UK

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailNadhim Zahawi has apologised over his handling of an HMRC investigation into his tax affairs and confirmed he paid the taxman £5m to settle the case.The former chancellor, who said on Thursday he is quitting as an MP at the general election, said he “should have been more explicit” about the details of his settlement.Mr Zahawi said his mistakes “have been mine” as he joined the exodus of Tory MPs standing down at the election expected this autumn.The MP said it was time for ‘a new, energetic Conservative’ to take over his Stratford-on-Avon seat More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailNatalie Elphicke’s defection to the Labour Party was “naked opportunism”, David Cameron has said.The foreign secretary criticised his former Conservative colleague over her decision to cross the floor of the House of Commons, saying: “I am not a fan of defectors”.“I think it leaves a legacy of upset and betrayal… I thought this was just naked opportunism.”Natalie Elphicke has been accused of seeking to influence her ex-husband’s sex offences trial More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailSuella Braverman has called for the two-child benefit cap to be scrapped, saying the policy is “aggravating child poverty”.The former home secretary praised the work of the late veteran Labour MP Frank Field towards eliminating poverty.And she called for the Conservatives to “do more to support families and children on lower incomes”.The call puts Ms Braverman, one of the leading figures on the Tory right, in a more progressive position than Labour on the issue. Sir Keir Starmer has come under significant pressure to promise an end to the policy, which prevents parents from claiming benefits for any third or subsequent child born after April 2017.Suella Braverman has called for the two-child benefit cap to be scrapped More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster email Lithuanians are casting votes in a presidential election on Sunday at a time when Russian gains on the battlefield in Ukraine are fueling greater fears about Moscow’s intentions, particularly in the strategically important Baltic region.The popular incumbent, Gitanas Nausėda, is favored to win another five-year term in office. But there are eight candidates running in all, making it difficult for him or any other candidate to muster the 50% of the votes needed to win outright on Sunday. In that case, a runoff will be held on May 26.Polls opened at 7 a.m. and close 8 p.m. (1700 GMT). Results are expected late Sunday night. The president’s main tasks in Lithuania’s political system are overseeing foreign and security policy, and acting as the supreme commander of the armed forces. That adds importance to the position in the relatively small nation given that it is located strategically on NATO’s eastern flank as tensions rise between Russia and the West over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. The Russian exclave of Kaliningrad on the Baltic Sea is sandwiched between Lithuania to the north and east, and Poland to the south. There is great concern in Lithuania, and in neighboring Latvia and Estonia, about Russian troops’ latest gains in northeastern Ukraine.All three Baltic states declared independence after the collapse of the Soviet Union and took a determined westward course, joining both the European Union and NATO.Nausėda is a moderate conservative who turns 60 a week after Sunday’s election. One of his main challengers is Ingrida Šimonytė, 49, the current prime minister and former finance minister, whom he beat in a runoff in 2019 with 66% of the votes.Another contender is Ignas Vėgėlė, a populist lawyer who gained popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic opposing restrictions and vaccines.A referendum is also on the ballot Sunday. It asks whether the constitution should be amended to allow dual citizenship for hundreds of thousands of Lithuanians living abroad.Lithuanian citizens who adopt another nationality currently must give up their Lithuanian citizenship, which doesn’t bode well for the Baltic nation whose population has fallen from 3.5 million in 1990 to 2.8 million today.For the first time, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe turned down an invitation by Lithuania to observe the election.The Lithuanian government wanted to exclude monitors from Russia and Belarus, accusing the two nations — both members of the 57-member organization — of being threats to its political and electoral processes.The OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights said Lithuania was breaking the rules it signed up to when it joined the organization. It said observers don’t represent their countries’ governments, that they must sign a code of conduct pledging political neutrality and if they break the rules they are no longer allowed to continue as observers. More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailAkshata Murty has revealed that she no longer reads the news, as it has become “so much more personal”.As the wife of Rishi Sunak, she has found that she and her husband are in the spotlight not just for his political decisions, but every aspect of his life.Bemused by the interest in his Adidas Samba trainers, she told The Times: “I had no clue. Rishi has always worn Sambas. You kind of have to live your life and not let it consume you.“I try not to [read the news] now because it is so much more personal.” Ms Murty, 44, is the multimillionaire daughter of one of India’s richest businessmen and managed to stay out of the public eye until The Independent revealed she had been avoiding tax by claiming non-dom status while her husband was chancellor. She later agreed to pay UK tax on her overseas income.She and her husband also came under fire over her stake in Koru Kids after Mr Sunak failed to declare her involvement in the childcare agency that benefited from the Budget in 2023.Mr Sunak and Ms Murty in their flat in 10 Downing Street More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailLabour have accused Rishi Sunak of being out of touch and performing a “victory lap” after it emerged the UK was out of recession. Mr Sunak claimed that “things are starting to feel better” hours after figures showed the economy had grown by 0.6 per cent over the first three months of this year.But shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper labelled the Conservatives as “out of touch” for celebrating. She told Sky News: “The Government seems to think we should be grateful for the fact that we are no longer in recession and have low growth instead.”I think this still reflects the fact that working people are still worse off than they were 14 years ago, that people are still paying more on their mortgages, prices are still much higher and actually people are feeling really squeezed.” She added: “The idea of the Conservatives trying to do a victory lap on all of this and expecting everyone to think: ‘It’s all wonderful and we’ve never had it so good,’ just shows how out of touch they are.”Rishi Sunak (Carl Court/PA) More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailLabour will scrap the Rwanda deportation plan “straight away” if it wins power, Sir Keir Starmer said as he vowed an end to the “unquenchable Tory desire for shortcuts”.The Labour leader attacked Rishi Sunak’s approach to the small boats crisis as “gimmicks, not serious government” and set out the party’s own plans to crack down on people smugglers.In a major speech in Dover, for which he was introduced by the defected Tory MP Natalie Elphicke, Sir Keir promised to end Westminster’s “talk tough, do nothing” culture over the issue.Sir Keir Starmer with shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper, ex-Tory MP Natalie Elphicke and Labour’s Dover parliamentary candidate Mike Tapp More