Lucy Powell says Labour must stand by promise not to raise key taxes
Labour should stand by its manifesto commitment not to raise income tax, national insurance or VAT, its deputy leader, Lucy Powell, has said in a challenge that will put pressure on Rachel Reeves.With the Treasury examining whether to raise income tax to plug a £30bn fiscal hole, Powell said it was “really important we stand by the promises we were elected on and do what we said we would do”.She said: “Trust in politics is a key part of that because if we’re to take the country with us then they’ve got to trust us and that’s really important too.We should be following through on our manifesto, of course.There’s no question about that.
”Powell made the significant intervention on BBC Radio 5 Live, calling at the same time for the two-child benefit cap to be lifted in full rather than softened.She said she wanted a “budget of fairness”, with more money being put into people’s pockets, rather than less, and one with a “strong Labour story about how we are rewiring the country in the interests of the many not just the few”.Her remarks are likely to be uncomfortable for the chancellor and Keir Starmer as both have in recent weeks declined to repeat their commitments to stand by the manifesto pledge on tax.The government has been looking at the possibility of raising income tax as a way of giving a substantial boost to the public finances and leave an extra buffer for potential financial shocks.Powell’s spokesperson later clarified that she would support the chancellor whatever the decisions made in the budget, which will be taken by Reeves and Starmer.
A spokesperson for Powell said: “As Lucy made clear in the interview the chancellor and prime minister make decisions on the budget in the round,As the chancellor said this week the context for this budget is particularly difficult and Lucy will continue to support them on these issues,”Downing Street had no comment on Powell’s remarks,Reeves gave a speech this week that was widely interpreted as making the case for tax rises to allow greater investment in public services,“It is important that everyone – the public and politicians – understands that reality.
The less we spend on debt interest, the more we can spend on the priorities of working people … our NHS, our schools, our national security … the public services essential to a decent society and a strong economy,” she said.However, it is still not certain that Reeves will opt for a rise in income tax, which could raise £7bn, instead of an array of smaller tax measures.The final forecasts have not yet been presented to the chancellor, meaning the decisions are still to be taken.Powell’s intervention before the budget is a sign that she is willing to question the dominant thinking in Downing Street, after she won the deputy leadership election on the back of promising not to “sugar-coat” her views.She is in a unique position to challenge Starmer and Reeves as the party’s deputy leader, who was chosen last month by the membership to replace Angela Rayner ahead of the government’s choice, Bridget Phillipson.
Powell had previously been pushed out of her job as leader of the House of Commons by the prime minister at the reshuffle after the summer recess and is not bound by collective responsibility,The deputy leader’s statements echo the concerns of a number of Labour MPs who are privately worried about the impact on trust of breaking a manifesto pledge and Reeves’s own claim last year that she would not come back to the public with further tax rises,Cabinet ministers appear to be largely resigned to the idea of raising income tax, rather than fiddling with a large number of small tax measures, having bought the argument that it is better to make a big tax-raising move relatively early in the parliament,However, some backbenchers are concerned that it is a “dangerous moment” for the government to be seen as going back on a promise and that it may not be forgiven by the electorate,“The two major reasons people are leaving us is they perceive we broke our promises and secondly because of the cost of living.
This entrenches that,” one Labour MP said.“Emotionally, colleagues don’t feel the same way about this as with welfare.But before Rishi [Sunak, the former Conservative PM] raised national insurance in 2021, it ‘polled’ well.Not when it hit the ground.But it’s hard to go to chancellor and say don’t do X when everything has to add up.
”In her BBC interview, Powell also said the two-child benefit cap “should be lifted in full” as a matter of urgency to deal with “grotesque levels” of child poverty.“Every year that passes with this policy in place, another 40,000 minimum, 40,000 children, are pushed into deep levels of poverty as a result of it and that’s why it is urgent that we do lift it and we lift it in full.”Reeves is believed to be looking at only partly lifting the two-child benefit cap affecting universal credit, after the government previously hinted earlier in the autumn that it would be scrapped entirely.Instead, she is thought to be considering smaller measures that would go some way to blunting its impact.The Guardian first reported last month that Reeves was considering raising income tax to help reduce a shortfall, expected to be between £20bn and £30bn, after a bigger-than-expected downgrade in productivity forecasts.
