Farage: £72m war chest will make Reform ready to rule Party’s biggest donor matches record £36m given by fellow cryptocurrency billionaire Daily Telegraph 12/09/26 Nigel Farage has declared that Reform UK will soon be “ready to form a government” after his party received £72m in donations from billionaire backers. Just 24 hours after announcing it had been given a record £36m by Ben Delo , a cryptocurrency mogul, Reform went public with an identical donation from Christopher Harborne, its biggest donor. The donations amount to a huge show of force by Reform’s wealthy supporters, and will turbocharge its attempts to build a party machine to rival the Conservatives and Labour as it prepares for the next general election. Reform has now raised more than £86m in donations this year, dwarfing the £10.2m raised by the Conservatives and £7.7m by Labour and giving Mr Farage a personal boost after a testing summer during which his family urged him to quit politics. Mr Farage still faces...
Uncapped levy on hotel stays risks ‘jobs bloodbath’, hospitality industry warns Daily Telegraph 09/09/26 Andy Burnham is to hand mayors the power to impose unlimited taxes on tourists that could see families paying hundreds of pounds more to holiday in England. Officials stunned the hospitality industry late on Wednesday by announcing that English mayors and other local leaders will be able to impose an uncapped “overnight visitor levy” on anyone staying in hotels, holiday lets and bed and breakfasts. Bosses said they had been led to believe that the levy would be capped, as is the case in Wales. However, England will now follow the Scottish model, where there is technically no upper limit on what can be charged. The tax will apply to all overnight visitors to towns and cities that decide to impose the levy, applying to each night of the stay. British families going on staycations and professionals travelling for work will have to pay the fee. Funds from the tax will help to pro...