UK Politics

With Labour’s second autumn Budget fast approaching, speculation about further tax rises has grown rife. The chancellor may need to find at least £22bn next month, pre-Budget research from the respected Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) found, as rising borrowing costs and weak growth forecasts drastically reduce her room for manoeuvre.Making matters more tricky for the Treasury is Labour’s continued commitment not to raise taxes on “working people” – meaning no increase to the headline rates of income tax, VAT or national insurance contributions.With these three largest bases of tax revenue closed off, the chancellor has fewer places to look to raise revenue, making it more likely she will pick from a diverse range of taxation tweaks.Changes to how property and capital gains are taxed have now been forecast by many economists, but some have also predicted that changes to pension policy could make an appearance.Pre-Budget research has found that the chancellor may need to find at least £22bn next month More

With Labour’s second autumn Budget fast approaching, speculation about further tax rises has grown rife. The chancellor may need to find at least £22bn next month, pre-Budget research from the respected Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) found, as rising borrowing costs and weak growth forecasts drastically reduce her room for manoeuvre.Making matters more tricky for the Treasury is Labour’s continued commitment not to raise taxes on “working people” – meaning no increase to the headline rates of income tax, VAT or national insurance contributions.With these three largest bases of tax revenue closed off, the chancellor has fewer places to look to raise revenue, making it more likely she will pick from a diverse range of taxation tweaks.Changes to how property and capital gains are taxed have now been forecast by many economists, but some have also predicted that changes to pension policy could make an appearance.Pre-Budget research has found that the chancellor may need to find at least £22bn next month More

Sir Keir Starmer’s government has postponed a decision on whether to grant China permission for a new London “super embassy”.The planning decision for the proposed site near the Tower of London was called so ministers would make the final decision and was expected on 21 October.But the deadline for the housing and planning secretary, Steve Reed, to make the decision has been pushed back to 10 December, amid mounting pressure on the prime minister over his approach to China. Keir Starmer is already under pressure over his approach to China More

The Green Party is now neck and neck with Labour, a new poll has shown, as the party climbs in the polls following the election of Zack Polanski – but both are lagging behind Reform UK. A new poll, conducted by FindOutNow, put Nigel Farage’s party on 32 points, a fall of two points since this time last month. The Conservatives are on 16 points, having seen no change since last month. Following closely behind are both Labour and the Greens, with Labour having seen its approval rating fall by one point, while the Greens have surged by three points in Mr Polanski’s first month as the party’s leader. Leader Zack Polanski told the Green Party conference: ‘The alarm bells of authoritarianism are ringing’ More

The head of MI5 has said “Chinese state actors” present a national security threat to the UK “every day” and he admitted he was frustrated by the collapse of the case against two alleged Westminster spies. Sir Ken McCallum set out how the Security Service carried out an operation against a threat from China within the last week amid growing questions around the failure to prosecute.In a speech at MI5’s London headquarters, the service’s director general said that the UK needed to “defend itself resolutely” against China while also being able to “seize the opportunities” having a relationship with Beijing brings.“The UK-China relationship is, by its nature, complex, but MI5’s role is not: we detect and deal, robustly, with activity threatening national security,” Sir Ken said.He highlighted attempts by China to carry out “cyber espionage”, “clandestine technology transfer”, efforts to “interfere covertly in UK public life” and the “harassment and intimidation of opponents” including pro-democracy activists.“When it comes to China, the UK needs to defend itself resolutely against threats and seize the opportunities that demonstrably serve our nation,” he said.It was a choice for ministers to decide where the balance lies, he said, “informed by expert security advice”.Asked if he was frustrated by the collapse of the case against Christopher Cash and Christopher Berry, he said: “Of course I am frustrated when opportunities to prosecute national security-threatening activity are not followed through, for whatever reason.”Sir Ken’s comments came after it emerged the government’s deputy national security adviser had repeatedly described the “threat” posed by China in witness statements, published on Wednesday night, amid the extraordinary row over the collapse of the case.A key allegation against the government was that it refused in its evidence to the CPS to describe Beijing as a threat to Britain’s national security. MI5 chief Ken McCallum says he is ‘frustrated’ by the case collapsing More

Boris Johnson has admitted he “loves” AI and ChatGPT, and revealed that he uses it while writing his books.The former prime minister praised the AI platform for answering his questions, and said he appreciated it calling him “brilliant” and “excellent”.Mr Johnson has had a number of books published since 2001, including his most recent autobiography, Unleashed, which was released in 2024.Speaking to Al Arabiya English, he said: “One thing that really encourages me is AI. I love AI. I love ChatGPT. I love it. ChatGPT is frankly fantastic.”When asked what he uses it for, he said: “I’m writing various books. I just use it. I just ask questions. You know the answer, but ChatGPT always says, ‘Oh, your questions are clever. You’re brilliant. You’re excellent. You have such insight’.“I love it. I see great promise in this technology because we’re all simple. We’re human beings.”Boris Johnson praised the AI platform for answering his questions More

Sir Keir Starmer has published a series of witness statements given by the deputy national security adviser to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in the collapsed China spying case. The prime minister had hoped publishing the evidence would draw a line under the saga, which has dogged his government for weeks.A key allegation was that the government refused, in its evidence to the CPS, to describe Beijing as a threat to Britain’s national security, leading the case against the two alleged spies to collapse. Keir Starmer faces further questions about the collapse of the China spying case More

British spies have begun work on tackling the potential risk posed by rogue artificial intelligence (AI) systems, the head of MI5 said.Sir Ken McCallum said it would be “reckless” to ignore the potential for AI to cause harm.In a speech at the Security Service’s Thames House headquarters, he insisted he was not “forecasting Hollywood movie scenarios” but the intelligence agencies had to consider the risks.He said: “MI5 has spent more than a century doing ingenious things to out-innovate our human – sometimes inhuman – adversaries.“But in 2025, while contending with today’s threats, we also need to scope out the next frontier: potential future risks from non-human, autonomous AI systems which may evade human oversight and control.“Given the risks of hype and scaremongering, I will choose my words carefully: I am not forecasting Hollywood movie scenarios.“I am, on the whole, a tech optimist who sees AI bringing real benefits.“But, as AI capabilities continue to power ahead, you would expect organisations like MI5 and GCHQ and the UK’s ground-breaking AI Security Institute, to be thinking deeply, today, about what defending the realm might need to look like in the years ahead.“Artificial intelligence may never ‘mean’ to cause us harm. But it would be reckless to ignore the potential for it to cause harm.” More