Donald Trump has declared tomorrow will be ‘Liberation Day’ for the US, when his country will shake off any reliance it has on other countries for products and supplies.

But in the rest of the world – and for many in the US itself – the prospect of sweeping, scattershot, international tariffs being introduced all at once conjures feelings of dread rather than freedom.

For the UK, it’s more than a little embarrassing too.

You may remember that at the end of February, Keir Starmer travelled to the White House just after announcing a big increase in defence spending (partially to appease the US) and offered Trump a second state visit.

At the moment, it seems those efforts have not borne fruit. The PM admitted this morning it was likely the UK would not be spared from the President’s tariffs.

He told Sky News: ‘The likelihood is there will be tariffs. Nobody welcomes that.

‘We are obviously working with the sectors most impacted at pace on that. Nobody wants to see a trade war but I have to act in the national interest.’

How will Trump’s tariffs affect the UK?

This will likely mean a rough start to April for many Brits will only become rougher.

Today, a raft of tax and bill increases come into effect – energy bills, water bills, phone bills, broadband bills, TV licences, council tax and car tax are all going up. Businesses have warned a rise in National Insurance Contributions kicking in today will also force up prices.

A simultaneous increase in the minimum wage and living wage will mitigate the impacts for some, but there’s no doubt life in the UK is getting more expensive.

Part of the reason Trump’s tariff threats are concerning figures in the British government so much is because of the uncertainty around them.

We already know a 25% tariff will be introduced on all cars being imported to the US, a move that will hammer the British automotive industry.

But there’s a conspicuous lack of detail on the broader round that has been promised. Speculation suggests Trump may choose to respond to the rate of VAT by imposing import taxes of 20% on the UK.

If that happens, business will suddenly get a lot more expensive for many British firms, and that will mean further price rises for customers.

Is the UK imposing its own tariffs on the US?

Then there’s the question of whether the UK will choose to reciprocate on any tariffs that are imposed, as many other countries have said they will do.

Starmer has said ‘all options remain on the table’, but emphasised his hopes that a trade deal will be struck with the US.

Economists at the Office for Budget Responsibility, the official body that checks the Treasury’s numbers, have warned placing our own tariffs on US goods would damage the UK’s finances even further.

And that’s a risk the government desperately wants to avoid. Last Wednesday, Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced her spring statement with a bruising series of cuts to benefits and a relatively small amount of headroom.

If the worst-case scenario plays out, she could end up almost back at square one just a week later.

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Angela Rayner has said today’s boost to the minimum wage and living wage will help people in the same position as her when she started working.

The Deputy Prime Minister told Metro the changes coming into effect today will give millions the ‘pay boost they deserve’.

It represents a step towards changing the lives of those who are getting by on low pay like she once was, Rayner said.

But the impact of the rise could be hit by a number of tax and bill rises that are also coming into effect from today.

Rayner said: ‘Today will see millions of people get the pay boost that they deserve, including apprentices and young people.

‘Like so many people across the country, I started my working life on low pay, just trying to get by and get on. I got into politics to change that – which is exactly what we are doing.

‘Well-paid, high-skilled work is absolutely critical to grow our economy, as part of our Plan for Change.

‘For too long, hard work has not been rewarded – and this government is focused on turning the page for good – with better job security, more money in working people’s pockets and more cash being spent in our economy.’

Today’s increase in the living wage will mean workers who are eligible will make an extra £1,400 each year.

Those aged 21 and older on the national living wage will earn £12.21 an hour, up from £11.44.

Meanwhile, the minimum wage for 18 to 20-year-olds is being boosted from £8.60 an hour to £10 an hour – with the government planning to ultimately scrap age bands altogether.

The rate for apprentices and 16 to 17-year-olds is also being increased from £6.40 to £7.55 an hour.

Speaking to Sky News this morning, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said wages on average are increasing more quickly than prices.

However, a raft of bill increases for energy, water and broadband are due to come into effect today which will make life more expensive.

The PM said: ‘I acknowledge that with bills coming in, people see that rise and that is a pressure.

‘That is why it’s so important we deliver on the national living wage, to make sure people are better off – £1,400, quite a significant amount of money for millions of workers.’

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Hit Netflix show Adolescence ‘lit a touchpaper’ in the UK and has the power to change the country, Sir Keir Starmer has said.

The Prime Minister wrote exclusively for Metro to explain his decision to back the screening of the four-part drama series in schools.

