Only 21% of Britons believe Labour’s claim it’s not returning to austerity, poll suggests
More in Common UK, a campaign group working for community cohesion, has published some detailed polling on attitudes to the economy. The full 30-page report is here.
Summing up the findings, More in Commons says that over the past six months public gloom about the economy has got deeper. It goes on:
The public are both deeply anxious and pessimistic about the economy, with little faith in the government’s ability to make things better.
Public trust in the government has fallen with Britons more likely to believe the government hid its true economic plans in order to get elected, and little trust in promises to deliver improvements to Britain’s economy, public services and their own personal lives.
Almost all the findings are bad for Labour (although voters do think Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, are good at taking tough decisions). Here are three of the. key findings.
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Only 21% of voters think Britain is not returning to austerity, the poll suggests. The poll also says 31% of people think the country is returning to austerity, and 23% of people think it never ended. This is difficult for the the government because Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves have never repeatedly claimed they are not going back to austerity. They argue that, because public spending is set to increase overall, the label does not apply. But there is no agreed definition of austerity. The term is most commonly associated with the economic policies of George Osborne, as spending was cut to bring the post-crash budget deficit under control, but if voters say the country is returning to austerity, essentially it just means they are unhappy with how the economy is performing.
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There has been a huge rise since the election in the proportion of people who say they do not expect Labour to improve the lives of people like them. At the time of the election people were narrowly more likely to say Labour would improve their lives (54%) than not (46%). But now people are more than twice as likely to say their lives will get worse under Labour (71%) than the opposite (29%).
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Rachel Reeves is now less trusted on the economy than both Jeremy Hunt, her Tory predecessor, and Mel Stride, her Tory shadow.
Key events
Assisted dying law thrown into doubt as plans for rollout delayed by two years
The implementation of a new assisted dying law in England and Wales has been delayed to 2029, throwing its future into question as its introduction coincides with the next general election, Eleni Courea reports.
Only 21% of Britons believe Labour’s claim it’s not returning to austerity, poll suggests
More in Common UK, a campaign group working for community cohesion, has published some detailed polling on attitudes to the economy. The full 30-page report is here.
Summing up the findings, More in Commons says that over the past six months public gloom about the economy has got deeper. It goes on:
The public are both deeply anxious and pessimistic about the economy, with little faith in the government’s ability to make things better.
Public trust in the government has fallen with Britons more likely to believe the government hid its true economic plans in order to get elected, and little trust in promises to deliver improvements to Britain’s economy, public services and their own personal lives.
Almost all the findings are bad for Labour (although voters do think Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, are good at taking tough decisions). Here are three of the. key findings.
-
Only 21% of voters think Britain is not returning to austerity, the poll suggests. The poll also says 31% of people think the country is returning to austerity, and 23% of people think it never ended. This is difficult for the the government because Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves have never repeatedly claimed they are not going back to austerity. They argue that, because public spending is set to increase overall, the label does not apply. But there is no agreed definition of austerity. The term is most commonly associated with the economic policies of George Osborne, as spending was cut to bring the post-crash budget deficit under control, but if voters say the country is returning to austerity, essentially it just means they are unhappy with how the economy is performing.
-
There has been a huge rise since the election in the proportion of people who say they do not expect Labour to improve the lives of people like them. At the time of the election people were narrowly more likely to say Labour would improve their lives (54%) than not (46%). But now people are more than twice as likely to say their lives will get worse under Labour (71%) than the opposite (29%).
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Rachel Reeves is now less trusted on the economy than both Jeremy Hunt, her Tory predecessor, and Mel Stride, her Tory shadow.
MPs have again voted to remove a Lords amendment to the national insurance contributions (NICs) bill that would exempt hospices from the rise in employer NICs in the budget.
Peers had tabled amendments to the bill that would introduce exemptions for the health and social care sector, including hospices, care homes, GP practices, dentists and pharmacies.
But today MPs voted 312 to 190, majority 122, to reject the introduction of exemptions. The Lords amendments were also voted down by the Commons on Wednesday last week.
