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The National
a day ago
- Politics
- The National
Europe's threatens Iran with 'snapback' sanctions over nuclear programme
Iran is facing potentially crippling restrictions if it does not end its nuclear programme after Britain's Prime Minister disclosed that 'snapback sanctions' against the regime are being considered. During an appearance in parliament, Keir Starmer was asked by his immediate predecessor in Downing Street, Rishi Sunak, whether Iran should be punished if it did not admit International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors to fully verify that its efforts to enrich enhanced uranium had ceased. 'The prospect of a regime like this having nuclear weapons is unacceptable, and so I welcome the US and Israeli action,' Mr Sunak said. 'Does the Prime Minister agree with me that we and our European allies should now trigger snapback sanctions?' Mr Starmer responded that 'on snapback' this was 'a consideration that we are discussing with allies', and that it would be part of the pressure applied to Iran during talks. Under the terms of the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) agreement, if it is felt that Iran is no longer in compliance then the treaty signatories, including the E3 countries of Britain, France and Germany, could initiate the snapback clause. This would involve the reimposition of UN sanctions on exports as well as travel bans and asset freezes on people and entities, all of which could severely damage Iran's economy. But the signatories only have until October this year, when, with 10 years having elapsed since the treaty's signing, the snapback option will expire. That would mean the E3 countries would lose a substantial diplomatic lever against Tehran. Acutely aware that this power might slip away, Mr Starmer said that 'exactly when and how snapback is applied will obviously be a question of discussion'. He said the conversation should be held imminently. Big Steps Mr Starmer also went further than he has before in supporting Israel and the US's pre-emptive attack on Iran, which has been criticised by some as flouting international law. With its bunker buster strikes on the Fordow uranium enrichment plant, the 'US took a big step towards resolving that threat', he told MPs. He later added that the global community agreed that Iran should not have nuclear weapons. He added that it was 'about time we did something about it', and said a deal should follow to 'complete on that'. Reporting back from Tuesday's Nato leaders' summit, he said the Middle East 'was at the forefront of our minds' and that Iran must 'never obtain a nuclear weapon'. He also said that now was a 'window for peace' with Iran, and also for a deal to bring an end to the death and destruction in Gaza. Out of step If Mr Starmer appeared statesmanlike and serious, the leader of the opposition, Kemi Badenoch, looked badly out of step after she tore into the Prime Minister for missing the last two Prime Minister's Questions for the G7 and Nato summits. The implication that he should skip two vital geopolitical events demonstrated 'exactly why their (Conservative) party is sliding into irrelevance', Mr Starmer responded. Even Ms Badenoch's backbenchers criticised her, with Tory MP Mark Pritchard condemning her criticism as 'partisan politics' that should be kept out of national security issues. He then thanked Mr Starmer for 'his hard work'. That work will be required, the Prime Minister agreed, to use the current favourable circumstances to seal a broader Middle East peace. 'This is the moment to press on from Iran to a ceasefire in Gaza, and I mean that that should happen in days, not weeks or months,' he stressed.
