MP Yasmin Qureshi says opponents to non-stunned slaughter focus on Muslim communities.

“This debate is less about animals and more about Muslims”

The controversial element of halal and kosher animal slaughter is that the animal is sometimes not stunned before being killed.

Denmark, Slovenia, Finland and Norway have already banned this, says MP Jamie Stone.

Liberal Democrat MP Jamie Stone says the slaughter of animals according to religious practice is already subject to controls, including inspections of the abattoir by the Food Standards Agency.

A veteran with a household income just £5 above Rachel Reeves’s winter fuel payment threshold has shared his relief following Rachel Reeves’s U-turn.

John Dockree, 73, and his wife Wenefreda, 57, had spent their days huddling with their rescue dogs Miska and Connor to ward off the bitter cold in their one-bedroom bungalow in Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire.

Read the full story here.

Labour rebel Jon Trickett is demanding more details on today’s u-turn: “The decision to cut Winter Fuel Payment for millions was one of the worst decisions taken by a Labour Government.”

“I welcome the fact that the govt is changing direction but want to see the details.”

Nigel Farage has hinted that a big political name in Wales, either an MP or a Senedd member, may be planning to cross the floor “before too long”.

The comment came in response to a question from ITV, who asked why all his defections in Wales are at local council level.

After joking that the reporter may want to avoid insulting the hardworking councillors currently sitting around him, he added: “My priority is not to go around lobbying for people to defect to us from the House of Commons, from the Senedd or anywhere else.”

“But you know what? There are one or two people I’m talking to, so you might be in for a surprise before too long.”

Nigel Farage has said that while the Welsh Government does have tax raising powers, he wants to avoid using them.

He says his priority is trying to encourage greater private sector investment instead.

Nigel Farage addresses the problems in Wales and what Reform will do in power:

“Wales lags in everything: jobs, investment, growth, unemployment – the highest of any region of the UK, GDP per capita £10k less than the rest of the country, wages correspondingly lower, and productivity up to 17% lower than the rest of the country.

“On the NHS there’s really nothing Wales can say; a waiting list of over 300,000. Huge closures of GP surgeries have occurred over the last 15 years.

“Perhaps the most damning indictment of Labour’s control of health is the worst cancer care in the whole of the European time zone.

“On immigration of course they don’t recognise the issue at all. Indeed it’s policy that Wales should be a nation of sanctuary – ‘yes if you come in by small boat illegally you are to be welcomed into Wales’.

“Once again one of those areas that Cardiff think and speak in is out of touch with the rest of Wales.”

He promises that when Reform wins, locals will be put first in line for social housing.

MPs will debate Winter Fuel payments today.

An Urgent Question has been granted for about 4/4.30pm.

Nigel Farage has revealed his to-do list between now and the Senedd elections next year.

It consists of:

– Raise money

– Find 96 calibre candidates to stand on the lists

– Got to have a proper campaign plan

He says the elections will be fought using the proportional voting system that the EU uses.

He says his aim is to win a majority and to govern in Wales.

Nigel Farage has announced two new Welsh councillors for Reform in Wales.

The first is an independent councillor from Merthyr Tydfil, the second is another independent councillor from Merthyr Tydfil.

Nigel Farage says last week’s Hamilton MSP by-election saw Reform UK ‘blow up’ the Scottish political establishment, as they came within touching distance of winning the seat.

Mr Farage says there are ‘one or two early markers here in Wales that are very very positive’.

He points to recent by-election results where Reform has won over 40% of the vote.

Nigel Farage says he will unveil his new party chairman at a press conference in London tomorrow.

“The new chairman will not be as bogged down with all the administration, with booking event halls and all the rest of it, as we broaden our team.

“They will be very much more of a front facing person”

Nigel Farage has put the events of last week, with Zia Yusuf’s resignation, behind him.

He jokes: “Reform as a party is very much on track. Yes, we did hit a speed bump last week.”

