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Today’s political headlines include the DUP’s threat to withdraw support from Government, May to launch plans for ethnicity pay gap reporting, Home Office guidelines may have been breached and Major compares Universal Credit to the poll tax. 

Cabinet ministers consider resigning over Brexit customs plans
The Daily Telegraph reports that at least three Cabinet ministers are considering resigning after Theresa May told her ‘war cabinet’ that there will be no end date on a plan to keep the UK in a customs union with the EU. Esther McVey, Penny Mordaunt and Andrea Leadsom, all of whom are said to have concerns about the proposal, were not at the meeting, and The Times adds that six cabinet ministers who did attend challenged the plans: Liam Fox, Jeremy Hunt, Sajid Javid, Dominic Raab, Gavin Williamson and Michael Gove.

DUP ‘not afraid’ of general election
The Financial Times says that the DUP has claimed that it is ‘not afraid’ of a general election, with Jim Shannon adding that it would decide in the next fortnight whether it supported Theresa May’s Brexit deal, and that the Government should take a ‘hard look’ at its worries. Government sources have told The Sun that they believe that a further payment in addition to the £1bn agreed in 2017 will ensure that the party backs the final deal.

McVey admits Universal Credit will leave some people worse off
The Times reports that charities and companies that work with Universal Credit claimants have been made to sign gagging clauses, preventing them from doing anything which would harm the Work and Pensions Secretary Esther McVey’s reputation. McVey has admitted that ‘some people will be worse off’ as a result of the policy, while the paper adds that a growing number of Tory MPs are opposing changes to be voted on later this month. According to The Daily Telegraph, Chancellor Philip Hammond is planning to abandon plans to cut income tax to help find £2bn in order to reverse changes to Universal Credit announced in 2015.

Home Office agrees to independent investigation into detention centres
The Guardian says that the Home Office has agreed to an independent inquiry into alleged abusive treatment of immigrants held in detention centres. The department had initially refused to agree to the investigation but agreed to do so in return for the end of legal action launched in the wake of a BBC Panorama documentary about the Brook House centre.

Charities ask MPs not to report constituents to immigration hotline
The BBC reports that a group of charities have written to Commons Speaker John Bercow asking MPs to pledge not to use an immigrant enforcement hotline to report on constituents, after it emerged that it was called by MPs and their staff 68 times last year. 107 MPs have already signed the pledge, but only one Conservative MP, Heidi Allen, has done so.

Report recommends 32% pay hike for High Court judges
In an exclusive, the Daily Mail says that a report has recommended that High Court judges’ salaries are increased by 32%, owing to low morale, long hours, changes to pension taxation, and a recruitment crisis. A source close to Justice Secretary David Gauke said he was ‘sympathetic’ but the increase ‘is likely to be closer to 2% than 32%.

HMRC chief received death threats after select committee appearance
The Daily Mirror says that the head of HM Revenue and Customs, Jon Thompson, told an event hosted by the Institute for Government that he had had to ‘change how I travel and what my personal security is’ and has had two death threats investigated by the police ‘for speaking truth unto power about Brexit’, after he gave evidence to a select committee.

Pension tax relief reform rejected
The Financial Times reports that the Government has ruled out making changes to pension tax relief, rejecting a report from the Commons Treasury Committee that suggested that it should either be fundamentally reformed or improved by making incremental changes.

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Today’s political headlines include the DUP’s threat to withdraw support from Government, May to launch plans for ethnicity pay gap reporting, Home Office guidelines may have been breached and Major compares Universal Credit to the poll tax. 

DUP threatens to withdraw support from Government over Brexit plan
The Daily Telegraph says that Theresa May will today ask her Brexit ‘war cabinet’ to agree a plan under which the UK would stay in a customs union with the EU until a permanent trade deal is agreed, with UK and EU negotiators having agreed to an all-UK backstop in principle. However, the DUP has described this plan, under which Northern Ireland would remain in the single market for goods, as a ‘sell out’ and is threatening to vote against the Budget later this month, abstaining from a vote on the Agriculture Bill last night to show that it is serious. The Times adds that Brexiteer ministers including Penny Mordaunt, Esther McVey and Liam Fox will not be at the meeting, leaving some of them unhappy.

