Keir Starmer’s government has hit its lowest ever approval rating with the public, according to a damning new poll. The YouGov survey, carried out to mark Labour’s first year in power, found that just 13% of voters are happy with the party’s performance. By contrast, 67% of the public say they disapprove of how the government is doing.

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Sir Keir Starmer has sparked fears of a new stealth tax after Kemi Badenoch warned that "millions of our poorest pensioners face being dragged into income tax for the first time ever". Fears arose after the Leader of the Opposition quizzed the Prime Minister on whether Labour would maintain its commitment to unfreeze income tax thresholds.

Although MPs comfortably passed the government’s Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payments Bill by 336 votes to 242, dozens of Labour backbenchers thumbed their nose at the prime minister. Some 47 voted against the legislation, with a further 14 abstaining.

Starmer and Macron hold a bilateral summit - with a deal aimed at deterring migrants from crossing the Channel in small boats from France expected to top the agenda.

It has removed subsidies that help pensioners to stay warm during winter, sparking such public anger that Starmer vowed to restore them. Its attempt to force sick and disabled people into work by reducing benefits is just the latest backlash stemming from these self-imposed spending restrictions.

The effect of the policy is to drag millions of workers into higher tax bands when their pay goes up, raising tens of billions of pounds for the Treasury in the process. But critics say this is a stealth tax, a sneaky way of giving the chancellor more money to spend without having to increase the rate of income tax or National Insurance.

Starmer and Macron will hold a bilateral summit today - with a deal aimed at deterring migrants from crossing the Channel in small boats from France expected to top the agenda.