Kemi Badenoch claims ‘our country will be lost’ if Conservatives don’t make success of protection renewal – UK politics reside | Politics

In a response to Kemi Badenoch’s speech in London on the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship (ARC) conference, the Liberal Democrats deputy chief Daisy Cooper has accused the Tory chief of “competing with Farage to fawn over Donald Trump” and choosing to “parrot Trump’s dangerous rhetoric”.

During a passage of her speech, Badenoch drew warmth applause throughout the room when she talked about:

The Conservative get collectively in Britain has merely misplaced an election. We have a catastrophe. People ask me what distinction new administration will make? Well, take a look at president Trump. He’s confirmed that sometimes you need that first stint in authorities to establish the problems, nevertheless it certainly’s the second time spherical everytime you really know strategies to restore them.

In totally different passages of her speech Badenoch asserted that the UK was not a racist nation nonetheless steered “some cultures are better than others” and claimed that some immigrants to the west have been discovering widespread set off with “our own useful idiots” with the intention to undermine society’s values.

In response, Cooper talked about:

Kemi Badenoch is competing with Nigel Farage to fawn over Donald Trump. Instead of standing up for Ukraine and Europe’s security, Kemi Badenoch has decided that she would barely parrot Trump’s dangerous rhetoric. To borrow a phrase from her political hero: sad.

Kemi Badenoch has warned that western civilisation is liable to collapse ensuing from “weakness” and a shortage of braveness on the part of conservatives to assist classical liberal ideas.

The Conservative chief of the opposition made the suggestions all through a wide-ranging focus on at a right-wing conservative conference in London all through which she touched on quite a few custom battle talking components, claimed the prime minister Keir Starmer had been “cowed by the mob” over Black Lives Matter protests, and asserted that “some cultures are better than others”.

Pledging that she was important “the largest renewal of policy and ideas in a generation” throughout the Conservative get collectively, she talked about “we stand at the dawn of a new conservative century with so much opportunity and possibility” if the get collectively will get it correct, nonetheless warned “If we throw this opportunity away, because of anger, or self doubt, or weakness, our country and all of western civilisation will be lost.”

Badenoch criticised what she perceived as lack of defence spending by the current authorities as “weak”, described “pronouns or DEI or climate activism” as examples of what she known as “the real poison of left-wing progressivism”, and as well as claimed that minds have been being poisoned in elevated education establishments.

She opened the speech by saying “Western civilisation is in crisis,” together with “Our ideas and our culture have dominated the world for well over two centuries. This is not a crisis of values. It’s a crisis of confidence that has set in at exactly the same time that we face existential threats.”

In a strident passage dealing with immigration, Badenoch talked about:

Immigration is way too extreme. We can’t assist all those who wish to come to our nation. We haven’t any obligation to take motion. The British people ought to come first.

Our nation is simply not racist. We don’t should apologise. We don’t should pay reparations or give away the Chagos islands.

Free speech points. Some cultures are increased than others, and it’s solely contentious to say this because of honesty has turn into unimaginable.

Most of all, we’ve got to face up off our knees and start stopping not just for the UK, nonetheless for the west and our values.

Badenoch talked about that some immigrants “bring behaviours, cultures and practices that will undermine the west” and that “They find common cause with our useful idiots who don’t appreciate their own inheritance.”

The Conservative chief praised Katharine Birbalsingh, saying the headteacher had confirmed “how you defend western civilisation” by refusing to supply a prayer home for pupils on the faculty she runs no matter stress and a licensed case from mom and father.

She warned people to not take heed to the “media class” talking about populism, saying that the true goal of democracy was to put into movement the wants of “everyday people”.

Badenoch talked about:

So let’s keep in mind what we’re defending proper right here. Not merely our wealth, nonetheless our custom. A convention constructed on these values we’ve taken without any consideration. Classic liberal values. Not left-wing liberalism, nonetheless fundamental liberalism. Of free markets, free speech, free enterprise, freedom of religion, the presumption of innocence, the rule of regulation, and equality beneath it. No matter who you’re or the place you come from.

The conference is supposed to be a gathering of influential intellectuals shaping world rightwing contemplating, and likewise will operate US House speaker Republican Mike Johnson, US Energy Secretary Chris Wright, Vivek Ramaswamy, and Reform UK chief NIgel Farage being interviewed by Canadian psychologist and self-help creator Jordan Peterson.