Its depiction of misogyny among young people and the hazards of social media ‘shines a light on a problem that is too often swept under the carpet’, he said.

Adolescence, which stars Stephen Graham and newcomer Owen Cooper, has become the most talked-about British show of the year since it premiered earlier this month.

Cooper plays a 13-year-old schoolboy who is accused of murdering his female classmate. Episodes cover how his life at home, in school and online affected his mentality.

Yesterday, Jack Thorne – who co-wrote the series with Graham – and producer Jo Johnson joined the PM and campaigners in Downing Street to discuss the issues it raises.

In his article for Metro, Sir Keir writes about the case of Jane Clough, a nurse who was stabbed to death outside a Blackpool hospital in 2010 by a man who was awaiting trial on multiple counts of raping her.

As director of public prosecutions at the time, he met Jane’s parents John and Penny, and he later described becoming ‘good friends’ with the couple.

The PM said: ‘I vowed then that I would do everything I could to prevent violence against women and get justice for the victims.

‘So much of this is about prevention, about pulling young boys back before they get in too deep.

‘It’s about youth work, good role models, neighbourhood policing, and mental health support so young people learn to deal with their emotions and the challenges they face.’

He continued: ‘But it’s clear that one of the greatest dangers to young people today isn’t on our streets – it’s in the home.

‘If children can access corners of the internet that glorify violence and encourage hatred in their bedrooms, there is nowhere they are safe.

‘And parents who think they are doing the right thing are left in the dark about the terrifying content accessible to every young person today.’

Labour MP Anneliese Midgley first raised the idea of screening Adolescence in schools during Prime Minister’s Questions on March 20.

Sir Keir responded that he backed the plans, telling Midgeley he was watching the show at home with his 16-year-old son and 14-year-old daughter.

Netflix announced on Tuesday the show would become available to all secondary schools across the UK.

In his article, the PM said: ‘Adolescence has given a voice to everyone fearful and isolated, wondering what to do and wanting to change the culture of male violence.

‘It has lit a touchpaper. It may save lives. It has the power to change our country. I am so pleased that as many people as possible will watch it.’

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The beginning of April means major new car tax changes are coming into effect, impacting motorists across the UK.

Possibly the biggest shake-up will be felt by electric vehicle (EV) owners, who will no longer be exempt from paying vehicle excise duty (VED), a tax which hits everyone with a car.

The amount you pay will depend on when your vehicle was registered and how much it is worth.

Here we take a look at all the changes that will take effect from the beginning of April.

EVs no longer exempt from tax

To encourage more people to buy zero-emission cars, EVs in the UK have long been exempt from paying VED.

From today, April 1, owners will be charged £10 for the first year after their vehicle is registered, and then the standard rate of £195 each subsequent year of ownership.

Those with an electric, zero or low emission cars registered between April 1 2017 and March 31 2025 will have to pay the £195 standard rate from the start.

Then-Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced the move in December 2022, saying it would ‘make our motoring tax system fairer’.

His policy has been continued by the current Labour government.

Electric cars will also have to pay the ‘luxury car tax’

The luxury car tax is a supplement added to VED for people whose vehicles have a list price of £40,000 or more.

This, too, will apply to electric vehicles from the beginning of next month.

Due to the expense of manufacturing batteries, EVs are often more expensive than their internal combustion counterparts – meaning their owners are more likely to be slapped with the luxury car tax.

Online vehicle marketplace Auto Trader has called for the VED changes to be delayed out of concern it may prevent people going electric.

The site’s commercial director Ian Plummer said: ‘EVs up to five years old on our site are three-and-a-half times more likely to be hit by the expensive car supplement than internal combustion engine cars in the same age range.

‘That kind of difference is unhelpful for efforts to persuade drivers to switch.’

From April 1, owners of these ‘luxury cars’ will pay a supplement of £425 on top of the standard rate for years two to six after a vehicle is first registered.

It will apply to new EVs registered from that date.

Former Fifth Gear presenter Quentin Willson, who is the founder of pro-EV group FairCharge, said: ‘I strongly disagree with the EV expensive car supplement.

‘Six hundred and twenty pounds a year to tax most EVs will discourage private buyers who get no incentive whatsoever to switch from combustion to electric.

‘Ministers say we should drive EVs, while the Treasury creates tax barriers to put us off.’

