UK

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 moreCloseMinisters are to crack down on the nurseries charging banned ‘top-up’ fees, warning they prevent parents from using much-needed childcare. In his first newspaper interview since taking the job, education minister Stephen Morgan told The Independent the government would look at “all options” to prevent the practice.The problem was “an issue up and down the country”, he warned.Earlier this year The Independent revealed parents were facing a hike in nursery fees of up to 15 per cent as they pick up the tab left by funding gaps in the Tory flagship scheme to expand free childcare.Parents are facing banned ‘top-up’ fees for nursery care 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 major new report has proposed turning the Commonwealth into a trade and security bloc and inviting Ukraine to join.Ahead of the biannual Commonwealth heads of government meeting (Chogm) in Samoa next week, the think tank Policy Exchange has produced a report to revitalise the international club of nations.The report, which has cross-party support in the Commons and has been backed by former Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper and Australia’s ex-foreign minister Alexander Downer, comes with exclusive polling revealing public support for the plans.According to the polling, more than three in five (63 per cent) of UK adults believe the Commonwealth should encourage the removal or reduction of barriers to trade between its members.The report recommends giving Prince William a special Commonwealth role 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 senior MP has accused the former RAF chief air marshal of lying over allegations he had pushed through an illegal recruitment policy for the service.Alicia Kearns, the former chair of the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, used parliamentary privilege in prime minister’s questions (PMQs) to accuse Sir Mike Wigston of lying in the case of the RAF’s former head of recruitment group captain Lizzy Nicholl.Challenging Sir Keir Starmer, Ms Kearns said: “Group Captain Lizzy Nicholl had an exemplary career with the RAF until she was forced to resign for refusing to implement illegal recruitment orders. Despite inquiry after inquiry vindicating Lizzy on every count, the RAF and Ministry of Defence have failed to offer her fair compensation and those responsible have just walked away.Ms Kearns used parliamentary privilege to accuse a former air chief marshall of lying 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 being warned that she may have to break Labour’s manifesto pledge not to raise income tax or national insurance in order to fill a £40bn black hole in her spending plans.The concerns come after the chancellor warned her cabinet colleagues this week that she needs to find spending cuts and tax rises of £40bn to balance the books – far more than the £22bn she has claimed the Tories left behind.Ms Reeves was boosted on Wednesday by a drop in inflation to 1.7 per cent – the first time in three years it has been under 2 per cent – which means benefit payments will not need to be raised by as much as feared. However, it also means she will not raise as much money as hoped from freezing income tax band thresholds.The conundrum has led to speculation that Ms Reeves will unveil a £25bn tax raid in her Budget on 30 October, while spending on benefits and even international aid, traditionally protected by Labour, are under threat.Keir Starmer and the chancellor must decide how to meet a £40bn black hole 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 Technology Secretary has said tech companies must ensure child safety is at the forefront of the development of new products, as he criticised the Roblox gaming platform for not protecting its users.Peter Kyle said Ofcom would be telling the US-based gaming platform steps it needed to take to ensure users were protected after US investment firm Hindenburg Research accused it of having lax safety controls which created an “X-rated paedophile hellscape”.Mr Kyle (Hove and Portslade) had been asked what he was doing to protect children using the platform from online predators.Keeping children safe online is the key priority for this Government. The Online Safety Act places strict safety duties on online platforms such as Roblox to protect children from being groomed by online predatorsPeter KyleHe said: “Keeping children safe online is the key priority for this Government. The Online Safety Act places strict safety duties on online platforms such as Roblox to protect children from being groomed by online predators.“Ofcom is the regulator for the regime, and they will set out steps in the codes for the platform to take to fulfil their duties by the end of this year.”Roblox is an online gaming platform where users can create their own games. The majority of players are under 16, and it is used by hundreds of millions of users every month. Chatrooms are available for users, and although it offers parental controls, there are no age restrictions.In a report published last week Hindenburg Research, which is looking to “short” the company’s stock, said: “Our in-game research revealed an X-rated paedophile hellscape, exposing children to grooming, pornography, violent content and extremely abusive speech.”Roblox has rejected the claims made in the Hindenburg report, saying “safety and civility have been foundational” to the company since its inception.The Online Safety Bill, which has passed through parliament, will require platforms to protect children from harmful content. Ofcom will draw up codes of practice that will enforce the legislation, although the guidance will be voluntary.The Online Safety Act and measures that will be coming into force soon are there to directly impact that concern. I want those powers to be used as assertively as possiblePeter KyleLabour MP for Northampton South Mike Reader said one of his constituents was a volunteer moderator on the website. He said his constituent’s group had identified and banned 14,000 accounts involved in child grooming, exploitation and sharing indecent images.Mr Reader said: “Does the Secretary of State agree with me that while we drive for tech innovation and investment, we must keep online safety at the heart of our strategy?”Mr Kyle said: “The Online Safety Act and measures that will be coming into force soon are there to directly impact that concern. I want those powers to be used as assertively as possible.