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Jeremy Hunt has said everyone is going to be paying higher taxes but those who earn the most will have to make larger sacrifices.

The chancellor told the Sophy Ridge on Sunday programme during Thursday’s autumn statement he “will be asking everyone for sacrifices” but recognises there is “only so much we can ask” from people on the lowest incomes.

“That will be reflected in the decisions that I take, that’s important because Britain is a decent country, a fair country, a compassionate country,” Mr Hunt said.

“We’re all going to be paying a bit more tax, I’m afraid.”

Tax rises and spending cuts coming but Hunt says budget ‘won’t just be bad news’ – live politics updates

Ministers are understood to be considering lowering the threshold at which employees pay the highest 45p rate of income tax from £150,000 to £125,000, the Sunday Telegraph reports.

Nurses across the UK this week voted to go on strike for the first time, likely next month, as they demand a 17% pay rise.

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Mr Hunt, who was health secretary when junior doctors went on strike for the first time in 2015, said he was “very conscious” of nurses’ concerns and understands they are asking for that above-inflation increase because of the impact of inflation on their pay packet.

But he said: “I think we have to recognise a difficult truth that if we gave everyone inflation-proof pay rises, inflation would stay. We wouldn’t bring down inflation.

“And that’s why, you know, I’m not pretending there aren’t some difficult decisions.

“The way through this is to bring down inflation as quickly as possible, because that is the root cause of your concern, your anger, your frustration, that your pay isn’t going as far as it might.”

Jeremy Hunt told Sophy Ridge on Sunday tax will be increased for everyone
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Jeremy Hunt told Sophy Ridge on Sunday tax will be increased for everyone

Mr Hunt promised the autumn statement will “not just be bad news” but said he believes the public recognises “if you want to give people confidence about the future you have to be honest about the present”.

He said his plan will be both short and long-term and will bring down inflation, control high energy prices and “get our way back to growing, healthily”.

The chancellor said his plan will help get the UK out of a recession as quickly and with as little pain as possible as he also promised help for energy bills not just this winter, but next.

But he also said spending cuts from government departments will be needed and hinted no more funding will be given to the NHS.

He said the health service’s funding is already going up but the government needs to do “everything we can to find efficiencies” within the NHS.

Mr Hunt, asked if the NHS is on the brink of collapse, admitted doctors and nurses “on the frontline are frankly under unbearable pressure so I do recognise the picture”.

Jeremy Hunt’s gloomy outlook will worry people – including Tory MPs


Sam Coates

Sam Coates

Deputy political editor

@SamCoatesSky

The government is zig zagging at speed with its economic policy and borrowing to invest one week while cutting our cloth to our means the next.

It’s no surprise that people’s heads are spinning.

That was a very depressing, gloomy interview with Jeremy Hunt in which he emphasised the world has changed so he has to bring in a lot of pain.

I think that will worry people, including Tory MPs.

Liz Truss wanted to borrow too much in order to promote growth and I wonder whether or not the conversation after Thursday is whether or not Rishi Sunak and Jeremy Hunt haven’t done the same thing but in the other direction.

Whether the eye-watering pain they’re going to initiate on Thursday doesn’t go too far. Whether it’s commensurate with the size of the problem that we’ve got.

Read more: Sunak’s premiership is about to start for real as he faces a huge week at home and abroad

He added that public services need a strong economy but that applies the other way around as well.

And he said the NHS can help get the UK out of the current economic difficulties, such as helping the growing number of people out of work due to long-term sickness.

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Simon Clarke, the former levelling up secretary under Liz Truss, told Sophy Ridge on Sunday he would rather see public spending cuts than tax rises in the fiscal statement.

He said: “I would strongly urge that the great balance of this statement should come from spending reductions because I really do think that there is an issue with our raising the burden of taxation on Britain at this time.”

Mr Clarke added that government spending has risen “substantially” over the past decade so there is “potential” to make savings that “did not damage public services”.

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Minister hints at windfall tax expansion

Labour’s shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves said the chancellor could still make “fair choices” in the autumn statement that do not place the burden on the public by closing tax loopholes and backdating the windfall tax on energy companies’ profits to January and extending it by two years.

She said the windfall tax extension could raise an additional £50bn.

Ms Reeves also called for a general election as she said Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has “no mandate for the cuts and tax increases” because he was not voted in by the country, but by Conservative MPs.

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‘Britain’s strictest headteacher’ Katharine Birbalsingh criticises Education Secretary over ‘appalling’ schools bill

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'Britain's strictest headteacher' Katharine Birbalsingh criticises Education Secretary over 'appalling' schools bill

Educators are split over the government’s proposed Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, with some saying the move will improve fairness and accountability and others warning it could limit innovation in academy schools.

