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      Nigel Farage to back scrapping child benefit cap and restoring winter fuel payment

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      Reform UK leader Nigel Farage will commit to restoring the winter fuel payments to all pensioners and scrapping the two-child benefit cap, according to reports.Farage is expected to appeal to more left-wing voters in a speech next week, according to the Sunday Telegraph.The newspaper said the Reform leader would call prime minister Sir Keir Starmer “one of the most unpatriotic prime ministers in our history and this past week has been evidence of that”, in reference to Reform’s success in recent local elections.The political party is riding high in the opinion polls after its victories in town halls and the Runcorn and Helsby by-election, according to YouGov.The latest opinion polling revealed Reform UK is the most popular party among voters at 29 per cent, followed by Labour on 22 per cent and Liberal Democrats at 17 per cent. The Conservatives are in fourth place at 16 per cent.The Clacton MP spent last week on holiday while the House of Commons was sitting. While MPs have left Westminster for recess, he is expected to return to the political arena and say: “The prime minister is out of touch with working people, he doesn’t understand what they want and how they feel about the big issues facing Britain.“It’s going to be these very same working people that will vote Reform at the next election and kick Labour out of government.”A source told the newspaper: “We’re against the two-child cap and we’d go further on winter fuel by bringing the payment back for everyone.“That’s already outflanking Labour.”This comes as Sir Keir has signalled a desire to restore the winter fuel payment to more pensioners in Prime Minister’s Questions.The payment was previously made to all pensioners, but Labour reduced it to only those receiving pension credit in one of its early acts in government.it is understood that the Goverment’s action plan to tackle child poverty – a document likely to contain proposals to scrap the two-child benefit cap – has been delayed until the autumn. The plan is likely to be aligned with the budget so it can be fully costed.New costings released recently by the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) show another 109 more children are pulled into poverty by the policy every day.The number affected will continue to increase until 2035 – when the first children born under the turn 18.The charity says that scrapping the cap would be the most cost-effective way to lift kids out of poverty. More

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      Children with special educational needs at risk of losing school support

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      Hundreds of thousands of children with special needs are at risk of losing their entitlement to support in schools, as the government refused to rule out scrapping key documents that families rely on to guarantee specialist help. Education, health and care plans (EHCPs) are statutory documents which outline the support needed to help children with special needs and disabilities achieve key life outcomes. But speaking to the Guardian, Catherine McKinnell, the school standards minister, declined to rule out narrowing or replacing EHCPs altogether as she confirmed officials were developing a new system for SEND support. Changes to the EHCP system could force thousands of pupils out of mainstream education, campaigners have warned More

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      Starmer faces major revolt over benefit cuts as frontbenchers ‘poised to quit’ over reforms

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      Sir Keir Starmer is facing the biggest rebellion of his premiership as more than 150 MPs are preparing to vote against his forthcoming welfare cuts.It is understood that there is growing upset among both parliamentary private secretaries (PPSs) and even government ministers, who are said to be considering quitting if the government doesn’t water down its proposals. It comes amid deep concern over the impact of the proposed changes, which will see personal independence payments cut for around 800,000 people. One PPS told The Independent she is horrified by the direction of the government, claiming that the prime minister simply doesn’t care what his MPs think. Prime minister Keir Starmer signalled a partial U-turn on restricting winter fuel payments earlier this week More

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      Kemi Badenoch facing ‘inevitable’ leadership challenge as Tories battle dire poll ratings

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      Kemi Badenoch is facing an inevitable leadership challenge, Boris Johnson’s former director of communications has warned, amid reports that the Tory party is plotting to oust her. Guto Harri, who worked for Boris Johnson during his time in No 10, also warned the Conservatives against selecting frontrunner Robert Jenrick as their next leader, dubbing him a “pale imitation” of Reform UK. It comes after The Independent revealed that Tory MPs are plotting to remove Mrs Badenoch as panic grows over the future of the party following Reform’s success in the local elections and continued disastrous results in the polls. Kemi Badenoch is facing questions over her leadership after the disastrous local election results More

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      Reform hits 30% landmark as more than half of Tory voters switch to Farage

