Reeves to announce major change to fiscal rules releasing £50bn for spending

After weeks of speculation, chancellor will tell IMF in Washington that UK’s debt measure will be redefined to permit borrowing for investment

Rachel Reeves will announce at the International Monetary Fund a plan to change Britain’s debt rules that will open the door for the government to spend up to £50bn extra on infrastructure projects.

After weeks of speculation, the chancellor will confirm at the fund’s annual meetings in Washington on Thursday that next week’s budget will include a new method for assessing the UK’s debt position – a move that will permit the Treasury to borrow more for long-term capital investment.

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NHS in England to trial AI tool to predict risk of fatal heart disease

‘Superhuman’ technology known as Aire can detect potential problems doctors cannot see from ECG results

The NHS in England is to trial a “superhuman” artificial intelligence tool that predicts a patient’s risk of disease and dying early.

The new technology, known as AI-ECG risk estimation, or Aire, is trained to read the results of electrocardiogram (ECG) tests, which record the electrical activity of the heart and are used to check for problems.

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Starmer says he wants to ‘look forward’ and not talk about slavery reparations

UK prime minister would rather work with nations on ‘future-facing challenges’ at Commonwealth summit

Keir Starmer has insisted he wants to “look forward” rather than have “very long endless discussions about reparations on the past” in his first comments on the issue before the Commonwealth summit.

The prime minister is under pressure to discuss reparatory justice with Commonwealth countries, most of which are former UK colonies, in Samoa this week.

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Woman, 60, arrested on suspicion of manslaughter over Dorset care home deaths

Police confirm ‘possible carbon monoxide poisoning’ is main line of inquiry after fatalities at care home in Swanage

A 60-year-old woman has been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter by detectives investigating the deaths of three people at a care home in Dorset.

Officers are still treating the deaths at the Gainsborough care home in Swanage as unexplained and have confirmed that “possible carbon monoxide poisoning” is the primary line of inquiry. Seven other residents were taken to hospital.

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Plan to put solar panels on all new English homes could be scrapped

Long-delayed regulations may ‘encourage’ housebuilders to equip homes with solar panels, rather than requiring them

Labour is considering making solar panels optional on new homes in England, after pressure from housebuilders, in a move that would weaken low-carbon regulations, the Guardian has learned.

Ministers are preparing to publish long-delayed regulations for new homes, known as the future homes standard, which would ensure that all newly built homes are low-carbon.

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Angela Rayner defends right of activists to campaign in US elections after criticism from Donald Trump – UK politics live

Comment follows accusation from Trump campaign that Labour staffers had been interfering in US election

The Labour party has put out a statement rejecting allegations that it broke US election law because activists and staff members have been volunteering to help the Democrats.

A Labour spokesperson said:

It is common practice for campaigners of all political persuasions from around the world to volunteer in US elections.

Where Labour activists take part, they do so at their own expense, in accordance with the laws and rules.

We said that because working people had already paid the burden under the last government, we wouldn’t increase the taxes, the main taxes that working people pay, so income tax - all rates - national insurance and VAT. So those taxes that working people pay, we’re not increasing those taxes in the budget.

We go into this budget with a number of challenges - the £22bn black hole just this year, in the public finances, the unfinanced company compensation schemes, for example on infected blood and Horizon, it’s really important that we honour but they weren’t in the forecasts from the previous government.

The fact that the previous government had baked in austerity to our public spending settlements in the years to come, and we committed to not return to austerity.

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Labour donor Waheed Alli found to have breached rules on register of interests

Findings by House of Lords standards commissioner do not relate to party donations but to way he registered business interests

The Labour donor and strategist Waheed Alli has been found to have breached House of Lords rules over his declarations of interest, including in an an offshore firm based in the British Virgin Islands.

The findings by the House of Lords standards commissioner do not relate to Lord Alli’s donations to Keir Starmer or the Labour party, but to errors in the way he had registered his business interests. The peer apologised in writing and updated the record.

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Manchester Arena survivors win case against man who claimed there was ‘no bomb’

Martin and Eve Hibbert, who suffered life-changing injuries in attack, win harassment claim against Richard Hall

Two survivors of the Manchester Arena bombing have won a high court harassment case against a former television producer who claimed the attack had been staged.

Martin Hibbert and his daughter Eve sued Richard Hall for harassment and data protection over his claims in several videos and a book that “there was no bomb”.

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Lloyds backs Reeves budget plans despite mooted tax increases

Bank expects ‘constructive, pro-growth agenda’ by chancellor next week and seeks to be part of it

Lloyds Banking Group has backed the Labour government’s forthcoming budget and played down the impact of any tax increases, which it said would probably be part of a “constructive, pro-growth agenda”.

The chief financial officer of the UK’s biggest mortgage lender, William Chalmers, said he would welcome a budget package that was consistent with government pledges to kickstart growth and investment in key areas such as energy, infrastructure and housing.

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Three people dead and 46 rescued after boat sinks in attempt to cross Channel

French maritime officials say rescue operation was launched after lifejacket spotted in sea off Calais

Three people have died after a boat sank in the Channel, French maritime authorities said.

The French maritime prefecture for the Channel and the North Sea said a further 46 people were rescued after the incident off the coast of Calais on Wednesday morning.