Pushed by the Department for Education (DfE) as a means to reform the education system, the bill seeks to improve school standards, strengthen attendance policies, and ensure that children receive a well-rounded education that prioritises their wellbeing.

The legislation also includes measures to increase school accountability, particularly for academies, by giving more oversight to the DfE.

Katharine Birbalsingh, headteacher of Michaela School in Wembley, north London, called it “absolutely appalling”.

“I’m just really concerned because, at the moment, school leaders have the freedom to do various things that are right for their intake,” she told Sky News.

“This bill will take those freedoms away.”

Ms Birbalsingh, also known as ‘Britain’s strictest headteacher’, added: “We got unlucky because we could have had Wes Streeting as education secretary, which would have been fine. Unfortunately, we got her [Bridget Phillipson].

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“She [Ms Phillipson] is so arrogant. She’s just marched in there and gone, ‘I know what I’m doing, I’ll just do what I want’.”

But some argue that academies are left to their own devices and have a lack of accountability when it comes to things like parental complaints.

The bill will require all schools to follow the national curriculum and employ teachers who have Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) or are working towards it.

The founder of the Oasis Academies, Steve Chalke
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Steve Chalke, founder of Oasis Academies

The founder of Oasis Academies, Steve Chalke, told Sky News: “We’re excited about the changes because we feel that education has been in a very, very poor place for the last decade or more.

“Schools have been stripped of resources and there have been giant problems about the recruitment and retention of teachers.

“We feel that this important bill is beginning to address all of those issues.”

The bill plans to provide all primary school children with breakfast, alongside uniform limits.

This would prevent schools from having more than three items of branded uniform clothing, potentially addressing concerns parents have about the cost of uniforms.

Mr Chalke said: “I am a fan of working hard collaboratively to create the best opportunities for any and every young person and their family.

“Because behind every struggling child is normally a parent who’s struggling with that.”

He added: “We at Oasis are excited about all of this, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have questions.

“It doesn’t mean that we’re being led blindly down the road, but our job is to be engaged in the discussion about how academies work more widely with their local authorities.”

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February: Govt’s overhauling of Ofsted inspections

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The bill will also give local authorities greater control over the pupil admission process.

Ms Birbalsingh said: “Any council could decide to reduce the number of children in one school and therefore reduce the money at that school and give more pupils to another school that’s struggling.”

Mr Chalke said: “Educational academy boards, academy groups, need to be accountable in strong partnership with others. And if this bill delivers everything it promises, wow. I think [it] will be an extraordinary outcome.”

Empty classroom chairs TOP
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The bill will give local authorities greater control over the pupil admission process

The bill is set to be debated further in the coming weeks as it moves through parliament.

A DfE spokesperson said: “This government is determined to drive high and rising standards for every child through our Plan for Change, to ensure every family has a good local school for their child.

“Our landmark Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill delivers on this mission, getting high-quality teachers into every classroom, and ensuring there is a floor on pay and no ceiling.

“These measures will make sure we are giving every child an education as good as the best.”

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Labour MPs Yuan Yang and Abtisam Mohamed denied entry and deported from Israel

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Labour MPs Yuan Yang and Abtisam Mohamed denied entry and deported from Israel

Two Labour MPs have been denied entry to Israel and deported.

Yuan Yang and Abtisam Mohamed were rejected because they were suspected of plans to “document the activities of security forces and spread anti-Israel hatred”, according to a statement from the Israeli immigration ministry.

Ms Yang, who represents Earley and Woodley, and Ms Mohamed, the MP for Sheffield Central, both flew to the country from Luton on Saturday.

According to a statement from the Israeli immigration ministry, they were accompanied by two assistants and during questioning, the MPs claimed they were visiting Israel “as part of an official parliamentary delegation”.

The ministry branded their claim as “false”, but UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy reacted to news of the MPs’ detention saying their treatment while “on a parliamentary delegation to Israel” was “unacceptable”.

In their own statement, the two women said they were “astounded at the unprecedented step taken by the Israeli authorities”.

“It is vital that parliamentarians are able to witness, first-hand, the situation in the occupied Palestinian territory,” the statement said.

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“We are two, out of scores of MPs, who have spoken out in Parliament in recent months on the Israel-Palestine conflict and the importance of complying with international humanitarian law. Parliamentarians should feel free to speak truthfully in the House of Commons, without fear of being targeted.”

