Noa Hoffman

Sir Ed Davey today attempted to woo disillusioned One Nation Tories with a pledge to raise the higher-rate income tax threshold from £50,270 to £56,000. The Lib Dem leader also promised to increase the basic-rate threshold from £12,570 to £15,000 and the additional-rate threshold from £125,140 to £130,000. Sir Ed argued that a ‘tax band designed for stockbrokers is now holding back teachers and nurses’. He declared: ‘That’s not fair. It’s not right.’ The proposed changes would, however, take eight years to deliver, coming into force only in the fifth year of the next parliament. The policy is also based on the proviso that Britain rejoins the EU single market and customs union, which Sir Ed insists would boost the economy by £17 billion.

Green party activists have moaned they are reluctant to campaign for Zack Polanski because he is not sufficiently anti-Zionist, The Spectator can reveal. In WhatsApp groups, senior Green members accused their party leader of being a ‘genocide denier’ and ‘struggling to overcome Zionist indoctrination’. They warned that his stance on Israel was dampening enthusiasm for the former hypnotist’s Holborn and St Pancras by-election campaign. In WhatsApp groups, senior Green members accused their party leader of being a ‘genocide denier’ and ‘struggling to overcome Zionist indoctrination’ A particular source of anger is Polanski’s position on a party conference motion declaring ‘Zionism is racism’.

Rural Britons must revive the spirit of the Liberty and Livelihood march to fight back against Labour’s war on the countryside, Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton declared today. The former prime minister joined forces with Lord Blunkett to urge Andy Burnham to reset relations with rural communities, which have been hit by no fewer than 27 damaging policies since the 2024 general election. The despair and anger over Labour’s assault on the countryside and British heritage were palpable At a rally hosted by the Countryside Alliance, Lord Cameron issued a call to arms amid warnings that urban-centred Labour has forgotten ‘the importance and significance of rural Britain’.

Hormone therapy for all, climate testing medicines and race-based targets for mental-health detentions are among Green Party proposals to reform healthcare in England. A policy document submitted by Zack Polanski’s official Health Policy Working Group, leaked to The Spectator, also reveals ambitions to push the NHS towards veganism and a ban on ‘sustained efforts’ to discourage ‘gender-affirming’ treatments. The document will be put to Green members at the party’s autumn conference in Brighton next month. Its provenance makes it particularly significant – this is not merely a motion from an individual activist, but the work of an official policy group.

Imagine you are a mother who has worked hard, played by the rules and saved every penny. You finally fulfil your dream of buying a slice of countryside paradise: a charming home in a peaceful village, surrounded by nature, where your children can enjoy a happy upbringing away from the horrors of busy cities. It is the life you always imagined for your family. Then the Labour government intervenes. It looks at you and decides that your family’s peace and security are secondary to the immigration chaos it has created. Your bubble will be burst to accommodate thousands of unvetted males from countries where the treatment of women is often closer to that of dogs than men.

Andy Burnham’s move to impose sanctions on West Bank settlements is politically savvy – but not because it will achieve his purported aim of advancing a two-state solution. For one thing, the impact in Israel will be minimal. Ed Miliband was clear that the new sanctions regime will target those ‘providing services such as construction or financing for Israeli settlements’, while trade within the Green Line will continue. Yet the principal providers of such services to the settlements are Israeli banks, major companies and the Israeli government itself. Short of Miliband sanctioning them, the policy is unlikely to achieve much. The economies of the West Bank and Green Line Israel are completely intertwined.

As Reform battled a political and media crisis beyond the confines of its conference, members inside the NEC secure zone appeared unfazed. If anything, they were infuriated by Channel 4’s undercover investigation into the party’s donation practices. The Spectator spoke to members and activists from across the country. Asked for their reaction to the documentary, the overwhelming response was that the undercover investigation amounted to little more than an establishment stitch-up. For the Reform faithful, the stakes facing the country are simply too high to abandon the only party they believe can put Britain back on track – whatever the undercover footage revealed. https://twitter.

Britain’s major right-wing parties today took the fight to Labour – and each other – over the economy. Kemi Badenoch and Robert Jenrick flexed their fiscal muscles as they vowed to take Andy Burnham to task over excessive spending and an ‘addiction’ to welfare. On the first day of Reform’s conference, the party’s Treasury spokesperson told business leaders that, as Chancellor, he would reduce spending by £80 billion a year by the end of the next parliament. He also announced that he had written to major holders of UK government debt, including banks and pension funds, inviting them to attend a ‘roadshow’ and ‘private round tables’ in London and New York, where he will set out his approach to borrowing.