Poland has evidence Russia behind shopping centre fire, says minister

Poland's foreign minister says his country has evidence that Russia recruited people on the Telegram messaging service to carry out last year's massive shopping centre fire in Warsaw.Speaking to the BBC in an exclusive interview, Radek Sikorski said Moscow's actions were "completely unacceptable" and that a second Russian consulate in Poland had been closed as a result. His comments come after a Polish investigation concluded that the Marywilska shopping centre fire was orchestrated by Moscow's intelligence services.Russia denied its involvement, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov accusing Poland of being "Russophobic".
The May 2024 fire destroyed 1,400 small businesses, with many of the staff there belonging to Warsaw's Vietnamese community."We have evidence that they commissioned people living in Poland, they commissioned them on Telegram and paid them to set fire to this huge shopping mall," Sikorski said on Monday. "It was by miracle that nobody was hurt, but this is completely unacceptable."The foreign minister told the BBC he had decided Russia's presence in Poland must be "further curtailed" and that Russia's consulate in Krakow had now been closed in order to try and make it harder for Moscow to "spy" on Poland. "We will take further decisions if they continue these hybrid attacks," Sikorski said.Hybrid warfare is a term used to describe how a hostile state carries out an anonymous, deniable attack, usually in highly suspicious circumstances. It will be enough to harm their opponent, especially their infrastructure assets, but stop short of being an attributable act of war.Only one consulate now remains open in Poland, alongside the embassy. The mission in the city of Poznań was closed last year after Warsaw accused Russia of acts of sabotage and cyberwarfare. When asked on Monday why Poland did not just sever all diplomatic ties, Sikorski said: "I hope it doesn't come to that."Responding to the closure of the Krakow consulate, Peskov said: "All these accusations are absolutely groundless, baseless."There are a lot of different accusations against Russia being voiced in Poland. This part is absolutely Russophobic and unfriendly towards our country."He added: "As for the reduction of Russia's diplomatic presence in Poland, these are integral parts of a common chain aimed at curtailing the already deplorable state of bilateral relations. Poland chooses hostility and unfriendliness towards us."Since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Poland has detained and convicted several people accused of sabotage on behalf of Russian intelligence services.Russia's foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, meanwhile, told state media: "Warsaw continues to deliberately destroy relations, acting against the interests of citizens". Poland carried out a year-long investigation into the shopping centre incident, before concluding the fire was organised by an unnamed person in Russia.Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk on Sunday said that some of those responsible were already in custody, while all the others alleged to have been involved had been identified and were being searched for.Many workers lost important documents and large sums of cash in the fire, which were kept at the shopping centre due to fear of break-ins at home.Another shopping centre in Warsaw, Modlinska 6D, was opened in October last year, with traders relocating their businesses to the new site.

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The Guardian

an hour ago

• The Guardian

Reform unveils plan to top up poorest workers from £250,000 fee on rich UK newcomers

