Senior adviser who worked for Tony Blair and Gordon Brown says there is an ‘urgent imperative’ for a new government to address wealth inequality in Britain

A key New Labour adviser who worked for Tony Blair and Gordon Brown in Downing Street says there is an “overwhelming economic and ethical case” for Keir Starmer’s party to impose higher taxes on wealth if it wins the general election.

Writing in the Observer Patrick Diamond, professor of public policy at Queen Mary University of London, and his colleague Colm Murphy, a lecturer in British politics, say a Labour government will need to look at radical ways to raise money, not least because the plans for higher economic growth that the party is relying on may never materialise.

The Brown-era adage ‘Prudence with a purpose’ could be the way to obtain the economic stability that has eluded every UK government since the 2008 financial crisis

Keir Starmer appears destined for Downing Street. Even so, as the election campaign rumbles on, his party will be challenged to articulate a compelling platform that secures not only the keys to Number 10 but also the economic stability that has eluded every UK government since the 2008 financial crisis. That will demand fiscal discipline delivered not only through a prudent approach to public spending but also fundamental reform of our tax system.

In headline policy, Labour is committed to fiscal rules on spending and debt. Rachel Reeves promises to move towards balanced current spending and to secure a falling debt-to-GDP ratio by the fifth year of the forecast. As her speech on Tuesday argues, Labour believes such rules will underpin “stability” and “growth”.

Dublin does not seem a fair city to those who move there to work but can’t afford a home. Ireland’s coalition government says it is acting on housebuilding, but bosses and staff say it must try harder

Ireland’s economy is “absolutely booming,” says Stephen O’Dwyer, the founder and owner of Dublin’s Tang cafe/restaurant chain. “But it has left people facing a very unequal and difficult society to work in.”

At the top of O’Dwyer’s concerns is housing, which is cited by businesses large and small as a significant barrier to Ireland’s economic growth. The capital is not alone: cities from Cork to Limerick report acute housing shortages and rising levels of homelessness.

The Conservatives and Labour are embroiled in a fight to woo voters with promises to keep rates of tax low

The two main political parties are in a bidding war over which can promise to increase taxes the least. Each accuses the other of harbouring a desire to push up taxes to support a growing list of spending pledges.

The Conservatives say there is a £38.5bn funding gap in Labour’s spending promises over the next five years and that to cover it, “Labour will increase your taxes by £2,094”. Labour claim unfunded Tory spending pledges add up to £71bn, or 2% of GDP.

Jeremy Hunt clashes with BBC presenter over linking increased mortgage rates to Liz Truss mini-budget

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Jeremy Hunt has confirmed the six-year income tax threshold freeze, which drags millions into paying higher rates, will last until 2028.

The chancellor’s comments on what has been Britain’s biggest tax rise on incomes in at least 50 years give space for Labour to follow suit, meaning that taxes are likely to go up no matter who wins the election.

Party policy is to add standard 20% rate of VAT to school fees and use funds raised to pay for more state teachers

One of Labour’s headline policies in the run-up to the general election is its promise to end tax breaks for private schools in the UK.

The policy is not new – it was adopted under Jeremy Corbyn and has featured in previous Labour election manifestos. But with Keir Starmer’s party leading in the polls and apparently on course for victory on 4 July, it is coming under renewed scrutiny, prompting front page headlines, claims and counter-claims.

We look at whether the Conservative pledge for a ‘triple lock plus’ can really be paid for by cracking down on tax avoidance

The Conservatives have announced plans to boost pensioners’ income with a “triple lock plus”. It is a pitch to a group who, according to many polls, are the most likely to support the Tories, and is seen as a measure designed to shore up the party’s core vote.

Shadow chancellor insists no additional tax rises will be needed beyond ones already announced by the party

Rachel Reeves has said there will be no budget until September if Labour wins the election, and the party will not announce any additional tax measures beyond what it has already promised.

The party has ruled out increases to income tax, national insurance, corporation tax or any form of wealth tax and Reeves said there would be no new measures proposed or “black holes” to fill.

Mel Stride says pensioners will pay more income tax under Labour as critics say plan is merely reversal of previous Tory policy

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The work and pensions secretary has said Labour will drag millions of older people into paying income tax while the Conservatives can “comfortably” raise the money for their proposed cuts for pensioners by clamping down on tax avoidance.

Under the Conservatives’ “triple lock plus” proposal , “millions of pensioners will get tax cuts worth hundreds of pounds over the next parliament”, Mel Stride told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

Labour reiterates claims that pensions will have to be cut to fund Tory idea to scrap national insurance

Labour has opened applications for a string of new safe seats after half a dozen MPs announced last-minute retirements, with key allies of Keir Starmer expected to be lined up to take their place.

