Cut net zero and welfare spending instead of police budget, Tory MP blasts June 8, 2025 The shadow home secretary has slammed the Labour government amid mounting speculation police budgets are on the chopping block in Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ spending review. Chris Philp told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg he believes police funding should be protected from cuts following concerns of a shrinking workforce. “I think I’m very concerned that [...]
Reeves mulls taxpayer-funded subsidy to cut manufacturers’ energy costs June 8, 2025 Rachel Reeves is looking at plans for a £1bn taxpayer-funded annual subsidy to bring down the energy costs for manufacturers after warnings the UK faced “rapid deindustrialisation” without intervention. The Chancellor is facing mounting pressure to lower energy costs for industry with fears high prices are holding back investment opportunities and stifling the country’s competitiveness. [...]
Can government force £2.5bn Abramovich Chelsea funds to Ukraine? June 8, 2025 Last week the UK government threatened to take Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich to court to make sure the £2.5bn raised from his sale of Chelsea FC went to Ukraine. Abramovich owned Chelsea from 2003 until his forced sale in 2022 following Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine. But the proceeds of the sale to a consortium [...]
Reeves to unveil £86bn science and technology funding in spending review June 8, 2025 Research into drug treatments and longer-lasting batteries will receive new funding as part of an Chancellor Reeves’ £86bn package for science and technology set to be announced in next week’s spending review. Regions will be handed up to £500m with local leaders given powers to decide how investment is targeted in their communities, the Department [...]
Home Office plans to spend £2.2bn of foreign aid on asylum support June 7, 2025 The Home Office plans to spend about £2.2 billion of foreign aid to support asylum seekers this financial year, according to new figures. The amount of overseas development assistance (ODA) budgeted by the Home Office – which is largely used to cover accommodation costs such as hotels for asylum seekers – is slightly less than [...]
DESNZ shedding nuclear ministers as spending review threatens net zero mission June 6, 2025 The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) has lost two ministers in the span of a month in a blow to Energy Secretary Ed Miliband. Philip Hunt, nuclear minister, retired less than a year into his tenure, citing wanting to spend more time with his family. He was followed in short succession by [...]
Rachel Reeves may have to ‘revisit’ manifesto tax pledges to meet fiscal rules, economists warn June 6, 2025 Rachel Reeves may have to tear up Labour’s manifesto tax commitments to meet her tight fiscal rules, economists have warned, as the Chancellor battles to balance the books amid calls for higher spending on defence and welfare. A suite of new day-to-day spending commitments made by the Treasury in recent weeks, including reversing cuts to [...]
Tory immigration policy: Kemi Badenoch unveils review into leaving ECHR June 6, 2025 Kemi Badenoch has used a major speech on immigration to announce a review into the UK leaving the European Court of Human Rights. In a speech at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) in Westminster, the Conservative leader announced a “lawfare commission” whilst slamming “a legal culture that’s become more interested in political activism than [...]
Reform lost their businessman – what does this mean for the party? June 6, 2025 Barely a week ago, Zia Yusuf was hosting journalists in the City, trying to sell them on Reform’s crypto plan. But things quickly went awry for the Reform party chairman. On Wednesday, Yusuf publicly contradicted Reform MP Sarah Pochin’s call in Parliament for a burqa ban. On Thursday, he resigned. The chairman announced he was [...]
‘A tax burden without precedent in the 21st Century’: Pub chain McMullen’s blasts government tax hikes June 6, 2025 One of Britain’s biggest pub chains has taken aim at the government’s “damaging” tax hikes, warning they will lead to lower demand and investment and have forced the hospitality sector to “bear the brunt” of rises in government spending. Hertford-based McMullen’s, which operates around 120 pubs in London and the home counties, including the Old [...]