LONDON: Britain’s new Labour government on Wednesday announced major tax hikes and higher borrowing to meet Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s aim of investing for long-term growth.
In the highly-anticipated fiscal update — the first under the center-left government after 14 years of Conservative rule — finance minister Rachel Reeves said tax increases would raise an additional £40 billion ($52 million).
Addressing parliament in a speech lasting more than one hour, Reeves also confirmed changes to fiscal rules that will allow the government to invest billions more in public services.
“This government was given a mandate,” Reeves told MPs.
“To restore stability to our country and to begin a decade of national renewal. The only way to drive economic growth is to invest, invest, invest,” she insisted.
Labour won a landslide general election in July and had already announced a raft of economic measures, including improved workers’ rights and minimum wages, a vast green-energy plan and plans for mass building of homes.
Ahead of the budget, it also drew strong criticism for scrapping a winter-fuel benefit scheme for millions of pensioners, hurting Starmer’s approval rating in polls.
“I am restoring stability to our public finances and rebuilding our public services,” Reeves said Wednesday.
Reeves said £25 billion would come from hiking employers’ national insurance — a payrolls tax used to help pay for social care.
Changes to inheritance tax will raise more than £2 billion while the government is also hiking taxation on capital gains and property purchases as part of its plans to claw back money.
The pound won back ground as Reeves spoke, while London’s stock market was little changed.
“At this stage, massive tax rises have not spooked financial markets,” said Kathleen Brooks, research director at traders XTB.
The government kept its pledge not to raise income taxes, employee national insurance charges, or value added tax.
Outgoing Tory leader Rishi Sunak, Britain’s former prime minister, said the budget contains “broken promise after broken promise.”
Ahead of her tax and spend plans, Reeves made a technical change to the way UK debt is measured to allow her to borrow more, even though the country’s public sector borrowing is now at levels last seen in the 1960s.
To boost investment, the chancellor will use a wider measure of debt that takes into account the future returns on investment.
Reeves on Wednesday said the extra investment in capital infrastructure projects would start to “repair the fabric of our nation.”
The government will invest billions of pounds to rebuild schools, hire teachers and fund childcare.
In a surprise move, she extended the freeze on fuel duty until next year.
The cash-strapped National Health Service will receive a substantial boost, with the day-to-day health budget receiving an increase of nearly £23 billion.
Alongside the budget, Reeves said Britain’s economy was set to grow faster than forecast this year and next.
The nation’s gross domestic product will expand 1.1 percent in 2024 and by 2.0 percent next year — above estimates given in March by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), Britain’s fiscal watchdog.
Britain is benefiting from its annual inflation rate dropping to under the Bank of England’s 2.0-percent target, easing a cost-of-living crisis.
The International Monetary Fund this month also estimated that Britain’s economy would grow 1.1 percent in 2024.
Looking beyond next year, the OBR on Wednesday downgraded Britain’s growth forecasts for the 2026-2028 period.
UK’s Labour government hikes taxes in first budget
https://arab.news/2t4xe
UK’s Labour government hikes taxes in first budget
- Reeves said £25 billion would come from hiking employers’ national insurance — a payrolls tax used to help pay for social care
- Changes to inheritance tax will raise more than £2 billion while the government is also hiking taxation on capital gains and property purchases
Asian contribution to Britain’s war campaigns deserves greater recognition: Campaigners
- Politicians, Muslim community leaders highlight heroism of Victoria Cross recipient Khudadad Khan
- They are calling for new historical education in schools as part of anti-racism, anti-Islamophobia push
LONDON: Politicians and Muslim community leaders in the UK are calling for greater recognition in schools of Asian soldiers who fought for Britain during the two world wars, The Guardian reported on Wednesday.
The appeal comes on the 110th anniversary of the first Muslim recipient of the Victoria Cross medal.
Campaigners say greater awareness of the sacrifice of Commonwealth soldiers could help tackle racism and Islamophobia in the UK.
The story of Khudadad Khan is at the center of the appeal. The machine-gunner was injured in 1914 as he tried to prevent German troops from capturing vital territory in France and Belgium, holding off an enemy advance long enough for reinforcements to arrive despite being wounded and outnumbered.
He was the only survivor of the battle, and was presented with the Victoria Cross by King George V in 1915.
After the war Khan returned to Pakistan, which was then part of pre-partition India. The Imperial War Museum in London displays his Victoria Cross.
Khan’s heroism is being highlighted by Leeds Imam Qari Asim, chair of the Mosques and Imams National Advisory Board; Labour MP Calvin Bailey; and House of Lords member Sayeeda Warsi, whose two grandfathers fought in the Second World War.
They say Khan’s story should feature prominently during the 80th anniversary commemorations of VE Day next year as part of a larger campaign to combat racism and Islamophobia in Britain.
