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The Guardian Politics18 Jun 2026

Pete Hegseth accuses Nato countries of ‘free riding’ in combative address

US defence secretary addresses allies in latest attempt to get Europe to raise military budgets Pete Hegseth has announced a review of US military presence across Europe, in a combative address to Nato allies where he threatened to cut force numbers in countries spending the least on defence. The US defence secretary, speaking at a meeting of Nato defence ministers in Brussels, accused some countries of “free riding” and others of being shameful for not allowing their airbases to be used by US j

EconomyDefence
The Guardian Politics18 Jun 2026

VAT on private school fees not caused exodus to state sector, says Bridget Phillipson

Education secretary cites admissions data for England, saying Labour is ‘rebalancing the system to focus on 94% of kids in state schools’ Adding VAT to private school fees has failed to trigger an exodus of pupils into the state sector despite widespread speculation that it would, the education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, has said. The Labour government applied 20% VAT to private school fees from the start of 2025. They had previously been exempt from the tax. Newly published admissions data

EconomyEducation
The Guardian Politics18 Jun 2026

Zack Polanski cleared by ethics inquiry over council tax payment complaint

Labour and Tories claimed Green party leader breached London assembly ethics code over non-payment of tax Zack Polanski has been cleared by an ethics inquiry looking into complaints that he did not pay council tax while living on a houseboat. A report by the Greater London authority’s monitoring officer found that the circumstances of the Green party leader’s living arrangements were beyond its scope and he had therefore not breached the code of conduct for London assembly members. Continue rea

EconomyEnvironment
The Guardian Politics17 Jun 2026

The Guardian view on Britain and the EU: Ed Davey is right – a changed world changes the argument | Editorial

The Liberal Democrat leader’s call for more ambitious reintegration with Europe brings a necessary focus on economic and strategic reality Membership of the European single market was at stake when the UK voted on Brexit, but it was not the decisive question in the campaign. The leave campaign dishonestly promised a cost-free severance of ties with Britain’s largest trading partner. As immigration came to dominate the debate, the requirement to allow free movement of people as a condition of sea

EconomyImmigration
The Guardian Politics17 Jun 2026

Surprisingly benign UK inflation data signals a softer Iran war hit than feared

War’s impact on UK cost of living more muted than first forecast suggesting fuel price rises have failed to spill out more widely across UK plc UK inflation stays at 2.8% as slowing food prices offset transport costs Business live – latest updates As soon as Iran choked off oil supplies through the strait of Hormuz at the start of March, there were dire warnings about rocketing UK inflation and the drastic action the Bank of England might take to rein it in. At one point, investors were expec

EconomyDefence
The Guardian Politics17 Jun 2026

Capital gains tax: more people have to pay, so here’s what you need to know

The rules have changed and more taxpayers are being pulled into the net, not only the wealthy Less generous rules have turned capital gains tax into a “cash machine” for the government, with income from the levy soaring by almost 80% to £24bn in the last tax year – equivalent to well over £800 a household. A series of changes to the way the charge works means more people are being pulled into the capital gains tax (CGT) net, and not only the wealthy. And, given the scale of the change, this week

Economy
The Guardian Politics16 Jun 2026

UK will have to ‘dial back’ military plans without more funding, says chief of defence

Rich Knighton tells Lords committee he is ‘most concerned’ about impact on day-to-day military activities Britain will have to “dial back” on military operations and exercises in the next few years if the Ministry of Defence (MoD) does not receive extra funding from Downing Street and the Treasury, the UK’s most senior military officer has said. Rich Knighton, the chief of the defence staff, told a Lords committee that he was “most concerned” about the budgets for day-to-day activities – in his

PoliticsEconomyDefence
The Guardian Politics16 Jun 2026

Mamdani’s pied-à-terre tax isn’t far off Labour’s housing policy. Not that you’ll ever hear Starmer say it | Anna Minton

The UK has its own progressive policies such as the second home and ‘mansion’ taxes. So why isn’t the PM shouting it from the rooftops? In April, to mark the day on which Americans are expected to file their taxes, the New York mayor, Zohran Mamdani, filmed himself on Billionaires’ Row, an enclave of super-tall apartment buildings just south of Central Park. When he took office, he said, he would tax the rich, and now, outside the hedge fund billionaire Ken Griffin’s $238m penthouse, he was read

EconomyHousing
The Guardian Politics16 Jun 2026

The old ‘warfare v welfare’ arguments are back – but it’s Britain’s real duty to spend on both | Frances Ryan

While we need protecting from foreign enemies, slashing benefits in favour of defence will make millions less, not more, safe As the row over the military budget grows, Keir Starmer has spent much of the past few days insisting he’s spending huge sums of taxpayer money on defence. Every single government department has made cuts to fund next month’s defence investment plan (Dip), the prime minister promised, resulting in “the biggest sustained increase since the cold war”. On Sunday, the culture

EconomyDefence
The Guardian Politics15 Jun 2026

If the UK wants to rejoin the European Union, it first needs to understand it | Timothy Garton Ash

A full return will require a marathon of democratic persuasion, on the continent as much as in Britain. For one side holds most of the cards As Britain approaches the 10th anniversary of its vote to leave the EU, the British are beginning to debate rejoining what they call Europe. But, as in most previous British debates about “Europe”, this is Europe with the Europe left out. The discussion is all about what would be best for Britain economically and the British politics of getting there. Littl

PoliticsEconomy
The Guardian Politics15 Jun 2026

Settler products from occupied Palestine sold to Europe as Israeli, investigation finds

Shipments deliberately mislabelled to bolster settler economy, says non-profit Global Echo Israeli exporters to Europe regularly hide the origin of produce grown in occupied Palestine to qualify for unlawful tax breaks that bolster the settler economy, a rights group investigation has found. The legal non-profit Global Echo analysed more than 30,000 export documents for thousands of Israeli shipments to the UK and EU over eight years. Continue reading...

Economy
The Guardian Politics14 Jun 2026

New defence secretary to ‘reprioritise’ UK plan for military spending, say sources

Starmer ‘can’t sack him or let him resign’, says ally of Dan Jarvis after predecessor’s resignation The new defence secretary is to revisit a controversial plan for funding the armed forces and may return to demand more cash from the Treasury, allies have said. Multiple government sources said Dan Jarvis would look to “reprioritise” aspects of the defence investment plan (Dip), which was delayed until July after the resignation of John Healey following a disagreement over its funding. Continue

EconomyDefence