UK

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailWatch as Rishi Sunak delivers a pre-election pitch to voters on Monday 13 May.The prime minister portrayed himself as the best leader to take the UK through “some of the most dangerous yet most transformational” years ever.Mr Sunak said he has “bold ideas” that can “create a more secure future” for Britons and restore their “confidence and pride in our country” if he wins the general election expected later this year.In a speech in central London, he added voters face a stark choice in whom they choose to govern the nation at a time of unprecedented global volatility and technological advancements.It comes as his Conservative Party languishes behind Labour in the polls and suffered a mauling in local and regional elections earlier this month.Mr Sunak’s woes deepened with the defection of MP Natalie Elphicke in protest against his record on housing and stopping small boat Channel crossings – the second defection to Labour in as many weeks.But he was buoyed by official figures showing the economy grew by 0.6 per cent over the first quarter, ending a technical recession recorded in the final half of last year. More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailRishi Sunak has fired the starting gun on what looks set to be a long general election campaign.In a desperate pitch to voters, with the Conservatives sitting 20 points behind Labour in the polls, the prime minister warned Britain is “at a crossroads”.And he pitched himself as the man with the “bold ideas” to “create a more secure future for you and your family”.Mr Sunak said he feels a “profound sense of urgency” about wanting to lead Britain through the challenges of the next five years.Prime Minister Rishi Sunak during a visit to a branch of Timpson (Yui Mok/PA) More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailNadhim Zahawi has announced his next role after confirming he will stand down at the next election.Last week Mr Zahawi joined the exodus of Tory MPs standing down at the election, which is expected to be held this autumn.The former chancellor has now been appointed chair of online retailer Very Group, which owns Very and Littlewoods. He will replace interim chair Aidan Barclay at the company which is part of the Barclay family’s business empire.The Barclays have owned Very Group since 2002, but the business recently swung to a half-year loss and was forced to secure £125 million in new debt funding from Carlyle Global Credit and IMI.The Very Group said in a statement that Mr Zahawi would work with the directors and management team to explore expanding the business in new areas.It also said he would work with shareholders on “the strategic options” for the business, possibly including fresh investment in the short to medium term.Aidan Barclay added: “I am delighted to welcome Nadhim to the Board of the Very Group.“With a proven track record in digital growth and innovation, and highly respected in the UK and global markets, he is ideally suited to lead our Board as the company enters its next stage of strategic development and growth.”Mr Zahawi, who co-founded the polling company YouGov in 2000, has held ministerial positions under the last four prime ministers – Theresa May, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss, and Rishi Sunak.He had a short-lived stint as chancellor in the final days of Mr Johnson’s government. Other positions included Covid-19 vaccines minister, Conservative Party chairman and education secretary.Last week, he announced he would not run in the next election. He was sacked as Conservative Party chairman in January 2023 after an inquiry found he had failed to disclose that HMRC was investigating his tax affairs.The investigation was sparked by The Independent’s revelation of an HMRC investigation into the MP over his tax affairs. Mr Zahawi tried to stop this publication from exposing the investigation by threatening to sue if the information was published.Mr Zahawi did not sue, and paid a penalty of more than £1m to HMRC in a settlement worth almost £5m in total.( More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailSir Keir Starmer is under pressure to investigate claims Natalie Elphicke lobbied the justice secretary in 2020 to intervene in her ex-husband’s sex offences trial.The Labour leader has been urged to launch a probe into the claims, made by Sir Robert Buckland, who on sunday said Ms Elphicke approached him when he was lord chancellor and justice secretary before the hearing of Charlie Elphicke’s case.Labour MP Jess Phillips said “there should always be an independent investigation into all these sorts of claims that come forward”.Jess Phillips said there should be an investigation into the claims about Ms Elphicke More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailRishi Sunak is staging yet another relaunch of his premiership with a general election on the horizon, promising “bold ideas” to “create a more secure future for you and your family”. In a desperate pitch to voters after this month’s local election drubbing, the prime minister will pledge to “restore people’s confidence and pride in our country”.And he will stress that “more will change in the next five years than in the last thirty”, with the next few years to be among the most dangerous the country has ever witnessed, adding he felt “a profound sense of urgency”.Rishi Sunak will say ‘more will change in the next five years than in the last thirty’ More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailWes Streeting has defended his party’s policy not to scrap the cap on child benefit for just two children in each household.His comments in an exclusive interview with The Independent came just ahead of rightwing former home secretary Suella Braverman shocking Westminster by calling for an end to the controversial policy brought in by the Tories during their coalition with the Lib Dems.Labour had been in favour of scrapping the child benefit cap but reversed on the proposal late last summer because shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves said it was unaffordable, provoking huge anger and debate in the party.Mr Streeting was speaking to The Independent for a wider interview about his autobiographical book – One Boy, Two Bills and a Fry Up – in which he graphically describes growing up in poverty on east London council estates and how benefits allowed him and his mother to eat and put a coin in the electricity meter. His comments were made before Ms Braverman published her article but explained why Labour does not currently support scrapping the cap.In her article for The Daily Telegraph, Ms Braverman dedicated her thinking to the work of the late Labour peer, former MP and welfare reformer Frank Field.Wes Streeting wants to consign child poverty to the history books More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailA Tory MP is backing calls for ministers to change the law to stop “privileging” a father’s right to contact his children over the safety and wellbeing of domestic abuse victims.The Right to Equality organisation, which campaigns for legal reform to support the rights of women and girls, said it wants to ensure the current “presumption of contact is fully and finally removed” and will launch a report in parliament on Monday demanding change.Kate Kniveton, the Conservative MP for Burton and Uttoxeter, was previously found by a family judge to have been raped and abused by her ex-husband and former minister Andrew Griffiths. She said it is “clear we need legislative change to create a safer environment for children”.“I am supporting Right to Equality’s campaign as an ambassador for a presumption of no child contact in cases involving domestic abuse, opposing the current pro-contact culture that fails to protect survivors and their children,” she said.“We believe no child should be required to undergo contact with an abusive parent.”Ms Kniveton is backing the the Right to Equality organisation’s calls for change More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailAngela Rayner is expected to be interviewed under caution as part of Greater Manchester Police’s probe into the sale of her council house in 2015, according to reports.Labour’s deputy leader is said to have been contacted by the force to arrange a date for officers to quiz her about the controversy.She will be questioned over claims she breached electoral law, failed to pay capital gains tax and falsely received single-occupancy council tax discount.Angela Rayner has said she will quit if she is found to have broken the law More