Pub U-turn’s too little too late
“Labour is gearing up for another humiliating U-turn – as ministers last night signalled a climbdown on tax hikes for pubs. Mutinous Labour MPs were told that Rachel Reeves will announce a package of emergency help within days in a bid to head off a brewing revolt. In an about-turn rapid even for this Government, Treasury sources confirmed the climbdown just six weeks after the Chancellor unveiled Budget plans which critics said would send tens of thousands of businesses in the retail and hospitality sector to the wall. Officials said the package would deliver ‘a lifeline for pubs’, but were unable to say exactly how it will work – or what it will be worth – leaving publicans still worried. And hotels, restaurants and independent retailers reacted with fury after ministers signalled that, for now at least, the business rates concessions will apply only to pubs. Keir Starmer has now presided over a dozen major U-turns in his chaotic first 18 months in power. Kemi Badenoch last night said the latest one was ‘too little, too late’ as she mocked the PM’s New Year claim to have ‘turned a corner’. ‘Keir Starmer told us Labour had ‘turned a corner’,’ she said. ‘Well, it looks like they’ve turned the corner straight into their first U-turn of 2026.’– Daily Mail
- ‘Another own goal’: Anger at latest Reeves U-turn as she backs down on pubs tax – The i
- ‘Make your mind up – it’s bonkers’: Exasperated pubs welcome business rates U-turn but warn they need more help – The Independent
- How Labour’s pubs tax fell apart – Daily Telegraph
- Rachel Reeves backtracks on business rates to rescue pubs – The Times
- Darren Jones’s local pub threatens to charge him double – Daily Telegraph
Comment:
- Why does Labour so hate pubs? Is it because people gather in such places to ask one another ‘isn’t Starmer a pillock?’ – Quentin Letts, Daily Mail
- Pubs climbdown is another disaster of Labour’s own making – Ben Marlow, Daily Telegraph
- Labour’s belated pub crawl: Reeves and Starmer have shown they couldn’t organise a booze-up in a brewery – Alex Brummer, Daily Mail
> Today:
Top defence chief warns of need for extra £28bn
“Britain’s most senior military chief has warned Sir Keir Starmer that the Ministry of Defence is short of £28 billion over the next four years despite plans to boost spending, The Times can reveal. Defence chiefs are preparing to make huge cuts to the military while at the same time coming under pressure to ready the armed forces for possible war with Russia. Tensions between London and Moscow continue to escalate, as the UK on Wednesday joined a US mission to capture a Russian-flagged tanker. The Russian foreign ministry accused London of being involved in “maritime piracy”, while the MoD vowed to step up its crackdown on President Putin’s shadow fleet. On Thursday, it emerged that a Russian “zombie” tanker was sailing through the Channel in the first test of the defence secretary John Healey’s vow to “step up action” against such vessels. Britain and France also announced plans this week to deploy a multinational force to Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire. Russia said that any troops sent to Ukraine by western governments would be “legitimate combat targets”.” – The Times
- UK faces ‘£28bn defence funding shortfall’, top military chief warns Starmer – The Independent
- Brits must be ready to ‘step up’ and fight Russia, former defence minister warns – Daily Express
- Why Trump is gunning for America’s defence giants – Daily Telegraph
- Britain’s biggest weapons maker surges after Trump military pledge – Daily Telegraph
- Bedroom to the battlefield: How the UK military is embracing gamers and coders – BBC News
Comment:
- How the US special forces used a unique aircraft to seize a shadow fleet tanker – Tom Sharpe, Daily Telegraph
- Keir Starmer’s foreign focus comes with a cost – Patrick Maguire, The Times
> Yesterday:
‘Go back home’: now 34 ex-pupils accuse Farage of racist behaviour
“Thirty-four school contemporaries of Nigel Farage have now come forward to claim they saw him behave in a racist or antisemitic manner, raising fresh questions over the Reform leader’s evolving denials. One of those with new allegations is Jason Meredith, who was three years below Farage at Dulwich college, a private school in south-east London. He claims that Farage called him a “paki” and would use taunts such as “go back home”. Meredith, 58, who is of Anglo-Indian heritage and has lived in Switzerland where he works as a product manager since 1999, said it was support for anti-racism that motivated him to come forward. He told the Guardian: “What really irked me was the denial [by Farage] of being racist.” “The word ‘paki’ was bandied by him – by Farage – there was kind of an entourage, if I remember right, hangers on,” Meredith said. “‘Go back home.’ The taunts is something I remember, the word ‘paki’, ‘go back home’ being used, certainly more than once. Simple taunts like ‘Jason is a paki’. I was 15, 16, something like that.” Meredith is one of several contemporaries to have alleged to the Guardian they were victims of targeted abuse by Farage, who has come under sustained pressure from politicians belonging to various parties to “own up” and apologise. So far, Farage has refused to do so.” – The Guardian
- Nigel Farage wants to base benefits on skin colour, Rachel Reeves claims – The Times
- Reform accuses Reeves of ‘flagrant racism’ in benefits row – Daily Telegraph
Comment:
- The racism against Laila Cunningham will be a big headache for Farage – Rakib Ehsan, Daily Telegraph
- The Polesworth Pensioner could swing the election for Reform – Sherelle Jacobs, Daily Telegraph
News in brief:
- What’s behind the Tories’ poll bounce? – George Eaton, The New Statesman
- SNP has no right to defy Supreme Court gender ruling – Joan Smith, UnHerd
- Is Cambridge’s state school diversity obsession over? – Ross Clark, The Spectator
- The young will pay the price of the ‘Reeves recession’ – Damian Pudner, CapX
- Do we still live in a democracy? – Christopher Howarth, The Critic
