Trade body for France’s travel industry reportedly writes to UK home secretary over concerns for programme’s future
A scheme designed to boost the numbers of French children able to travel to Britain for school trips is reportedly in peril as a result of an overhaul of entry requirements in the UK.
New rules for French school trips were introduced in December last year after a meeting between the French president, Emmanuel Macron, and the then UK prime minister, Rishi Sunak.
Continue reading...Waits of more than a year for hearings into councils’ failure to meet growing needs of Send children
Parents are having to wait more than a year for tribunal hearings into inadequate provision for children with special educational needs after new cases surged by more than 50% in a year.
The National Audit Office last week highlighted the worsening crisis in the special educational needs and disabilities (Send) system, with cash-strapped councils unable to meet rising need amid a lack of suitable school and college places.
Continue reading...The chancellor says she will invest to reverse Tory decline, but stands accused of breaking party manifesto promises
Labour will launch a new era of public and private investment in hospitals, schools, transport and energy as momentous as any in the party’s history in this week’s budget, the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, has said.
In an interview with the Observer before the first budget by a female chancellor, Reeves draws comparisons with Labour’s historic reform programmes begun in 1945 by Clement Attlee, in 1964 under Harold Wilson and in 1997 under Tony Blair.
Continue reading...Chancellor said to be planning measures including raising employer NI contributions and capital gains tax rates. We consider the likelihood of each and the potential for a row
During the general election campaign, Paul Johnson of the Institute for Fiscal studies repeatedly accused both main parties of indulging in a “conspiracy of silence” over their economic policies. Neither Labour nor the Tories would admit, he complained, that if they won they would have to announce huge tax rises or spending cuts to restore the public finances to anything resembling good health.
On Wednesday, 118 days after Labour won the election, Rachel Reeves will prove Johnson right. In her first budget she will spell out plans to raise an eye-watering sum of about £40bn from tax rises and spending reductions to wipe the slate clean and to pump funds into public services. She will also confirm changes to debt rules that will release up to £50bn more to borrow for long-term investment in new national infrastructure.
Continue reading...Exclusive: WE to vote after leaders conclude model no longer works although its ‘mission is as urgent as ever’
• Why we’ve made the difficult decision to back a motion to close WE
The leader and co-founders of the Women’s Equality party (WE) will recommend that members vote to close it down at a special meeting called for next month.
Financial challenges and a changed political and media landscape mean that, after a decade of activism, the party is no longer the most effective way to campaign for women’s rights, said its leader, Mandu Reid.
Continue reading...Labour’s Mike Amesbury says he felt ‘threatened’ after footage appears to show him berating man lying on road
The MP Mike Amesbury said he will “cooperate with any inquiries” police have as officers investigate reports of an alleged assault involving the Labour backbencher in Cheshire.
Amesbury, 55, said an incident on Saturday had left him feeling “threatened” after footage circulated online appearing to show him berating a man who was lying on the road before a bystander pushed him away.
Continue reading...UK government stresses it does not pay reparations and said before Chogm summit that issue was not on agenda
Commonwealth leaders have resolved that “the time has come” for a conversation on reparatory justice despite the UK’s insistence that the issue was not on their agenda.
The language, agreed at the Commonwealth heads of government meeting (Chogm) on Saturday, is a blow to the UK, which wanted to avoid reparatory justice being mentioned.
Continue reading...Treasury plans £5bn total investment in housing supply and a reduction in discounts under the right-to-buy scheme
The Treasury has announced an extra £500m for social homes in the budget, in what appears to be a compromise with the housing department, led by Angela Rayner, over the scale of ambition required in the sector.
The promise of an additional £500m for the government’s affordable homes programme (AHP) is intended to add up to 5,000 extra social homes. The Treasury said it will bring total investment in housing supply to £5bn.
Continue reading...Exclusive: move will cap amount that can be deducted from benefit payments to repay short-term loans and debts
More than 1m of the UK’s poorest households will be £420 a year better off on average as a result of a change to universal credit set to be announced in next week’s budget.
The measure is intended to primarily help the worst-off families, and will be seen as a way for ministers to head off criticism over decisions to cut winter fuel allowance for most pensioners and maintain the two-child benefit cap.
Continue reading...Keir Starmer to announce expansion in region that will also include business club to increase economic ties
The UK will increase its military and economic presence in the Indo-Pacific to support regional stability, Keir Starmer will announce on Saturday.
In an effort to counter China’s influence, ministers will expand the Royal Navy’s presence in the region and carry out more joint patrols with Pacific island nations.
Continue reading...Trade body Energy UK also estimates total energy cost of leaving bloc could reach £10bn by end of decade
Brexit has added up to £370m a year to the price of power supplies from Europe, according to industry representatives who calculate that the total energy costs of leaving the EU could amount to £10bn by the end of the decade.