Reform UK are to offer wealthy foreigners and returning British expats a bespoke tax regime in exchange for a one-off payment of £250,000 with all funds collected redistributed, the party claims, to Britain's lowest-paid workers. The proposal, dubbed the Britannia Card, is due to be unveiled by party leader Nigel Farage later this week. It promises a 10-year residence permit and a return to the controversial 'remittance basis' of taxation, allowing cardholders to shield overseas income from UK tax and avoid inheritance tax entirely. In return, high-net-worth applicants would pay an upfront 'entry contribution' of £250,000, which Reform UK said will be distributed in full to the bottom 10% of UK earners. Reform estimates this 'Britannia workers' dividend' could provide a tax-free annual payout of £600-£1,000 to roughly 2.5 million low-paid full-time workers, depending on uptake. The money would be delivered directly by HMRC at the end of each tax year. Under the plan, foreign nationals and wealthy British returnees would gain access to the UK through a tax-light regime that exempts all overseas income and assets from UK taxation for a decade. Inheritance tax is also scrapped entirely. In effect, Reform is proposing to sell exemption from the UK tax system – reinstating the abolished non-dom privileges in a simplified form but with a cash price attached. The party insists the fee is not a 'golden visa' but a way of ensuring wealthy newcomers 'immediately contribute to British society'. Unlike Labour's 2024 abolition of non-dom status, the main change the former Tory chancellor Jeremy Hunt pointed to in his last budget, which placed all new arrivals onto a residence-based tax system, Reform's approach would reintroduce tax advantages for the globally mobile – while simultaneously claiming to deliver for the British working class. Critics are likely to seize on what amounts to a structural loophole: the ability for millionaires to buy their way out of full UK tax liability, while ordinary residents remain subject to standard tax rules. Reform claims the policy will channel billions directly into the bank accounts of Britain's poorest workers. Under its lowest-uptake scenario (6,000 Britannia Cards issued a year), the scheme would generate £1.5bn – enough to fund a £600 tax-free bonus to 2.5 million workers. A high-uptake scenario (10,000 cards) would raise £2.5bn, delivering £1,000 per worker. Only full-time workers in the bottom 10% of the income distribution would qualify, with payments issued automatically via HMRC. Reform said the boost would disproportionately benefit workers in Wales, Scotland and the north-east of England – regions where a greater share of jobs sit in the bottom pay decile. The party has yet to publish a clear threshold for who qualifies as a 'high-net-worth newcomer' nor how the policy would be enforced or integrated into HMRC's current tax framework. No legislative draft has been released. Since sweeping to power in more than 670 council seats in May and taking control of 10 councils and two mayoralties, Reform has emerged as a serious national contender. The party now leads in multiple polls: a recent Sky/YouGov tracker shows Reform on 34%, with Labour trailing at 25% and the Conservatives at just 15%. The move is part of Farage's latest attempt to position Reform as the party of working people, not through traditional wage policies or trade unionism, but via direct wealth transfers and blunt fiscal symbolism. The Britannia Card is his clearest move yet to dominate the 'red wall' on economic terms. However the policy is likely to raise questions over who would be eligible with no confirmed income or asset threshold for applicants. It is also unclear whether HMRC could legally define and enforce the £250,000 fee. There are also concerns over it creating a two-tier tax system with British workers still paying full tax on global income while wealthy newcomers will not, and that it consists of a one-off fee and is not a recurring tax yet grants up to 10 years of preferential status. A Reform spokesperson said: 'We are serious about repairing the social contract. It's time workers feel the benefit of high-net-worth individuals entering the country. 'We are taking policy formulation very serious internally, as can be seen by today's announcement.' Responding to the trail of Reform's non-dom policy, a Labour spokesperson said: 'Nigel Farage can brand this whatever he wants - the reality is his first proper policy is a golden ticket for foreign billionaires to avoid the tax they owe in this country. 'As ever with Reform, the devil is in the detail. This giveaway would reduce revenues raised from the rich that would have to be made up elsewhere - through tax hikes on working families or through Farage's promise to charge them to use the NHS.'

Telegraph

an hour ago

• Telegraph

Farage: ‘I will charge non-doms £250k and give it to the poor'

