UK Politics

Official files have revealed that Boris Johnson took four days off during a crucial period in the run up to locking down the UK when the Covid pandemic struck.The revelation has come after the group campaigning for families of the Covid bereaved described the former prime minister as being “beyond contempt” for his attack on the damning report produced by the inquiry into his government’s handling of the pandemic.Mr Johnson has refused to apologise for an estimated 23,000 extra deaths the inquiry stated he caused by delaying lockdown for a week.Instead he used his column in a national newspaper to lambast the inquiry’s chair Baroness Heather Hallett and argue that Professor Neil Ferguson, whose estimates the figure was based on, was “hysterical”.Baroness Heather Hallett found Boris Johnson failed to exercise ‘proper leadership’ during the pandemic (Lucy North/PA) More

A key ally of Nigel Farage has broken Reform UK’s silence on its former party leader in Wales who was jailed last week for taking bribes from Russia.Zia Yusuf, the party’s former chairman and key member of Reform’s leadership, claimed that it was “unreasonable” to link Gill’s crime with the softer stance that the party and Mr Farage have taken on Vladimir Putin’s Russia and its criticism of the Ukraine war.Mr Yusuf described Gill as “treasonous, horrific, awful” in an interview with Sir Trevor Phillips on his Sunday morning political show on Sky News.Nathan Gill received £40,000 for making pro-Russian statements in the European Parliament (James Manning/PA) More

Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves are set to tack hard to the left in the budget to buy themselves time and prevent an attempted leadership coup by backbenchers.The Independent has been told that the chancellor will bow to pressure scrapping the two child benefit cap altogether and unveiling a series of wealth taxes to fill the spending black hole in her budget.Backbenchers and senior party members have been assured that the tax raid will include a mansion tax on properties worth more than £2 million, a profits tax on gambling companies demanded by former PM Gordon Brown, and a levy on bank profits.Added to that transport secretary Heidi Alexander refused end speculation that fuel duty could rise for the first time in 15 years and electric cars will be subject to a new pay by the mile tax.Chancellor Rachel Reeves is finally set to unveil her budget after months of speculationThe minister was challenged on the issues on Sunday morning by Sir Trevor Phillips on Sky News and Laura Kuenssberg on the BBC.Ms Alexander pointed out that the government is freezing rail fares but after being asked three times about fuel duty, she said: “You would not expect me to speculate on what is going to be contained in the budget next week.”It is also being briefed that Ms Reeves will raise capital gains tax but will fall short of equalising it with income tax levels.A minister told The Independent: “The ink definitely won’t dry on this budget until Tuesday night but it looks like the PLP [parliamentary Labour Party] is getting what it wants…wealth taxes and an end to the child benefit cap.”The contents of the budget now though are being tied to the future of Sir Keir and Ms Reeves with continuing speculation that the PM could be ousted following a Downing Street briefing accusing Wes Streeting of plotting to replace him.Along with Mr Streeting, former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner, energy secretary Ed Miliband and home secretary Shabana Mahmood have been the centre of leadership speculation in the last fortnight.A senior party source told The Independent: “The PM and chancellor are buying themselves time. There will be elements of the media who hate these taxes but it will please members and the PLP.”It has also emerged that the decision to ditch an income tax rise breaking the manifesto commitment also came after pressure from backbenchers.One Labour MP said: “The message went up that it is hard enough for us to get a hearing on the doorstep as it is but if we did that [raise income tax], then the doors would have been closed on us and not reopened.“People would have just said ‘you lied, we can never trust you again.’”Health Secretary Wes Streeting was accused of trying to orchestrate a leadership coup (PA) More

