Badenoch claims forthcoming business rates U-turn for pubs ‘too little, too late’
We don’t yet know the extent of the government U-turn shortly to be announced related to business rates for pubs and other parts of the hospitality sector. (See 2.24pm.)
But Kemi Badenoch is already saying it is “too little, too late”. In a post on social media, she says:
Yesterday Keir Starmer told us Labour had ‘turned a corner.’
Well, it looks like they’ve turned the corner straight into their first u-turn of 2026. Labour are killing Britain’s pubs.
This rumoured U-turn is too little too late. It’s time to back our local pubs.
And Andrew Griffith, the shadow business secretary, said:
Just a month on and the budget is already falling apart. Labour were wrong to attack pubs and now have been forced into another screeching U-turn as Kemi called for just this morning.
But this humiliating about-face appears to do nothing for shops, restaurants, hotels and markets which all face a more than 50% increase. With no detail provided, this is not the stability Rachel Reeves promised – it is a recipe for economic disaster.
Only the Conservatives have a strong leader with a clear plan to stand up for business by cutting business rates for thousands of local high-street firms.
Key events
Ministers urged to ensure business rates U-turn helps wider hospitality sector, and not just pubs
Campaigners raise concerns ethnic pay gap reporting law being held up by fear of anti-DEI ‘pushback’
Lib Dems call for goverment to unveil details of business rates U-turn today, because pubs need ‘clarity’
Starmer claims ‘all options’ on table in government quest to stop X allowing uses to create sexualised deepfake images
Badenoch claims forthcoming business rates U-turn for pubs ‘too little, too late’
Labour to announce pub business rates U-turn after industry outcry
John Swinney backs UK’s role in seizure of Russian-linked oil tanker, amid suggestion US military used Scottish airport
Commons leader agrees to discuss prison move for Palestine Action-linked activist on hunger strike with David Lammy
No 10 rejects suggestion from Mandelson that UK losing influence over US foreign policy
Reynolds tells farmers ‘that is it’ as they protest against her, claiming inheritance tax U-turn does not go far enough
Right to protest is under attack in England and Wales, reports warn
Louise Haigh says government should quit X because child sexual abuse imagery making its use ‘unconscionable’
Mandelson accuses European leaders of ‘histrionic’ reaction to Trump’s Greenland stance
Why No 10’s readout suggests Starmer’s call with Trump last night may have been awkward
John Healey declines to comment on report saying up to 7,500 UK troops would go Ukraine as part of peacekeeping force
Emma Reynolds faces protest as she speaks at Oxford Farming Conference
McFadden says Farage’s opposition to deploying UK peacekeeping troops to Ukraine shows he’s taking ‘Kremlin line’
How many children, and households, will benefit, region by region, by removal of two-child benefit cap
Starmer says Reform UK and Tories are in ‘cruel alliance’ to raise child poverty, as bill to get rid of two-child benefit cap unveiled
Ministers urged to ensure business rates U-turn helps wider hospitality sector, and not just pubs
But groups representing other parts of the hospitality sector have complained that, on the basis of what is being briefed today, the rescue package will focus wholly or mainly on pubs.
Michael Kill, CEO of the Night Time Industries Association, said:
The suggestion that this is ‘just pubs’ is misleading and frustrating. Pubs are important, but they are only one part of the nightlife ecosystem. Casinos, nightclubs, theatres, bars, and live music venues all rely on each other to thrive.
These business rates increases – averaging 76%, with some doubling or more – put the entire sector at risk. If these venues fail, we lose jobs, culture, and vital infrastructure that makes the UK a world-leading destination for nightlife.
And Jon Collins, CEO of LIVE (Live music Industry Venues & Entertainment), another trade body, said:
If the government is preparing a U-turn on business rates for pubs, it must not leave live events and arenas behind.
From grassroots venues to arenas, operators are already facing increases of up to 400%, putting venues of every size under severe financial strain, risking closures and driving higher ticket prices for fans.
Live events are a major driver of the hospitality economy. Data from the National Arenas Association shows that for every 10,000 people attending a live show, at least £1 million is spent locally in restaurants, bars, hotels, shops and transport. Excluding music venues from any relief would be a serious oversight.
The Society of Independent Brewers and Associates (SIBA) has welcomed the news that a U-turn of some sort is on the way relating to business rates for pubs. Its CEO, Andy Slee, said:
It’s welcome news that the government appears to have finally accepted that vital changes are necessary to help our much loved community pubs. The planned alterations to business rates would have had a devasting impact on our pubs and breweries.