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      Nigel Farage’s Reform UK have hit 30 per cent for the first time in the weekly tracker poll conducted by Techne UK for The Independent.After a massive victory in May’s local elections where the party won 10 councils and 677 seats, Reform’s climb in the polls continues while the slide continues for both Labour and the Tories.Ahead of the local elections on 1 May Reform were tied with Labour on 25 per cent each but have gained five points in the last month while Labour have fallen three points to 22 per cent.Meanwhile, the Tories who were on 23 per cent just before the local elections have seen their support collapse six points in a month to 17 per cent, now just one point ahead of the Lib Dems on 16 per cent. The Greens have also benefited rising by two points to 9 per cent.Techne UK’s chief executive Michela Morizzo said: “It seems the political landscape in the UK is evolving more rapidly in a totally new direction than ever before in history.”This week’s polling revealed that voters aged over 45 are more likely to support Reform with backing for Farage increasing the older people get.Voters aged 35 to 44 are evenly split at the top between Labour and Reform while voters under 35 are more likely to support Labour.More than half (52 per cent) of Tory voters from last year’s election have now switched to Reform. However only 10 per cent of Labour’s 2024 election voters back Reform now with more (12 per cent) going to Lib Dems.The figures will only add to questions about Tory leader Kemi Badenoch’s ability to survive while they also appear to have pressured Sir Keir Starmer into a U-turn on winter fuel. Since Sir Keir Starmer’s government took over, Labour have seen a decline in support. The Conservatives, too, have been unable to keep momentum in opposition, and have fallen to 21 per cent support. Meanwhile Reform, which won an unprecedented 14.3 per cent of the vote in the July general election, has continued to make steady gains, overtaking the Tories in January, and now sit alongside Labour at the top. It is important to note, however, that national voting intention polls do not tend to accurately reflect the picture at local elections, but they can provide a useful snapshot of political sentiment. For some voters, political parties play little part in their choice for local councillors, while others might vote solely based on party affiliation. More

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      Starmer delays tackling child poverty leaving tens of thousands on the brink

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      Labour has delayed a flagship plan designed to cut child poverty until the autumn, in a move that could leave tens of thousands on the brink. Just weeks after coming to power, ministers said they would consider ditching the “cruel” two-child benefit cap in a bid to head off a backbench Labour revolt.But the overall strategy in which the policy was expected to be included has now been pushed back, despite fears of another rebellion on welfare cuts within weeks. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer signalled a partial U-turn on restricting winter fuel payments earlier this week (Thomas Krych/PA) More

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      Probation staff shortages threaten to derail plans to safely release prisoners early, ministers warned

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      Severe staff shortages mean the beleaguered probation service cannot safely monitor prisoners in the community under new plans to free up prison spaces, senior figures have warned. In a review ordered by justice secretary Shabana Mahmood as the prison crisis boiled over during her first days in office, her Tory predecessor, David Gauke, recommended freeing many prisoners a third of the way into their sentence and telling judges to avoid jailing people for less than a year in favour of community sentences.While the plans have been widely welcomed, concerns have been raised over how the under-pressure probation service will cope with an influx of new offenders to manage. Ms Mahmood is expected to accept most of the proposals, but former justice secretary Sir Robert Buckland expressed concern that the plans could merely “transfer a prison-based problem into the community”.And probation union Napo warned that there was now a “vital window” to invest in staff and their wellbeing before the changes place “massive, massive pressure” on a service already in “chaos”.Hailing the report as “the most important review of sentencing policy in at least a generation”, Napo chief Ian Lawrence added: “But the problem the government has right now is, if prisons are full, so is the probation service.“And our capacity to process even more people released into the community is going to be put under massive, massive pressure … without something being done to maintain the confidence of staff. That means paying people so they don’t just leave, because people [have had] enough of the current workload situation.”The most recent official figures suggest a shortfall of nearly 1,500 probation officers below the recommended staffing level of 7,115. Mr Lawrence warned that this target may underestimate the true need. Ministers have vowed to recruit a further 1,300 officers by March 2026 and while the probation service grew by 610 staff in the year to March, more than 2,000 staff – nearly 10 per cent – left over the same period. Forty per cent of probation officers who quit left with at least 10 years of experience, analysis by The Independent found.Asked whether he believes the probation service has enough staff to safely enact the reforms, Mr Lawrence said: “Certainly not now.”Justice secretary Shabana Mahmood ordered the sentencing review during her first days in office More

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      Trump tells Starmer to stop building ‘unsightly windmills’ and drill for more oil in North Sea

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      Donald Trump has taken aim at Sir Keir Starmer’s government just weeks after the two leaders appeared to put the “special relationship” back on track with a much-lauded trade deal. The US president hit out at one of the Labour leader’s flagship strategies, on net zero, telling him to “stop with the costly and unsightly windmills” and instead forge ahead with more drilling for oil in the North Sea. Mr Trump, who has been vocal in his opposition to wind turbines for many years, used a post on his social media platform Truth Social to say: “Our negotiated deal with the United Kingdom is working out well for all. “I strongly recommend to them, however, that in order to get their Energy Costs down, they stop with the costly and unsightly windmills, and incentivize modernized drilling in the North Sea, where large amounts of oil lay waiting to be taken.”Trump has hit out at Keir Starmer’s use of ‘windmills’ More