Reeves's tax turmoil deepens
Sky News' Sam Coates and Politico's Anne McElvoy serve up their essential guide to the day in British politics.
Sir Keir Starmer will be hoping for a quieter week, after the largest backbench rebellion since he took power last week over the reforms to the welfare system.
But it might not work out that way, as questions remain about how Chancellor Rachel Reeves will fill the £5.5bn blackhole in the public finances.
Sam and Anne discuss the scale of the challenge the government is facing and what tax changes could be on the horizon.
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Sky News
21 minutes ago
- Sky News
King to warn of 'complex threats' facing UK and France - as Macron begins his first state visit
The King will refer to the "complex threats" facing the UK and France - stressing "these challenges know no borders" - as he delivers a speech to welcome President Emmanuel Macron to his first state visit. It's understood that the monarch will be referring to issues around defence, artificial intelligence and the climate crisis when he speaks during tonight's glittering state banquet in Windsor. But with political discussions in the run up to this dominated by the issue of immigration and small boats crossing from France, the King's use of the word "borders" will be seen by some as particularly interesting. King Charles will say: "Our two countries face a multitude of complex threats, emanating from multiple directions. As friends and as allies, we face them together. "These challenges know no borders: no fortress can protect us against them this time." Emphasising how the UK and France can lead the way in confronting them, he will add: "Our two nations share not only values, but also the tireless determination to act on them in the world." King Charles and the Queen are set to welcome the French leader and his wife Brigitte to Windsor Castle. It is the first state visit to take place in Windsor in more than 10 years, and marks the first state visit to the UK by an EU leader since Brexit. Today, Mr Macron will address parliamentarians in the Palace of Westminster's Royal Gallery - and on Thursday, join a UK-France summit with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer. Defence, growth, security, migration and French tactics on tackling small boats will be discussed, with the two leaders expected to dial in to speak to other allied looking to support any future peace deal in Ukraine. Yesterday, Downing Street said that the UK's relationship with France was "key" to dealing with boat crossings, following reports French police officers had used knives to puncture a boat off the coast. Lord Ricketts, who was the Uk's ambassador to France until 2016, told Sky News that it is not the King's role to get bogged down in issues like the migration crisis. "The King won't get involved in the controversial political discussions, no, I think he's been brought up from birth to avoid that," he said. "I'm sure he has personal views and he will talk about the broader relationship but I think his job is to set the scene, to remind everyone that Britain and France are old nations, they have an enormous amount to share, the history is there and depth of personal relationships and that is the backdrop for Keir Starmer to get into the questions where maybe there are still differences." With the closeness between the two men, and the huge interest in the royals generally in France, journalist Maud Garmy from Pont de Vue magazine told us this trip will certainly attract more attention than your average political visit. "I have to admit, for French media, one of the main things about this visit is going to be the images from Windsor - because of the glamour, because of the pomp, because of the pageantry," she said. "There will be more images on French television about President Macron meeting the King in Windsor rather than him being in London for speeches with the prime minister because those images are much more glamorous, there will be a strong friendship shown, and for the media that's just pure gold." It will be the welcome from their royal hosts that will make the visit particularly special for the president and his wife Brigitte. The Prince and Princess of Wales will travel to RAF Northolt to meet the Macrons before travelling with them to Windsor, where the King and Queen will be waiting to accompany them on a carriage procession to Windsor Castle. The King and Queen paid a state visit to France in September 2023 and enjoy a warm rapport with the Macrons, who will stay in the castle during their trip.
