven.” It also comes with an accompanying “juggling” hand gesture.The prime minister participated in the viral ‘6-7’ trend complete with ‘juggling’ hand gesture More

Months of political speculation will come to an end on Wednesday as Rachel Reeves delivers her long-awaited autumn Budget. Myriad tax rises and spending cuts have been floated, some on firmer authority than others, leaving millions of Britons waiting to find out how they will be affected.Many economists predict that substantial tax rises can be expected in the Budget, as Ms Reeves looks to counteract the country’s ailing economic performance.Researchers from the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) have found that the chancellor will need to find at least £22bn to make up a shortfall in the government’s finances, as rising borrowing costs and weak growth forecasts drastically reduce her room for manoeuvre.Speaking from Downing Street earlier in November, Ms Reeves said: “Politicians of recent years have become addicted to shelling out for short-term sticking-plaster solutions rather than making long-term economic plans.”Adding further fuel to speculation is the seeming reluctance from No 10 to recommit to Labour’s manifesto pledges not to raise the headline rates of VAT or national insurance contributions.Chancellor Rachel Reeves will oversee Labour’s second Budget on 26 November More

The head of the internet and communications watchdog has said she limits her own use of social media amid concerns over abuse, as she defended Ofcom’s role in ensuring safety online.The regulator has urged technology firms to “step up” in their efforts to tackle trolling and toxic online abuse in new guidance – but some organisations working to protect women and girls have complained it might not work unless it is made mandatory.Ofcom said women in sport, politics and other public arenas are facing “significant and widespread abuse online every day” and its boss, Dame Melanie Dawes, has admitted she limits her personal use of social media for that reason.In guidance published on Tuesday, the regulator set out the ways a range of providers including social media platforms, dating, gaming and pornography sites can help improve the status quo, urging them to take more responsibility for protecting users online.The guidance, which Ofcom said goes beyond legal duties under the Online Safety Act, includes encouraging firms to bring in prompts asking users to reconsider before posting harmful content; imposing “timeouts” for users who repeatedly target victims; limiting the number of comments or posts a person can make on one account to help prevent mass posting of abuse in so-called pile-ons; and allowing users to quickly block or mute multiple accounts at once.It also recommends introducing more sophisticated tools for users to make it easier for victims to report abuse as well as simplifying the ability to set accounts to private.Another recommendation is for firms to use automated technology known as “hash-matching” to detect and remove non-consensual intimate images.Technology Secretary Liz Kendall said she welcomed the Ofcom guidance and added: “Now it’s time for platforms to take responsibility and use every lever to protect women and girls online.”But as the guidance is not enforceable, a number of organisations working to protect women and girls online have said there is too much reliance on tech firms choosing to implement it.Internet Matters, domestic abuse charity Refuge and children’s charity Plan International UK have all called on the Government to make the guidance mandatory.Refuge said it is “a welcome step towards addressing misogyny and domestic abuse in digital spaces, but meaningful protection for women and girls will depend on tech companies fully engaging with this voluntary guidance and putting it into practice”.Plan International UK said the guidance must become a “legally binding code”, adding: “Without the power to enforce penalties on companies that fail to act, Ofcom is limited to naming and shaming platforms — and girls deserve more than that”.Echoing this, online safety organisation Internet Matters said platforms should be required to implement the measures outlined in the guidance “rather than making it a choice”.Dame Melanie has insisted Ofcom is “making progress” around online safety, highlighting the introduction of age checks across the pornography industry this summer as a “huge step forward that no other country has achieved”.“Ofcom is getting on with the job,” she told BBC Breakfast.“Things are changing out there. I just don’t agree that we’re not making progress. I have more hope than that to be honest.”She acknowledged it is “an industry that’s not been regulated for 20 years” and told of her own personal experiences.She told BBC Breakfast: “I limit my use of social media because I know that in the position I’m in I would get a lot of abuse, and I’ve had that in the past.“I think there are many women who feel the same way.”But she insisted Parliament has been more ambitious than other countries when passing the Online Safety Act, adding “and in the regulator, at Ofcom, you have an organisation that is determined to see it through, and is acting”.Ofcom has said it will publish a report in summer 2027, setting out progress companies have made.But it added: “If their action falls short, we will consider making formal recommendations to Government on where the Online Safety Act may need to be strengthened.”Ms Kendall said: “Tech companies have the ability and the technical tools to block and delete online misogyny. If they fail to act, they’re not just bystanders, they’re complicit in creating spaces where sexism festers and a society where abuse against women and girls becomes normalised.”Earlier this year, Sport England chairman Chris Boardman wrote to Ofcom to raise concerns over the online abuse directed against the England Women’s team during Euro 2025.Meanwhile, Parliament’s youngest female MP Rosie Wrighting has previously spoken of several insults directed at her, such as “Barbie” and “stupid girl”, and said there have been “many great women” who have not gone into politics because of online abuse and safety concerns. More