Resolution Foundation analysis claims stealth move of freezing tax thresholds will raise £40bn a year
Rishi Sunak’s government is responsible for the biggest income tax rise for decades in a stealth move that will raise £40bn a year, according to new analysis.
Taxpayers in the higher bracket will be handing over £3,700 a year more in tax as a result of a six-year freeze to income tax thresholds by 2027-28, the Resolution Foundation calculated.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Deputy leader and shadow housing secretary Angela Rayner says party would get tough on developers
The next Labour government will oversee the biggest boost in affordable housing in a generation by getting tough on developers and reforming planning rules, the party’s deputy leader has said.
Angela Rayner, also the shadow housing secretary, said she wanted to “increase, not decrease” the number of affordable new homes built every year, after it fell 12% last year.
Continue reading...Lender’s stock hit all-time low after news it was exploring selling off up to 40% of mortgage book
Metro Bank shares rebounded from all-time lows on Friday, amid reports that the embattled lender was sitting on a £600m offer from bondholders that could cover its looming funding pressures.
Regulators have been keeping a close eye on developments at the high street lender, which needs fresh investor funding, and is exploring selling off up to 40% of its mortgage book, in order to shore up its balance sheet and ensure it can continue to grow.
Continue reading...After French capital hosted fashion week and Rugby World Cup there are concerns the problem will spread
Paris is burning its luggage and bed linen as it battles a “scourge” of bedbugs, stoking fears of infestation around the world as pest controllers report an uptick in inquiries and transport operators and hoteliers seek to assuage concerns.
The city of light is reportedly under siege from the nocturnal bloodsuckers, leading the French transport minister, Clément Beaune, to meet transport operators. “It’s a real nightmare,” says Yacine, a schoolteacher in Paris who declined to give his surname. “I’m so afraid to take the Métro, I don’t go to the cinema – it’s very alarmant.”
Continue reading...Land access groups worry it will lead to charges at other sites, while pagans are alarmed about restrictions on worship
For generations walkers, pagans and artists have freely roamed around the standing stones at Calanais on Lewis, drawn by the site’s monumental scale, its coastal views and the spiritual impact of the rising sun and moon there.
But there are growing fears that proposals by Historic Environment Scotland (HES) to introduce an admissions charge and control access to the neolithic site for the first time, could have a significant impact on those freedoms.
Continue reading...Party’s victory may point to a change in Scottish political alignments that spells danger for Humza Yousaf
Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, had used the word “earthquake” last week to foreshadow Labour’s remarkable victory in Rutherglen and Hamilton West, where its winning margin of 30 percentage points exceeded even its predictions.
He did it cheekily, stealing one of the favourite lines often used by the former Scottish National party leader Alex Salmond when the nationalists were crushing Labour at repeated elections in the past. That theft of Salmond’s phrase has additional resonance. It points to a change in Scottish political alignments that spells danger for the SNP and its current leader, Humza Yousaf.
Continue reading...Suspect Gavin Plumb in custody after presenter of ITV’s This Morning pulled out of show on Thursday
A 36-year-old man has been charged over an alleged plot to kidnap and murder the TV personality Holly Willoughby.
The This Morning presenter, 42, pulled out of the ITV show on Thursday and her London home is reportedly being guarded by police, the Sun reported.
Continue reading...Cost of living crisis drives consumers to low-cost pub chain but company remains cautious
JD Wetherspoon has bounced back to profit for the first time since the start of the coronavirus pandemic three years ago, as budget-conscious consumers flocked to the low-cost pub chain amid the cost of living crisis.
Wetherspoon’s, which runs about 830 pubs across the UK and Ireland, reported a pre-tax profit of almost £43m in the year to 30 July.
Continue reading...High mortgage costs result in sixth straight month of sellers being forced to reduce prices, says Halifax
UK house prices fell at the fastest annual rate in 14 years in September, as high mortgage costs fuelled a sixth consecutive monthly drop in a “buyer’s market”, according to Halifax.
Halifax, Britain’s biggest mortgage lender, said prices fell by 4.7% in September, the biggest year-on-year decrease since 2009.
Continue reading...Michael Shanks wins contest Labour considered a crucial test of apparent turnaround of its fortunes in Scotland
Scottish Labour’s Michael Shanks has won the Rutherglen and Hamilton West byelection in an overwhelming victory over the SNP that his party leadership declared “seismic”, and a clear demonstration that Scotland could lead the way in delivering a Labour government at Westminster at the coming general election.
