Minister refuses to deny reports Rachel Reeves considering tax increase for landlords in budget – UK politics live

<p>Stephen Morgan says Labour focus is on driving growth after reports of a national insurance tax on rental income</p><p>A Reform council leader’s decision to ban his councillors from engaging with a prominent local newspaper is a “massive attack on local democracy” and a sign of things to come should the party form the next government, the outlet’s editor has warned.</p><p>In an unprecedented move, <strong>Nottinghamshire county council</strong>’s four-month-old Reform administration has said it will no longer deal with the <strong><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk/nottingham">Nottingham</a> Post</strong>, its online edition and a team of <strong>BBC</strong>-funded local democracy journalists that it manages.</p><p>I’ve been a journalist for 20 years. We have had our ups and downs with all kinds of councils. We managed to get along fine, because most elected officials accept this is par for the course. You are going to get some negative press. What you don’t do is shut the shop up.</p><p>This is a worrying sign of potentially things to come if Reform wins the next election. What you’re seeing here in Nottinghamshire is probably a microcosm of how it will be across the whole of the UK if Nigel Farage becomes prime minister. You are just going to see this kind of shutting down of questioning.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2025/aug/28/latest-uk-politics-news-keir-starmer-rachel-reeves-labour-live-updates">Continue reading...</a>