UK Politics

A long-awaited inquiry into grooming gangs may now not take place until next year.Government sources have told The Times that it could take months to find a new chair after both contenders to oversee the probe – former police officer Jim Gamble and Annie Hudson – pulled out this week.The government is taking urgent steps to find new candidates after the exit of “leading” option Mr Gamble – but ministers will “take the time, likely months”, to appoint the right chair, the source said. The inquiry has been thrown into disarray after the loss of the two candidates to chair the probe, as well as the departure of five women from the victims liaison panel.Four of the women who quit have said they would be prepared to return if safeguarding minister Jess Phillips resigns, while five of those still on the advisory panel have said they would only stay if she remains in post.The five backing Ms Phillips said in a letter to Sir Keir Starmer and home secretary Shabana Mahmood that her retaining her role is one of the conditions for their continued participation. They wrote that the minister has “remained impartial” and “we want her to remain in position for the duration of the process for consistency”. Safeguarding minister Jess Phillips is facing calls to resign (PA) More

Rachel Reeves is reportedly considering raising income tax in her Budget next month in what would be a major break of one of Labour’s main manifesto pledges.Sources have told The Guardian that she may raise income tax to fill a hole in the public finances estimated at between £30bn and £50bn. The paper reported the Chancellor is “nervous” about breaking such a major pledge, but some advisers in the Treasury and No 10 believe it may be the only way to raise enough money to make sure she does not have to raise taxes again this parliament.Before the election, Labour’s pledged no tax rises on working people.But one source said the Treasury is considering adding 1p to the basic rate, which would raise more than £8 billion. Another believes she will likely raise higher or additional rates, which would bring smaller sums of £2bn and £230m at rates beginning at roughly £50,000 and £125,000 a year.A senior official said there have been discussions about how much headroom Ms Reeves wanted to give herself, with some saying she wants more than the £10bn she accounted for at the spring statement.A senior official said there have been discussions about how much headroom Reeves wanted to give herself, with some saying she wants more than the £10bn she accounted for at the spring statement More

Nearly two thirds of Brits believe Brexit has been a failure – and they mainly blame Boris Johnson, a survey has revealed.Despite slogans on Leave campaign buses claiming £350million was being sent each week to the European Union, most also believe the UK’s exit has failed because of the damage it has done to the economy.The new figures, part of a major report to be unveiled on Friday, come just days after Rachel Reeves warned Brexit had an even bigger impact on the economy than critics predicted. ( More

Sir Keir Starmer has said that the public will never need a digital ID to access a hospital, but admitted that the full cost of the new scheme is still not known. The prime minister reiterated on Thursday that digital IDs will only be mandatory when it comes to the right to work. The scheme was first announced last month, and has been highlighted as a way to prove a person has the right to work in the UK as part of the government’s bid to cut illegal migration. Asked whether a digital ID would be needed to access a hospital, Sir Keir told the BBC on Thursday: “Absolutely not”.“Apart from the right to work and having a digital ID, it won’t be mandatory,” he said. “You’ll never need ID to get into a hospital or anything like that.” However, he admitted officials are not clear on how much the scheme will cost overall.Some experts have expressed concerns that a digital ID card system could leave the country vulnerable to data security breaches More

Reform UK’s Doge team has been accused of doing little more than “photocalls” at councils that it vowed to “save a lot of money” for when it was set up four months ago.The Elon Musk-inspired cost-cutting team, set up by Reform UK chair Zia Yusuf, pledged to work with Reform-controlled councils across the UK after the party’s big wins at local elections in May.The party promised councils a free team of software engineers, data analysts and forensic auditors to “visit and analyse” their finances to “identify wasteful spending and recommend actionable solutions”.Doge has not identified specific targets but Reform has pledged to cut spending on things such as diversity and inclusion programmes.However, The Independent has found that the unit has only visited three of the 12 councils since the May elections – and has been met with barriers preventing them from making much progress.Of the 12 Reform-controlled councils, only Kent, West Northamptonshire and Worcestershire have hosted Mr Yusuf and his team for talks.The cost-cutting team, set up by Reform UK chair Zia Yusuf, pledged to work with Reform-controlled councils across the UK More

