Latest news with #Ultra-Unionist
The National
13-07-2025
- Business
- The National
Labour minister refuses to rule out tax rises
Rumours of an incoming wealth tax were spurred after Prime Minister Keir Starmer ignored a question from Tory leader Kemi Badenoch when he was asked about implementing one. On Sunday, Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander refused to be drawn on the issue. She also said that Cabinet ministers did not 'directly' talk about the idea of a wealth tax during an away day at the Prime Minister's Chequers country estate this week. READ MORE: Ultra-Unionist fringe group fails to reach crowdfunder target According to the Financial Times (FT), analysts have suggested Chancellor Rachel Reeves will have to plug a £20 billion black hole in the public finances. This was made deeper by the £6.2bn cost after the UK Government was forced to U-turn on its planned changes to disability benefits after a backbench revolt. After committing not to increase income tax, VAT and employee payroll tax, in its manifesto, Reeves will have to find other ways to balance the books. The Chancellor has refused to rule out tax rises at the budget since ministers were forced into the U-turn. Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar has previously said that introducing a wealth tax would be the 'wrong solution'. But, former Labour leader Neil Kinnock has called for a two per cent annual levy on assets over £10m, claiming this could raise about £10bn a year. Unite has called for a one per cent wealth tax on the super rich, while Scottish Greens leadership contender Ross Greer called for one to be introduced in Scotland as he launched his campaign last week. (Image: Jeff Overs/BBC/PA Wire) Fiscal watchdog the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) this week warned that the UK's state finances are on an 'unsustainable' path due to a raft of public spending promises the Government 'cannot afford' in the longer term. Meanwhile, economists have warned Reeves on several occasions that her fiscal headroom – the leeway within the Government's self-imposed spending rules – could be eroded by unexpected economic turns. Asked by Sky News if such a tax had been discussed at the Cabinet away day on Friday, Alexander said: 'Not directly at the away day.' Pressed on what she meant by not directly, the minister replied: 'I think your viewers would be surprised if we didn't recognise that, at the budget, the Chancellor will need to look at the OBR forecast that is given to her, and will make decisions in line with the fiscal rules that she has set out. 'We made a commitment in our manifesto not to be putting up taxes on people on modest incomes, working people. We have stuck to that.' READ MORE: Inside the Scottish Greens leadership contest Asked again if this meant there will be tax rises in the budget, Alexander replied: 'So, the Chancellor will set her budget. I'm not going to sit in a TV studio today and speculate on what the contents of that budget might be. 'When it comes to taxation, fairness is going to be our guiding principle.' In response, shadow home secretary Chris Philp told Sky News's Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips: 'That sounds to me like a barely disguised reference to tax rises coming in the autumn.' Philp said tax rises were now being discussed due to the economy shrinking in consecutive months, unemployment being 12 per cent higher than when Labour came to office and that the Government had 'completely failed' to reform welfare. He added: 'They can't get anything past their own back benches. The consequence of all of that is going to be tax rises for people who are working hard and on businesses. 'It's nothing to do with fairness, it's a symptom of Labour failure.'
The National
13-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The National
BBC claim it axed Gaza medics film over 'impartiality' is 'not true'
The Observer reports that the broadcaster had dropped the film seven weeks before issuing the statement, and had only been planning to show short clips of the documentary at that point. Journalists Ramita Navai and Ben de Pear, who produced Gaza: Doctors Under Attack, revealed details behind the BBC's decision not to go ahead with the documentary. After it was repeatedly delayed and then dropped by the BBC, Channel 4 aired the documentary instead. READ MORE: Inside the Scottish Greens leadership contest Produced by Basement Films, it shows the plight of medics in Gaza through witness accounts from frontline Palestinian health workers and documents the attacks on hospitals and clinics. And now, Navai and de Pear revealed that the BBC blocked the documentary on six separate occasions. The journalists claimed that the reason the broadcaster gave for the delays was an internal investigation over another documentary How to Survive a Warzone. The BBC launched the probe after it emerged that the film was narrated by a child of a Hamas minister, which was not addressed in the documentary. This ongoing saga led the BBC to become 'anxious' over showing another film on Gaza and executives 'inadvertently' leading them on, the journalists said. In June, the BBC said it had 'reached the end of the road' in discussions to find a way to air the documentary. "We have come to the conclusion that broadcasting this material risked creating a perception of partiality that would not meet the high standards that the public rightly expect of the BBC,' they said. "Impartiality is a core principle of BBC News. It is one of the reasons that we are the world's most trusted broadcaster." The producers of the film have disputed this. 'This was not true; it had dropped the film seven weeks earlier and at this point was only planning to show short clips of it,' they said. In response to the BBC claiming it had 'no choice' but to walk away from the documentary, they said: 'To be clear, what it was abandoning by this point was three one-minute clips.' It also emerged BBC bosses had attempted to downgrade Navai's role as correspondent to a 'contributor or third party reporter'. 'Eventually, we were told some of Ramita's tweets had been 'one-sided',' the journalists wrote. READ MORE: Ultra-Unionist fringe group fails to reach crowdfunder target 'There had been too many retweets of posts by organisations reporting the deaths and suffering of Palestinians and not supportive enough of the other side, they said.' They were then told this decision came from the 'top of BBC News, and of the BBC itself'. The BBC did not deny this and claimed there were 'concerns about some of Ms Navai's social media activity'. The broadcaster had also attempted to introduce a 'gagging clause' during negotiations over releasing the film back to the producers. It stipulated that 'neither we nor any third party buying the film would issue any disparaging statements about the BBC and/or 'do not suggest or imply that any version of the programme (a) was authorised or approved by the BBC, or (b) would not be broadcast or published by the BBC'. The BBC denied this was a gagging clause, but the producers refused to sign it.
