Newslinks for Sunday 6th July 2025

Ban foreigners from claiming disability benefits, say Tories

“Foreigners should be barred from claiming key disability benefits to reduce the cost of Britain’s welfare bill, the Tories have said. The party has called on Sir Keir Starmer to restrict personal independence payments (Pips) and sickness top-ups to Universal Credit to UK citizens only. These benefits can be worth up to £1,200 a month. Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, will also use a speech this week to make cutting welfare a clear dividing line with Labour and Reform. The move comes after it was revealed the cost of benefits claims by households with at least one foreign national has doubled to nearly £1 billion a month.” – Sunday Telegraph

• Plan to scrap two-child benefit cap ‘dead’ after welfare retreat – Sunday Times
• More than 1.4m claiming mental health benefits – Sunday Telegraph

Comment

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Reform MP suspended after Sunday Times investigation

“A Reform MP has suspended himself from the party after a Sunday Times investigation into £70,000 of loans he took out during the pandemic. James McMurdock, the MP for South Basildon and East Thurrock, took the decision after this newspaper approached him with allegations he borrowed tens of thousands of pounds under the government’s Bounce Back loans scheme in 2020. He borrowed funds through two companies he owned. One was JAM Financial Limited, which had no employees and negligible assets until the pandemic. In 2020 it took out a loan of £50,000, the maximum sum available under the loans scheme available for medium-sized businesses during the pandemic. For a firm to have received such a loan, it would have needed to report turnover of at least £200,000.” – Sunday Times

• MP resigns whip over ‘pandemic business dealings’ – Sunday Telegraph
• Reform MP suspends himself – FT
• Starmer handed damning ‘chaotic’ verdict as Reform triumph in latest poll – Sunday Express
• Big pay days and top of the polls: Farage’s first year as an MP – Observer

‘A mess of our own making’: Labour mayors reflect on Starmer’s first year

“Keir Starmer’s government appears “disjointed” from the rest of the Labour party just a year after taking power, regional mayors have said, with one blaming No 10 for overseeing “a mess of our own making”. Steve Rotheram, the Labour mayor of Liverpool city region, said Downing Street’s repeated missteps were “winding up” people who wanted to back the government. Speaking as the party marked 12 months in government after a stunning election win last summer, during which Starmer campaigned on an agenda of national renewal centred around a message of “change”, Rotherham said people were willing to forgive the occasional miscalculation but that the climbdowns over winter fuel payments and the welfare bill had left Starmer’s operation looking like “a mess”. – Observer

• Tories warned Labour about Reeves’ tears 17 minutes before PMQs started – Mail on Sunday
• Can Britain survive four more years of Labour? – Sunday Telegraph
• Starmer’s Labour as chaotic as Tories, voters say – Sunday Times
• How PM fumbled his first year – FT
• Corbyn confirms plans for new political party – FT
• Texts show Team Corbyn opposed new party minutes after launch – Sunday Times

Comment

• I know why Reeves cried at PMQs – and it’s a frightening scenario for our country – Kwasi Kwarteng, Sun on Sunday
• After Labour’s week from hell, what happens next? Four scenarios – Janet Daley, Sunday Telegraph
• Labour’s colossal failure shows Britain is heading for disaster – Jeremy Warner, Sunday Telegraph
• Just raise tax? No, there’s only one way out of this mess – Kallum Pickering, Sunday Telegraph
• Britain’s new Islamo-Leftist alliance won’t last, but it might kill Labour first – Daniel Hannan, Sunday Telegraph
• Starmer is driving Britain towards disaster – Editorial, Sunday Telegraph
• PM must protect Reeves zealously now. If she falls, so does he – Jason Cowley, Sunday Times
• How Labour can resurrect itself – Stephen Bush, FT

Musk sets up new political group

“Elon Musk said on Saturday that he had set up a new political party. The billionaire businessman, 54, claimed he had taken the step of establishing the America Party after asking his followers if he should do so in an online poll on X on Friday. It comes in the wake of Mr Musk falling out with Donald Trump, the US president. In a post on X on Saturday evening, Mr Musk said: “By a factor of 2 to 1, you want a new political party and you shall have it! “When it comes to bankrupting our country with waste and graft, we live in a one-party system, not a democracy. “Today, the America Party is formed to give you back your freedom.” – Sunday Telegraph

• Musk announces America Party to fight Trump – Sunday Times

Lammy first UK minister to visit Syria since 2011 uprising

“Foreign Secretary David Lammy has become the first UK minister to visit Syria since the uprising that led to the country’s civil war began 14 years ago. Lammy met Syria’s interim president Ahmad al-Sharaa eight months after the collapse of the Assad regime and as the new Islamic-led government continues to establish control within the country. Alongside the visit, the UK government announced an additional £94.5m support package to cover humanitarian aid and support longer-term recovery within Syria and countries helping Syrian refugees.” – BBC News

Other political news and comment

• Pension and housing policy is war on the young – Tom Tugendhat, FT
• Rayner’s housing quango bosses spend thousands on hospitality and travel – Sunday Telegraph
• NHS England chief says wasting billions ‘makes me want to cry’ – Sunday Times
• HS1 link was ‘poor value for money’, report finds – FT

News in Brief