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 moreCloseEnvironment secretary Steve Reed has hit back following a storm of criticism over the government’s plans to extend inheritance tax to family farms, claiming the “vast majority of farmers will not be affected at all”.He blamed “misleading headlines” for the backlash to the tax, saying “only the richest estates” will be affected. It comes just days after Sir Keir Starmer was accused of lying to farmers about wanting “a new relationship” with them after the Budget extended the tax to family farms for the first time in history.The move, which has already been dubbed the “tractor tax”, means farms worth more than £1m are now subject to 20 per cent inheritance tax.Writing in The Daily Telegraph, Mr Reed said the government has taken a “fair and balanced approach that protects family farms while also fixing the public services those same families rely on”.Environment secretary Steve Reed hit back after mounting criticism over the ‘tractor tax’ 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 moreClose Slovakia’s populist Prime Minister Robert Fico reacted angrily on Friday after the U.K. ambassador to Bratislava criticized his interview with Russia’s Rossiya 1 state-owned television, saying, “Slovakia is not Britain’s colony.”“I don’t know what gives you a right to interfere in my media activities,” Fico said in a video sent by his office. He is currently on a visit to China.“That you represent a bigger and stronger state in Slovakia does not justify your unacceptable behavior,” Fico said, calling on Ambassador Nigel Baker to stop interfering in his government’s sovereign foreign policy. In his interview for the Russian propaganda channel, Fico condemned Western support for Ukraine that is fighting the Russian aggression, repeating his opinion it only prolongs the war and accusing the European nations of not being interested in a peaceful resolution.Baker said on X on Wednesday he regretted that Fico agreed to talk to a presenter who is under British and European Union sanctions and said Fico’s claim that the West doesn’t want peace is not true. He also said that the fastest way to peace would be the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine.Fico returned to power for the fourth time last year after his leftist party Smer (Direction) won parliamentary elections on a pro-Russia and anti-American platform.His views on Russia’s war on Ukraine and other issues sharply differ from the European mainstream. Fico ended his country’s military aid for Ukraine, opposes EU sanctions on Russia, and wants to block Ukraine from joining NATO.In the interview with Russian TV, he said it would be an honor for him to attend a traditional military parade in Red Square in Moscow to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of WWII on May 9 next year.The interview was condemned by Slovakia’s opposition and politicians in the neighboring Czech Republic. 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 moreCloseRachel Reeves is facing a growing backlash over her national insurance hike as GPs, care homes, dentists and hospices have called for an exemption from the charge.The chancellor is piling pressure on GPs and the care sector with her increase in the employer rate of national insurance – at a time when the services are already under severe strain.But while the NHS and the rest of the public sector have been shielded from Ms Reeves’ national insurance hike, GPs, hospices and care homes have been left to bear the brunt. The national insurance hike came alongside a reduction in the threshold at which employers pay the charge and a 6.7 increase in the minimum wage, exacerbating the headache for employers.Health secretary Wes Streeting has said the UK’s palliative care is in such a dire state that he would not vote to support an assisted dying law, while the Commons public accounts committee has said the social care sector is “on its knees”.Meanwhile GPs are struggling with a recruitment crisis, with staff shortages growing at a time of rising demand.Treasury chief secretary Darren Jones on Friday cleared up initial confusion and confirmed that GP practices will have to pay the increased employer national insurance rate.