No 10 Pledges Pensioners Above Tax Threshold Will Not Pay Income Tax This Parliament

The prime minister's official spokesperson said on Monday that pensioners whose only income is the state pension should not be liable for income tax during the current parliament, even though the state pension is expected to rise to around £13,000, edging closer to the personal tax-free allowance of £12,570.

The spokesperson's comments, made during a regular briefing with journalists, addressed concerns that rising pension payments under the triple lock could push more pensioners over the income tax threshold in the coming years.

Separately, the Liberal Democrats announced they would seek to introduce a cap on political donations by amending the representation of the people bill as it passes through the House of Lords.

Lisa Smart, the Liberal Democrats' Cabinet Office spokesperson, said the party could not "keep playing whack-a-mole with each new attempt by Farage to sell out our democracy." She said Labour's residency requirements for donors were "not good enough" and accused previous Conservative governments of having "sat on their hands whilst in power."

"For decades governments of both colours have stood by and done nothing," Smart said, adding that the scale of recent donations to Reform UK was "unprecedented in British politics" and should "deeply concern anyone who cares about the health and integrity of our democracy."

Smart warned against what she described as the "Americanisation" of British politics, citing concerns over "out of control political spending, funded by stratospheric sums of crypto and corporate cash." She said the donations demonstrated that "crypto billionaires, foreign and powerful corporate interests" were lining up to fund Reform UK's agenda.

The remarks come amid reported large-scale donations to Reform UK, including from figures such as Christopher Harborne, though the full details of the party's recent fundraising have not been independently verified in this report.

Neither Downing Street nor Reform UK has yet issued a full response to the Liberal Democrats' proposed donation cap.