A Treasury spokesperson said: ‘The shift to electric vehicles will support growth and productivity across the UK and is crucial for tackling climate change.

‘Our balanced approach ensures fiscal stability during the transition to electric vehicles, including by introducing vehicle excise duty on EVs from April 2025, while maintaining targeted incentives to encourage their uptake.’

VED hikes for petrol, diesel and hybrid cars

Cars with CO2 emissions between 1-50g/km (most plug-in hybrids) – who previously paid £10 in the first year, will now have to pay £110.

And cars in the 51-75g/km band will see their first year tax costs go from £30 to £130.

Cars with emissions of 75g/km and more, meanwhile, with see their first year rate double in price.

Company car tax (BIK) rise for all car types

The benefit-in-kind (BIK) rate for zero-emission vehicles is set to go up by 1% each year from 2025 to 2028.

It currently stands at 2%, but will increase to 3% next month, then to 4 per cent in 2026 and 5 per cent in 2027.

For vehicles emitting 75g/km of CO2 or more, the BIK rate will increase by 1% next month and remain at that level until at least 2028.

How can I check my car tax?

You can find out the tax rates for your car on the Gov.uk website.

Drivers will need to have their vehicle’s number plate to hand, as well as the 11-digit reference number that can found in the log book.

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Gig economy firms like Uber Eats and Deliveroo will be legally required to carry out right-to-work checks on their employees for the first time under a new law to combat illegal migration.

Sir Keir Starmer announced the move as he launched a first-of-its-kind international people-smuggling summit in London aimed at ‘tackling the problem upstream’.

The Home Office said food couriers Uber Eats, Just Eat and Deliveroo were among the ‘honest companies’ who already run the checks voluntarily – but they will soon become legally mandatory for everyone.

Firms that fail to do them will face fines of up to £60,000 per worker, closures, and even prison sentences of up to five years.

Countries including Albania, Iraq and Vietnam – where many migrants to the UK come from – will join representatives from the US, China and France at today’s event.

The Prime Minister has told them to ‘combine our resources’ and ‘share intelligence’ as he moots tactics he once deployed as director of public prosecutions.

Social media companies including TikTok, Meta and X have also sent over officials to join the talks.

They come after a week in which more than 1,100 people have arrived in small boats over the English Channel.

It has been a record-breaking start to the year for the scale of crossings.

In his speech at the beginning of today’s summit, the PM said the issue ‘makes people angry – it makes me angry’.

He recalled his work across borders to track down terrorists as the head of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).

The PM said: ‘I believe we should treat organised immigration crime in the same way.

‘I simply do not believe organised immigration crime cannot be tackled.

‘We’ve got to combine our resources, share intelligence and tactics, and tackle the problem upstream at every step of the people-smuggling routes.’

Politicians and enforcement staff will discuss supply routes and criminal finances, while figures from the tech world will join meetings focused on fighting online adverts for people-smuggling services.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said ‘turning a blind eye’ to illegal gig economy working ‘plays into the hands of callous people smugglers trying to sell spaces on flimsy, overcrowded boats’.

Just Eat boss Claire Pointon said her company is ‘committed to supporting high streets and communities by ensuring a fair and well-regulated rapid delivery sector’.

She added: ‘Preventing unauthorised work is key to this, which is why we’re strengthening our measures by introducing biometric checks to swiftly remove those without the correct authorisation to work in the UK.

‘We welcome this decision from the Home Office to expand these requirements to other sectors.’

Deliveroo and Uber Eats also backed the government’s plans, which will come in the form of an amendment to the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill.

Among the other plans expected to be raised at the meeting is a new international unit of the CPS set up with £33 million of funding, according to the Times.

The Home Office said the summit would deliver ‘concrete outcomes’ around the globe.

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: ‘We welcome Labour copying and pasting the work that the last Conservative government on those working illegally, but the Home Secretary has her head stuck in the sand about the extent of the challenge on illegal immigration.

‘Crossings are up 31% since the election with 2025 the worst year on record.

‘This is the clear impact of cancelling the deterrent and Labour’s open-door policy to illegal migration the crisis requires clear deliverable action.’

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Not long after I arrived at the Arena Birmingham for Reform UK’s local elections campaign launch, I was invited to come and see the set.

This is not an offer I have ever had at a political event before. I don’t think I’ve ever been at one featuring anything that could be described as a ‘set’.

