Burnham pours cold water on leadership bid speculation
Andy Burnham has refused to confirm whether he held discussions with north-west MPs about them standing aside so that he could return to Westminster, saying: “I’m not going to go and say every conversation I have with every MP.”
Reports last week that the Greater Manchester mayor, who has twice previously run for the Labour leadership, was considering making a move for the top job prompted a frenzy of speculation.
The Greater Manchester mayor told the Guardian on Monday: “I can’t launch a leadership campaign. I’m not in Parliament.”
When asked whether he would rather be mayor of Greater Manchester or prime minister, Burnham said he would opt for the former. “The only thing I have launched is a debate,” he added.
The mayor said he had been misrepresented in newspaper interviews last week. “I honestly didn’t say what I’m supposed to have said,” he said.
Reeves says UK betting companies ‘should pay fair share of taxes’
Rachel Reeves has said “there’s a case for gambling firms paying more”, in her clearest hint yet that she will raise taxes on UK betting companies in her November Budget.
Speaking to ITV, the chancellor said companies in the sector “should pay their fair share of taxes and we’ll make sure that happens”.
Reeves has come under increased pressure to raise taxes on betting companies as activists and MPs target the sector to help fund welfare spending as well as tackle harmful gambling. Gambling companies made ￡15.6bn of revenues after payouts to customers in the year to March 2024, according to the Gambling Commission.
The UK’s largest gambling operators, such as Flutter and Entain, warn that customers could be pushed towards the black market if the government raises duties on the industry, which the Treasury said pays an estimated ￡3.4bn annually to the exchequer.
Bridget Phillipson says maintenance grants for some low-income students will be restored
Education secretary Bridget Phillipson announced that the Labour government would reintroduce maintenance grants by the end of the parliament to help support lower income students through higher education.
The grants, which were scrapped in 2016, will support tens of thousands of students who are studying on ‘priority courses’ that support the government’s industrial strategy and other key sectors. They will be paid for by a levy imposed on universities accepting international students.
Under the old maintenance grant system, students from lower-income households could receive a means-tested maintenance grant of up to ￡3,387 a year to help with living costs. In July 2015, the Conservative government scrapped it.