Newslinks for Monday 7th July 2025

Wealth tax explored, as Tories warn of benefit system collapse

“Labour is “willing to explore” bringing in a new wealth tax, Lord Kinnock has suggested. The party’s former leader said a 2 per cent tax on assets worth more than £10 million could help raise about £10 billion a year for the Treasury. His suggestion comes after Cabinet ministers were warned taxes would have to rise following Sir Keir Starmer’s capitulation on welfare reforms. On Sunday night, some of Labour’s biggest union paymasters, including Angela Rayner’s former employer Unison, backed the call for a wealth tax. One union source told The Telegraph they would raise the idea with the Prime Minister and lobby Labour MPs. But Downing Street is likely to resist the idea, after one of Sir Keir’s most senior advisers warned that recent levies on the rich may already be undermining economic growth. Economists have also said such a move would trigger a fresh exodus of the rich from Britain.” – Daily Telegraph

• Ex-Labour leader Neil Kinnock calls for Keir Starmer to impose a 2% ‘wealth tax’ on Brits’ assets as ministers scramble to plug a hole in the public finances – Daily Mail
• Raise taxes or this government will fail, Rachel Reeves’s former top adviser warns – The Independent
• Labour is ‘choking UK’s financial sector with tax hikes and red tape – The Sun
• Disability claims ‘set to soar by more than a million’ before the next election after Labour’s U-turn… as Tories warn it could lead to the collapse of the entire benefit system – Daily Mail

Comment:

• The folly of Labour wealth taxes – Alex Brummer, Daily Mail
• Wealth taxes: The failed idea that refuses to die – Telegraph View
• If you thought Labour’s first year in power was bad, here’s how things could get EVEN WORSE in next 12 months – Harry Cole, The Sun
• Who gained from Rachel Reeves’s tears? She did – Matthew Parris, The Times

Another Labour revolt rolling in over special needs support

“Sir Keir Starmer is facing a fresh backbench revolt after ministers refused to guarantee millions of children the legal right to special needs support in school. Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, said on Sunday that the government was committed to reforming help for children with learning difficulties or disabilities, which at present costs the taxpayer £12 billion a year. However, she failed to promise that parents would continue to have the same legally enforceable rights to ensure that their children receive bespoke support for their needs either in mainstream or special educational schools. Senior Labour figures told The Times that the plans risked becoming “welfare mark two”, with dozens of MPs prepared to rebel against what they see as further Treasury-driven cost-cutting measures.” – The Times

• Labour poised to scrap support for special needs pupils – Daily Telegraph
• Government faces battle over Send overhaul as campaigners voice fears – The Guardian

Comment:

• It is this government’s moral mission to give every child in Britain the best start in life – Bridget Phillipson, The Guardian
• After disability benefits, is Labour really about to target the educational rights of special needs children? – John Harris, The Guardian
• Labour’s leadership has learnt nothing from the benefits row – Ben Kentish, The i

> Yesterday: Duffield says ‘Labour are finished for a while’ and can’t win next general election

Tories stop apologising, as Badenoch hits out at Farage

“The Tories have finished apologising to the public and must now look to the future, one of Kemi Badenoch’s aides has said in a leaked tape. Baroness Maclean, one of the party leader’s closest political allies, told supporters that the Conservatives had “done the mea culpas” and the party now needed to earn back the trust of voters. In a leaked tape of her comments to the Conservative Women’s Organisation on June 18, obtained by The Telegraph, she said the previous government had a “tendency to make announcements without thinking through how they would be delivered”. But she added that the Tories were now ready to move forward with a new policy platform that Mrs Badenoch was building. “We’ve done the mea culpas, we’ve done the apologies, we’ve done all that,” she said. “Now we want to look to the future and have something to give people hope, because we do strongly believe that we are the only party with a coherent set of plans, and we want to rebuild our reputation for competence and trust, and we think that comes from doing this very difficult work now.”” – Daily Telegraph

• Kemi: Farage is a ‘bullshitter’ – The Spectator
• ‘Never forgive them!’ Nigel Farage blasts Kemi Badenoch aide over claim Tories have finished apologising – GB News

Comment:

• Have no sympathy for Labour’s ‘grown-ups’, they brought this on themselves – Tim Stanley, Daily Telegraph

> Today: Nigel Huddleston: Labour’s first year was defined by chaos, not ‘change’

> Yesterday: After the doom loop of Labour’s first year, and the tears that ended it, can the Conservatives please rediscover fun

News in brief:

• England doesn’t need policing ‘mega forces’ – Henry Hill, Unherd
• Bring back sedition – Sebastian Milbank, The Critic
• The decline of the fact checkers is something to celebrate – Patrick West, The Spectator
• Fraud is the UK’s biggest economic threat – Chris Hayward, CityAM
• Starmerism is disintegrating – Aaron Bastani, The New Statesman