The chancellor admits the government made “some mistakes” with the mini-budget
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Rishi Sunak and his chancellor Jeremy Hunt have been accused of protecting the super-rich from paying their fair share of tax by refusing to abolish the no-dom loophole.
The chancellor insisted on Friday that it would be “wrong” to end the controversial deal for those who live in the UK but pay no tax on their offshore income, and hit back at claims that doing so could raise £3bn each year , arguing that “He would rather stay here and spend his money here” than go abroad.
Labor leader Sir Keir Starmer accused the government of “going after working people” with tax rises without doing “anything about non-dom status”, he told broadcasters during a visit in Swindon: “The super rich don’t pay their taxes in this country.”
Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury Pat McFadden said the Tories were refusing to “make fairer decisions”, adding: “They continue to protect non-doms from paying their fair share of tax in Britain, leaving billions on the table.”
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Young gay men are ‘more vulnerable’ to harassment in parliament, Tory MP says
Gay youths in parliament are “the most vulnerable” to harassment, Tory MP Caroline Nokes has suggested, describing a remaining “taboo” around homosexuality, with some men “absolutely terrified to come forward”. .
The MP called for a “stricter system of discipline, codes of conduct”, telling GB News: “I am convinced that sexual harassment is not about sex, but about the exploitation of an individual’s power over a other
“And we absolutely have to repair this imbalance and make sure that the young people who work in Parliament, the women who work in Parliament, the young gay people – sometimes I think they are the most vulnerable – that we provide them with a mechanism where they know that they” will be protected.”
Asked why young gay men are particularly vulnerable, he said: “Because people don’t talk about it. And I think there’s still a taboo around homosexuality.
“And there have been some cases where I can think of people who have harassed both male and female staff members, and the staff member has had all the sympathy, all the column inches in the press and there will be that” and also ” when it comes to the young gay man.
“People are still afraid to come out in 2022,” he said. “Now, you know, that shouldn’t be right, we should all be perfectly free to be who we are. So that worries me a lot, that there are still young men out there who are absolutely terrified to come forward.”
Andy Gregory November 18, 2022 11:08 p.m
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Starmer says he accepts there is a £55bn hole in the public finances
Sir Keir Starmer has said he accepts the Office for Budget Responsibility’s assessment that there is a £55bn gap in the public finances, but said Labor would “make different decisions” than the Tories.
In an interview with the BBC, the Labor leader said: “We’re going to have to face this challenge and so we’re not arguing with the figure that the OBR has set as a target or trying to reduce the debt.”
He added: “What we have is a carefully calculated growth plan, which is what has been missing for 12 years.”
Andy Gregory November 18, 2022 10:38 p.m
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Jeremy Hunt said he would “come clean” about the economic cost of non-national tax status
The government has been told to “come clean” about the economic case for the decision not to abandon non-dom status in the UK, after Jeremy Hunt suggested he did not know how much money the controversial state would raise fiscal
Labor has called on ministers to release figures on how many non-doms there are in the UK and how much the Treasury is currently losing because of the loophole.
Kate Devlin and Jon Stone have the full story here:
Andy Gregory November 18, 2022 10:10 pm
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IFS warns Hunt’s higher taxes could be here to stay for “several decades”.
In case you missed it earlier, economists have warned that a “series of economic targets of their own” has worsened the UK’s “long, hard and nasty journey” as they predicted Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s record taxes are “here to stay” “the next decades”.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said on Friday that the biggest fall in living standards “will affect everyone” but that “Middle England is set for a shock” as taxes rise as wages fall
“The truth is we’ve gotten a lot poorer,” said Paul Johnson, director of the economic think tank.
Andy Gregory November 18, 2022 9:01 pm
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Starmer talking to Blair and Brown ‘for a while’
Sir Keir has said he has been speaking to former Labor prime ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown as his team prepares for government in the face of his strong but shrinking Conservative poll results.
“I’ve been talking to Tony Blair and Gordon Brown for a while now,” he told Times Radio.