During the debate the SNP’s Dave Doogan claimed terminally ill children in hospices would lose out as a result of the Lords amendment being rejected.
And after the vote the Lib Dem health and social care spokesperson Helen Morgan said:
In a shocking display of apathy towards patients, Labour MPs have refused to back down on tax hikes targeting hospitals, GPs, dentists, pharmacies, hospices and care homes.
It is patients who will pay the price for these misguided tax hikes on a sector that desperately needs our support to keep saving lives.
Rupert Lowe accuses Reform UK of ‘woke HR lawfare’ after it releases KC’s report claiming he may have broken Equality Act
An independent KC has found “credible evidence of unlawful harassment of two women” by MP Rupert Lowe and “male members of his team”, Reform UK said. In a report of the statement issued by the party, PA Media says:
The party said in a statement that an “independent King’s Counsel has found there to be credible evidence of unlawful harassment of two women by both Mr Lowe and male members of his team”.
He was also reported to the police over allegations of verbal threats towards Reform chairman Zia Yusuf.
The Great Yarmouth MP lost the Reform whip earlier this month after the party said it had received evidence of “serious bullying” and “derogatory” remarks made about women in the MP’s offices.
Lowe has repeatedly denied the allegations against him, and claimed in a post on social media that Reform is “shamefully attacking my innocent staff to smear my name”.
In the report accompanying Reform’s statement, the KC is named as Jacqueline Perry.
She wrote in her conclusions that: “I am of the view that there is real risk that the acts complained of, if made out, could well give rise to breaches of the Equality Act 2010.”
She said there was “veracity in the complaints from both women which amounts [to] ‘credible evidence’ – to use Mr Lowe’s own words”.
She added that the complaints of “victimisation, constant criticisms [and] discriminatory behaviour do seem to amount to harassment on the part of both Mr Lowe and his constituency team”.
Perry said Lowe “seems to have failed or been unwilling to address the very real concerns” of the two complainants, or “address the toxic conduct” of male members of his staff.
She advised Reform to be “quite strict” about ensuring party members were “fully acquainted” with parliamentary rules following her investigation into complaints against Lowe.
She said: “Going forward I would advise the party hierarchy to be quite strict about ensuring that each member of the party is fully acquainted with the rules of parliament as regards bullying and the provisions of the 2010 [Equality] Act given, I repeat, it is a really low threshold to be crossed to be able to bring such a claim against a member.
“The party wants to avoid any such unpleasantness, not just due to the risk of legal action but also out of common decency and respect for another person who is doing his/her best to do a good job.”
Lowe claims that the party is only responding to the allegations against him in such a robust manner because Nigel Farage, the party leader, sees him as a threat and resents the way Lowe criticised him in public.
Although the Perry report may discredit Lowe to some extent in the eyes of some party members, others are likely to be more sceptical. Perry is advising Reform MPs to pay more attention to the Equality Act. But in its manifesto at the last election, Reform called for the Act to be replaced. It also said: “We will scrap diversity, equality and inclusion (DE&I) rules that have lowered standards and reduced economic productivity.”
Farage himself is also not a fan of rules of this kind. Last year it was revealed that he was one of just five MPs who had declined to attend an anti-bullying training course organised by the Commons authorities.
In another social media post responding to the Perry report, Lowe said:
Reform has deployed woke HR lawfare to smear not only my name, but the reputation of my innocent and decent staff – going as far as to publicly name them.
Unprecedented wickedness.
It is truly despicable behaviour.
I am ashamed to have been part of such a rotten organisation.
Rayner defends Reeves in row over accepting free concert tickets
In her interview on the World at One, Angela Rayner, the deputy PM, also defended Rachel Reeves over criticism of her decision to accept two free tickets to a concert at the O2.
Asked about Matthew Pennycook’s apparent criticism of the chancellor (see 10.26am and 12.59pm), Rayner said:
Well, MPs accept hospitality and go along to things in the UK and outside of the UK, and it’s important that we declare it. That happens across the whole political spectrum.