While common sense seems to have prevailed, it is essential that the government now acts in good faith to ease this financial pressure in the short term and reassure the sector that a meaningful long term solution to business rates will be sought alongside a proper plan to maintain our pubs into the future.
Campaigners raise concerns ethnic pay gap reporting law being held up by fear of anti-DEI ‘pushback’
Chris Osuh
Chris Osuh is a Guardian community affairs correspondent.
Ministers have been urged by campaigners not to allow “charged rhetoric around race” and the rise of the populist Reform UK party derail plans to tackle the country’s ethnicity pay gaps.
A letter sent to equalities minister Seema Malhotra, seen by the Guardian, raises concerns about “ongoing silence” from government on plans to make it mandatory for employers with more than 250 staff to reveal whether white and non-disabled staff are paid more than black, minority ethnic and disabled employees, in the same way that employers have to report gender pay gaps.
A call for evidence on the proposed new law closed in June, but ministers have yet to report back, or formally publish the draft equality (race and disability) bill, which was expected to include the proposed measures.
Malhotra has previously described the plans as part of the government’s “absolute” commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) fairness principles. Nigel Farage’s Reform party, currently leading in the polls, has said it will scrap diversity roles from councils, while the Blue Labour faction of the governing Labour party has urged ministers to “root out DEI” to win over Reform voters.
The letter to Malhotra, sent by Noreen Biddle Shah, founder of the equalities thinktank Reboot on behalf of the Ethnicity Pay Gap Steering Committee – a coalition of campaigners, businesses non-profit organisations and investors – said it was now “well beyond the point” when the findings were “widely expected … yet there has been no update, no publication of outcomes, and no clarity on next steps.”
The letter added:
It is reasonable to ask whether the lack of movement on long-awaited legislation is being shaped by concern about political pushback, particularly at a time when the rhetoric around race has become more charged and the popularity of Reform has grown. But our research shows something very clear: despite heightened social tension, the public still overwhelmingly supports transparency and fairness at work.
A survey conducted by Opinium for Reboot found 56% of UK adults support mandatory ethnicity pay gap reporting for large employers, with only 9% opposed, while 42% believe pay differences exist between workers of different ethnic backgrounds doing similar work, with only 27% believing there are none. Over a third believe closing the ethnicity pay gap would benefit the UK economy (36%) and half that it would improve fairness in the workplace (51%).
January 8 marks “Ethnicity Pay Gap Day”, highlighting the work of campaigners, with billboards erected in south London and north Manchester to raise awareness.
Lib Dems call for goverment to unveil details of business rates U-turn today, because pubs need ‘clarity’
Daisy Cooper, the Lib Dem Treasury spokesperson, said the government should announce its full plans to support the hospitality industry today. She said:
This is literally the last chance saloon for our treasured pubs and high streets – so the government must U-turn, today.
These businesses are worried sick, making decisions now, and can’t wait a minute longer.
Ministers must give them the clarity they so desperately need so businesses don’t go to the wall, hollowing our communities, in the coming days.
(Cooper points out she won a pub parliamentarian of the year award in 2024 for her campaigning on behalf of the industry.)
Starmer claims ‘all options’ on table in government quest to stop X allowing uses to create sexualised deepfake images
Keir Starmer has said that “all options” are on the table for the government in its quest to get Elon Musk’s social media platform X to stop its Grok AI tool allowing users to produced sexualised deepfake images of women and children.
In an interview with Greatest Hits Radio, Starmer said:
It’s distraceful, it’s disgusting and it’s not to be tolerated.
X has got to get a grip of this and Ofcom have [our] full support to take action in relation to this.
This is wrong, it’s unlawful, we are not going to tolerate it.
I have asked for all options to be on the table. It’s disgusting and X need to get their act together and get this material down.
In his interview Starmer did not elaborate on what he meant by “all options” being on the table. Ofcom, the media regulator, has already said it is urgently contacting X to establish what it is doing to deal with the problem. X says it is taking action to remove illegal content, but there have been reports that the problem persists.
The Online Safety Act is supposed to tackle harmful content online, but the main provisions have only recently come into force and some of the provisions have yet to be tested in law.