In a result that exceeded Scottish Labour expectation, Shanks beat his closest rival, the SNP’s Katy Loudon, by 17,845 votes to 8,399 – a majority of 9,446 and a resounding swing of more than 20 percentage points.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Mayor vows to make capital a better place to live to offset ‘shockwaves’ from EU departure
The mayor of London has urged EU citizens to “choose London” over other European cities, promising to make the UK capital a better place to live and work despite Brexit.
Sadiq Khan told the Guardian he had redoubled his efforts to attract EU citizens since the UK left the bloc, notwithstanding new barriers such as visa requirements.
Continue reading...Emily Hunt says rape myths perpetuated at highest levels of civil service and she has no confidence in reporting crime
A government adviser on rape has said she is leaving the role due to a “lack of will to continue to change” in the criminal justice system, citing myths about the crime perpetuated at the highest levels of the civil service.
Emily Hunt said she was leaving the UK to return to America because she does not feel safe.
Continue reading...Labour leader’s pledge for English primaries as part of a wider dental plan labelled ‘window dressing’ by union chief
School leaders have accused Labour of “window dressing” after Keir Starmer pledged to introduce supervised toothbrushing for young children in England’s primary schools.
While the policy has long been supported by the dentistry profession as a way of curbing decay, headteachers said it was not appropriate for their staff to check whether pupils had cleaned their teeth.
Continue reading...Rob Behrens writes to head of Norfolk and Suffolk trust over claim to committee that questioned him about patient deaths report
The NHS ombudsman has told a health trust chief to withdraw “not accurate” remarks about him amid an alleged attempt to play down up to 1,000 avoidable patient deaths.
Rob Behrens wrote to Stuart Richardson, the head of the Norfolk and Suffolk mental health NHS trust, over remarks he made about him to Norfolk county council’s health scrutiny committee.
Continue reading...Ben Wilson told most of his art on discarded gum to be removed during engineering and cleaning work
An artist who paints tiny pictures on discarded chewing gum has pleaded for his works to be saved after being told most of them will be removed from the Millennium Bridge in London as part of engineering work.
Ben Wilson, nicknamed “the chewing gum man”, has been painting on pieces of chewing gum trodden into the bridge since 2013.
Continue reading...Prime minister’s move criticised as ‘salting the earth’ so Birmingham-Crewe line cannot be built
A future Labour government would not be able to easily reverse Rishi Sunak’s decision to scrap the northern leg of HS2 as he has “spitefully” authorised the sale of properties that were subject to compulsory purchase orders on part of the route.
Steve Rotheram, the mayor of the Liverpool city region, said the move killed HS2 “stone dead” and would “tie any future government’s hands and make the delivery of HS2 for the north all but impossible”.
Continue reading...Figures raise questions about safeguarding at college given ‘outstanding’ for welfare by Ofsted
Nine rapes at the Harrogate military college, which trains 16- and 17-year-olds for careers in the British army, were reported to civilian police over a 13-month period to the middle of August, figures show.
Disclosed under freedom of information legislation, the figures raise questions about safeguarding at Harrogate, and why its welfare arrangements are rated as “outstanding” by Ofsted.
In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support for rape and sexual abuse on 0808 802 9999 in England and Wales, 0808 801 0302 in Scotland, or 0800 0246 991 in Northern Ireland. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.html
Continue reading...Exclusive: reality TV show will reflect societal changes but keep ‘social experiment’ format
A more “aspirational” house and housemates who represent different sections of society and will engage in the debates of modern Britain are among the changes as Big Brother goes “back to basics” when it returns to British TV on Sunday.
At a time when division is exacerbated by culture wars and social media echo chambers, the producers have taken the format back to its social experiment roots by narrowing down 30,000 applications to just 16 housemates who reflect the “changes in society” since the reality show was axed five years ago by Channel 5.
Continue reading...Research reports vulnerable women targeted for grooming into sex work and calls for ‘gendered response’
Female drug users are at risk of being groomed into sex work and other forms of exploitation when they attend treatment programmes with men, according to new research.
Some women reported feeling vulnerable to “predatory males” in mixed groups where they were often outnumbered two-to-one by men, but said they were not given an option to access women-only treatment programmes.
Continue reading...Oak floorboards discovered at St George’s Guildhall, King’s Lynn, believed to be only surviving stage from Shakespeare’s time
Boards trodden by the Bard have been discovered under layers of flooring at England’s oldest medieval guildhall as it undergoes a big refurbishment.
The 600-year-old oak floorboards are believed to be the only surviving stage from William Shakespeare’s time.
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