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UK watchdog formally investigates Carlsberg’s £3.3bn takeover of Britvic

CMA sets 18 December deadline for initial review as it considers whether deal could reduce competition

The UK’s competition watchdog has launched a formal investigation into the £3.3bn takeover of the UK soft drinks maker Britvic by the Danish brewer Carlsberg.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has set a deadline of 18 December for the first phase of its investigation into the deal.

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Social media algorithms need overhaul in wake of Southport riots, Ofcom says

Watchdog issues warning over misinformation after trouble that flared following killing of three girls on Merseyside

Social media algorithms must be adjusted to prevent misinformation from spreading, the chief executive of Ofcom has warned, responding to the rioting that broke out after the killing of three girls in Southport this summer.

Misinformation about the Southport killings proliferated despite tech firms and social media platforms’ “uneven” attempts to stop it, wrote the Ofcom chief executive, Melanie Dawes, in a letter to the secretary of state for science, innovation and technology, Peter Kyle.

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IMF warns Trump trade tariffs could dent global economy as it upgrades UK outlook

New report upgrades outlook for UK economy with growth now forecast at 1.1% rather than 0.7%

The International Monetary Fund has warned the trade tariffs favoured by US presidential candidate Donald Trump could hurt global growth, as it upgraded its forecast for the UK economy.

The Washington-based organisation said tariffs trigger tit-for-tat trade wars that impoverish the economies involved in the dispute and the wider global economy.

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Investigation under way to establish cause of fatal train crash in Wales

A man in his 60s died and 15 others were injured after a head-on collision between Talerddig and Llanbrynmair

Rail investigators are working to establish the cause of the first head-on train crash in the UK this century, which killed a passenger in his 60s on Monday evening.

A further 15 people were treated in hospital after the collision between the Welsh villages of Talerddig and Llanbrynmair on the largely single-track Cambrian line.

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No 10 says Starmer ‘shares public anger’ at early prisoner releases but system facing paralysis without it – as it happened

Downing Street says government ‘shocked’ at inheriting prisons crisis as hundreds of prisoners get early release. This live blog is closed

The funeral of Alex Salmond, the former Scottish first minister who died suddenly earlier this month after delivering a speech in North Macedonia, will be held on Tuesday 29 October, his family has announced.

The funeral will be at Strichen parish church in Aberdeenshire. It will be conducted by Rev Ian McEwan, a friend of the family, and only family and close friends are invited. Salmond will be laid to rest in Strichen cemetery.

According to the Eurostat data, England and Wales had 144 prisoners per 100,000 head of population, the 8th highest rate among EU countries and the highest amongst western European jurisdictions. Scotland had the 9th highest with 137 prisoners per 100,000. Northern Ireland had 76 prisoners per 100,000 of population and was ranked 24th.

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Body found in search for missing woman Victoria Taylor

The 34-year-old was last seen at 9am on Monday 30 September in Malton, North Yorkshire

A body believed to be that of Victoria Taylor has been found in the search for the 34-year-old woman who went missing from her North Yorkshire home three weeks ago.

Police searching for the missing woman, known as Vixx, has said there was a “significant possibility” she had entered the River Derwent, which runs through the town of Malton, where she lived.

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Ian Paterson pitched cleavage-sparing mastectomy ‘like sales job’, inquest told

Procedures performed by convicted breast surgeon were not a recognised or authorised type of operation

The convicted breast surgeon Ian Paterson pitched one of his patients an unauthorised cleavage-sparing mastectomy “almost like a sales job”, an inquest has heard.

Chloe Nikitas, an environmental consultant from Tamworth, died in 2008 at the age of 43 from breast cancer that returned three years after having a mastectomy she believed had removed all of her breast tissue.

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Uyghur activist accuses Labour of failing to stand up to China

Rahima Mahmut, in exile in the UK, ‘disappointed’ at failure to describe Beijing’s crackdown on minority as genocide

A leading Uyghur activist has accused the Labour government of “falling behind” its allies in failing to stand up to China, after ministers backtracked on plans to push for formal recognition of the country’s treatment of the minority group as genocide.

Speaking after David Lammy’s first visit to China as UK foreign secretary, the human rights activist Rahima Mahmut, who has lived in exile in the UK since 2000, said she had hoped there would be a shift in UK policy once the party came into power, including following the US in declaring a continuing genocide in Xinjiang.

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Barbecue, kangaroo pies and Jimmy Barnes: Charles and Camilla go quintessentially Australian for final day of tour

The royals get on the tongs, banter with surf lifesavers and meet massive crowds at the Sydney Opera House

Just as King Charles and Queen Camilla arrived at a barbecue picnic in western Sydney, the strains of the Jimmy Barnes anthem, Working Class Man, wafted mysteriously and humorously above the crowd.

As Barnsey rasped out the opening lyrics of the Aussie classic, Charles and Camilla greeted hundreds of invited guests in the punishing Parramatta Park heat. Muster dogs waited patiently atop barrels and a windmill slowly twirled above a pile of hay.

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Son of Singapore founder says ‘campaign of persecution’ forced him to seek asylum in UK

Exclusive: Lee Hsien Yang says Singapore is no ‘paradise’ after fleeing authoritarian regime that his older brother inherited and still holds sway over through their revered father’s legacy

A senior member of the family that has dominated Singapore since independence has been granted asylum in the UK after fleeing what he says was a campaign of persecution.

In an exclusive interview, Lee Hsien Yang told the Guardian the authoritarian regime founded by his father turned on him as he endorsed the opposition following a family rift.

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