As the Guardian reported earlier this week, while the creation of images involving children with their clothes removed is already illegal, the law surrounding the creation of deepfakes of adults is more complicated. UK campaigners succeeded in passing legislation last June that make it illegal to both create and request the creation of intimate images without a person’s consent, but the relevant provisions have yet to be implemented, meaning that the legislation is not currently enforceable.
Badenoch claims forthcoming business rates U-turn for pubs ‘too little, too late’
We don’t yet know the extent of the government U-turn shortly to be announced related to business rates for pubs and other parts of the hospitality sector. (See 2.24pm.)
But Kemi Badenoch is already saying it is “too little, too late”. In a post on social media, she says:
Yesterday Keir Starmer told us Labour had ‘turned a corner.’
Well, it looks like they’ve turned the corner straight into their first u-turn of 2026. Labour are killing Britain’s pubs.
This rumoured U-turn is too little too late. It’s time to back our local pubs.
And Andrew Griffith, the shadow business secretary, said:
Just a month on and the budget is already falling apart. Labour were wrong to attack pubs and now have been forced into another screeching U-turn as Kemi called for just this morning.
But this humiliating about-face appears to do nothing for shops, restaurants, hotels and markets which all face a more than 50% increase. With no detail provided, this is not the stability Rachel Reeves promised – it is a recipe for economic disaster.
Only the Conservatives have a strong leader with a clear plan to stand up for business by cutting business rates for thousands of local high-street firms.
Labour to announce pub business rates U-turn after industry outcry
Ministers are preparing to U-turn over changes to business rates for pubs after a wave of disquiet from the hospitality industry, Peter Walker reports.
John Swinney backs UK’s role in seizure of Russian-linked oil tanker, amid suggestion US military used Scottish airport
Severin Carrell
Severin Carrell is the Guardian’s Scotland editor.
John Swinney, Scotland’s first minister, has given his implicit support for the UK-backed seizure of a Russian-flagged oil tanker by US forces on Wednesday, after being questioned about the use of a Scottish state-owned airport by US military aircraft.
The leftwing Labour MSP Mercedes Villalba pressed Swinney during first minister’s questions about whether Wick John O’Groats airport was “being used as the staging post to violate international law”.
Flight data showed three US special forces Pilatus U-28A Draco intelligence and surveillance aircraft landed at the airport, which is owned by Highland and Islands Airports (HIA), before heading to Iceland.
Swinney said he distinguished that operation from President Trump’s attacks on Venezuela earlier this week, which the first minister said he did not believe respected international law.
While neither he nor HIA knew whether the US military aircraft that used the airport took part in the seizure of the Marinera, he said he totally supported military operations to shore up the sanctions regime against Russia. He told MSPs:
Firstly, [this] is, of course, a matter that is reserved to the United Kingdom government. And secondly, where sanctions are applied and if they’re applied in relation to Russia, I am a firm supporter of those sanctions being enforced.
Because there is no point in applying sanctions to governments that ignore international law, that undermine the rule of law, that invade independent countries in the way that Russia has invaded Ukraine, without taking action where those sanctions are applied. And on that point of principle, all I’m happy to set out the Scottish government’s position.
Scottish state-owned airports, particularly Prestwick in Ayrshire which is close to President Trump’s Turnberry golf resort, are regularly used by the US military (and in the past by the space agency Nasa), for flight refuelling and aircrew stop-overs, to the dismay of critics of US foreign policy.
Those stops have involved live military operations in the past, raising tensions for the Scottish National party too, which has in the past rejected Nato membership for Scotland. Swinney said it was not normal for airport managers to be told or to ask what roles those aircraft were involved in when they landed for refuelling.
Ministers are “poised to announce a climbdown on forthcoming increases to the business rates bill faced by pubs”, Simon Jack, the BBC’s business editor, is reporting. Jack says:
Treasury officials say they have recognised the financial difficulties facing many pubs after sharp rises in the rateable value of their premises.
The move follows pressure from landlords and industry groups that included more than 1,000 pubs banning Labour MPs from their premises.
The government is expected to reduce the “multiplier” – the percentage of a pub’s rateable value used to calculate business rates bills.
On Monday Keir Starmer said the government was looking at measures to help the hospitality sector deal with the impact of the business rates increase. In her budget speech in November, Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, highlighted changes that would reduce the headline rate of business rates paid by firms in the hospitality sector. But the impact of this “gain” has beem more than wiped out by the reduction of Covid-era exemptions, and by a property revaluation that has led to the rateable value of premises rising.
