By-election results will provide important clues ahead of next general election

Should the Conservatives lose their two parliamentary seats in Kingswood and Wellingborough, the party will exceed its record of by-election defeats in a single parliament.

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Labour's by-election candidate issues apology after claiming Israel 'allowed Hamas attacks'

A Labour candidate for an upcoming by-election has been forced to issue an apology after claiming Israel was “warned” about Hamas' October 7 attack 10 days before.

Azhar Ali, who is standing to succeed Sir Tony Lloyd as Rochdale MP after the 73-year-old’s death, responded by apologising “unreservedly”.

Hamas launched its attack on southern Israel on October 7 last year.

The barbaric onslaught resulted in 1,300 Israelis being killed and another 240 being kidnapped.

Israel has retailed by launching strikes on the Gaza Strip, resulting in around 30,000 deaths.

Ali, a Lancashire County Councillor, made the provocative claim during a meeting of the county’s Labour Party.

The Mail on Sunday reported Ali as saying: “The Egyptians are saying that they warned Israel 10 days earlier … Americans warned them a day before (that) there’s something happening.

“They deliberately took the security off, they allowed … that massacre that gives them the green light to do whatever they bloody want.”

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Ali has since apologised for the “offensive” and “false” comments.

He said: “I apologise unreservedly to the Jewish community for my comments which were deeply offensive, ignorant and false.

“Hamas’s horrific terror attack was the responsibility of Hamas alone, and they are still holding hostages who must be released.

“October 7 was the greatest loss of Jewish life in a single day since the Holocaust, and Jews in the UK and across the world are living in fear of rising antisemitism. I will urgently apologise to Jewish leaders for my inexcusable comments.

“The Labour Party has changed unrecognisably under Keir Starmer’s leadership, he has my full support in delivering the change Britain needs.”

Labour MP Pat McFadden, who serves as the party’s national campaign co-ordinator, today confirmed Ali remains on the ticket as voters head to the polls of February 29.

Pro-Palestine former MP George Galloway is standing in the contest.

He represented constituents in Bethnal Green & Bow and Bradford West as leader of Respect.

However, he finished in third with 21.9 per cent of the vote when he stood in Batley & Spen in 2021.

Galloway could look to benefit from discontent among Muslim voters with Starmer’s stance on Israel.

Around 20 per cent of the electorate and 30 per cent of the population of the Lancashire town are Asian.

Labour retained the safe seat in 2019 with a reduced majority of 9,668.

Reform UK is putting up former Rochdale MP Simon Danczuk as its candidate in the pro-Brexit seat.

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Number of Britons paying income tax has risen by 4.5 MILLION since 2010 as 'bruising' tax burden soars

The number of people paying income since has risen by 4.5 million since 2010, new research from the Taxpayers' Alliance has shown.

The number has surged from 31 million to 35.5 million, an increase of 4.5 million.

This comes despite former Prime Minister and current Foreign Secretary David Cameron claiming that lifting millions of people out of income tax was "one of the proudest things" he did while in Government.

The remarks were made after the then Coalition government lifted the personal allowance from £6,475 to £10,000.

Yet 1.7 million more people are paying the basic rate of income tax, with the total number increasing from 26.8 million to 28.5 million since 2010.

Since thresholds were frozen in 2021/22, an additional 1.1 million are paying the basic rate of income tax and an additional 1 million are paying the higher rate.

At the 2022 Autumn Statement, Jeremy Hunt announced that the freeze on income tax thresholds would continue until April 2028.

Since the freeze was imposed, the North East, Yorkshire and the Humber and Wales are set to be the UK regions with the largest percentage increases in the total number of people paying income tax and in the number of people paying the basic rate.

The largest percentage increases in the number of people paying the higher rate were Wales, the North East and Northern Ireland.

By contrast, London saw the smallest percentage increase of people paying income tax since 2021/22, both in terms of the basic rate, the higher rate and the additional rate.

Darwin Friend, research director of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: "Taxpayers in every corner of the United Kingdom are struggling with the bruising impact of tax rises and threshold freezes.

“The transformation of Britain into a high-tax, low-growth economy has hit almost every household, from Edinburgh to Eastleigh and Cardiff to Colchester.

“Ministers must use the budget to give taxpayers the income tax relief they desperately need.”

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A spokesperson for the Treasury said: “After borrowing £400 billion to protect lives and livelihoods throughout the pandemic and Putin’s energy shock, we had to take difficult decisions to help pay down the debt.

“However, with inflation more than halved and because of the progress we have made, we have cut taxes for hard-working people, saving the average employee £450 a year, and our tax burden remains lower than any major European economy.”

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Nigel Farage: 'The Tories are desperate and calling me every day'

Nigel Farage has admitted that he receives “desperate” calls from Tory MPs several times a day.

The GB News presenter has hinted several times about his potential return to politics but has left pundits guessing as to which party he could run for.

Speaking at an event last week to mark the launch of the Popular Conservative movement, Farage appeared to pour cold water on the Tories.

He explained: “I suspect I would agree with a lot of what is said on the platform this morning, but none of it is going to be Conservative manifesto policy.

“And that's really the point here. Whilst there were some big names like Liz Truss, Jacob Rees-Mogg - I saw Priti Patel coming into the audience earlier - they are a very small minority within the parliamentary Conservative Party.”

However, hinting at further machinations, the honourary president of Reform UK admitted he receives calls from Tory MPs on a regular basis.

Receiving a message on his phone during an interview with the Times, Farage said: “There’s another one. They’re looking for something, they’re desperate.

“I’m Uncle Nige. They all want to know what I’m going to do.”

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However, on the question of whether the callers want to join Reform UK or are trying to lure Farage to the Conservative Party, the GB News presenter hinted: “It could be either way.”

Describing his return to the Tory Conference last autumn, Farage said he was greeted: “like the prodigal son returning.”

He continued: “A lot of people who are engaged in the Tory party now got engaged in politics through me, through Ukip.

“So many of them have become Tory councillors, the activist base has been redefined by the grassroots base Ukip developed and a lot of the 2019 Tory MP intake are basically Ukip, make no bones about it.”

However, during Farage’s appearance at the PopCon launch last week, he appeared to give a blunt assessment of whether he would join the Tory Party.

Farage said: “I'm not looking to join the Tory party, you must be joking.

“Not at the moment, given what they stand for.

“And, as far as this group's concerned, I'd rather be part of Reform because that's the real thing.”

He added that he was currently “very happy” with life away from the political frontline.

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Labour candidate 'wrong' to say Israel allowed 7 October attack - but will still stand in by-election

Labour's by-election candidate in Rochdale was "completely wrong" to say Israel deliberately allowed the 7 October massacre to give it the "green light" to invade Gaza, the party's UK campaign coordinator has said.

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Defence secretary 'furious' as he orders review of MoD diversity and inclusivity policy

The defence secretary is said to be "furious" after it was reported the British Army wants to relax security clearance vetting for overseas recruits to boost diversity and inclusion.

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Fujitsu 'to have received £3.4bn in Treasury-linked deals since 2019' despite role in Post Office scandal

Fujitsu is set to have received more than £3.4bn through contracts from Treasury-linked organisations since 2019, despite its role in the Post Office scandal, MPs have found.

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