UK Politics

Rachel Reeves is reportedly considering bringing in new higher bands of council tax to target the owners of expensive homes.With weeks to go until her crunch Budget, the chancellor is hoping that the new higher council tax bands will help her plug a hole in the nation’s finances worth tens of billions of pounds. No decisions have been taken, but Ms Reeves has said higher taxes on the wealthy will be “part of the story” in November 26’s Budget. The chancellow Rachel Reeves(Jordan Pettitt/PA) More

Zarah Sultana has said that Your Party “can win power”, despite a turbulent start for the new left-wing movement. Ms Sultana, who founded the party with ex-Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, told the BBC that she sees it as “a 10, 20, 30-year project”, after the party has been beset with internal rows since its inception. Speaking to the broadcaster’s Political Thinking podcast, the Coventry South MP – who quit Labour to found the party earlier this year – said: “I’m in politics because of a desire to change people’s lives for the better, and that means winning state power, that means actually running government. “We’re building a party of the left that can win power and deliver justice.” The party has faced rows over leadership, financing, and what it will be called since its inception in the summer. The outfit has nevertheless attracted tens of thousands of sign-ups. Ms Sultana told the same podcast that she had been advocating for it to be known as “The Left” or “The Left Party”. The name is expected to be chosen by members. “I don’t think they will go for The Left Party, despite my strong advocacy for it,” Ms Sultana said. “And I’m going to obviously support whatever the members decide. But I think embracing our politics and being proud of who we are on the left as socialists, and then going out and knocking on doors and delivering that vision is incredibly important.” Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana have had a rocky start to setting up the new party More

Just two per cent of councils in England believe the government’s new funding commitment to help struggling households will be enough to meet rapidly growing need, a shocking new survey has revealed.Labour has pledged £1 billion a year for at least three years to local authorities through its new Crisis and Resilience Fund. This will replace the Household Support Fund – used by councils to support low-income households – and Discretionary Housing Payments, which are one-off grants to help with housing costs.Councils in England have been allocated £842 million through the new fund for next year, up from £835 million in 2025/26 granted through the two schemes it will replace. While this is a nominal increase of £7 million, it would amount to a real-terms cut of £34.2m based on September’s inflation rate.The vast majority (98%) of local authorities are not confident this funding will meet local need to a great extent, the survey by the Local Government Association (LGA) reveals. Two-thirds also say they have seen household’s financial hardship increase over the past year, and expect this trend to continue.Announcing the Crisis and Resilience Fund earlier this year, the government said the longer-term funding approach was being put in place to enable local authorities to provide preventative support and deliver on its manifesto commitment to end mass dependence on emergency food parcels.Labour has pledged £1 billion a year for at least three years to local authorities through its new Crisis and Resilience Fund (Dominic Lipinski/PA) More

Ministers still do not know when RAF jets will be able to carry nuclear weapons or how much the project will cost, the Commons spending watchdog has found.In a report published on Friday, the influential Commons Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said the Ministry of Defence (MoD) had still not set out how much it would cost to operate new F-35A jets.Sir Keir Starmer announced at the Nato summit in June that the UK would purchase 12 of the jets, which could join the alliance’s airborne nuclear mission.The committee said the project was still “at an early stage”, with the MoD “starting to understand” the requirements of being certified for the Nato nuclear mission.The MoD told the committee that the F-35As were “20 per cent to 25 per cent cheaper” than the F-35Bs currently operated by the RAF and Royal Navy “and slightly cheaper to support”.But with the additional training and personnel required to join the nuclear mission, the committee said it was a “reasonable assumption that this may end up proving more expensive”.One of Britain’s F-35B jets at RAF Marham in Norfolk More

Rachel Reeves has taken full responsibility for her failure to get the correct licence to rent her south London property, as crucial new emails were passed to the prime minister and his ethics adviser.With one of the most consequential Budgets in recent history less than a month away, the chancellor has found herself under scrutiny for potentially breaking the law.Ms Reeves was thrown a lifeline when her estate agent issued a statement admitting a mistake and apologising.An email from Harvey & Wheeler to Ms Reeves’s husband appeared to show the firm had offered to obtain the licence on their behalf. Sir Keir Starmer has told Ms Reeves she will face no further action over her “inadvertent failure” to obtain a rental licence, even though it was “regrettable” emails about the arrangement had not been shared with him initially.The estate agent used by Rachel Reeves to rent out her south London property has apologised for an oversight that meant a rental licence was not applied for More

Nigel Farage has expressed his sadness after a community in his constituency was once again named England’s most deprived neighbourhood, describing parts of it as “very depressed”.The latest official data confirms that an area of the coastal village of Jaywick, near Clacton-on-Sea in the Tendring local authority of Essex, has been classed the most deprived for the fourth consecutive time. Nigel Farage on the 2024 campaign trail in Jaywick, Essex More

Rachel Reeves’ tenants could be in line for tens of thousands of pounds rent refund after the chancellor failed to secure the correct licence to rent out her family home. Ms Reeves apologised and applied for the correct paperwork after it emerged on Wednesday that she had broken local council housing rules when she rented out the property in Dulwich, south London, after moving into 11 Downing Street. Under Southwark Council rules, the chancellor should have applied for a “selective” licence when she put her house up for rent. She has said her failure to do so was an “inadvertent mistake”. According to the council, tenants of an “unlicensed property” may be able to apply for a rent repayment order and get money back from the landlord if the property has been lived in in the last 12 months. Chancellor Rachel Reeves has admitted to not obtaining a required ‘selective’ rental licence for her south London home More

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has admitted to an “inadvertent mistake” of not obtaining a required “selective” rental licence for her south London home when she moved to No. 11 Downing Street.Ms Reeves apologised for the error and confirmed she has now applied for the licence.Here are the rules and the possible consequences of not having the right licence.What is selective licensing?Local authorities in England and Wales have the power to introduce a licensing scheme covering all privately rented properties in a certain area.It is designed to safeguard tenants against landlords letting out poorly-maintained properties, but it also might be introduced because of concerns about persistent anti-social behaviour problems in rental homes.If a private landlord wants to rent out a property in that designated area, then they have to apply to obtain a licence.Local authorities have the power to introduce a licensing scheme More