By one of the simplest ways, in the event you want to watch that Kemi Badenoch speech, Sky News have video of it here.

Health secretary Wes Streeting has conceded that folk in England are nonetheless struggling to get GP appointments all through his spherical of media appearances this morning, nonetheless talked about the federal authorities is set to supply “year-on-year improvement” throughout the NHS.

Streeting was promoting the federal authorities’s announcement that it has reached its election promise of two million further NHS appointments in England early.

He suggested viewers of BBC Breakfast:

We’ve delivered on our first step, and we’ve delivered it seven months early. But I don’t want anyone watching to imagine we’re doing victory laps. There are nonetheless giant challenges throughout the NHS, a hell of somewhat loads further to go on prepared lists.

People are nonetheless struggling to get GP appointments, and GPs are struggling, let me let you recognize, with the exhausting caseload they’ve acquired, and we’ve moreover acquired large challenges on points like ambulance response events and A&E trolley corridor care.

I would like I could sit proper right here now and allow you to know that, by subsequent Christmas, there shall be no-one prepared on a trolley in a corridor. I can’t make that promise, nonetheless what I can let you recognize is that we’re going to ship year-on-year enchancment, and I’m determined to see an end to that form of corridor care.

The authorities has talked about prepared lists in England have fallen by practically 160,000 given that authorities took office, and that “the NHS delivered almost 2.2 million more elective care appointments compared to the same period the previous year.”

Conservative opposition chief Kemi Badenoch has asserted that “our country is not racist” nonetheless that “some cultures are better than others” in part of a speech in London the place she talked about “immigration is far too high” and that minds are being “poisoned” in elevated education institutions throughout the UK. She talked about “British people must come first”.

Speaking on the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship (ARC) conference, which could be anticipating to take heed to from Reform UK chief Nigel Farage, Badenoch talked about:

A country can’t be worthwhile if its people and its psychological elite don’t think about in it. This means dealing with the poisoning of minds happening in elevated education.

We have been naive on monetary improvement. We have been naive on factors from internet zero to immigration, weakening ourselves and strengthening our opponents.

Immigration is way too extreme. We can’t assist all those who wish to come to our nation. We haven’t any obligation to take motion. The British people ought to come first.

We can’t protect racking up debt for our children, It was fiscal weak level, not merely battle, that led to the decline of the Roman Empire. We need smaller authorities and smarter spending. The notion that the state and by no means enterprise creates wealth has turn into normalised.

The world owes no one a dwelling. Millions of people can’t merely sit on welfare and depend on to be paid to take motion, and within the occasion that they don’t choose it, that’s their draw back, not the state’s.

Our nation is simply not racist. We don’t should apologise. We don’t should pay reparations or give away the Chagos islands.

Free speech points. Some cultures are increased than others, and it’s solely contentious to say this because of honesty has turn into unimaginable.

Most of all, we’ve got to face up off our knees and start stopping not just for the UK, nonetheless for the west and our values.

Badenoch implored the viewers “Don’t listen to the media class complain about populism. The very essence of democracy is acknowledging the will of everyday people and then actually making it happen.”

Speaking of her private mission because the model new chief of the Conservatives, Badenoch talked about:

For these of us who search administration, we should always do increased, and that’s the rationale throughout the UK, my get collectively is starting the most important renewal of protection and ideas in a period.

This conference is part of discovering these options, and it fills me with hope.

If we get this correct, we stand on the dawn of a model new conservative century with loads various and threat.

If we throw this opportunity away, as a result of anger, or self doubt, or weak level, our nation and all of western civilisation shall be misplaced.

ARC was co-founded in 2023 by the Canadian psychologist and self-help creator Jordan Peterson and the Tory peer Philippa Stroud. Financial backers embrace Paul Marshall, certainly one of many homeowners of GB News, and the Legatum Institute libertarian thinktank. It is anticipated that on Tuesday as part of the conference Farage shall be interviewed onstage by Peterson.

In a passage of her speech to the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship conference in London, opposition chief Kemi Badenoch has talked about that some immigrants to western nation are working with “useful idiots” to undermine society.