Those standing down include the former shadow minister Barbara Keeley, the chair of the parliamentary Labour party Jon Cryer, as well as John Spellar, Virendra Sharma and Kevin Brennan.

Pensioners used to have a bigger personal allowance than people of working age – it was the Conservatives who got rid of it.

So this is one of many examples actually of tax policy that has been reversed by the same Government. George Osborne got rid of it in the 2010s when the personal allowance of people under pension age continued to rise.

Super-rich have left country to avoid being subjected to UK taxes on overseas income, conference hears

A London-based billionaire non-dom left the UK for good on the day that the chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, announced the scrapping of the 225-year-old tax scheme in the spring budget, his tax adviser has revealed.

“We did have one billionaire client who literally on the day of the budget, 6 March, got on his private jet with his wife, with his children, with the private tutor, and flew to one of his other 17 houses in the world – and said ‘I’m not coming back’,” said John Barnett, a partner at the law firm Burges Salmon, which specialises in advising the super-rich on how to legally reduce their tax bills.

Tories hope to make voters – particularly Reform supporters – nervous about prospect of major change under a Labour government

On the first weekend of the general election campaign, Rishi Sunak unveiled his first headline-grabbing policy promise: introducing mandatory national service for teenagers.

The proposal – wherby 18-year-olds would either join the military for 12 months or volunteer at weekends – sparked incredulity and ridicule. But Tory strategists introduced it for a very specific reason – one that goes to the heart of their election strategy.

Leader targets swing voters in Kent and Essex while shadow chancellor makes vow on taxes and spending

Keir Starmer will declare on Monday that Labour has changed “permanently” under his stewardship, after the party ruled out raising income tax or national insurance if it wins the election.

In his first keynote speech of the general election campaign, the Labour leader will seek to reassure nervous voters that transforming his party has been his “driving mission since day one”.

The shadow chancellor has accused Conservatives of making unfunded financial commitments after calling a snap election

Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves accuses the Tories of making £64bn of unfunded spending commitments in a “desperate and reckless” effort to rescue their gaffe-strewn general election campaign.

Speaking to the Observer, Reeves said that what appeared to be pledges to slash taxes – including national insurance, income tax and inheritance tax – were reminiscent of Liz Truss’s catastrophic mini-budget and showed the Conservatives had learnt nothing from her disastrous time at No 10.

Party leader says if you can work, pay tax and serve in armed forces you should be able to vote

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Sixteen- and 17-year-olds could be given the right to vote if Labour wins the general election, Keir Starmer has confirmed.

“If you can work, if you can pay tax, if you can serve in your armed forces, then you ought to be able to vote,” the Labour leader said while campaigning at a football ground in the West Midlands.

Rishi Sunak’s government failed to protect the public, secure the prison estate and deliver swift access to justice

Prisons tend not to draw political attention except when they go wrong, and even then they have to go badly wrong. There are strong incentives for governments to neglect a service used by relatively few voters, and prisoners themselves can’t vote. But the prison system serves the wider community in various indirect ways. Locking criminals away protects the public. Conviction and punishment signal to society that justice is being done. Rehabilitation inside jails reduces reoffending. All of those functions are now breaking down, and the collapse is getting increasingly hard to ignore.

Last week it emerged that some prisoners serving short sentences will be eligible for release 70 days early, not because they have necessarily earned their freedom but because jails are full. This is the third such relaxation since October 2023 when the discount was 18 days, rising to 60 in March this year. Meanwhile, it has been reported that police forces in England and Wales have been advised to make fewer arrests because there are not enough available cells.

From unemployment to inflation, the key data the Tories and Labour must explain to voters

Rishi Sunak’s slim chance of pulling off a victory against the odds in July’s general election depends on voters buying the argument that tough decisions taken since he became prime minister are paying off.

That claim will be tested over the next six weeks – with every piece of economic news more closely scrutinised than usual for evidence that the UK’s tentative economic recovery is gaining momentum or has started to falter.

Economies decide elections but with growth tentative, inflation sticky, and tax cuts unlikely, why would the PM wait

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• News: Sunak calls election for 4 July
• Why is Sunak calling an election now?

When you are 20 or so points behind in the opinion polls calling an election before you need to do so is a high-risk strategy. Yet Rishi Sunak has decided that holding on until the autumn is an even bigger gamble. The economy decides elections, and as far as the prime minister is concerned, this could be as good as it gets.

Sunak has only come to this view recently. After sliding into a shallow recession at the end of 2023, the economy has only just returned to growth. Living standards – which took a hammering during the cost of living crisis – have been picking up. Inflation has fallen from a high of 11.1% in October 2022 to 2.3%, only just above its target.