So, of course I went along. I’m not sure what I was imagining – maybe a tour of the lighting rigs or sound boards, or information about where the confetti cannons were hidden.

But no, it was an actual set. A fake street of shopfronts, specially made for the event with political easter eggs hidden in posters and notices. A fake road with fake potholes, dotted with signs and traffic cones. A real bus stop with a pile of bin bags. All set up in front of thousands of seats.

It was theatrical, no doubt, and it looked expensive. It certainly was not what I would typically associate with the launch of a local election campaign.

Reform had billed this rally as the biggest political event in the UK since the end of the Second World War, with a much-cited figure putting ticket sales at around 10,000.

By the time things kicked off on Friday evening (an hour late, due to heavy protests outside the arena), there were not 10,000 people in the crowd. I would estimate from the large patches of empty seats that it was a few thousand short.

However, I can say it sounded like there could have been 10,000 of them. If the scenery was theatrical, the rally itself was too – almost like a pantomime at times. An announcement to get people to their seats aptly said: ‘The show will commence in 15 minutes.’

And when it did, the audience roared and laughed and booed when prompted by the speakers. At any mention of small boats or migration, there were yells of ‘send them back!’ and ‘get them out!’

These people had been told there would be special guests, but the one big surprise was a bit underwhelming. Reform revealed their candidate for West of England Mayor will be Arron Banks.

If you haven’t heard of him, don’t worry – I got the impression more than half of the room also hadn’t. He’s been described as ‘the man who bankrolled Brexit’, as the biggest financial supporter of the campaign to leave the EU.

Banks might want to work on his communications strategy before cracking on with his campaign. He told the crowd he is ‘about as popular in Bristol as a pork pie in a bar mitzvah’, and explained his decision to run by saying: ‘When the boss [Nigel Farage] phones you and says you’ve got to do it, you’ve got to do it.’

Like at last year’s party conference, Lee Anderson’s speech was more of a stand-up routine. And like in that speech from last September, he also claimed dubiously that the UK had come up with more than 50% of inventions in the past 1,000 years.

This time, though, he tried a new line. Talking about a new government working group to establish a definition of Islamophobia, Anderson said: ‘I can save you the trouble – there’s no such thing as Islamophobia.’

That could be news to Reform chairman Zia Yusuf, who has spoken in the past about his experiences with anti-Muslim hate.

At last, with the crowd beginning to look a little restless – people I spoke to beforehand had travelled from Gloucestershire and Liverpool, and presumably were concerned about trains home – it was the turn of Farage.

The leader rode to the stage on the side of a JCB excavator, donated by prominent Tory donor Lord Bamford (who previously paid for Boris Johnson’s wedding). It was likely out of appreciation rather than obligation that he began with, essentially, a two-minutes ad for the business.

He got plenty of whoops and applause, particularly for his line: ‘Everyone who comes illegally will be deported, full stop, end of story.’ The send-them-backers were thrilled. But despite that, due to the late hour, people were getting up to leave before he finished.

By the big finale, which involved T-shirts being shot out of handheld cannons, some of the clothing was landing in sections of empty seats. I’ve never seen anything like this opulent event before – I’m not sure I’ll see something like it again.

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When I first heard about the pending cuts to the Personal Independent Payment, a form of benefit that helps people with the cost of being disabled, I could barely breathe. 

As I watched Liz Kendall, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, lay out the removal of £5billion a year from the welfare system, anxiety swelled, filling every part of my body. 

When Kendall was pressed for details, as millions of us felt panic set in, she told us to wait for the Spring Statement, which was delivered by Rachel Reeves on Wednesday. 

Despite the Chancellor confirming even more cuts to social security, there is still no certainty on how my own benefits will be affected.

The DWP are yet to contact me, but on average PIP claimants are expected to lose an average of £4,500 a year, with hundreds of thousands pushed into poverty. 

But these aren’t just statistics, or numbers on a page. This is about real people. Real people like me and my family. 

The waiting is painful and has flared up every medical condition I have, both mental and physical.

I’m scared that my daughter and I will be plunged into poverty when we’re barely staying above the breadline as is. Many disabled people are. 

I’d only just gone through a reassessment, an examination to determine the level of support I receive, which culminated early this year. 

Reassessment is something I have to do typically every three to four years, and it took nine months, start to finish this time around. Changes may make it harder to pass these assessments, and will definitely cause me more anxiety. 

