Starmer and Reeves should consider wealth tax, says former shadow chancellor

The Treasury should consider a wealth tax to close the growing gap in the public finances, according to a Labour former shadow chancellor.Anneliese Dodds, who held the role under Keir Starmer in opposition, said ministers must have a “full and frank discussion” with the public about the “really big decisions” they had to take at this autumn’s budget.With Rachel Reeves aiming to fill a financial hole that economists say could exceed £20bn, the senior Labour MP said there was “no silver bullet” to funding big-ticket items such as defence but the chancellor should consider tax rises.Dodds quit her post as international development minister in February over a decision to slash the aid budget to pay for increased defence spending – a move she said was a mistake that would have a big impact on global security.With Russia and China already stepping into the gap to boost their own global influence, she said now was not the time for the UK to be “walking back” from using soft power

Zack Polanski claims he can ‘cut through’ at Green party leadership hustings focused on how to counter Farage – as it happened

Hi, I’m Andrew Sparrow, picking up again from Nadeem Badshah, and blogging from Hoxton Hall in north London, where chairs are being set up into a handsome auditorium for leadership hustings for the Green party of England and Wales. (The Scottish Green party is a separate entitity.) It is due to start at 6.15pm.There have been quite a few hustings already, and four more are scheduled, but we have not covered the contest much on the Politics Live blog, and we certainly have not reported from a hustings

Caroline Shelton obituary

My friend and former colleague Caroline Shelton, who has died aged 67 of cancer, was a tutor in trade union studies and a trade union activist, with a special interest in health and safety.Having been a shop steward while working in the computing sector, in the early 1990s she became a lecturer in trade union studies at South Thames College in London, where she was elected as health and safety officer of her Unite union branch and nominated to join me and other colleagues on the board of the London Hazards Centre, which helps Londoners to assert their right to live and work in a safe, healthy environment.She was also a Unite delegate to the Kent and Medway Trades Union Congress, a Labour councillor in Gravesend, Kent, for a number of years, and a Labour delegate to Gravesend constituency Labour party.Caroline was born in Gravesend, and was raised in a trade union-supporting family. Her bookbinder mother, Joy (nee Mitchell), was a mother of chapel in the Sogat printing union, and her lorry-driver father, Gordon Shelton, was an enthusiastic member of the Transport and General Workers’ Union

‘At 80, to be treated like a terrorist is shocking’: arrested on suspicion of supporting Palestine Action

Palestine Action’s co-founder has won a bid to bring a high court challenge over the group’s ban as a terrorist organisation, which has made membership of or support for the direct action group a criminal offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison.About 200 people have been arrested on suspicion of publicly protesting in support for PA since it was banned. They include:Retired teacherFarley was picked up by police at a silent demonstration in Leeds for holding a sign that made a joke about the government’s proscription of Palestine Action taken from an issue of the fortnightly satirical magazine Private Eye. He was arrested under section 12 of the Terrorism Act 2000, which he described as a “pretty terrifying and upsetting experience”. Farley, who had never been arrested before, told the Guardian: “I clearly wasn’t any kind of physical threat

Wes Streeting says striking doctors ‘will lose a war with this government’

The doctors union “will lose a war with this government”, Wes Streeting has said, adding that the NHS is ready to tough out a prolonged series of strikes by the British Medical Association (BMA).In his most outspoken comments so far about the dispute involving resident doctors in England, the health secretary vowed that Labour would never give in to their demand for a 29% pay rise.However, in a plea to the BMA, he urged it to agree a deal based on tackling other frustrations those doctors have, separate to their salaries, in which both sides would “win the peace”.Fresh talks are planned next week. For these to have any chance of success, Streeting said, the BMA should agree it will not call any more strikes and accept that other NHS staff deserve decent pay increases too, not just medics, who are already paid more than many colleagues

An ethics record that this Labour government can be proud of | Letter

Re your editorial (The Guardian view on standards in politics: a golden reform opportunity squandered, 25 July), before being elected to parliament for the first time last year, I dedicated nearly 15 years of my life to tackling bribery and corruption. And I am pleased that the government is implementing its manifesto commitments to improve standards.Let us not forget the steady work of Margaret Hodge, who is progressing a comprehensive, cross-government anti-corruption strategy to be published later this year, and the Covid counter-fraud commissioner, Tom Hayhoe, whose work is so vital to restoring trust in government. And let us not forget what the government has already committed to in its first 12 months: replacing the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments, increasing the frequency of ministerial hospitality disclosures, scrapping hereditary peers, votes at 16, rolling out automatic voter registration, tightening up political party financing and empowering the Electoral Commission.That’s a track record to be proud of and a clear change of course from the political indifference to ethics, integrity and democratic participation exhibited by recent Conservative governments