UK Politics

Your support helps us to tell the storyThis election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.CloseRead moreCloseKeir Starmer has denied misleading the public over tax rises in the Budget after he suggested “working people” did not make money from property or shares. The prime minister also rejected claims he had waged a “war on middle Britain”.Labour made manifesto pledges to not hike taxes on what it described as “working people,” explicitly ruling out increases to VAT, national insurance, and income tax. But the chancellor Rachel Reeves is now expected to increase national insurance for employers, rather than employees, a move Labour insiders believe does not break any pledge.Sir Keir’s comments on working people have also fuelled fears of other tax hikes, even though Downing Street later rowed back saying those with small amounts of savings in stocks and shares still counted as “working people” and that the Labour leader had meant someone who primarily get their income from assets.Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer speaking at a press conference during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Samoa (Stefan Rousseau/PA) More

Your support helps us to tell the storyThis election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.CloseRead moreCloseKeir Starmer has urged Iran not to retaliate as world leaders fear a response to a barrage of Israeli strikes overnight. Israel launched three waves of air strikes early on Saturday, explicitly linking them to missile strikes from Tehran earlier this month. Israel had made no secret of its plans to hit back against Iran, which it also blames for backing Hamas in Gaza. As the world anxiously awaits Iran’s response, the prime minister warned of the need to ensure tensions do not escalate across the region.The US also said Israel’s overnight strikes should end the direct exchange of fire between the two countries and warned Tehran of “consequences” if it responds. Keir Starmer warned Iran not to retaliate More

Your support helps us to tell the storyThis election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.CloseRead moreCloseRachel Reeves is to slash the ‘right to buy’ discount given to those purchasing their council house in next week’s Budget. Ministers say the move is designed to “protect” existing stock so thousands more homes remain for rent. But the cut risks accusations that it is an attack on aspiration. The move is part of a wider housing package that has been hailed by the deputy prime minister Angela Rayer, who used the right to buy scheme to buy her Stockport house in 2007. She later turned a £48,500 profit on the house, when she sold it in 2015. The housing package has been hailed by Ms Reeves and Ms Rayner More

Your support helps us to tell the storyThis election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.CloseRead moreCloseThe prime minister is set to be among those people protected from tax rises in next week’s Budget, the chancellor has suggested.Asked whether Sir Keir Starmer was defined as a working person, Rachel Reeves said: “The prime minister gets his income from going out to work and working for our country.”Before the election, Labour pledged not to raise taxes for working people, and ministers have come under increasing pressure to define the term.But Sir Keir prompted anger by suggesting people whose income is primarily from stocks and shares were not “working people”.People from unpaid carers to landlords have objected, saying what they do is vital for others and they would object to facing tax rises.Asked on LBC radio whether Sir Keir was a worker, Ms Reeves said: “He’s a working person.”Earlier this month, the PM was forced to pay back more than £6,000 worth of gifts and hospitality he received since entering No 10 after a row over ministerial donations.Ms Reeves added: “In this budget, we made a clear commitment in our manifesto not to increase the key taxes that working people pay: national insurance, income tax and VAT, and despite the difficult circumstances and unfunded commitments of the previous government, I’m determined to stick to that manifesto commitment in the Budget next Wednesday.”The prime minister’s comment has heightened expectations of a hike in capital gains tax. Inheritance tax and fuel duty are also said to be in line for hikes.Ms Reeves is looking to bridge what she calls a “£22 billion black hole” in the public finances.Downing Street was forced to backtrack after initially suggesting those with even a small income from stocks and shares would face higher taxes.Tom Selby, director of public policy at investment firm AJ Bell, told The Independent: “The government’s commitment not to raise taxes on ‘working people’ was always going to come unstuck because the definition is potentially so broad.“While raising the rate of capital gains tax will undoubtedly affect many working people and reduce the rewards for investing – potentially undermining the government’s wider ambition to drive economic growth – the chancellor will argue it is broadly wealthier people who will shoulder the burden.” More

Your support helps us to tell the storyThis election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.CloseRead moreCloseThe Culture secretary has hit back at French proposals plans to charge Brits and other non-EU visitors a surcharge to see the Mona Lisa. Minister Chris Bryant said entry to the UK’s national galleries and museums was “FREE to all. You’re welcome. Je vous en prie.” “Je vous en prie,” translates as “you’re welcome” in French. His riposte came after France’s culture minister Rachida Dati said she wanted to increase the charges to enter the Louvre, the home of the Mona Lisa.She also wants to charge visitors to enter Notre Dame cathedral for the first time.Visitors observe the painting The Mona Lisa by Leonardo Da Vinci on display in a gallery at Louvre More

Your support helps us to tell the storyThis election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.CloseRead moreCloseA Conservative MP has called for a “crackdown on spitting” and “large and instant fines” for people playing music on public transport as part of an attempt to make the UK “vaguely civilised again”.Neil O’Brien also called for an end to vandalism of street furniture, action to stop e-bikes and scooters being ridden on pavements, an end to “street scars” where gaps in street paving are replaced with tarmac, and a “galvanising” national goal to cut down the volume of litter.The Leicestershire MP also called for a push to plant trees on every residential street “where this is remotely possible”.Writing in his Substack blog, Mr O’Brien, who was a minister in the previous Tory administration, said the desire to live in an “orderly and civilised society” was “one of the most under-discussed and under-appreciated things in politics”.Neil O’Brien said an ‘orderly and civilised society’ has not been delivered by politicians More

Your support helps us to tell the storyThis election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.CloseRead moreCloseSir Keir Starmer has heightened expectations of a capital gains tax hike in next week’s Budget by describing “working people” as those whose income is not primarily from stocks and shares.The prime minister all but confirmed he would raise taxes on wealth, saying that those whose main source of income is stocks, shares and property fall outside his definition of “working people”.He and Labour promised repeatedly during the general election campaign to not raise taxes on working people, and ministers have come under increasing pressure to define the term.Sir Keir’s revelation on Thursday night gives the clearest indication yet of his thinking ahead of Rachel Reeves’ make-or-break Budget on Wednesday.He was forced to backtrack after initially suggesting those with even relatively little income from stocks and shares were in line for tax hikes. But a spokesman for the PM quickly clarified that Sir Keir meant those for whom stocks, shares and property made up their primary income source.Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves promised to not raise taxes on ‘working people’ during the election campaign More

Your support helps us to tell the storyThis election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.CloseRead moreCloseSir Keir Starmer has been forced to climb down from his suggestion that he does not consider people who have an income from assets such as shares of property to be working people. It comes after Labour promised in its manifesto not to raise VAT, income tax or national insurance contributions for “working people”. The government has been asked repeatedly to define this term, in a bid to establish which taxes may rise in the Budget.“They wouldn’t come within my definition,” he initially told Sky News during an interview at a Commonwealth summit in Samoa. Among the levies which are reportedly under consideration for a hike are capital gains tax, inheritance tax, and fuel duty.The government has been asked repeatedly to define ‘working people’, in a bid establish which taxes may rise in the Budget More