“I have heard just today of another story affecting Roblox. I expect that company to do better to protect the service users, particularly children, on its website.”Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy Labour MP Melanie Ward raised concerns about online safety, as she said the Safer Phones Bill – a private members’ bill due to be presented to the Commons, would help stop young people from being damaged by social media and mobile phone content.Mr Kyle said: “We must keep children safe and vulnerable people safe when they are online. It is my intention to make sure that safety is baked in from the outset. When it comes to keeping children safe in this country everything is on the table, and I am open minded as to how we move forward in order to achieve a much safer environment.“Companies releasing products into our society should see it as a privilege, not a right.”The safety of our community, particularly younger members of our community, is our highest priority, and we have a robust set of proactive and preventative safety measures designed to to catch and prevent malicious or harmful activity on our platformRoblox spokesmanA Roblox spokesperson said: “Safety and civility have been foundational to Roblox since our inception nearly two decades ago, and we have invested heavily throughout our history in our trust and safety efforts. Today, 10% of full-time employees and thousands of contractors are focused exclusively on trust and safety.“Every day, tens of millions of people of all ages have a safe and positive experience on Roblox, abiding by our community standards.“The safety of our community, particularly younger members of our community, is our highest priority, and we have a robust set of proactive and preventative safety measures designed to catch and prevent malicious or harmful activity on our platform.“These protocols include text chat filters in all supported languages to detect and block inappropriate words and phrases, blocking attempts to direct users under the age of 13 off the platform and preventing the sharing of personal information, such as a phone number or address. We also do not allow user-to-user image sharing on Roblox. For more information about our safety efforts, see our recent blog post.” 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 said Britain is considering imposing sanctions on Israeli ministers as pressure mounts on the Tel Aviv government over its actions in Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon.It comes one day after the UK imposed fresh sanctions on Israeli settlers in the West Bank, accusing Israel of allowing “impunity to flourish” among extremist settlers. Hours earlier, former foreign secretary Lord Cameron had revealed he had been preparing to sanction Israeli finance minister Bezalel Smotrich and national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir during his final days in the role before the general election was called.Asked at Prime Minister’s Questions whether those sanctions would be applied, Sir Keir said: “We are looking at that.”He said the pair had made “abhorrent” comments about the situation in Gaza and the West Bank.Starmer said Israel must ‘take all possible steps to avoid civilian casualties’ 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 moreClose The leaders of the European Union and six Gulf nations met for an inaugural summit on Wednesday against a backdrop of turmoil in the Middle East and struggles to find a unified position on the war in Ukraine and relations with Russia. The summit was expected to last just a few hours and encompass everything from visas and trade to the situation in the Middle East, and was unlikely to yield more than general commitments to improve cooperation. Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said the summit was “long overdue” and added that “the economic ties between the European Union and the Gulf countries need to be strengthened.”“They are there, but they have the potential to be developed much, much further,” he said.Officials said the EU would also raise human rights issues with their visitors, which includes Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The United States , U.N. and others have alleged that aides of Prince Mohammed and other Saudi officials killed U.S.-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi, whose columns for The Washington Post were critical of the crown prince.”Our outrage and revulsion at this horrific violation of human rights cannot be set aside for the sake of quick deals with dictators. EU leaders must confront brutal authoritarianism wherever it exists,” EU Greens legislator Daniel Freund said.The 27-nation EU has long had relations with the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council, which include Qatar, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Kuwait. The nations of the European Union already find it challenging to find full alignment on Israel’s wars against Hamas and Hezbollah, and it will be difficult to find a strong common statement with GCC leaders, officials familiar with the meeting said. EU members are also in disagreement regarding relations with Russia and Ukraine, with nations like Hungary and Slovakia holding vastly different views on Moscow’s actions than much of the other EU states. At the same time, several GCC nations have much better contact with Moscow compared to EU members. More