And I think Matt’s comments was in regard to O2 because that’s his constituency, so … he wouldn’t go there because it’s in his constituency and he wouldn’t want to have that conflict.
The chancellor said that [she accepted tickets for a corporate box] on safety grounds, and I completely understand that, and she declared it in the appropriate way.
If we’re having a debate that says MPs are not allowed to accept any kind of hospitality whatsoever, then that’s a different debate.
But at the moment, the rules are very clear, people should follow the rules and it’s declared in the appropriate way, and that’s what the chancellor did.
Liberal Democrats call for review of intelligence sharing with US, as Angela Rayner suggests that’s not necessary
Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, has called for a review of intelligence-sharing arrangements with the US in the light of the Signal leak. He said:
Trump’s White House can’t be trusted to take even the most basic steps to keep its own intelligence safe.
Their fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants approach to security means it could only be a matter of time until our own intelligence shared with them is also leaked. This could put British lives at risk.
As a matter of urgency, the government must comprehensively review our intelligence-sharing arrangements with the US.
But, in an interview with the World at One, Angela Rayner, the deputy PM, suggested this was not necessary. Asked if Britain should consider whether it was still safe to share secrets with the US, she replied:
We’ve been sharing intelligence and information for many decades and continue to do that through our secure networks. It’s for the US and US president and government to explain and decide what they are doing in regards with security and that Signal group and how they have seen that.
Asked if that meant intelligence sharing could be reduced, Rayner replied:
I’m not going to go into details regarding intelligence, but we work with the US, the UK and the US have got strong intelligence links and military links, and we continue to have those discussions, and we make sure that we do that in a secure way, and have been doing that for decades.
In the interview, asked several times how she felt about the comments from JD Vance and Pete Hegseth about European “freeloading”, Rayner followed the line used by No 10 earlier (see 10.38am) – declining to criticise either of them personally, resisiting invitations to discuss the implications of the comment, and instead stressing how much the US and the UK work together militarily.
Anti-racist campaigners disrupt Reform UK event as Farage unveils party’s Doncaster mayoral candidate
Protesters have disrupted a Reform UK event where Nigel Farage has been announcing the party’s candidate for the mayoral election in Doncaster.
As at least three people interrupted his speech, Farage, the party leader, described one of them as a “saddo,” and another as a “loser.”
According to PA Media, it was not immediately clear what was being shouted by those who were escorted out of the conference hall. But Stand Up To Racism, an anti-racist and anti-fascist group, said it organised the protest.
Later Sabby Dhalu, its co-convenor, said:
Nigel Farage and Reform UK are trying to spread hate and division at a time when we need unity. We are seeing the same old scapegoating of migrants while real issues like NHS underfunding, cost of living, and workers’ rights are ignored.
Farage and his rich donors do not stand for working people and stir up racism and division. Reform is a threat to our communities.
ITV’s Charanpreet Khaira has posted video on social media.
Complete chaos at Reform UK’s rally in Doncaster as protestor after protestor interrupts Nigel Farage.
We’re at a count of seven so far.
Complete pandemonium. pic.twitter.com/C6dugSeBWf
— Charanpreet Khaira (@CharanpreetTV) March 25, 2025
In his speech, Farage blamed the educational establishment for nuturing views like those held by the protesters. He said:
We know these hard-left organisations are going to do everything … go back to school please, we know what’s going to happen. Boring, boring, boring. They will do everything they can to stop this being a free and fair election. Have a look at that. The anger, the anger, You must be at university.
That’s what you get folks, when teaching unions in this country are poisoning the minds of young people, not just against Reform, but against everything this country has ever stood for.
I’ll make it clear, when we’re in a position of power, we will go to war with these left-wing teaching unions and make sure our kids are taught properly.
Farage also announced that Alexander Jones, who the party said had worked in property before “founding his own Forex trading business and modelling”, will stand for Reform in the mayoral election in Doncaster. Farage described Jones, who grew up in Donacaster, as “young, energetic and exactly what’s needed to get Doncaster back on track”.