Nigel Farage will vow to reinstate non-dom status for wealthy entrepreneurs if they pay a £250,000 fee which will be handed to Britain's poorest workers. On Monday, the Reform UK leader will use a press conference to unveil plans to impose a Robin Hood-style levy on new or returning 'high net worth' individuals. The revenue generated would then be redistributed to pay cash bonuses of £600 a year to low-paid workers. Writing for The Telegraph, Mr Farage said the policy would encourage the return of wealthy and talented entrepreneurs to the UK while also providing benefits to British workers. The policy will be seen as a further attempt to win over Labour voters after Reform's commitment last month to restore the winter fuel payment to all pensioners and scrap the two-child benefit cap. It also creates a clear dividing line with the Tories and Labour on wealth generation after both parties ordered crackdowns on non-doms. 'Success must be celebrated' The announcement comes a day after a poll showed that Reform was on course to win an outright majority at the next general election. Mr Farage said: 'Our policy is simple – Britain must be a place where success is celebrated, not punished with excessive taxes, crippling energy costs, or punitive inheritance levies. 'We will actively encourage the return of wealth and talent to the United Kingdom, on the clear condition that those who come here deliver immediate, visible benefits to our workers.' Rachel Reeves scrapped non-dom status in April, ending wealthy individuals' right to avoid full UK tax on their overseas earnings. The Chancellor also made worldwide assets of all UK residents subject to inheritance tax at 40 per cent. The moves have been blamed for driving some of Britain's richest people abroad. Those affected by the scrapping of the status include people such as the South African national Richard Gnodde, Goldman Sachs's best-paid banker outside the US, Nassef Sawiris, the Aston Villa FC co-owner, and the steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal. Mr Farage wrote: 'Over the last 10 years, UK policy toward non-domiciled taxpayers has lurched from piecemeal tightening under successive Conservative chancellors to outright abolition under the current Labour Government. 'The result? A record-breaking and alarming exodus of high-spending, high-tax-paying residents, leaving an estimated £7 billion yearly hole in public finances and inflicting huge collateral damage on London's position as Europe's financial centre.' Mr Farage claimed Reform's approach would be 'different, transparent, and designed to directly benefit the hard-working backbone of this nation'. 'Every high net worth newcomer [or returning leaver] will pay a £250,000 one-off entry contribution in return for a stable, indefinite remittance-style regime on offshore income and a 20-year inheritance-tax shield,' he added. The new non-doms would have to renew their status with a £250,000 payment every subsequent decade, which would renew their 20-year inheritance tax exemption. They would have to pay UK taxes on their UK earnings including income tax, NI, VAT and stamp duty. Anyone who had remained in the UK and wanted to renew their non-dom status would also be eligible under the plans, to be set out in a 12-page document on Monday. 'Crucially, 100 per cent of this contribution is hypothecated to Britain's lowest-paid full-time workers, delivered automatically by HMRC as a tax-free cash dividend,' said Mr Farage. 'This means roughly 2.5 million hard-working Britons – the grafters who keep this country running – will receive an annual cash bonus, sent directly to their bank accounts at the end of the financial year. 'Thanks to this policy, in a low-uptake scenario with 6,000 cards issued annually, we'll generate a £1.5 billion fund, resulting in a tax-free annual dividend of £600 per worker. In a high-uptake scenario with 10,000 cards, this could deliver a £2.5-billion fund, providing £1,000 per worker. 'This isn't just a number. It's money in the pockets of those who need it most, from cleaners to nurses to small business owners.' By Nigel Farage It should come as no surprise that, over the past few decades, many of the UK's most successful and influential business minds have left the country in droves – a clear and troubling sign of national decline. Over the past 10 years, UK policy toward non-domiciled taxpayers ('non-doms') has lurched from piecemeal tightening under successive Conservative chancellors to outright abolition under the current Labour Government. The result? A record-breaking and alarming exodus of high-spending, high-tax-paying residents, leaving an estimated £7 billion yearly hole in public finances and inflicting huge collateral damage on London's position as Europe's financial centre. The social contract between the rich and the poor is at an all-time low. Public trust in the tax system has been eroded by perceptions that elites play by a different set of rules. In the past, your average Briton saw little to no benefit from the wealthy in their midst. If anything, it created greater division and hostility. Reform UK is determined to change this. We are the party of working people – the party of those with alarm clocks who get up in the morning and work hard, whether they're at the higher end of the financial scale or the lower end. Our approach is different, transparent, and designed to directly benefit the hard-working backbone of this nation. Unlike the opaque financial mechanisms of the past, where wealth seemed to vanish into hidden pots of money that ordinary people could not see, Reform UK is committed to doing things differently. We will rebuild the social contract by ensuring that every wealthy individual who wishes to move here makes a tangible contribution to Britain's lowest earners. Our policy is simple: Britain must be a place where success is celebrated, not punished with excessive taxes, crippling energy costs, or punitive inheritance levies. We will actively encourage the return of wealth and talent to the United Kingdom – on the clear condition that those who come here deliver immediate, visible benefits to our workers. Here's how it works: every high-net-worth newcomer (or returning leaver) will pay a £250,000 one-off entry contribution in return for a stable, indefinite remittance-style regime on offshore income and a 20-year inheritance-tax shield. Crucially, 100 per cent of this contribution is hypothecated to Britain's lowest-paid full-time workers, delivered automatically by HMRC as a tax-free cash dividend. This means roughly 2.5 million hard-working Britons – the grafters who keep this country running – will receive an annual cash bonus, sent directly to their bank accounts at the end of the financial year. Thanks to this policy, in a low-uptake scenario with 6,000 cards issued annually, we'll generate a £1.5 billion fund, resulting in a tax-free annual dividend of £600 per worker. In a high-uptake scenario with 10,000 cards, this could deliver a £2.5 billion fund, providing £1,000 per worker. This isn't just a number. It's money in the pockets of those who need it most, from cleaners to nurses to small-business owners. Our policy is not a 'golden visa' or a backdoor to citizenship. It is a one-time flat tax paid by newcomers in exchange for the certainty of a favourable tax status. Individuals will still be liable for all standard UK taxes on UK-sourced income, property, and spending. But they won't be taxed on offshore income and gains for the duration of their agreed status. Pay your quarter million pounds upfront, and enjoy UK residency without worldwide taxation hassles. After all, this is still the best country in the world, and many of the world's wealthy want to move here but are deterred by the economic downsides. Unlike the old, indefinite non-dom arrangement under the Tories, which lacked transparency and failed to benefit ordinary people, our solution is immediate, visible, and mutually beneficial for both newcomers and the hard-working British worker struggling to make ends meet. Unlike Labour's punitive approach, which drives wealth away, we incentivise the rich to return to Britain. Over the past decade, the number of non-dom taxpayers has plummeted from over 120,000 to fewer than 80,000. The failed approaches of both Labour and the Conservatives have cost this country billions annually. Reform UK's plan will reverse this trend, capturing revenue from global wealth, channelling funds to support the working class, and restoring London as a global powerhouse for business, finance, and investment. The driving ambition of Reform UK is to put the lives of everyday British citizens first – and this policy does exactly that. We are the party of working people, and we are building a Britain where wealth and opportunity are shared, not hoarded. By ensuring that every pound contributed by the wealthy goes directly to those who get up early and work hard, we are creating a fairer, stronger, and more prosperous nation for all.