She talked about:

Millions of people throughout the globe have to reside throughout the west because of they want the benefits. However, just a few of them carry behaviours, cultures and practices that may undermine the west and the values that helped make us good. They uncover widespread set off with our useful idiots who don’t respect their very personal inheritance.

Kemi Badenoch has accused the prime minister of taking the knee as part of Black Lives Matter protests because of he was “cowed by the mob”.

Speaking on the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship conference in London, in a passage throughout which she praised Michaela Community School headteacher Katharine Birbalsingh for refusing to supply prayer areas or allowing prayer to occur throughout the faculty’s secular setting, the Conservative opposition chief talked about:

Katharine confirmed the way in which you defend Western civilisation. Contrast this braveness with Keir Starmer, the prime minister who took the knee all through Black Lives Matter protests in response to a problem that was not in his nation and didn’t apply. Why? Because he was cowed by the mob. The draw back isn’t liberalism. The draw back is weak level.

Earlier throughout the speech Badenoch praised what she described as a result of the classical liberal values of free speech and freedom of religion.

Badenoch moreover took a swipe on the prime minister over defence spending, saying:

Totalitarian states like Russia, Iran and North Korea are coordinated of their efforts. Failing to spend additional on defence is simply not peacemaking, it’s weak level, and it solely emboldens their threats to democracy and world stability.

After 14 years of Conservatives in authorities, defence spending in real terms in 2023/24 was £53.9bn, lower than the £57.1bn spent in 2009/10 over the past yr of the sooner Labour administration.

Kemi Badenoch has been speaking on the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship conference in London. The Conservative opposition chief opened her focus on by saying “Western civilisation is in crisis.”

She talked about {{that a}} “crisis of confidence” has set in “at exactly the same time that we face existential threats.”

She talked about “it is not liberal values that are the problem – it is weakness.”

Citing survey outcomes that counsel big numbers of youthful people throughout the UK mustn’t proud to be British, and picture the nation to be racist, and have little faith in parliamentary democracy and would assist “a strong leader”, Badenoch talked about:

We shouldn’t be shocked. Young people see a parliament presiding over stagnation, no matter making more and more authorized tips. A parliament with just some defending our values and loads of additional too scared to downside those who assault what we think about in.

She talked about:

So let’s keep in mind what we’re defending proper right here. Not merely our wealth, nonetheless our custom. A convention constructed on these values we’ve taken without any consideration. Classic liberal values. Not left-wing liberalism, nonetheless fundamental liberalism. Of free markets, free speech, free enterprise, freedom of religion, the presumption of innocence, the rule of regulation, and equality beneath it. No matter who you’re or the place you come from.

As the world turns into additional tough, we’ve got to bravely fight for these values now.

Instead, we’re distracted, too busy critiquing and deconstructing what earlier generations constructed, barely than guaranteeing that the simplest of our inheritance is left intact for the next period.

This is the precise poison of left-wing progressivism, whether or not or not it’s pronouns or DEI or native climate activism. These factors aren’t about kindness. They are about administration. We have restricted time and every second spent debating what a lady is, is a second misplaced from dealing with these challenges.

Asked regarding the affect of migration on NHS suppliers whereas displaying on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, nicely being secretary Wes Streeting talked about it was “a mixed picture”.

Suggesting that the service was “slightly over-reliant on overseas workers” he suggested viewers:

There’s little query that internet migration is inserting precise stress on the NHS. But it’s a mixed picture, because of in these figures are moreover individuals who discover themselves coming to work in our NHS and social care suppliers.

So we’re, I really feel, barely over-reliant on overseas employees to employees our nicely being and care suppliers. And I really feel it’s partly my job to help the home secretary in the reduction of these internet migration figures.

And basic, we’ve got been investing throughout the experience of our nation so we’re capable of put together up our private people, to reduce our reliance on people coming from overseas to fill vacancies.

Streeting had been requested “What about the pressure on the NHS of immigration, legal and illegal? We see figures just this weekend, very high. Hundreds of people crossed over the weekend, and it’s February. We’re not even in spring or summer. That’s putting immense pressure on the NHS, isn’t it?”

The nicely being secretary defended the federal authorities’s doc, saying:

On the question of illegal migration, in widespread with totally different challenges all through authorities, we’ve made progress throughout the first seven months, notably on deportations of those who shouldn’t be proper right here.

