Newslinks for Sunday 23rd November 2025 | Conservative Home

Budget 1) Chancellor to freeze rail fares for first time in 30 years

“Rail fares will be frozen for the first time in 30 years at Rachel Reeves’s Budget next week. In a move the Government claims will directly limit inflation, the Chancellor is hoping to rein-in surging ticket prices across the country. The one-year freeze, which will affect about 45 per cent of rail fares, includes season tickets on most commuter journeys and some off-peak return tickets on long-distance routes, but not first-class seats. Workers who commute to London will save hundreds of pounds, the Government has claimed. Commuters from Milton Keynes will save £315 annually and those travelling from Woking will save £173 per year, according to estimated figures.” – Sunday Telegraph

• Rail fares to be frozen for first time in three decades – Sunday Times
• Relief for rail passengers as fare freeze in England announced for 2026 – Observer
• Chancellor vows to freeze rail fares – but has she broken the ministerial code? – Mail on Sunday
• Raid on pensions in Budget to raise £3bn – FT
• Bleak Wednesday – Sun on Sunday
• Budget tax rises will help fund £1.5bn electric cars ‘handout’ – Sunday Telegraph
• Reeves to announce £1.5bn boost in EV subsidies – Observer

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Budget 2) Reeves to scrap two-child benefit cap but pledge welfare reform

“Rachel Reeves insists the government will make another attempt to reform welfare as she prepares to spend £3 billion in her budget to end the two-child benefit cap. Writing in The Sunday Times before Wednesday’s statement, the chancellor says fiscal restraint is a Labour value and necessary to curb inflation, a “fundamental -precursor to ¬economic growth”. Reeves says there is nothing “fair or progressive” about wasteful spending or paying “£1 in every £10 of taxpayer money” to service the government’s debts. Her intervention will be seen as an attempt to reassure the bond markets as she prepares to abolish the two-child cap.” – Sunday Times

• Why Reeves is capitulating on two-child benefit cap – Sunday Times

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Budget 3) Badenoch accuses Reeves of cowardice over stealth tax plan

“Kemi Badenoch has accused Rachel Reeves of “cowardice” after the Chancellor refused to admit she will raise taxes on British workers. Ms Reeves is expected to introduce a “stealth tax” by freezing thresholds for another two years at her “make or break” Budget on Wednesday. She has claimed previously that the wealthy will be targeted with tax rises, insisting that those with the “broadest shoulders” should pay more, while pledging in Labour’s manifesto to protect “working people”. But freezing income tax thresholds will result in hundreds of thousands of people being hit as they are dragged into higher tax bands as wages rise.” – Sunday Telegraph

Starmer would lose to Rayner in leadership challenge

“Sir Keir Starmer would lose a leadership contest to Angela Rayner, polling of Labour members has revealed. More than half of party members surveyed would vote for Ms Rayner as leader if they went head to head, while one in three would back Sir Keir. The former deputy leader won the support of 52 per cent of the 1,013 Labour members surveyed, against his 33 per cent, with 15 per cent undecided. That gives her a 19 percentage-point lead. The poll also shows that three other rivals – Andy Burnham, Ed Miliband and Wes Streeting – would beat the PM in a head-to-head contest.” – Sunday Telegraph

• Four top Labour figures could beat Starmer in a leadership race, poll finds – Observer
• PM would lose to Rayner according to bombshell leadership poll – Sunday Express
• Labour MPs say Starmer will quit in the New Year before he’s forced to face a leadership challenge – Mail on Sunday
• The real reason why Rayner bought the £800,000 flat that proved her undoing – Mail on Sunday
• Lord Glasman: ‘Shabana is like Elizabeth I – devoted to her job. She’s utterly unique’ – Sunday Telegraph

>Today:

Johnson took four days off as NHS warned Covid could ‘overwhelm’ system

“Boris Johnson took four days off from official government business during a key period in the UK’s Covid preparation when the NHS was bracing to be “overwhelmed” by the virus. Official disclosure for the period in February 2020 – described by the Covid inquiry as a “lost month” in the country’s crisis response – reveal Johnson enjoyed an extended break during the half-term holidays at Chevening, a governmental estate in Kent, where he spent time walking his dog and taking motorcycle rides. The former prime minister was questioned on his activities between 14 and 24 February 2020 when he appeared at the inquiry in December 2023. He said: “There wasn’t a long holiday that I took. I was working throughout the period and the tempo did increase.” But official activity logs appear to undermine evidence that Johnson gave under oath.” – Observer

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Trump says Ukraine deal is not ‘final offer’ as officials gather for Geneva summit

“Donald Trump said on Saturday that his Moscow-drafted “peace plan” was “not my final offer”, after a furious backlash from Ukrainians who described it as reminiscent of Neville Chamberlain’s 1938 Munich agreement with Adolf Hitler. The US president told reporters during brief remarks at the White House: “We’d like to get to peace. It should’ve happened a long time ago … we’re trying to get it ended, one way or the other we have to get it ended.” Ukrainian and American officials will meet in Switzerland on Sunday for talks to discuss the plan. Security officials from France, Britain and Germany are expected to join them in Geneva.” – Observer

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Other political news and comment

• Ministers prepared to block Chinese takeover of Thames Water – Sunday Telegraph
• Miliband urges Cop30 to find ‘creative’ routes to roadmap on phasing out fossil fuel – Observer
• People from Pakistan use ‘loopholes’ to lodge record number of asylum claims – Mail on Sunday
• Labour council bans couple from erecting flagpole for Union flag – Sunday Telegraph
• Disgraced mayor wears ceremonial regalia despite ban – Sunday Telegraph

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