May to launch plans for ethnicity pay gap reporting
The BBC reports that Theresa May is to announce plans today to force companies to reveal their ethnicity pay gap, a comparison between the pay received by employees form ethnic minorities and their white counterparts. She will also launch a Race at Work Charter, committing firms to increasing recruitment and progression of ethnic minority employees.

Home Office guidelines on migrant detention may have been breached
The Guardian has published an investigation into migrants held in detention centres, finding that over half of its sample were either suicidal, seriously ill or victims of torture, with almost 56% defined as being an ‘adult at risk’. People in this category should only be held in extreme cases, so the paper suggests that Home Office guidelines have been breached.

Major compares Universal Credit to the poll tax
Speaking to the BBC, former Prime Minister Sir John Major has criticised the Government’s Universal Credit policy, warning that it risked encountering the same issues as the poll tax. While he described the theory behind the policy as ‘entirely logical’ he cautioned that it was being brought in ‘too soon and in the wrong circumstances’.

Corbyn to announce plans to teach children about UK’s role in slavery and colonialism
According to the Daily Mail, Jeremy Corbyn is to announce plans to teach about the UK’s role in slavery and colonialism in schools today, claiming that the Windrush scandal shows that this is ‘more important now than ever’. The paper adds that Education Secretary Damian Hinds will use a speech today to attack Labour’s plans for a ‘common rule book’, to abandon free schools and freeze the academies programme.

25 high-priority no-deal Brexit plans in trouble
The Times reports that 25 of the less than 100 high-priority no-deal Government workstreams are in trouble, with 13 ‘off-track’. Sir Amyas Morse, the head of the National Audit Office, warned that the Government had left business in a ‘very difficult position’ and said it was ‘not implausible’ that flights between the EU and the UK could be grounded.

Blair concerned about services sector after Brexit, following new research
The Financial Times says that Tony Blair has expressed concern about the future of the UK’s services sector post-Brexit, following the release of new research by the National Institute of Economic and Social Research showing that if the UK traded with the EU on World Trade Organization terms, the lost trade would reduce the size of the economy by 2.1% by 2030.

Pro-remain Tories to form group to rival Rees-Mogg’s Eurosceptics
The Guardian claims that a group of up to 30 remain-backing Conservative MPs are planning to form a movement to rival Jacob Rees-Mogg’s European Research Group and vote down Theresa May’s Brexit deal if she moves towards a Canada-style model, with a number of the MPs hoping that this will lead to a second referendum.

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Today’s political headlines include Brexiteers warnings that the UK must not stay in EU customs arrangements after 2022, the Government is attempting to bring Labour MPs on side to back Brexit, McDonnell calls for an end to Universal Credit and pension tax relief to be cut to fund NHS spending boost. 

Brexiteers warn that the UK must not stay in EU customs arrangements after 2022
The Times claims that Brexiteers, including Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab, are now warning Theresa May that, while they are prepared to give her room for manoeuvre in the Brexit talks, she must not keep the UK in the EU’s customs arrangements beyond the next election in 2022. However the EU has insisted that the proposals cannot be time-limited. Some Leavers have suggested that they will use the budget to put pressure on May.

Government tries to get Labour MPs to back Brexit deal
According to The Daily Telegraph, Government whips have held talks with up to 25 Labour MPs in a bid to persuade them to vote through the Government’s Brexit deal, nullifying opposition from Eurosceptic backbenchers. However, this has infuriated the Conservative Eurosceptics, some of whom are now threatening to vote against parts of the budget, with the European Research Group meeting tomorrow to set out plans for a ‘guerrilla campaign’.

