Reform UK leader tells supporters PM’s move has ‘opened up a huge flank to us’
Nigel Farage has claimed that Andy Burnham has given him “the biggest boost in my career” by reviving the Brexit debate, which the Reform UK leader said had reopened a “huge flank” to his party.
The prime minister’s pledges to the Labour conference and admission on Wednesday that rejoining the EU was among options the government would look at had put “put me back into the debate”, he said.
Continue reading...Work and pensions secretary says the current system is flawed because it consigns too many people to a life on benefits when they would be better off working
‘I can deliver’: Burnham pledges radical change on eve of Labour conference
Kuenssberg puts it to Burnham that, according to the Health Foundation, a system offering adult social care free at the point of delivery (like healthcare delivered by the NHS) would cost £18bn.
Burnham says the cost is “not that high” (ie, not as high as £18bn).
Not that high.
But can I directly deal with this issue of the costs?
Louise Casey is still doing an official review for us, so I will set out the vision, if you like, on Tuesday [in his speech to the conference].
Louise will then help us with the how. How do we make this happen? When can we make it happen?
Continue reading...The deputy leader wants the party to take advantage of a split on the right and not be embarrassed to show its values
Labour must “reunite the progressive voter coalition” if it is to take advantage of a split on the right and win the next election, the party’s deputy leader has said.
Lucy Powell, who won the race to be deputy leader 12 months ago with a warning that Labour was losing the fight to be heard as Reform UK surged, said the government now had a second chance under Andy Burnham.
Continue reading...‘Radical’ report likely to influence party’s platform also proposes abolishing inheritance and capital gains taxes
A thinktank linked to Reform UK has called for the abolition of the state pension and £75bn worth of sweeping tax cuts in a “radical” report likely to influence the party’s platform for the next election.
The Centre for a Better Britain’s (CFABB) report – which also calls for weaker rules for UK banks and Trump-style investment accounts offering £1,000 to newborns – will be formally launched at a private event with City executives on Wednesday.
Continue reading...Lib Dem leader tells party conference that ‘something big and dangerous is happening in our country’
If Andy Burnham wanted to inject some edge into his meeting with Donald Trump later (which he doesn’t), he could bring along a copy of today’s Financial Times. This front page headline speaks for itself.
Mortgages ‘on the front line’ as Iran war deals £840 blow to homeowners
British homeowners are paying an average of £840 a year more when they refinance their mortgages, as the rising borrowing costs triggered by the Iran war start to impact consumers’ spending power.
Approximately 1m households have rolled off fixed-rate mortgage deals since February, according to Bank of England data.
Continue reading...In an interview about the donations, he said they are compliant with the law ‘today’
Andy Burnham has cancelled engagements today and tomorrow following the death of his father Roy, who was suffering from Alzheimer’s, the Press Association reports.
Burnham has spoken about his father’s illness which meant that he did not know his son had become prime minister.
[We] will continue bringing forward further reforms to strengthen confidence in our democracy.
Following on from the previous minister for democracy’s letter to you of 10 July 2026, we wanted to reiterate the government’s concerns, shared by many members of the public and parliamentarians, about the rise in the volume and concentration of money in UK politics. We have to limit the way financial power can end up dominating political power, to get to a politics that works for all people in all places.
We believe spending limits on parties and candidates are too high, and ought to be reduced.
Continue reading...Sources say there are ‘significant differences’ in opinion as debate inflamed by crypto billionaires’ £72m donations to Reform
The head of Britain’s trade union movement, Paul Nowak, has said the government must act to “stop the super-rich corrupting our politics”, as union leaders met on Monday to discuss possible support for a domestic cap on donations.
Union leaders are split on the prospect of limiting domestic donations to political parties, with many including the GMB fearing it would lead a future rightwing government to curb union donations.
Continue reading...Richard Tice says contributions are legally compliant after author of review into overseas donations says rules will be applied retrospectively
Reform UK’s deputy leader has declined to say when two crypto billionaires who gave a combined £72m to the party returned to the UK, as the architect of a review into overseas donations said anyone here for less than 12 months would be subject to a limit on donations.
Richard Tice said that while he was completely confident Reform had complied with all current and proposed laws on donations, he could not say when Ben Delo returned to the UK from Hong Kong, or how much time the Thailand-based Christopher Harborne spent in Britain.
Continue reading...The man who once helped Richard ‘Dirty’ Desmond save a load of tax was wheeled out to face Laura Kuenssberg
You wait years for one party donation of £36m and then two come along at once. Reform can hardly believe its luck. All hail the crypto billionaires. Tacky pale turquoise suits all round. And Nigel Farage won’t have to worry about spending any of his own money – if you can call the £5m freebie his own money – on his security. Nor do those champagne and oyster lunches to discuss loose change donations of £500k from people living overseas pay for themselves. From now on Reform won’t need to bother getting out of bed for anything less than eight figures.
Fair to say that if it had been Labour or the Tories trousering £72m from Christopher Harborne and Ben Delo then Reform would be on full outrage rampage. How the political system was rigged against it and how the two main parties are hotwired cash machines. In bed with the super-rich. But since the money is heading towards its own bank account, everyone in the party is totally chilled. This is just the way life ought to be. Who wouldn’t want a country where two billionaires can attempt to buy the democratic process?