Asim highlighted his alarm over the nationwide rioting that took place earlier this year. “It was frightening this summer to see a toxic minority attacking mosques and threatening Muslims in their community,” he said.
“If they knew this country’s history — what Khudadad Khan and thousands of other Muslim soldiers did for Britain in the world wars — perhaps they would think differently.
“We should do more to raise awareness, among Muslims and non-Muslims alike, of this service and sacrifice. We are all part of Britain’s history and that’s something we can commemorate together.”
Research conducted earlier this year by Focaldata for British Future found that 77 percent of the UK public believe that it is important for integration that school students are taught “shared history.”
A further 85 percent agreed that the history of all Commonwealth soldiers who fought for Britain should be taught in school.
Warsi said: “We saw the very worst of Britain this summer, as an angry few turned their anger first on ethnic and faith minorities, and then on the police doing their job to protect people.
“Next month we will remember the men and women whose service and sacrifice helped defend our freedoms.
“Those armies in the world wars included men like Khudadad Khan and soldiers from Africa and the Caribbean; they included both my grandfathers, too. Then, as now, Britain is at its best when we stand together.”
Bangladesh cuts Hajj package fee by 20% to accommodate more pilgrims
- Bangladeshis will pay $920 less than this year for the 2025 pilgrimage package
- Hajj quota for Bangladesh was 127,000 in 2024 but only 85,000 pilgrims traveled
DHAKA: The Bangladeshi government cut the cost of Hajj packages on Wednesday to make the spiritual journey more accessible in next year’s pilgrimage season.
Last year, Saudi Arabia granted Bangladesh a quota of 127,000 pilgrims, but high inflation and the cost of flights to the Middle East meant only 85,000 were able to embark on the spiritual journey.
In 2024, the minimum government rate for Hajj was nearly $5,000; for 2025, it will be about 20 percent lower.
“We have announced two Hajj packages today for next year’s Hajj. It’s good news for our pilgrims that costs have been reduced significantly this time, compared with last year. In one package, it has been reduced by $920, and in another one, the cost is reduced by around $100,” Matiul Islam, additional secretary at the Ministry of Religious Affairs, told Arab News.
“This huge reduction in the Hajj expense was mainly possible due to the reduction in plane fare and accommodation facilities.”
Under the cheaper package, pilgrims will stay in accommodation some 3 km from the Great Mosque of Makkah, while hotels will be located within 1.5 km of the sacred site under the more expensive one.
Bangladesh, one of the most populous Muslim-majority countries, also struggled to meet its Hajj quota in 2023, as few people were able to afford it.
The government is hopeful this will not be the case in 2025.
“We hope that the Hajj quota will be fulfilled as Hajj expenses have been reduced significantly. As of today, around 9,000 pilgrims (are) registered for next year,” Islam said.
“I think the prospective pilgrims will register for Hajj in huge numbers in the next weeks, as many of them were waiting for the announcement of the new package.”
Next year’s Hajj is expected to begin on June 4. The deadline for Bangladeshi pilgrims to register is Nov. 30.
Philippines braces for new typhoon with regions still under water after deadly storm
- More than 300,000 people remained in emergency shelters after Tropical Storm Trami
- Kong-Rey is skirting northern Philippines before slamming into Taiwan on Thursday
MANILA: The Philippines braced on Wednesday for the possible impact of another powerful typhoon sweeping the country’s north, days after a storm wreaked havoc on its most populous island, leaving at least 139 people dead and dozens missing.
Kong-rey — locally known as Leon — reached super-typhoon strength on Wednesday and was expected to bring strong winds and heavy rainfall as it skirted the northernmost province of Batanes, said the weather bureau, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration.
The PAGASA also warned of a moderate-to-high risk of “life-threatening coastal flooding due to storm surge with peak heights exceeding 3.0 meters.”
This could be triggered by Kong-rey in low-lying coasts of Batanes and the nearby Babuyan cluster of islands, home to some combined 20,000 people.
Batanes was placed under Signal No. 4, which means that “the situation is potentially very destructive to the community.”
“Forced and mandatory evacuations in areas identified with high risk (are) enforced as the country prepares for the anticipated adverse weather condition brought by ‘Leon,’” the Department of Defense said in a statement.
The super-typhoon is passing near the Philippines before making landfall along Taiwan’s eastern coast on Thursday.
The 12th cyclone to hit the Philippines this year was approaching days after Tropical Storm Trami swept across the country’s northeast, inundating entire towns with severe flooding and triggering landslides.
Most of the damage was recorded in Luzon, the Philippines’ largest and most populous island.
Towns and cities in the Bicol region, southern Luzon, were still under water on Wednesday, as over 300,000 people displaced last week remained in emergency shelters, authorities said.
It was the deadliest tropical cyclone to hit the Philippines in 2024.
The Southeast Asian nation is the country most at risk from natural disasters, according to the 2024 World Risk Report.
