UK Politics

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailRishi Sunak has come under fire for his role in the Partygate scandal from a worker whose mother died during the pandemic.The prime minister was asked “how anyone can trust you?” by a man who was unable to visit his mother in hospital before she passed away in 2020.During a staff Q&A at a factory near Milton Keynes, an employee said: “My mum died in 2020, at the height of the pandemic.Rishi Sunak was fined for attending a birthday gathering with Boris Johnson More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailThe Electoral Commission will publish advice on its website to warn voters about disinformation online amid fears of foreign interference during the election campaign, The Independent can reveal.The body, which oversees elections in the UK, is working with partner agencies such as Ofcom and the Information Commissioner’s Office to pull together resources to help people navigate digital campaign material during the election.A new hub will be created on the Commission’s website and include information urging voters to think critically about information they may see or hear online, particularly on social media. It comes after The Alan Turing Institute, the UK’s national institute for data science and artificial intelligence, warned about the potential threats of artificial intelligence (AI) during the election campaign.A new study from the institute said there was little evidence that AI had directly impacted election results. There have, however, been early signs of the damage the technology had caused to democratic systems more broadly through a “polarised information space”.This included confusion over whether AI-generated content is real, damaging trust in online sources; deepfakes inciting online hate against political figures, threatening their personal safety; and politicians exploiting AI disinformation for potential electoral gain.File photo: The Alan Turing Institute says there is little evidence that AI is directly impacting election results but that it is being used to create a ‘polarised information space’ More

Related: Starmer responds to Jeremy Corbyn standing as an independent candidateSign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailLabour deputy leader Angela Rayner says she backs Diane Abbott to stand as a Labour candidate for Hackney North and Stoke Newington at the general election.Defying her own party, Sir Keir Starmer’s right hand said: “I don’t see any reason why Diane Abbott can’t stand as a Labour MP going forward. I am saying that as the deputy leader of the Labour Party.”Ms Rayner has praised Abbott and said she has been a trailblazer and that she is “not happy” about negative briefings to the papers about the veteran MP.Her support comes as Sir Keir is being accused of carrying a wider purge of the left – something even Tony Blair did not do – with candidate Faiza Shaheen finding out last night she was barred.According to reports, she was suspended by the party after she allegedly liked a series of posts on X that downplayed antisemitism accusations.In a new headache for Starmer, the MP for the Chingford and Woodford Green said she will challenge the decision and accused the party of unleashing a “campaign of prejudice” against her to satisfy a “factional agenda”.Show latest update 1717072384Breaking: Angela Rayner defies party and defends Diane AbbottThe Labour deputy leader says she is backing Ms Abbott as a candidate for Hackney North at the election.She said: “I don’t see any reason why Diane Abbott can’t stand as a Labour MP going forward… I am saying that as the deputy leader of the Labour Party”.Ms Rayner added that Abbott has been a trailblazer and she is “not happy” about negative briefings to the papers about her. “I don’t think that is how we should conduct ourselves.”She previously said she wanted to see the veteran MP back to the Labour Party after she was suspended fro 11 months.Ms Rayner said she was frustrated over the length of the party investigation over her letter on The Observer.( More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailAngela Rayner has given Diane Abbott her full backing to run for Parliament in the general election in a dramatic intervention.It comes as Sir Keir Starmer was forced to deny that he is trying to “purge” the left of the party as the row over Ms Abbott and candidate selections threaten to derail his campaign.The row appears to have left Labour on the brink of open civil war and handed Rishi Sunak and the Tories an unexpected lifeline as the struggle to close the gap of around 20 points in the polls. In a blunt response to the last 72 hours of chaos around whether Ms Abbott can stand in Hackney North and Stoke Newington, Ms Rayner appeared to take aim at Sir Keir and his inner circle.Ms Abbott told supporters she intended to remain as MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailLabour and the Conservatives have been accused of misleading voters over their tax and spending plans and ignoring a £20bn hole in the public finances after the election.Amid a war of words over whether Sir Keir Starmer or Rishi Sunak would rule out a VAT hike, a top economist told The Independent both parties are being dishonest with voters about the country’s finances.Carl Emmerson, deputy director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), said both parties have committed to reducing Britain’s debt in the next five years. “For better or worse, that is going to require some combination of tax rises or spending cuts,” he told The Independent.Mr Emmerson also hit out at the row over which taxes each party has committed to freezing, saying noting that both Sir Keir and Mr Sunak have committed to frozen tax thresholds, which will mean higher taxes for millions of workers.After Labour and the Conservatives vowed not to raise the headline rates of national insurance, income tax, VAT, Mr Emmerson said they had chosen “an easier sell”.But he said frozen income tax and national insurance thresholds would cost taxpayers an additional £11bn a year by the end of the next parliament. By contrast a 1p income tax hike would cost taxpayers just £9bn.Tax thresholds were linked to inflation until then chancellor Mr Sunak froze them in 2022. The effect is that, as inflation rises, millions are dragged into paying tax for the first time, while others are dragged into higher tax bands. Others, who would have seen their taxable income decrease thanks to higher thresholds, now longer feel the benefits.Rachel Reeves and Jeremy Hunt have ruled out raising income tax, national insurance and VAT More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailThe Labour party has become embroiled in a political row following the fallout around veteran MP Diane Abbott’s readmission to the party – and lack of clarity over whether she can still stand for it.After being suspended from Labour for just over a year, Ms Abbott was readmitted to the party in late May, once again becoming a Labour MP.Ms Abbott has represented Hackney North and Stoke Newington since 1987, securing a majority of over 33,000 at the last general election.For the latest political updates in the run-up to the General Election, follow The Independent’s live coverageLabour has not confirmed who its candidate will be for the constituency, leading to fears from supporters of Ms Abbott that she may still be deselected, despite her readmission into the party.Diane Abbott at a rally in Hackney, in front of a placard that reads “I stand with Diane”, March 15, 2024 More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailChancellor Jeremy Hunt has ruthlessly seized on the chaos in the Labour Party over the future of Diane Abbott which has sparked a revolt on the left of the party.Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer was accused on Radio 4’s Today Programme ths morning of “dithering” over the trail blazing MP and first black woman to be elected to Parliament in Britain.She has vowed to stand again for her Hackney North and Stoke Newington constituency and accused Labour bosses of trying to bar her from being a candidate after almost four decades as an MP.But Sir Keir has denied she has been barred but been unable to say whether she will be allowed to be a candidate just weeks before a general election.Ms Abbott told supporters she intended to remain as MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailJeremy Hunt and Rachel Reeves have ruled out raising VAT after the general election amid a furious row about each other’s tax plans.The chancellor accused Labour of secretly planning to raise VAT, currently charged at 20 per cent on most goods and services, by 1p to plug a £9bn hole in its spending plans.Mr Hunt said the increase would “hammer families’ finances and push inflation back up, just when we have got it down to normal”.Rachel Reeves and Jeremy Hunt have clashed over Labour’s tax plans More