#liberal-democrats

#liberal-democrats

Tory MPs in marginal seats are already sounding the alarm over an interest rate catastrophe, amid claims that the party has not understood the impact of spiralling mortgages.With the Bank of England likely to increase interest rates again this week and major mortgage lenders raising their own rates in the last few days, there is a growing nervousness among Tories about the impact this will have later in the year as the main parties begin to shape their campaigns for the next election.

The problems of Brexit red tape have hit low ebb, according to David Henig, the independent trade adviser, in an Independent online event on Thursday.From this new baseline, things can only get better.The panel agreed that there were changes that could be made, either by a Labour government or a Conservative one, over the next few years that would make trade easier without Britain going back into the EU single market or customs union.

Dominic Raab, who resigned from Cabinet last month after a bullying inquiry, will stand down as an MP at the next general election.The former deputy prime minister and justice secretary confirmed his exit plans to the PA news agency on Monday night.He quit Rishi Sunak's Cabinet last month over bullying allegations from civil servants.

Dominic Raab, who resigned from Cabinet last month after a bullying inquiry, will stand down as an MP at the next general election.The former deputy prime minister and justice secretary confirmed his exit plans to the PA news agency on Monday night.He quit Rishi Sunak's Cabinet last month over bullying allegations from civil servants.

By Becky Morton and Chris Mason

Sir Keir Starmer has refused to rule out a coalition with the Lib Dems if Labour fails to win a majority at the next general election.Asked if he would do a deal with the Lib Dems, the Labour leader told the BBC this was a "hypothetical question".But he said he would never do a deal with the SNP because of a "fundamental disagreement" on Scottish independence.

A single yellow box junction in south London made the local council up to 1 million last year.The junction, located between Croydon Road and Langley Road in Elmers End, saw some 8,118 fines issued by Bromley Council in 2022.Each fine was for a maximum of 130, meaning that a total of 1,055,340 could have been made by the Conservative-run authority.

Rishi Sunak will face a test of his leadership in two by-elections on July 20 caused by Boris Johnson and an ally.The former prime minister quit his Uxbridge and South Ruislip seat to avoid the judgment of the Privileges Committee.The cross-party panel subsequently recommended he should have faced a 90-day suspension for deliberately misleading MPs over partygate and his conduct in attacking the committee.

Boris Johnson should pay back the public money used to cover a £245,000 bill for his lawyers during the Partygate inquiry, opposition MPs say.An inquiry by MPs found the former prime minister had deliberately misled Parliament over lockdown parties.The top lawyers defending Mr Johnson were paid for with taxpayer funds.

The Government will fight a legal battle over the Covid inquiry's demand to release Boris Johnson's unredacted WhatsApp messages, diaries and personal notebooks.The Cabinet Office said it was seeking a judicial review of inquiry chairwoman Baroness Hallett's order to release the documents, arguing that it should not have to hand over material which is unambiguously irrelevant.

Downing Street has expressed bewilderment at Nadine Dorries' delay in formally resigning as an MP in a move that could prolong the by-election struggle for Rishi Sunak.The former culture secretary announced she would quit her Mid Bedfordshire seat after being denied the peerage requested by Boris Johnson as Tory infighting raged in public.

The Conservative Party is currently in the process of selecting a candidate to take on Mr Khan in 2024 and has announced a shortlist of three names: Susan Hall, Mozammel Hossain, and Daniel Korski.The Green Party has also named a candidate but the Liberal Democrats are still deciding.The election will be held on May 2, simultaneously with elections to the London Assembly and local elections.

Boris Johnson has been accused of being a coward for quitting as an MP before the findings of a cross-party investigation into whether he lied to the Commons has been published.Angela Rayner, Labour's deputy leader, said the former prime minister had jumped to avoid facing a potential by-election in his marginal constituency.

Labour's Angela Rayner called Boris Johnson's resignation honours list a sickening insult.Former prime minister Boris Johnson has nominated close allies for knighthoods and damehoods in his resignation honours list.Those put forward for a knighthood include former business secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg, former housing secretary Simon Clarke and MPs Conor Burns and Michael Fabricant.

The Conservatives have pledged not to enter any electoral pacts with other political parties after being told by Labour to rule out a grubby, desperate deal for power.Rishi Sunak's press secretary had refused to rule out entering a coalition government with rivals despite the Prime Minister accusing Sir Keir Starmer of plotting to team up with others.

Nadine Dorries has delayed formally resigning as an MP which threatens to prolong the agony of a series of tough by-elections for Rishi Sunak.The former culture secretary and Boris Johnson ally said on Friday she would step down from her Mid Bedfordshire seat with immediate effect, sparking a contest to replace her.

Woking council risks a financial hit worth 1bn amid a government investigation into the local authority's debt-fuelled investment spree in hotels and skyscrapers.The Surrey council is on the brink of insolvency, with a possible section 114 notice, signalling it cannot balance its budget, believed to be imminent.

