UK

Kemi Badenoch has vowed to abolish stamp duty if the Conservatives win the next election, as she unveiled a raft of tax cuts in a bid to win back voters and boost the party’s ratings.Outlining the major policy announcement to a packed audience at her Tory conference speech on Wednesday, she said the move to scrap the “bad tax” would “help achieve the dream of home ownership for millions”.The plans, which the Tories say would cost around £9bn, have been praised by economists, but questions remain over how the party would pay for it. After a lacklustre party conference, Ms Badenoch also used her speech to take aim at Labour, pledging to overturn a series of policies brought in by Sir Keir Starmer’s government, including: abolishing the controversial VAT on private school feesreversing changes to inheritance tax for farms, dubbed the tractor taxa promise to undo Angela Rayner’s workers’ rights reformsbanning doctors from going on strike, which she linked to higher NHS waiting listsscrapping the carbon tax Having focused on securing the UK’s borders by withdrawing from the European Convention on Human Rights in her opening address, Mrs Badenoch then set out her vision of a country where the state “does less but does it better” and “profit is not a dirty word”.Kemi Badenoch has promised to abolish stamp duty for primary residences More

Kemi Badenoch pledges to abolish stamp duty on all home sales in Tory conference speechConservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch has vowed to scrap stamp duty on all homes as part of a conference speech in which she said only the Tories could deliver a stronger economy and “stronger borders”.To much applause, she said: “At the heart of a Conservative Britain is a country where people who wish to own their first home, can. But our housing market is not working as it should. The next Conservative government will abolish stamp duty.” The surprise announcement was one of many tax cuts Ms Badenoch promised if the Tories win the next general election, and that includes reversing Labour’s inheritance tax on farm estates worth £3m or more – the “tractor tax”.Outlining her “blueprint for Britain”, she received a huge round of applause when she said that farmers were the “backbone of our country” and “we fought for them before – we will fight for them again”. In another major policy announcement, she promised to ban doctors from striking, stating that industrial action has kept waiting lists high for far too long. “Enough is enough,” she said. Watch: Kemi Badenoch pledges to abolish stamp duty on all home salesKemi Badenoch pledges to abolish stamp duty on all home sales in Tory conference speechBryony Gooch8 October 2025 15:45Government could crack down on chants at pro-Palestine protestsThe Government could launch a crackdown on some of the chants used at pro-Palestine protests, Sir Keir Starmer has said.The Prime Minister’s intervention came after pro-Gaza marchers went ahead with demonstrations on Tuesday, the second anniversary of Hamas’s October 7 attacks on Israel.The anniversary came less than a week after knife-wielding terrorist Jihad Al-Shamie, 35, killed two men at Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue in Manchester.During a trade mission to India, Sir Keir was asked what action he would take after the protesters defied his calls to step down their demonstration on the anniversary of October 7.He pointed to work being carried out by Shabana Mahmood to review protest laws, adding: “I’ve asked the Home Secretary to look more broadly at what other powers are available, how they’re being used, and whether they should be changed in any way.“I think we need to go further than that in relation to some of the chants that are going on at some of these protests.”Bryony Gooch8 October 2025 15:30Opinion: Robert Jenrick – keep my home town out of your mouthJane Dalton8 October 2025 15:15NHS drug prices to rise as Starmer caves in to Trump demandsJane Dalton8 October 2025 15:00Labour slates ‘same old’ Tory policiesLabour accused Mrs Badenoch of being in “complete denial” after her speech to the Conservative party conference.Anna Turley, Labour’s chairwoman, said: “Kemi Badenoch is in complete denial. The public saw the Tories’ disastrous blueprint for Britain across their 14 years of failure in government – and the Conservatives still won’t apologise for the mess they left.”Kemi Badenoch set herself a new ‘golden economic rule’ today and broke it immediately. It’s the same old Tories, with the same old policies without a plan. They didn’t work then and you can’t trust them now.”Labour Party chairwoman Anna Turley (Stefan Rousseau/PA) More

Rachel Reeves has been handed a rare boost ahead of next month’s Budget after the Office for National Statistics (ONS) announced that government borrowing had been overstated by a cumulative £3bn due to mistakes in recent public finances data. Since January, public borrowing estimates have been out by around £200m-£500m a month, the ONS said, handing the chancellor some extra breathing space in her upcoming Budget. The statistics body blamed the error, which emerged in its tax and spending figures published on 19 September, on a mistake in the VAT receipts data supplied by HMRC. As a result, public borrowing for the year ending March 2025 was around £1bn lower than previously estimated. For this year so far, from April to August, it is £2bn lower. Reeves still has to locate £20bn-£40bn in savings to make up for her shortfall More

Kemi Badenoch has solidified her position as Tory leader with a policy-laden Tory conference speech aimed at silencing her critics. Addressing a packed hall at the Manchester Convention Centre, Ms Badenoch said the Labour government is “making one hell of a mess” and set out plans for how the Conservatives would fix it. The Independent looks at what policies Ms Badenoch promised party members in her headline address. Stamp dutyThe biggest headline-grabber in Ms Badenoch’s speech was her vow to axe stamp duty if the Conservatives win the next general election. Kemi Badenoch pledged to abolish stamp duty More

