PolPulse | UK Politics

Exposing UK politics they don't want you to see • Daily takes on Burnham, Labour scandals & Westminster hypocrisy • Follow for the real story 🇬🇧 #UKPolitics

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Poundland's American owner paid £1 for the chain. It then rejected a rescue bid over a £30 million LOAN.
Around 12,000 jobs are now at risk.
Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds says he is keeping a close eye.

The bidder, Martin Property Group, wanted the whole business. It refused to repay the £30 million shareholder loan up front.

Directors filed to appoint administrators on 29 October 2026. Like-for-like sales were up 3.3% in the quarter to 27 September.

Reynolds said if administration wasn't necessary, "the present owners will have to account for that".

Reform UK's Jenrick and Tice allege the owner squeezed credit to force a cash crisis. Labour MPs have written to ministers too.

Keeping a close eye isn't a plan for 12,000 jobs.

What should ministers do before the stores are sold off in pieces?

👉 Follow @PolPulseUK for the story behind the statement.

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Serco never met more than FIVE of 13 reported tagging targets in a month, for 13 months straight.
Justice minister Catherine McKinnell published the scores on 29 October 2026.
For 18 months, Serco was formally assessed on a reduced set of just four.

The contract gives Serco up to 53 hours to pass breach details to probation and police.

Asked how many arrived late, the minister said the data "cannot be disclosed".

Serco has met all 14 targets every month since March 2026. The contract was signed in 2023, but those 13 months all came after the July 2024 election.

The scores are public now. The late-alert figures still aren't.

How long should a tagging firm get to tell police about a breach?

👉 Follow @PolPulseUK for the numbers behind the announcements.

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3,669 prison places in England and Wales are out of use for repairs.
1,062 of them aren't due back until 2030 or LATER.
The longest wait runs to February 2034.

Why they're empty:
🔥 2,154: fire safety works
⚠️ 1,115: other reasons, including 640 at Dartmoor over radon
💧 236: damp, mould or leaks
🔨 162: damage caused by prisoners

The longest waits:
• Swaleside: 126 places, February 2034
• Wormwood Scrubs: 203 places, April 2032
• Coldingley: 93 places, April 2031
• Moorland: 60 places, March 2031

In the same answers, the Ministry of Justice confirmed it must give 1% of its capital budget to defence.

Some places will be out for longer than a Parliament lasts.

What's a reasonable time to bring a prison wing back into use?

👉 Follow @PolPulseUK for the detail behind the headlines.

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Pensions 1.4% lower every year than under the triple lock. That is the OBR's own test of Labour's new rule over 35 years.

Labour's 2024 manifesto promised to retain the triple lock. On 29 September 2026, Andy Burnham announced it will be adjusted from April 2030.

Pensions will still rise by at least inflation or 2.5%. But earnings will only count to keep pace with wages, never to pull ahead.

The savings are meant to help fund a National Care Service. It has no official costing yet, so the OBR cannot say whether the package saves money overall.

We read every comment, tell us where you stand.

Follow @PolPulseUK for more.

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Chancellor John Healey's Budget: £10 billion more for Ukraine.
He detailed half a billion of it. The other £9.5 billion came with no BREAKDOWN in his speech.
That's roughly £350 per UK household.

Healey said the half billion is urgent military funding for the winter.

The speech did not say how much of the rest is loans or gifts, over how many years, or where it comes from.

The UK had already committed £25 billion to Ukraine since February 2022, on the government's own figures. That includes £3 billion a year in military aid until 2031.

Healey said he and Andy Burnham phoned Zelensky before telling MPs.

Backing Ukraine is one question. Paying for it is another.

What should MPs ask Healey about the £9.5 billion before the Budget vote?

👉 Follow @PolPulseUK. We read the small print so you don't have to.

#Budget2026

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Landlord tax is going up AGAIN from April 2027: 24%, 44% or 49% on rental income.
Not a landlord? The OBR says a steady long-term rise in rents is "more likely than not".
Yet a Treasury minister twice told Parliament the OBR saw no significant rent impact.

Lord Livermore gave that answer in the Lords in December 2025 and January 2026.

Chancellor John Healey added the second two-point rise on 28 October 2026, on top of last year's.

The OBR calls the two rises "a material reduction in returns to private landlords". It expects fewer new landlords and more costs passed to tenants.

We'll let you draw your own conclusions.

If rents rise as the OBR expects, what should the government do about it?

👉 Follow @PolPulseUK. We read the small print so you don't have to.

