UK Politics

An extra half a million children will benefit from a free meal every school day after the government announced a major expansion of the policy, which they said would lift 100,000 pupils out of poverty and put an extra £500 in parents’ pockets. From the start of the 2026 school year, every child whose household is on universal credit will be entitled to free school meals, the government announced on Thursday. Since 2018, children have only been eligible for free school meals if their household income is less than £7,400 per year, meaning hundreds of thousands of children living in poverty have been unable to access them.Every child whose household is on universal credit will be entitled to free school meals More

Britain is facing cuts after Rachel Reeves doubled down on her manifesto pledge not to raise taxes to fund Labour’s spending plans.In a speech in Manchester on Wednesday morning, the chancellor insisted Labour’s spending plans – set to be outlined next week – were “fully costed and fully funded” and that she would not need to raise income tax, VAT or employee national insurance contributions. But a major think tank has joined critics from within government to warn that the chancellor would have no choice but to make cuts to other public services. The Resolution Foundation said the government has increased departmental spending by almost £400bn since it came to power but pressures to increase health and defence spending will make it “hard to avoid cuts” to other public services. Reacting to Reeves’s speech, a senior Labour source added: “I suspect that means a lot of cuts.”An audience member looks unimpressed by Reeves’s speech More

France has finally agreed to draw up a plan to stop small boats at sea by the summer, after police were criticised for standing by as people smugglers picked up migrants. The French government is understood to be enlarging its navy with new patrol boats that could intercept so-called “taxi boats” before they leave for the UK. The strategy is designed to be ready before French president Emmanuel Macron travels to London for a Franco-British summit on 8 July. It comes after a furious row erupted over the lack of action as more than 1,000 people crossed the English Channel on Saturday.Migrants scramble on board a small boat leaving the beach at Gravelines More

Winter fuel payments will not be reinstated for all pensioners, a minister has confirmed in a blow to millions of people across the country. It came as Rachel Reeves confirmed an expected U-turn on the controversial cuts would be in place for this winter — but said the government wouldn’t set out details of how they would pay for it until the Autumn budget. Sir Keir Starmer last month announced his intention to give more people access to winter fuel payments, just months after Labour made the previously universal payment means-tested. Rachel Reeves confirmed that the winter fuel payment would be restored for some pensioners in time for this winter More

Winter fuel payments will not be reinstated for all pensioners, a minister has said in a blow to millions of people across the country. It came as Rachel Reeves confirmed an expected U-turn on the controversial cuts would be in place for this winter, but said the government would not set out details of how it would pay for it until the autumn Budget. Sir Keir Starmer last month announced his intention to give more people access to winter fuel payments, just months after Labour made the previously universal payment means-tested. Rachel Reeves confirms that the winter fuel payment will be restored for some pensioners in time for this winter More

Rachel Reeves is facing a cabinet revolt over her spending review amid fears departmental cuts will lead to key manifesto spending promises being ditched.In what is being described as a “proxy war”, the chancellor is facing a push to consider taxes on the wealthy instead of cuts before she outlines her government spending plans next week.Room for manoeuvre is further restricted by an expectation that the government will U-turn on cancelling winter fuel payments for millions of pensioners, as well as ending the two-child benefit cap, which could cost Ms Reeves as much as £5bn.The row follows reports that major departments, including Yvette Cooper’s Home Office and Angela Rayner’s Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, have still not settled on an agreement for the spending review due to be unveiled on Wednesday 11 June.There was some good news with reports that education secretary Bridget Phillipson had agreed her department’s spending envelope with a week to go. But the holdouts come despite the Treasury setting an unofficial deadline of last weekend to agree.Reeves and Rayner have been struggling to agree over the spending review More

Rachel Reeves is facing a cabinet revolt over her spending review amid fears departmental cuts will lead to key manifesto spending promises being ditched.In what is being described as a “proxy war”, the chancellor is facing a push to consider taxes on the wealthy instead of cuts before she outlines her government spending plans next week.Room for manoeuvre is further restricted by an expectation that the government will U-turn on cancelling winter fuel payments for millions of pensioners, as well as ending the two-child benefit cap, which could cost Ms Reeves as much as £5bn.The row follows reports that major departments, including Yvette Cooper’s Home Office and Angela Rayner’s Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, have still not settled on an agreement for the spending review due to be unveiled on Wednesday 11 June.There was some good news with reports that education secretary Bridget Phillipson had agreed her department’s spending envelope with a week to go. But the holdouts come despite the Treasury setting an unofficial deadline of last weekend to agree.Reeves and Rayner have been struggling to agree over the spending review More

Sir Keir Starmer has been urged to personally intervene in the “unspeakable tragedy” developing in Myanmar and to meet the British son of Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been imprisoned by the country’s military junta.The call comes in a new report which highlights the plight of Ms Suu Kyi and 22,000 other political prisoners, after a coup which overthrew her democratically elected government four years ago.It also shines a spotlight on the army’s airstrikes and ground attacks against civilians and details atrocities including massacres, beheadings, executions, rapes and tortures.Aung San Suu Kyi is one of 22,000 political prisoners in Myanmar More