30 h. ago Unemployment creeps up after Rachel Reeves' huge tax raid on businesses

The rate of UK unemployment increased to 4.7 per cent in the three months to May, from 4.6 per cent in three months to April, the Office for National Statistics said today.

Economics

30 h. ago Rachel Reeves' £20bn tax raid leads to thousands of job losses as wage growth cools

Thousands of jobs were lost in June, according to official data, as Chancellor Rachel Reeves' £20bn tax raid led to a cooling in wage growth and put the Bank of England under further pressure

Economics

48 h. ago Labour ‘only just getting started’ says Starmer as he faces ‘tax raid’ questions

The Prime Minister told the Commons that Labour MPs will ‘happily’ face their constituents during the summer recess, which begins next week.

Politics

62 h. ago State schools falling behind private schools in AI ‘digital divide’ – report

Nearly a fifth of state school teachers in England do not use artificial intelligence compared to 8% of private school teachers, a survey suggests.

Politics

4 d. ago Middle classes will bear the brunt of new Rachel Reeves tax raid, Labour minister hints

Yesterday Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander again failed to deny that Labour is looking to hike taxes, but said the Government would be guided by 'fairness'.

Politics

6 d. ago Time for an emergency budget? Rachel Reeves facing fresh turmoil after GDP falls again

Sparking further warnings of a tax raid this autumn, the Office for National Statistics ( ONS ) said gross domestic product (GDP) contracted by 0.1 per cent.

Economics

6 d. ago The National Trust to axe 550 jobs after Rachel Reeves' tax raid budget added £10million to charity's annual wage bill

The conservation charity said rising costs were outstripping growth in visitors and donations and it needed to reduce the pay bill as well as finding savings worth £26 million

Economics

7 d. ago London borough to see classes oversubscribed as private school closure leaves parents scrambling

London borough to see classes oversubscribed as private school closure leaves parents scrambling  My London

Politics

9 d. ago Starmer opens the door for wealth tax raid as he ducks questions at PMQs

During a fiery PMQs, the prime minister ruled out increases to income tax, VAT and national insurance but could not answer questions on wealth taxes or a freeze on tax thresholds

Economics

9 d. ago Labour's pledge of 6,500 teachers funded by private school VAT 'lacks coherent plan'

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said it is 'unclear' how meeting this pledge will ensure there are enough teachers in the right areas.

Society

9 d. ago Brits demand cuts to spending as £30bn Rachel Reeves tax raid looms

The public is demanding spending is cut, not taxes hiked, with Chancellor Rachel Reeves facing a battle to balance the books, fresh polling has found

Economics

1 week ago Rachel Reeves' uncle reveals why she was crying at PMQs as he blasts Keir Starmer and Labour for 'joke' first year in power

Terry Smith, 72, the brother of the Chancellor's mother Sally Reeves, also advised his niece to 'stop spending money on the migrants and focus on fixing the country instead'.

Politics

1 week ago Even poorest OAPs face paying income tax in new stealth raid on state pension

Millions of Britain's poorest pensioners face being dragged into an 'old-age tax trap' as Chancellor Rachel Reeves desperately attempts to fill a growing black hole in the public finances.

Economics

1 week ago DAN HODGES: This is who's REALLY to blame for the crushing failure of Labour's first year

A year ago, Keir Starmer penned one of his first articles since becoming Prime Minister. It focused on immigration

Events

2 w. ago Who’s really to blame for Labour’s troubles – Rachel Reeves or the invisible PM? | Gaby Hinsliff

The Treasury focuses on numbers when what’s needed is vision. The party and the country are crying out for leadership, but it’s nowhere to be seenShe is not the first chancellor to cry in public, and may not be the last. But Rachel Reeves is the first whose tears have moved markets. No sooner had the realisation dawned that she was silently weeping – over a personal sorrow she won’t be pushed into revealing, she insisted later, not a political one – as she sat beside Keir Starmer at Wednesday’s prime minister’s questions, than the pound was dropping and the cost of borrowing rising. The bond traders who forced out Liz Truss’s hapless chancellor still clearly rate her judgment and want her to stay, even if (perhaps especially if) some Labour MPs don’t. Yet it is an extraordinary thing to live with the knowledge that a moment’s uncontrolled emotion can drive up the cost of a nation’s mortgages, just as a misjudged stroke of the budget pen can destroy lives.The most striking thing abou...

Events

2 w. ago PM shoulders blame for welfare fiasco and says No 10 ‘didn’t get process right’

Keir Starmer says Downing Street should have engaged more with Labour MPs and repeats support for Rachel ReevesUK politics live – latest updatesKeir Starmer has admitted No 10 “didn’t get the process right” in handling the government’s controversial welfare bill and says he shoulders the blame.Looking to repair some of the damage done by Labour’s 11th hour climbdown on the central plank of its welfare changes, Starmer said the government would reflect on its mistakes. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago French PM François Bayrou failed to act on abuse at Catholic boarding school, report says

Damning report by MPs comes after inquiry into allegations of decades of physical abuse, rape and sexual assault at Notre-Dame de Bétharram schoolThe French prime minister, François Bayrou, failed to act to prevent physical and sexual abuse at a private Catholic school in south-west France when he served as education minister between 1993 and 1997, a parliamentary report has said.The damning report issued by French lawmakers on Wednesday comes after a long parliamentary inquiry into allegations of decades of physical abuse, rape and sexual assault at the Notre-Dame de Bétharram boarding school near Pau in south-west France. Continue reading...

Events

2 w. ago Who's to blame for Labour's welfare 'clusterf***'? Knives out for Keir Starmer's top team after Commons shambles

After ministers were forced to gut their welfare plans in dramatic scenes in the House of Commons last night, who is to blame for the Government's humiliation?

Politics

2 w. ago ‘Distraught’ families say they may have to homeschool SEND children if school forced to close amid VAT raid

Families in last-minute battle to save Bishop Challoner School in London which faces closure on last day of term amid financial pressures

Society

2 w. ago Tulisa's dad dies: Devastated singer announces death of Mungo Jerry keyboard player Plato Contostavlos

‘Forever my father's daughter,’ Tulisa shared in an Instagram tribute

Events