However, government insiders believe the economic landscape to be less gloomy than predicted, which may allow Reeves to avoid the problem of breaking the manifesto pledge.While the Office for Budget Responsibility’s productivity downgrade has created a headache, they point out that a fall in debt financing costs and more people coming into the jobs market may help limit the damage.
Tesla shareholders approve $1tn pay package for Elon Musk
Tesla shareholders approved a $1tn compensation plan for CEO Elon Musk on Thursday, awarding the world’s richest person what would be the largest corporate payout in history if he meets the goals necessary to receive it.The pay package, which several high-profile investors opposed, demonstrates that shareholders still believe Musk can lead the automaker in an era dominated by robotics and artificial intelligence.The result of the vote was announced at the annual shareholder event in Austin, Texas, with more than 75% of investors voting in favor of the plan. Chants of “Elon” erupted in the room at the news of its approval.“Thanks, guys,” Musk said, after briefly dancing on stage alongside the company’s Optimus robots
Amazon sues AI startup over browser’s automated shopping and buying feature
Amazon sued a prominent artificial intelligence startup on Tuesday over a shopping feature in the company’s browser, which can automate placing orders for users. Amazon accused Perplexity AI of covertly accessing customer accounts and disguising AI activity as human browsing.“Perplexity’s misconduct must end,” Amazon’s lawyers wrote. “Perplexity is not allowed to go where it has been expressly told it cannot; that Perplexity’s trespass involves code rather than a lockpick makes it no less unlawful.”Perplexity, which has grown rapidly amid the boom in AI assistants, has previously rejected the US shopping company’s claims, accusing Amazon of using its market dominance to stifle competition
Google plans to put datacentres in space to meet demand for AI
Google is hatching plans to put artificial intelligence datacentres into space, with its first trial equipment sent into orbit in early 2027.Its scientists and engineers believe tightly packed constellations of about 80 solar-powered satellites could be arranged in orbit about 400 miles above the Earth’s surface equipped with the powerful processors required to meet rising demand for AI.Prices of space launches are falling so quickly that by the middle of the 2030s the running costs of a space-based datacentre could be comparable to one on Earth, according to Google research released on Tuesday.Using satellites could also minimise the impact on the land and water resources needed to cool existing datacentres.Once in orbit, the datacentres would be powered by solar panels that can be up to eight times more productive than those on Earth
LOL: is this the ultimate texting faux pas (and what should you use instead)?
From abbreviations to happy poos, gen Z has strong opinions on appropriate texting behaviour. But can anyone keep up with the ever-changing rules?Name: “LOL”.Age: The Oxford English Dictionary first included LOL in 1997.Not to be confused with: Loll, which is what dogs sometimes do.So as in “laugh out loud”? Or laughing out loud, though David Cameron thought it stood for “lots of love” and used to sign off to Rebekah Brooks, the former Sun and News of the World editor, with a LOL
Apple Watch SE 3 review: the bargain smartwatch for iPhone
Apple’s entry level Watch SE has been updated with almost everything from its excellent mid-range Series 11 but costs about 40% less, making it the bargain of iPhone smartwatches.The Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more.The new Watch SE 3 costs from £219 (€269/$249/A$399), making it one of the cheapest brand-new fully fledged smartwatches available for the iPhone and undercutting the £369 Series 11 and the top-of-the-line £749 Apple Watch Ultra 3
Experts find flaws in hundreds of tests that check AI safety and effectiveness
Experts have found weaknesses, some serious, in hundreds of tests used to check the safety and effectiveness of new artificial intelligence models being released into the world.Computer scientists from the British government’s AI Security Institute, and experts at universities including Stanford, Berkeley and Oxford, examined more than 440 benchmarks that provide an important safety net.They found flaws that “undermine the validity of the resulting claims”, that “almost all … have weaknesses in at least one area”, and resulting scores might be “irrelevant or even misleading”.Many of the benchmarks are used to evaluate the latest AI models released by the big technology companies, said the study’s lead author, Andrew Bean, a researcher at the Oxford Internet Institute.In the absence of nationwide AI regulation in the UK and US, benchmarks are used to check if new AIs are safe, align to human interests and achieve their claimed capabilities in reasoning, maths and coding
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