Politics LIVE: Labour FINALLY backs Britain's churches as party makes 15th U-turn

Government borrowing fell to £11bn in December - but still 10th highest month since records began 

UK Government borrowing fell sharply to £11.6billion in December as a spike in tax receipts and national insurance more than outweighed an uptick in spending, official figures show.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said borrowing was £7.1billion, or 38 per cent, less than the same month in 2024.

It also came in below the £13million that most economists had been forecasting.

Nevertheless, the ONS said the December borrowing figure represented the 10th highest for the month since records began in 1993, though not adjusted for inflation.

The figure represents the difference between what the Government spends on the public sector and what it makes from taxes and other income, therefore requiring it to borrow money or creating a surplus of cash.

Yvette Cooper says she hoped 'we are now in a much better place' on Greenland deal 

Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said she hoped “we are now in a much better place” to focus on collective Arctic security after US President Donald Trump said he had formed “the framework of a future deal” regarding Greenland with Nato Secretary-General Mark Rutte.

Ms Cooper told Sky News: "We’ve been unwavering in our principles and calm and very co-ordinated with our allies in pursuing the UK’s national interests.

"I hope this now means we are in a much better place to actually focus on what the real issues should be, which is our collective Arctic security, how Nato countries work together, respecting sovereignty, respecting our shared collective security in the face of shared threats, particularly from Russia."

Conservative Party risks only being relevant to 'posh suburbs', says Robert Jenrick 

The Conservative Party is no longer a national party and risks only being relevant to “posh suburbs”, Robert Jenrick has claimed.

The Tory defector to Reform UK also said in an interview with the Spectator magazine that his decision was in part inspired by a discussion with his father, to whom he revealed he would rather see Nigel Farage as prime minister than Kemi Badenoch.

The ex-shadow justice secretary defected to Reform last Thursday, describing Britain as “broken” and blaming the Tories and Labour for the country’s troubles.

His exit came after Mrs Badenoch sacked him from her frontbench and accused him of plotting to leave in a way intended to cause as much harm as possible to the Tories.

“It’s a party reconciling itself to being relevant only in the posh suburbs and fancy parts of our big cities. Kensington and Wimbledon, not Newark and Wolverhampton,” Mr Jenrick told the Spectator.

The Newark MP added: “That’s not the people I came into politics to represent, the people I grew up around or the people that I know in north Nottinghamshire. It’s not a national party at all.”

IN-DEPTH: How devastating 'stealth tax' risks RECORD church closures with Britain's historic places of worship at risk

Just two weeks ago, GB News revealed how Britain's holy places of worship face a new peril from Rachel Reeves - the now-scrapped Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme.

There were concerns that the Treasury could permanently end the scheme at the time.

The National Churches Trust (NCT) is still spearheading a campaign to keep churches open across the UK - and its head of public policy and affairs, Ben Sims, revealed just how badly they were faring.

"Churches have been able to rely on the scheme since 2001 and every Government until now had believed it is important to refund the VAT on churches because of all the charity work they do," he told GB News.

"We know there are certain churches that have been doing very big projects and when they found out they could only claim £25,000 this year have actually cancelled their projects.

"There are about 200 churches which are going to be affected by the cap this year."

Beyond serving as a place of worship, many churches operate food banks, serve as warm spaces and run groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous and toddler groups.

Mr Sims said a spike in church closures could have a "knock-on effect" on the National Health Service, claiming they save the taxpayer £8.5billion each year.

READ THE FULL STORY HERE

RECAP: Keir Starmer to visit CHINA just days after approving 'spy hub' embassy - 'Desperate to kowtow!'

Sir Keir Starmer is set to visit Beijing next week - just days after Labour green-lit China's mega-embassy in central London.

The PM is expected to head east in a bid to revive a "golden era" of relations, which tailed off after a series of Chinese espionage, technology, and influence operations, alongside disagreements on human rights.

The visit was largely contingent on approval for the embassy, and after it was given the go-ahead, talks between the two countries "begun in earnest", Reuters revealed.

It emerged on Wednesday that five UK allies - the US, the Netherlands, Sweden, New Zealand and Switzerland - had all raised fears about the site, and urged No10 not to "open Pandora's Box".

Labour has now been accused of "kowtowing" over the visit by senior Tories, though Sir Keir will not even get the chance to meet President Xi Jinping - instead, he is set to shake hands with second-in-command Li Qiang.

Sources said Donald Trump's threats to acquire Greenland could derail the trip, and cautioned that elements of the visit were still being finalised.

But things may now be more settled after the President struck a "draft framework agreement" with Nato, which may see a number of US military bases set up in the Arctic.

The British embassy in Beijing said the PM's travel arrangements would be announced in the usual way.

Kemi Badenoch calls emergency Tory assembly after Robert Jenrick defection

Last night Kemi Badenoch brought together the 1922 Committee, the assembly of all Tory MPs, for its first meeting since Robert Jenrick and Andrew Rosindell defected.

She told her party how it had lost Mr Jenrick to Reform UK “not on ideology, but personal ambition”.

Mrs Badenoch went on to challenge some Reform’s narrative about the defections from her party - and raged at Nigel Farage’s vow that his party represented the “genuine centre-right of this country”.

“We are not moving leftwards, we are the party of the right and will always be a party of the right,” she declared.

Tories launch major attack on PM after details of China visit emerge

Responding to reports of a potential visit to China, Shadow Foreign Secretary Dame Priti Patel said: "Having surrendered to China over their plan for a spy hub super-embassy in the heart of our capital, Keir Starmer is now getting ready to jet off to Beijing and toast it all with Xi Jinping.

"Meanwhile Labour are handing British sovereign territory and £35billion of taxpayers' money to Mauritius, an ally of China, despite the clear threat to national security.

"When he is in Beijing, Starmer must not make any further concessions to the Chinese Communist Party.

"Labour are desperate to kowtow to Beijing in the hope of winning some crumbs of investment into the tanking economy they are presiding over.

"Only the Conservatives can be trusted to put Britain first."

Sir Keir is pushing to revive a business dialogue forum known as the "UK-China CEO Council" that was established by none other than the Conservatives in 2018, with Theresa May being the last British PM to visit the country.

Writing in The Telegraph earlier this week, Shadow National Security Minister accused the PM of green-lighting the embassy "in return for a vanity visit later this month".

"It is an open secret in Westminster that Keir Starmer is planning on visiting Beijing within weeks. It is also widely understood this visit is contingent on the embassy being approved beforehand," she said.

"This is little more than diplomatic blackmail. What message does this send?"