As Rachel Reeves' budget approaches, Westminster is braced for tax hikes. The political manoeuvring necessary may just be one of the greatest political challenges of her career.
So on this week's episode of Westminster Insider, Sascha speaks to those who have been there, and compiles some golden rules on how to raise taxes – and get away with it.
Social Market Foundation Director and former Gordon Brown advisor Theo Bertram walks Sascha through Brown's 2002 decision to raise National Insurance, and how he kept voters onside while he did it.
And Rishi Sunak's former advisor James Nation explains why Sunak's health and social care levy was such a difficult tax rise to announce – and how he tried to mitigate the political blowback.
Jeremy Hunt, former Conservative Chancellor, defends not bringing back this tax rise and tells Sascha why freezing income tax thresholds – as Reeves is expected to do – was "less visible" than a hike to the basic rate of income tax, but still "very politically painful".
And Sascha, with the help of Bloomberg journalist and author of Can You Run the Economy Joe Mayes, puts herself in the shoes of Rachel Reeves and goes through the options available to her to fill what is expected to be a £20bn blackhole in the budget.
Helen Miller, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, warns Britain is in for a productivity down-grade, and if she were Rachel Reeves, she would worry about whether or not the budget will "drag down growth".
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Inside No. 10: The creaky house that runs Britain
After a wild week in No.10 Downing Street, host Patrick Baker takes listeners on a podcast tour of the famous building to find out how the hell a cobbled-together Georgian townhouse is meant to run a modern state. Patrick asks how the rabbit warren layout influences those who govern the country, for better or worse.
In one of his first interviews since stepping down, former Cabinet Secretary Simon Case opens up on how the building is less-than-ideal for the demands of modern government — with problems like losing the PM all-too-common. Case argues its layout contributed to the Partygate scandal that toppled Boris Johnson.
The set designer of the film “Love Actually,” Jim Clay, recounts a tour given to him by Gordon Brown so he could memorise the layout — and commentates on Hugh Grant as he boogies down the Grand Staircase.
Jack Brown, author of “The Power of Geography at No 10,” gives a step-by-step tour, taking us inside the pokey “Den,” the prime minister’s office at the heart of Downing Street.
POLITICO Political Editor Dan Bloom explains why Keir Starmer prefers working in open-plan offices — and shares some secrets from rooms you’ve never heard of.
Beatrice Timpson, former deputy press secretary to Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak, shares her sympathy for those in the policy unit, seen as banished to the rafters of Number 10. And she reveals the constant battle for phone signal that rages at the heart of British power.
John McTernan, who served as political secretary to Tony Blair, reveals stories from the Number 10 flat — and sets out what the current government must do to overcome the limitations of the building.
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Who really cares about Britain's farmers?
Does anyone care about British farmers? Those ploughing the fields and harvesting crops certainly don't feel Westminster pays attention to them.
So this week Westminster Insider finds out how the relationship between politics and farming – from post-Brexit trade deals to inheritance tax.
She speaks to NFU President Tom Bradshaw about how Keir Starmer set up the promise of hope for farmers, before swiftly letting them down.
Michael Gove, editor of the Spectator and former Conservative Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs (Defra) Secretary, admits the Australia trade deal did betray Britain's farmers.
Emma Pryor, former special advisor to Defra Secretary George Eustice, explains how subsidies, which mean farmers can make a profit on producing food, changed after Brexit.
And Sascha heads to rural South West Norfolk, where she speaks to Terry Jermy, the Labour MP who ousted Liz Truss. He tells her the new rules on inheritance tax are "unfortunate" and he hopes they are changed.
Sascha gets on a tractor harvesting potatoes and speaks to farmers Danielle and Richard Gott. And she visits a farm run by Ed Pope which has turned 170 acres of the property into wildlife conservation.
This episode was produced by Robert Nicholson and Artemis Irvine at Whistledown Productions.
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How (not) to start a political party
With Jeremy Corbyn's Your Party suffering some teething problems, host Patrick Baker delves into the art of starting a new political outfit.
Corbyn himself speaks to POLITICO's Bethany Dawson at one of the many Your Party regional assemblies happening across the country.
With tensions between Corbyn and co-leader Zarah Sultana simmering as the duo try to get their start up off the ground, Labour insider Sienna Rodgers of The House magazine explains the roots of the discord and how rival factions have been undermining the party's progress at an early stage.
Patrick sits down with former Change UK MP Gavin Shuker in Nando's, site of one of the now-extinct party's early summits, to discuss the pitfalls of starting a new venture in Westminster.
Journalist Catherine Mayer, who co-founded the Women's Equality Party alongside comedian Sandi Toksvig, lifts the lid on the curious underworld of smaller political parties and the outsized impact they can have on our politics.
Professor Alan Sked, the founder of UKIP, tells the story of arguably the U.K.’s most consequential political newbie and describes how he slowly lost control of the party to Nigel Farage.
And Reform UK board member and Farage's former press secretary Gawain Towler sets out how he believes the U.K.’s current insurgent can complete its journey from newcomer to party of power.
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What Liz Truss wants Britain to learn from Trump
Liz Truss is never far from the shores of the United States, hobnobbing with the folk seeking to "Make America Great Again." What does she think Britain can learn from the second Trump era?
Anne McElvoy travels to Washington to talk to the former Conservative Prime Minister Liz Truss, who’s on a self-proclaimed “mission” to remake the U.K. in the image of MAGA-land. It’s exactly three years since she left Downing Street after just 49 days in office following a mini-budget that sent the markets into freefall — and has haunted her party ever since.
In a wide-ranging interview, Truss tells Anne that the Green Party might end up being the official opposition party after the next general election and argues that voters are sick of "technocratic managerial crap" in politics. She insists that she will foreseeably not be joining Reform UK, despite criticizing her own party’s record in office. Truss also pours scorn on both Kemi Badenoch’s leadership of her old party and the Labour Chancellor Rachel Reeves, whom she blames for an impending economic crisis.
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POLITICO’s weekly political series lifts the curtain on how Westminster really works, offering in-depth insight into the political issues which typically only get broad-brush treatment in the wider media.
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