Starmer refuses to rule out national insurance rise at PMQsYour 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 will announce Labour’s first Budget in 15 years later this month, leading one of the most highly-anticipated fiscal events in over a decade.As the chancellor looks to fill the £22bn “black hole” in public spending she announced in late July, speculation has mounted about what measures will be included on 30 October.During Labour’s first few months in power, ministers have warned that “tough decisions” will be required to balance the books. Prime minister Sir Keir Starmer has said the event is going to be “painful” but that there is “no other choice given the situation that we’re in”.This likely means tax rises and spending cuts can be expected. The government has already come under fire for its decision to cut back winter fuel payments for millions of pensions, sparking a row which has hung over its first 100 days in power.In the run-up to the Budget, inflation fell below the 2 per cent target for the first time in three years, sparking hopes of an interest rate cut to come in November.We’ll be bringing you all the latest updates ahead of the big event on 30 October here, on The Independent’s liveblog.Show latest update 1729062168Pinned: Inflation falls below 2% target for first time in three yearsUK inflation has decreased to below the 2 per cent target for the first time in over three years.The consumer price index (CPI) has dropped to 1.7 per cent, down from 2.2. per cent in August, according to the Office for National Statistics.The figure has beaten expert predictions, which largely estimated a more modest drop to 1.9 per cent.Albert Toth16 October 2024 08:021729089221Inflation drop ‘badly-timed’ for benefit claimants as next increase revealedInflation has dropped below 2 per cent for the first time in over three years, raising hopes that the Bank will cut interest rates in November. The decrease exceeded many economist predictions, with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) falling to 1.7 per centBut some experts have warned that the rate drop is “badly timed” for many people, as it will be a key factor in how much benefits are uprated by the DWP next April.Albert Toth16 October 2024 15:331729080857ICYMI: Ex-Bank of England chief urges Rachel Reeves to raise national insurance“Be courageous, be bold, and ensure that the economic inheritance we leave to our grandchildren is one of which both they and we can be proud.“One day, you will look back on your time as chancellor and you will want to remember the far-reaching changes you made – not the political compromises that others will urge on you.”Albert Toth16 October 2024 13:141729076014Controversial weight-loss jab policy revealed ahead of BudgetAhead of the Budget on 30 October, it has been revealed that a trial is underway where unemployed people will be given weight-loss jabs to assist them back into work.The UK’s life sciences sector will receive £279 million from drugs giant Eli Lilly, to invest in developing new medicines and ways to deliver treatment.“The long-term benefits of these drugs could be monumental in our approach to tackling obesity. For many people, these jabs will be life-changing, help them get back to work and ease the demands on our NHS,” health secretary Wes Streeting wrote in The Telegraph.Albert Toth16 October 2024 11:531729069415Rachel Reeves boosted by big drop in inflation as she seeks £40bn in Budget tax risesRachel Reeves has been boosted by a sharp drop in inflation as she seeks to find £40bn of tax hikes and spending cuts in this month’s Budget.The chancellor will welcome the dip, which saw inflation fall under the Bank of England’s 2 per cent target for the first time in more than three years, as she prepares for what promises to be a brutal Budget.Albert Toth16 October 2024 10:031729069239Would raising employer national insurance be a ‘tax on working people’?Labour came under criticism in recent days after several ministers refused to rule out that an increase in employer national insurance contributions (NICs) will be announced in the upcoming budget.Ministers and Treasury officials have indicated the government’s position is that the measure would not break their manifesto pledge. Meanwhile, Institute for Fiscal Studies director Paul Johnson has argued it would be a “straightforward breach.”Here are the facts about the debate and how the measure could affect you:Albert Toth16 October 2024 10:001729062000ICYMI: Reeves warned national insurance hike would be ‘straightforward breach’ of manifestoRachel Reeves has been warned that hiking employer national insurance contributions would be “a straightforward breach” of the Labour manifesto.The chancellor has been told by Paul Johnson, director of the influential Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), that the party said “very clearly” it would not make the change.Albert Toth16 October 2024 08:001729054800Budget rumours: Inheritance Tax reformInheritance tax is a levy on the estate of someone who has died. This is their property, money and possessions. Crucially, it is not paid if the value of these things is below £325,000.The tax rate is 40 per cent, but it’s only charged on the part of the estate that’s above the threshold. In 2023/24, only 5 per cent of deaths generated an inheritance tax bill, raising around £7 billion.However, the IFS writes that the tax measure “is littered with special exemptions”. These include a business relief, the ability to pass on agricultural land tax-free, and the tax-free passing on of pension pots.The economic think tank says that ending these measures alone would raise £4.8bn a year by 2029.Albert Toth16 October 2024 06:001729044000Tell us what you’d like to see announced in Labour’s first budgetWe would like to hear your thoughts on what you would like to see introduced in Reeves’ Budget. Should she focus on measures to support homeowners, such as the Freedom to Buy scheme? Or would you prefer a focus on closing tax loopholes, such as abolishing non-dom status, to ensure a fairer tax system?Share your views:The Independent16 October 2024 03:001729033260Budget rumours: Taxing pension savingsPension tax relief is a reduction of the amount of tax paid on private pensions. It helps workers save for retirement by boosting their pension pots.The amount of tax relief a person is granted is based on their income tax. It will effectively cancel out tax on pension contributions up to a maximum of £60,000.After this, contributions will be taxed at either 20, 40, or 45 per cent, depending on which income tax rate the worker falls into.However, the chancellor is thought to be considering a flat 30 per cent pension tax relief rate. This would mean that higher earners would effectively pay 10 per cent in tax, while those on the additional rate would pay 15.The measure would raise around £3 billion a year, with 7 million earners paying more tax. But it would be better news for basic rate earners, who would actually begin to receive a 10 per cent boost to their pension contributions.Evaluating the idea last year, the IFS said it would “redistribute the burden of taxation from the bottom 80 per cent to the top 20 per cent of earners.”Albert Toth16 October 2024 00:01 More