Tories dismiss PM’s budget ‘everyday fixes’ as little more than ‘cheaper gherkins’, and ‘an insult to families’ – UK politics live
Why This Matters
Key context: <p>Removing tariffs on more than 100 products, including gherkins and baked beans, was one of five measures announced this morning before tomorrow’s budget</p><p><em>Jakub Krupa writes the Guardian’s Europe live blog.</em></p><p><strong>Wes Streeting</strong>, the defence secretary, has warned that Russia’s Vladimir Putin is “testing us and testing Nato’s resolve” as he condemned hybrid threats and “state-sponsored terrorism” from Russia.</p><p>Not because we want war – we have no quarrel with the Russian people, and we have no desire for war with Russia; Nato is a defensive alliance – but when Putin gives assurances that he has no intentions to provoke a war with Nato, we are reminded of what he said about Ukraine only days before the invasion.</p><p>The more ready we are to face against Russia, to defend every inch of Nato territory, the less likely we are to find ourselves in that scenario.</p><p>Poland is one of our greatest and certainly our most reliable friend in Europe, and we value and treasure this friendship very much.</p><p>An astonishing 80% of donations to <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/topic/reform-uk">Reform UK</a> in the past 12 months have come from donors or companies recently based overseas, <em>The Independent </em>can reveal.</p><p>An analysis of data from the Electoral Commission shows the amount received from donors who were based abroad in the past two years by <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/topic/nigel-farage">Nigel Farage’</a>s party dwarfs that of other parties amid growing concern about overseas influence in British politics.</p><p>Whoever’s done this research doesn’t understand where people domicile, how they operate, where they live, and where they vote …</p><p>I can assure you, these people vote here, live here, some of them are international businessmen who travelled the world constantly. In the old days, we used to be proud of British pioneers that went out there and made a great success of their lives.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2026/oct/27/budget-burnham-healey-everday-fixes-gherkins-conservatives-miliband-carers-latest-news-updates">Continue reading...</a> This development from The Guardian highlights ongoing changes in the sector.
Removing tariffs on more than 100 products, including gherkins and baked beans, was one of five measures announced this morning before tomorrow’s budgetJakub Krupa writes the Guardian’s Europe live blog.Wes Streeting, the defence secretary, has warned that Russia’s Vladimir Putin is “testing us and testing Nato’s resolve” as he condemned hybrid threats and “state-sponsored terrorism” from Russia.Not because we want war – we have no quarrel with the Russian people, and we have no desire for war with Russia; Nato is a defensive alliance – but when Putin gives assurances that he has no intentions to provoke a war with Nato, we are reminded of what he said about Ukraine only days before the invasion.The more ready we are to face against Russia, to defend every inch of Nato territory, the less likely we are to find ourselves in that scenario.Poland is one of our greatest and certainly our most reliable friend in Europe, and we value and treasure this friendship very much.An astonishing 80% of donations to Reform UK in the past 12 months have come from donors or companies recently based overseas, The Independent can reveal.An analysis of data from the Electoral Commission shows the amount received from donors who were based abroad in the past two years by Nigel Farage’s party dwarfs that of other parties amid growing concern about overseas influence in British politics.Whoever’s done this research doesn’t understand where people domicile, how they operate, where they live, and where they vote …I can assure you, these people vote here, live here, some of them are international businessmen who travelled the world constantly. In the old days, we used to be proud of British pioneers that went out there and made a great success of their lives. Continue reading...
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