UK

Rachel Reeves will today make one of her biggest statements to MPs since Labour’s general election victory. The chancellor will unveil the results of her line by line spending review, setting out the budgets of government departments until the end of the decade. The review will be the first conducted by a Labour government since Alistair Darling and Gordon Brown’s comprehensive spending review in 2007. And it will see Ms Reeves walk the tightrope between delivering on the party’s election promises while seeking to squeeze within her self-imposed fiscal rules. Rachel Reeves is braced for a row over her spending review More

It was a disgruntled backbencher who summed up the mood in Labour ahead of tomorrow’s spending review announcement by Rachel Reeves.“You don’t become a Labour MP to make cuts,” the MP said, looking at the prospect of at least £5bn needing to be slashed across government departments – including housing, local government and policing – to fulfil the chancellor’s spending plans. The billions of pounds of necessary savings, estimated by the House of Commons Library, was a calculation made before the chancellor committed herself to another £1.25bn of spending a year by restoring the winter fuel payments to 9 million pensioners.When the chancellor gets to her feet after Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday, she will no doubt be cheered by the Labour MPs behind her.But the reality is that much of the applause will be performative rather than heartfelt.Keir Starmer, Rachel Reeves and Angela Rayner are at odds behind the scenes More

Sir Keir Starmer appears to be heading for a number of major U-turns amid growing concern from MPs about the direction of government and following a devastating performance at the local elections. The prime minister last month announced plans to reverse his controversial cuts to winter fuel payments, saying he wants more pensioners to be eligible for the benefit – a move that has now been confirmed.There is also a growing expectation he will lift the two-child benefit cap. While nothing has been announced yet, the prime minister is privately said to be in favour of lifting the cap – but has refused to commit to anything until the child poverty strategy is published in the autumn. Below, The Independent looks at all the times Sir Keir has U-turned on his promises or let voters down on the journey from Labour leader to prime minister.Sir Keir Starmer has been repeatedly accused of u-turning on key issues More

‘We are making long term decisions for the future of the country’ says Ed MilibandConcerns have been raised that Rachel Reeves may have to make “staggering” cuts as a result of her spending review plans.The chancellor is set to unveil plans for all department funding until the next election in 2029 during her review on Wednesday.Experts have warned the chancellor will have to make £5 billion worth of cuts to ensure the spending plans are fulfilled – with areas such as housing, policing and border control expected to be affected.The analysis, carried out by researchers at the House of Commons library commissioned by the Lib Dems, found that unprotected departments — which excludes NHS England, the core schools budget and defence — could see the real-terms cuts by 2028/29.The Lib Dems said the scale of the expected cuts was “staggering”. Spokesperson Daisy Cooper said: “After years of shameful Conservative neglect, it is household budgets and people relying on these services for vital support who are bearing the brunt. “From social care to neighborhood policing, this Labour government is at risk of failing to deliver the change that people were promised.”Comment: The spending review will reveal how far the government has been blown off courseAthena Stavrou10 June 2025 15:35‘We are really going to suffer’: Residents’ dismay over nuclear plant investmentResidents, campaigners and organisations have expressed outrage after the Government allocated more than £14 billion towards building a nuclear plant on the Suffolk coast.The plant is expected to provide 10,000 jobs but residents and campaign groups say it will damage wildlife and impact the community.( More

Dr David Bull has been unveiled as the new chair of Reform UK after Zia Yusuf sensationally quit the role last week.The former doctor and ex-deputy chair of Reform is a popular figure among members and first joined Nigel Farage’s team when he became an MEP for the Brexit Party in 2019.After the furore surrounding Mr Yusuf’s sudden departure last week – and subsequent return days later to run Reform’s Donald Trump-inspired Doge cost-slashing unit – Mr Farage needed a replacement to run the party who could act as an internal diplomat.He will also need to persuade potential donors to part with their money, with Reform lagging behind the Tories, Labour and the Lib Dems in attracting financial support. This was another problem identified with Mr Yusuf as chair by his critics.Nigel Farage introducing David Bull on Tuesday More

Rachel Reeves will need to wield the axe and make nearly £5bn worth of cuts to balance the books in the wake of Labour’s spending review, new analysis has revealed. The chancellor will on Wednesday announce funding for all departments until the next election in 2029 after a bitter cabinet civil war over what is being dubbed “austerity 2.0”.But experts have warned Labour will have to make billions of pounds of cuts to ensure Reeves can fulfil her spending plans — with areas such as housing, policing and border control expected to be in the line of fire. Follow our live updates on the spending review HEREThe revelation comes after the Treasury was forced to impose a squeezed budget on the Home Office after a row over the settlement. Yvette Cooper’s department is expected to take the brunt of spending cuts, despite being tasked with delivering three of Sir Keir Starmer’s flagship pledges, with fears the Home Office may be forced to cut police numbers. Savings are also expected to come from tighter budgets on local government, foreign aid, culture and the civil service.Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves is set to unveil her spending review (Stefan Rousseau/PA) More

