News Round-Up

• “HMRC opens investigation into Angela Rayner’s tax affairs” – The tax office has launched an investigation into Angela Rayner’s affairs after she admitted underpaying stamp duty on her second home, reports the Telegraph.
• “Public HMRC tax advice states Rayner could not claim lower Stamp Duty rate” – Publicly available tax advice from HMRC rules out the supposed “advice” Rayner received in relation to her SDLT payment on the purchase of her third home, according to Guido.
• “Rayner has just torpedoed Reeves’s Budget plans” – In the Telegraph, Nick Gutteridge says Angela Rayner’s Stamp Duty blunder has torpedoed Reeves’s Budget and handed Starmer a political migraine.
• “Rayner’s position is now untenable” – How can Ms Reeves make a moral case for tax hikes when her Cabinet colleague is a self-confessed tax dodger? asks the Telegraph in a leading article.
• “Angela Rayner is a hypocrite… she has to go” – Set aside the emotion and ignore the desire: Rayner has broken the rules, so she has to go, says Dan Hodges in the Mail.
• “Labour MPs turn on their ‘Red Queen’ Angela Rayner over Stamp Duty row” – The Deputy PM is under pressure to resign – if she’s not sacked by Sir Keir Starmer – over the mishandling of her purchase of a £800,000 apartment in Hove, reports the Mail.
• “Reeves warned over financial crisis as UK borrowing costs rise again” – Rachel Reeves has attempted to play down claims she is facing a £50 billion “black hole” in the public finances ahead of her second Budget, says the Mail.
• “Bank of England governor says ‘ignore’ 30 year gilt crisis” – The Governor of the Bank of England Andrew Bailey has offered his insights on the gilt yield crisis, saying “it’s important not to focus too much on the 30-year-bond rate”, reports Guido.
• “Starmer to push for welfare cuts after No 10 reset” – Sir Keir Starmer is reportedly planning a second attempt at pushing through welfare cuts following his Downing Street reset, says LBC.
• “Graham Linehan releases audio of his arrest by armed police” – Graham Linehan has released audio of the moment he was arrested by armed police at Heathrow Airport over a series of ‘anti-trans’ tweets, reports the Mail.
• “Met chief breaks silence after Graham Linehan arrest” – Met chief Sir Mark Rowley says his officers are in an “impossible position” and should not be “policing toxic culture wars debates” after Linehan’s arrest, according to the Mail.
• “Free speech laws must change after Father Ted creator’s arrest, Streeting says” – Health Secretary Wes Streeting says that ministers need to “look at” laws concerning online speech, following the arrest of Graham Linehan, reports the BBC.
• “Graham Linehan’s arrest proves that trans ideology is a threat to us all” – This shameful action by police shows that those in positions of power and influence are still marching to trans activism’s tune, says Michael Deacon in the Telegraph.
• “The arrest of Graham Linehan should be a turning point” – When a comedy writer is seized by armed police over tweets, Britain’s free speech crisis can no longer be ignored, writes Andrew Doyle on his Substack.
• “Free speech no longer exists in Britain” – On Substack, Alex Berenson reacts to the news of Graham Linehan’s arrest.
• “England’s arrest of Graham Linehan was an act of calculated tyranny” – “The country’s illiberalism toward speech about transgenderism shocks even me,” says Charles C.W. Cooke in National Review.
• “US should use ‘diplomacy, trade’ against UK in censorship row” – Nigel Farage is expected to urge Donald Trump to punish Britain through trade and diplomatic action if it fails to uphold free speech, reports the Mail.
• “Thanet backs down after FSU challenge to ‘free speech gagging’ order” – Thanet District Council has scrapped plans to impose a sweeping Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) that would have banned swearing in public spaces, after receiving a legal challenge from the Free Speech Union.
• “Starmer’s Britain is descending into anarcho-tyranny” – Even Nigel Farage testifying before the US Congress did not convey the full horror of what is happening in the UK, says Allister Heath in the Telegraph.
• “Twice as many asylum seekers in free homes than in hotels” – Nearly twice as many asylum seekers are staying in taxpayer-funded homes instead of hotels as the Government lures private landlords with offers of five years of guaranteed rent, reports the Mail.
• “Why is it easier for refugees to get into the UK than my hard-working American husband?” – In the Telegraph, an anonymous writer vents about Britain’s two-tier immigration rules, asking why it costs her nearly £9,000 and endless red tape to bring over her American husband when refugees’ dependents get waved through.
• “Trans escort came to Britain on ‘global talent’ visa” – A trans drag queen who came to Britain on a “global talent” visa is listed on an escort website in London, reveals the Telegraph.
• “ECHR asylum seeker rulings ‘are an existential threat to democracy’” – A top German judge has warned that Western democracies are under threat unless tougher ECHR asylum reforms are implemented, reports the Mail.
• “Rylan Clark’s migrant comments spark hundreds of Ofcom complaints” – Rylan Clark’s common sense comments about immigration have sparked more than 500 complaints to Ofcom, says the Mail.
• “The plant-based problem: why vegan restaurants are closing – or adding meat to the menu” – Veganism is still on the rise, but many popular venues and chains are shutting down. Are they victims of a terrible era for hospitality or part of a growing shift in cultural values? wonders Isobel Lewis in the Guardian.
• “German professor pleads for ‘enlightenment instead of apocalypse’ from media” – On NoTricksZone, P. Gosselin flags German professor Stefan Russ-Mohl’s warning that climate reporting has become biased “attitude journalism”.
• “Power failure” – In Climate Scepticism, Mark Hodgson shows how Britain’s energy chaos is leaving consumers paying more while getting less.
• “DOE vs the ‘climate expert review’” – On Substack, Dr Matthew Wielicki says the DOE’s review shows that US extremes aren’t worsening.
• “Can oil and gas solve the AI power dilemma?” – Oil, tech and utilities are no longer running in parallel — they’ve become intertwined pillars driving modern innovation, says Joe Brettell in Utility Drive.
• “NASA is moving away from tracking climate change” – Climate missions could be going dark, writes Devika Rao in the Week.
• “Lush shuts all shops ‘in solidarity’ with Gaza” – Lush has temporarily closed all its UK stores in an act of “solidarity with Gaza” amid Israel’s war against Hamas, reports the Standard.
• “Kyrgios on ‘battle of the sexes’ clash with Sabalenka: I won’t need to try 100% to win” – Tennis player Nick Kyrgios claims that women “can’t return” serves by male players as he prepares to face world number one Aryna Sabalenka in a ‘battle of the sexes’, according to the Express.
• “Downton Abbey film slapped with a woke trigger warning” – Downton Abbey’s upcoming film has been given a trigger warning from the British Board of Film Classification for including classist insults such as ‘tart’ and ‘trollop’, reports the Mail.
• “We’re thinking quite seriously about suing the police for wrongful arrest and wrongful imprisonment” – On Times Radio, Toby reveals that Graham Linehan’s legal team, backed by the Free Speech Union, may sue the police over his gender-critical posts.

If you have any tips for inclusion in the round-up, email us here.