Turquoise Army: Nigel Farage is flanked by a number of his newly elected mayors and councillors at a speech unveiling new policies this week © Guy Bell / Alamy Stock Photo
Nigel Farage made the headlines this week, delivering a speech on Reform UK’s policies, as he returned from his conveniently/oddly/unfortunately (delete as appropriate) timed holiday over the UK-EU Summit. Farage used his speech to label the Government’s deal with the EU as a “total sell-out”; criticise the Chagos Islands deal; confirm Reform would scrap net zero; announce they would exempt one partner in a marriage from paying tax on the first £25,000 of their income; pledge to restore winter fuel payments for all pensioners; and back the lifting of the two child benefit cap, highlighting the need to encourage people to have children. This comes alongside increasing pressure on the Prime Minister, including from many within his own party, to scrap the two child limit – a decision which is reportedly being considered at present.
Keir Starmer responded to Farage’s announcements in a press conference of his own, accusing Reform of putting forward policies that amount to “billions upon billions of unfunded spending” and comparing the policies with those put forward by Liz Truss, arguing they would end wth exactly the same results. Asked why he was so focused on Reform, Starmer said the choice at the moment was between them and Labour, as he suggested the Conservative Party were “sliding into the abyss” …we don’t expect Farage will be complaining about the free publicity.
7 lbs – the weight of the Double Gloucester cheese used in the Cooper Hill annual cheese rolling competition.
2 – the number of new reservoirs to be built, the first in over 30 years, as the Government warns of an impending drought and a drinking water shortage.
£25bn – the size of new pension ‘megafunds’ set to drive investment into UK infrastructure and business, under plans backed by the Treasury.
20% – the proposed increase in the daily congestion charge from January 2026, from £15 to £18, the first rise since 2020.
£1bn – to be invested in a new battlefield Digital Targeting Web and Cyber Command to boost UK military readiness and cyber capability.
50,000 – BMA members currently voting on six months of strike action over pay, after rejecting a 5.4% rise and demanding a 29% increase for resident (junior) doctors.
The Treasury will double the number of pension megafunds by 2030, Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves announced this week. Under the new plans, all multi-employer Defined Contribution pension schemes and Local Government Pension Scheme pools will operate at megafund level, managing at least £25 billion in assets by 2030. The Government introduced the changes arguing evidence from Australia and Canada showed megafunds allowed pension funds to invest in big infrastructure projects and private businesses, and could add £6,000 to a person’s pension by retirement.
Councils will get new powers to ‘keep housebuilders on track’ as part of the Deputy Prime Minister’s push to support the delivery of 1.5 million homes by the end of this Parliament. Under the new proposals, housebuilders will have to commit to delivery timeframes before they get planning permission and developers who consistently fail to build on consented sites could face a 'Delayed Homes Penalty' worth thousands per unbuilt home. Additionally, 'those deliberately sitting on vital land, without building the homes promised, could see their sites acquired by councils where there is a case in the public interest, and stripped of future planning permissions.'
SME housebuilders will have streamlined planning and eased Biodiversity Net Gain requirements, under further plans to get the country building this week. Under the new rules, developments of up to nine homes will see faster decisions to get spades in the ground; whilst developments of between nine and 49 homes, will be exempt from the Building Safety Levy and will operate under simpler rules to make it easier to deliver biodiverse habitats on those sites.
The UK will use AI to detect threats from Russia in the Arctic, the Foreign Secretary David Lammy announced during a visited to Iceland this week. During his trip he attended Keflavik Air Base where RAF jets have supported NATO air policing missions, and Svalbard to see how UK scientists are collaborating with Norway and partners to tackle climate change.
South Western Railway became the first rail operator to transfer back into public control last Sunday. Making the announcement from SWR’s Bournemouth depot at the weekend, the Transport Secretary argued Great British Railways symbolises a ‘complete reset’ on ‘almost 30 years of fragmentation and waste under privatisation.' The first South Western Railways train to depart Waterloo on Sunday morning displayed a ‘coming soon’ GBR logo, ahead of the expected launch of the new publicly-owned body later this year.
120,000 new skilled brickies, carpenters and healthcare support workers could be trained under new reforms announced this week. The Government will increase the Immigration Skills Charge by a third to support the delivery of up to 45,000 additional training places to upskill the domestic workforce, will refocus funding away from masters-level apprenticeships to enable levy funding to be rebalanced towards training at lower levels; and will launch 13 new Level 2 construction courses for adults under the Free Courses for Jobs scheme.
The MOD is set to invest more than £1bn in a Digital Targeting Web to improve connections in Armed Forces weapons systems and will 'allow battlefield decisions for targeting energy threats to be made and executed faster'. The Strategic Defence Review – set to be published on Monday – will recommend that the new technology be delivered by 2027. The MOD also announced it will establish a Cyber and Electromagnetic Command to lead defensive cyber operations and coordinate offensive cyber capabilities with the National Cyber Force.
Chief Brexit architect Dominic Cummings was back in the headlines this week after an interview with Sky News in which he predicted the Tories will have given Kemi Badenoch the boot by the end of the year. He also argued Nigel Farage could win up to 150 seats with Reform’s current set up of “one man and an iPhone”; but would need to professionalise to romp home with a majority at the next election.
Reform is now the most trusted party on immigration, according to a new poll by Ipsos. The stats show that the party is the most trusted on key measures, with 37% backing its approach to immigration policy, 39% expressing confidence in its handling of Channel crossings, and 42% trusting its ability to reduce illegal entry to the country. By contrast, just one in four trust Labour and the Liberal Democrats on these issues, while the Conservatives rank last on all three measures.
Despite the recent surge in media attention that Nigel Farage and Reform have been receiving, a new YouGov poll shows that public confidence in his potential to lead the country remains limited. Just 29% believe Farage would make a good Prime Minister, compared to 44% for Keir Starmer.
Move over Bruce Wayne, there’s a new capped crusader in town, and he aint messin’. In scenes reminiscent of a Ross Kemp on Gangs documentary, Shadow Justice Secretary Robert ‘Bobby J’ Jenrick took on fare-dodgers at East London’s Stratford Station this week in a video clip that makes you question if you’ve ever seen the Tory leadership hopeful and Gotham’s infamous masked vigilante in the same room at the same time…? Barrier-hoppers weren’t his only target, as he took aim at bike thieves, phone snatchers, tool thieves, shoplifters and… “weird Turkish barber shops… chipping away at society”. The TSSA Union responded to criticise the Conservative MP for ‘inappropriate’ and ‘dangerous’ behaviour in the name of political point-scoring on the underground (define irony…); However perhaps even more ironically, it turned out the MP for Newark – who one Times reader described as a ‘mix between Alan Partridge and a suburban Batman’ (h/t John Hind) – hadn’t received permission to film on TfL property. Jenrick’s response? – Sue me.