Millions of Filipinos are affected by storms and typhoons every year, which are increasingly more unpredictable and extreme due to climate change.
US running low on interceptor missiles amid Middle East, Ukraine wars: WSJ
- Pentagon officials reportedly ‘concerned’ over American readiness levels
- Analyst: ‘Both of those wars are extended conflicts, which was not part of US defense planning’
LONDON: US stockpiles of air-defense missiles are running low amid surging demand in Israel and Ukraine, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Pentagon officials and analysts are reportedly “concerned” over US readiness due to an inability to produce new missiles faster than they are being used.
More than 100 Standard Missiles have been launched since the Hamas attack against Israel last October.
The interceptors were used to counter the two Iranian missile and drone attacks on Israel, as well as strikes from Yemen’s Houthi militia.
“The US has not developed a defense industrial base intended for a large-scale war of attrition in both Europe and the Middle East, while meeting its own readiness standards,” Elias Yousif, deputy director of the Conventional Defense Program at the Stimson Center, told the WSJ. “And both of those wars are extended conflicts, which was not part of US defense planning.”
Washington cannot publicly disclose its stockpile strength due to security concerns. Pentagon officials said there are no plans to increase production of Standard Missiles.
“Over the course of the last year, the Department of Defense has augmented our force posture in the region to protect US forces and support the defense of Israel, while always taking into account US readiness and stockpiles,” Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh told the WSJ.
Canada alleges Indian Home Minister Amit Shah ordered campaign targeting Sikh separatists
- Justin Trudeau has said Canada has evidence Indian agents murdered Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar
- Indian authorities have repeatedly denied Canada’s allegations while calling them absurd in recent months
OTTAWA, Ontario: A Canadian official alleged Tuesday that Indian Home Minister Amit Shah ordered a campaign of violence, intimidation and intelligence-gathering targeting Sikh separatists inside Canada.
Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister David Morrison told Parliament members of the national security committee that he had confirmed Shah’s name to The Washington Post, which first reported the allegations.
“The journalist called me and asked if it was that person. I confirmed it was that person,” Morrison told the committee.
Morrison did not say how Canada knew of Shah’s alleged involvement.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said a year ago that Canada had credible evidence agents of the Indian government were involved in the murder of Canadian Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in British Columbia in June 2023.
Canadian authorities have repeatedly said they have shared evidence of that with Indian authorities.
Indian government officials have repeatedly denied Canada has provided evidence and have called the allegations absurd. India’s embassy in Ottawa didn’t immediately respond to messages for a request for comment on the allegation against Shah.
On Oct. 14, Canada expelled the Indian high commissioner and five other diplomats, alleging they were persons of interest in multiple cases of coercion, intimidation and violence aimed at quieting a campaign for an independent Sikh state known as Khalistan.
Canada is not the only country that has accused Indian officials of plotting an assassination on foreign soil. The United States Justice Department announced criminal charges in mid-October against an Indian government employee in connection with an alleged foiled plot to kill a Sikh separatist leader living in New York City.
In the case announced by the Justice Department, Vikash Yadav, who authorities say directed the New York plot from India, faces murder-for-hire charges in a planned killing that prosecutors have previously said was meant to precede a string of other politically motivated murders in the United States and Canada.
Nathalie Drouin, Trudeau’s national security adviser, told the committee Tuesday that Canada has evidence the Indian government first gathered information on Indian nationals and Canadian citizens in Canada through diplomatic channels and proxies.
She said the information was then passed to the government in New Delhi, which allegedly works with a criminal network affiliated with Lawrence Bishnoi.
Bishnoi is currently in prison in India, but Drouin said his vast criminal network has been linked to homicides, assassination plots, coercion and other violent crimes in Canada.
Before the Royal Canadian Mounted Police went public with allegations that Indian diplomats were persons of interest in criminal investigations, Drouin said there was an effort to work with the Indian government to ensure accountability.
Drouin said a meeting was held with Modi’s national security adviser, Ajit Doval, in Singapore two days earlier.
She said the decision was made to go public when it became evident the Indian government would not cooperate with Canada on proposed accountability measures.
That included asking India to waive diplomatic immunity for the persons of interest, including the high commissioner in Ottawa. Drouin said this was not seen as likely.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said it took the extraordinary step of talking publicly about ongoing investigations because of threats to public safety.
The Indian government denies the allegations and has expelled six Canadian diplomats in return.
Nijjar, 45, was fatally shot in his pickup truck after he left the Sikh temple he led in Surrey, British Columbia. An Indian-born citizen of Canada, he owned a plumbing business and was a leader in what remains of a once-strong movement to create an independent Sikh homeland.
Four Indian nationals living in Canada were charged with Niijar’s murder and are awaiting trial.
Drouin and Morrison were called as witnesses at the committee alongside Royal Canadian Mounted Police Commissioner Mike Duheme, as well as the director of Canada’s spy service.