Tech firms are vulnerable to the risk that soaring valuations will drop sharply amid potentially “disappointing” progress around artificial intelligence (AI), the Bank of England has warned.The risk of a “sharp correction” in the financial markets has increased, the Bank’s Financial Policy Committee (FPC) said.The minutes of the FPC’s latest meeting read: “On a number of measures, equity market valuations appear stretched, particularly for technology companies focused on artificial intelligence.“This, when combined with increasing concentration within market indices, leaves equity markets particularly exposed should expectations around the impact of AI become less optimistic.”It said there was a risk that “disappointing” progress on AI capability or adoption, or increased competition could drive valuations lower across the sector.“Material bottlenecks to AI progress” including across power, data, or commodity supply chains could also harm valuations, particularly for firms who are expected to benefit from greater AI investment, the FPC said.It comes at a time that valuations for tech firms have boomed amid expectations that the adoption of AI technology will ramp up around the world.Huge technology companies like Nvidia, Google and Microsoft have all seen their share prices soar over the past year.Meanwhile, the Bank’s FPC flagged concerns about the independence of the US’s Federal Reserve coming under pressure from US President Donald Trump.It said central bank independence “underpins monetary and financial stability”.“A sudden or significant change in perceptions of Federal Reserve credibility could result in a sharp repricing of US dollar assets, including in US sovereign debt markets, with the potential for increased volatility … and global spillovers,” the Bank added.Mr Trump has sought to oust the Federal Reserve’s governor Lisa Cook over allegations she committed mortgage fraud when purchasing a home in 2021, but a judge ruled that the firing was illegal.He has also repeatedly demanded that the Fed, led by chairman Jerome Powell, reduce its key interest rate.The Fed, like the Bank of England, operates independently of government – meaning it sets interest rate policy without political interference.In the meeting, the FPC also cautioned the impact of Mr Trump’s trade war had “not yet been fully realised”.Uncertainty over tariffs pose a risk to the global economic outlook, it said.It said geopolitical risks remained “elevated” while global conflicts had raised energy supply fears, but added that oil and shipping prices had eased back since its last meeting earlier this year.Despite the increased risks, the experts assured the UK banking system was equipped to support households and businesses even if economic conditions were to get much worse than expected.Households face continued pressure from higher borrowing costs and the cost of living, but the outlook was generally improving, it said. More

NHS drug prices look set to rise as Sir Keir Starmer is close to bowing to Donald Trump’s demands to pay pharmaceutical companies more money.It comes as officials briefed the Trump administration on new proposals to adjust how the NHS prices medicines earlier this week, including raising the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) threshold by 25 per cent.The revelation, first reported by Politico, is the government’s attempt to avoid a wave of new tariffs threatened by President Trump over what he believes to be anti-competitive practices by the UK.Trump and Starmer together at the signing of a tech prosperity deal in September More

Vegan sausage rolls will have to be renamed in Northern Ireland as the European Union could be set to vote to ban plant-based food sold under “meaty terms”.Meat-free products in Northern Ireland will have to be sold under new terms, such as “tubes” or “discs”, if Wednesday’s vote in the European Parliament passes. It is backed by a majority of conservative EU lawmakers, as well as some liberal members, to appease farmers. The possible EU ban will apply because of the Windsor Framework, which ensures that Northern Ireland must follow some of the bloc’s rules that Britain does not, including on food labelling.The treaty created the Irish Sea border, which kept the land border with the Republic of Ireland invisible after Brexit while introducing checks on British goods. Unionist politicians in Northern Ireland have complained that the latest vote is evidence of the country being forced to adhere to rules it never backed. Timothy Gaston, the member of the Northern Ireland Assembly for the Traditional Unionist Voice, told The Telegraph: “Once again, Northern Ireland finds itself bound by rules it did not make, subject to decisions in which no Northern Ireland representative has a vote.“While the European Parliament debates what a sausage roll can be called, businesses here must brace for yet another layer of regulation that applies in Belfast but not in Birmingham.”The Northern Ireland Assembly can delay the application of EU law by using the “Stormont brake”, designed to block, at least temporarily, the application of a rule if it has a “significant impact specific to everyday life in Northern Ireland in a way that is liable to persist”. On the two previous occasions that this brake has been tested, however, the UK government has denied its use, claiming it did not meet the threshold. It is also unclear whether there is sufficient opposition to this new rule within the assembly. The name of one vegan sausage roll will nevertheless remain unchanged in Northern Ireland despite the potential ruling: a loophole in the Brexit treaty means that Greggs’ product will escape the possible order. The loophole allows for certain products made in Britain to be sold under their original name. The pastries are made in Britain before being shipped to two dozen bakeries in Northern Ireland. They cross the Irish Sea border using the “green lane”, which means they are deemed not at risk of crossing into Ireland. More

Sir Keir Starmer will resist growing demands from British business leaders to provide more UK visas for highly skilled workers from India.While flying to Mumbai for a two-day trade visit with more than 100 business chiefs, the prime minister said opening up visas for Indian workers to come to the UK “isn’t part of the plan”, he added.India reportedly pushed for far more visa access to the UK when the two countries were finalising their trade deal earlier this year. But while heading on his first major trade mission to India, which comes after a UK-India trade deal was struck earlier this year, the prime minister told journalists: “The issue is not about visas. It’s about … engagement and investment and jobs and prosperity coming into the United Kingdom.”Sir Keir also reiterated that, when it comes to visas, ministers were considering whether to punish countries who refuse to take back people deported from the UK. The government is “looking at whether there should be a link between visas and returns agreements,” he said, though he added this would not apply to India, with which the UK has a successful returns agreement.The PM has pledged to cut net migration to the UK and has come under intense pressure to cut both legal and illegal immigration from Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party and Kemi Badenoch’s Conservatives. But he is also under pressure to find some economic good news on his whirlwind trade visit, following warnings of a £50bn black hole in the government’s finances and widespread forecasts Rachel Reeves will have to raise taxes in November’s Budget. Keir Starmer with the huge trade delegation at Heathrow More