The Independent
a day ago
- Business
- The Independent
UK smoking ban risks breaching post-Brexit deal, ex-Tory justice secretary warns
Keir Starmer 's flagship smoking ban risks breaching a key post-Brexit deal with the European Union and is 'heading straight for the courts', a former Tory justice secretary has warned. Robert Buckland says he was initially supportive of the plans, which will see Britain ban smoking for an entire generation. But now he says the government 'must hit pause' or risk a legal car crash. Under the plans anyone currently aged 15 or younger will never be able to buy cigarettes legally, as the UK slowly becomes a smoke-free country. The idea was launched with great fanfare by Rishi Sunak, but enthusiastically backed by Labour when the Tories were kicked out of power last summer. But now Sir Robert warns the policy risks breaching another key piece of legislation signed by Mr Sunak, the Windsor Framework with the EU. It is designed to deal with the post-Brexit problem about what to do at Northern Ireland 's border, the scene of many atrocities during the Troubles. There were fears that Brexit could make the land border between NI and the Republic of Ireland a so-called 'hard border' again, with checkpoints that risked becoming the focus of future attacks. In a bid to avoid that the UK and the EU agreed a system under which, when it comes to goods, NI aligns with EU laws. Sir Robert warns that EU law therefore requires that tobacco remain legal for adults over 18 in NI. But the new Bill would criminalise its sale to anyone born after 2008 across the UK, including in NI. Sir Robert says the disconnect means the Bill, in its current form, is on a collision course with international law and ministers are sleepwalking into a constitutional and legal car crash. 'If the Bill applies in Northern Ireland, we breach EU law. If it doesn't, we fracture the UK's internal market. Either way, we're in breach of the treaty we signed just last year,' he said. He added: 'The Windsor Framework is not political window dressing, it's international law. And if Parliament pushes ahead with this Bill as-is, we are heading straight for the courts. 'Northern Ireland's courts have already shown they will strike down UK laws that conflict with the Framework. That is not theoretical, it's real, it's recent, and it's relevant. 'The government must hit pause. Either negotiate an exemption… or remove Northern Ireland from the scope of the Bill. Anything else is reckless.' 'The right to buy legal goods like tobacco is protected under the Windsor Framework and the Good Friday Agreement. Strip that away, and the government is staring down the barrel of a serious legal defeat.' The Department of Health has been approached for comment.
The Guardian
2 days ago
- Business
- The Guardian
Number of higher-rate UK taxpayers expected to hit more than 7m this year
The number of people in the UK paying income tax at the higher rate is expected to increase by 500,000 this tax year, to more than 7 million, according to official figures. Income tax thresholds used to rise in line with inflation but have been frozen at the same level since 2021, a move announced by the then-chancellor, Rishi Sunak. In the 2021-22, 4.4 million people paid tax of 40% on some of their income, the data from HM Revenue & Customs shows. Over the same period the number of people of state pension age paying some income tax has risen by almost 2 million. The freeze on tax thresholds, which was extended until 2028 by the former chancellor Jeremy Hunt, has meant that as wages and pensions have been increased to help people cope with inflation, more have moved into a higher tax bracket - a phenomenon known as fiscal drag. The threshold for the personal allowance – the sum you can earn each year before paying income tax – is set at £12,570. HMRC's figures show there are expected to be 39.1 million people earning above that in the current tax year, with the majority – 30.4 million – paying tax at the basic rate of 20%. The full new state pension now adds up to £11,973 a year, and there are expected to be 8.7 million people of state pension age paying income tax in 2025-26. Laura Suter, thw director of personal finance at the investment platform AJ Bell, said: 'Everyone is caught by frozen tax thresholds, including pensioners and anyone with earnings above the £12,570 personal allowance threshold. However, it is those who drift into higher tax bands as a consequence who feel the most pain.' Thresholds are different in Scotland, but in the rest of the UK, 'once you move over the £50,270 mark, your next pound of earnings is hit with a 40p deduction, rather than the 20p paid by basic-rate taxpayers, meaning you see much less of any salary increases in your payslip at the end of the month', Suter said. 'They now account for almost a fifth of all taxpayers, illustrating that the higher rate of tax, once reserved for those on healthy salaries, is now pretty commonplace.' A government spokesperson said: 'This government inherited the previous government's policy of frozen tax thresholds.' 'At the budget and the spring statement, the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, announced that she would not extend that freeze. We are also protecting payslips for working people by keeping our promise to not raise the basic, higher or additional rates of income tax, employee national insurance or VAT.'
Times
2 days ago
- Times
What happened to the homes bought by HS2?
S ome 50 family homes sit on the wooded slopes of Whitmore Heath in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, each in its own generous plot, individually designed in a dazzling array of architectural styles, from faux Arts and Crafts to stark contemporary. Many of the residents are in their seventies, eighties and nineties, having lived on Whitmore Heath for decades, raising their families here. Until HS2 came along and turned their world upside down. In 2011 the West Midlands to Crewe leg of the high-speed railway, or Phase 2a, was announced and HS2 started buying homes in the area, which locals call 'millionaires' row'. The Department for Transport now owns more than half of the homes here. This is despite the fact that Phase 2 of the project was cancelled by Rishi Sunak in 2023.
