Newslinks for Friday 14th November 2025

Labour’s tax confusion and constant u-turns

“Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves have scrapped plans to break their manifesto pledge and raise income tax rates in a massive U-turn less than two weeks from the budget. The decision, first reported in the Financial Times, comes after a bruising few days which has brought about a change of heart in Downing Street. I understand Downing Street has backed down amid fears about the backlash from disgruntled MPs and voters. The Treasury and Number 10 declined to comment. The decision is a massive about-turn. In a news conference last week, the chancellor appeared to pave the way for manifesto-breaking tax rises in the budget on 26 November. She spoke of difficult choices and insisted she could neither increase borrowing nor cut spending in order to stabilise the economy, telling the public “everyone has to play their part”. The decision to backtrack was communicated to the Office for Budget Responsibility on Wednesday in a submission of “major measures”, according to the Financial Times. The chancellor will now have to fill an estimated £30bn black hole with a series of narrower tax-raising measures and is also expected to freeze income tax thresholds for another two years beyond 2028, which should raise about £8bn. Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said: “Only the Conservatives have fought Labour off their tax-raising plans. But one retreat doesn’t fix a budget built on broken promises. Reeves must guarantee no new taxes on work, businesses, homes, or pensions – and she should go further by abolishing stamp duty.” – Sky News

• Starmer and Reeves ditch plans to increase income tax rates in the Budget – Financial Times
• Pound weakens as Reeves’s tax u-turn reignites budget jitters – Bloomberg
• Markets get jitters after Reeves DROPS Budget plan to hike income tax amid panic that Labour MPs will oust Starmer… but she could slash thresholds instead to fill £30bn black hole – Daily Mail
• Chancellor urged to cut council tax for millions by raiding the wealthy – Daily Telegraph
• How Morgan McSweeney lost control of No 10 – Daily Telegraph

Comment:

• The rich have already been taxed enough – Hugo Gye, The i
• Why there’s no escape from Reeves’ Budget hit and run on drivers – Vicki Butler-Henderson, The Sun
• Rachel Reeves in biggest U-turn of the lot – it may ultimately backfire on pensioners – Harvey Jones, Daily Express
• The economic orthodoxy of the last 20 years has failed Britain. It must be dumped – David Frost, Daily Telegraph
• Meet the elite think tank responsible for Britain’s decline – Sebastian Payne, The Times
• Reeves must end Britain’s ‘moron premium’ to fix this dysfunction – Kallum Pickering, Daily Telegraph

> Today:

> Yesterday:

Second Trump clip doctored by BBC

“BBC Newsnight also doctored footage of a Donald Trump speech and ignored concerns that were raised about it, The Telegraph can reveal. Spliced footage of the speech, which aired in an episode in 2022, made it appear that Mr Trump was encouraging his supporters to riot. The edit was similar to a version aired in a Panorama documentary broadcast last year. After The Telegraph exposed the doctored Panorama footage and other concerns about bias at the corporation, Tim Davie, the director-general, and Deborah Turness, the chief executive of BBC News, both resigned. The BBC apologised to Mr Trump on Thursday evening after the US president threatened to sue the corporation for as much as $1bn (£760m) if it did not do so over the Panorama video. The broadcaster said it “sincerely regrets the manner in which the video clip was edited”, adding: “We strongly disagree there is a basis for a defamation claim.” Samir Shah, the BBC chairman, wrote a separate letter of apology to the president and the programme will not be aired again, a spokesman said. In response to the latest revelations, a spokesman for Mr Trump’s legal team said it was “now clear that BBC engaged in a pattern of defamation against President Trump”. Like Panorama, the Newsnight edit made it look as if the US president had urged supporters to walk to the Capitol building with him to “fight like hell” by linking statements made nearly an hour apart in his speech. A former White House chief of staff criticised the BBC on air at the time for “splicing” the footage, but his concerns were ignored by Kirsty Wark, the Newsnight presenter. A whistleblower told The Telegraph’s Daily T podcast that a further discussion the following day was also shut down. The disclosure risks plunging the corporation further into crisis, after the Panorama edit was disclosed in an internal dossier on bias that was leaked to The Telegraph. – Daily Telegraph

• BBC apologises to Trump over Panorama edit but refuses to pay compensation – BBC News
• BBC in new Trump row over Newsnight edit – The Times
• BBC accused of misleading viewers two years before controversial Panorama Trump edit – The Standard
• UK culture minister welcomes BBC apology to Trump – Reuters

Comment:

• Newsnight’s Trump edit proves just how deep BBC bias goes – Stephen Pollard, Daily Telegraph
• The BBC must change before it’s too late – Tina Stowell, Daily Telegraph
• The BBC’s trans fanaticism has been exposed. It must rid itself of the zealots – Judith Woods, Daily Telegraph

> Yesterday:

NHS sees five days of doctor walkouts

“Most junior doctors do not support Friday’s strike, a poll has revealed as Wes Streeting attacked the British Medical Association for going “against the wishes” of its members. The health secretary said the BMA seemed intent on “causing pain to patients” as thousands of junior doctors prepared for a five-day walkout from 7am on Friday. Only 33 per cent of BMA junior doctors, who now wish to be known as resident doctors, said they agreed the strike should go ahead after Streeting offered them a package of reforms. Forty-eight per cent said the strike should have been called off and the remaining 19 per cent were unsure, according to the survey by Savanta shared with The Times. Streeting wrote to BMA leaders on Wednesday last week offering a deal to put “money in doctors’ pockets” including by paying exam fees and giving them priority for jobs over foreign medical staff. But the BMA rejected the deal without consulting their wider membership. In a week dominated by speculation over his leadership ambitions, Streeting has made last-ditch attempts to get the BMA to call off the strike, with no success. However, the poll suggests there is a good chance the union’s members would have voted to accept the government’s offer and bring years of disruptive strikes to an end. This will be the 50th day of strike action staged by the junior doctors since 2023. Health leaders have warned it risks being catastrophic for patients because it coincides with a deadly flu surge.” – The Times

• Junior doctors begin five-day walkout in England in row over pay – despite salaries jumping 28.9% in just three years – Daily Mail
• Streeting: Striking doctors have lost the plot – Daily Telegraph
• Hospital consultants gearing up to join resident doctors in striking over pay – The Guardian
• Resident doctors’ strike could force NHS to cut staff and patient services – The Independent

Comment:

• BMA may say this is about pay, but it is patients who will pay the price – Wes Streeting, Daily Telegraph

News in brief:

• What comes after Starmer? Labour has no good options – Jonny Ball, UnHerd
• Why British universities are bowing to Beijing – Freddie Attenborough, The Critic
• Why is the British state so extortionately expensive? – Tim Worstall, CapX
• Police and Crime Commissioners failed to hold useless officers to account – David Spencer, The Spectator