“It could be we were driving more than the recommended 20 miles an hour!”

“You know, Zia Yusuf and I have worked together almost inseparably over the course of the last 11 months, and we have both taken on our shoulders the most enormous burden.”

“I think we can claim some credit, with this Express headline from last week. And well done the Express for splashing it, and I think we have made the political weather on this one. There is no doubt in my mind that the government would not have u-turned on this had it not been for the pressure Reform UK is putting on them”

Taking to the stage in Port Talbot, Nigel Farage immediately launched into a damning critique of Labour’s winter fuel mess.

He said: “The Labour government is in a state of absolute blind panic, they’re not quite sure what to do. I think it’s pretty fair to say that Reform are leading now much of their agenda, certainly a lot of their narrative.”

“There’s no doubt that in the Runcorn by-election and many of the English counties, one of the reasons Labour did so badly was people felt aggrieved. especially those who’d worked through their lives and saved and had a small occupational pension.

“They were the people aggrieved over losing their Winter Fuel Allowance. Many of them voted for us.

“It’s an issue I kept on pushing. I kept on saying ‘all but the very wealthiest pensioners should get the Winter Fuel Allowance. Particularly as we have the most expensive energy costs in the world. Directly as a result of the fanatical embrace by both the Conservative and Labour governments of Net Zero”

Chancellor Rachel Reeves is in Camden Town this morning as she announces the huge u-turn on Winter Fuel.

Our political editor Martyn Brown is on hand and will bring you her comments shortly.

Kemi Badenoch, Leader of the Opposition, said:

“Keir Starmer has scrambled to clear up a mess of his own making. I repeatedly challenged him to reverse his callous decision to withdraw winter fuel payments, and every time Starmer arrogantly dismissed my criticisms.

“This humiliating u-turn will come as scant comfort to the pensioners forced to choose between heating and eating last winter. The Prime Minister should now apologise for his terrible judgement.”

Labour backbencher Rachael Maskell has said today’s announcement by the Chancellor is the “right decisions”.

Speaking to the Express Ms Maskell said: “Having campaigned so hard for Government to restore the Winter Fuel Payments I am pleased that this winter the payments will be restored to the majority of pensioners, and all who have an income of less than £35,000. This is the right decision to protect people from the cold, however since its removal was first announced, energy bills have risen by £281, so it is clear that more needs to be done to ensure that older people don’t face fuel poverty this winter.”

In the last few minutes Rachel Reeves has announced that she is increasing the Winter Fuel Payments threshold from £11,500 to £35,000 a year.

Millions more will now receive WFPs than last year, with just the 1.8 million richest pensioners missing out.

Ms Reeves said: “Targeting Winter Fuel Payments was a tough decision, but the right decision because of the inheritance we had been left by the previous government. It is also right that we continue to means-test this payment so that it is targeted and fair, rather than restoring eligibility to everyone including the wealthiest.”

Nigel Farage is preparing for his speech

A clear majority of Reform voters disagree with party leader Nigel Farage over scrapping the two child benefit cap, a poll found.

At the moment, families are only able to claim child-related benefits for a maximum of two children per family. Labour Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has hinted he could scrap this limit, and Mr Farage has said he will definitely scrap it he becomes Prime Minister.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch says she would keep it.

But polling by Lord Ashcroft found 77% of Reform voters want to keep the cap. Among the public as a whole, including people supporting other parties, 63% want to keep it.

Sir Chris Bryant, data protection and telecoms minister, has told Times Radio that Wednesday’s spending review marks “the end of austerity”.

It follows reports that the Goverment is to impose cuts on some departments, and will not restore the winter fuel allowance for every pensioner.

Sir Chris said: “We know from running the government that spending money of itself isn’t an achievement. Spending money and getting results is an achievement and that’s why we are saying now with this spending review on Wednesday it’s an end to austerity.

“We have got a plan for change in this country but that plan for change only comes if we make an investment and that investment really delivers returns”

Speaking at London tech week, Keir Starmer has announced plans to use AI to help build his 1.5 million promised homes.

