Is Labour being outflanked on the left by Nigel Farage?
Nigel Farage seems to have upstaged the Labour government, pledging to scrap the controversial two-child benefit cap and reverse the cuts to the winter fuel allowance. So why hasn't the government – after almost a year in power – done more to end child poverty? Gaby Hinsliff, in for John Harris, speaks to the Labour MP Stella Creasy and columnist Polly Toynbee
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BBC News
9 minutes ago
- BBC News
Bennerley Viaduct visitor centre should open by autumn
A £1.1m visitor centre being built at a historic viaduct on the Derbyshire-Nottinghamshire border should be open this Autumn, volunteers behind the scheme have Viaduct on the River Erewash has a new visitor centre under construction as well as an accessible ramp and nature complete the visitor centre will include exhibition and educational spaces, a cafe, outdoor seating and bicycle an exact date for opening is "impossible" to set, Friends of Bennerley Viaduct chair Nick Tooley told the Local Democracy Reporting Service the group is "hoping" it will be open to visitors in October. He said: "Bear with us, this project has lasted longer than it should have, there have been some technical issues we are hopefully getting around now. "We think we're on the final run and we do desperately hope we will have it open, with the help of the council, this October."He added the group had assembled a lot of archive material about the centre is at the eastern end of the 60ft (20m) tall viaduct, a Grade II* listed bridge which stretches nearly a quarter of a mile (430m) over the River Erewash between Ilkeston and Awsworth. It is known as the Iron said: "We've been speaking to people who remember going over the viaduct when it was open in the '60s, on holiday, on the trains."It actually means an awful lot to a lot of people." 'A lasting tribute' The Victorian viaduct reopened to the public as a walkway and cycle path in 2022 after being closed for 54 Borough Council leader Milan Radulovic said he hoped the visitor centre would help attract tourists to the said: "The wealth we enjoy and the standard of living were built on the backs of working-class people, and this area has a proud heritage of mining, steel work, and industrial work."This will be a lasting tribute and memorial to the sacrifices that they made for the freedoms and benefits we enjoy today."
BBC News
9 minutes ago
- BBC News
Concern over Cheltenham ice rink damaging Imperial Gardens grass
Concerns have been raised over the environmental impact that a temporary ice rink could be having on a popular winter attraction at Imperial Gardens in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, provides a huge boost to the local economy throughout the Christmas period. Speaking at a planning committee meeting, Cheltenham borough councillor Glenn Andrews raised fears that with each passing year that the rink is installed, soil compaction and sunlight deprivation are slowly killing the grass the committee voted to allow the installation and operation of the rink for up to 75 days a year, from November to January, for the next three years. During the meeting on 22 May, Andrews said he was worried that after another three winters, the council may have to completely redo the gardens."Every time I go into Imperial Gardens... the re-turfing isn't taking as well. That is fairly obvious," he said."I do worry about soil compaction. We've got three whole years, and winter is the time when traditionally those gardens would regenerate."I think on ecological grounds I'm against this." According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, head of planning Chris Gomm said he was not aware that soil compaction was an issue assessed by the case officer."The condition that requires the land to be reinstated to its former condition would also apply to the flowerbeds and the grass, to make sure they are healthy post deconstruction," he Frank Allen added the economic benefit it brings to the town outweighed any potential ecological issues."The ice rink is one of our best features in the winter. We would do well to keep on preserving that," he said.
The Independent
10 minutes ago
- The Independent
Starmer in race against time to stop Trump's shock 50% steel tariffs hitting UK
The UK faces a race against time to prevent Donald Trump 's swingeing new 50 per cent tariffs on steel hitting an already beleaguered critical industry. The US president sent shockwaves through the global economy when he announced on Friday that he would raise the tariffs from 25 per cent to 'further secure' the industry. 'We're going to bring it from 25 percent to 50 percent, the tariffs on steel into the United States of America, which will even further secure the steel industry in the United States. Nobody is going to get around that,' Trump told steel workers on a visit to a Pennsylvania plant. He later confirmed on his Truth Social platform that the change would be 'effective Wednesday, June 4'. A UK-US trade deal unveiled with much fanfare earlier this month should have exempted Britain from steel tariffs – but it has yet to be implemented. Ministers now face a scramble to ensure the agreement with the US is in place before Wednesday. The government is urgently seeking clarification from the US on what the latest announcement means for the UK, the Independent understands. Business secretary Jonathan Reynolds is also set to meet his US counterpart Jamieson Greer in a bid to secure an agreed timeline to lift the tariffs. But the face-to-face talks, after an OECD trade ministers summit in Paris, are thought to be scheduled for Wednesday, raising the prospect of an eleventh-hour showdown. Earlier this month President Trump hailed the trade agreement with the UK as a 'great deal for both countries', while the prime minister said the move would 'boost British businesses and save thousands of British jobs' and deliver on his promises to protect carmakers and save the UK's steel industry. Under its terms, levies on steel and aluminium were to be reduced to zero. However, a general 10 per cent tariff for other goods would remain and Britain agreed to scrap its tariff on ethanol coming into the UK from the US. But the Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said the UK had been 'shafted' as she contrasted the amount UK business would have to pay with their costs before President Trump came to power. Last month MPs were forced to hold an unusual Saturday sitting to approve emergency plans to save British Steel 's Scunthorpe blast furnaces by taking control away from its Chinese owners. Although the new law stopped short of nationalisation, the government conceded it was "likely" British Steel would have to be taken into public ownership as Sir Keir warned the UK's economic and national security was "on the line". At the time, he said his government was 'turning the page on a decade of decline, where our manufacturing heartlands were hollowed out by the previous government. Our industry is the pride of our history - and I want it to be our future too." On Trump's new 50 per cent steel tariff announcement, a government spokesperson said: 'The UK was the first country to secure a trade deal with the US earlier this month and we remain committed to protecting British business and jobs across key sectors, including steel. 'We are engaging with the US on the implications of the latest tariff announcement and to provide clarity for industry.'