Rachel Reeves is set to announce a £1.5bn subsidy for electric vehicles in a bid to persuade motorists to turn their backs on fossil fuels.The handouts to bring down the cost of electric vehicles comes as the chancellor is expected to introduce a new pay-by-the-mile tax on drivers of EVs in a move which has already been criticised by the industry.The revelation also comes as campaigners push for Ms Reeves to not raise fuel duty for the first time in 15 years.A petition signed by 152,000 will be delivered to Downing Street on the issue on Tuesday by campaign group FairFuelUK.But Ms Reeves’s decision appears to be a statement of intent in support of the drive towards net zero on carbon emissions after both the Tories and Reform UK made it clear they would abandon the goals.Ms Reeves’s subsidy for EVs also comes as she agrees to further subsidise rail fares with a freeze on ticket prices next year saving some commuters on busy lines £300.The measures come in a difficult Budget for the chancellor where she is widely expected to have to raise new taxes to close a spending black hole of at least £20bn and to give her headroom of more than £10bn to deal with unexpected economic shocks next year.Rachel Reeves is set to deliver the Budget next week More

Workers’ pensions could shrink by tens of thousands of pounds if the chancellor introduces national insurance on salary sacrifice schemes in next week’s Budget, a survey suggests.Research by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) suggests businesses would mostly not be able to absorb the costs if tax liabilities are changed in the Autumn Budget.Salary sacrifice schemes allow workers to give up a portion of their pay for a different benefit, like pension contributions. The chancellor is said to be preparing to cap the amount of someone’s salary that can be sacrificed to £2,000 a year. After that, national insurance contributions would be incurred.But nearly three-quarters of UK firms agreed they would not increase their employer contributions to offset the new liability if such a measure came in. Just 13 per cent of respondents said they would.Pensions UK and the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) have sent a joint letter to Chancellor Rachel Reeves, urging her not to curb salary sacrifice schemes or wider pensions tax relief More

A poll of Labour members has confirmed that there is an appetite to replace Sir Keir Starmer, with Andy Burnham as the favourite choice to succeed him.According to a poll of 1,013 Labour members by Survation for LabourList, Mr Burnham would be favoured over Sir Keir by 58 per cent to 32 per cent.Norwich South MP Clive Lewis last week offered to give up his seat so Mr Burnham could run for parliament to allow him to become leader.Former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner also has a strong lead of 19 points over the PM by 52 per cent to 33 per cent despite being forced to resign over a failure to pay £40,000 of stamp duty.Energy secretary Ed Miliband, who lost the 2015 election as Labour leader, is also preferred to Sir Keir by four points with 44 per cent to 40 per cent.And health secretary Wes Streeting, who was at the centre of accusations recently from Downing Street that he was plotting to overthrow the PM, would win by 33 per cent to 31 per cent.Andy Burnham is the favoured replacement for Keir Starmer by Labour members More

A freeze in rail fares will top a series of measures in next week’s Budget to tackle the cost of living as Rachel Reeves seeks to offer some hope amid the economic gloom.The chancellor hopes that a series of measures to help out “working people” will offset any backlash from a number of tax rises she is believed to be planning.The announcement on rail fares will save an estimated £300 next year for commuters who use the most expensive routes and follows Labour’s decision to renationalise the railway network.The moves come amid speculation about tax rises on property, banks and gambling and concerns that the chancellor will need to fill a black hole in the government finances of at least £20bn.The rail freeze also comes amid concerns that fuel duty could rise for the first time in 15 years, with FairFuel campaigners set to deliver a 152,000-signature petition to No 10 and No 11 on Tuesday.Rail fares are set to freeze More

Families of the Covid bereaved have lashed out at Boris Johnson for being “beyond contempt” after he used his column in a national newspaper to lampoon those “still wrangling on” about the deaths in the pandemic.The disgraced former prime minister has refused to apologise for extra Covid deaths he has been accused of causing by delaying taking action, but instead launched a blistering attack on the pandemic inquiry itself.Mr Johnson and other senior Tory ministers at the time were damned in the Covid inquiry report chaired by former Appeal Court judge Baroness Heather Hallett for the “toxic and chaotic” culture in Downing Street during the pandemic.She concluded that unnecessary delays in locking down caused an extra 23,000 deaths, and families of those who died have said they are considering taking legal action against Mr Johnson.Boris Johnson has attacked the inquiry he himself set up More