McDonnell calls for end to Universal Credit
As the BBC reports, Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell used various interviews over the weekend to claim that Universal Credit ‘will have to go’ as it is not ‘providing the safety net that people expect when they need support’ and is ‘just not sustainable’. He also said that Labour was considering reducing the length of the working week.

Pension tax relief to be cut to fund NHS spending boost
The Daily Telegraph says that it expects Philip Hammond to use the budget to cut pension tax relief in order to pay for the NHS’s £20bn funding boost. Steve Webb, the former Lib Dem pensions minister who now works for Royal London, warned that the move is ‘no way to run pensions’ as the ‘people who will be affected are being prudent, making their own provision for retirement – which the Government repeatedly tells us they want us to do’.

Japan would welcome UK to Trans-Pacific Partnership
Interviewed by the Financial Times, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has said that his country would welcome the UK to the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal ‘with open arms’. He warned against a ‘disorderly Brexit’ and said that while the UK would no longer be a gateway to Europe after Brexit, it was still ‘equipped with global strength’.

Hammond considers reward for landlords who sell to tenants
The Guardian claims that Philip Hammond is considering using the budget to bring in a so-called ‘good landlord’ tax break. This would reward those who sell properties to existing tenants. The plan has been thought up by the thinktank Onward, which proposes that landlords should not pay capital gains tax if a property is sold to tenants who have occupied the property for three years or longer, funded by curtailing other buy-to-let tax benefits.

Field claims Government always knew impact of Universal Credit
The Sun says that Frank Field, Chair of the Commons Work and Pensions Committee, has claimed that the Government always knew that the rollout of Universal Credit would leave some families up to £200 a month worse off. He told the paper that ‘The frailest shoulders have borne most of the budget deficit reduction strategy “successes”’.

Haldane appointed to chair new Industrial Strategy Council
The Financial Times reports that Andy Haldane, the Bank of England’s Chief Economist, is to be appointed as the chair of the new Industrial Strategy Council. The body will hold the Government to account and improve the implementation of the policy, which aims to improve the UK’s poor productivity.

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Today’s political headlines include Hunt’s warning of further sanctions against Russia, Varadkar’s call for new border plans, the EASA has turned down the CAA’s request for an aviation plan and Food bank usage up 52% in Universal Credit areas. 

Hunt warns of further sanctions against Russia as new plot is revealed
The Times reports that Western countries joined forces yesterday to expose a Russian GRU unit which tried to hack the Office for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons a month after the Salisbury attack. Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt warned that the ‘hard evidence’ would lead to further sanctions against the country.

Varadkar calls for new border plans to be published quickly
The Guardian reports remarks made by the Taoiseach Leo Varadkar in Brussels yesterday, in which he called on the UK to publish the revised plan for the border ‘as soon as possible’ so that a deal could be reached by November. European Council President Donald Tusk criticised Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt’s ‘unwise and insulting’ comparison of the EU and the USSR, and claimed that the EU was willing to offer a ‘Canada-plus-plus-plus deal’.

European agency turned down UK’s request for joint no-deal aviation plan
Correspondence seen by the BBC shows that the Civil Aviation Authority tried to reach a joint no-deal transition plan with the European Aviation Safety Agency but was turned down in July. EASA told the BBC that ‘discussion about technical details would not be useful since the framework for which we need to prepare is not known.’

Food bank usage up 52% in areas where Universal Credit rolled out
The Financial Times warns that research by the Trussell Trust shows that use of food bank increases by 52% over twelve months in areas where Universal Credit has been rolled out, compared to 13% in areas where it hasn’t. The benefit is due to be rolled out to 2.1m further families between 2019 and 2023.

Ending austerity could cost £20bn
The Times says that the Institute for Fiscal Studies has warned that the cost of ending austerity, as promised by Theresa May in her conference speech, will be £20bn if it includes an increase in public sector wages. Downing Street and the Treasury have not explained what the Prime Minister meant in her speech.

