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Farage defends Tice’s tax avoidance scheme, rejecting claims it flouts Reform UK ‘stop offshore taxpayer rip off’ pledge

At the Reform UK event they are now taking questions. Farage says he will take most of them himself.

Q: [From Katherine Forster from GB News] In your 2024 manifesto you said you would “stop the offshore taxpayer rip off”. How does that square with Richard Tice using offshore arrangments to minimise his tax bill?

Farage says that manifesto commitment referred to companies operating in the care home sector.

But he defends Tice. He says:

double quotation markI want to be clear about this on tax. Richard Tice has obeyed the law. He’s filed his accounts on time. He’s obeyed the law in every way, and no one pays more tax than they have to. You don’t I don’t. No one does.

He claims criticism of Tice is unfair, and comes from people who do not undertand how businesses operate.

Key events

Farage say king’s visit to US ‘absolutely must go ahead’

Q: Do you think the king’s visit to the US should still go ahead?

Farage replied:

double quotation markThere are considerable tensions between the American president and the British prime minister, that is true. And they appear to be worsening, frankly, by the day. I would say that makes the king’s visit even more imperative.

And later he said “the king’s visit absolutely must go ahead”.

Q: [From the Sun] The amount of rubbish on the streets in London is “disgusting” and “feral”. What are you going to do about that?

Farage says he is going to ask all 450 branches of Reform UK to organise litter-picking days in their local communities. He says some branches have already done this, wearing Reform UK tabards. He claims he was planning to announce this later, but says he is mentioning it now in response to the question.

Q: Can you guarantee that, under a Reform UK government, pensions who only get the state pension won’t pay income tax?

Farage says Robert Jenrick, the Treasury spokesperson, will make an announcement about pensions policy soon, which will also cover the pensions triple lock.

Q: Do you agree with Rachel Reeves that we need closer alignment with the EU to increase growth?

Farage choked, or pretented to choke, as if they idea that he might think this was preposterous. He went on:

double quotation markThe world has changed. Quite how you help the British economy by aligning more closely with a group of other economies, some of whom are doing even worse than we are, I just don’t know.

Q: Do you think Donald Trump made a mistake by not anticipating that Iran might close the strait of Hormuz?

Farage said he did not know what the US intelligence assessment was.

But he said that he thought Trump launched the attack because he genuinely believed the Iranians were on the verge of obtaining a nuclear bomb.

Farage claims Starmer has made ‘big strategic mistake’ by not backing US over Iran

In response to another question about Donald Trump and the way, Farage claimed that UK foreign policy was “now being being governed by domestic concerns about a growing number of people with radical Islamic views who’ve actually been out bemoaning the death of the ayatollah”.

This is a claim the Conservatives have also been making.

Farage also claimed that not supporting the US in the war was a “big strategic mistake” by Keir Starmer. He repeated his point about how the UK could have backed the US without having to join the bombing missions.

Farage claims there is now ‘no chance’ of US agreeing Chagos Islands deal in light of Iran war developments

Q: Is what Trump is doing in Iran right or wrong?

Farage said that, in the light of the UK’s response to President Trump’s war, there was now “absolutely no chance now of the Americans agreeing to the Chagos handover”, because Mauritius said they would not approve of Diego Garcia being used as a base for an attack on Iran.

He said he would have “aided and assisted the Americans from day one” in the war against Iran.

But that was not the same as the UK joining in those attacks, he said. He said Britain did not have the capacity to help in a significant way.

Farage said Reform UK would impose ‘very, very tough’ benefit cuts to help fund higher defence spending

Q: [Forster’s second question] How will you find extra money for defence spending?

Farage said that Reform UK would save money by cutting net zero policies. But he went on:

double quotation markBut look, the brutal truth is that we just can’t go on with the benefits bill. Over £300bn. And that is going to involve some very, very tough choices.

And there will be people that don’t like what needs to be done. But I’m afraid it has to be done and we will have the courage to face up to that, however loud some of the screams may be.

Farage defends Tice’s tax avoidance scheme, rejecting claims it flouts Reform UK ‘stop offshore taxpayer rip off’ pledge

At the Reform UK event they are now taking questions. Farage says he will take most of them himself.

Farage says that manifesto commitment referred to companies operating in the care home sector.

But he defends Tice. He says:

double quotation markI want to be clear about this on tax. Richard Tice has obeyed the law. He’s filed his accounts on time. He’s obeyed the law in every way, and no one pays more tax than they have to. You don’t I don’t. No one does.

He claims criticism of Tice is unfair, and comes from people who do not undertand how businesses operate.

Nigel Farage is speaking now at the Reform UK event.

The website promoting the lottery is up. It is called nigelcutmybills.com.

Reform UK announces lottery, with winner getting energy bills paid for year, to promote announcement about VAT cut on energy

Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, Robert Jenrick, his Treasury spokersperson, and Richard Tice, his business spokesperson, are holding their press conference now. As the BBC reports, they will commit the party to getting rid of VAT and green levies on energy bills.

There is a live feed here.

They are also announcing a lottery prize draw, open to anyone, with Reform UK paying energy bills for the winner, and their whole street, for a year.

