James Heale

Four days after a Budget is usually the time when it starts to unravel. Some within Labour see it as a victory of sorts for Rachel Reeves that, so far, the post-Budget debate has focused mostly on the run-up to her statement rather than the measures it contained. Certain policies – such as business rates changes for small businesses – have the potential to blow up into political rows. But the collapse of the Chancellor’s authority this summer has meant the Budget did not contain any serious reform that could stir up major trouble.

It used to be said that the old Liberal party had so few MPs that they could fit in the back of a taxi. At least they were willing to share the same vehicle. After more than five years of plotting, Jeremy Corbyn’s Your Party is finally holding its first conference in Liverpool this weekend. The run-up to the event was overshadowed by not one, but two, MPs exiting the six-strong ‘Independence Alliance’ in the House of Commons. That sense of infighting and paranoia has set the stage nicely for the past 24 hours. For Zarah Sultana has announced that she is boycotting day one of the conference, in protest at the the expulsion of members of left-wing groups. Your Party organisers expelled members of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) as its rules do not permit dual membership.

It can be difficult for challenger parties to make much of an impact on the Budget, with parliament designed to emphasise the role of government and opposition. But Reform UK is determined to make a splash this week and reflect the dominant polling position that the party has enjoyed since April. Senior figures have earmarked a total of £1 million to be spent in the run-up and aftermath of Rachel Reeves' Budget, to drive home the party's position on tax and the wider economy. Tomorrow, the bulk of the outlay will be evident in the nation's press. Double page spread adverts will run in the Telegraph, Times, Sun, Mail, Metro and iNews, featuring a 'letter to the nation' signed by Nigel Farage.

Nigel Farage has had better afternoons. Nathan Gill, the former leader of Reform UK in Wales, has just been sentenced to ten-and-a-half years in prison after admitting taking bribes to give pro-Russia interviews and speeches. The one-time Brexit party MEP is believed to have received up to £40,000 in total for helping Kremlin-friendly politicians in Ukraine. At the Old Bailey, Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb said Gill had abused his position and eroded ‘public confidence in democracy’. Oleg Voloshyn, once described by the US government as a ‘pawn’ of Russia’s secret service, gave the money on behalf of a ‘close friend’ of Vladimir Putin’s, Viktor Medvedchuk, who was the source of both the requests and cash.

Before the last election, Keir Starmer promised that his party’s relationship with the countryside would be ‘based on respect, on genuine partnership’. But, 16 months into his premiership, the government is shedding rural votes after Rachel Reeves’s changes to inheritance tax. Protesters wearing flat caps and riding tractors have become a familiar sight in Westminster, such is the outrage about the effect on family farms. At the most recent protests, Labour MPs in rural seats were reduced to begging the Treasury to pause the changes ahead of the Budget. ‘So many of my farmers are pleading with me,’ admitted Samantha Niblett, MP for South Derbyshire.

At 94 per cent of GDP, UK government debt is the fourth highest among advanced European economies. With the tax burden at a record postwar high, there is increasing evidence to suggest that voters’ attitudes on public spending are hardening. Yet any political party proposing retrenchment faces the same problem: what cuts are they prepared to make that will not harm their electoral coalition? Nigel Farage offered his party’s answer to that question at a press conference this morning.  Reform’s ideology is perhaps best characterised by its in-house philosopher James Orr, who champions ‘the politics of national preference.