Tories challenge chancellor to rule out tax rises in budget as Badenoch labelled embarrassment for Bank of England gaffe – UK politics live

At his press conference this morning Andrew Griffith, the shadow chancellor, was asked if he backed means-testing the personal independence payment (Pip), a disability benefit. (See 12.03pm.) The question was prompted by a report from the Institute for Fiscal Studies. Griffith said he had not read the IFS report and he ducked the question about means testing.

The IFS does not explicitly propose means-testing Pip. But it says the government should have a clear sense of what it wants Pip to achieve, and it considers the pros and cons of seven potential reforms.

On the need for more clarity of purpose, it says:

When designing reforms to Pip, the government needs to decide what it is trying to achieve. What outcome arising from disability is the government attempting to address? Does it want to target resources towards those whose living standards are lower because they face the additional disability-related costs? If so, this would justify a benefit that provides financial support such as Pip. Alternatively, does it want to improve overall well-being? In which case, it is possible that it is more effective to subsidise particular goods and services, which could be achieved by providing vouchers or in-kind support.

The government must also decide on the distributional outcomes it would like to achieve. Does it want to reduce inequalities caused by disability even if this means providing additional money to people on high incomes? If so, then this would justify the current non-means-tested structure of Pip. Alternatively, does it want to focus resources on those most likely to have poor outcomes? In that case, it should consider means-testing support, as those with disabilities and on low incomes are more likely to report not being able to afford essentials and more likely to report low life satisfaction.

A report from the Re:State thinktank published yesterday made similar arguments about the structure of the benefit.

On means-testing Pip, the IFS says:

One unusual feature of Pip relative to other benefits is that it is not means-tested, so high-income households can claim it. If the main goal of the benefit is to reduce inequalities arising from disability, there is a good case for keeping PIP as a non-means-tested benefit. Alternatively, if greater weight is placed on ensuring that disabled people can obtain a minimum standard of living, there is a stronger argument for means-testing PIP – something recently proposed by Reform UK, though the [review of Pip led by Stephen Timms on behalf of the government] has indicated it will recommend keeping PIP non-means-tested. Means-testing Pip, by integrating it into universal credit, would deliver a saving of £8.2bn (33% of PIP spending) if claimant behaviour did not respond to the change. However, in reality, the saving will be somewhat smaller due to behavioural responses.

Labour has announced that Joe Fortune is its new general secretary. Fortune, who has been general secretary of the Co-operative party, Labour's sister party, was Andy Burnham's personal choice, and so it is no surprise that he has been chosen today by the party's national executive committee. Other potential candidates, including Claire Reynolds, a senior party official married to the business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, dropped out after Burnham made it clear who he wanted.

In a statement, Labour says:

Fortune has served as general secretary of the Co-operative party – Labour's sister party – for the last seven years, and has worked in the Labour movement for almost two decades.

He brings with him a wealth of experience running a political party, building a strong and engaged membership, and working collaboratively across the labour movement.

The NEC met this afternoon to interview Fortune and concluded that he is an outstanding candidate to replace Hollie Ridley, the outgoing general secretary, who was responsible for the world-renowned field campaign which helped to secure Labour's historic general election victory in 2024.

Fortune said in a statement:

Andy Burnham has been clear that, with his leadership, we are one Labour team working together to secure the next term of a Labour government, delivering for all our communities.

Taking up the role of general secretary to help achieve that second term is a huge privilege and responsibility, and I look forward to working across the Labour movement to achieve it.

Burnham said he had “first-hand experience of the immense dedication and drive Joe has for helping put our Labour values into action right across the country†and that he believed Fortune would ensure Labour remained “a world-class campaigning forceâ€.

Fortune has been general secretary of the Co-operative party since 2017. Since then, its membership and income have gone up by about 30%.

The Co-operative party is an independent party dedicated to co-operative principles. But for the last 100 years it has been in electoral alliance with the Labour party and candidates are allowed to belong to both parties and to fight elections as under a joint Labour/Co-operative banner. But in practice Labour is easily the dominant partner; although technically allies, one party (the Co-operative party) has been subsumed by the other.

There are currently 43 Labour/Co-operative MPs in the Commons. Most people would just identify them as Labour MPs and, although they tend to argue for co-operative policies, they don't function as a united faction within the Labour.

But one of those 43 is Burnham – who is the first Labour/Co-operative MP to lead the Labour party.

Zack Polanski, the Green party leader and Holborn and St Pancras byelection candidate, has today welcomed an endorsement from the Camden Muslim Alliance. He says it shows his movement is growing.