“GP practices are privately owned partnerships. They’re not part of the public sector National Health Service system. And so yes, they will have to pay national insurance contributions as employers,” he told Times Radio.The Liberal Democrats said Labour had squandered the chance to “rescue GP surgeries from years of neglect”, calling for Ms Reeves to exempt them from the tax hike.Health and social care spokesperson Helen Morgan said: “This new government must not make the same mistakes as the Conservatives, fixing the GP crisis is crucial for saving the NHS.Wes Streeting has said he will have ‘more to say’ on the impact of the tax hike in the coming weeks 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 moreCloseAn Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) error has left chancellor Rachel Reeves with £18bn less headroom in her spending plans, potentially fuelling investor concerns about her first budget.A footnote in the watchdog’s outlook, published on Wednesday alongside the Budget, said its earlier forecasts contained an error in the projections for public sector net financial liabilities – the debt measure now used by the chancellor in one of her new fiscal rules.In March, the OBR found the margin in the 2028-29 fiscal year would be £62bn. It has since corrected the figure £43.9bn.The margin, also known as the “headroom”, is the money left over in the budget to spend without breaking fiscal rules.The OBR document said: “An error was identified in the net liabilities calculation used in the March 2024 forecast of PSNFL.“The restated March PSNFL forecast and headroom calculation correct this error but otherwise is unchanged.”Rachel Reeves unveiled her first budget 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 moreCloseLabour’s first Budget does not bear any similarity to that of Liz Truss, a minister has said adding that the country has “got PTSD” from the former PM’s catastrophic mini-Budget as the government seeks to downplay speculation about market turmoil.Asked about market jitters following the Budget, the Treasury minister told Sky News that “markets always respond to budgets in the normal way”.“There’s a lot of new information about the economy and the nation’s finances presented to parliament, and it’s normal for markets to respond,” he said.Mr Jones later added: “I think we’ve all got PTSD from Liz Truss and just let’s compare the two different scenarios, because they’re very, very different: So, under Liz Truss, as we saw, they sacked permanent secretary, they ignored the independent Office for Budget Responsibility.“They announced £45 billion of unfunded tax cuts and said they were only just getting started. And then the market went mad and we all know what happened.Darren Jones said Liz Truss’s mini-budget is ‘completely different’ to Rachel Reeves’ 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 moreCloseSenior figures in Reform UK have spoken out against Nigel Farage and Richard Tice’s decision to distance themselves from Tommy Robinson and his supporters, with one saying he refused to throw the English Defence League founder “under a bus”. Deputy leader Tice sparked a row in the party after saying it wants “nothing to do with” Robinson, who was jailed this week, and ”all of that lot”, while Farage has previously accused Robinson and his supporters of “stirring up hatred”.But Ben Habib, the party’s recent former deputy leader and general election candidate in Wellingborough, stood up for those who attended a rally in support of Robinson on Saturday.Speaking to YouTuber Paul Thorpe, Mr Habib said: “Those of us who care about this country, who want to stand against the uniparty of the Tories and Labour, have to stick together. We are one group.Tommy Robinson has been jailed for 18 months 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 moreCloseSir Ed Davey has piled pressure on Sir Keir Starmer over his negotiations with the European Union, calling for the prime minister to “have some urgency” in his great “reset” of relations with the bloc.The leader of the Liberal Democrats also criticised the prime minister’s decision to rule out a youth mobility scheme with the European Union, saying it is “quite odd and bad”, as well as calling for a return to the single market.The European Commission has made a youth mobility scheme a key demand amid Sir Keir’s post-Brexit “reset” with Brussels after years of tense relations under successive Conservative prime ministers.The agreement, which mirrors similar arrangements Britain already has with countries including Australia and Japan, would allow 18 to 35-year-olds to move and work freely between countries for up to two years.Speaking to journalists at the press gallery lunch in Parliament, Sir Ed warned that the government will not be able to grow the UK economy “without rebuilding our relationship with our European partners and getting a better trade deal”.‘We can’t wait around to get our economy going’, Sir Ed warned 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 moreCloseThe government’s new value for money tsar will be paid a day rate of £950, the equivalent of a £247,000 annual salary.David Goldstone, who will take up the position of chairman of the new Office for Value for Money, will effectively be on a higher pro-rata salary than the prime minister.Rachel Reeves announced during her Budget speech that Mr Goldstone was being appointed to “help us realise the benefits from every pound of public spending”.David Goldstone will take up the position of chairman of the new Office for Value for Money, Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced during her Budget statement More