UK Politics

The government has failed to gather basic information such as whether people leave the UK after their visas expire or how many might have stayed to work illegally, the chairman of a cross-party committee of MPs said.The Public Accounts Committee (Pac), which examines the value for money of government projects, said the Home Office had failed to analyse exit checks since the skilled worker visa route was introduced by the Tories in 2020. Some 1.18 million people applied to come to the UK on this route – designed to attract skilled workers in the wake of Brexit – between its launch in December of that year and the end of 2024.Around 630,000 of those were dependents of the main visa applicant.But the Pac said there is both a lack of knowledge around what people do when their visas expire and that the expansion of the route in 2022 to attract staff for the struggling social care sector led to the exploitation of some migrant workers. The news is another blow to the government’s plans to take control of immigration and comes just days after new figures showed that a record number of people crossed the Channel in small boats in the first six months of this year More

A former Labour MP has announced her intention to co-lead the formation of a new political party with Jeremy Corbyn, the ex-Labour leader. Zarah Sultana, whose Labour whip was suspended last year, confirmed her resignation from Sir Keir Starmer’s party.In a statement posted on X, formerly Twitter, Ms Sultana, who represents Coventry South, stated the initiative would also involve “other independent MPs, campaigners and activists across the country”. She criticised the current political landscape, asserting that “Westminster is broken but the real crisis is deeper” and that the “two-party system offers nothing but managed decline and broken promises”.Ms Sultana added: “A year ago, I was suspended by the Labour Party for voting to abolish the two-child benefit cap and lift 400,000 children out of poverty. “I’d do it again. I voted against scrapping winter fuel payments for pensioners. I’d do it again. “Now, the government wants to make disabled people suffer; they just can’t decide how much.”Zarah Sultana recently compared Sir Keir Starmer’s defence of activists as a barrister to the crackdown on Palestine Action More

Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves hugged each other as they launched their new plan for the NHS and put behind them a troubled week which saw markets panic over the chancellor’s future.The united front came after the chancellor’s tears in the Commons on Wednesday threatened to plunge the Labour government into turmoil following the chaos of the welfare reform vote.In a bid to ease shattered nerves, the chancellor made a surprise appearance at the launch of the NHS 10 Year Health Plan in Stratford, east London, after the prime minister had moved overnight to guarantee her future in the Treasury.Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves share a hug More

Sir Keir Starmer has announced his latest U-turn: a £5bn change of course over his flagship welfare bill. With just minutes to go before MPs were set to vote on an already watered down welfare bill, he confirmed plans abandon a key plank of the reforms in order to get them through parliament and avoid a mass rebellion from his own MPs. The U-turn left the prime minister’s authority battered and left the chancellor with a gaping hole in the public finances. As Sir Keir marks one year in office,The Independent looks at all the times he has U-turned on his promises or let voters down. Sir Keir Starmer has been repeatedly accused of u-turning on key issues More

