Reform UK’s private health insurance plan would cost £1.7bn, Streeting to say
Reform UK’s policy of tax relief on private health insurance could cost the country £1,7bn, the health secretary, Wes Streeting, is expected to say on Saturday,Streeting will make the claim at a conference organised by the Fabian Society, a socialist thinktank aligned to the Labour party, and will describe the Reform proposal as a “tax cut for the wealthiest”,Before the 2024 general election, Reform pledged to offer tax relief of 20% on all private healthcare policies if it won power,The party claimed in its manifesto that this would improve the general standard of care by reducing demands on the NHS.
Its leader, Nigel Farage, appeared to double down on this commitment at a press conference last summer, saying: “Perhaps if we gave people a bit of tax relief on paying for private health care, we might just relieve the pressure off the National Health Service.”Civil servants at the Department of Health and Social Care calculated the potential cost of the Reform policy using data from the healthcare consultancy LaingBuisson, which says that the UK private healthcare market is worth about £8.6bn.Streeting is due to speak at the central London event on Saturday afternoon, with the energy secretary, Ed Miliband, and Labour’s deputy leader, Lucy Powell, also scheduled to attend.It is expected the health secretary will tell delegates that the NHS will be a major focus for Labour in campaigns for May’s local elections, where Reform is predicted to make significant gains.
“Farage says he wants an insurance-based system of healthcare,” Streeting will say.“Just last year, he rejected the public funding model that survived since 1948, saying: ‘I do not want it funded through general taxation.It does not work.’“And if you don’t believe his words, look at his actions.Reform is committed to spending £1.
7bn, not on staff, buildings, or technology, but on tax relief for customers of private healthcare.“This tax cut for the wealthiest would be the first step on the road to Farage’s insurance system.A system that checks your pockets before your pulse and asks for your credit card before your care.It’s alright for mister moneybags.We know he can afford it.
But what about those who can’t? “Reform poses as the voice of the people while working for the interests of the powerful.No wonder they are such an attractive destination for Boris Johnson’s Conservatives.“We should be in no doubt that the founding principles of the NHS are now contested terrain.And it falls to Labour to defend them.A publicly funded public service, free at the point of use.
Back on its feet and fit for the future,Those are Labour’s values, those are Britain’s values and this is a fight we will win,”The majority of private healthcare plans are paid for by businesses and offered to employees as a benefit in kind,The LaingBuisson data estimates that company healthcare plans are worth about £5bn and individual insurance about £3,6bn.
Staff with company healthcare plans pay income tax on this benefit at their normal rate.The basic rate of income tax is 20%.The government’s estimate assumes that Reform’s proposed 20% tax relief would be applied equally to company and individual private healthcare plans.Those taking out their own cover will normally already have paid income tax on the money used to fund it, but will usually be charged an additional insurance premium of 12%.
Ryanair says it could use Starlink in future despite Elon Musk feud
Ryanair would be open to using Elon Musk’s Starlink wifi on its planes in the future, its finance chief has suggested, amid a feud between the boss of the Irish airline and the world’s richest person.The airline would look at “whoever is the best, when the tech and price is right” for in-flight wifi, the Ryanair chief financial officer, Neil Sorahan, said.Sorahan was speaking after an online spat between Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary and Musk, after O’Leary was asked whether he would follow Lufthansa and British Airways in installing Starlink satellite internet technology on his fleet of 650 aircraft.The chief executive rejected the idea, saying that adding antennas to the jets would result in a “2% fuel drag”, adding an extra $200-250m to its $5bn (£3.66bn) annual kerosene bill
‘A southern economy in the north’: how Warrington has adapted to change
As the demolition excavator crashes its metal jaws through Warrington’s former Unilever soap factory, Carl Oates says the town is good at handling change. Once contractors have finished, his company plans to open a datacentre, reinventing a site from the first Industrial Revolution for the next.“As one industry closes, Warrington has been quite good at opening new ones – and we hope datacentres is one of those new spaces.”A director of a local property firm, Dante Group, he knows the blue corrugated-metal factory looming over Bank Quay station is a well-known local landmark on the Cheshire skyline. Alongside wire, beer and gin, soap helped to power Warrington’s industrial development
UK maker of AI avatars nearly doubles valuation to $4bn after funding round
A British AI startup that makes realistic video avatars has almost doubled its valuation to $4bn (£3bn), in a boost for the UK technology sector.Synthesia was valued at $2.1bn last year and moved into new offices in central London, marking the moment with a ceremony attended by the Sadiq Khan, the city’s mayor, and Peter Kyle, then technology secretary.On Monday, it announced its latest funding round, led by an existing investor, Google Ventures, had raised $200m and valued the British company at $4bn. Google Ventures is the search firm’s venture capital arm
AI is hitting UK harder than other big economies, study finds
The UK is losing more jobs than it is creating because of artificial intelligence and is being hit harder than rival large economies, new research suggests.British companies reported that AI had resulted in net job losses over the past 12 months, down 8% – the highest rate among other leading economies including the US, Japan, Germany and Australia, according to a study by the investment bank Morgan Stanley.The research, which was shared with Bloomberg, surveyed companies using AI for at least a year across five industries: consumer staples and retail, real estate, transport, healthcare equipment and cars.It found that British businesses reported an average 11.5% increase in productivity aided by AI
How Alex de Minaur can beat Carlos Alcaraz in Australian Open quarter-final
Alex de Minaur went into his quarter-final with Jannik Sinner at the 2025 Australian Open hopeful that he could make life difficult for the defending champion. Not only did that not happen, but the manner of his one-sided defeat left him wondering if he really had the game to trouble the top players.Fast forward a year and the Australian again finds himself in the last eight, again facing one of the sport’s superstars, this time Carlos Alcaraz. As with Sinner, the head to head doesn’t make pretty reading for De Minaur, with Alcaraz leading 5-0. This, though, is their first grand slam meeting and there is a growing feeling that things can be different
Courtside fashion at the Australian Open: ‘People are definitely dressing up more’
If the races is a nightclub, the tennis is a long lunch with spectators in silk dresses, sneakers and tailored shortsSomething is happening sartorially at the Australian Open. In addition to the on-and-off-court partnerships with some of the world’s most recognisable fashion brands – Rolex, Louis Vuitton and Polo Ralph Lauren – Melbourne Park visitors are dressing up.The men are in tailored knee length shorts, leather loafers and softly textured button-downs. The women are in pretty mid-to-ankle length dresses and sneakers or flat sandals. While the crowd’s look at the country’s biggest sporting event (the organisers expect it to inject more than $600m into the economy) is undeniably preppy – plenty of jumpers are tied around shoulders and T-shirts are tucked into high waisted trousers – the energy is decidedly more inclusive than a cordoned off country-club
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