The byelection takes place three weeks today. Bookmakers think it is increasingly likely that Labour will hold the seat and that Polanski won't become the next MP. Coral says it has slashed the odds on Labour winning to 1-6, from 1-3. John Hill, a spokesperson for the firm, says:

Labour have seen a significant surge of support in the Holborn and St Pancras betting over the last 48 hours, with their odds now as short as 1-6 to retain the seat. The Greens remain the nearest challengers at 4-1, but the latest market move has put Labour firmly at the head of the betting.

This is how the Labour party responded to Andrew Griffith's first speech as shadow chancellor earlier.

Andrew Griffith has made the Conservatives' priorities clear: scrapping hard-won workers' rights, while promising tax cuts with no explanation of how they would pay for them or which public services would be cut.

The Tories should be apologising for crashing the economy thanks to Griffith's old boss Liz Truss – not asking working people to pay the price all over again.

And this is from Robert Jenrick, the Reform UK Treasury spokesperson.

Andrew Griffith has admitted the Tories now won't commit to reversing Rachel Reeves's jobs tax despite the destruction it has caused.

The Tories pretend to support lower taxes, but when push comes to shove they always let people down.

To be fair, Griffith did not say the Tories would not reverse Labour's rise in employer national insurance; he just refused to say that they would. (See 11.53am.)

Avoiding big tax commitments like that at this stage in the electoral cycle is entirely normal for an opposition party.

The Local Government Association said today's figures (see 2.11pm) showed that the total councils in England are spending on temporary accommodation increased by 5.5% last year, and 114% over the past five years. The LGA, and charities, say what's needed is not more spending on temporary accommodation but more council homes.

Cllr Carl Cashman, chair of the LGA's inclusive growth committee, said:

Councils are caught in a vicious cycle of ever-increasing temporary accommodation costs versus static rates they receive back to cover their costs. While it's positive that the rate of increase in spending on temporary accommodation has slowed, the fact that it's still growing is alarming …

While there have been positive steps to address broader homelessness challenges, councils need the government to provide sufficient funding and tackle the root causes of homelessness with more council housebuilding and to reduce demand for temporary accommodation.

Matt Downie, chief executive at Crisis charity, said:

These new figures show how desperately we need a culture shift away from ruinously expensive temporary fixes for homelessness, towards an approach that prioritises stable, permanent homes.

There has been a seismic shift in the way homelessness has been prioritised under this new government, and we want to see this momentum continued to secure long-term changes where we prioritise ending homelessness not managing it.

Mairi MacRae, director of policy and campaigns at housing charity Shelter, said:

Councils once built the majority of social rent homes in this country. It is completely senseless that in today's world they are forced to waste billions on temporary accommodation instead and are held back from building the social homes that would end the housing emergency.

Council spending in England on bed and breakfast accommodation for the homeless jumped 22% in 2025/26, new figures show as a charity warned of “ruinously expensive temporary fixesâ€. The Press Association reports:

Local authorities spent a net total of £467.5m on this kind of accommodation in the year to March, up from an inflation-adjusted £383.6m in 2024/25 – an increase of £83.8m.

Andy Burnham has made tackling homelessness – which comes in many forms including people living in temporary accommodation – one of his priority areas since becoming prime minister in the summer.

Figures published today by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) showed net spending by councils on all types of temporary accommodation for the homeless plus administration costs rose by 2% year-on-year.

Net spending – which is the difference between the total outgoings for local authorities and their income – in the year to March was £1.47bn, an increase from an inflation-adjusted £1.44bn the year before.

Spending on nightly paid, privately managed accommodation fell by a fifth to £494.3m from £622.6m, while spending on hostels, which can include refuges, was down by almost a third to £26.2m from £37.8m.

But figures for private sector accommodation, which is leased by a local authority or registered provider, and for bed and breakfasts both rose by more than a fifth.

The former went from £220.3m to £271.2m – a 23% increase.

The UK must fully commit to reaching net zero by 2050, Andy Burnham has argued in his strongest comments yet on the issue, saying it is no longer possible for Britons to believe they are not already affected by a changing climate. Peter Walker has the story, which is based on an article that Burnham has written for the Guardian.

And here is Burnham's article.

Zack Polanski, the Green leader who is standing as his party's candidate in the Holborn and St Pancras byelection, has recorded a short campaign video in Urdu. Katie Lam, the shadow communities secretary, has described this as “poisonous†and said the Tories would ban candidates from campaigning in foreign languages. Even Jonathan Reynolds, the business secretary, has said the video made him feel “uncomfortableâ€.