Sky News

an hour ago

• Sky News

An Iranian attack on US military bases could draw the UK into the conflict

When I got to Chequers on Sunday morning the prime minister had clearly been up for most of the night and hitting the phones all morning with calls to fellow leaders in Europe and the Middle East as he and others scrambled to try to contain a very dangerous situation. His primary message on Sunday was to try to reassure the public that the UK government was working to stabilise the region as best it could and press for a return to diplomacy. But what struck me in our short interview was not what he did say but what he didn't - what he couldn't - say about the US strikes. It was clear from his swerve on the question of whether the UK supported the strikes that the prime minister neither wanted to endorse US strikes nor overtly criticise President Trump. Instead, his was a form of words - repeated later in a joint statement of the E3 (the UK, Germany and France) to acknowledge the US strikes and reiterate where they can agree: the need to prevent Iran having a nuclear weapon. He also didn't want to engage in the very obvious observation that President Trump simply isn't listening to Sir Keir Starmer or other allies, who had been very publicly pressing for de-escalation all week, from the G7 summit in Canada to this weekend as European countries convened talks in Geneva with Iran. 4:00 It was only five days ago that the prime minister told me he didn't think a US attack was imminent when I asked him what was going on following President Trump's abrupt decision to quit the G7 early and convene his security council at the White House. When I asked him if he felt foolish or frustrated that Trump had done that and didn't seem to be listening, he told me it was a "fast moving situation" with a "huge amount of discussions in the days since the G7" and said he was intensely pressing his consistent position of de-escalation. What else really could he say? He has calculated that criticising Trump goes against UK interests and has no other option but to press for a diplomatic solution and work with other leaders to achieve that aim. 1:15 Before these strikes, Tehran was clear it would not enter negotiations until Israel stopped firing missiles into Iran - something Israel is still saying on Sunday evening it is not prepared to do. The US has been briefing that one of the reasons it took action was because it did not think the Iranians were taking the talks convened by the Europeans in Geneva seriously enough. It is hard now to see how these strikes will not serve but to deepen the conflict in the Middle East and the mood in government is bleak. Iran will probably conclude that continuing to strike only Israel in light of the US attacks - the first airstrikes ever by the US on Iran - is a response that will make the regime seem weak. 2:38 But escalation could draw the UK into a wider conflict it does not want. If Iran struck US assets, it could trigger article five of NATO (an attack on one is an attack on all) and draw the UK into military action. If Iran chose to attack the US via proxies, then UK bases and assets could be under threat. The prime minister was at pains to stress on Sunday that the UK had not been involved in these strikes. Meanwhile, the UK-controlled airbase on Diego Garcia was not used to launch the US attacks, with B-2 bombers deployed from Guam instead. There was no request to use the Diego Garcia base, the president moving unilaterally, underlining his disinterest in what the UK has to say. The world is waiting nervously to see how Iran might respond, as the PM moves more military assets to the region while simultaneously hitting the phones.