During the assessment period, my stress levels are consistently high – sometimes lasting for a whole month or two. I’m usually unable to work until I have recovered. So much for the Government’s moral mission to get people back into employment. 

I have a number of diagnoses, and my main symptoms are stiffness, chronic pain, reduced dexterity, subluxations, back pain, severe migraines, extreme fatigue, low and erratic moods, emotional instability and impulsivity. 

As you can imagine, this makes work tricky, and this is largely why I made the decision to be self-employed. 

I cannot commit to shifts due to the unpredictable nature of my symptoms, and cannot do full-time hours. 

It’s part of the cost of being disabled, something PIP is designed to address. 

If my PIP is cut, it won’t incentivise me to work more as the government is claiming.

I can’t be incentivised out of having the conditions that I suffer from. 

And the stress of falling behind on debt payments, falling behind on bills, and not knowing how we’ll make ends meet will flare up my medical conditions and leave me with even less capability for work than I currently have. 

My partner will also have to perform more care duties, leaving him able to work less hours and therefore worsening our financial situation even more.

It seems this isn’t something the Government has considered. 

It is important to remember that, for all the talk of work, PIP isn’t an unemployment benefit. 

It helps people with the extra cost of being disabled.

For me, this extra cost is typically through increased heating bills, accessible housing, pre-prepared food, heavy reliance on my car, and charges for both NHS and private prescriptions.

I also use my PIP for things that keep my symptoms manageable enough to be able to work, such as the gym and various therapies that aren’t available on the NHS.

Instead of targeting disabled people, the Government should work to improve the amount and quality of accessible jobs. 

If they really wanted us to work more, they would make it easier. 

Remote working is getting rarer, and part-time jobs are very in demand and thus hard to come by. 

Recent analysis found that of the 95,000 jobs on the DWP website, only around 560 are fully remote. 

Everything seems so bleak, and Labour’s Spring Statement certainly does feel like austerity all over again.

And that policy was linked to over 50,000 deaths. 

Instead of working to expand austerity, Rachel Reeves should be trying to reverse it. 

Because when disabled campaigners are on the streets saying that cuts kill, they mean it quite literally.

The last thing that disabled people like me need is less money, less support, and more stress. 

So we are not being dramatic, as some have implied – we are not dealing, as one minister said, with ‘pocket money’. 

And we are not going to be incentivised into work. 

As disabled people, we are quite simply terrified. 

And with good reason.

Do you have a story you’d like to share? Get in touch by emailing jess.austin@metro.co.uk. 

Share your views in the comments below.

Nigel Farage said he and Elon Musk still text each other, two months after their relationship dramatically blew up in an online spat about Tommy Robinson.

The world’s richest man declared Farage ‘doesn’t have what it takes’ to lead Reform UK in January, a stunning reversal amid rumours he was about to give the party a bumper donation.

But at a lunch event in parliament today, the Clacton MP insisted there was no bad blood between him and Musk.

He told journalists: ‘I’m not on bad terms with him, we do text a little bit, we do talk, we’re on perfectly reasonable terms.’

The potential for a mega-donation – which reports at the time suggested could be worth more than £80 million – was ‘always massively overexaggerated anyway’, Farage added.

Their spectacular falling-out came as Musk came out in support of far-right agitator Tommy Robinson, and Farage said he disagreed.

The Reform leader said: ‘He took a different view on Tommy Robinson to me, I’ve never been pro-him in any way at all. He tried to push me on it a bit, and do you know what? You can’t bully me.’

A particular sore spot for Farage was Musk’s apparent support for Great Yarmouth MP Rupert Lowe to take over control of the party.

Earlier this month, Lowe was booted from Reform a day after he sharply criticised his leader in an interview with the Daily Mail, with the party saying he had bullied staff.

An independent investigation later found there was ‘credible evidence’ against him, and he failed to ‘address the alleged toxic conduct’ of men in his office. Lowe described the claims as ‘outright lies’.

The split was all the more caustic because it came in the build-up to local elections in May, which Farage suggested are of similar importance to last year’s general election.

He said today: ‘Since I got elected back on July 4, I have had one mission, one mission only.

‘That is to build a national political party in the space of just about eight months, to do something that normally would take decades of evolution to get us ready for May 1.

‘May 1 has been my whole purpose ever since the fourth of July.’