Slightly more than 30,000 muggings in England and Wales did not even result in a suspect being identified by police last year, research released by the Liberal Democrats has shown.Just 8% of all offences of robbery of personal property reported to the police last year saw someone being charged, the data from the House of Commons library research showed.

Taxpayers are being billed up to £245,000 to cover the cost of Boris Johnson's Partygate inquiry lawyers.The former PM is being investigated by MPs over whether he misled them over lockdown parties in Downing Street.He is facing growing calls to cover the legal costs himself, as the bill for his defence team increased this week for a second time.

I have received a letter from the privileges committee making it clear much to my amazement that they are determined to use the proceedings against me to drive me out of parliament.They have still not produced a shred of evidence that I knowingly or recklessly misled the Commons.They know perfectly well that when I spoke in the Commons I was saying what I believed sincerely to be true and what I had been briefed to say, like any other minister.

Nadine Dorries, Stanley Johnson and Alok Sharma have been dropped from Boris Johnson's resignation honours list, it has emerged.The two MPs have been dropped from the former prime minister's list, which could be published as soon as Friday, to avoid potentially damaging by-elections.And Mr Johnson's father Stanley - who was expected to be handed a knighthood - has been dropped from the list because it would have looked terrible, a source claimed.

Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden has branded the Labour leader and his deputy the Phil and Holly of British politics as he clashed with Angela Rayner in the Commons.Deputy Labour leader Ms Rayner said the Conservatives were stuck in a conveyor belt of crisis after 13 years in office, as she criticised their record on child poverty and the NHS during Prime Minister's Questions.

The best outcome for the next election will not appear on the ballot paper, and is already the target of a hostile and escalating press campaign.It hardly needs to be said that a renewed mandate for Tory rule will be an obvious catastrophe for the country.No government in British democratic history can be considered such a devastating failure, whether on objective measures weak growth, an unprecedented squeeze in living standards, declining life expectancy and crisis-ridden public services or on its own terms.

A stealth tax raid by Rishi Sunak and Jeremy Hunt will force almost 5m healthcare workers to pay hundreds of pounds more in tax, analysis shows.The government's decision to freeze income tax and national insurance thresholds will cost health workers an additional 1.5billion per year, the figures reveal.

Rishi Sunak has suggested he is willing to overrule the House of Lords and ram the small boats bill through parliament amid opposition to his plans.The prime minister hinted he was open to using the nuclear option of the Parliament Act to defy the upper chamber and push through the Illegal Migration Bill.

Elspeth Mary Campbell, the wife of former Liberal Democrat leader Sir Menzies Campbell, has died aged 83, her husband has confirmed.Lord Campbell, who served as MP for North East Fife for 28 years, said his bright, beautiful and witty wife for more than 50 years will be very much missed in a short statement released to mark her passing.

Labour has defended accepting donations from a backer of Just Stop Oil, saying it does not affect the party's views on the campaign group.Shadow minister Nick Thomas-Symonds said Dale Vince, a green energy entrepreneur, was a "legitimate person" to take money from.Mr Vince's company has donated more than £1.4m

Some 80 robberies a day were closed last year without a suspect being identified, the Liberal Democrats have claimed.The party said it had commissioned research showing 30,000 muggings went unsolved in 2022 across England and Wales.It accused Home Secretary Suella Braverman of becoming embroiled in endless scandals while violent criminals are let off the hook.

Some 80 robberies a day were closed last year without a suspect being identified, the Liberal Democrats have claimed.The party said it had commissioned research showing 30,000 muggings went unsolved in 2022 across England and Wales.It accused Home Secretary Suella Braverman of becoming embroiled in endless scandals while violent criminals are let off the hook.

Support for the SNP has fallen by 10% in a new poll which also reveals a negative satisfaction rating for First Minister Humza Yousaf in the wake of Nicola Sturgeon's resignation.Ipsos Scottish Political Monitor, run in partnership with STV News, projects the SNP will remain the dominant party despite its support dropping to 41% compared to the results of a poll in December.

Approximately 10% of Conservative MPs have announced plans to retire at the next election, sparking suggestions that they are jumping ship in the expectation of losing the next election.Having resigned as justice secretary over bullying claims, Dominic Raab is the latest high-profile Tory politician to confirm they are serving their final term in parliament.

Dominic Raab is standing down as an MP at the next general election because he knows he will lose his seat, the Liberal Democrats have claimed.The former deputy prime minister and justice secretary confirmed his exit plans on Monday night.He quit Rishi Sunak's Cabinet last month after an independent investigation by Adam Tolley KC found he had acted in an intimidating and aggressive way with officials in behaviour that could have amounted to bullying.

There has been a drop in the number of dentists working in the NHS in England, new figures suggest.Data obtained by the British Dental Association (BDA) shows 23,577 dentists performed NHS work in the 2022/23 financial year, down from 24,272 the previous year.The last time these figures fell below 24,000 (apart from during the Covid pandemic) was in 2014/15, the data suggests.

