Politics

Shock figures released by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) show that Britain is £490 billion poorer than was thought. Britain’s stock of wealth has fallen from a surplus of of £469 billion to a net deficit of £22 billion. The UK has totally lost its reserve of foreign assets, and is actually in a much more vulnerable deficit, losing any safety margin just Theresa May’s government is attempting a breakthrough in a crucial stage of Brexit negotiations. This massive...

For the first time the Prime Minister has fallen behind not sure in an opinion poll of who would make the best Prime Minister. After a shockingly bad Conservative Party Conference in which Theresa May was handed a P45 on stage, and during which it was revealed that most Tory members want her to resign, this poll confirms her unpopularity. But embarrassingly for the leader of the Opposition, Jeremy Corbyn is also in joint second, behind Don't Know which was...

LBC presenter James O'Brien has ridiculed Conservative MP John Redwood over his optimistic post-Brexit plans in a typically brutal put-down live on air. In a hilarious spoof, the presenter said he wished cash machines had a John Redwood optimism button, dispensing more money than you actually have in your account. The Conservatives, who are traditionally renowned for their fiscal responsibility, have run into problems after the Office of Budgetary Responsibility reported that the economic forecasts for the last seven or eight years have...

Two more defeats this week for the Tories mean they're down 10 council seats since June 8. Eight by-elections took place this week with Labour defending five seats and the Conservatives defending three. Hucknall North (Ashfield) went to an independent with a swing of +51.1 from the Tories. The Liberal Democrats also gained in Oxhey Hall & Hayling (Three Rivers) from Conservative. noooo — Alex Robinson (@arrobinson1994) October 13, 2017 Labour jumped from fourth to first in Halton-with-Aughton and from third to...

There's been a huge swing in Brexit sentiment over the past few months, a referendum tracker has revealed. The number of people who think we were wrong for voting for Brexit has jumped significantly while the number of people thinking the opposite has plummeted. Just 42 per cent now think we were right to leave the European Union, with 47 per cent saying we were wrong. That marks a 5 point split - the biggest gulf there has ever been....

Liam Fox has announced a new board of trade with just one member - himself. Announcing the board today the Department for International Trade said it would “ensure the benefits of free trade are spread throughout the UK”, naming more than a dozen advisers to the body including former ministers and business leaders. However, the Secretary of State for International Trade is the only official member of the board and would be its chair. To put that into context, a...

Theresa May is clinging to power because she's the best of a bad bunch, it would seem. According to the latest odds Boris Johnson remains the favourite to replace the Prime Minister, leading the market in terms of bets placed accounting for 21.3 per cent of bets. Ruth Davidson, despite being 16/1, comes next in the market in terms of bets placed, accounting for 9.8 per cent of bets. Brexit Secretary David Davis is 5/1 and Home Secretary Amber Rudd is priced at 8/1, with...

Jeremy Corbyn will be rubbing his hands after a new report by the International Monetary Fund backed Labour's tax strategy and discredited the Conservatives' approach. Higher income tax rates for rich would reduce inequality without impacting economic growth. The research revealed higher income tax rates for the rich would help reduce inequality without having an adverse impact on growth. The highly influential half-yearly fiscal monitor ridicules the Tories' rationale for the reductions in tax for the highest earners in recent decades. In...

Britain now has a higher tax burden than Spain after the share of GDP taken in tax rocketed. The Tories have long claimed to be the party of low taxes but that claim is unlikely to stand up for much longer. With a month to go until the budget a graph leaked by Guido Fawkes shows the tax burden is now higher than it was under Gordon Brown in 2009. If the Office for Budget Responsibility figures are correct it also shows tax...