The weekly session in which the British prime minister is questioned by lawmakers in Parliament can be an ordeal for the government leader. For Cabinet members, it’s usually simply a matter of backing their boss.But on Wednesday the spotlight ended up on Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves during the Prime Minister’s Questions session because it became evident that she was crying as she sat beside Prime Minister Keir Starmer. It’s not known what triggered the tears, later said to have been personal. They came as Starmer sought to fend off attacks that his year-old government was losing its authority and that he was about to fire Reeves to regain the initiative. Markets spooked Traders got spooked, with the interest rate charged on the U.K.’s 10-year benchmark bond in the markets up sharply, and the pound down. The moves were a sign investors had lost confidence in U.K. financial assets.Reeves had become associated with fiscal discipline, in particular a rule of covering day-to-day government spending with tax revenue, said Andrew Wishart, an economist at Berenberg Bank. “The markets are concerned that if the Chancellor goes, such fiscal discipline would follow her out of the door,” he added.With Starmer insisting Thursday that Reeves would remain in post, the markets calmed down. Prime minister’s weekly ordeal Prime Minister’s Questions, or PMQs, can come as close to a gladiatorial contest as is possible in a modern legislative chamber. Very little deference is given to the man or woman holding the highest office in the land. The prime minister is considered the first among equals. Like all other members of Parliament, the prime minister represents one of 650 constituencies. And nowhere is that shared connection more noticeable than at noon every Wednesday in the House of Commons.Starmer stands for half an hour every week to be quizzed by friends and foes. He may get soft balls, but there’s always a potential zinger around the corner. The leader of the biggest opposition party, currently the Conservative Party’s Kemi Badenoch, has the best chance to knock the prime minister off course. With six questions, she can lay traps and go for the jugular. Typically it’s more theater than substance, and the weekly shouting match is consistently the most-watched parliamentary event, viewed around the world, including on C-Span in the United States. This week was fraught This week’s session appeared to have more at stake than usual following a chaotic run-up to a welfare reform bill. With scores of Labour lawmakers opposed, Starmer was forced to scrap key planks of the bill — at a cost, politically and economically.For a prime minister, with one of the biggest majorities in history, it was a sign of weakness. Many Labour MPs blame Reeves, for her rigid adherence to her budget rules. As usual, Starmer was flanked to his left by Reeves, who didn’t look her usual self, clearly bloated around the eyes. Badenoch showed little mercy, describing Reeves as “absolutely miserable” and a “human shield” for Starmer. She asked Starmer whether he could repeat a pledge that Reeves would stay in her post until the general election, which has to take place by the middle of 2029. While praising Reeves’ handling of the economy, Starmer didn’t give that assurance, and it was around this point that Reeves wiped away a tear.“How awful for the Chancellor that he couldn’t confirm that she would stay in place,” Badenoch responded. The immediate political aftermath Starmer’s Downing Street operation faced questions over Reeves’ teary appearance. Could it have been hay fever? Had Starmer told Reeves she would be fired for the government’s recent woes, which has seen Labour’s approval ratings slide? Starmer’s press spokesman said it was a “personal matter,” insisted Reeves was “going nowhere” and had the prime minister’s “full backing.” Later, Starmer told the BBC that Reeves would be Chancellor for a “very long time” and that it was “absolutely wrong” to suggest her distress was related to the welfare U-turn. A day on Images of Reeves’ agitated state were emblazoned across newspapers and remained a key item on the news agenda. Starmer repeated on Thursday that Reeves would remain Chancellor “for years to come” and sought to explain why he hadn’t comforted Reeves during PMQs.“In PMQs, it is bang, bang, bang,” he said at an event where he and Reeves hugged. “That’s what it was yesterday and therefore I was probably the last to appreciate anything going on in the chamber.”Reeves appeared more like her usual self.“People saw I was upset, but that was yesterday,” she told Sky News. “I guess the thing that is different from my job and many of your viewers is that when I’m having a tough day, it’s on the telly.” More

If there were any doubts about Sir Keir Starmer’s plans for Rachel Reeves, the prime minister and his chancellor have gone all out to try and put them to bed. A day after she sat crying through Prime Minister’s Questions on live television, the chancellor sat smiling and cheering through the prime minister’s speech outlining a 10-year plan for the NHS. For his part, Sir Keir shouted “wahey” as Ms Reeves got to her speech to lay the financial framework for the plan. The PM and Rachel Reeves hugged to put rumours of a split to bed More

Rachel Reeves makes first public appearance after breaking down in tears in the CommonsRachel Reeves has appeared in public with Sir Keir Starmer a day after breaking down in tears alongside the prime minister in the Commons.The pair were both at the launch of the government’s 10-year plan for the NHS in London.Speaking to broadcasters following following the launch, Ms Reeves declined to give the reason behind her tears.“Clearly I was upset yesterday and everyone could see that. It was a personal issue and I’m not going to go into the details of that,” the chancellor said.“My job as chancellor at 12 o’clock on a Wednesday is to be at PMQs next to the prime minister, supporting the government and that’s what I tried to do.“I guess the thing that maybe is a bit different between my job and many of your viewers’ is that when I’m having a tough day it’s on the telly and most people don’t have to deal with that.” She appeared to reject suggestions that her tears at PMQs were related to a conversation with Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle or another member of government.Can Labour survive its identity crisis? Ask chief political commentator John Rentoul anythingLabour’s internal rift has burst into full view. Sir Keir Starmer’s push on welfare reform has sparked open rebellion—from both loyalists and Corbynites – exposing the party’s deepest tensions.The flashpoint? Disability benefits. The fallout? Starmer’s authority dented, his party divided. Only Angela Rayner seems to have gained ground, fuelling fresh leadership speculation.So, can Labour survive this identity crisis—or is the party tearing itself apart?Join The Independent’s chief political commentator John Rentoul live at 2pm BST, Friday 4 July for a no-holds-barred Q&A on Labour’s future, Starmer’s struggles, and what’s next for the opposition.Ask your question or follow along here.3 July 2025 15:29Watch | Reeves says she was ‘clearly upset’ at PMQs and reasserts it was ‘a personal issue’Reeves says she was ‘clearly upset’ at PMQs and reasserts it was ‘a personal issue’Jabed Ahmed3 July 2025 14:59Which tax rises could Rachel Reeves introduce to pay for the £5bn welfare U-turn? Our Political Correspondent Millie Cooke takes a look below: Jabed Ahmed3 July 2025 14:38Hunt welcomes NHS planFormer Tory health secretary Sir Jeremy Hunt has welcomed the Labour government’s NHS 10-year plan.Sir Jeremy said: “There is much to welcome in today’s plan, particularly bringing back family doctors, which is something that I tried – and frankly did not succeed – in doing when I was doing his role, so we all wish him well.”He emphasised that the Care Quality Commission (CQC) must maintain its overall rating system to avoid another Mid Staffs scandal, in which hundreds of patients died as a result of poor care at Stafford Hospital between 2005 and 2009.Former health secretary Jeremy Hunt (Peter Byrne/PA) More

