A project to build the UK’s largest road tunnel has been granted £590m by the government. Constructing the Lower Thames Crossing, linking Tilbury in Essex and Gravesend in Kent, will cost an estimated £10bn. Plans for the 14.5-mile (23km) route were approved in March after a 16-year process that has already cost £1.2bn. Chancellor Rachel...
Rachel Reeves has insisted ministers “never dismissed the concerns of victims” of grooming gangs, as she defended the decision to launch a national inquiry after months of pressure. The chancellor said Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer was focused on victims “and not grandstanding”. Sir Keir has faced criticism for resisting calls for such an inquiry,...
Chancellor Rachel Reeves says the government will do “everything in [its] power” to protect people in the UK from the knock-on economic effects of the conflict between Iran and Israel. She would not “take anything off the table” in response to the threat of rising energy costs, she told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg...
We are reminded rather starkly today of the backdrop – the all too hard to shift backdrop – that shapes our national life and conversation and the trade-offs the government confronts. The latest GDP figures underline the baked in sluggishness, the flatlining, even the shrivelling of the economy. All this after the prime minister and...
Kate Whannel Political reporter Spending Review: Where key money is being spent… in 99 seconds Rachel Reeves has announced an extra £29bn per year for the NHS in England, along with funding boosts for defence and housing, as she set out the government’s spending plans until the end of the decade. The chancellor also promised...
Rachel Reeves’s key choice in this Spending Review is to prioritise long-term investment over day-to-day spending. Within that, some cash will be routed to the Midlands and the North of England rather than London. And against tight limits on day-to-day spending, the chancellor chose to funnel funding towards health. These are important strategic reprioritisations. The...
Sam Francis Political reporter Jack Fenwick Political correspondent PA Media The government has set out plans to end the use of hotels to hold asylum seekers by 2029, a move Rachel Reeves says will save £1bn a year. Unveiling her Spending Review on Wednesday, the chancellor pledged £200m to “cut the asylum backlog, hear more...
Rachel Reeves is preparing to unveil her highly anticipated spending review, setting out how much money the NHS, schools, police and other public services will get over the next few years. The chancellor will emphasise plans to “invest in Britain’s renewal” by spending an extra £113bn on infrastructure, such as energy and transport projects in...
Chancellor Rachel Reeves faces difficult choices in this week’s Spending Review, which sets the budgets for all government departments over the next few years. The review will confirm how much taxpayers’ money will be spent on the NHS and other public services used by millions. It will also set out how much money the government...
Lucy Hooker Business reporter Getty Images The government has fleshed out its plans for reforming the UK pension industry, including the creation of £25bn “megafunds” which will be instructed to make a portion of their investments locally to help fuel economic growth. The chancellor said the overhaul, designed to follow the example of Australia and...
Reuters Chancellor Rachel Reeves is being investigated by Parliament’s standards watchdog after failing to declare on time that she received free theatre tickets. It is understood the chancellor attended an event at the National Theatre over Christmas but did not add the donation to the MPs register of interests within the specified timeframe. The BBC...
The chancellor says she “understands what President [Donald] Trump wants to address” with his tariffs, ahead of talks with her US counterpart in Washington on Friday. Rachel Reeves said there were similarities with the way both the US and UK governments had come to power off the back of voter frustration with the economy. Speaking...
Chancellor Rachel Reeves told a crowd in Washington the UK was ready to cut tariffs on US car imports, saying “we are not going to rush a deal”, the Financial Times reports. This comes ahead of the chancellor meeting her American counterpart, Scott Bessent, and after a sharp rise in global markets with hopes tied...
Chancellor Rachel Reeves has signalled the UK could lower tariffs on US car imports as she tries to broker a trade deal with the Trump administration. Reeves said she wants “to see tariff and non-tariff barriers reduced between the UK and the US”. The UK is seeking to lower trade taxes imposed by President Donald...
DAILY EXPRESS The death toll from the earthquake which hit Myanmar and Thailand on Friday could be in the hundreds, with the Daily Express reporting the 7.7 magnitude quake caused tremors as far away as India and China. Thailand’s capital Bangkok has been declared an emergency zone. DAILY STAR The striking photo of a skyscraper’s...