Commons leader agrees to discuss prison move for Palestine Action-linked activist on hunger strike with David Lammy
A cabinet minister has said he will raise the possibility of a prison move for a Palestine Action-linked activist on hunger strike with David Lammy, after a Labour MP urged him to act, PA Media reports. PA says:
Alan Campbell, the leader of Commons, told MPs today he would speak to the justice secretary after a question by Brent North MP Barry Gardiner about Heba Muraisi, 31, who is on day 67 of her hunger strike. Gardiner said she was “close to death”.
Her next-of-kin told the Press Association on Wednesday that Muraisi, a constituent of Gardner, a former Labour minister, was having difficulty breathing.
Muraisi is currently being held at HMP New Hall in West Yorkshire.
Gardiner said he hoped she could be moved to HMP Bronzefield in Ashford, Surrey, as it will be easier for her disabled mother to visit.
Muraisi is one of two remaining hunger strikers who are facing charges related to alleged break-ins on behalf of Palestine Action before the group was banned under terrorism legislation – charges which they deny and have called to be dropped.
Gardiner said: “Delays in the courts system mean that one of my constituents has been in prison awaiting trial on remand for over a year. She is in New Hall Prison, 200 miles away from her mother who is disabled and cannot make that journey. She has requested a transfer to Bronzefield prison so her mother can visit.
“Today Heba Muraisi is close to death, because she has been on hunger strike protest for 67 days. I plead with the leader of the house to let common sense and humanity prevail, to urgently intervene, to agree the transfer and also to consider allowing her release on bail to her family home in my constituency.”
Responding to Gardiner during business questions in the Commons, Campbell said: “If [Gardiner] gives me the details of the case, and I’m talking about where the person concerned is currently, then I will obviously raise that with the justice secretary.
“On the wider point, we are continually assessing prisoners’ wellbeing, and we will always take appropriate action, including taking prisoners to hospital if their situation requires that.”
Helena Horton
Helena Horton is a Guardian environment reporter.
At the Oxford Farming Conference there has been some controversy about the announcement that only small farms will be able to apply for money from the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI), a scheme that rewards nature-friendly farming. Emma Reynolds, the environment secretary, suggested this could be farms at 50 hectares or below, which is a very small farm indeed.
Tom Bradshaw, president of the National Farmers’ Union, told the Guardian:
That is a very small farm, and there are some larger farms which are doing fantastic things for nature. Though we welcome the schemes opening at last, it begs the question whether it is a nature payment anymore. If we are paying based on the size of farms, has it become a social payment?
Asked about this, Reynolds said:
[Farming minister] Angela Eagle and I are very passionate that we need to make sure that small farms are able to access these schemes, and that’s for two reasons. Firstly, because we think it is fairer, and secondly, because we want to see those environmental benefits spread across the country, not just consolidated in a few places.
No 10 rejects suggestion from Mandelson that UK losing influence over US foreign policy
Downing Street has rejected a suggestion from Peter Mandelson that Keir Starmer and other European leaders are responding with “histrionics” to Donald Trump’s comments about Greenland.
In his Spectator article yesterday, Mandelson, the former ambassador to the US, said:
Europe’s growing geopolitical impotence in the world is becoming the issue now, and histrionics about Greenland is confirming this brutal reality. The future of Greenland is being misunderstood. Trump is not going to ‘invade’ it. He doesn’t need to. He’s already there. What will happen is that the threats to Arctic security posed by China and Russia will crystallise in European minds, performative statements about ‘sovereignty’ and Nato’s future will fade, and serious discussion will take over. Together, the US, Denmark and other allies will address how the Arctic region is properly secured with a considerably beefed-up role and status and military deployment by America.
At the No 10 lobby briefing, when it was put him that Mandelson was accusing the UK of being impotent in relation to US policy, the PM’s spokesperson said: “I don’t accept that last charge.”
The spokesperson said the UK and the US had a special relationship, and that the relationship between Starmer and Donald Trump was “very close”.
Downing Street refused to give any further details of Keir Starmer’s call with Donald Trump at the lobby briefing this morning. Asked how long the call lasted, and what Starmer said to Trump about Greenland, the PM’s spokesperson said he had nothing to add beyond the readout issued last night.
But sources are rejecting suggestions, implied by the wording of the readout (see 11.04am), that the conversation was difficult. It is said that it was friendly and positive, and that the omission of the usual line about agreeing to stay in touch was not intentional.
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