No 10 says Pennycook ‘speaking on his own behalf’ about free tickets, as code says it’s matter for individual judgment
Downing Street has played down the significance of Matthew Pennycook, the housing minister, saying that he does not think it is “appropriate” to accept free tickets for concerts. (See 10.26am.)
Pennycook’s comment in an interview this morning was widely seen as veiled criticism of Rachel Reeves, the chancellor. But when this was put to the PM’s spokesperson at the morning lobby briefing, the spokesperson replied:
I think he was speaking on his own behalf, as the ministerial code says it is a matter of individual judgment for each minister concerned.
What the government has done is strengthen the rules to ensure transparency, to include new principles and to enshrine the seven principles of public life into the code.
According to PA Media, allies of Pennycook later said he had been referring to his own position as MP for Greenwich and Woolwich, the constituency which covers the O2, where the concert was held, and that his comments should not be interpreted as a criticism of anyone else.
No 10 says Signal leak won’t stop UK sharing secrets with US – but pushes back at Vance/Hegseth ‘freeloading’ claims
Downing Street has rejected suggestions that Britain is a “freeloading” country that expects the US to meet its defence needs.
At the lobby briefing this morning, the PM’s spokesperson spoke at length about the contribution the UK makes to joint military operations with the Americans, following the extraordinary leak of messages showing the contempt President Trump’s most senior allies have for Europe’s record on defence.
But the spokesperson also refused to directly criticise the two figures who were most critical, JD Vance, the vice-president, and Pete Hegseth, the defence secretary.
And the spokesperson insisted that the UK remains happy to share intelligence with teh US despite the leak, which involved detailed planning for a military attack being shared inadvertently on Signal, a commercial chat app, with a journalist.
As Peter Beaumont reports, one striking exchange in the messages shared with Jeffrey Goldberg, editor of the Atlantic magazine, involved Vance and Hegseth making disparaging remarks about Europe. Beaumont reports:
“The account identified as ‘JD Vance’ addressed a message at 8:45 to @Pete Hegseth: ‘if you think we should do it let’s go. I just hate bailing Europe out again,’” Goldberg wrote. (The administration has argued that America’s European allies benefit economically from the US navy’s protection of international shipping lanes.)
Goldberg continues: “The user identified as Hegseth responded three minutes later: “VP: I fully share your loathing of European free-loading. It’s PATHETIC. But Mike is correct, we are the only ones on the planet (on our side of the ledger) who can do this.
“Nobody else even close. Question is timing. I feel like now is as good a time as any, given POTUS directive to reopen shipping lanes. I think we should go; but POTUS still retains 24 hours of decision space.”
At the lobby briefing this morning, asked if Britain was a pathetic freeloader, the PM’s spokesperson replied:
You can see, from the way in which the UK has worked closely with the US, supplying regional security and defence, our commitment to working with the US on matters of regional security.
You’ll know the UK provided air-to-air refuelling support for recent strikes against Houthi key rebel targets [the raid discussed in the messages inadvertently shared with Goldberg].
We also continue to support the US-led coalition against Daesh with routine combat air patrol over Iraq and Syria.
And we’ll continue to work with the US and other allies to ensure stability and security in the Middle East.
Asked again if Britons were freeloaders, the spokesperson repeated the point about the UK working with the US closely in the Middle East.
In a further effort to downplay any diplomatic tension caused by the leaks, the spokesperson said Britain remains confident about sharing intelligence with the US.
Asked if the government was satisfied that any intelligence it shared with the Trump administration would be properly handled, the spokesperson relied:
Yes. The US is our closest ally when it comes to intelligence and defence. We have a longstanding relationship on intelligence and defence cooperation … We will continue and continue to build on the very strong relationship we already have with the US.
The spokesperson would not discuss the leak in detail. But asked if the government was “100% confident” about sharing secret information with the US, the spokesperson replied: “Yes.”