Polanski is a member of the London assembly and today Sadiq Khan, the Labour mayor, was appearing before the assembly to take questions. As Polanski asked him a question about data centres, Khan, whose parents came to the UK from Pakistan, mocked him by replying in Urdu. Kumail Jaffer, a local democracy reporter, has the video here.

When Polanski was called during the question time session, Khan initially replied to the question submitted in advance in English. But when Polanski asked his first follow-up question, Khan gave the first few sentences of his reply in Urdu. Polanski appeared not to understand. As he switched into English, Khan apologised to Urdu speakers for the “Russian accent†he had when speaking Urdu. Polanski did not seem amused, and complained that Khan was taking up time that he wanted to devote to the climate crisis.

Polanski asked for an assurance that Khan would block data centres in London if they would be a threat to clean water and energy supplies. Khan said they would only be approved if they were “clean and sustainableâ€.

While Khan was mocking Polanski for campaigning in a language he does not speak, others have argued that the video was a bit pointless anway. These are from the Economist's political data expert Owen Winter.

disagreeing with Urdu election material is silly. the more interesting question is why Polanski is campaigning in Urdu in a constituency with hardly any Urdu speakers

you get the feeling that they thought “hey this worked in Gorton and Denton. Holborn and St Pancras has Muslims too†2/3

Interesting on proficiency. Of the 139 people who speak Urdu as their main language, 114 can speak English well or very well, according to the census. There are many more Bengali speakers who say they cannot speak English well (1,391) 3/3

Q: When Kemi Badenoch criticised the decision to appoint Paul Nowak from the TUC to the Bank of England's court yesterday, was she unaware there is a tradition of TUC members being on it? Or will this be a new Conservative policy – no longer appointing union figures to the court if you are in government?

Griffith replied:

Paul Novak said some very unfortunate comments in the past about, for example, the City of London, one of the financial powerhouses that helps our economy grow.

There is a tradition of putting union bosses on the Bank of England board.

If I'm honest, that feels pretty 1970s. It wouldn't be the first place that I would go to bolster the reputation for financial discipline of an important financial institution.

Q: Would you support means testing the personal independence payment (Pip)?

Griffith said the Tories want to reform Pip. He did not address means testing, but he said they would bring back face-to-face assessments for it.

Q: Would you cut the national minimum wage to get more people into work? And will you match the Reform UK pledge to raise the income tax allowance to £15,000?

Griffith said employers told him their biggest concern at the moment was the extra cost of employment legislation. He said it could take three years for an unfair dismissal claim to be heard. Tackling this problem was the “number one†issue for him, he said.

Q: You have criticises Labour's decision to put up employer national insurance. Will you commit to reversing that?

Griffith said he has committed to reversing “every line of the job-destroying legislation that has chilled the hearts of every employer in the country†(ie, the Employment Rights Act). But he said he could not commit to reversing the NICs tax rise, much as he would like to, because every tax cut had to be costed.

Q: Polling suggests that voters now trust Labour, under Andy Burnham, more on the economy, than the Conservatives. How will you win back trust?

Griffith said that he was “a finance director for more than a decade†and he said that he and he said that he had “more private sector experience reportedly than the entire Labour cabinetâ€.

Q: [From the BBC's Nomia Iqbal] You are asking the government to rule out tax rises in the budget. Could you rule out tax rises under a Conservative government?

Griffith said the last two budgets saw unprecedented tax rises. That is why further tax rises should be ruled out, he said.

He did not rule out a future Tory government raising taxes.

Q: [From Olivia Utley at GB News] Will you rule out raising other taxes to fund cutting inheritance tax?

Griffith replied:

We've set out very clearly a number of taxes that we will cut. We've talked about the family business death tax. We will cut that in our first budget.

We've talked about the family farm death tax, stamp duty on all primary residences. And we want to help our high streets so we will reduce business rates for many small independent outlets.

Every single tax cut that we propose … will have to be paid for.

Q: [From Rob Powell at Sky News] Why should young voters back the Tories when they want to prioritise the pension triple lock, even though pensioner poverty is lower than poverty among working-age adults, and cutting inheritance tax, which benefits wealthier families?

Griffith says he wants to cut taxes for everyone. He says the Tories want to cut stamp duty, which would help first time buyers. He goes on:

That is the big difference in British politics today – between those who want you to keep more of what you earn and want to cut your taxes, and those who refuse to reform welfare and will only ever put taxes up.