UK Politics

Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UKSign up to our Brexit email for the latest insightLabour’s plans to end tax emptions for fee paying independent schools cannot be challenged in the courts because of Brexit, a leading expert has claimed.Dan Niedle, founder of thinktank Tax Policy Associates, has warned that Reform UK leader Richard Tice’s plans to challenge Labour in the courts will fail because of his previous successful campaign to leave the European Union.Labour want to end the charity status of private schools meaning that parents will have to pay 20 percent VAT on top of the already eye watering annual fees which, according to financial advisers St James Place, averaged £20,480 for day pupils and £34,790 for boarders in 2022.There are believed to be around 615,000 children in the UK’s 1,300 independent schools, some 7 per cent of all British school-age children and 18 per cent of pupils over the age of 16. Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves said she was a ‘social democrat’ when asked if she was a socialist (Stefan Rousseau/PA) More

ToryministerMark Harper was asked if his party “has a problem with young people” as he was grilled on the Conservative plans to bring back national service.The transport secretary was quizzed on his party’s plans by Victoria Derbyshire when he appeared on BBC Newsnight on Tuesday (28 May).Referring to the Consevative’s pledge to bring back national service, the extension of student loan repayment terms and rising rent costs, Ms Derbyshire asked: “Have the Tories got a problem with young people?”Mr Harper responded: “No, not at all.” More

The investigation process into Diane Abbott was “designed to humiliate” her, Tony Blair’s former director of political operations has said.John McTernan, who advised Blair from 2005 to 2007, said whoever is responsible for the investigation into Ms Abbott should “hang their heads in shame” when he was interviewed on Times Radio today (29 May).Ms Abbott has said that the Labour Party will ban her from standing as a candidate at the upcoming general election.The MP for Hackney North had the party whip restored on Tuesday after she was suspended last April over a letter she wrote in The Observer suggesting Jewish people are not subjected to the same racism as some other minorities. More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailA white Labour candidate who publicly apologised after making a racist joke privately described criticism of the incident as a “smear campaign” against him, The Independent can reveal.Darren Rodwell, whose rant was compared to a racist comedy show in the mid-1970s, said at the time his remarks were “extremely stupid and embarrassing”.“I deeply apologise to anyone that I have offended,” he said after a clip of the 2019 remarks surfaced in October 2022.But, just days later, an email seen by The Independent reveals he told a potential constituent that he was in fact being smeared. Darren Rodwell, who is white, said he has ‘the worst tan possible for a Black man’ More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailDiane Abbott says she has been barred from standing as a Labour candidate at the general election.The veteran Labour MP had the party whip restored on Tuesday, but will not be able to stand for it on 4 July, she told the BBC.Ms Abbott was suspended last April over a letter she wrote in The Observer suggesting Jewish people are not subjected to the same racism as some other minorities.The former shadow home secretary under Jeremy Corbyn immediately apologised over her comments and said the letter had been an “initial draft”.Diane Abbott has confirmed she is barred from standing for Labour in the general election More

Bim Afolami defended Conservative Party smears of Angela Rayner after it was announced the police would be taking no further action over the house row.The deputy Labour leader had faced claims she may have broken electoral law and dodged council tax because of the way she and her then-husband used separate homes.Greater Manchester Police and Stockport Council both confirmed on Tuesday (28 May) they would take no further action against the Ashton-under-Lyne MP.Economic secretary Mr Afolami was asked if he would like to apologise to Ms Rayner when he appeared on Sky News, telling presenter Sophie Ridge: “No, I’ve got nothing else to add.” More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailRishi Sunak is pledging to create 100,000 more apprenticeships a year by shutting down “rip-off degrees” as he battles to remain in No 10.The prime minister wants to see the worst-performing university courses replaced with high-skilled apprenticeships if the Conservatives retain power after the General Election.He will say that his party is “offering our young people the employment opportunities and financial security they need to thrive” as he seeks to narrow Labour’s double-digit lead in the polls.Rishi Sunak said ‘improving education is the closest thing we have to a silver bullet for boosting life chances’ More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailRishi Sunak’s proposal to enforce national service for teenagers is “hare-brained” and would only serve to deplete Britain’s defence capabilities, a former head of the Royal Navy has warned.Writing in The Independent, the former head of the Royal Navy, Admiral Lord West, said the Tories’ general election plan showed Mr Sunak did not understand the level of danger the UK currently faces.In their first major policy pledge since Mr Sunak hastily announced the election on Wednesday, the Conservatives unveiled plans to reintroduce national service, with school leavers being given the option of either joining the military for a year or doing part-time voluntary service in the community.In what has widely been seen as a bid to attract Reform voters, the policy – rejected by a government minister only days earlier as a drain on military resources – would see 30,000 teenagers given full-time roles in the armed forces each year.The Tories pledged to set up a royal commission to work out the details if elected on 4 July, but insist their plan would cost £2.5bn – and propose raiding key levelling up and post-EU funding to pay for it.But Lord West, who was First Sea Lord from 2002 to 2006, warned that “anyone with the most basic experience of how much it costs, and what it entails, to turn a new recruit into someone that can usefully serve in our armed forces would not need a royal commission to tell them that the proposal as currently presented is utter nonsense”.“This ill-thought out conscription scheme will increase pressure on defence and waste money,” the former Navy chief wrote, adding: “Rather than enhancing our defence capability, it would further reduce it.”Britain’s military has shrunk by a third and satisfaction with service life, pay and morale have plunged across the board since the Tories entered power in 2010, Lord West said – accusing Mr Sunak of having ignored these while chancellor and only acting in the headlights of a general election. Rishi Sunak ‘does not understand the level of danger that our country is facing’, warned Admiral Lord West More