At 12.30pm a Home Office minister will answer an urgent question tabled by Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, about the cancellation of the Stay Belvedere Hotels contract for housing asylum seekers in hotels. (See 9.25am.)
Badenoch says Reeves should blame her own budget ‘mistakes’, not global events, for cuts needed in spring statement
Rachel Reeves has received a backhanded endorsement from Kemi Badenoch, who described the chancellor as “one of the best” of the Labour team – but only, Badenoch said, because the others were even worse.
In an interview this morning on Talk TV, asked if Reeves should lose her job because of what she had done to the economy, Badenoch replied:
I think in any other field she would have. But she’s actually one of the best that they’ve they’ve got, which is what’s really sad.
If she goes, we’re likely to get someone much worse. You listen to labour backbenchers, and a lot of the things that they ask for are crazy, they would bankrupt the country tomorrow.
In a preview of what the Conservative party is likely to say tomorrow in its response to Reeves’ spring statement, Badenoch also claimed that the chancellor would be using the announcement to fix the “mistakes” made in the budget last year. Badenoch said:
The mistakes that she made in that budget are what she’s trying to fix now with the emergency budget that we’re getting tomorrow.
This is not something that’s reacting to world events. She made errors, problems have been caused, and now she’s going to try and fix them again tomorrow. That’s wrong, and I think that she should be judged on that basis.
But Reeves, who is not reversing any of the main budget measures, argues the opposite. She says that the global economic situation has changed considerably since the October budget, which is why she is having to respond with spending cuts.
Ministers approve £9bn Lower Thames Crossing, road tunnel linking Kent and Essex
Ministers have announced that the £10bn Lower Thames Crossing, a road tunnel under the Thames connecting Kent and Essex, has been approved.
The 14-mile road and tunnel – or two tunnels to be precise, one northbound, one southbound – will be the first new Thames crossing east of London for 60 years.
Developers have been trying to get approval for it for years, and the project has frequently been cited as an example of why UK planning laws are sclerotic.
Keir Starmer referenced it recently when he complained about “infrastructure that needs planning documents longer than the works of Shakespeare”. Work on the Lower Thames Crossing has already cost more than £1bn, and the planning documents are said to run to 359,070 pages.
Minister says accepting free concert tickets not ‘appropriate’, in what Tories claim is ‘extraordinary slap down’ to Reeves
During his interview round this morning Matthew Pennycook, the housing minister, said he did not believe accepting free concert tickets was “appropriate” – in an apparent criticism of the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, who received tickets to watch Sabrina Carpenter. Jessica Elgot has the story.
In a response to Pennycook’s comments (which follow a similar response from Heidi Alexander, the transport secretary, to questions about Reeves’ tickets yesterday), the shadow Cabinet Office minister, Mike Wood, said:
This is an extraordinary slap down of the profligate champagne lifestyle Rachel Reeves’ has been enjoying since becoming chancellor.
When senior Labour ministers are openly criticising her judgment then it’s no suprise business and investors are as well.
The chancellor must kick her addiction to freebies and focus on undoing the damage she’s doing to family finances in her emergency budget tomorrow.
The reference to Reeves enjoying a “profligate champagne lifestyle” may surprise people who know the chancellor. Earlier this year she told the BBC that she brings her own lunch into the office in a tupperware box, and that she collects leftover pastries from meetings to eat later. Wood may be referring to the fact that the O2 tickets were for seats in a corporate box.
It has also been reported that Reeves accepted free theatre tickets for Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest and an adaptation of Neil Streatfield’s Ballet Shoes at the National Theatre in December.
But in previous governments other ministers have accepted freebies far more often. And when various Labour ministers were facing criticism for accepting Taylor Swift tickets soon after the election, Reeves did not feature in those stories.
Britons cutting back on spending as confidence in economy falls, survey shows
Consumers are cutting back spending on everyday items amid falling confidence in the UK economy before Rachel Reeves’s spring statement, according to a survey. Richard Partington has the story.
