• Budget rumours: Reeves must rule out “cloak and dagger” efforts to drag people into paying more tax
• China case: Lib Dems call for release of all legal advice — including evidence needed for spy case to proceed
• Angus MacDonald MP calls for common sense on rural helipads
• Murray presses PM over small business national insurance in East Dunbartonshire

Budget rumours: Reeves must rule out “cloak and dagger” efforts to drag people into paying more tax

Responding to Rachel Reeves admitting there may be more tax rises in this autumn’s Budget, Daisy Cooper, Liberal Democrat Treasury Spokesperson, said:

Millions of people up and down the country are worried they could face more damaging tax hikes, after the Conservative party saddled them with a stealth tax and this Government hit them with an unfair jobs tax.

Prolonging this uncertainty for weeks will leave people deeply worried about what this could mean for their payslips and bills.

Rachel Reeves must rule out a cloak-and-dagger effort to raise revenue by extending the Conservatives’ stealth tax and dragging even more working people into higher tax rates. What we need is a proper growth plan and for the big banks, social media giants and gambling companies to pay their fair share of tax.

China case: Lib Dems call for release of all legal advice — including evidence needed for spy case to proceed

Following the Prime Minister’s announcement of his plan to publish the witness statements by the deputy national security adviser on the China case, the Liberal Democrats are now calling on the Government to put the full legal advice they received on the public record.

The party is calling for the Government to publish advice including on what evidence would be needed for the spy case to proceed.

Daisy Cooper, Liberal Democrat Deputy Leader, said:

The public have had enough of the constant blame game between the Conservatives and Labour on the collapse of the China spy case.

The Government must bolster their publication of witness statements and put all the legal advice they’ve received on this case on the public record – including advice on what evidence would be needed for this trial to go ahead.

Number 10 must also urgently launch an independent inquiry so we can finally get to the bottom of what actually happened in this labyrinthine case.

Angus MacDonald MP calls for common sense on rural helipads

Angus MacDonald, MP for Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire, has called on the UK Government to cut through “bewildering” red tape that has stopped search and rescue helicopters from landing on community helipads in rural areas.

While leading a Westminster Hall debate on Access to Community Helipads in Rural Areas, Mr MacDonald raised the case of the Portree and Braes Community Trust helipad, which serves the north end of Skye, including the local hospital. Despite being purpose-built and refurbished to high safety standards, search and rescue helicopters operated by Bristow are not currently able to land there.

Mr MacDonald explained that the problem stems from overly rigid interpretation of new Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) guidance following a tragic 2022 incident in Devon. Bristow has since withdrawn from operating at sites that are not fully compliant with the new standards, despite the CAA confirming the guidance is non-mandatory and that pilots can conduct dynamic risk assessments to land safely when necessary.

“The problem isn’t Portree Helipad’s quality – it’s the red tape from the Health and Safety Executive,” said Mr MacDonald. “It is fear of litigation that is keeping my constituents’ helipads out of action.”

He highlighted a recent incident in Portree where a patient suffering from a suspected heart attack was forced to walk across rough ground to reach a helicopter because the aircraft could not land on the designated helipad.

“If that lady had died, we’d all be asking why the helicopter couldn’t use the purpose-built site just a few feet away,” he said. “This is bureaucracy gone mad.”

Mr MacDonald urged the Department for Transport, the CAA, HM Coastguard, and the Health and Safety Executive to review their approach and ensure regulations do not prevent emergency services from saving lives.

“Rescue helicopters are vital for rural communities,” he concluded. “We must not allow over-regulation and ambiguity to hamper the extraordinary work carried out by our search and rescue and mountain rescue teams.”

“I have a personal gratitude to Search and Rescue helicopters, who rescued my wife after a terrible climbing accident fifteen years ago.”

Mr MacDonald has requested a meeting with the responsible minister to discuss solutions that will allow Portree’s helipad – and others like it across the UK – to be fully reinstated for emergency use.

Murray presses PM over small business national insurance in East Dunbartonshire

Mid Dunbartonshire MP Susan Murray has today pressed the Prime Minister over the high taxes faced by local business owners in her constituency and in particular the Labour UK Government’s decision to increase national insurance.

In October of last year, the Labour Government decided to lower the threshold for employees to start paying national insurance from £12,000 to £5,000, pulling more part time employees into paying National Insurance and increasing the amount employers have to pay for part time employees.

This puts local jobs at risk as more business owners decide to not to employ staff and stop doing the additional work which comes with being an employer – often with a reduction in their hours working on admin but without a reduction in their personal income. Some businesses are avoiding growth to stay under the VAT threshold, again reducing the number of local jobs.

Speaking during Prime Minister’s Questions, Ms Murray said:

Calithea studios in my constituency is a prime example of a business doing everything the government asks. The owner of this beauty salon and her 3 employees earn less than £30,000 per year yet the business will pay the government £25,600 in VAT, £8,000 in Employers National Insurance and £2,800 in employer pension contributions adding up to over £36,000 for the year.

Does the prime minister think it’s fair that the hard-working owner who is providing local jobs and training on the high street contributes more to the exchequer than she earns in a year?

Speaking after the exchange, Ms Murray added:

I’m deeply frustrated by this answer from the Prime Minister. He seems completely numb to the challenges that are facing businesses in my constituency.

I recently met with representatives from the Beauty Salon Business sector. They shared the challenges these businesses have had since returning after Covid. Like other small businesses they had to recover after furlough and repaying Covid business loan costs. Hot on the heels of this came the huge hike in the cost of energy and removal of business rates support. And yet they have struggled on adapting to the changes with determination that I can only admire.

In Mid Dunbartonshire we have 219 hair and beauty businesses. Forcing them to pay higher and higher costs when they cannot increase their prices puts our high streets at risk and reduces income for local authorities as they either fail and move out or move to more affordable premises.

My party has set out plans to reform business rates and cut energy bills. Now the UK Government should set out what it is going to do lower costs for businesses.