In an interview with Paul Thorpe broadcast on 11 May 2026, I alleged that Mr Harborne had fixed the 2019 General Election result by conspiring with the then Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, and the then leader of the Brexit Party, Nigel Farage, to ensure a majority for Mr Johnson's party by agreeing to pay each of them £1 million, which he duly did in November 2022, in return for the Brexit Party standing down all 317 of its candidates for Conservative-held seats. I made that allegation in reliance on information I had been given. I now accept that the information did not provide a sufficient basis for so serious an allegation, and I should not have made it. I withdraw that allegation and apologise to Mr. Harborne for the distress caused.

🚨 NEW: John Healey is set to announce the following in his Budget later - The gas standing charge will be scrapped to save £27 a year on a typical bill - Green levies on energy bills will be scraped "for good" - NHS prescription charges will be frozen at £9.90 for another year - Poorer households on benefits will receive extra help with energy bills before January's sharp rises - The VAT cut on electricity bills, which was due to expire in April, will be extended (though it's not clear if this will be announced in the Budget or separately) - The Government will remove the link between gas and electricity prices, which currently inflates household bills, "in the long term" - Banks will face higher taxes, with the surcharge on their profits potentially rising from 3% to 8%, making it the Budget’s biggest revenue raiser - HMRC will be given powers to seize money from the bank accounts of people who fail to pay their tax - The freeze on rail fares will reportedly not be extended beyond April - Online retailers like Amazon, eBay and Temu will be made responsible for collecting unpaid VAT from sellers to fund a cut in business rates for high street shops - The thresholds for income tax will be frozen again so another half a million people may be dragged into the higher rate - January's planned increase in fuel duty will be cancelled - Pensioners relying solely on the state pension will see their tax-free allowance rise to £13,036, in line with the pension increase, so they don't pay income tax - Billions in long-term borrowing to invest in defence firms and raise the share of GDP spent on defence (without breaking fiscal rules, as the investments are expected to generate returns) - The upcoming "Your First Home" scheme will be made more generous to provide greater support for middle-income earners - The Budget will also assume the Rosebank oil field is approved, which will generate "significant tax revenues"