Overseas nationals denied benefits under a Conservative plan to limit social security to UK citizens would have the option to return to their own countries, the shadow chancellor, Mel Stride, has said. Stride was speaking as he unveiled details of plans to cut public spending by £47bn (see 7.59am, 8.09am and 12.36pm.) Most of the money would be used for deficit reduction, but Stride also announced plans for a £4bn tax cut for business, a £2.8bn tax cut for young people and plans to cut household energy bills by £165 on average every year.
(See 11.27am.) A Reform UK-run council where the party sought to pilot drastic cost-cutting plans is going to have to raise council tax, a cabinet member has admitted. The finances of one of Nigel Farage’s key confidants are being examined by the UK’s tax and revenue authorities amid questions over his income from wealth and business activities, the Guardian understands.
Jonathan Powell will appear before parliament for the first time amid questions about his role in the collapse of a trial of two Britons accused of spying for China. For a full list of all the stories covered on the blog today, do scroll through the list of key event headlines near the top of the blog. James Cleverly, the shadow housing secretary, attacked Sadiq Khan’s housing record as London mayor in his speech to the conference this afternoon.
Since 2010, Conservatives have delivered 2.5m homes – a million of those in the last parliament alone. Last year in the south-east of England, and the east of England, Conservative-run regions, about 2.5 new homes were built per thousand people. In London, run by Labour for the best part of a decade, 0.5 homes per thousand.
And so, what do those figures mean, for real people, for ordinary hard-working Londoners? In 1980, the average London home cost £25,000, and that was about four times the average national salary. Today, the average London house costs over £500,000.
And that is fifteen times the average salary. That is Sadiq Khan’s record of failure. We should not, and we cannot, and we must not accept it.
There is speculation that Cleverly may put himself forward as the Tory candidate for London mayor at the next election, in 2028. Matt Chorley from the BBC has written an excellent long read on what Tory MPs are saying in private about Kemi Badenoch and her prospects. It includes this wonderful anecdote.
In recent weeks, stung by criticism that she was aloof from her MPs, Badenoch has begun inviting in small groups for lunch. Well, platters of shop-bought sandwiches. When I pointed out to one invitee that Badenoch famously declared last year that she hated sandwiches (in line with just 1% of the British public), they replied “oh no, the MPs had sandwiches, Kemi had something hot brought in”.
Phillip Inman is a senior Guardian economics writer. John Glen, Kemi Badenoch’s bag carrier (parliamentary private secretary), has raised the prospect of the Conservative party taking away pension subsidies from better off taxpayers. Glen, who joked that his appointment in July as PPS had turned him into a slave, said there was a case to answer when the public finances were constrained and the level of pension subsidy had reached £50bn.
At a fringe meeting, Glen, who sits on the Commons Treasury committee, said: We spend £40bn to £50bn on tax relief and £15bn to £20bn goes to people who pay the higher rates of tax. We need to have an honest discussion about what the overall burden of tax should be. We have a system that is based on pension savings being exempt on entry and exempt on accumulation but taxed on exit.
What we need to do is ask wha we can afford and what is fair. It is not the party’s policy to have a single rate. There would obviously be an opportunity to change the rate.
But philosophically, the question is about the role of the state. There are lots of people receiving 40% relief and building penion pots that are much more than securing just a reasonable pot alongside their triple lock pension. The question is, are there better ways to spend that money?
Government pension subsidies are based on tax relief, which means those that pay the highest rates of tax gain the most from tax relief. A flat rate subsidy of 25% or 30% would increase the subsidy for standard rate taxpayers while cutting it for those who pay higher rates of tax. Andrew Rosindell is not alone in wanting a pact with Reform UK.
(See 4.59am.) According to new polling by YouGov, almost two thirds of members want a pact, and almost half of them would support a full merger. The same poll found that half of members want Kemi Badenoch to be replaced as Tory leader before the next election, while 46% want her to stay on. Lisa O’Carroll is a senior Guardian correspondent.
The Ulster Unionist party has condemned Conservative party leader Kemi Badenoch’s intention to leave the ECHR if she is voted into power. The UUP helped negotiate Good Friday agreement peace deal which is undermined by the...