This week’s embarrassing climbdown on welfare saw the government’s benefits reforms gutted almost entirely, while savings from the bill were slashed from £5bn to nothing. In the wake of the U-turn, there are now growing questions over how the government will raise the money to fill the black hole in the public finances.Ministers have already squeezed significant savings out of their departments in cuts that were unveiled at last month’s spending review, meaning there is now a mounting expectation that the chancellor will be forced to raise taxes instead. But Labour’s manifesto pledge not to raise taxes on “working people” leaves the chancellor with a limited number of workable options. A few possibilities were floated by deputy prime minister Angela Rayner in a leaked memo to Rachel Reeves ahead of the spring statement, which saw her urge the chancellor to raise taxes – suggestions which were ignored. But perhaps this week’s welfare climbdown will leave the chancellor with no option but to look again at Rayner’s suggestions. Here, The Independent takes a look at a number of tax rises that the government could rely on to raise funds and balance the books. Tax threshold freezes The Treasury’s most likely move would be to extend the freeze on income tax thresholds. This means that as wages rise with inflation, over the years workers are dragged into higher tax bands and end up paying more. A freeze on the threshold at which the higher 45 per cent tax rate is paid was one of the options suggested by Ms Rayner in her leaked memo. But there is growing speculation the government could extend the freeze across all tax brackets. It’s a stealth tax, the impacts of which are not felt immediately, meaning it is normally better received among the general public compared with a direct hit to businesses or pay slips. But, if the freeze were extended to the end of the parliament, it could also bring in billions for the Treasury as earnings rise. The freeze, which is already planned to last until 2028, is expected to drag around two million workers into higher tax bands.Wealth tax There have been calls from Labour MPs on the left of the party to introduce a wealth tax, calls which have only grown in the wake of Tuesday’s welfare climbdown. Rachael Maskell, the architect of the rebellion which forced the government into shelving key pillars of the bill, demanded the government increase taxes on the very richest to pay for the £5bn climbdown. Polling conducted by YouGov on behalf of Oxfam on the eve of the spring statement found more than three-quarters of people (77 per cent) would rather the government increase taxes on the very richest to improve public finances than see cuts to public spending. However, such a tax – which could look like a 2 per cent tax on net assets worth more than £10m – is thought to be very hard to implement, and could also lead to some of Britain’s highest earners leaving the country. Ms Rayner also called for the lifetime pensions allowance to be reinstated. The allowance, which puts a cap on how much savers can put into their pension pot before a higher rate of tax is applied, was axed by the Tories. Labour had initially planned to reinstate the cap, but the plans were abandoned ahead of the election. However, amid the controversy over cutting winter fuel payments – and then later reversing the decision – the government may be hesitant to introduce any other policies which would upset pensioners. Corporation tax The chancellor could also look at increasing corporation tax for banks – one of the suggestions included in the deputy prime minister’s memo. Politically, its fairly easy to tax banks as there is limited direct impact on voters. But it’s important to note that banks in the UK are already highly taxed. They pay normal corporation tax of 25 per cent, plus a bank surcharge of 3 per cent. On top of this, they pay a bank levy of 0.1 per cent of their balance sheets. The deputy prime minister also proposed raising tax rates on dividends – a portion of a company’s earnings received by a shareholder – for higher earners. Currently, tax is not paid on dividend income that falls within your income tax Personal Allowance. There is also a £500 dividend allowance each year, meaning individuals only pay tax on any dividend income above this. Removing it altogether would be worth £325 million a year, HMRC data indicates. However, there are concerns that raising dividend tax rates could discourage people from investing in companies – which is likely to have a net negative impact on the economy. Ms Rayner also suggested ending inheritance tax relief on shares listed on the smaller Aim stock market. The Aim stock market is a sub-market of the London Stock Exchange. From April 2026, qualifying Aim shares held at the time of death will be eligible for 50 per cent relief from inheritance tax – but Ms Rayner has suggested ending this entirely. While these changes might make businesses uncomfortable, they’re actually unlikely to raise much money for the Treasury – meaning it’s a less likely option for the chancellor. More