Five political trends to watch in 2026
Predicting the debates that will dominate the new year
ByRachel Reeves
The Budget has pushed Starmer and Reeves closer to the edge
The real threat is not a leadership challenge but parliamentary anarchy
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Rachel Reeves’ rage-bait Budget
The Chancellor’s set piece was a masterclass in political humiliation
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Has Labour’s soft left won?
Keir Starmer’s repeated U-turns mean all sides crave more ideological definition
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Labour’s conformism is crushing Britain
Rachel Reeves is just the latest ambassador of a failed political elite
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Did Rachel Reeves do enough?
The Chancellor desperately needs growth to offer more than austere social democracy
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How parliament reacted to the Budget
Tensions reached fever pitch when Reeves announced the abolition of the two-child benefit cap
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Rachel Reeves hits young graduates with a double stealth tax
The Chancellor plans to raise as much money from freezing loan repayment thresholds as from the mansion tax
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The Budget: our writers’ verdicts
Louise Haigh, Faiza Shaheen, James Meadway and others respond to the Chancellor
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How Labour changed its mind on the two-child benefit cap
It was an emotional moment for so many people in the Labour movement
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The two-child benefit cap was a scar on the country’s soul
By abolishing the cap, Rachel Reeves will lift hundreds of thousands of children out of poverty
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Rachel Reeves’s Budget leaks early
The document was released in error more than 40 minutes before the Chancellor’s speech
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Rachel Reeves’s risky sequel
Labour MPs will like the Budget – but will voters and markets?
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Steve Wright: Farage is a racist and I’ll fight the Tommy mob in the street
The leader of the Fire Brigades Union won’t back down
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The Budget of last resort
Inside Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves’ fight for survival
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What would Zack Polanski do?
The Green Party leader on wealth taxes, the Nordic model and fiscal rules
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Can Rachel Reeves do more than muddle through?
To Labour critics, the Budget already resembles a missed opportunity
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Rachel Reeves has a choice
Her planned Budget will only entrench our national stagnancy. But there are radical alternatives out there
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Rachel Reeves is trapped by history
Like every chancellor since the Thatcher era, Reeves is refusing to look the public in the eye
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The battle of Burnham would
The will-he, won’t-he is set to continue as the Greater Manchester mayor refuses to rule out having higher ambitions
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