UK Politics

The minister responsible for artificial intelligence (AI) turned to ChatGPT for policy advice, it has emerged. Science and tech secretary Peter Kyle asked the AI chatbot why small businesses in the UK were slow to adopt the technology, records show. Mr Kyle also asked the software which podcasts he could appear on to reach the widest audience possible, and for definitions of terms such as “quantum” and “digital inclusion”. Records obtained under freedom of information laws by the New Scientist magazine show Mr Kyle asked ChatGPT: “I’m secretary of state for science, innovation and technology in the United Kingdom. What would be the best podcasts for me to appear on to reach a wide audience that’s appropriate for my ministerial responsibilities?” Peter Kyle, secretary of state for Science, Innovation and Technology, said he uses ChatGPT “often” in an interview More

Rachel Reeves’ Autumn Budget triggered a rush to pull cash out of pension funds which has led to six-week delays for savers withdrawing money. The chancellor’s October inheritance tax raid has sparked a surge in people seeking to take their cash out of retirement pots in a bid to avoid paying the levy, after Ms Reeves scrapped an exemption on them.One person was left waiting two months for their payment, it has emerged.Currently, the levy is charged at 40 per cent on assets over £325,000, with those passing on their main homes eligible for an extra £175,000 allowance meaning couples can pass on up to £1 million tax free.Rachel Reeves’ Budget sparked a rush in savers trying to access their pension pots More

Ministers are ploughing £1.3bn into army recruitment to bolster the UK’s depleted armed forces and tackle a crisis of staff retention, The Independent can reveal. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) last month announced the creation of a new body, the Armed Forces Recruitment Service (AFRS), to streamline the hiring process and ensure the British military “remains ready to face emerging threats”. It is set to launch in 2027 and will replace individual schemes run by the Royal Navy, British army, and Royal Air Force. John Healey said ‘deep-set problems’ were plaguing the armed forces’ ability to recruit and retain staff More

Sir Keir Starmer has announced that NHS England will be abolished to free up more money for frontline services and bring management of the health service “back into democratic control”. The prime minister said the independent body which runs the NHS would go in a move to slash red tape and dramatically reduce costs by cutting duplication. Ministers said the plans, which will mean more than 9,000 job losses, would help deliver savings of hundreds of millions of pounds a year, which would be used to cut waiting times. The Tories tepidly welcomed the move, warning Labour it had to deliver, while health think tanks said that another reorganisation of the NHS risked diverting “time and energy” away from improving care for patients. Ministers have pledged more money for frontline services (PA) More

Slashing billions from the benefit bill and cutting the size of the civil service does not mark a return to austerity, Sir Keir Starmer has insisted, vowing that “we are not going down that route”.There is mounting unease at the prime minister’s plans to cut welfare spending by up to £6bn but Sir Keir said “part of the problem we’ve got with our public services is what was done to them a decade or so ago” by David Cameron and George Osborne. “We are not going down that route, none of our plans go down that route,” the PM vowed. Sir Keir Starmer has vowed no return to austerity under Labour More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.Your support makes all the difference.Read moreSir Keir Starmer is in a race against time to secure a deal with Donald Trump’s White House to escape tariffs on steel and aluminium, and dodge further reciprocal tariffs which could come into play at the start of next month.It comes after the White House imposed 25 per cent tariffs on steel and aluminium imports on Wednesday, signalling that last-ditch efforts to persuade Mr Trump to spare British industry from his global tariffs failed.While the European Union responded by announcing trade counter-measures and hitting American goods with retaliatory tariffs, the prime minister resisted calls for the UK to immediately hit back.Sir Keir Starmer is in a race against time to secure a deal with Donald Trump’s White House More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.Your support makes all the difference.Read moreA cabinet minister accused of misrepresenting his CV has admitted to Parliament that he was wrong to describe himself as a solicitor when he never qualified.Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said he should have made clear that he was referring to his time as a trainee solicitor in a speech a he made in the House of Commons a decade ago. It is an offence for someone to call themselves a solicitor if they are not qualified and registered with the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) and the regulator is investigating Mr Reynolds’ claim.Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds has apologised for the error More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.Your support makes all the difference.Read moreSir Keir Starmer faces a clash with Civil Service unions after vowing to reshape the “flabby” state and slash the cost of bureaucracy.The Prime Minister said the Civil Service had grown by 130,000 since the Brexit referendum but services had not improved and it was “overstretched, unfocussed and unable to deliver the security people need”.But union leaders accused Sir Keir of “using the language of blame” to attack officials and called on him to avoid the “incendiary rhetoric” of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) in the US.As well as vowing to cut the cost of regulation by 25%, Sir Keir will use a speech on Thursday to promise to refocus the state on his key missions and create “an active government that takes care of the big questions, so people can get on with their lives”.He will take aim at a “cottage industry of checkers and blockers slowing down delivery for working people”, stepping up his criticism of regulation in the UK.Sir Keir will announce plans for greater use of artificial intelligence (AI) and technology across the Civil Service, promising that one in 10 officials will work in tech and digital roles within the next five years.Before the speech setting out his plans, Sir Keir wrote in the Daily Telegraph: “In such uncertain times, people want a state that will take care of the big questions, not a bigger state that asks more from them. We need to be operating at maximum efficiency and strength.“I believe in the power of the state. I’m not interested in ideological arguments about whether it should be bigger or smaller. I simply want it to work.”At the moment businesses are having to deal with “an overcautious flabby state” that gets in the way, he added.Reducing the size of the Civil Service and increasing the proportion of officials working in digital and data roles could save taxpayers up to £45 billion, the Government believes.Dave Penman, general secretary of the FDA union representing senior officials, said “many civil servants will be looking for the substance and feeling that, once again, the Prime Minister is using the language of blame rather than transformation”.He added: “Regulators are set up by ministers to regulate – if there’s a cottage industry at large then it’s because that’s what previous governments have wanted.“Blaming public servants for doing the job they were tasked with by ministers is just cheap politics and is increasingly following a pattern where the Government appears more interested in headlines than leadership.”Mike Clancy, general secretary of the Prospect union, said it was “right that the Government are pressing ahead with plans to make better use of new tech”, but added it would “find it challenging to compete for the skills needed” without increasing pay.He added: “Civil servants are not hostile to reforms but these must be undertaken in partnership with staff and unions.“I urge everyone in Government to avoid the incendiary rhetoric and tactics we are seeing in the United States, and to be clear that reforms are about enhancing and not undermining the Civil Service.”Technology Secretary Peter Kyle denied that the Government’s plans to reform the civil service were comparable to the Donald Trump administration’s Doge.He told LBC: “This is a disruptive programme. But it is a programme that will positively disrupt and we want to lead people through it.“We don’t want to scare people with the prospect of change, we want to excite people with the prospect of change.”Shadow chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Alex Burghart said: “Labour is not serious about getting Britain growing.“The Prime Minister has no plan to reform the Civil Service or cut public spending.“Thanks to his budget the size of the state will reach a staggering 44% of GDP by 2030.”Liberal Democrats leader Sir Ed Davey dismissed Sir Keir’s proposals as “tinkering around the edges while our economy continues to stutter”, and called for an “ambitious new deal with the EU” to boost trade and grow the economy. More