Nige is no longer laughing at himself as he ‘performs’ yet another big speech | John Crace

The scene: an old banking hall in the heart of the City. The music: first, Richard Clayderman plays Bach. Then Pachelbel’s Canon, followed by the Adagio from Mahler’s 5th. Death in Venice, Live in London. Not the usual venue or playlist for a Reform press conference

UK politics: MPs spar over response to Cambridgeshire train attack – as it happened

Max Wilkinson, the Lib Dem home affairs spokesperson, said within hours of this attack happening, social media was full of speculation about this attack, inciting racist and Islamphobic reaction.He accuses “figures on the hard right, including members of the Reform party” of trying to “exploit the incident for political gain”.Desperate to involve themselves in the tragedy, they reached for their dog whistles. They threw around baseless opinions on levels of crime when facts were available. They were shamelessly trying to turn tragedy into yet another excuse to whip up fear and sow division

What would UK economic policy look like under Nigel Farage’s Reform?

Nigel Farage has delivered a speech on his economic priorities. While it did not announce any new policies as such, it marked the most detailed explanation yet of what a Reform UK government might prioritise. Below are six areas he discussed.As recently as the buildup to May’s local elections, Reform was pledging to raise the threshold at which people start paying income tax from £12,570 to £20,000, bringing many thousands out of tax but costing the exchequer more than £40bn a year.Amid increasing scrutiny about how or if this could be paid for, Farage has rolled back

Nigel Farage backtracks on Reform UK’s promise to cut £90bn of taxes

Nigel Farage has rowed back from his party’s election promise to cut £90bn of taxes, accusing Labour and the Tories of “wrecking the public finances” and saying Reform UK would need to get public spending under control first.The Reform leader rejected suggestions he had been forced to break manifesto promises in order to gain economic credibility, suggesting the proposal had only ever been an “aspiration”.As well as backtracking on the party’s 2024 pledge to raise tax-free thresholds to £20,000, he refused to guarantee that the pensions triple lock – estimated to reach £15.5bn by 2030 – would remain under a Reform government.Farage’s speech in the City of London laid bare the tensions at the heart of his project, as he attempts to improve his party’s economic credibility, which political opponents regard as a weak point, while at the same time retain the electoral benefits of political insurgency

Nigel Farage to promise business deregulation in economic policy speech

Nigel Farage will promise a bonfire of business regulation as he spells out his party’s economic policies in more detail than ever in an attempt to bolster its reputation for fiscal credibility.The Reform leader will give a speech in London putting deregulation at the heart of his economic agenda, while also dropping a commitment made at the last election to deliver £90bn of tax cuts.The message is designed to bolster his party’s reputation for fiscal credibility after experts warned that his promises to cut £350bn from government spending over the next parliament did not add up.Farage will say: “When it comes to Brexit … we have not taken advantage of the opportunities to deregulate and become more competitive. The harsh truth is that regulations and regulators, in many areas, are worse than they were back in 2016

Tory patience wears thin as Badenoch’s critics count down to May elections

At an opulent speakeasy-style event at the Raffles hotel on Whitehall this week, the great and the good of what is left of the Conservative party marked the Spectator’s parliamentarian of the year awards.With the magazine’s editorial line still just about backing the Tories, despite the party facing an existential crisis from Reform UK, it was unsurprising that much of the gossip at the champagne-fuelled event was about whether Kemi Badenoch’s job was at risk.James Cleverly, who unsuccessfully ran against her for the leadership, couldn’t resist a dig from the stage at the naked ambition of his shadow cabinet colleague, Robert Jenrick – who is Badenoch’s biggest threat.“Am I after her job? Am I going to stick the knife between her shoulder blades and steal the crown? No, of course I’m not,” the veteran Tory cabinet minister told the laughing audience as he opened the awards ceremony.“You know that I’m not