Reform UK leader ‘shocked’ by £10bn pledged to Ukraine and doubles down on cutting tax for crypto investors

• Budget 2026: key points at a glance

Nigel Farage skipped the chancellor’s first budget because he was worried he would get in a “physical altercation” with another MP in a row over seating arrangements.

The Reform UK leader was not present in the House of Commons but gave a press conference afterwards in which he said he was “shocked” by the £10bn going to support Ukraine and doubled down on his party’s policies on cutting tax for crypto investors.

Mohamed Amersi is suing over Panorama episode that made claims of his suspected involvement in corruption

A Conservative and Reform UK donor lost out on a knighthood and a peerage amid claims of his involvement in corruption, the high court has heard at the start of his defamation case against the BBC.

An episode of Panorama in 2021 and a BBC article caused “very serious harm” to Mohamed Amersi, his barrister, Oliver Powell, said on Wednesday.

Mair Godley claims Essex councillor Carl Johnson told her she was ‘facilitating the invasion’ by giving language lessons

A 78-year-old volunteer has claimed a Reform UK councillor accused her of “facilitating the invasion” and being akin to a Nazi collaborator during the second world war because she has helped asylum seekers learn English.

Mair Godley and her husband, Nick, 77, a former chair of Wethersfield parish council, live near the former Wethersfield military base in Essex, where the Home Office accommodates hundreds of asylum seekers.