Sir Keir Starmer and the Chancellor Rachel Reeves have abandoned plans to raise income tax rates, performing a major U-turn less than two weeks before the budget.
The move follows intense pressure inside Downing Street after fears of a backlash from Labour MPs and voters.
The Financial Times first reported the shift, which comes after several difficult days for the government and growing concern about breaking a key manifesto pledge.
Both Number Ten and the Treasury are declining to comment, but senior figures say the climbdown reflects worries about political fallout rather than any change in economic conditions.
Two men have been charged after an attack at a Shell garage in Slough left a woman fighting for her life.
Matthew Smith, from Iver, and Joshua Watt, from Aylesbury, both aged 24, have been charged with wounding with intent following the assault at the Burnham Lane garage in the early hours of Tuesday morning. The victim suffered life-threatening injuries and remains in hospital.
The BBC has apologised to US President Donald Trump for a Panorama episode that edited parts of one of his speeches together, but has refused his demand for compensation.
Lawyers for the President threatened to sue for one billion dollars unless the corporation issued a retraction and paid damages.
The BBC confirmed the programme will not be broadcast again, and admitted a second edited clip aired on Newsnight in 2022.
The wife of British journalist Sami Hamdi has warned football fans heading to the 2026 World Cup in North America of the risks of detention after her husband was held by US immigration for more than two weeks.
Hamdi was detained at San Francisco Airport on 26 October after his visa was revoked without warning while on a speaking tour critical of Israel’s actions in Gaza.
He returned to the UK on Thursday. US authorities say he breached security rules and entered the country illegally.
Nurses and social workers could be exempt from the government’s controversial “loan charge” tax crackdown.
The scheme, introduced in 2017, was meant to recover unpaid income tax from agency workers paid through loan arrangements but has since been linked to ten suicides and widespread financial ruin. MPs from across Parliament have called the policy “deeply unfair.”
A gold pocket watch recovered from Titanic passenger Isidor Straus is expected to sell for around one million pounds.
Straus, who co-owned Macy’s department store, died with his wife Ida when the ship sank in 1912. Auctioneers in Wiltshire say the watch is a “phenomenal piece of history.”
A Metropolitan Police motorcyclist has been cleared of causing death by careless driving after colliding with a pensioner while escorting the Duchess of Edinburgh.
Sixty-eight-year-old Christopher Harrison struck Helen Holland as he travelled through Earl’s Court in west London last May. The 81-year-old suffered serious injuries and later died in hospital. After a trial at the Old Bailey, Harrison was found not guilty of the charge.
A shocking new survey has revealed that around two-thirds of women serving in the armed forces have experienced sexualised behaviour in the past year.
The findings include everything from catcalling and inappropriate jokes to unwanted touching and sexual activity. The internal Ministry of Defence report also found that about one-third of servicemen had experienced similar behaviour. Junior Defence Minister and former army officer Louise Sandher-Jones said the results were “wholly unacceptable” and described the survey as a “no-holds-barred baseline” to confront the issue head-on.
The government has confirmed plans to scrap Police and Crime Commissioners, saying the system has failed to meet expectations.
Policing Minister Sarah Jones told MPs the move will save taxpayers around one hundred million pounds. She said public engagement with commissioners remains low and that the roles, created in 2012, have not made policing more accountable as intended. Ministers say a new structure will be announced early next year.
A police cordon at a Shell garage in Slough has been lifted following an attack that left a woman critically injured.
The site on Burnham Lane reopened last night after being closed for nearly two days. Officers were called in the early hours of Monday to reports of a serious assault, and forensic teams spent much of Tuesday at the scene. Thames Valley Police say the investigation continues.
An amber weather warning is in place ahead of Storm Claudia, which is set to bring heavy rain and strong winds to large parts of the UK on Friday.
Up to one hundred and fifty millimetres of rain is expected in some areas, with flooding, power cuts and travel disruption likely. The warning runs from midday until midnight, covering Wales, the Midlands, the South West and the South East. The storm, named by Spanish forecasters, has already hit Portugal and the Canary Islands.
A damning independent report into the murder of ten-year-old Sara Sharif has found she should never have been placed in the care of her father and stepmother, describing the pair as a “lethal combination.”
