New deputy leader also calls on government to lift two-child benefit cap urgently and in full • UK politics live – latest updates Lucy Powell, Labour’s new deputy leader, has said the government should stand by its manifesto commitment not to raise income tax, national insurance or VAT, amid signs that it may be preparing to break that promise. Powell, who left Keir Starmer’s cabinet in the reshuffle before being elected deputy leader last month, said the budget needed to be about putting more money, not less, into ordinary people’s pockets. Continue reading...

Government defends prospect of paying more than for hotel accommodation Downing Street has defended the prospect of paying more to house asylum seekers in disused barracks instead of hotels, arguing that quelling public disquiet was worth any extra cost. As refugee organisations and local politicians described plans to house tens of thousands of people in ex-military sites as “fanciful” and “too expensive”, No 10 said that “communities don’t want asylum seekers housed in hotels, and neither does the government”. Continue reading...

Party’s crushing defeat in Caerphilly byelection triggers renewed outpouring of anger and concern A wipeout for Labour in next May’s local elections would spell the end of Keir Starmer’s premiership, MPs have said, after the party suffered a crushing defeat in its traditional heartland in Wales. Though Plaid Cymru beat Reform UK to capture the Senedd seat in Caerphilly, the result highlighted a striking collapse of Labour’s vote, prompting fears in Westminster that Labour could be reduced to third place in Wales, a loss that would leave the leader’s position unrecoverable. Continue reading...