Rachel Reeves urged to raise taxes on companies profiting from war on Iran

Rachel Reeves is being urged to raise taxes on businesses generating “windfall” profits linked to the US-Israel war on Iran to fund emergency cost of living support for UK households.With the government under pressure to respond, a group of leading charities, campaigners and trade unions said the chancellor could raise billions by taxing “excess profits” linked to the conflict.In an open letter to Keir Starmer and Reeves, the organisations – including Greenpeace UK, the National Education Union and Tax Justice UK – said energy companies, banks, agricultural commodities businesses, defence companies and tech firms stood to financially benefit from the economic fallout.Urging Labour to strengthen its existing North Sea energy windfall tax and to introduce new levies for firms in these other sectors, the group said the extra revenue for the exchequer could be used for emergency cost-of-living support and to invest in the future resilience of the UK economy against energy shocks.“We urge you to make this crisis a turning point for the UK

PM rejects ‘far-fetched’ scepticism about Morgan McSweeney phone theft

Keir Starmer has said it is “far-fetched” to suggest that the theft of his former chief of staff’s mobile phone is somehow connected to a subsequent push for the release of documents relating to Peter Mandelson’s appointment as US ambassador.Downing Street has come under pressure to say whether key messages between Morgan McSweeney and the former ambassador were lost after it emerged that the government-issue phone was stolen last year.Kemi Badenoch had “raised an eyebrow” in relation to accounts about the theft, a spokesperson for the Conservative leader said on Wednesday. The Labour MP Karl Turner, who has clashed with the government over jury trial legislation and was a critic of McSweeney’s role, said on X on Wednesday night that he did not believe the phone was stolen.The prime minister responded to the claims on Thursday morning, saying: “The phone was stolen

David Winnick obituary

For much of his career, David Winnick, Labour MP for 42 years – representing Walsall North for 38 of them – was a dogged parliamentarian, originally of the Tribunite left and never aspiring to ministerial office. Yet he will be best remembered for an act of singular courage when he succeeded in defeating the plans of the Blair government in its Iraq war-era attempt to hold terrorist suspects for up to 90 days without charge.Winnick, who has died aged 92, had supported the invasion of Iraq in 2003, but took his stand on civil liberties grounds and, much to the aggravation of ministers, led the charge against the prolonged detention proposal in the Commons in 2005 – and then in the home affairs committee against a further attempt by the subsequent Brown administration to hold suspects for 42 days. Winnick’s successful amendment limited the term to 28 days; the vote against the terror bill was the first defeat for the Labour goverment, nine years after taking power.Winnick’s stand was of a piece with his concern for civil liberties – he also opposed the plans to introduce identity cards – but he was no pacifist

Trump describes UK aircraft carriers as ‘toys’ in latest anti-Nato jibe

Donald Trump has dismissed British warships as “toys” in his latest jibe at Nato countries for their lack of involvement in the joint US-Israeli strikes on Iran. Speaking at the White House on Thursday, he claimed he had told the UK: “Don’t bother, we don’t need it.”Trump has previously alleged that he requested two aircraft carriers from the UK that Keir Starmer had initially rejected and then offered to send. No 10 has denied that a request was made or denied.The prime minister has said he would not permit UK bases to be used for offensive strikes against the Iranian regime, but bases including Diego Garcia on the Chagos Islands can be used for defensive strikes to combat Iran’s retaliation

Reform busy firefighting in Scotland but may yet set Holyrood’s politics ablaze

Hope, change, progressive change, change with fairness at its heart – from a harbour north of Edinburgh to a hipster arts venue in Glasgow’s Barras Market, Scotland’s political parties spent the first official day of the Holyrood election campaign reaching for the phrase that best encapsulates what people will get if they vote for them on 7 May.Only one of the main parties did not hold an event to set out their stall on Thursday: possibly Reform UK was too busy firefighting after another of its Scottish parliament candidates quit, bringing to four the number who have stepped down or been suspended since they stood with the party leader, Nigel Farage, under a hail of turquoise confetti last week.But despite the bright spring sunshine, Farage was a shadow presence at the other launches, with the Scottish National party’s John Swinney and Scottish Labour’s Anas Sarwar in particular differentiated by their approach to him.At the newly renovated Citizens theatre in Glasgow, Swinney urged supporters to get out and campaign for a “historic” overall majority – as happened once before in 2011 under Alex Salmond – promising voters “a fresh start with independence”.An SNP majority would not only force another independence referendum, but also “lock Nigel Farage out of any influence” in Scotland, he said, speaking from a lectern emblazoned with the word “hope”

UK politics: Trump says UK’s aircraft carriers are just ‘toys’ – as it happened

Donald Trump has claimed that the UK’s two aircraft carriers, HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales, are little better than “toys”.The president hit out as he spoke on camera at the start of a cabinet meeting in the White House.In a rambling address, that covered a range of subjects, Trump revived his complaint about the UK not offering military help with the Iran war.He said that Nato had done “absolutely nothing” to support the US and he went on:double quotation markNow they all want to help. When they’re annihilated, the other side is annihilated, they said ‘we’d love to send ships’