Author: Miles Donavan

“Introducing VAT on private health provision could provide vital funding for the NHS and social care.” The former Labour leader Neil Kinnock has called for the government to introduce VAT on private healthcare in order to help finance public services. Estimates from the Good Growth Foundation suggest doing so, with exemptions for NHS use of private hospitals, could raise around £2 billion. Kinnock said: “Introducing VAT on private health provision could provide vital funding for the NHS and social care. “After 14 years of underinvestment, many people are turning to private healthcare not out of choice, but because they cannot…

What does she really believe? The Tory leader Kemi Badenoch issued a heavy criticism of the Labour government’s economic policies in the Telegraph this weekend. Alone, this would be unremarkable. An opposition leader criticising the government is hardly surprising. What was significant was the nature of that criticism. Badenoch wrote “For all their mocking of Liz Truss, Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves have not learnt the lessons of the mini-budget and are making even bigger mistakes. “They continue to borrow more and more, unable and unwilling to make the spending cuts needed to balance the books.” These comments mark one…

Seven countries stand out for having over 90% of their bathing waters rated as excellent, and all of them operate water services that are more than 90% publicly owned. Britain’s troubled water industry has dominated headlines recently, following a landmark review described as the most significant since the sector was privatised in the 1980s. The wide-ranging report was led by Sir Jon Cunliffe, a veteran civil servant and former deputy governor of the Bank of England. It lays out 88 recommendations aimed at reshaping the way water is managed across the UK. Key proposals include the establishment of a single…

“The government can and must act urgently.” The government is being urged to act urgently to cap the cost of rents, following new research that shows tenants in Britain are now paying an average of £417 more per month compared to five years ago, a 44 percent increase that far outpaces wage growth. Outside London, average monthly rents have climbed to £1,365, marking a 3.9 percent rise from this time last year. In the capital, rents have hit a record high of £2,712 per month. According to data from Rightmove, advertised rents for new tenancies in London have increased by…

The policy may have passed for now, but, as the 170-year-old Telegraph edges closer to foreign-backed ownership, the debate over who funds the British press, and what influence that buys, is far from over. A major media policy shift has been quietly passed, as the government, with the backing of Tory frontbenchers, successfully fended off a move to block foreign state-owned investors from owning up to 15 percent of UK newspaper companies. It marks a critical moment in the long-running Telegraph sale saga and may signal the final chapter in a story that has stretched out for years. Or perhaps,…

“I’ll be washing my hair” Donald Trump has now left Scotland after a four-day visit where he met UK and Scottish heads of government in between rounds of golf. The visit prompted a wave of political reaction and public satire, as the president opened a new golf course at his Menie Estate in Aberdeenshire. While Trump used the trip to weigh in on UK politics and global issues, many British figures didn’t shy away from mocking or challenging him. Here’s four of the best reactions. Stephen Flynn – “I’ll be washing my hair” SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn, who is…

Is this a growing movement? A growing number of bands and musicians have begun to pull their music from Spotify. Most of them have done so following the news that the streaming giant’s co-founder and CEO Daniel Ek’s investment firm has made major investments in the defence company Helsing. Helsing is a defence firm involved in producing military drones and artificial intelligence for battle scenarios. One of the first to make headlines for withdrawing from Spotify was the influential indie band Deerhoof, who released a statement at the time which said: ”Daniel Ek uses $700 million of his Spotify fortune…

‘With Your Party gaining ground faster than both Labour and Reform combined, there is real hope again.’ Six Independent councillors in Hasting and one Labour councillor in Coventry have said they will join Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana’s new party, which is currently operating under the temporary name ‘Your Party’. One of the councillors, Grace Lewis, becomes the first sitting Labour councillor to quit Labour and join ‘Your Party’. In a statement she posted on X earlier today, Lewis said she will now sit as an Independent, and pledged to help Sultana and Corbyn in setting up their new political…

The ex-Reform MP has raised over £600,000 for his own ‘Rape Gang Inquiry’ packed with controversial figures, including Tommy Robinson supporters A crowdfunded “Rape Gang Inquiry” led by former Reform MP Rupert Lowe and involving Tommy Robinson supporters and other controversial figures, is pressing ahead despite the Labour government launching a formal national inquiry in June. Lowe, who now sits as an independent MP, launched the initiative in March after accusing Reform UK of breaking “bold promises” to investigate grooming gangs. His Telegraph op-ed following the launch of the project, he began with an apology to supporters, saying he had…

How are they doing in the polls? Reform UK have been surging in the polls for some time, with most of them suggesting that were a general election held now they would receive the highest share of the popular vote. Despite this, there’s evidence to suggest that support for Reform is now beginning to fall. It’s been three months since the local elections in May. Reform have been fairly consistently ahead in the polls throughout that period. However, there does appear to have been a recent shift – and it’s against Reform. In the first half of that three month…