This sounds illegal – buying votes is against the law in the UK – but the party insists that this stunt is allowed, presumably because it is open to anyone to take part and potential winners do not have to commit to voting Reform UK.

But, still, it is unusual in Britain for a party to use giveaways like this as a campaigning strategy. The party staged a similar stunt last week when it paid to cut the cost of petrol by 25p a litre for a day for drivers using a petrol station near Buxton. It was doing this to promote a policy announcement about cutting fuel duty.

Today’s ploy is reminiscent of Elon Musk’s decision to set up a lottery with a prize of $1m for voters registering to vote in swing states ahead of te 2024 UAS presidential election. This was deemed legal, even though it was seen as a move to help Donald Trump.

The lottery sounds like a costly commitment from the party. But Reform UK is swimming in cash at the moment, and this will probably end up as a successful data-harvesting exercise; people will have to provide contact details to end, and this is hugely useful for parties for campaigning purposes.

Funding for community radio stations to double under local media strategy announced by Lisa Nandy

Funding for community radio stations will double (to £1m per year) and the government will spend more of its advertising budget with local media (including “hyperlocal news titles”), under a local media strategy being announced today. Lisa Nandy, the culture secretary, will speak about it at a conference this afternoon. In a news release, she says:

double quotation markThis strategy will provide unprecedented funding for local media outlets to invest in innovation and infrastructure, almost tripling the size of funding for community radio, harnessing the power of local and national government and giving more young people access to high quality journalism and the opportunity to pursue careers in it.

Because local media was and always has been a ladder of opportunity to help new voices break into journalism. This is not a nice to have. It is essential to a cohesive country. Our debate is too narrow and too small. We will change that. The strategy we publish today is the start – not the end point – and we recognise there is more to do. But it is the start of a new approach to local media, which nurtures it and places it directly at the heart of our government’s support for our country. Because the future of news is local.

UK to fund AI team in Ukrainian Ministry of Defence as part of new partnership agreement

Downing Street has announced a new defence partnership with Ukraine as President Zelenskyy is visiting London today.

In its news release, it says:

double quotation markThe UK and Ukraine are set to agree a new world-leading partnership to boost global defensive capability against the the proliferation of low cost, high tech military hardware, including drones …

As part of the agreement, the UK and Ukraine will also look at opportunities for increased defence industrial and technological cooperation with third countries, boosting international security and ensuring the latest defence technology is in the hands of those who need it most.

The UK will also fund a new AI Centre of Excellence that will sit within the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence. This team of experts, backed by £500,000, will ensure AI is being utilised to its fullest to deliver a battlefield advantage. The UK will then in turn benefit from the lessons learned for our own defence – another example where our collaboration brings advantages for both countries.

Streeting urged to make Commons statement about meningitis outbreak in Kent

The Tories want Wes Streeting, the health secretary, to make a statement to MPs later about the meningitis outbreak in Kent. Helen Whately, the shadow work and pensions secretary and MP for Faversham and Mid Kent, told Sky News this morning that she had told Streeting that she thought it would be “very good” to have a ministerial statement.

Here is our latest story about the outbreak, which has already killed two young people.

Here are pictures of some of the ministers arriving at No 10 for cabinet this morning (and Lucy Powell, who is not a minister but who is attending political cabinet as deputy Labour leader).

Liz Kendall, the technology secretary. Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

Ed Miliband, the energy secretary. Photograph: Isabel Infantes/Reuters

Lucy Powell, the deputy Labour leader. Photograph: Isabel Infantes/Reuters

Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary. Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

Heidi Alexander, the transport secretary (left), and Yvette Cooper, the foreign secretary. Photograph: Isabel Infantes/Reuters

Wes Streeting, the health secretary. Photograph: Isabel Infantes/Reuters

Richard Hermer, the attorney general. Photograph: Isabel Infantes/Reuters

UK must learn lessons from AI race and retain its quantum computing talent, says Liz Kendall

The UK will not let quantum computing talent slip through its fingers and must learn lessons from US dominance of the AI race, Liz Kendall, the technology secretary has said, as the government announced a £1bn quantum funding pledge. Dan Milmo has the story.

Government defeated in Lords on pensions bill as peers vote down plan to let ministers tell pension schemes where to invest

The House of Lords last night inflicted three defeats on the government over its plans to reform private pensions, the Press Association reports. PA says:

double quotation markThe pension schemes bill aims to increase benefits for members of defined contribution schemes by providing them with more information about their pensions and retirement options, consolidating savings pots and securing better returns.

Controversially, the bill includes a reserve power that would force pension schemes to invest in productive assets meant to benefit the UK economy.

This has raised concerns that this could interfere with the duty of trustees to act in the best interests of their members, known as fiduciary duty.

Conservative backbench peer Lady Noakes tabled an amendment that would ensure that this mandation could not apply to the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS).

Noakes said: “I’ve tabled amendment four to ensure that the power cannot be used to tell local government schemes to invest in particular assets, asset classes or location of investment. I firmly believed that fiduciary duties are paramount and should never be interfered with by the government, whether in relation to public sector schemes like the LGPS or private sector ones.”

