Newslinks for Tuesday 15th July 2025

Badenoch to take fight to Farage over welfare spending and his vow to axe two-child benefit cap

“Kemi Badenoch will today take the fight to Nigel Farage over his pledge to scrap the two-child benefit cap.  The Tory leader will attempt to draw battle lines with Reform by forcing a vote on the issue in Parliament. Mr Farage has called for the cap to be axed as a way of getting more parents to have children amid a declining birth rate. But the move – also being demanded by dozens of Labour MPs – would cost around £3billion a year and widen the hole in the public finances. Ms Badenoch last night told The Sun: “Britain is spending too much, there is no money for increasing benefits. The two child benefit cap was there for a reason. Now Keir Starmer and Nigel Farage want you to pay for other people’s children. Only the Conservatives believe we shouldn’t be borrowing money to pay for welfare. What Labour and Reform are doing will lead to more spending, and higher taxes. Sir Keir Starmer has not ruled out lifting the cap – which limits child benefit to two kids – being part of his child poverty strategy that will report in the autumn.” – The Sun

• Bailey warns Reform will make ‘no money’ from Bank of England raid – Daily Telegraph
• We are disabled and want to work but government support scheme is blocking us – The i
• Reeves ‘limping’ from one event to the next, head of the Institute for Fiscal Studies warns in brutal assessment of Labour’s economic record – Daily Mail
• Rachel Reeves mocked as she splashes out £1.5m on chess lessons – Daily Express
• Shh, don’t tell anyone about the wealth tax! Reeves stays tight-lipped on looming Budget pain for Brits – as BoE warns firms are cutting jobs after her last raid – Daily Mail
• EV grant ‘waste’. Fury as taxpayers money used to fund electric car scheme for benefits claimants who do not even want them – The Sun

Comment

• We must finally bury the absurd idea that Keir Starmer is honest – Tom Harris, Daily Telegraph
• Pity the policymakers in the AI jobs tsunami – Sarah O’Connor, FT

>Today

Worrying about the effect of AI on future jobs may be distracting us from real challenges

Tories stand firm after Miliband accuses them of being ‘anti-science’ over net zero

“Ed Miliband has accused the Conservatives of being “anti-science” by abandoning a political consensus on net zero as he gave MPs a stark outline of how the climate crisis and nature depletion are already affecting the UK. In the first of what is promised to be an annual “state of the climate” report, the energy and net zero secretary set out the findings of a Met Office-led study that detailed how the UK was already hotter and wetter, and faced a greater number of extreme weather events. Miliband, who told the Guardian before the statement that politicians who rejected net zero policies needed to be accountable for their decisions, called for opposition parties to unite around the need for urgent action. But Andrew Bowie, a shadow energy minister, criticised what he called the government’s “shrill” language, saying the party was sticking by Kemi Badenoch’s decision to ditch the 2050 target for the UK to reach net zero.” – Guardian

• Shrilliband! Ed Miliband accused of scaremongering in campaign against Net Zero sceptics as he blasts critics – The Sun
• Green energy tycoon and top Labour donor calls for ‘climate denial’ to be made a criminal offence… as Ed Miliband brands Tories and Reform ‘unpatriotic’ for failing to back Net Zero goals – Daily Mail
• Reform-run councils once known for green policies expected to scrap climate pledges – Guardian

Comment

• Miliband’s climate statement not so much historic as histrionic – Tim Stanley, Daily Telegraph

Doctors and Nurses threaten strikes despite Labour’s Budget related pay offers

“Wes Streeting lashed out at ‘shockingly irresponsible’ junior doctor’s leaders today for telling medics they should not help NHS hospitals plan safe levels of care for when they are on strike. he Health Secretary accused the British Medical Association of telling members not to inform employers if they were taking part in a planned five-day walkout that starts next week. The BMA has vowed to maintain safe levels of cover for emergency and maternity care from July 25… Mr Streeting will hold talks with the BMA this week in the hope of averting the walk out over a demand for a 29 per cent pay rise. The government has said there is no money left for another pay rise but has left the door open to making changes to the way doctors work.” – Daily Mail

• Nurses fuel fears of strikes after denouncing ‘derisory’ pay offer – The Times
• Resident doctors’ strikes would be gift to Nigel Farage, warns Wes Streeting – Guardian
• Streeting to give UK doctors priority on NHS jobs, but won’t boost pay offer – The i

Comment

• The NHS model is on its last legs — time to replace it – Melanie Phillips, The Times

Trump threatens Putin’s trading partners with 100 per cent tariffs and offers Ukraine weapons to force Russia to negotiate

