Category Archives: Rachel Reeves

Angela Rayner hints at major social housing announcement

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Deputy prime minister tells Labour conference she expects chancellor to make promise on building at spending review

Angela Rayner has given her strongest hint yet that Labour will announce a major package of social housebuilding in next month’s spending review, saying the party will have abandoned its “moral mission” if it fails to do so.

The deputy prime minister told an event at Labour conference on Sunday she expected the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, to make a promise on social housing next month, with the government under pressure to build hundreds of thousands more social homes.

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Honeymoon over: Keir Starmer now less popular than Rishi Sunak

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Opinium poll for the Observer finds a 45-point drop in the prime minister’s approval rating since he won the election

Keir Starmer has suffered a precipitous fall in his personal ratings since winning the election, according to a new poll for the Observer that comes before his first Labour conference as prime minister.

The latest Opinium poll reveals that Starmer’s approval rating has plunged below that of the Tory leader Rishi Sunak, suffering a huge 45-point drop since July. While 24% of voters approve of the job he is doing, 50% disapprove, giving him a net rating of -26%. Sunak’s net rating is one point better.

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Superyacht and private jet tax could raise £2bn a year, say campaigners

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Oxfam says ‘commonsense solution’ would reduce emissions and raise urgently needed climate finance

Fair taxes on superyachts and private jets in the UK could have brought in £2bn last year to provide vital funds for communities suffering the worst effects of climate breakdown, campaigners say.

Private jet use in the UK is soaring. It was home to the second highest number of private flights in Europe last year, behind only France, according to figures from the European Business Aviation Association.

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‘We need to hear about hope’: unions greet Keir Starmer TUC speech with mixed emotions

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Enthusiasm for public sector pay awards tempered by concern over winter fuel payment cuts and job losses

“We’re hearing an awful lot about tough times: it’s like being in a Dickens novel. What comes after the tough times? We need to hear about hope.”

Onay Kasab, the national lead officer for the Unite trade union, was addressing a leftwing fringe meeting, but similar sentiments reverberated through the bars and coffee shops at this week’s TUC congress in Brighton.

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Surge in larger homes for sale amid capital gains tax fears, Rightmove says

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Speculation Rachel Reeves to raise tax in budget thought one reason for some homeowners cashing out

Growing speculation about a capital gains tax (CGT) raid in October’s budget appears to have prompted a surge in the number of larger homes being put up for sale, the UK’s biggest property website says.

Rightmove said in the week ending 9 September there had been “a flurry of activity at the top end” of the market. The number of larger homes – defined as four-bedroom detached houses and all five-bedroom and larger properties – being listed for sale in Great Britain was 15% more than in the same period last year. And in the east and south-west of England, which include some of the UK’s most popular coastal and countryside hotspots, the percentage was over 20%.

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Winter fuel allowance cut: who voted for this? – Politics Weekly UK

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The government saw off a rebellion over its plans to cut winter fuel allowance this week. John Harris speaks to Caroline Abrahams from Age UK about what this winter will look like for millions of pensioners losing out. Plus, he talks to columnist Rafael Behr about whether the technocrats (Starmer and Reeves) are taking the Labour party in the wrong direction

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UK economy unexpectedly flatlines for second month in row

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Pre-election slowdown continues in July despite economists predicting growth of 0.2%

The anticipated post-election bounceback in the UK economy failed to materialise as activity flatlined in July for a second month, , according to the latest official data.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the pre-election stalling of activity in June was followed by another month in which gross domestic product remained unchanged.

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Chancellor faces down would-be rebels ahead of winter fuel payment vote

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Rachel Reeves tells Labour MPs that axing allowance for all but poorest pensioners will help plug £22bn hole in finances

The chancellor has faced down would-be rebels in a private meeting of Labour MPs ahead of the crunch vote on the government’s controversial plan to scrap the winter fuel allowance.

Rachel Reeves told a gathering of the parliamentary Labour party that the move was necessary, despite fears about the impact on millions of less-well-off pensioners, as it would help to plug a £22bn gap in the public finances.

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Up to 50 Labour MPs could rebel over cut to winter fuel allowance

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Dozens said to be considering abstaining from Tuesday’s vote over pensioners’ payments, as PM says dealing with dissent is ‘matter for chief whip’

As many as 50 Labour MPs could refuse to back the government’s controversial plan to cut the winter fuel allowance, despite Keir Starmer urging back benchers to get behind a measure he has conceded is “unpopular”.

While few on the government benches are expected to vote against the policy in Tuesday’s vote, dozens are believed to be considering abstaining or being absent – though rebels say the numbers in their ranks are very hard to predict.

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More than a million British workers not having a single day of paid time off, says TUC

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Employees have lost out on holiday pay worth £2bn, according to new trade union research

Workers across Britain have lost out on holiday pay worth £2bn, with more than a million people going without a single day of paid time off, according to new research.

With unions gathering in Brighton this weekend for the first TUC conference under a Labour administration for 15 years, the body revealed new research showing the extent to which workers are being denied holiday pay. Workers are entitled to 28 days paid leave for a typical five-day week.

