UK

Rachel Reeves is reportedly gearing up to make further cuts to the welfare system after the UK’s budget watchdog warned the reforms would save over £1bn less than forecast. The government said the sweeping cuts to welfare announced last week would save £5bn for the Treasury, but the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) is said to have rejected the estimate, instead putting the savings at just £3.4bn. The row will leave a gaping hole in Treasury coffers, which the chancellor will need to fill if she is to stick to her rule of meeting day-to-day spending through tax receipts, rather than extra borrowing. Rachel Reeves insisted her fiscal rules were ‘non-negotiable’. (Jordan Pettitt/PA) More

A senior UK government minister has condemned Israeli attacks against Palestinians that “cannot be justified as self-defence”, warning: “It has got to stop.”Speaking a week after Israel shattered a two-month ceasefire in Gaza with some of its deadliest strikes since the early months of the war, the UK health secretary Wes Streeting said he found Israel’s decision to do so “soul-destroying”.Gaza health authorities say nearly 700 people – mostly women and children – have been killed in the past week, with the reported Palestinian death toll now surpassing 50,000 since the war was sparked by Hamas’s cross-border attack on 7 October 2023.Wes Streeting condemned Israel’s ‘soul-destroying’ decision to break a two-month ceasefire in Gaza last week More

Landmark reforms to legalise assisted dying have suffered a setback after the timeframe for their rollout was delayed by a further two years.Kim Leadbeater, the MP behind the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, which historically passed the Commons in November, proposed the extension until 2029 as backstop, as MPs vote on amendments to the legislation, which has already seen controversial changes.Ms Leadbeater said she was disappointed to propose the extension and acknowledged the “upset” felt by some supporters of the Bill, but said it was “more important to do this properly than to do it quickly”.In comments provided to media outlets, Ms Leadbeater’s spokesperson stressed the four-year limit was not a target, “it’s a backstop”.“Kim hopes and believes the service can be delivered more quickly if it becomes law later this year,” the spokesperson said.“The bill now contains even stronger safeguards than when it was first tabled, with a new judge-led voluntary assisted dying commission and multi-disciplinary panels to examine every application. These will inevitably take longer to implement.”Kim Leadbeater has acknowledged the “upset” felt by some supporters of the Bill More

Rachel Reeves will admit that “further and faster” action is needed to kickstart growth in the UK as she delivers her spring statement.The Chancellor will give an update on her plans for the UK economy on Wednesday, as she make the first spring statement of the new Labour government.Before the statement, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) will publish its forecast on the UK economy, which is widely expected to slash its forecast for economic growth.As she addresses the Commons on Wednesday, Ms Reeves will acknowledge she needs to do more to bolster the economy as she outlines key changes.“Our task is to secure Britain’s future in a world that is changing before our eyes,” she will say.“The job of a responsible government is not simply to watch this change.“This moment demands an active government stepping up to secure Britain’s future. A government on the side of working people.“To grasp the opportunities that we now have and help Britain reach its full potential, we need to go further and faster to kickstart growth, protect national security and make people better off through our plan for change.”Chancellor Rachel Reeves will deliver her spring statement on Wednesday More

Rachel Reeves is gearing up for a major fight with trade unions who warn they will not stand by and allow a second age of austerity in the UK.With serious concerns that the chancellor plans a severe squeeze on departmental budgets to balance the books, union bosses fear a new round of pay freezes and thousands of job losses.In an ominous warning about a potential wave of strikes if pay demands are not met, one leading trade union leader, Steve Wright of the Fire Brigades Union (FBU), told The Independent: “Workers struggling to afford the basics will not accept falling living standards from Labour.”Another senior trade union source at one of Britain’s largest trade unions also warned: “There’s a growing sense of tension, anger, despondency. The cuts that the government is talking about will affect workers and communities.Chancellor Rachel Reeves will deliver her spring statement on Wednesday More

Rachel Reeves is set to unveil billions of pounds worth of cuts in her spring statement, in what could be one of the most pivotal moments in her career. The chancellor had hoped her speech might be simply a straightforward update on the state of the country’s finances. But faltering economic growth and higher than expected borrowing figures, combined with her pledge not to raise taxes after her multi-billion pound raid in last year’s Budget, have raised the stakes.Here, we take a look at what she is expected to announce – and the political fault lines it could trigger. Benefits cuts Ms Reeves is set to cut the benefits bill by £5bn, as she scrambles to find savings to meet her own strict borrowing rules. Documents published alongside the spring statement will also for the first time reveal how many people are set to be affected, potentially reigniting a sharp backlash among Labour MPs. There is speculation that the expected one million people set to lose out will actually be closer to two million. That risks triggering an another outcry from Labour MPs, many of whom are already concerned that the party will be accused of balancing the books on the back of some of the poorest in society. There will also be scrutiny of the how much the axe will fall on Personal Independence Payments (PIP), which are not linked to work, but designed to help with extra costs incurred due to a disability. Others, however, have complained that the cuts do not go far enough, given the country’s spiralling welfare bill. Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves will deliver her spring statement on Wednesday (Anthony Devlin/PA) More

Donald Trump’s top team have been dubbed “unbelievably stupid” by Gordon Brown’s former national security adviser after a journalist was mistakenly added to a group chat outlining plans to strike the Houthis in Yemen.Lord West of Spithead, a retired admiral of the Royal Navy, told The Independent the incident was “absolutely extraordinary”, while former defence secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind described the incident as an “appalling breach of security”. Donald Trump gave the security adviser his backing despite the breach More