Energy UK, the sector’s trade body, has called on Keir Starmer to negotiate a closer trading relationship with the bloc as part of the “reset” he is seeking with Brussels.
Continue reading...Starmer says new low-tax zones, a policy inherited from the Tories, will ‘have this government’s stamp on them’
Downing Street will announce five new freeports in next week’s budget as part of its effort to drive economic growth.
Ministers will set out plans to establish five new low-tax zones, plus an investment zone in the East Midlands, where businesses will benefit from tax breaks such as lower tariffs and customs.
Continue reading...PM hinted at tax rises for those who earn income from shares and property, saying they did not fit his definition of ‘working people’
Downing Street is blocking moves to include a ban on smoking outdoors in the upcoming Tobacco and Vapes bill amid fierce opposition by the hospitality trade.
No 10 officials privately believe that banning people from lighting up in pub gardens is “an unserious” policy and is not backed by good evidence showing that it harms non-smokers.
Continue reading...Bank’s boss says chancellor must signal intentions clearly amid risk to borrowing and mortgage rates
Rachel Reeves must “get the balance right” when announcing changes to Britain’s debt rules in next week’s budget given the potential knock-on effects to borrowing and mortgage rates, the boss of NatWest has said.
The bank’s chief executive, Paul Thwaite, said markets would be sensitive to the chancellor’s reasons for releasing up to £50bn of borrowing headroom after she confirmed in Washington on Thursday that she planned to rewrite her fiscal rules.
Continue reading...Traditional Britain Group’s London conference includes speaker from Germany’s AfD party and far-right activists
A group that emerged out of a faction of the Conservative party has become a forum for Britain’s splintered far right.
A private conference hosted earlier this month by the Traditional Britain Group (TBG) was attended by figures from the Homeland party, an extreme nationalist group, as well as rivals from other groups such as Patriotic Alternative.
Continue reading...Rachel Reeves to encourage import of raw materials from Commonwealth countries to counter China’s grip on market
Businesses that import critical minerals to the UK will be given access to state-backed loans in a move to counter China’s dominance in the market.
The chancellor, Rachel Reeves, is expected to announce extra government support to encourage the import of critical minerals such as lithium, graphite and cobalt in her budget next week. Companies that bring supplies of critical minerals into the UK will be able to access state-backed loans under the UK export finance mechanism.
Continue reading...Prime minister trying to secure tournament’s future at Commonwealth summit in Samoa
Keir Starmer will try to find a host country for the 2030 Commonwealth Games this week as ministers try to shore up the tournament’s future.
The prime minister’s spokesperson said Starmer wanted to see “a successful Commonwealth Games from 2030” and would spend time at this week “talking to partners about who may be interested in taking that forward”.
Continue reading...Chancellor pledges to spend, but says there will be no Truss-style splurge when she changes fiscal rules in budget
Rachel Reeves will pledge to reverse huge cuts in public investment in her budget next week after she confirmed that rules limiting her spending power will be overhauled to enable the government to release as much as £50bn for infrastructure spending.
The chancellor said she would revise how the Treasury calculated shortfalls in the government budget over the rest of the parliament to free up funds to invest in public infrastructure.
Continue reading...Former chancellor says ‘increasing borrowing means interest rates would be higher for longer’ as Reeves says it will ‘make space for investment’
Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, has said that “no one knows” who Robert Jenrick, the Tory leadership contender, is.
Of the two candidates left in the contest, Jenrick is the one who is doing most to appeal to Tories who defected to Reform UK, because he is saying Britain should leave the European convention on human rights.
I know the fella. Is he the chap that one day was on the very much on the left of the Conservative party and is now on the right of the Conservative Party?... No one knows who he is.
I’m sure government can agree that support and providing opportunities for young people should be central to the policy of any government. We are glad to see the government working to build closer economic and cultural ties with Europe. We want to forge a new partnership with our European neighbours, built on cooperation, not confrontation and move to a new comprehensive agreement.
We must build rebuild confidence through seeking to agree partnerships or associations helping to restore prosperity and opportunities for British people.
We are not going to give a running commentary on the negotiations. We will obviously look at EU proposals on a range of issues, but we are clear that we will not return to freedom of movement.
Continue reading...Starmer under pressure from Caribbean countries at Commonwealth talks but is refusing payments or apology
Keir Starmer has opened the door to non-financial reparations for the UK’s role in the transatlantic enslavement, as he came under pressure from Commonwealth leaders to engage in a “meaningful, truthful and respectful” conversation about Britain’s past.
While Downing Street insists that the wider issue of reparations is “not on the agenda” of this week’s Commonwealth heads of government (Chogm) gathering in Samoa, No 10 has accepted it is likely to be referenced in the end-of-summit communique.
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