And the home secretary and the prime minister have been working ferociously with our allies all through Europe, notably nations like Italy, the place that’s moreover an issue, to start dealing with our border security factors.

And merely remaining week, we put legal guidelines by the use of parliament to rearrange our protected border command, which, sadly, the Conservatives and Reform voted in opposition to. But we’re making progress. And in widespread with what I discussed regarding the NHS, somewhat loads completed, a hell of way more nonetheless to do.

Keir Starmer’s announcement via the Telegraph that he was prepared to put British peacekeeping troops on the underside in Ukraine was moreover described by Conservative MP and shadow cabinet spokesperson Alicia Kearns as not the becoming priority. She suggested viewers of Sky News “his priority should be today talking about defence spending.”

It was put to her that by Sky’s Wilfred Frost that “you’re trying to criticise the state of defence spending six months into their government, when this is a long-term issue, after 14 years [of Conservatives being] in power.”

Kearns responded by saying:

I’ve always been very clear. I was vital of my very personal authorities. But what I’m saying is, since July, a name was made to facet with the Treasury, to not give the rise in defence spending. We needed to proceed to replenish shares. Replenishing shares have to be the priority so that we’re ready if we do wish to provide peacekeeping suppliers, if we do wish to provide additional assist to Ukraine.

Another one which raised the problem of the related charge associated to Starmer’s announcement and broader defence spending was Richard Dannatt, chief of the ultimate employees between 2006 and 2009, who suggested BBC Breakfast:

My response is the prime minister is doing the becoming issue. But, the truth is, doing the becoming issue comes at a worth. If the prime minister is crucial about wanting to deploy British troops, put boots on the underside in Ukraine as part of a peacekeeping strain, he’s acquired to know that’s going to return at a considerable worth.

Frankly, we haven’t acquired the numbers and we haven’t acquired the instruments to put a giant strain onto the underside for an extended time interval in the intervening time second. We’ve acquired to have the becoming number of people with the becoming instruments and the becoming teaching, and start to fund that now.

Conservative MP for Rutland and Stamford, Alicia Kearns, who acts as a shadow cabinet spokesperson, was moreover on the media spherical this morning, and suggested viewers of Sky News that whereas her get collectively stood “shoulder to shoulder” with Ukraine, she was “quite cautious” about Keir Starmer’s announcement throughout the pages of the Telegraph that he was prepared to put British troops on the underside as part of a peacekeeping strain.

She talked about:

I’m pretty cautious, because of we’re not a spot throughout which we understand the phrases or the conditions or the numbers or one of the simplest ways throughout which we’ve been deploying our people, and we should all the time always assure that we’re making decisions based on as loads information as potential.

The actuality is that Ukraine continues to be stopping for its freedom. Russia has taken spherical 600 sq. miles of territory over the previous couple of months. We’re not in a spot as however the place I really feel we may very well be making these commitments … points are going to change over the next few hours, to not point out the next few days, weeks and months.

I’m used to seeing what it’s like out the place now we’ve got people deployed. I don’t want to deal in hypotheticals in relation to putting our men and women on the underside, stopping for people, because of I’ve seen how dangerous it could be on the underside and the way in which vital these decisions are.

On the prospects of a US-Russia brokered peace cope with out along with Ukraine or European voices in negotiations, Kearns talked about:

We will always give Ukraine the assistance they need. We will stand shoulder to shoulder with them. We will fight for them to search out out the phrases of this peace.

And moreover, it’s vital to note, this might’t merely be that we’ve managed to stop the taking photos and murder, and subsequently we’ve acquired peace. We desire a peace deal that may end the menace to our European neighbours and to us, one that may make us safer from a state that’s at current behaving like a terrorist.

Denis Campbell

While nicely being secretary Wes Streeting has been doing the media spherical boasting about making progress on the NHS in England, my colleague Denis Campbell has this report stating that NHS victims in England are affected by dysfunctional admin. He writes:

Patients routinely ought to chase up examine outcomes, get hold of appointment letters after their appointments and do not know when their treatment will occur because of the NHS is so “dysfunctional”.

That is the conclusion of study by two important victims’ organisations and the King’s Fund, which lays bare a variety of points with one of the simplest ways the nicely being service interacts with it clients.

Sixty-four % of people in England who used the NHS or organized handle one other individual over the last yr encountered a problem involving its administration or communication.

