Happy one year anniversary to this work of art from the election trail

Breaking: Prime Minister Keir Starmer announces UK will bring forward target reach 2.5% defence spending target to 2027 - then plan to increase it to 3% in the next parliament

The number of people receiving disability benefits has gone up by almost half a million in a year As of August, 4.8 million people were claiming welfare to support them through a disability - an increase of 450,000 inews.co.uk/news/politic...

Ministers could struggle to make promised welfare cuts without reviving Tory plans to shave £400 off incapacity benefits - hard to see how they plan to keep to the spending rules without enforcing similar reforms... or just cutting welfare elsewhere inews.co.uk/news/politic...

Maximising women’s incomes is the most effective way for the Government to meet its aim of tackling child poverty. Our new report and polling highlighting how children's and women's poverty are inextricably linked covered by @chloechaplain.bsky.social for @inews.co.uk inews.co.uk/news/politic...

Interesting ankle-flashing from DWP on disability benefit reforms Minister suggested lack of conditionality of incapacity benefits was linked to rise in claims and appeared to hint those who do not have the most severe health condition will have to look for work inews.co.uk/news/politic...

Science and Technology Secretary Peter Kyle doing his best tech bro impression as he announces plans to launch Govt app with digital 'wallet' for ID, proof of benefit entitlement, DBS, and, later, passports... as easy as paying with apple pay First of these services will be rolled out this summer

Home Secretary has announced a public inquiry into the Southport killings She said answers are needed about why the 'range of different state agencies' monitoring the attacker 'failed to identify the terrible risk and danger to others that he posed'

Carers quitting and homes to go bust: The real cost of social care reform delays @chloechaplain.bsky.social reports https://buff.ly/42bKmbt

Delighted this feature I did with @inews.co.uk is now online – telling the story of 2024 in 14 charts. It's a whole range of topics, some UK and some internationally – and we did also work to make sure they weren't all gloomy. Do take a look. inews.co.uk/inews-lifest...

EXC: Treasury has upped savings required from the welfare bill from £3.4bn by 2029 to £5.4bn by 2030 Reeves has committed to matching Tory spending pledges but ministers yet to say how they plan to make the savings which are now £2bn higher than previous @inews.co.uk inews.co.uk/news/politic...

Shall we make it a rule that all MPs have to wear a giant necklace with their constituency on it, like Amanda Martin? Would certainly make our jobs easier

Claims for pension credit soar by 150% since winter fuel payment cut but 42k applications approved This is 5% of the 880k the govt estimated were missing out on the benefit Implies awareness campaign is not reaching the right group of pensioners inews.co.uk/news/politic...

Govt's own watchdog warns workers rights reforms could cut jobs – in particular for young people AND OBR ha said Nics rise could impact availability of labour hours… But, at the same time, ministers announce plans to collab with biz to get more people into work inews.co.uk/news/politic...

I spoke to @chloechaplain.bsky.social who wrote more about the freeze given this context on the weekend below. If we want fewer families relying on food banks and fewer children in poverty we can't freeze core components of our benefits system. inews.co.uk/news/politic...

"Benefit voucher schemes are simply not popular with the public, even for voters who traditionally support lower spending on the welfare state", according to @chrishopkins92.bsky.social. For more details of our research, find @chloechaplain.bsky.social's piece here: inews.co.uk/news/politic...

Budget backlash begins to bite for the Chancellor... 'Rachel Reeves feeling heat from businesses over her gamble for growth' ICYMI, the long read this weekend ft the i lobby team: inews.co.uk/news/politic...

Govt is proposing an overhaul of 'great British insulation scheme' after it failed to reach more than 10% of target homes Ministers set out plans to redesign the policy introduced to make 300k homes warmer amid fears targets will be missed inews.co.uk/news/politic...

Hello - got a bit fed up of the other place so hopefully this is a bit more useful and enjoyable. Will be sharing mainly UK political news via @theipaper.bsky.social, occasionally a nice photos and - rarely - witty observations