Responding, Labour frontbencher Lord Katz said the bill “allows the government to make regulations specifying matters that administering authorities must or may cover in their investment strategy”.

He said: “It is not designed to permit government to dictate what that strategy says.”

Lord Katz said the provision will be used to require LGPS investment strategies to include an approach and target range for local investment, high level funding objectives and an approach to responsible investment, and a strategic asset allocation.

However, it remains for LGPS administering authorities to determine what those objectives, approaches, asset allocations and target ranges will be.

Peers backed the amendment by 276 votes to 165, a majority of 111.

The government was also defeated on a Tory amendment to improve transparency around the assumptions and level of prudence applied in LGPS actuarial variations (by a majority of 24), and on a Tory amendment to make interim reviews of employer contribution rates more accessible and transparent (by a majority of 27).

Trump says he’s expecting king’s state visit to US to go ahead

Yesterday Donald Trump confirmed that he expects the king’s state visit to the US to go ahead at the end of April. As the Mail reports, speaking about his plan to build a new, mega ballroom on the east wing of the White House, Trump said he needed a facility like this because of the weather in Washington. He explained:

double quotation markAnd you know the land in Washington was built on a swampy wetland.

And when it rains, and you have the King of Saudi Arabia … the King of the UK, I would say King of England, a great guy, he’s coming in very soon. And when it rains, you know what happened? And the rain would go over their feet.

Labour’s Emily Thornberry backs calls for king’s state visit to US to be postponed given Iran war and US rift with its allies

Good morning. Keir Starmer is chairing cabinet this morning, and government business is still dominated by foreign policy. Yvette Cooper, the foreign secretary, is in the Commons later where she will give an update on the UK’s response to the US-Israeli war against Iran, doubtless firming up the line set out by Starmer yesterday.

And Starmer himself is meeting Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian president, and Mark Rutte, the Nato secretary general.

European leaders are not enthusiastic about fighting Tehran, but they are very committed to supporting Ukraine, and alarmed that about the only country that has gained from the Iran war at no cost is Russia. This is bound to come up this afternoon.

Starmer has largely resisted the temptation to hit back at Trump’s endless provocations, which escalated yesterday when the president accused the PM of dithering and being over-reliant on his advisers. But this morning Starmer is being encouraged to engage in some soft power retaliation – by cancelling the king’s state visit to the US planned for next month.

Until now calling for the state visit to be postponed has primarily been an Ed Davey obsession – and once an idea becomes a Lib Dem policy, the chances of Starmer endorsing it tend to plummet. But this morning Emily Thornberry, the chair of the Commons foreign affairs committee, also endorsed the idea, which means it has a toehold in Labour mainstream thinking, and makes it a bit more credible as a potential option.

In an interview on the Today programme, asked if she favoured postponing the visit, Thornberry said:

double quotation markIf it was to go ahead next month – the dates haven’t been confirmed, but everybody seems to think it’s going to be next month – it would go ahead against a backdrop of a war and that, I think, is quite difficult. The last thing that we want to do is to have Their Majesties embarrassed.

The visit is meant to be taking place at the end of April. It is possible, of course, that the war could be over by then, but there is no guarantee of that, given that Trump does not seem have have an exit strategy, and the Iranian regime is intact and committed to keeping the fight going.

In the inteview Thornberry went on:

double quotation markI think it needs to be thought through very carefully as to whether or not it’s appropriate to go ahead now, or maybe have a limited program, or delay it. But we can’t just pretend that there isn’t a background of war.

When pressed as to what she thought should happen, Thornberry said:

double quotation markI suspect it would be safer to delay it, but I don’t know the details.

Here is the agenda for the day.

9.30am: Keir Starmer chairs a meeting of the cabinet, including a political cabinet.

Morning: Kemi Badenoch is on a visit in east Surrey.

11am: Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, and Robert Jenrick, his Treasury spokesperson, hold a press conference. As the BBC reports, they are going to proposing getting rid of VAT and green levies on energy bills – as well as announcing a lottery prize draw, open to anyone, with Reform UK paying energy bills for the winner, and their whole street, for a year.

11.30am: David Lammy, the deputy PM and justice secretary, takes questions in the Commons.

Noon: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.

After 12.30pm: Yvette Cooper, the foreign secretary, makes a statement to MPs about the US-Israel war against Iran.

1.30pm: Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, delivers the Mais lecture. As Graeme Wearden reports on his business live blog, she will identify innovation and AI, closer ties with Europe, and regional growth as three big opportunities for economic growth in the UK.

Afternoon: Starmer meets Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian president, in Downing Street. Starmer is also meeting Mark Rutte, the Nato secretary general.

Afternoon: MPs debate all stages of the ministerial salaries (amendment) bill, which will increase the number of government ministers who can be paid a salary from 109 (the limit set in an act passed in 1975) to 120.

3.40pm: Lisa Nandy, the culture secretary, gives a speech at the Society of Editors conference.

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Farage defends Tice’s tax avoidance scheme, rejecting claims it flouts Reform UK ‘stop offshore taxpayer rip off’ pledge

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