Christine Maxwell on Mike Harris’s alternative suggestion to Labour’s plan for VAT on private schools

Mike Harris (Scrap the plan for VAT on private schools, Labour. Just let low-income kids attend instead, 20 May) suggests that independent schools should give free places to low-income children to avoid paying VAT and that independent schools are saving the state £8,000 a year per pupil. This is wrong for the following reasons:

1. State schools will still need to exist, albeit with fewer pupils. This would result in budget cuts for them as their income is directly linked to the number of pupils on their rolls. In order to run effectively, they would have to cut staff, or the state would have to increase the amount paid per pupil.

World body’s latest health check of UK economy says ‘unpopular revenue-raising measures’ may be needed

Jeremy Hunt is preparing a pre-election cut in national insurance despite a warning from the International Monetary Fund of a looming £30bn hole in the public finances, Downing Street has indicated.

Rishi Sunak’s spokesperson said the government rejected the IMF’s argument that there was no room for a third cut in NI in less than a year and that the Treasury should instead be thinking about tax increases or spending cuts.

Britain’s jet set insist they will flee if they lose their benefits – but Labour should not be daunted at a time of such inequality

The Elite London, described as the city’s “most exclusive jet-set lifestyle event”, filled Wycombe Air Park with row after row of gleaming private jets, seaplanes, hovercrafts (with one for kids), helicopters, and supercars either the size of tanks, or flat on the ground like giant skateboards.

In hangar after hangar, the wares on sale last weekend were designed and priced for the super-rich, though possibly not quite for the cadres in this year’s Sunday Times rich list, which bills itself as “a celebration of aspiration”. A “truly bespoke” £30,000 safe had six permanently revolving wheels that keep your watches synchronised; they recently sold one to protect a household’s £1.3m collection of watches. A writing service offered an illustrated memoir of your life’s successes for £28,000. A monster Land Rover Defender, with its boot open to display champagne and a magnificent picnic basket, promoted educational advice: “Opening the door to the best boarding schools and universities.”

Fears of a future tax rise have already increased fees and lowered intake. Use the money for bursaries and everyone wins

Labour may be gaining a reputation for policy shyness, but one of its ideas is already having an impact. The party’s plan to introduce a 20% VAT tax on private schools to better fund state education seems to have spooked the sector, which has increased fees by 8% this year. Meanwhile, the Independent Schools Council has reportedthat admissions this past year have fallen 2.7%, and earlier this year the FT reported that private schools are aggressively recruiting wealthy international students in anticipation of Labour’s proposals.

Why is that important? Because taxing private schools is not like taxing private tennis clubs. With schooling, every domestic child who opts out of the private system to avoid about £3,000 of VAT will then need about £8,000 in taxpayer money annually to fund their state education. The potential result? A substantial threat to the Treasury’s ability to fund improved state education outcomes.

Mike Harris is the founder of Cribstone Strategic Macro, and an adjunct professor of finance, economics and management for Syracuse University in London

Companies are deserting the FTSE because of a shortage of investment – but there is a solution

Britain had it in its power to be a genuine hi-tech superpower. Instead, the opportunity slipped through our fingers, as we have been “tech-stripped” on a monumental scale. On one estimate, up to half the FTSE 100 could now be populated by vigorous British tech companies but those are all now foreign owned with one exception, Sage. The implications for our industrial, business, services and even defence base are dire – one of the most important condemnations of the last 14 years.

The chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, complacently declared last week that this was just how capitalism operated – even as we learned that another 21 companies worth £24.6bn had joined the exodus from the UK’s public markets this year alone. It was a variant of Philip Hammond’s comment in 2016 on Japanese SoftBank taking over yet another of our tech jewels, the chip designer ARM. What was obviously an exercise in technological vandalism was instead proof positive that Britain was “open for business”, a view echoed at the time by that other high priest of wealth generation, Nigel Farage. This reflex mantra of Tory ministers and Brexiters alike is a necessity: to say anything else would reveal the paucity of their world view.

Chancellor seems to cherrypick data as he tries to outline how the Tories have got the country back on its feet

Jeremy Hunt called a press conference on Friday to outline why the electorate should trust the Conservatives with the economy, but some of his claims appear to have used cherrypicked facts and figures. He gave his speech just over a week after the shadow chancellor, Rachel Reeves, accused the Conservatives of “gaslighting” the UK over the state of the economy by presenting too rosy a picture of what is actually going on.

Here are some of Hunt’s statements on the economy, and some context for his claims.

Chancellor also criticised for ‘dodgy dossier’ on Labour plans as he aims to make low tax a key election issue

Jeremy Hunt has been accused of exaggerating the Conservatives’ economic record and presenting a “dodgy dossier” on Labour’s spending plans, as he moved to put low tax at the heart of his party’s offering at the next election.

The chancellor gave a speech in central London on Friday, pitching the Conservatives as having helped the UK recover from economic troubles more quickly than expected. He also signalled a further cut to national insurance in the autumn, having already reduced the tax from 12p in the pound to 8p.