They said they had travelled to “visit humanitarian aid projects and communities in the West Bank” with “UK charity partners who have over a decade of experience in taking parliamentary delegations”.

“We thank them, the staff of the British Embassy in Tel Aviv, the British Consulate in Jerusalem, the Middle East minister and the Foreign Secretary for their tireless support,” the statement concludes.

Israel’s UK embassy said the MPs were denied entry because they had “accused Israel of false claims, were actively involved in promoting sanctions against Israeli ministers, and supported campaigns aimed at boycotting the state of Israel”.

Its statement said the women “chose not to exercise their right under Israeli law to petition the court to reconsider the decision”.

As a result, they were “offered hotel accommodation, which they declined” and their return flight was covered by the Israeli state.

“The visit was intended to provoke anti-Israel activities at a time when Israel is at war and under attack on seven fronts. Its purpose was to harm Israel and Israeli citizens and spread falsehoods about them,” the statement added.

“The state of Israel has both the authority and the duty to prevent the entry of individuals whose presence in the country is intended to cause harm to its citizens – just as such authority exists in the United Kingdom.”

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Mr Lammy said in a statement to Sky News: “It is unacceptable, counterproductive, and deeply concerning that two British MPs on a parliamentary delegation to Israel have been detained and refused entry by the Israeli authorities.

“I have made clear to my counterparts in the Israeli government that this is no way to treat British parliamentarians, and we have been in contact with both MPs tonight to offer our support.

“The UK government’s focus remains securing a return to the ceasefire and negotiations to stop the bloodshed, free the hostages and end the conflict in Gaza.”

In an interview with Sky’s Trevor Phillips, chief secretary to the treasury Darren Jones echoed Mr Lammy’s accusation of “unacceptable” behaviour by the Israelis.

But Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch told Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips that “every country should be able to control its borders” and “that’s what Israel is doing” because they “gave reasons why those people shouldn’t have come in based on their laws”.

“It’s really important, I believe, to respect those countries’ decisions,” she told Sky News.

Ms Badenoch also said she is “very concerned” about the “rhetoric” on the Middle East from Labour MPs – and six independents – and therefore she was “not surprised” by the move of Israeli border officials.

She claimed there is “a lot of repeating of misinformation, repeating of conspiracy theories” during Prime Minister’s Questions.

“I see Labour MPs standing up and saying things which even Keir Starmer has to disagree with and shut down at PMQs,” she added.

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Artist behind Trump portrait branded ‘the worst’ by president says her business is ‘in danger of not recovering’

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Artist behind Trump portrait branded 'the worst' by president says her business is 'in danger of not recovering'

An artist whose official portrait of Donald Trump was publicly criticised by the president said her business is now “in danger of not recovering”.

The Republican leader made headlines at the end of last month when, in a post on his Truth Social platform, he said the portrait hanging in Colorado’s State Capitol had been “purposefully distorted”.

Following the criticism, officials said the portrait would be taken down and it has since been removed.

Sarah Boardman, the British artist who painted the Trump portrait, said in a statement to Sky News she felt her “intentions, integrity, and abilities” had been “called into question” when the president criticised the oil painting.

In his post, Mr Trump said a portrait by the same artist of former US president Barack Obama was “wonderful” but “the one on me is truly the worst”.

Sarah Boardman. Pic : AP
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Sarah Boardman. Pic : AP

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Referring to Ms Boardman, whose collection of official portraits also includes one of former president George W Bush, Mr Trump said “she must have lost her talent as she got older”.

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Trump’s portrait to be taken down

He then added: “In any event, I would much prefer not having a picture than having this one.”

Almost two weeks since the criticism, Ms Boardman has now responded saying her business has been detrimentally impacted.

She said: “President Trump is entitled to comment freely, as we all are, but the additional allegations that I ‘purposefully distorted’ the portrait, and that I ‘must have lost my talent as I got older’ are now directly and negatively impacting my business of over 41 years which now is in danger of not recovering.”

The artist also described how “for the six years that the portrait hung in the Colorado State Capitol Building Rotunda, I received overwhelmingly positive reviews and feedback”.

“Since President Trump’s comments, that has changed for the worst,” she added.

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Ms Boardman said the Colorado State Capitol Advisory Committee, Denver, commissioned her to paint the official portrait of President Trump for the Denver State Capitol Gallery of Presidents.

“The reference photograph and my subsequent ‘works in progress’ were all approved, throughout that process, by that committee,” she said.

“I completed the portrait accurately, without ‘purposeful distortion’, political bias, or any attempt to caricature the subject, actual or implied. I fulfilled the task per my contract.”

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