“Donald Trump threatened to punish Russia’s main trading partners with 100 per cent tariffs if Vladimir Putin does not sign a peace deal to end the war in 50 days. The US president warned of “very severe tariffs” on countries such as China and India unless the Russian president came to the negotiating table. “We’re going to be doing secondary tariffs. If we don’t have a deal in 50 days, it’s very simple, and they’ll be at 100 per cent,” Mr Trump told reporters in the Oval Office in a move designed to drive a wedge between Moscow and Beijing. Mr Trump also promised to send billions of dollars of military equipment to Ukraine in a deal paid for by other Nato countries.He said the weapons would be “top-of-the-line” but did not specify what they would be. Sources said long-range missiles may be part of the package. Sitting with Mark Rutte, the Nato Secretary General, in the Oval Office, the US president told reporters that he was disappointed in Putin, whom he suggested was “all talk” about ending the war. “I’ve been hearing so much talk. It’s all talk. It’s all talk, and then missiles go into Kyiv and kill 60 people,” he said.”  – Daily Telegraph

• US threatens Russia with ‘severe’ tariffs and sanctions over war in Ukraine – FT
• Trump threatens Putin with a 50-day ultimatum on Ukraine peace deal or face 100% tariffs – Daily Mail
• Kyiv hails US weapons deal as Moscow dismisses Trump’s sanctions threat – Guardian
• Don the attack. Trump gives Putin 50-day ultimatum or face 100% tariffs as Ukraine ‘to get US long-range missiles that can hit Moscow’ – The Sun
• Trump has given Ukraine a chance to stop Putin in his tracks – Spectator
• How Melania privately swayed Trump to strike a new hardline position on Putin – Daily Mail

BBC leadership criticised over Gaza documentary and Middle East coverage

“The BBC’s Gaza documentary was declared to be “all clean of Hamas”, despite its narrator being the son of a Hamas minister, a report has found. Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone was categorised as a “high risk” project by the BBC, yet was broadcast without crucial questions being answered. A month before the broadcast, an editorial policy adviser at the BBC asked: “Has due diligence been done on those featured to ensure, e.g. the lead boy doesn’t have links in any way to [Hamas]? I’m sure it has…” The question was never answered, but the programme went ahead. Three members of Hoyo Films, the independent production company that made the documentary, knew the narrator’s family background but did not tell the BBC about it, the report found. The day after the documentary was broadcast, it emerged that Abdullah, the 13-year-old narrator, was the son of Ayman Alyazouri, a deputy minister for agriculture in the Hamas-led government.” – Daily Telegraph

• Tim Davie admits ‘significant failing’ by BBC over Gaza documentary – Guardian
• Tim Davie turns on BBC staff over Bob Vylan failings – Daily Telegraph

Editorial

• BBC’s repeated failures to curb abuse and bias have shattered trust and left many feeling betrayed – The Sun

Comment

• The BBC Gaza documentary report is a cover-up – Jonathan Sacerdoti, Spectator
• The BBC has lost all sense of right and wrong – Jake Wallis Simons, Daily Telegraph

Northern Ireland veterans say ‘It’s one rule for us and another for the terrorist’

“The blazers, berets and regimental ties were out in force, including contingents of old boys from the Fusiliers, the Royal Artillery and, outnumbering all the rest, the Parachute Regiment. More intriguing were those with no tie, no insignia, no medals – nothing, in fact, to suggest a military connection. ‘Just look for the scruffiest buggers you can find,’ was the advice of George Simm, former Regimental Sergeant Major of the Special Air Service when I asked him to point me towards bona fide alumni of his old regiment yesterday. Veterans of all stripes were in Parliament Square to support the public petition demanding that the Government stops peeling away the legal protections for Northern Ireland veterans by repealing the Legacy Act. Many of those are now facing historic claims and vexatious ‘lawfare’ under human rights laws which never existed at the time when these men were simply doing their duty.” – Daily Mail

Comment

• Spade-like hands sent up a machine-gun clatter of applause from the public seats: Quentin Letts watches MPs discuss the prosecution – the persecution – of Northern Ireland veterans – Daily Mail

>Yesterday

No “Two Tier Justice” for our Northern Ireland Veterans

News in Brief

• Ineffective quangos are costing Britons billions – Elliot Keck, CapX
• Rachel Reeves has nowhere to go – Yanis Varoufakis, Unherd
• How abortion up to birth was agreed so easily – Alexander Stafford, The Critic
• Layla Moran’s nimbyism backfires – Steerpike, Spectator

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