The Prime Minister explained artificial intelligence will be used to in the planning application process, scanning hundreds of files in seconds and making it easier to make home improvements.

For the first time, this cutting-edge technology will help councils convert decades-old, handwritten planning documents and maps into data in minutes – and will power new types of planning software to slash the 250,000 estimated hours spent by planning officers each year manually checking these documents. This will dramatically reduce delays that have long plagued the system.

Around 350,000 planning applications are submitted a year in England, yet the system remains heavily reliant on paper documents – some hundreds of pages long. Once submitted, each of these documents needs to be manually validated and approved by a planning officer.

In test trials across Hillingdon, Nuneaton & Bedworth, and Exeter councils, Extract digitised planning records, including maps, in just three minutes each – compared to the 1–2 hours it typically takes manually. This means Extract could process around 100 planning records a day – significantly speeding up the process.

Zia Yusuf says he remains “incredibly proud” of what he helped build Reform up to as party chairman.

Explaining last week’s decision to quit, he said simply: “Exhaustion”

“I’ve been working pretty much non-stop, no days off in 11 months. I’ve built a tech company from scratch so I know what it’s like, you start with almost nothing, no infrastructure at all, and this thing had just become so huge.

“You probably remember the count at Runcorn, I was there right up until the end of that count where we obviously won by 6 votes, and even after that I didn’t really get a break because we had a celebratory event in Kent and straight on to launching 10 councils.”

“It is very difficult to keep going at that pace, and that exhaustion led to a poor decision.”

MPs will hold a major debate today on banning halal and kosher slaughter of animals, after thousands of Britons signed a petition demanding better animal welfare.

The debate will be held in Westminster Hall at 4.30pm, meaning that while there won’t be a vote it will be the first debate of the religious practice in parliament for years.

Rupert Lowe has already said he will be backing the ban.

Rachel Reeves will also directly go after Nigel Farage in her spending review speech on Wednesday as Labour continues to ramp up attacks against Reform.

A person close to the Chancellor said: “The spending review will be about spelling out the choice. Reform and the Tories offering more chaos, decline and fantasy economics, with Labour offering stability, investment and change that will make a real difference to working people.”

Nigel Farage will outline at midday how next year’s Welsh parliament elections will be the primary focus of his party.

The MP for Clacton has already ruled out standing at the Senedd elections next year. It is unclear who will lead the Reform party in Wales.

The Government has backed plans for a new £1.25 billion electric arc furnace at the Tata steelworks, with the switch-on due in 2027 as part of the push towards greener production.

The plant’s last blast furnace was shut down in September 2024.

Some MPs have said workers in South Wales have been let down in comparison with those retaining jobs in Scunthorpe, where ministers took control of the steelworks to prevent the closure of its blast furnaces.

The Government has said the two steelworks were in different situations.

Nigel Farage’s speech comes as Reform seeks to draw a line under internal clashes after chairman Zia Yusuf quit the party on Thursday only to return 48 hours later, saying the resignation had been “born out of exhaustion”.

It followed a row in which he described a question to the Prime Minister concerning a ban on burkas from his party’s newest MP, Sarah Pochin, as “dumb”.

Mr Yusuf will now have four jobs, including leading the party’s plans to cut public spending via the so-called “UK Doge”, based on the US Department of Government Efficiency which was led by tech billionaire Elon Musk.

Nigel Farage will call for Port Talbot’s blast furnaces to reopen after they were shut down last year as Reform UK sets its sights on the Welsh elections in 2026.

On a visit to the South Wales town, the party leader is expected to say that the resumption of traditional steelmaking should be a long-term ambition, a spokesman said.

Mr Farage believes his party has a chance of ending Labour’s long-standing dominance in Wales during the Senedd elections next year amid opinion poll momentum and gains made at the local polls last month.

Welcome to today’s Daily Express live blog.

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