“I am aware that we have been without power for 12 years. That means I don’t have people around the shadow cabinet table who have a lot of government experience. So I’m determined that we must be ready to go.”
Andy Gregory November 18, 2022 8:33 pm
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The next Labor leader should “ideally” be a woman, says Starmer
Labour’s next leader should “ideally” be a woman, Sir Keir Starmer has said in a wide-ranging interview on Times Radio.
“We need a female leader of the Labor Party,” Sir Keir told the broadcaster, with the interview also published in the Times newspaper. “I have very powerful women around me, if you look at Rachel Reeves, Yvette Cooper, Angela Rayner, Lisa Nandy, Bridget Phillipson. But does the party need a woman leader? If it does.”
Asked if his eventual successor should be a woman, he said: “Yes, ideally. We will have to see what the circumstances are, but I think we must not shy away from this challenge at all.”
Andy Gregory November 18, 2022 8:04 p.m
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The IMF director described the budget as “balanced and fair,” says Hunt
Jeremy Hunt, who had a call with IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva today, said he described the UK’s economic plans as “balanced and fair”.
Ms Georgieva had previously praised the budget for striking “the right balance between fiscal responsibility and protecting growth and vulnerable households”.
Andy Gregory November 18, 2022 7:29 p.m
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Voices | Part of the ‘tight middle’? There are ways you can save money
Writing for Independent Voices, managing director of consumer group Fairer Finance, James Daley, suggests that “for those who are not in dire straits, there is much that can be done to do what [funds] you have to go further, and try to win a little more”.
He writes: “Making the right decisions with your mortgage, your energy bills, your insurance, your broadband and mobile phone bills can make a big difference to your monthly expenses.”
“…Looking at every pound of other expenses you make each month is also a good exercise. You may find there are subscriptions you’ve forgotten about or realize how much you can save each month by packing your own lunches or biking to work.
And if you’ve been at your job for a while, it’s not a bad time to see if you can get a raise by moving somewhere else. One of the oddities of our current economic situation is that even though we’re in a recession, unemployment is at record lows because of the labor shortage.”
Andy Gregory November 18, 2022 6:45 pm
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Sunak “reduces morning appearances in ministerial media”
Rishi Sunak looks set to reduce the number of appearances government ministers make on the airwaves, with plans to end the current practice of being quizzed on TV and radio every morning.
The move was first reported by the Daily Mirror, which said the government will provide a minister who will be interviewed around three mornings each week, focusing instead on appearing when there is an “announcement”.
The daily broadcast round usually sees a minister appear on BBC Breakfast, Good Morning Britain, BBC Radio 4’s Today program and other media to answer questions and defend the government each weekday morning.
Downing Street is understood to be taking a “flexible” approach to appearances, with sources refusing to suggest the move amounts to an axing of the broadcast round.
Dominic McGrath November 18, 2022 6:23 p.m
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Backbencher’s bill passes Commons in a single sitting for the first time since 1998
A proposed law change has passed the House of Commons in a single sitting for the first time in more than 20 years, instead of taking just “three minutes and 11 seconds”, according to the Deputy Speaker.
Former Conservative minister Sir Christopher Chope’s Mobile Homes (Field Rates) Bill received a series of short unopposed readings in a single sitting of the Commons.
The private bill aims to reform the calculation of fees for mobile campaigns. It would change how field rate reviews increase in line with inflation to lower costs for mobile home owners, moving from the retail price index to the consumer price index.
All bills introduced into parliament are usually examined at various stages in the Commons over the course of a year. But Sir Christopher’s bill passed through all its stages unopposed in a single sitting, with the deputy speaker of the Commons, Dame Eleanor Laing, remarking on the extreme brevity of its passage.
In line with a remark by Sir Christopher that marked the first time since 1998 that a private member’s bill had progressed through all its stages in a single sitting, Dame Eleanor added, to laughter from MPs: “Lots of…