The report detailed multiple failings by agencies who came into contact with the family before Sara’s death. She was killed by Urfan Sharif and Beinash Batool in August 2023 after what a judge later called a “campaign of torture.” Her body was discovered in a bunk bed at the family’s home in Woking, after her father phoned police from Pakistan saying he had “killed” and “beaten” his daughter.
The schoolgirl was found with fractures, bruises, and burns across her body.
Sir Keir Starmer is facing growing pressure from senior ministers to sack whoever was behind anonymous briefings suggesting he faces a leadership challenge.
Both Energy Secretary Ed Miliband and Health Secretary Wes Streeting were named in the reports as potential challengers and are now demanding that the source be identified and removed. Sir Keir has apologised privately to Streeting, and sources say the Prime Minister is “incandescent” over the leaks.
Attention is also turning to his chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, who’s being blamed by some in government for fostering what they describe as a toxic culture inside Number Ten.
A man has been charged with murdering a pensioner found with fatal injuries at a flat in Northamptonshire.
John Mills, 45, is due to appear at Northampton Magistrates’ Court on Thursday charged with the killing of 71-year-old John Boyle. Mr Boyle, who had six children and fifteen grandchildren, was discovered at a property in Leatherland Court, Kettering, on Saturday following concerns for his welfare.
Mr Mills has also been charged with theft of a motor vehicle in connection with the incident.
Treasure finds in England have hit a record high, with some unusual discoveries including a lamp shaped like a human foot and an earwax scoop.
Provisional figures from the British Museum’s Portable Antiquities Scheme recorded 1,446 finds in 2024, up from 1,266 the previous year. Eastern England proved the most fruitful, with 388 discoveries, many uncovered by metal detectorists like Emma Youell, who describes herself as a “massive history nerd” and estimates she has found thousands of artefacts.
There’s more news on our website and social media.
The UK’s economy has slowed sharply, growing by just 0.1 percent between July and September, according to early figures from the Office for National Statistics.
The data also showed a surprise contraction in September, deepening fears that Britain could be heading for a winter downturn. It follows modest growth of 0.3 percent in the previous quarter and 0.7 percent at the start of the year.
Economists say the slowdown reflects the impact of President Donald Trump’s ongoing trade war and recent UK budget measures which have added around twenty-five billion pounds in new taxes for employers.
The longest government shutdown in US history has officially ended after President Donald Trump signed off a congressional bill to restore federal funding.
The move follows weeks of political deadlock that left hundreds of thousands of workers unpaid. But the president avoided taking questions from reporters as he hailed the deal in the Oval Office, only hours after the release of thousands of files linked to Jeffrey Epstein — in which he was named. Trump has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, calling the so-called “Epstein hoax” a trap set by Democrats.
The shutdown ended after both the House of Representatives and the Senate backed the funding package late on Monday.
Sir Keir Starmer has apologised to Health Secretary Wes Streeting after claims that allies of the Prime Minister accused him of plotting a leadership coup.
It’s understood the pair spoke briefly last night following reports suggesting Mr Streeting was preparing to challenge for the leadership after the budget later this month. At Prime Minister’s Questions, Sir Keir denied authorising the briefings. Mr Streeting, meanwhile, told Sky News the rumours were “not true,” joking that whoever started them had been “watching too much Celebrity Traitors.”
The UK’s first small modular reactor nuclear power station will be built on Anglesey.
The government says the Wylfa site in north Wales will create hundreds of permanent roles and up to three thousand construction jobs. Work is expected to begin in 2026, with an initial programme of three reactors and the potential for as many as eight in the long term.
Ministers also considered Oldbury in Gloucestershire before choosing Anglesey.
Slough Borough Council has been ordered to pay a mother more than seven thousand pounds after her child with special educational needs missed almost a full school year.
The Local Government Ombudsman ruled the council failed to provide a placement outlined in the child’s Education Health and Care Plan, leaving them without schooling between September 2023 and June 2024. An additional five hundred pounds was awarded for distress and delays in handling the complaint.
Coldplay, Dua Lipa, and Radiohead are among dozens of artists urging ministers to cap ticket resale prices and shut out touts.
They’ve signed an open letter alongside The Cure’s Robert Smith, New Order, Iron Maiden, and Sam Fender, calling for fairer access to live events. Industry groups and consumer bodies have joined the plea, warning that unchecked reselling is damaging fans’ trust and pricing ordinary people out of gigs.
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