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Support trulyindependent journalismFind out moreCloseOur mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.Louise ThomasEditorThe latest figure reported to be lining up a bid to take over The Telegraph newspaper group is former Tory chancellor Nadhim Zahawi. Mr Zahawi stepped down from his Stratford-on-Avon seat ahead of the general election, and is now reported to have approached several billionaire backers to help finance a £600 million deal for the newspaper.Telegraph Media Group is seeking a buyer after its proposed takeover by an Abu Dhabi-backed fund was blocked by Rishi Sunak’s Tory government earlier this year.Who is Nadhim Zahawi?Mr Zahawi is a multimillionaire former businessman who had a meteoric rise to political power.Born in Iraq to a Kurdish family, Mr Zahawi arrived in England aged nine, unable to speak English, when his parents fled the regime of Saddam Hussein.He grew up in Sussex and studied chemical engineering at University College London.In 2000, Mr Zahawi co-founded the YouGov polling company, staying involved in its running for a decade and amassing significant wealth.His financial affairs came under the spotlight in 2023 amid claims he avoided tax using an offshore company registered in Gibraltar to hold shares in YouGov.It followed an investigation into his financial affairs that was first revealed by The Independent in 2022.He first denied the allegations before admitting more than a year later he paid nearly £5m to HMRC to settle his tax affairs.The former chancellor told the BBC he had paid the sum after making what he called a “careless mistake” with the tax he paid on the sales of shares in YouGov.Rishi Sunak sacked him as Tory chairman in January 2023 after he was found to have breached the ministerial code by failing to declare the HMRC investigation.Parliamentary and government careerMr Zahawi is believed to have been one of the richest politicians in the House of Commons.He first entered Parliament in 2010 as the Tory MP for Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire.He spent nearly eight years on the backbenches, gaining media attention in 2013 for claiming expenses for heating stables for his horses.Getting his first junior minister role in the Department for Education under Theresa May in 2018, he rose up the ranks to become education secretary.But it was when he was promoted to help lead the government’s Covid-19 vaccine roll-out in 2020 that he rose to prominence.Mr Zahawi was appointed chancellor by Boris Johnson, hours after Mr Sunak’s resignation from the role, and the day before the scandal-plagued then-prime minister was forced to quit.He made a doomed attempt to replace Mr Johnson in the Tory leadership race.When Liz Truss emerged victorious, she appointed Mr Zahawi as chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.After her premiership imploded, Mr Zahawi initially announced he would be backing Mr Johnson to return as PM, before switching allegiance to Mr Sunak on the same day, after the former leader said he would not be entering the contest.He stepped down from his Stratford-on-Avon seat in May, saying he wanted “a new, energetic Conservative” to take over. More

Support trulyindependent journalismFind out moreCloseOur mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.Louise ThomasEditorLabour should remove the two-child benefit cap “immediately” to lift thousands of children out of poverty, MPs have said.Chancellor Rachel Reeves has come under pressure from her party’s backbenchers to lift the cap, which prevents almost all parents from claiming universal credit or child tax credit for a third child. The policy, which was brought in by David Cameron’s Conservative government, impacted 450,000 households and 1.6 million children last year according to official figures.Labour MP for Liverpool Riverside Kim Johnson has tabled an amendment to the King’s Speech that would scrap the cap, with the proposal currently backed by 29 MPs. She told The Independent that the level of child poverty in her constituency was “unacceptable” and these children “can’t wait two years for a decision to be made”. She added: “Removing the two-child cap needs to be done and it needs to be done immediately”.Her comments come as education secretary Bridget Phillipson said on Monday morning that she would consider scrapping the cap as part of the newly established Child Poverty Taskforce. The review was set up by prime minister Sir Keir Starmer last week in an apparent attempt to appease backbench MPs who want bolder action on child poverty. A boy plays in the street near the Heron Cross pottery kiln in Stoke on Trent, England. 1.6 million children were affected by the two-child benefit cap last year, government figures show. More

Support trulyindependent journalismFind out moreCloseOur mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.Louise ThomasEditorGordon Brown’s multibank will be officially launched in London this week amid concerns over rising child poverty across the capital.The opening of Felix’s Multibank, the first in London, is being backed by the former prime minister and mayor Sadiq Khan. The scheme works like a food bank but also provides non-perishable goods such as cleaning products, toys and clothing and they have been established in areas such as Swansea, Greater Manchester and Fife. The West London-based multibank, due to open this week, is expected to help thousands of families with supplies sourced from the food industry which would otherwise go to waste. Earlier this week, The Independent revealed shocking reports of multiple families, who were being housed in awful conditions in hotels, being labelled “intentionally homeless” by councils in London. Mr Brown told The Guardian, “The London Felix Multibank is the fourth of six that will be opened by the end of this year across Britain. It is opening at a time of transition from a Britain where child poverty has risen dramatically to one where we wish to see child poverty falling.” “As a new anti-poverty plan is being prepared, the multibanks still need to secure more supplies and more funds from generous donors so that, working with food banks, we can provide poverty relief.”Multibank opens in Swansea, Wales More