New Statesman
2 days ago
- Business
- New Statesman
Labour's vicious blame game
Photo by Jacob King - WPA Pool / Getty Images. Next week marks the first anniversary of Labour entering government – though you could be forgiven for forgetting. Not just because of the distracting spectre of World War Three but because this now bears little resemblance to a one-year administration. The mood is instead reminiscent of the dark days of Rishi Sunak's government – when the prime minister struggled to impose his will on a quarrelsome party – or of late-era Tony Blair when three-figure rebellions became the norm. Despite frantic phone calls by cabinet ministers, 126 Labour MPs have signed a wrecking amendment to the welfare bill (including 71 of the new intake, once depicted as comically loyal 'Starmtroopers'). Threats of deselection have proven no deterrent to MPs who already expect to lose their seats and 'want to leave the Commons standing tall and proud' in the words of one rebel. The scale of the revolt has stunned plenty in Westminster but the warning signs have been clear for months. From the moment the government announced its intention to cut health and disability benefits by £5bn, outrage and upset spread far beyond the 'usual suspects' (as ministers refer to the likes of the Socialist Campaign Group). 'Too many of the proposals have been driven by the need for short-term savings to meet fiscal rules, rather than long-term reform,' warned the Resolution Foundation, the body previously led by Labour minister Torsten Bell, back in March. 'The result risks being a major income shock for millions of low-income households.' Here is precisely why so many Labour MPs have revolted (370,000 current Personal Independence Payment claimants and 430,000 future ones would lose an average of £4,500 per year). Government officials now identify the failure to make a 'moral' case for the bill as the defining problem. And the cuts were transparently driven by the desire for savings. As one Labour MP puts it, 'the magician's cloak fell' when Rachel Reeves added an extra £500m of cuts just a day before her Spring Statement (after a worse-than-expected OBR forecast). But the problem is not simply that the moral argument was not made – it is that Labour rebels don't believe any such case exists. Indeed, attempts by ministers to convince them to the contrary have only stiffened their resolve. A party that often defines its moral purpose as reducing poverty cannot accept a bill forecast to achieve the opposite (an additional 250,000 people, including 50,000 children, would be left in relative poverty). No 10 is now planning concessions to avert a government defeat when parliament votes next Tuesday (83 Labour rebels would be enough to deny Starmer victory). 'There will be a ladder for people to climb down,' one cabinet minister tells me. Subscribe to The New Statesman today from only £8.99 per month Subscribe In the meantime, a vicious internal blame game has begun. Reeves and No 10 chief of staff Morgan McSweeney are those often singled out by critics – the two figures who Starmer outsourced economic and political strategy to. Reeves is accused of 'lacking political antennae' and of failing to learn the lessons of the winter fuel debacle (when Labour similarly underestimated the revolt that benefit cuts would unleash). 'Don't be surprised if she's gone at the next cabinet reshuffle,' one senior party figure remarks (though Starmer has so far remained conspicuously loyal). McSweeney, critics say, has pursued a Reform-focused electoral strategy that has alienated Labour from once-loyal supporters – with a 'forgotten flank' defecting to the Greens and the Lib Dems – and has adopted an 'imperious' party management style that has created a deep disconnect between No 10 and backbenchers. There is a well-established pattern in British politics of blaming the courtiers rather than the king – and it is one that some in Labour inveigh against. 'How many heads have to roll before people remember who the PM is?' one previously loyal MP asks (it was once Sue Gray who was identified as the root of the government's woes). 'People have got to start laying the lack of leadership at Keir's feet.' By this account, Labour's routine stumbles and ever more frequent U-turns are symptoms of a far deeper malaise – a Prime Minister who has lacked direction from the moment he entered Downing Street. In one year, Starmer has managed to use up an impressive number of his political lives. The question even some cabinet ministers are already asking is how many he has left. This piece first appeared in the Morning Call newsletter; receive it every morning by subscribing on Substack here [See also: Can the ceasefire hold?] Related
