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 moreCloseChancellor Rachel Reeves has defied calls to reform child benefit and change the way it is calculated – which money expert Martin Lewis branded “bad news” for single-earner families.Child benefit will continue to be based on individual income rather than household income, meaning anyone earning £60,000 or more before tax each year must pay a high-income charge above that threshold.In a couple where they both earn £60,000 or more, whoever earns the most must pay the charge – regardless of who claims child benefit.Child benefit is withdrawn if the income of the higher-earning partner reaches £80,000 a year.Single parents have complained the system is ‘unfair’. Stock image 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 moreCloseChancellor Rachel Reeves hopes her historic rise in tax, coupled with spending on the NHS and other investments, will kickstart the economy and get Britain’s debt under control.The level of her ambition and the size of the mountain she must climb can be seen in the numbers. Britain owes £2.7 trillion – an amount set to creep up each year through the rest of this parliament, and growth is expected to be no more than 2 per cent over the same period.Ms Reeves plans on raising tax by £40bn, much of it from businesses. She will spend £22.6bn more on the NHS to get it back on its feet.Paul Johnson of the Institute for Fiscal Studies said her gamble is twofold.“The first gamble is that a big cash injection for public services over the next two years will be enough to turn performance around,” he said. If she gets it wrong, she will need to raise taxes again. If she gets it right, it could mean growth.“Which brings us to the second gamble: that this extra borrowing will be worthwhile,” he added.Will the chancellor’s big gamble pay off? 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 gambled on a £40bn tax rise in Wednesday’s historic Budget in a bid to boost public services and grow the economy.She told the House of Commons that the increase – a record sum, equalled only by Norman Lamont in 1993 – coupled with a massive £32bn in extra borrowing was vital to “fix broken Britain”. Ms Reeves, the first woman in the 803-year existence of the office of chancellor of the Exchequer, delivered the first Labour Budget in 14 years to cheers from her own benches, as she blamed a “toxic Tory legacy” for the measures she was forced to take.A confident-looking Reeves mocked opponents during a 77-minute speech that included swipes at Rishi Sunak’s fondness for private jets and at her predecessor Kwasi Kwarteng describing his notorious mini-Budget as “not perfect”.Rachel Reeves delivered her first Budget to cheers from her own benches 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 sombre stage had been set for months before the new Labour government’s first Budget. The gloomy messaging began when Rachel Reeves unveiled told the Commons the public purse was facing a £22bn “black hole” at the end of July. It continued when the prime minister warned that the coming event would be “painful.”With these bleak warnings in place, many predicted the worst from the fiscal event. Some expectations were met: the chancellor confirmed £40bn in tax rises, announcing expected tweaks to capital gains, national insurance and more.Placing the blame squarely on the previous Conservative administration, she accused her opposite numbers of “concealing the reality” of public spending challenges.Rachel Reeves holds the chancellor’s iconic red briefcase 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 moreCloseBrexit is on course to cut UK trade by 15 per cent, the government’s independent financial watchdog has warned. Vote Leave campaigners argued that British trade would receive a boost from exiting the European Union in the run up to 2016’s referendum.But in documents published alongside Rachel Reeves’ Budget the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) said that “weak growth in imports and exports over the medium term partly reflect the continuing impact of Brexit, which we expect to reduce the overall trade intensity of the UK economy by 15 per cent in the long term.”The figures led to claims that Brexit was the “elephant in the chancellor’s study”. The prime minister has said that he wants to reset the UK’s relationship with the EU, fixing it for the benefit of “generations to come”. But Labour has specifically ruled out any return to the EU’s customs union or single market, despite calls to go further and faster with the plans, amid warnings over the cost of Brexit to the wider economy.Chancellor Rachel Reeves unveiled her first Budget on Wednesday 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 has announced Labour’s first Budget in 14 years, making history as the first female chancellor to lead the fiscal event.The chancellor had made no secret of the difficult task she faced, with her announcement set against the backdrop of the £22bn ‘black hole’ in public finances she says was left behind by the previous Tory government.Beginning her statement with an attack on the previous Conservative administration for “hiding the reality” of the scale of this spending challenge. She went on to reveal that new taxation measures aim to raise £40bn – the highest since 1993.Rachel Reeves makes Budget speech, 30 October 2024 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 has been warned her decision to hike stamp duty for second home-buyers will punish renters as well as landlords.At Wednesday’s Budget the chancellor announced that second-home buyers will face an increase of 2 percentage points to the stamp duty land tax (SDLT) surcharge, taking the additional tax to 5 per cent.The surcharge is paid on top of standard stamp duty rates, which are charged on properties above the value of £250,000. First time buyers are exempt on properties up to the value of £425,000.The change, coming into force from Thursday, will make it more expensive for landlords to purchase further properties and is aimed at “supporting first-time and main home buyers”, Ms Reeves said. Rachel Reeves unveiled her first Budget in the Commons today 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 moreCloseWatch live as chair of the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) Richard Hughes holds a press conference after Labour’s Budget was announced on Wednesday, 30 October.Rachel Reeves, the UK’s first female chancellor, announced tax hikes that will raise an eye-watering £40bn.The chancellor said Labour had inherited a £22bn funding “black hole” from the Tories and would never again “allow a government to play fast and loose with public finances.”Ms Reeves promised to “invest, invest, invest” in order to “fix public services” after months of warning the public of the “tough choices” ahead.She confirmed increases to employers’ national insurance contributions, stamp duty on second homes and a scrapping of VAT exemption on private schools fees, and a new duty on vaping liquids.Ahead of the press conference, the OBR said Ms Reeves’ plan “delivers a large, sustained increase in spending, taxation, and borrowing.” More