Reform’s local election campaign will be launched in an event at the Arena Birmingham tomorrow evening, with Farage set to speak after his fellow MPs Lee Anderson and Richard Tice.

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The mother of a 16-year-old boy who was killed with a ninja sword three years ago has said a ban on the weapons is another ‘step towards getting justice’ for her son.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has announced the style of sword – which has become a weapon of choice for street killers in the UK – will be banned from August 1.

The move follows tireless campaigning from the family of Ronan Kanda, who was killed on a Wolverhampton street in a case of mistaken identity in 2022.

His mum Pooja Kanda said: ‘Today marks a very important day for us as a family and our campaign.’

She added: ‘Since losing our beautiful boy Ronan, we have relentlessly campaigned for a ban on Ninja swords – the lethal weapon which took his life.

‘We believe ninja swords have no place in our society other than to seriously harm and kill.’

Ahead of the election last year, Metro revealed exclusively that Labour planned to introduce Ronan’s Law if they formed the next government.

The name is applied to a range of legislation which aims to make it more difficult for people to buy deadly knives online.

An independent review into online knife marketplaces published last month revealed stores are offering cheap ‘mystery boxes’ with a surprise selection of weapons.

The ban on ninja swords, described by the Home Office as the ‘final part of Ronan’s Law’, will make it illegal to possess, manufacture, import or sell the blades.

From August 1, anyone caught with one in private could face six months in prison – soon increasing to two years under proposals in the Crime and Policing Bill.

A surrender scheme will run between July 1 and 31 to allow members of the public to hand in their swords safely.

To prevent exploitation of the scheme, any weapons bought after today will not be eligible for compensation.

Yvette Cooper said: ‘Knife crime is destroying young lives as too many teenagers are being drawn into violence and it is far too easy for them to get hold of dangerous weapons.

‘Ronan Kanda was just 16 when he was ruthlessly killed by two boys only a year older than him.

‘Today we are introducing the final part of Ronan’s law in his memory – banning the ninja swords that his killers should never have been able to use.’

The other parts of the law will require online retailers to report any bulk or suspicious-looking sales of knives to the police, and introduce a two-step verification process for buying blades over the internet.

There will also be tougher penalties for those who are caught with a knife in public and those who sell knives to under-18s.

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Over the last decade and a half, life in this country has become much harder.

All of us bar the richest can’t have failed to notice. The cost of everyday essentials and bills have soared.  

Rents are spiralling, with renters handing over more and more of their pay packet to their landlord every month.

The price of energy bills, due to increase again from next week, is forcing families to choose between feeding their families and heating their homes.   

Meanwhile, the things communities rely on to thrive have been stripped away. Our health service is on its knees, with patients being treated on trolleys in hospital corridors while our schools are crumbling.  

It couldn’t be clearer: the legacy of 14 years of austerity under the Conservatives has left us a poorer, sicker and less resilient country.   

You might think, then, a Labour government elected on a mantra of ‘change’ would be determined to turn things around – to repair the deep damage done to our economy, and heal our communities.   

But in today’s Spring Statement from the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves showed a shocking determination to instead double down on the last government’s failed austerity experiment, and their own figures show hundreds of thousands of people will be pushed into poverty by her plans.  

We’ve already seen this government remove winter fuel payments from a million pensioners, and refuse to scrap the cruel two-child benefit cap.   

We already knew that Reeves planned to strip billions of pounds of support away from those who could least afford it – pushing hundreds of thousands of disabled people further below the breadline. 

But on top of that, today, the chancellor announced further cuts, slashing the health element of Universal Credit, an additional payment for those with limited capacity for work, by 50% for new claimants, then freezing it. 

That is a devastating blow for disabled people seeking the support they need, especially given the spiralling cost of living.  

And it comes on top of news that at least 800,000 people will lose out on Personal Independence Payments, a benefit paid to those with long-term health conditions. 

Meanwhile, military spending gets a multi-billion pound boost, exposing as false the idea that we can’t afford to support those who need it. 

Why is it that this government can find money to potentially bomb people, but not find money to actually help people?  

Reeves’ announcements mean that overall, government spending will be cut in real terms from what was previously planned – signalling a return to austerity. 

Reeves seems to have no interest in investing in our communities, supporting vulnerable people, or revitalising our economy. Instead, she’s following in the footsteps of George Osborne with a programme of deep cuts to the services this country relies on.   

This is a staggering move from a Labour chancellor.  