Patients have been left pissed off by examine outcomes going missing, being unable to change or cancel appointments or having to pursue the outcomes of a examine, scan or X-ray.

You can study additional of Denis Campbell’s report proper right here: Most NHS clients in England affected by dysfunctional admin, report finds

The nicely being secretary has talked about that he hopes the federal authorities’s announcement on additional NHS appointments in England will go some method to rebuilding the “shattered confidence” in politicians sustaining their ensures.

Appearing on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, Wes Streeting suggested viewers:

I have to say two points really. The first is that now we’ve got delivered that first step. We promise to ship two million additional appointments a yr to cut NHS prepared lists [in England], and we’ve completed it seven months early.

So for all these people in the marketplace watching, and there shall be many, who assume that politicians focus on somewhat loads and do little or no, and that politicians don’t observe our ensures, I hope this begins to rebuild your shattered confidence that we’re sticking to our ensures. So that’s the first degree.

The second degree, though, I’m not doing victory laps. The prime minister isn’t doing victory laps. We know there’s a hell of way more to do … whether or not or not it’s the dimension of the prepared lists, the ambulance response events, the people on trolleys in corridors, or the wrestle people ought to get a GP or a dentist appointment. There are large challenges throughout the NHS.

We’ve hit the underside working. We are attacking these challenges and trying to find to ship yr on yr enchancment. But you obtained’t hear us instantly going spherical saying, don’t worry. Job completed. What we’re saying instantly is we’ve delivered our first step.

So somewhat loads completed, nonetheless a hell of way more to do. And I hope it merely rebuilds just a little little bit of confidence that we’re delivering our ensures and that points will get increased and brighter.

The authorities has launched that it has hit an election promise to ship additional NHS appoints in England. In a press launch it claimed “Pledge to deliver over two million more elective care appointments hit early with over 100,000 more treatments, tests and scans for patients each week” and that “Waiting lists falls by almost 160,000 since government took office, as extra appointments delivered for chemotherapy, radiotherapy, endoscopy, and diagnostic tests.”

Health secretary Wes Streeting has been on the media spherical for the federal authorities this morning, and has been requested about Keir Starmer’s dedication to put British troops on the underside in Ukraine in a peacekeeping operate if required by any peace deal.

Speaking on Times Radio he talked about it was “premature” to talk about what variety of British troops could very nicely be despatched. PA Media experiences he suggested listeners:

The prime minister shall be travelling to France to satisfy with totally different European Nato leaders to debate what’s a once-in-a-generation second for the collective security of our continent, which isn’t practically the way in which ahead for Ukraine, it’s an existential question for Europe as a whole.

That’s why the gathering [in Paris] instantly is critical. Next week, he’ll be travelling to Washington to satisfy with President Trump, little query relaying the results of just a few of those discussions instantly.

Asked what the dimensions of a attainable peacekeeping strain could very nicely be and if the Government could be prepared to carry out a recruitment drive, he talked about: “I think it’s premature to be talking about numbers.”

He talked about the federal authorities was nonetheless “on the path” to spending 2.5% of GDP on defence, although the federal authorities doesn’t have a date for reaching the objective.

According to House of Commons library figures, throughout the 2023/24 financial yr, the UK spent £53.9bn on defence. A report printed in December 2024 mentioned that “Real-terms defence spending fell by 22% between 2009/10 and 2016/17 (from £57.1bn to £44.6bn in 2023/24 prices), before starting to increase again to nearer its 2010 levels.”

Keir Starmer has talked about he’s prepared to put British troops on the underside in Ukraine in a peacekeeping operate as part of any peace deal.

Taking the bizarre step of asserting the potential deployment of British troops throughout the pages of the Telegraph barely than in parliament, the prime minister said:

Europe ought to step up further to satisfy the requires of its private security. We have gotten to point we’re really crucial about our private defence and bearing our private burden. We have talked about it for too prolonged – and president Trump is true to demand that we get on with it.

Russia continues to be waging battle and Ukraine continues to be stopping for its freedom, which is why we should always not relent in our efforts to get the bundle Ukrainians need for his or her fighters on the doorway line. While the stopping continues, we should always put Ukraine throughout the strongest potential place ahead of any talks.

