The News Agents

• Does Labour need to own its move to the Left?

  Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves have been out defending their Budget - denying that the tax-raising measures contained within it break the Labour manifesto's promises around taxes on working people. Instead they have been trying to focus on the additional money for the NHS, lifting children out of poverty, and raises to the minimum wage. Yesterday's package of measures amounts to a fundamental shift in both the size of the State and the size of its tax take. It looks set to draw the political divide and define the political debate into the next election. So does Labour need to start making a better case about why it has moved the country in that direction? Jon and Lewis speak exclusively to Labour's deputy leader Lucy Powell. She broke ranks before the Budget to warn against the idea of raising income tax - how does she feel now?The News Agents is brought to you by HSBC UK - https://www.hsbc.co.uk/EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal -> https://nordvpn.com/thenewsagents Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee

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• Budget 2025: Has Reeves saved her job?

  This time last year, Rachel Reeves pledged that her tax raising Budget “wiped the slate clean” and would mean no more need for future tax raids. Today demonstrably proved what a hostage to fortune those comments were. As a result of the Chancellor’s statement today - shambolically accidentally leaked by the OBR before she had got to her feet - the tax burden is due to reach an all time high by the end of the decade. Due to her tax threshold freezes, one in four workers will pay the higher rate of income tax by 2030. There were unmistakably Labour themes in this Budget too - a mansion tax, the end of the two child benefit cap, betting firms also hit with further taxes. But is her calculation the right one? Will the voters stomach tax rises to pay for public services a ballooning welfare state? Or was this about securing her position in the party - if not the country? And what has happened to the Government’s mission for growth?Jon and Lewis speak to Torsten Bell, the Treasury minister and so-called ‘mastermind’ behind this Budget.The News Agents is brought to you by HSBC UK - https://www.hsbc.co.uk/EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal -> https://nordvpn.com/thenewsagents Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee

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• Are Trump's lawyers now controlling the BBC?

  Just a day after BBC bosses were in front of MPs to address impartiality concerns, and there's a fresh impartiality headache for the beleaguered broadcaster. Dutch historian Rutger Bregman, who'd been asked to give the prestigious Reith Lecture, today revealed that the BBC had removed a “key line” from his address. Bregman's claim that President Trump is “the most openly corrupt president in American history” was removed from the Radio 4 broadcast of his lecture. He's said today that he was informed that the decision to remove the accusation was taken at the “highest levels within the BBC”. The BBC has insisted the decision was taken on legal advice. So why was the line pulled? And is the threat of Donald Trump's legal action now influencing the editorial decisions of the BBC?Later, with Nigel Farage on the back foot over the allegations he made racist remarks as a schoolboy - does the Reform UK leader have a glass jaw?The News Agents is brought to you by HSBC UK - https://www.hsbc.co.uk/EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal -> https://nordvpn.com/thenewsagents Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee

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• Was Trump's latest 'peace plan' written by the Kremlin?

  The leak of a 28 point peace plan over the weekend - reportedly agreed between Washington and Moscow - sent shivers down the spine of European leaders and Ukraine's soldiers. The proposals would force Ukraine to hand over swathes of territory to Vladimir Putin, limit the size of its army, and rule out any future membership of NATO.The package was seen as so favourable to the Kremlin that many questioned whether Volodymyr Zelenskyy would be able to stay on if he accepted the terms. And computer analysis of the text suggested that the plan may have indeed been written in Russian before being translated into English. Donald Trump then floated a Thanksgiving deadline for a deal. So what's behind America's fresh urgency for an end to the conflict in Ukraine? Is Russia determining the terms of any deal? And does anyone in the White House care?Later - Mamdani's masterclass in how to handle an Oval Office summit, and why Donald Trump may have seen something of himself in the New York mayor-elect.

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• Ken Clarke on the Budget from hell

  Ken Clarke is perhaps the archetypal political Big Beast. Elected to parliament 55 years ago, he held cabinet roles under Margaret Thatcher, John Major and David Cameron - tipped many times for No 10, and yet never quite hardline enough on Europe to convince his Tory peers that he should be their leader. Ahead of what looks certain to be an existential Budget for Rachel Reeves and Keir Starmer, Lewis went to Lord Clarke's Nottingham home - to discuss the hard choices ahead, the future of this Government, Brexit, populism, and much else besidesThe News Agents is brought to you by HSBC UK - https://www.hsbc.co.uk/EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal -> https://nordvpn.com/thenewsagents Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee

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