[ The general election is increasingly likely to take place in the autumn rather than the summer, Conservative insiders believe. Rishi Sunak has refused to rule out going to the polls as early as July – which would coincide with the expected start of the Rwanda deportation scheme. But the Tories’ losses in the local … Read more
[ Senior Tories from across the party have warned Rishi Sunak he must significantly sharpen the Conservatives’ campaign strategy or risk being destroyed at the general election. In the wake of a drubbing in the local elections, which saw the party come third behind the Liberal Democrats and lose nine out of 10 metro mayoral … Read more
[ It was shortly after 8am on Friday that Rishi Sunak knew he no longer had to worry about a leadership challenge. The first tranche of local election results were bleak for the Conservatives, with half their sitting councillors defeated and a big win for Labour in the Blackpool South by-election. But crucially – after … Read more
[ Ousting Rishi Sunak ahead of the general election would be “absolutely crazy” despite a poor showing in the local council polls, grassroots Tory activists have told i. While Mr Sunak took some solace from Ben Houchen’s victory in the Tees Valley mayoral contest, he has admitted the council results have been disappointing. Pollsters estimated … Read more
[ Rishi Sunak on Friday appeared to have seen off the threat of a coup but rebels warned it meant the party would face ten years in the wilderness after damaging local election results. Conservative rebels plotting to oust the Prime Minister had warned of a “May Day from Hell” facing Mr Sunak after the … Read more
[ Council tax rises in most parts of England coming this April will eat into large chunks of the reduction in tax handed to workers as part of a cut to national insurance (NI) in January, analysis for i shows. Of the 136 authorities that have declared their proposals for council tax rises in April, … Read more
[ Britain’s biggest mortgage lender Halifax has announced that it will increase rates on some of its deals from Friday, with NatWest also upping costs. Halifax said that from Friday it would be increasing the interest rates on some purchase, remortgage and product transfer deals by 0.25 percentage points. NatWest has also announced increases to … Read more
