UK Politics

Your support helps us to tell the storyThis election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.CloseRead moreCloseThe Conservative Party has left itself unable to make any significant comments on Labour’s first Budget, as a consequence of its unfinished leadership race. Speaking to journalists after Wednesday’s Budget, a Conservative spokesperson said they wouldn’t be making detailed comments on the fiscal event – which saw the most significant tax rises in any Budget since 1993 – as a result of the ongoing leadership election.The contest will draw to a close on Saturday, with either Robert Jenrick or rival Kemi Badenoch being crowned the winner – the timing of which means the party is unable to properly criticise the first Labour Budget for 14 years, which saw chancellor Rachel Reeves unveil £40bn worth of tax rises.Referring to the two contenders, the spokesperson said: “I haven’t spoken to either of them about it and I don’t want to get into committing them to things that we need time to think through.”While the official spokesperson offered a few broad remarks on the fiscal statement, saying the party “wouldn’t have spent as much” and “would have made bigger savings on welfare”, they declined to offer any further commentary.The Tory leadership race will come to an end on Saturday with either Robert Jenrick or Kemi Badenoch being chosen More

Your support helps us to tell the storyThis election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.CloseRead moreCloseTV presenter Kirstie Allsopp has accused the chancellor of ushering in the break-up of farms and estates by imposing a new 20 per cent inheritance tax on such assets over £1m.Farming and landowner organisations also warned the change, announced in Wednesday’s Budget, would lead to the “death of the family farm” because owners would sell up to pay the tax.Rachel Reeves said from April 2026, the first £1m of combined business and agricultural assets would continue to attract no inheritance tax, but for assets over that sum inheritance tax would apply.Property expert Ms Allsopp said the decision threatened great estates, writing on social media platform X: “Rachel Reeves had f****d all farmers, she has destroyed their ability to pass farms on to their children, and broken the future of all our great estates.“It is an appalling decision which shows the government has zero understanding of what matters to rural voters.”Kirstie Allsopp criticised the Budget decision on inheritance tax on social media More

Your support helps us to tell the storyThis election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.CloseRead moreCloseChancellor Rachel Reeves has defied calls to reform child benefit and change the way it is calculated – which money expert Martin Lewis branded “bad news” for single-earner families.Child benefit will continue to be based on individual income rather than household income, meaning anyone earning £60,000 or more before tax each year must pay a high-income charge above that threshold.In a couple where they both earn £60,000 or more, whoever earns the most must pay the charge – regardless of who claims child benefit.Child benefit is withdrawn if the income of the higher-earning partner reaches £80,000 a year.Single parents have complained the system is ‘unfair’. Stock image More

Your support helps us to tell the storyThis election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.CloseRead moreCloseChancellor Rachel Reeves hopes her historic rise in tax, coupled with spending on the NHS and other investments, will kickstart the economy and get Britain’s debt under control.The level of her ambition and the size of the mountain she must climb can be seen in the numbers. Britain owes £2.7 trillion – an amount set to creep up each year through the rest of this parliament, and growth is expected to be no more than 2 per cent over the same period.Ms Reeves plans on raising tax by £40bn, much of it from businesses. She will spend £22.6bn more on the NHS to get it back on its feet.Paul Johnson of the Institute for Fiscal Studies said her gamble is twofold.“The first gamble is that a big cash injection for public services over the next two years will be enough to turn performance around,” he said. If she gets it wrong, she will need to raise taxes again. If she gets it right, it could mean growth.“Which brings us to the second gamble: that this extra borrowing will be worthwhile,” he added.Will the chancellor’s big gamble pay off? More

Your support helps us to tell the storyThis election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.CloseRead moreCloseRachel Reeves gambled on a £40bn tax rise in Wednesday’s historic Budget in a bid to boost public services and grow the economy.She told the House of Commons that the increase – a record sum, equalled only by Norman Lamont in 1993 – coupled with a massive £32bn in extra borrowing was vital to “fix broken Britain”. Ms Reeves, the first woman in the 803-year existence of the office of chancellor of the Exchequer, delivered the first Labour Budget in 14 years to cheers from her own benches, as she blamed a “toxic Tory legacy” for the measures she was forced to take.A confident-looking Reeves mocked opponents during a 77-minute speech that included swipes at Rishi Sunak’s fondness for private jets and at her predecessor Kwasi Kwarteng describing his notorious mini-Budget as “not perfect”.Rachel Reeves delivered her first Budget to cheers from her own benches More