Sir Keir Starmer is personally intervening to contact victims amid growing turmoil in the national grooming gangs inquiry, after a former Labour minister joined growing calls for safeguarding minister Jess Phillips to resign. Tony McNulty, who served as a minister under Gordon Brown, said “the inquiry is more important than the minister and the minister should go”.It comes after the four women who resigned from the inquiry’s victims liaison panel called for Ms Phillips to resign, in a letter to the home secretary accusing her of labelling some of their claims “untrue” and saying they had provided evidence to the contrary.But in a sign of growing divisions, five survivors who have been invited onto the panel have said they will only continue working with the probe if Ms Phillips remains in post, the Guardian reported on Thursday. The women contacted the PM and home secretary saying the safeguarding minister has “devoted her life to hearing and amplifying the voices of women and girls who would have otherwise been unheard”.A group of grooming gang survivors have called for Jess Phillips to resign (Jordan Pettitt/PA) More

Downing Street has appeared to dismiss the idea of MPs being given time for a Commons debate on Prince Andrew, with the prime minister’s spokesperson saying that the royal family “would not want to take time” from other parliamentary business. Pressure has been mounting on the King’s brother over his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein and his rent-free mansion in Windsor. On Wednesday, Sir Keir Starmer said he would support “proper scrutiny” of the Crown Estate arrangements, but on Thursday Downing Street suggested that the government is not planning on making time for MPs to debate the matter. Asked if the government would be making time, a No 10 spokesperson said: “Prince Andrew has already confirmed he will not use his titles. We support the decision made by the royal family, and we know the royal family would not want to take time from other important issues.”Meanwhile, a committee of MPs will be “seeking more information” on the prince’s lease arrangements for the Royal Lodge property. Chair of the public accounts committee Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown said on Thursday that he will be writing to the crown estate commissioners and the Treasury in the coming days. Sir Geoffrey added: “In the correspondence, our cross-party committee will be raising a number of questions with the crown estate and HM Treasury. This forms part of our long-standing remit, on behalf of parliament and the British public, to examine the economy, efficiency and effectiveness of public spending, and ensure the taxpayer is receiving best value for money.”Commons speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle said on Thursday that “there are ways for the House to properly consider the matter”. Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey asked earlier this week whether “given the revelations about Royal Lodge” the prime minister believed that MPs should “properly scrutinise the Crown Estate to ensure taxpayers’ interests are protected”.Prince Andrew announced last week that he would stop using his Duke of York title More

A migrant who returned to Britain after being deported as part of a one in, one out deal is being “fast-tracked” back to France, Keir Starmer has said. The prime minister vowed that the UK would remove him again “very, very swiftly” as he denied his government’s approach to stopping small boats crossing the channel was “in tatters”. Sir Keir saidthe Iranian man was already in detention and “he will now be fast-tracked back out of the country, because we obviously have his details”.“We know he hasn’t got a claim to make, therefore we’ll remove him very, very swiftly. So his return journey back to the United Kingdom is completely pointless, and it’s really important I make that absolutely clear.”He said no when asked whether the government’s approach to stopping small boats was “in tatters”. The man returned to the UK in a small boat, marking a humiliating blow for Sir Keir and his pledge to take back control of Britain’s borders.The news emerged on the same day that the number of migrant arrivals via the English Channel so far this year passed the total for the whole of 2024. But the deputy PM has claimed the identification of the man was a sign of “progress”.David Lammy said that it “actually reveals that the individual, who spent thousands of pounds trying to get into this country, as a result of his biometric data can be sent back and that is progress”.An Iranian man who was returned to France under the ‘one-in-one-out’ deal has been detained after entering the UK a second time More