Continue reading...Harborne and Delo’s cash could buy a massive head start in an election, but spending big has possible pitfalls
Nigel Farage once said he could spend his £5m gift from Christopher Harborne on Ferraris if he wanted to, given its unconditional nature.
With the new donations to his party from Harborne and his fellow crypto billionaire Ben Delo of £72m over the past weekend alone, Farage’s party now has nearly enough cash to buy a Reform UK branded Ferrari for a party organiser in each of Britain’s 632 constituencies (though that would certainly be a waste and a bit of a tax headache).
Continue reading...Party can boost its campaign power with funds from billionaire backers, but it can also lose support from ordinary Britons
All things being equal, pretty much any political strategist would welcome a £72m war chest; a sum higher than the combined spending of every major party at the 2024 general election. But all things are not equal, and with such a huge amount comes risk.
Reform UK has been vocal in its arguments that two sudden £36m windfalls from billionaires Ben Delo and Christopher Harborne merely “levels the playing field” with the bigger parties when it comes to funding.
Continue reading...Ben Delo was convicted in US for failing to implement adequate anti-money laundering controls but pardoned by Trump
Reform UK has been given a record £36m donation by Ben Delo, a British cryptocurrency billionaire convicted in the US for failing to implement adequate anti-money laundering controls.
The businessman, who has moved back to the UK from Hong Kong, is now the biggest UK political donor by far, dwarfing the £15m contribution to Reform UK from Thailand-based Christopher Harborne.
Continue reading...The Reform UK leader is under pressure after senior aides appeared to plot how to bypass electoral laws on foreign donations
Sagal Abdi-Wali arrived in Camden as a child refugee from Somalia. She has worked for more than a decade as a volunteer and trustee for local charities and is a governor of two schools in the borough, according to Labour.
She was first elected as a councillor in 2022 and became the leader of the council in May, when she said: “Camden has been my home for 35 years. It is the place that gave my family sanctuary, that welcomed us, and that has shaped so much of who I am, what I stand for and what inspired my commitment to public service and to working for the community that welcomed us.”
Continue reading...Senior Reform UK figure has faced criticism within party after post about Sagal Abdi-Wali, a former child refugee
Labour has accused Reform’s Zia Yusuf of “straightforward racism” after he suggested the party’s frontrunner to replace Keir Starmer in the Holborn and St Pancras byelection was not British.
Sagal Abdi-Wali, a former child refugee from Somalia and the leader of Camden council, has been tipped as an early favourite to contest the London seat for Labour after the former prime minister’s resignation.
Continue reading...Reform UK leader maintains innocence in overseas funding controversy on last day of party conference
Nigel Farage has claimed that he “wasn’t even listening” during a meeting at the centre of a controversy about whether his party considered evading the law on accepting donations from overseas.
The Reform UK leader also claimed he knew donation law “better than anybody” during interviews as he sought to salvage the final day of his party conference from the fallout that has already cost him two of his closest aides.
Continue reading...Investigation broadcast by Channel 4 News shows man posing as ‘impermissible donor’ paying for polling that helped Reform
Nigel Farage is facing fresh criticism on the eve of the Reform UK party conference after some of his team were filmed appearing to plot to avoid electoral laws on foreign donations in an undercover investigation broadcast by Channel 4 News.
A group of investigative journalists called Verbatim, founded by the Centre for Climate Reporting, posed as a potential Reform supporter and his wealthy American father, an impermissible donor, who paid for £30,000 of polling commissioned by Reform and which benefited the party.
Continue reading...Labour chair says uch cuts ‘could mean vital public services like hospitals, schools and law enforcement are put at risk’
The Electoral Commission has released political donation figures for the second quarter of 2026. They show that Reform UK continues to rake in far more than other parties. Nigel Farage’’s party had declared donations worth £5.3m. Labour got £3.6m, and the Conservatives £2.8m.
Most of Reform UK’s money came from Ben Delo, who gave £4m. As Rowena Mason reported earlier this year, Delo is a British billionaire convicted in the US for failing to implement adequate anti-money-laundering controls in his cryptocurrency business.
Continue reading...Reform leader said inquiry had been widened but watchdog is not believed to have decided whether to do so
Nigel Farage is facing questions about why he claimed his finances were the subject of a second standards investigation, as he was sworn in again as Clacton’s MP.
The Reform UK leader said when he resigned in July that the standards system had become a “political tool” because “yet another standards investigation is under way” into his finances.
Continue reading...PM says he has a ‘clear diagnosis of what has gone wrong’ with UK, and pays tribute to Keir Starmer after his predecessor quit parliament
My colleague Richard Partington, the Guardian’s senior economics correspondent, grew up, like Andy Burnham, in the Warrington suburb of Culcheth. He has been home to find out what people there are saying about the new PM.
Yesterday, Kemi Badenoch announced a reshuffle, replacing Mel Stride with Andrew Griffith as shadow chancellor and Priti Patel with Tom Tugendhat as shadow foreign secretary.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Prime minister wants to ‘bring back hope’ by tackling cost of living as MPs call for electoral reform
Andy Burnham will drive home his pledge to bring more essential services back into public control, telling MPs in the Commons on Tuesday that it will be the only way to improve growth across the country.
Burnham will address the house for the first time in 16 years from the frontbench, and six weeks since he became prime minister, after spending the summer recess announcing a slew of policies that will now be put before MPs.
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