The UK is ready to play a primary operate in accelerating work on security ensures for Ukraine. This incorporates further assist for Ukraine’s navy. But it moreover means being ready and ready to contribute to security ensures to Ukraine by putting our private troops on the underside if wanted.

I don’t say that flippantly. I actually really feel very deeply the obligation that comes with most likely putting British servicemen and women in damage’s means. But any operate in serving to to make sure Ukraine’s security helps to make sure the protection of our continent, and the protection of this nation.

Starmer continued by saying “The end of this war, when it comes, cannot merely become a temporary pause before Putin attacks again.”

The prime minister is heading to Paris instantly for talks with European leaders. My colleague Jakub Krupa writes:

The Paris meeting will intention to stipulate a European movement plan after days of chaotic briefing by the Trump administration. The summit could even should resolve how you can reply a request by the US to spell out whether or not or not leaders are able to commit troops to a stabilisation strain throughout the event of a ceasefire.

Confirming the Paris meeting, France’s worldwide minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, suggested France Inter radio on Sunday: “The president will bring together the main European countries tomorrow for discussions on European security.” He talked about there was a wind of unity blowing by the use of.

Health secretary Wes Streeting has talked about he stays open to “serious proposals” for private funding throughout the NHS.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Streeting talked about:

I really need additional affected individual choice, additional affected individual power, additional affected individual administration over the place they’re seen, how they’re dealt with, the character of their appointments. The NHS have to be as responsive as each different organisation that we use.

I really feel there’s a operate for private funding, nonetheless the phrases of those preparations, that’s the place you’ve acquired to tread really rigorously. But I’m open to crucial proposals from the NHS, or definitely anyone else.

The authorities has claimed that it has delivered early on an election pledge to produce an extra two million NHS appointments in England inside a yr.

In a press launch, the federal authorities talked about:

The prime minister has welcomed new figures printed by NHS England which reveal that between July and November remaining yr, the NHS delivered practically 2.2 million additional elective care appointments compared with the similar interval the sooner yr – delivering on the federal authorities’s mission to restore the NHS as part of the plan for change.

The new information confirms the federal authorities reached the objective seven months before promised – with 100,000 additional therapies, exams, and scans for victims each week, and larger than half a million further diagnostic exams delivered.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, nicely being secretary Wes Streeting talked about: “Look at the size of the waiting lists overall. It’s come down four months in a row. That’s progress, but there’s still a lot more to do.”

NHS England supplied 2.2m additional appointments for deliberate care – along with chemotherapy, radiotherapy and diagnostic exams – between July and November remaining yr than all through the similar interval the yr sooner than.

Despite the announcement that the federal authorities claims to have hit its objective of two million further appointments, nicely being secretary Wes Streeting has talked about there could also be “a hell of a lot more to do” to boost NHS care in England.

Speaking on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme, the MP for Ilford North talked about:

What we’ve seen throughout the NHS over the course of winter with ambulance response events, and corridor care, [there’s] a hell of way more to do there. Mental nicely being is in a dire state. There’s an unlimited amount additional to do there.

And on each of those fronts, the truth is, we’re going to ship what we talked about in our manifesto.

But it’s vital that as we do, we’re reporting once more to reassure most people that politics might make a distinction. That authorities typically is a strain for good.

Good morning, and welcome to our rolling safety of UK politics for Monday. Here are the headlines.

• The authorities has claimed that it has already delivered on its election pledge to supply two million additional NHS elective care appointments in England

• Health secretary Wes Streeting talked about there could also be “a hell of a lot more to do” to boost care throughout the NHS in England, singling out ambulance response events and corridor care as factors

• Prime minister Keir Starmer has written an op-ed for the Telegraph saying that he’s ready to put British troops on the underside as part of a peacekeeping strain on the underside in Ukraine if required as part of any peace deal

• Chancellor Rachel Reeves has been warned public sector unions will demand elevated pay will improve to compensate for accelerating inflation

• UK employers are reported to be getting ready for the most important redundancy spherical in a decade amid collapsing enterprise confidence as corporations brace for tax will improve from April

• Britain’s poorest households are paying an rising share of their income on council tax, based mostly on new analysis

• Conservative opposition chief Kemi Badenoch, and Nigel Farage, chief of Reform UK, are anticipated to attend the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship (ARC) conference in London

It is Martin Belam with you instantly. You can get involved with me at martin.belam@theguardian.com.