UK Politics

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.CloseRead moreConfusion has broken out over how many farms will be affected by Rachel Reeves’ controversial changes to inheritance tax after new figures showed her claims of one in four may be wide of the mark.Figures produced by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) have been interpreted by farmers’ groups to suggest that up to two thirds (66 per cent) of farms could be hit by the tax grab which critics claim will destroy Britain’s family farms.This is in stark contrast to the 28 per cent that the Treasury had claimed with officials in the two departments understood to be at loggerheads over the chancellor’s shock announcement. But a source close to environment secretary Steve Reed has blamed the National Farmers Union (NFU) for confusing the issue with incorrect analysis of Defra figures.Ms Reeves imposed inheritance tax on farm land for the first time since 1992 with 20 per cent rate being paid for all land valued at £1 million or more, although couples can make use of a pooled allowance of £2m plus personal allowances of up to £500,000 each.Defra figures show that the average farm is worth £2.2 million and 66 per cent are worth £1 million or more.Farmers are planning a protest in London (Andrew Matthews/PA) 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.CloseRead moreA minister has slapped down civil servants demanding a four-day week, telling them “we are not living in the 1970”. After members of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) said working a four-day week is “critical to attaining a good quality of life” and could help save the government more than £21 million a year, pensions minister Emma Reynolds ruled out the change. “I don’t believe them,” she told Times Radio. Emma Reynolds hit back at civil servants demanding a four-day week 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.CloseRead morePrice hikes and job cuts are inevitable following Labour’s Budget, business leaders have warned Rachel Reeves as they accused her of failing to grow the economy.The bosses of some of the UK’s biggest firms have said the government failed to engage with them ahead of the Budget, while a survey of business chiefs found that two thirds believe it will make Britain a less attractive country to investors.Despite a manifesto pledge not to increase taxes for working people – including national insurance contributions (NIC), income tax and VAT – the chancellor increased employers’ NICs from 13.8 per cent to 15 per cent at the Budget. She also reduced the threshold at which employers start paying the tax, slashing it from £9,100 per year to £5,000.The Chancellor set out her tax-grabbing Budget last month (Ben Whitley/PA) 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.CloseRead moreWes Streeting has warned NHS bosses that they will be sacked and blocked from taking a job in the sector again if their hospitals fail.The health secretary made it clear that he intends to end the culture of NHS executives being fired from one job for failure, only to be given another job at a different trust.Speaking on Wednesday, Mr Streeting told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that “where we have poorly performing senior managers, I’ll make no apology for managing those people out, because people know – and this is the guilty secret of the NHS – there are very senior managers who are paid on average let’s not forget £145,000 a year, who are managed out, given a payoff in one trust and then reincarnate in another NHS trust.“Those might be the rotten apples, and I want to recognise that there are some outstanding leaders right across the NHS, but those rotten apples are unacceptable and give the rest of the profession a bad name.”The drive for efficiency saw a surprised Mr Streeting compared to X boss Elon Musk who has just been handed a role advising Donald Trump’s proposed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).Health secretary Wes Streeting is on ‘no holds barred’ mission to reform the NHS 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.CloseRead moreKeir Starmer has signed a new defence deal with Romania in the latest step in his plans to reset relations with the European Union after Brexit. The UK has now agreed to work more closely with a second EU ally in as many weeks, as Europe braces itself for the impact of a Trump presidency. The president-elect has picked Fox presenter Pete Hegseth, who has complained the US is spending too much supporting Ukraine’s fight against Russia, as his choice for defence secretary.Last month the prime minister scored the first major breakthrough in his great Brexit reset with a landmark defence deal with the EU’s largest economy Germany. Defence secretary John Healey said the latest agreement “demonstrates how quickly the UK’s defence relationship with Romania is growing and … shows our shared commitment to peace and security in Europe.” Keir Starmer welcomed Romanian PM Marcel Ciolacu to No 10 on Wednesday 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.CloseRead moreChancellor Rachel Reeves is coming under more pressure over the so-called “charity tax” which will see the operators of Britain’s 500-strong charity lotteries forced to pay the new gambling levy aimed at the big bookmakers.The sector is warning that it will take away £1 million from good causes.The row has emerged as a number of charities, particularly hospices, have already warned about the impact of the increase in employers contributions to national insurance on their running costs after Ms Reeves refused to give them the same relief as the public sector on not having to pay it.This morning health secretary Wes Streeting confirmed that hospices providing end of life care will be hit by the tax rise at a time when MPs are preparing to vote on legislation to allow terminally ill people to have assisted dying.Culture Secretary Lisa Nandyis being asked to exclude charity lotteries from the gambling levy (Lucy North/PA) 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.CloseRead moreThe future of the Chagos Islands and a secretive UK/US airbase is set to be an early flashpoint between Donald Trump and Sir Keir Starmer as the president-elect seeks to veto the controversial deal signed off by the prime minister and endorsed by Joe Biden, it can be revealed. The Independent understands that Mr Trump’s transition team has requested legal advice from the Pentagon over the agreement that handed the Chagos Islands, which is under British control, to Mauritius.US government sources say Mr Trump is looking to veto the deal, which is set to come into force after his inauguration in January, over global security fears.It comes after The Independent revealed how allies of Nigel Farage had pushed Mr Trump’s team to investigate the consequences of the Chagos Islands deal ahead of last week’s US election. Ahead of an urgent question in the Commons today, Mr Farage told The Independent that Mr Trump would be attempting to veto the deal. He said: “It’s happening!”The Chagos Islands decision impacts the Diego Garcia airbase 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.CloseRead moreTransport secretary Louise Haigh has issued a warning to train operators over prosecuting passengers for ticketing errors, as she labelled the system “far too complicated”.While she warned that deliberate fare-dodging had “no place on our railways”, the Department for Transport (DfT) has launched an independent review into rail fare prosecutions following claims of train operators taking “disproportionate action” against passengers. Last month, a university student said he feared getting a criminal record and being fined hundreds of pounds after being told he was being prosecuted by Government-owned operator Northern because he unknowingly used a railcard at the wrong time, resulting in a £1.90 underpayment.Northern dropped its action against him following media coverage.On Wednesday, Ms Haigh announced that regulator the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) will analyse how suspected fare evasion is handled. This will include an assessment of whether ticketing terms and conditions are clear for passengers, and when prosecution is appropriate.Transport secretary Louise Haigh said on Wednesday that regulator the Office of Rail and Road will analyse how suspected fare evasion is handled More