Labour accused of turning ‘blind eye to slavery’ over solar panels made in China
Ministers have been accused of turning a “blind eye to slavery” by ordering Labour MPs to remove legal protections to stop money being spent by state-owned Great British Energy on solar panels manufactured by forced labour in China, Jessica Elgot reports.
Matthew Pennycook, the housing minister, has been giving interviews this morning. Asked if the Home Office would recover money from Stay Belvedere Hotels over the failed contract for housing asylum seekers in hotels (see 9.25am), he replied:
The whole purpose of reviewing asylum contracts is to improve the management of them to guarantee value for money for the taxpayer … the operational details are being worked out.
I’ll leave it to Home Office ministers to come back with the finer points of detail on the decision they’ve made, but work is underway to ensure the asylum services continue to operate as normal, to deal with the management problems.
He went on:
We did need to review these disastrous contracts on asylum accommodation we inherited. We’re doing so to improve management and guarantee value for money for the taxpayer.
We will be opening comments on the blog at about 10am.
Firm paid to house migrants in hotels loses Home Office contract over ‘performance and behaviour’
Good morning. There are many reasons why people object to tens of thousands of asylum seekers being housed for long periods in hotels and other temporary accommodation, but one is the perception that this is enabling a small number of firms to make huge profits at public expense for providing what is often a miserable service. This morning we learned that the Home Office is doing something about this. It has removed the contract for this work from Stay Belvedere Hotels (SBHL), blaming “concerns about its performance and behaviour as a government supplier”.
In a news release issued just after midnight, it says:
The Home Office has taken action to remove Stay Belvedere Hotels (SBHL) from government operations.
SBHL, which is responsible for the running of 51 hotels in England and Wales and Napier Barracks housing people waiting for asylum decisions, is being removed following examination of its contract and contractual arrangements with the Home Office, including concerns about its performance and behaviour as a government supplier.
The safety and security of people working and staying in temporary accommodation is a government priority, together with ensuring value for money for the taxpayer. The Home Office has been working carefully over the past weeks to put robust plans in place to ensure asylum services continue operating as normal during this transition with as little disruption to asylum seekers and staff as possible.
And Angela Eagle, the minister for border security and asylum, said:
Since July, we have improved contract management and added more oversight of our suppliers of asylum accommodation.
We have made the decision to remove Stay Belvedere Hotels from the Home Office supply chain and will not hesitate to take further action to ensure Home Office contracts deliver for the UK.
The Home Office confirmed the news after the Times published a report by Matt Dathan about SBHL losing the contract. Dathan says:
Sources said it was one of the worst examples of companies that were exploiting the asylum crisis to make a profit. SBHL’s latest published accounts show it made a record profit of more than £50m …
[The move] comes after the Treasury ordered the Home Office to find cheaper providers and to prevent private companies “profiteering” from the asylum crisis.
In a document published by the Treasury’s new Office for Value for Money (OVfM) it says companies that have been contracted to find hotels for migrants have “made record profits in recent years, leading to accusations of profiteering” …
With more than 38,000 migrants in hotels, it is costing the Home Office £5.5m per day.
Dathan says one of the companies that will take over these hotel contracts is Corporate Travel Management, the firm that ran the Bibby Stockholm barge when it was used to house asylum seekers.
The government is more keen to talk about something else – a Treasury announcement about a £2bn investment in social and affordable housing. As Jessica Elgot and Richard Partington report, the announcement comes a day before the spring statement, at a time when Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, is anxious to persuade MPs that there is more to the government’s programme than just spending cuts. They report:
One Whitehall source said the social housing announcement and the £600m in investment on construction skills announced over the weekend were attempts to “sweeten the pill” ahead of Wednesday by bringing forward plans from the spending review.
The £2bn will effectively bridge the gap between the current affordable homes spending due to expire in 2026 and the next funding settlement which will come in the spending review in June when a successor programme is expected to be announced.
Here is the agenda for the day.
11.30am: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.
11.30am: Wes Streeting, health secretary, takes questions in the Commons.
After 12.30pm: MPs consider Lords amendments to three bills, including the GB Energy bill.
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