Support trulyindependent journalismFind out moreCloseOur mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.Louise ThomasEditorThe new Labour government confirmed its commitment to uphold plans for a UK smoking ban in the King’s Speech on Wednesday.The measure, which will raise the legal smoking age by one year, every year, means anyone born on or after 1 January 2009 will never be able to purchase tobacco legally.It will also impose limits on the sale and marketing of vapes.While the policy was first introduced by former Tory prime minister Rishi Sunak, Sir Keir Starmer has pledged to see it through to legislation.The bill gained cross-party support when it was first introduced by Sunak and has been dubbed the “greatest piece of public health legislation in a generation”.MPs voted in favour of the bill by 383 votes to 67 in April. However, the bill was dropped as the general election was called before it could make its way through the legislature.Following the King’s Speech, here we take a look at the current British smoking laws and how they could change:People currently under the age of 14 will never be able to smoke legally under new proposals More

Support trulyindependent journalismFind out moreCloseOur mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.Louise ThomasEditorThe largest food bank in Westminster, home of the Houses of Parliament, has called for an end to subsidised “fine dining” for MPs, suggesting funds be redirected to combating poverty. The North Paddington food bank (NPFB) has launched the campaign “No Food in The House” urging Parliament to use the millions spent on subsidised catering for MPs to tackle food insecurity across the country. Politicians could enjoy a full three-course meal for as little as £10.41 last year, according to the charity, costing the taxpayer a reported £7million a year. Catering services in the Houses of Parliament run at a loss, so public money is effectively spent bankrolling politicians’ lunches.As well as MPs, there are around there are 14,000 parliamentary pass-holding staff who can eat and drink in parliament’s bars and restaurants. The North Paddington food bank (NPFB) has launched the campaign ‘No Food in The House’ More

Support trulyindependent journalismFind out moreCloseOur mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.Louise ThomasEditorUkrainian refugee parents barred from bringing their two-year-old daughter to Britain after the UK’s sponsorship rules were suddenly tightened will now be reunited with their child after a government U-turn.Oleksandra and Yaroslav, both aged 31, decided to leave their daughter Anna with her grandparents in Kyiv while getting set up with their own accommodation and establishing a new business after arriving in Britain under the Homes for Ukraine scheme in April 2022.But after they overcame these hurdles, their application in April this year for Anna to join them was refused by the Home Office on the grounds that – as per rule changes brought in without warning in February – they were no longer eligible sponsors, being neither UK or Irish citizens nor having indefinite leave to remain.However, after Anna’s case was highlighted by The Independent and raised by the charity Settled with senior Home Office figures, her parents were given sponsor checks and the toddler’s visa was finally approved on 18 June.“I’m feeling relieved it’s finally sorted and we can live a normal life – I’m very happy about it,” Anna’s mother Oleksandra told The Independent, after months of worry. But despite the U-turn in Anna’s case, the rules preventing other Ukrainians from sponsoring close family members still remain in place – prompting Oleksandra, Labour peer Lord Dubs and multiple frontline charities to urge Sir Keir Starmer’s new government to urgently reinstate their right to do so.Kate Smart, chief executive at Settled, said: “We are so pleased that Anna has now been granted a visa and that this family can now be reunited in safety. This follows Settled’s intervention with a senior Home Office contact, and our sharing this story in national media. “However, the unfortunate changes to Homes For Ukraine rules made in February still stand – so it’s likely that other families will still be prevented from sponsoring their children. Prior to February’s changes, Ukrainians with more than six months left on their visa could act as sponsors More

Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the worldSign up to our free Morning Headlines emailLabour has promised to investigate the exploitation of migrant workers in the UK social care sector if elected to government. Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper has said she would back calls by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) for a full investigation into the treatment of migrant workers who have been left trapped in the UK with tens of thousands of pounds of debt. Her comments come after a Guardian investigation found that Indian nationals were paying thousands of pounds to immigration agents to secure health care worker visas to the UK. On arrival in the UK almost all were told that they could not be provided with full-time employment, and many are now stuck in the country, unable to earn enough to pay off their debts. Some paid up to £20,000 to come to the UK to work in the social care sector, the investigation found. Some Indian care workers paid thousands of pounds to middlemen for jobs that did not materialise More

Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the worldSign up to our free Morning Headlines emailLabour is pledging it will get working within months of election victory to build clean power that will “turn the page” on the cost-of-living crisis.Sir Keir Starmer will warn that “family financial security depends on energy security”, accusing the Tories of failing to make Britain resilient, as he launches the logo and website for Great British Energy at an event in Scotland with Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar.Labour’s pledge to set up a publicly owned company to invest in domestic power sources – part of the party’s six-point “first steps” policy – aims to tackle the cost-of-living crisis by cutting energy bills.Early investments by Great British Energy will include wind and solar projects across the UK, as well as making Scotland a world leader in new technologies such as floating offshore wind, hydrogen and CCS, Sir Keir is pledging.Labour plans to fund the company, which will be headquartered in Scotland, through a windfall tax on big oil and gas firms, with an initial £8.3 billion capitalisation over a parliament.The plan has been endorsed by former chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance, who wrote in The Times: “The prize is huge, lower energy bills, good jobs, more innovative businesses, energy security and climate leadership.”“If we choose to go slowly, others will provide the answers and we will ultimately end up buying the solutions rather than selling them. Getting to a clean power system fast and with appropriate technologies is an investment, not simply a cost.“And being self-sufficient in energy will mean that our country is never again left so exposed by our dependency on an unstable international fossil fuel market.“This is a challenge that we should not shrink from and say it is too hard, but roll up our sleeves and give it everything we have got.”It comes in the wake of the energy price shock which saw costs soar in the aftermath of the Covid pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.Labour says that in the last two years a typical family paid £1,880 more on energy bills than they would have done if prices had stayed the same, while the government spent £94 billion of taxpayers’ money on capping energy costs.The party says the Office of Budget Responsibility has warned that if the UK remains dependent on gas, families and taxpayers could see a repeat of the recent crisis, and accused the Tories of leaving households at risk of a £900 annual energy price spike.Great British Energy will kickstart our mission for clean power to lower bills and boost our energy independence. Ed MilibandSir Keir said: ”Family financial security depends on energy security.“The pain and misery of the cost-of-living crisis was directly caused by the Tories’ failure to make Britain resilient, leaving us at the mercy of fossil fuel markets controlled by dictators like Putin.“It doesn’t have to be this way. Our clean power mission with Great British Energy will take back control of our destiny and invest in cheap, clean homegrown energy that we control.“We will turn the page on the cost-of-living crisis. The choice at this election is clear: higher bills and energy insecurity with the Conservatives, or lower bills and energy security with Labour.”Ed Miliband, shadow energy security and net zero secretary, said: “Great British Energy will kick-start our mission for clean power to lower bills and boost our energy independence.“It’s time to move on from the Tories’ bone-headed opposition to clean energy, for which British families are paying the price.“The choice at this General Election is clear: higher bills and energy insecurity with the Conservatives, or lower bills and energy independence with Labour.”Claire Coutinho, energy security and net zero secretary, accused Labour of an unfunded promise with its plans for Great British Energy, that would cost taxpayers, and attacked the party’s moves to stop new oil and gas licences in the North Sea, claiming it would hit jobs.“By sticking to the Conservatives’ clear plan, energy bills are at the lowest point since 2022, but we must go further.“That’s why we are taking bold action to guarantee the future of the energy price cap, as we back new nuclear power and offshore wind, keeping bills low and ensuring families are not lumbered with the cost of reaching net zero,” she said.The Green Party said Labour’s plans do not go far enough, and fail to address energy efficiency through home insulation and the electrification of home heating.Party co-leader Adrian Ramsay said: “We need real change if we are to meet the demands of the climate crisis. These Labour plans do not deliver it.“Compared to Labour’s original commitment to spend £28 billion a year on green investment, this announcement of just £8.3 billion over the course of the parliament looks tiny and is nowhere near enough to deliver Labour’s promise of ‘clean electricity’.”Friends of the Earth’s head of policy, Mike Childs, said: “Labour’s pledge to develop the UK’s enormous homegrown renewable energy potential is great news that will help to power the transition to a green economy that we so urgently need.“But the party mustn’t rest on its laurels just because it has one strong green policy. We’re yet to hear how it intends to tackle the enormous carbon pollution created by transport and heating our homes, for example, which can be addressed by rolling out a nationwide programme of insulation, funding the switch to heat pumps, and delivering a true public transport renaissance.”He called on all parties to strengthen their green commitments.Alasdair Johnstone from the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit said: “The UK has spent £100 billion on gas during the energy crisis of the last couple of years, placing a burden not only on bill payers but also tax payers as bills were subsidised.“With prices set to go up again in October, there will be a need to insulate from more gas price volatility. This means using less gas and more British renewables along with insulating homes so they leak less heat.“Recent polling showed that the public think that the best long-term solution to the energy crisis is to decrease dependence on gas and transition to renewable energy.”Max Wakefield, co-director of climate charity Possible, said: “Lifting the ban on onshore wind is one the quickest and best things an incoming government can do for the climate and our country.“It’s clean, it’s cheap, it’s popular and it will bring down bills as a homegrown renewable energy source.” More