Reuters
an hour ago
- Reuters
EU's von der Leyen defends record in face of censure motion
BRUSSELS, July 7 (Reuters) - European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen defended her record on Monday as the European Union's executive body faced a censure motion proposed by a group of mainly far-right lawmakers in the European Parliament. The vote on the motion, scheduled for Thursday, is destined to fall far short of the two-thirds majority needed to force out von der Leyen's Commission as centrist groups that hold a majority in the parliament have said they will not support it. But the motion was an unwelcome political headache for the EU executive chief just as her Commission is in the midst of negotiations to try to avoid hefty tariffs on European products from U.S. President Donald Trump's administration. Speaking in the European Parliament in Strasbourg, von der Leyen pushed back against criticism in the motion of her handling of the COVID-19 crisis, arguing her strategy had ensured all EU members had equal access to vaccines. "This is the Europe of solidarity that I love - and this is the Europe that the extremists hate," von der Leyen, a German former defence minister, declared to applause in the chamber. Speaking before von der Leyen, the motion's lead sponsor, Romanian nationalist Gheorghe Piperea, accused the Commission of lacking transparency and failing to respect justice. "The decision-making process has become opaque and discretionary and raises fears of abuse and corruption," he said. Von der Leyen rejected those accusations. But, in an apparent nod to discontent from some lawmakers who see her governing style as high-handed, she said she was committed to working with the parliament "every step of the way". "I want to say that I hear your concerns loud and clear," she said. Even as the centrist groups rejected the motion, the debate exposed tensions among them. Several criticised von der Leyen's centre-right European People's Party for siding with the far right on migration, climate and other policies. "Do you want to govern with those who want to destroy Europe or those of us who fight every day to build it?" Iratxe Garcia Perez, leader of the centre-left Socialists and Democrats group, asked von der Leyen in her speech.
Sky News
an hour ago
- Sky News
Israeli soldiers 'psychologically broken' after 'confronting the reality' in Gaza, UN expert says
A UN expert has said some young soldiers in the Israeli Defence Forces are being left "psychologically broken" after "confront[ing] the reality among the rubble" when serving in Gaza. Francesca Albanese, the UN Human Rights Council's special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, was responding to a Sky News interview with an Israeli solider who described arbitrary killing of civilians in Gaza. She told The World with Yalda Hakim that "many" of the young people fighting in Gaza are "haunted by what they have seen, what they have done". "It doesn't make sense," Ms Albanese said. "This is not a war, this is an assault against civilians and this is producing a fracture in many of them. "As that soldier's testimony reveals, especially the youngest among the soldiers have been convinced this is a form of patriotism, of defending Israel and Israeli society against this opaque but very hard felt enemy, which is Hamas. "But the thing is that they've come to confront the reality among the rubble of Gaza." Being in Gaza is "probably this is the first time the Israeli soldiers are awakening to this," she added. "And they don't make sense of this because their attachment to being part of the IDF, which is embedded in their national ideology, is too strong. "This is why they are psychologically broken." Jonathan Conricus, a former IDF spokesman who is now a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defence of Democracies, said he believes the Sky News interview with the former IDF solider "reflects one part of how ugly, difficult and horrible fighting in a densely populated, urban terrain is". "I think [the ex-soldier] is reflecting on how difficult it is to fight in such an area and what the challenges are on the battlefield," he said. 10:42 'An economy of genocide' Ms Albanese, one of dozens of independent UN-mandated experts, also said her most recent report for the human rights council has identified "an economy of genocide" in Israel. The system, she told Hakim, is made up of more than 60 private sector companies "that have become enmeshed in the economy of occupation […] that have Israel displace the Palestinians and replace them with settlers, settlements and infrastructure Israel runs." Israel has rejected allegations of genocide in Gaza, citing its right to defend itself after Hamas's attack on 7 October 2023. 2:36 The companies named in Ms Albanese's report are in, but not limited to, the financial sector, big tech and the military industry. "These companies can be held responsible for being directed linked to, or contributing, or causing human rights impacts," she said. "We're not talking of human rights violations, we are talking of crimes." "Some of the companies have engaged in good faith, others have not," Ms Albanese said. The companies she has named include American technology giant Palantir, which has issued a statement to Sky News. It said it is "not true" that Palantir "is the (or a) developer of the 'Gospel' - the AI-assisted targeting software allegedly used by the IDF in Gaza, and that we are involved with the 'Lavender' database used by the IDF for targeting cross-referencing". "Both capabilities are independent of and pre-ate Palantir's announced partnership with the Israeli Defence Ministry," the statement added.
