UK politics live: Rachel Reeves says she was ‘clearly upset’ but it was her job to support government at PMQs

The actor and writer is a dyed-in-the-wool Labour supporter and has often used his bumbling comedy creation Alan Partridge – a longstanding Tory – to poke fun at the party’s political rivals.

Read the full article here:

Read the full article here:

Keir Starmer promised that the last Budget would be “painful”. In a speech in the Downing Street garden in August, two months earlier, he tried to manage expectations, saying that the state of the public finances was “worse than we ever imagined”, and asked people to “accept short-term pain for long-term good”.

It was a forlorn hope. Far from “accepting” the pain, public opinion turned against the government further after Rachel Reeves announced £25bn a year of tax increases, rising to £40bn a year by the end of this parliament.

Business leaders reacted particularly badly to the rise in employers’ national insurance contributions, causing the chancellor to over-correct when she addressed the CBI the following month. She told representatives that she was “not coming back with more borrowing or more taxes”.

Read the full analysis from John Rentoul here:

In the wake of the U-turn, there are now growing questions over how the government will raise the money to fill the black hole in the public finances.

Ministers have already squeezed significant savings out of their departments in cuts that were unveiled at last month’s spending review, meaning there is now a mounting expectation that the chancellor will be forced to raise taxes instead.

Read the full article here:

A former Labour MP has announced her intention to co-lead the formation of a new political party with Jeremy Corbyn, the ex-Labour leader.

In a statement posted on X, Ms Sultana, who represents Coventry South, stated the initiative would also involve “other independent MPs, campaigners and activists across the country”.

Read the full article here:

There she was at Prime Minister’s Questions, facing an open goal for a change, and attacking the prime minister, who, even three days later, can look after himself. Then she spots the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, her lip quivering, seemingly on the brink of crying. Straight in goes the Badenoch boot – she said Reeves looked “absolutely miserable” and described her as Starmer’s “human shield”.

After Starmer failed to confirm Reeves in post for the rest of the parliament – a tall order for any appointee – Badenoch piled on the punishment: “How awful for the chancellor that he did not confirm she would be in post.”

Read the full analysis here:

The markets have delivered their verdict. They want Rachel Reeves, and no one else will do. If the chancellor needed saving, they’ve done the job, boosting her political clout in the process.

The events of the last 24 hours have been quite remarkable, almost on a level with the Truss mini-Budget, when the City’s appalled reaction resulted in the near collapse of several big pension funds, and ultimately led to the end of a premiership before a now-infamous lettuce had rotted.

Read the full article here:

Responding to Ms Sultana’s statement, a Labour spokesperson said: “In just 12 months, this Labour government has boosted wages, delivered an extra four million NHS appointments, opened 750 free breakfast clubs, secured three trade deals and four interest rate cuts lowering mortgage payments for millions.

“Only Labour can deliver the change needed to renew Britain.”

MP Zarah Sultana has said that she is resigning from the Labour Party to “co-lead the founding of a new party” with Jeremy Corbyn.

Ms Sultana, who has sat in the Commons as an independent MP since she had the Labour whip withdrawn last year, represents the Coventry South constituency.

She said in a statement posted on X that she was “resigning from the Labour Party”.

“Jeremy Corbyn and I will co-lead the founding of a new party, with other independent MPs, campaigners and activists across the country.”

She said that “Westminster is broken but the real crisis is deeper” and the “two-party system offers nothing but managed decline and broken promises”.

She added: “A year ago I was suspended by the Labour Party for voting to abolish the two-child benefit cap and list 400,000 children out of poverty. I’d do it again. I voted against scrapping winter fuel payments for pensioners. I’d do it again. Now, the Government wants to make disabled people suffer; they just can’t decide how much.”

She urged people to “join us”.