The Conservatives have received twice as much money from donors as Reform in the first three months of this year, even as they sink in the polls. The financial backing will come as a boost to the under-pressure Tory leader Kemi Badenoch, days after her party dropped to fourth place in a major poll. Ms Badenoch’s party took in £3.36m, Reform £1.5m, Keir Starmer’s party £2.3m and the Liberal Democrats £1.5m, the Electoral Commission statistics show. The Tories hit out at Reform — also under pressure after losing and regaining its chairman in recent days — saying it had “failed to secure the donations they claimed were coming” and had a “fantasy approach to finances”. The Conservatives said Reform UK party sources had in January “claimed a dinner in Mayfair had secured over £1 million in pledges yet there is no evidence in the latest Electoral Commission figures that support this.” They also pointed to figures which show 42 per cent of Reform UK’s donations during the three months rely on £613,000 from deputy leader Richard Tice’s company. But Mr Farage hit back, accusing Labour and the Conservatives of having relied on their ability to hand out peerages to bankroll their parties for decades. However, a Conservative source said much of the money raised is to pay off election debt.They said: “We were told there was no money that’s why they had to sack so many people.”Asked about the donation figures, the Reform leader said: “Is it easy to raise big money in politics? It’s not… because I have not got any peerages to give out. “The honours system is corrupted beyond belief, we don’t have any gongs to give out.” Mr Farage went on to stress he is confident he is building relationships with the donors Reform needs, while stressing that the bulk of its revenue comes from supporters giving between £25 and £50.That almost a third of the money raised by the Conservatives came from one donor, however, will do little to ease Tory MPs fears their leader is not doing enough to build the kind of wide support needed to win the next election. The largest single donation was £1m from former Labour supporter Jez San, a computer game entrepreneur. David Ross, the founder of Carphone Warehouse, who halted donations to the party during its post-Boris Johnson years, is also listed as giving £40,000, in two separate donations. Mr Ross, who once “facilitated” accommodation for Mr Johnson on the island of Mustique, will become the party’s senior treasurer later in the year. Reginald Collins, a longtime member of Labour, was the party’s largest individual donor, leaving it £350,000 when he died. The Liberal Democrats had the most individual donors, at 246. The Tories had 122, Labour 93 and Reform 70. The Tories said the latest figures build on the momentum of the previous quarter, where the party raised £1.9 million – more than all the other major political parties combined. ( More

Hundreds of jobs are set to be created across the UK as part of a raft of investments in the technology sector, the Government has announced.It comes as Science and Technology Secretary Peter Kyle told an audience at London Tech Week that the UK must be at “the cutting edge” of rapidly growing technologies, such as AI.The technology sector is a key area of the Government’s efforts to accelerate growth in the UK economy, in a bid to support efforts to increase spending.Liquidity is planning over the next five years” data-source=”” >On Tuesday, a number of “significant investments” in the sector were announced in areas including AI and fintech, which will see some companies setting up in the UK for the first time.Liquidity, a US-based AI fintech business, revealed it will launch its European headquarters in London as part of a plan to invest an additional £1.5 billion over the next five years.Meanwhile, Capgemini said it will expand UK operations with a new London headquarters.Netcompany, a Danish IT consultancy, will also invest £2 million to expand its Leeds office and is launching a new site in Edinburgh, which will ultimately create 150 jobs.Other investments include InnovX AI, a major European start-up hub, investing £14.7 million in a new London technology site, creating 30 jobs.Mr Kyle said: “We have all seen over the last few years, just how rapidly and profoundly technologies like AI are transforming the economy, and our society.“Britain can – and must – be at the cutting edge of this change.“The era of hesitancy is over: we can be the masters of our fate, and through the measures I am announcing today, we will harness the vast potential of our trillion-pound tech sector to help remake our country for the better.”The Government said on Tuesday that it was opening its Science and Technology Venture Capital Fellowship for a second cohort and round of applications, to increase the capacity of the UK financial sector to invest in start-up businesses in the sector.Business and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said: “Securing valuable high-tech investment is an integral mission of this government and seeing global investors put billions in the UK economy shows the plan for change is working, with more and more companies choosing Britain.“With tech being identified as a key growth sector in our upcoming modern industrial strategy, we’re not only helping attract and secure investment, but delivering long-term, stable growth that supports skilled jobs and raises living standards across the UK.” More