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Further details about Labour’s review of Personal Independence Payments (PIP) have been revealed after the government’s climbdown over changes to the health-linked benefit in June.The review will be led by veteran Labour MP Sir Stephen Timms, who shared more information about how he will approach the issue. Currently claimed by 3.7 million people, PIP is designed to help with extra costs incurred by living with an illness or disability. Labour’s proposals to tweak the assessment criteria for the benefit to effectively make it harder to claim was met with fierce opposition from campaign groups and disabled people’s organisations.Ministers backed down on the plans in late June after over 100 Labour MPs threatened to vote against the government on the measures. The concession was announced by Sir Stephen in the middle of the debate on the legislation.Sir Stephen Timms announced the climbdown in the middle of the debate on the legislation (Jonathan Brady/PA) More

The Conservatives are urging Chancellor Rachel Reeves to “urgently rule out” increasing share taxes in the upcoming autumn budget, following the leak of a memo from Angela Rayner suggesting a series of tax hikes. The Tories argue that leaving investors “in limbo” could harm the economy.The party claims that scrapping the £500 dividend allowance would pull an estimated 5.22 million more individuals into paying investment levies. This pressure on ministers comes after a document, reportedly sent by the Deputy Prime Minister to Ms Reeves, was leaked to the press.In the memo, Ms Rayner proposed removing the dividend allowance to generate approximately £325 million annually, as well as axing inheritance tax relief for AIM shares and increasing dividend tax rates, according to The Telegraph.Shadow chancellor Mel Stride commented: “The Government need to urgently rule out these tax hikes on savers and investors before speculation causes further economic harm.“Labour don’t understand how business works and how to create growth. More taxes on investment, entrepreneurship and saving are the last thing our economy needs right now.”Shadow chancellor Sir Mel Stride said it had been a ‘year of utter underperformance’ from Labour More

The Home Secretary plans to introduce a fast-track scheme to tackle the asylum backlog that aims to turn around decisions within weeks.Yvette Cooper said Labour was planning a “major overhaul” of the appeal process in the hope it would help to make a significant dent in the numbers.“We need a major overhaul of the appeal [process] and that’s what we are going to do in the autumn… If we speed up the decision-making appeal system and also then keep increasing returns, we hope to be able to make quite a big reduction in the overall numbers in the asylum system, because that is the best way to actually restore order and control,” Ms Cooper told The Sunday Times.The aim would be to compress the process so decisions and returns could happen “within weeks”, the newspaper reported, citing a source familiar with the plans.The Government faces pressure to cut how many asylum seekers are housed in hotels while awaiting the outcome of a claim or appeal.Yvette Cooper has previously said she was eager to put a fast-track system for decisions and appeals in place (PA) More

Peers in the House of Lords have been accused of trying to block key protections for millions of workers as they push through major changes to Labour’s Employment Rights Bill.The Lords last week voted in favour of several amendments brought forward by Conservative and Liberal Democrat peers which row back on reforms to zero-hours contracts, day-one protections and more.It comes as a blow to the government – which pledged in its 2024 manifesto to end ‘exploitative’ zero-hours contracts – and sets up a showdown between the Lords and Commons.General secretary of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), Paul Nowak said: “the sight of Hereditary Peers voting to block stronger workers’ rights belongs in another century. It’s plain wrong.”Paul Nowak, general secretary of the TUC, accused Lords peers of ‘doing the bidding of bad bosses’ (Peter Byrne/PA) More

Tens of thousands of people are still at risk of being pushed into poverty due to Labour’s welfare cuts despite last-minute changes to the plans, a group of MPs has warned.Around 50,000 people who become disabled or ill will face poverty by the end of the decade because of the remaining reforms, the cross-party Work and Pensions Committee has found.A cut to the health-related element of Universal Credit (UC health) which will take effect from April next year and will see monthly payments nearly halved for most new claimants, dropping from £423.27 to £217.26.At the same time, the standard rate of Universal Credit will increase for all claimants by £17.39 a month, from £400.14 to £417.53. This marks the first time the benefit has been uprated above the inflation rate (CPI).Work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall has spearheaded Labour’s welfare plans More

Tasers are set to be issued to some staff in male prisons as the government attempts to crack down on “unacceptable” record levels of violence.Specialist officers from the Operational Response and Resilience Unit based in Kidlington, Oxfordshire, and Doncaster, South Yorkshire, will be the first to become equipped with electric stun guns when the pilot launches on Monday.Justice secretary Shabana Mahmood said she is “determined to keep prison staff safe” as she attended the base in Kidlington last week.The trial in England and Wales will run until enough data has been collected to determine if Tasers should be more widely used, according to the Ministry of Justice – but Ms Mahmood said she hoped to have updates in the autumn.The launch comes after rates of assaults on prison staff reached record levels last year, rising by 13 per cent in the 12 months up to December 2024, according to government data. There were also 10,496 assaults on staff in the 12 months to September 2024 – a 23 per cent increase from the previous 12 months and a new peak.A taser demonstration during the launch of the trial on Thursday More

Donald Trump was cheered on by supporters urging him ‘not to trust’ Sir Keir Starmer as he took to the green at his golf resort in Scotland for the second day.Wearing a white baseball cap branded USA, the US president waved to journalists as he arrived at his Turnberry golf resort in a white golf buggy.A woman standing nearby repeatedly shouted “We love you Trump” and “thank you”, while another onlooker chanted “Trump Trump Trump Trump” as the US president took a shot.One placard read: “Starmer is a w****r”, while another said: “Starmer is a**ho”. More

Donald Trump is making two visits to the UK this year – a private trip focused on his Scottish golf courses, and a full-blown state visit in September, complete with a welcome from King Charles III.The US president is spending time at his resorts in South Ayrshire and Aberdeenshire and is expected to meet Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Scotland’s first minister, John Swinney. He also plans to open a new course dedicated to his Scottish-born mother.While Downing Street has hailed the trip as a “historic” opportunity to strengthen UK-US ties, the invitation has sparked backlash. Protesters have accused Trump of spreading hate, accelerating climate breakdown and undermining democratic norms. A wave of demonstrations has been planned around both visits – with activists saying the UK should not be “rolling out the red carpet” for a leader with such a controversial record.In Westminster, several MPs have spoken out against the state visit, with some calling it “inappropriate” and even urging parliament to deny Trump a platform altogether. But White House sources say no parliamentary address is expected, and insist the trip is purely diplomatic.So, is Trump’s upcoming state visit a smart move to preserve international relations – or a mistake that sends the wrong message?Vote in our poll and tell us what you think in the comments below. More