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The final Grenfell inquiry report and what it means for families – Politics Weekly UK

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The 2017 Grenfell Tower fire in London was the result of ‘decades of failure’ by central government, the public inquiry into the catastrophe has found. The Guardian’s John Harris looks at the findings of the report with the social affairs leader writer Susanna Rustin. And, as Labour continues to warn ‘things will get worse before they get better’, we are joined by the economists James Meadway and Ann Pettifor to discuss whether a painful period of austerity-lite is the only way through the storm

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Starmer to face test next week as MPs vote on limiting winter fuel allowance

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Plan to means-test benefit for pensioners criticised by opposition parties and some Labour backbenchers

Keir Starmer faces a test of his authority next week after promising a vote on the government’s plans to limit winter fuel allowance to the poorest pensioners.

MPs will get the chance to vote on secondary legislation on Tuesday that will introduce means-testing of the benefit after pressure from opposition parties and Labour backbenchers.

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Civil service chief backs UK government claim of £22bn shortfall

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Simon Case criticises Tory government’s failure to hold regular spending reviews in letter to Jeremy Hunt – who had challenged figure

Simon Case, the head of the civil service, has backed the government’s figures showing that a £22bn shortfall was left by the previous Conservative administration.

The cabinet secretary said the Tories’ failure to hold regular spending reviews had contributed to the financial uncertainty.

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Voters believe Labour on UK’s woes, but not on its proposed fixes

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Keir Starmer struggling to sell his remedies for the problems facing Britain after Tory mess

The prime minister is struggling to communicate how his government will address the significant problems facing the UK. While the public readily accepts that the last government left a mess, selling Labour’s remedies as necessary or fair is proving more challenging.

The incoming government’s first job was to assign blame for the country’s current woes. This proved relatively easy, given the last ­government’s unpopularity and the Conservatives’ poor campaign.

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Keir Starmer takes a political gamble with message of bad news

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Past Labour PMs – Blair, Wilson, Attlee – have tended to arrive in power accentuating the positive

Sir Keir Starmer could perhaps have timed it better. On the day that Oasis, the band that symbolised the mood of sunny optimism that swept Tony Blair to power in 1997, announced their reunion, the prime minister’s message to the nation was that things would get worse before they got better.

Politically, it is quite a gamble. There haven’t been all that many Labour governments in the past 125 years, but they have tended to arrive in power accentuating the positive. That was true of Blair in 1997 and true of Harold Wilson in 1964.

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Expect more economic pain to come, warns senior UK cabinet minister

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Starmer and Reeves unlikely to reverse winter fuel and two-child benefit cap decisions, says Pat McFadden

A senior cabinet minister has warned of more economic pain to come as the government prepares to restrict public spending in ways MPs and campaigners say could exacerbate the cost of living crisis.

Pat McFadden, the cabinet office minister, said on Sunday that voters should expect the government to take further difficult decisions, as Keir Starmer prepares to give a speech accusing the Conservatives of leaving the country in “rubble and ruin”.

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Keir Starmer warns of tough times ahead to fix ‘Tory ruins’

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Labour leader tells working people rot left by Conservatives is so much worse than imagined and improvement won’t happen overnight

British people will have to endure even worse economic and social ­pressures in the months to come as the Labour government takes “unpopular decisions” to rebuild the country from “rubble and ruin” left by the Tories, Keir Starmer will warn this week.

With the prime minister under mounting pressure from within his own party to help people struggling with rising fuel payments and millions of families in poverty, Starmer will strike a defiant note against those demanding U-turns from his ministers, saying “tough choices” will have to be made before any recovery is possible.

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Social housing rents to rise as part of UK push to build affordable homes

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Rachel Reeves works on plan for 10-year formula to give councils and housing associations certainty

Social housing rents will rise by more than inflation over the next decade as part of UK government plans to boost affordable housebuilding and shore up the finances of struggling landlords.

The chancellor, Rachel Reeves, is working on plans to introduce a 10-year formula to calculate social rent on homes that will result in rents increasing every year by the rate of the consumer prices index – which is now 2.2% – plus 1%, removing an existing cap on rises.

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Rachel Reeves planning to raise taxes and cut spending in October budget

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Chancellor insists she still has large black hole to fill despite stronger-than-expected growth in first half of 2024

Rachel Reeves is planning to raise taxes, cut spending and get tough on benefits in October’s budget amid Treasury alarm that the pickup in the economy has failed to improve the poor state of the public finances.

With the latest official set of borrowing figures out on Wednesday, the chancellor is insisting she will still have a substantial black hole to fill despite stronger than expected growth in the first half of 2024.

Raising more money from inheritance tax and capital gains tax.

Sticking to plans for a 1% increase in public spending even though it would involve cuts for some Whitehall departments.

Rejecting pressure to scrap the two-child benefit cap.

Changing the way debt is measured to exclude the Bank of England.

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Ministers launch pension credit campaign after restricting winter fuel payments

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Government urges pensioners to check their eligibility for credit which will also qualify recipients for winter fuel support

Ministers have launched a pension credit publicity campaign to minimise the impact of the government’s decision to radically restrict winter fuel payments.

Last month the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, introduced a means test for the winter fuel payments, which have been a universal benefit available to all pensioners since 1997, so that only those on pension credit would qualify, as part of the “difficult decisions” she had to make having inherited a “dire state of public finances” from the Conservatives.

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