The Conservatives have accepted a 5m donation from an Egyptian-born billionaire who served as a minister in the government of the former president Hosni Mubarak.Mohamed Mansour, who was made senior treasurer of the Conservatives in December, announced he had given the sum to the party, its biggest one-off donation for more than 20 years.

Rishi Sunak has declined to back Home Secretary Suella Braverman over allegations she asked civil servants to help her avoid incurring points on her licence for speeding.The Prime Minister did not state whether he will launch an investigation into the Cabinet minister despite demands from Labour and the Liberal Democrats.

Rishi Sunak has been urged to investigate claims Suella Braverman asked her staff to help her dodge a speeding fine.The home secretary allegedly asked civil servants to help her avoid a fine and points on her licence by instead organising a private driving awareness course.Such an arrangement would have meant that she would not have had to appear at a public speed awareness course, where other participants would have been able to see that she was in attendance.

For some, any idea that Keir Starmer and audacity are words that can sit comfortably in the same sentence will seem nonsensical.To many who define themselves as Labour supporters, the most salient characteristic of the opposition leader is not his audacity but its opposite, timidity.In this critique, Starmer's strategy, if he really has one, is to do as little as possible to offend the voters, and wait for the Conservatives to eject themselves from government by their own divisions and incompetence rather than to drive them from it.

A top businessman named as a person of interest in a global money laundering investigation has been revealed as a major Tory donor.Javad Marandi, who was awarded an OBE for business and philanthropy, was identified after losing a 19-month legal battle to remain anonymous.He denies any wrongdoing and is not subject to criminal sanction.

Conservatives need to recognise that elections are won on economics and public services rather than culture wars, Michael Gove has said in what will be seen as a rebuke to Suella Braverman.Addressing the National Conservatism (NatCon) conference in Westminster, a day after Braverman gave a highly partisan speech to the same event which condemned experts and elites and political correctness, Gove was at pains to make no direct criticism of the home secretary.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has abandoned plans to write an autobiography and will return a hefty advance to his publisher.Sir Keir said last year that he had begun penning a book about his life and political vision during the Covid lockdowns.A spokesman for Mr Starmer said the book lays out his plans for a renewed Britain, and why he believes in the vital importance of putting integrity back into public life.

Millions of Britons are facing painful increases in their mortgage costs after the Bank of England raised interest rates for the 12th time in a row to tackle stubbornly high inflation.The Bank rejected accusations that it had gone too far and was overcorrecting for the inflation crisis after the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted to hike the base interest rate from 4.25 per cent to 4.5 per cent.

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Alexander Ehmann, head of Richmond's Transport and Air Quality Committee, says the borough is the only London council to provide "ULEZ support direct to their residents".He added the council, led by the Liberal Democrats, wanted to "build on the cross-part consensus" that ULEZ should be expanded, but expressed concern at London Mayor Sadiq Khan's plans.

Tory Eurosceptic Jacob Rees-Mogg has accused Rishi Sunak of behaving like a Borgia after the Government scaled back its promised post-Brexit bonfire of EU-era laws.The Prime Minister has faced upset on the right of his party since it was announced that around 600 laws would be revoked under their legislation, rather than the 4,000 pledged.

Rishi Sunak is not ruling out entering into a coalition government in the future despite accusing Sir Keir Starmer of plotting to team up with other parties.The Prime Minister's press secretary declined to speculate on the outcome of the next general election after being asked if Mr Sunak could form a pact with the DUP or other parties.

The Conservatives have pledged not to enter any electoral pacts with other political parties after being told by Labour to rule out a grubby, desperate deal for power.Rishi Sunak's press secretary had refused to rule out entering a coalition government with rivals despite the Prime Minister accusing Sir Keir Starmer of plotting to team up with others.

R eform UK have revealed their car-loving candidate to take on Sadiq Khan in next year's London mayoral election.Howard Cox - the founder of the Fair Fuel UK campaign - pledged to scrap the entire Ultra low emission zone (Ulez) if he is elected, not just its expansion to outer London.He has also promised to abolish Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs) across the capital, as well as reducing crime and boosting the number of homes built.

The Labour leader said talk of deals with the Liberal Democrats and other parties were "hypothetical".But Sir Keir Starmer gave a definite "no" to a coalition with the SNP after a general election, over a "fundamental disagreement" with a party that would separate the UK, leading to a border between England and Scotland.

Rishi Sunak has said his five pledges are the right ones, amid Conservative soul-searching after a bruising set of local elections.The Prime Minister has been under pressure in recent days since the loss of nearly 1,000 Tory councillors, with Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the Greens all celebrating success.

The SNP would undo Brexit as far as possible if the next general election results in a hung parliament, the party has said.Analysis of England's local authority election results indicates Labour could fall short of a majority in the Commons when the UK next goes to the polls.SNP EU Accession spokesperson, Alyn Smyth, said his party would demand the UK has a close relationship with EU, in negotiations with a minority Labour government.