Wealthy move assets out of UK owing to Corbyn fears
According to the Financial Times, which has spoken to a number of wealth managers, many of the UK’s ‘super-rich’ are moving assets out of the country or even planning to emigrate, because of the prospect of a Government led by Jeremy Corbyn. One wealth manager told the paper that ‘most people are much more worried about Corbyn than Brexit.

No-deal Brexit leaves a million workers exposed to pay cuts and job losses
The Sun carries details of new research by the Institute for Fiscal Studies, which warns that a no-deal Brexit would leave almost a million blue collar workers in industries such as car-manufacturing and chemicals ‘highly exposed’ to job losses and pay cuts, with the biggest pain felt in the Midlands and Northern Ireland.

McDonnell joins McStrike
The Daily Mail reports that Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell joined striking workers from firms including McDonald’s, TGI Fridays, Wetherspoons, Uber and Deliveroo at a protest in Leicester Square yesterday. The workers are calling for a minimum wage of £10 an hour and the end of ‘precarious’ contracts.

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Today’s political headlines include the Dancing Queen promising to end austerity, UK accuses Russia of cyber attacks, the Brexit deal push and Ireland backs British backstop proposals. 

‘Dancing Queen’ promises end to austerity
The Times reports that Theresa May used her conference speech to announce the end of austerity, promising to increase public spending post-Brexit. Appearing on stage dancing to ABBA’s Dancing Queen, the Prime Minister also announced a cap on council borrowing to build new homes, promised quicker diagnoses for cancer patients (citing the story of her goddaughter who died of cancer last year) and, in a victory for The Sun, confirmed that fuel duty would be frozen.

UK accuses Russia of cyber attacks
The Guardian reports that Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt has accused Russia’s intelligence services of a number of ‘reckless and indiscriminate cyber-attacks’ which were ‘in flagrant violation of international law’, including the 2016 hacking of the Democratic National Committee headquarters.

May starts Brexit deal push
According to The Sun, Theresa May will today start a ten-day push to get EU leaders to agree a Brexit deal, aiming to get a deal agreed at a summit on 16-17 October, which will be translated into legal text while a framework on future trade is negotiated, before both are formally agreed at a further summit in November.

Ireland backs British backstop proposals
The Financial Times says that Ireland has given its backing to a proposal from Theresa May to break the impasse over the Irish border backstop in the Brexit negotiations. Under the plan, if no other solution is found to the border problem, the whole of the UK would remain in a customs union with the EU (which has already been rejected by chief negotiator Michel Barnier) and agree that Northern Ireland would remain subject to single market regulations.

France would prefer no-deal Brexit to compromise
The Daily Telegraph reports that France’s Europe minister, Natalie Loiseau, has warned that it would prefer the UK to leave the EU without a deal than accept a compromise which undermines the EU’s integrity. The paper adds that it believes that a new British proposal will leave the UK in a de-facto customs union with the EU, with Northern Ireland aligned with single market rules.

Tory mayoral candidate under fire for remarks about multiculturalism
The Guardian reports that the Conservative candidate for Mayor of London Shaun Bailey used a pamphlet that he wrote for the Centre for Policy Studies a decade ago to claim that accommodating Muslims and Hindus ‘robs Britain of its community’ and risked turning it into a ‘crime-riddled cesspool’.

Johnson paid £275,000 for Telegraph column
The Sun reports that Boris Johnson is being paid £275,000 for his column in The Daily Telegraph, which is double the salary he received while he was Foreign Secretary and ten times the average salary. According to the Register of Interests, he spends ten hours a month on the column, giving him an hourly rate of £2,300.

RBS and Nissan warn of Brexit consequences
Ross McEwan, the Chief Executive of RBS, has told the BBC that a ‘bad Brexit’ could lead to a recession and that as a result the bank was becoming more cautious about lending to certain sectors, especially retail and construction. The Guardian reports that Nissan has warned that an end to ‘frictionless trade’ with the EU would have ‘serious implications’.

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