#Budget2026

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Rosebank oil is reportedly counted as revenue in John Healey's Budget.
The field has no approval.
If it's refused, the Budget is left with a black HOLE.

Downing Street says the decision belongs to Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh alone. She reportedly has serious doubts, and says each application must be judged on its own merits.

The Treasury has not said how much the Budget relies on Rosebank.

Its first consent was ruled unlawful by Scotland's highest civil court in January 2025. A fresh decision is expected before the end of 2026.

A decision still pending. A forecast already written.

If she says no, who should have to fill the gap?

👉 Follow @PolPulseUK. We read the small print so you don't have to.

#Budget2026

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John Healey's Budget is expected to scrap gas standing charges, reportedly saving households up to £50 a year.
EDF predicts a typical bill will rise by almost £480 from January.
The cut covers about a TENTH of the rise.

The cost doesn't vanish. It is reportedly moved into the price of every unit of gas, so heavier users could pay more.

Citizens Advice has warned that could hit older people in larger homes.

Electricity standing charges, the bigger share of bills, stay as they are.

Andy Burnham's VAT cut on electricity, worth about £45 a year, is set to end on 31 March. Government sources reportedly say the Budget is unlikely to extend it.

Mr Healey says he wants to "get energy costs down for good".

Pennies off. Hundreds on.

Which part of your energy bill would you have cut first, and why?

👉 Follow @PolPulseUK for the detail behind the headlines.

#Budget2026

[LBC @LBC]

‘That’s £190,000 per person…’
‘We could buy them all a house!”

@NickFerrariLBC runs the numbers on the government's pledge to end rough sleeping by Christmas.

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£33,168 for four days at a stately home.

An MP asked the Cabinet Office four questions about it. The answer covered two.

And that was not the only bill.

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HMRC has made 41 referrals to the police watchdog involving Loan Charge cases of serious injury or loss of life.

It investigated every one internally. It found no misconduct, every time.

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A Crown Court trial in England and Wales is already listed for December 2030.

Trials booked as of 30 September 2026:
2027: 26,999
2028: 7,997
2029: 2,736
2030: 702

The minister says the backlog was "inherited." Labour has governed since July 2024.

Her own answer: "justice delayed is justice denied."

#UKPolitics #CourtBacklog

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Parliament asked how many prisoners were freed early on 1 October.

How many were tagged before they walked out.

How many have been tagged since.

Every answer was the same.

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Up to £1.3 BILLION.

That is health minister Karin Smyth's own estimate of the one-off cost of the NHS reorganisation, including staff exit payments.

Savings of over £1 billion a year are promised by the end of this Parliament. The bill lands first.

Where would you have spent it?

#UKPolitics #NHS

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Wes Streeting resigned as Health Secretary on 14 May 2026.

Under the rules, a minister who resigns by choice still qualifies for severance pay: a quarter of the ministerial salary, £16,876 at the Cabinet rate.

MPs have asked three times what he received. The answer: wait for the Department of Health's accounts, due by 31 January 2028.

Where would you draw the line on paying ministers who choose to walk away?

#UKPolitics

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An MoD solar project was estimated at £10.2 million. By the time it was cancelled, estimated costs had hit £63 million.

Separately, a Deloitte contract was ended early, with a £1.354 million payment described in Parliament as "fruitless".

The explanation? An "alternative delivery model."

How much explanation do taxpayers deserve when a quote grows six-fold?

#UKPolitics #MinistryOfDefence

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Sources and more accountability reporting at https://t.co/yP4kY9uArl

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£67.45 million.

That's what the Ministry of Defence spent on hotel rooms for its own civil servants in one year.

Then another department told Parliament it couldn't even say what it spent.

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Everything PolPulse in one place: https://t.co/yP4kY9uArl

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Over £2.6 BILLION promised for Ukraine is sitting in a UK bank account.

On 16 October 2026, a Foreign Office minister confirmed to Parliament that none of it has moved.

It's the money paid for Chelsea in 2022, frozen when Roman Abramovich was sanctioned. He pledged it to help victims in Ukraine.

The government cleared the transfer on 17 December 2025. His 90-day window closed in March.

Asked what deadline he has now been given, the minister called the delay "unacceptable" and said the government "remains fully prepared to go to court".

No deadline. No court date.

The money isn't abroad. It's here, under UK sanctions.

The timing speaks for itself.

How long would you give a promise like this before "fully prepared" turns into action?

#UKPolitics #Abramovich