Keir Starmer opens clear lead over Rishi Sunak as the most capable Prime Minister
Headline Voting Intention January 2024: Labour 49% (+8 pts), Conservatives 27% (+3), Liberal Democrats 7% (-6), Green 7% (-2), Reform UK 4% (-3), Other 5% (-1).
30 January 2024
— First Ipsos Political Monitor of the year shows Labour 22 points ahead.
— Approaching 7 in 10 Britons say it is time for change
Telegraph could become ‘PR arm’ of UAE after proposed takeover, MPs warned
Tue 30 Jan 2024 15.07 GMT
MPs have attacked the proposed UAE-backed takeover of the Telegraph newspapers, warning that it is impossible to “separate sheikh and state” and calling for further investigations to be launched before the deal “turns into a disaster for the government”.
Julia Lopez, a media minister, was grilled in the Commons after the submission of an urgent question raising concerns over the Barclay family’s complex deal to transfer control of the Telegraph and the Spectator to RedBird IMI.
RedBird IMI derives most of its funding from Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan, the vice-president of the UAE and owner of Manchester City football club, and is paying the £1.16bn in debts that the Barclay family owed to Lloyds bank with the intention of swiftly converting the loans to full ownership.
“The concern is not foreign ownership, it is foreign state ownership,” said Alicia Kearns, the Conservative MP for Rutland and Melton, expressing concerns about editorial influence at the titles. “You cannot separate sheikh and state.”
Kearns said newspaper assets did not fall under one of the 17 sectors listed in the National Security & Investment Act (NSIA) that allows the government to investigate and potentially block deals relating to nationally important British assets.
Sinn Féin says united Ireland ‘within touching distance’ as Stormont deal agreed
Tue 30 Jan 2024 18.03 GMT
Sinn Féin has said a united Ireland is “within touching distance” as the party prepares to claim the post of Northern Ireland first minister for the first time.
Mary Lou McDonald said on Tuesday that the expected restoration of power sharing in the wake of a deal between the Democratic Unionist party and the UK government came amid a “historical turning of the wheel” that would unite the island.
“In historic terms, it is within touching distance and I think that is a very exciting thing and I hope people will find that a very welcoming conversation,” the Sinn Féin leader said.
According to a speedy political choreography that is supposed to unfold at Westminster on Wednesday and Thursday, her deputy, Michelle O’Neill, could become first minister of the Stormont executive by the weekend.
“That will be a moment of very great significance, not simply because we haven’t had government for so long but because it will be the first time that we will have a Sinn Féin first minister, a nationalist first minister,” McDonald said.
Labour rules out raising corporation tax above 25% in next parliament
Thu 1 Feb 2024 14.03 GMT
Labour will not raise corporation tax above its current rate of 25% during the next parliament, the party has pledged, in an attempt to offer businesses greater certainty.
The shadow chancellor, Rachel Reeves, said the tax pledge included maintaining full expensing, which allows businesses that invest in IT equipment and machinery to claim back up to 100% of the cost of the investment by writing it off against tax on their profits. She said Labour would also maintain the annual investment allowance introduced by Jeremy Hunt.
Speaking at a conference in London attended by 400 executives, Reeves said business and government must work together “like never before”.
She said: “We reject the calls from those on the right wing of the Conservative party to cut corporation tax. Our current rate is the lowest in the G7. We believe that a 25% rate strikes the correct balance between the needs of our public finances, and the demands of a competitive global economy.
“The next Labour government will make the pro-business choice and the pro-growth choice. We will cap the headline rate of corporation tax at its current rate of 25% for the next parliament. And should our competitiveness come under threat, if necessary, we will act.”
Water companies are forecasting an above-inflation rise in average household bills in April, drawing criticism from campaigners.
The average annual water and sewerage bill is expected to rise by 6% in England and Wales, up £27 to £473, says suppliers' trade body Water UK.
In Scotland, water and waste charges will go up by 8.8%, a rise of £36.
Water firms have been facing intense scrutiny after the dumping of sewage into rivers.
"Next year will see record levels of investment from water companies to secure the security of our water supply in the future and significantly reduce the amount of sewage in rivers and seas," said David Henderson, chief executive of Water UK.
If Westminster were expanded in the way planned for the Senedd it would have more than 2,000 MPs, Commons Leader Penny Mordaunt has argued.
Plans to raise the number of Senedd members from 60 to 96 cleared their first hurdle in Cardiff on Tuesday.
Ms Mordaunt told MPs she was "shocked" by the plans to "massively increase" the number of MSs.
The Welsh government said the changes would "create a modern Senedd better able to represent the people of Wales".
"The answer to situations about how to get better healthcare and these things is seldom more politicians, it's usually more GPs or more teachers," she said, during business questions in Westminster.
