Policy

‘Classic socialist authoritarianism’: Labour to let councils take over private homes left empty for six months

The qualifying period for an Empty Dwelling Management Order is being reduced from two years to six months, and councils will no longer have to provide evidence on matters such as anti-social behaviour or community support when they ask a tribunal for permission to take over the management of a home. Other statutory tests, and the tribunal’s approval, remain. The change, announced during Labour’s conference in Liverpool, has drawn sharp criticism from property campaigners and senior Conservative figures. The government says no application for an order has been made since 2021.

Vicky Richter · 28 September 2026

Policy

TV licence could be scrapped and replaced with £11 a month levy on broadband bills

A cross-party think tank has drawn up plans to scrap the licence fee and replace it with a monthly charge on internet connections, understood to have been discussed with advisers to Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy. The proposal would cut the annual cost for existing payers, but extend BBC funding to millions of households that pay nothing today.

Vicky Richter · 24 September 2026

Policy

Burnham Tasks Security Chiefs With New Disinformation Centre

Britain already runs a long list of bodies watching misinformation, hostile influence and information threats. Andy Burnham has just announced another one, tasked with detecting, attributing and disrupting hostile state information attacks. No budget, no headcount, and no published definition of what "disrupt" means.

Vicky Richter · 23 September 2026

Policy

More than half of PIP claimants are over 50. The welfare debate is still about the young

PIP now supports 4.1 million people and costs the taxpayer more than £27bn a year, with the bill forecast to pass £41bn by 2031. More than half of those claimants are over 50, and the reform options being modelled would leave older claimants worse off. In a debate dominated by youth worklessness, the arithmetic points somewhere else.

Vicky Richter · 22 September 2026

Policy

Burnham plans new mayor-led bodies to oversee Britain's water companies

Mayors are to sit on nine new regional bodies with powers to control Britain's water companies. The Prime Minister calls it public control without nationalisation. Critics see another layer of committees on top of a regulator that already failed.

Vicky Richter · 17 September 2026

Policy

Burnham weighs £200 energy help for benefits claimants as hotel guests face a new levy that spares asylum accommodation

Ministers are weighing up to £200 of energy help for benefits claimants while mayors prepare to charge hotel guests, and taxpayer-funded asylum accommodation falls outside the levy. Who is shielded from rising costs, and who is left to pay, is the question.

Vicky Richter · 14 September 2026

Policy

Standards slipped in Wales and Scotland. Is England learning the right lessons?

England has moved further ahead of the rest of the UK in the latest OECD PISA 2025 study, while Wales remains the weakest of the home nations and Scotland continues to lag badly in maths. That is the central fact in a survey which tested more than 760,000 pupils across 91 countries and economies.

Vicky Richter · 12 September 2026

Policy

Ministers scrapped compulsory digital ID in January. The infrastructure kept growing

January: ministers retreated from compulsory digital ID. September: the statutory verification framework came into force, the GOV.UK Wallet opened to certified providers, and phone age checks were announced. The infrastructure kept expanding anyway.

Vicky Richter · 11 September 2026

Policy

Army to mobilise veterans in major war-readiness test

Britain is preparing to test whether former troops from its 95,000-strong Strategic Reserve can be recalled in a crisis, at the same time as serving Army reservists are told to serve fewer days to save money.

Vicky Richter · 10 September 2026

Policy

Burnham: national security "can't come at the expense of social security"

Andy Burnham rejected the Conservative plan to save at least £4bn through housing benefit reform and fund defence, saying national security cannot come "at the expense of social security". How the increased spending will be paid for remains unresolved.

Vicky Richter · 10 September 2026

Policy

Retail giants warn Burnham against a high-street "tax raid" as bond markets send borrowing costs to decade highs

Andy Burnham's Commons debut as Prime Minister was overtaken within hours by two pressures: a bond-market rout leaving him facing a shortfall of up to £14 billion, and a warning from M&S, Tesco and the Retail Jobs Alliance against funding a high-street revival with higher taxes on large shops.

Vicky Richter · 2 September 2026

Policy

Parliament Reconvenes as Great British PAC Sets Out Free Speech Demands for New Prime Minister

As the House of Commons returns from recess and the new Prime Minister prepares to face Members of Parliament from the despatch box for the first time, the Great British PAC is issuing a series of urgent demands aimed at halting what it describes as a deepening national crisis over free expression, judicial rights, and religious liberty in the United Kingdom.

Vicky Richter · 1 September 2026