It’s clear that austerity failed on every measure, not only immiserating millions of people around the country, cutting short our life expectancy and raising children who literally grow up smaller than their European peers – but grinding our economy to a halt. 

It wouldn’t be shocking to see a Conservative in denial about that, but to see Labour backing swingeing cuts feels like ‘meet the new boss, same as the old boss.’ 

We are deep in a hole created by 15 years of government neglect – and Reeves is proposing that we keep digging, maintaining the endless cycle of decline that put us in this position in the first place.    

We know what the result will be, because we’ve seen it all before.  

Disabled people across the country are already terrified of the impact that welfare cuts will have on them – many facing cutting back on essentials, losing their homes, or struggling to carry out everyday activities.  

The government’s own assessment of the impact of their welfare cuts shows that they will plunge 250,000 people into poverty – including, unforgivably, 50,000 children.  

Hundreds of my constituents have written to me to share their stories, and urge me to do something about these awful cuts. 

These people are despairing at the thought that this support could be stripped away from them – worsening their health, removing their independence and cutting them off from their communities. 

Let’s be clear – this is a choice, and there is another way.   

While most people in this country have seen their wages stagnate over the last 15 years, their bills go up and their living costs rise, there’s another group who have had quite a different experience.   

In 2024, the UK’s billionaires were estimated to have increased their collective wealth by a staggering £35million every day.  

The last government presided over an enormous upwards transfer of wealth – from ordinary people to those who profit from workers’ labour, who pocket renters’ money, and who stash their cash abroad in tax havens while the government shrugs its shoulders and says there’s simply no money left.   

It’s time to put an end to that – to make sure that work really pays, that everyone in this country gets the support they need, and that the super-wealthy pay their fair share along with the rest of us.   

This week figures showed that nearly 8 in 10 members of the public back a wealth tax – a 2% tax on assets above £10 million which could raise £24 billion a year for our public services.   

Up and down the UK people are crying out for a new direction. Last night I spoke at a rally outside the Treasury bringing together people from all walks of life to demand that the government scrap cruel welfare cuts and instead tax wealth fairly.  

There’s even growing discomfort on the government’s own benches that Starmer and Reeves have so quickly ditched the pledges they made to improve people’s lives in this country.  

Pressure is growing for the government to change course and make the changes we really need – to tax wealth fairly, and invest in our society.  

For easier access to GPs, dentists and hospital appointments where you can get the care you need when you need it, and schools where parents know their kids are getting the education they deserve. 

For decent jobs that pay a good wage, and protection for our natural world.   

All of this is possible if the government chooses – but after the missed opportunity of today, the signs aren’t good.   

Do you have a story you’d like to share? Get in touch by emailing Ross.Mccafferty@metro.co.uk. 

Share your views in the comments below.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ spring statement to the House of Commons had little detail for those of us wondering about the pressure on our own finances.

Economist Paul Johnson, from thinktank the Institute of Fiscal Studies, described it as ‘a holding exercise ahead of the really significant decisions later in the year’.

However, there were some announcements, and omissions, that could affect you. Here are some of the most significant.

If you’re buying or selling a house

• You won’t benefit from a stamp duty cut

Stamp duty – the extra tax you pay to the government when you buy a property – increases on April 1, with those buying a home worth under £250,000 no longer getting away stamp duty free.

The new rates mean those buying a property over £125,000 will pay the duty, while first-time buyers will be able to buy a property worth under £300,000 (previously £425,000 without paying the tax.

This represents the end of a temporary cut to the rates and had already been announced, but some had expected Reeves to extend the deadline so that homebuyers had more time to complete. She did not.

‘We have met a lot of first-time buyers who held out hope for the Chancellor to make a U-turn on stamp duty thresholds,’ says Matt Thompson, head of sales at estate agents Chestertons.

‘As this hasn’t been the case, first-time buyers will now have to ensure that their budget can cover the cost increase which means some might compromise on location or type of property.’

• You could find more affordable homes on the market

If you’re struggling to find a property, Reeves Spring Statement brought good news about more home building. The government aims to build 300,000 more houses every year and the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) which checks the economic figures increased its housebuilding forecasts yesterday.

Jeremy Leaf, former chairman of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) says the focus on affordable homes is welcome.

‘We still need more detail of where, when and how those spades are going to be in the ground,’ he says.

If you receive benefits like Universal Credit

• You could lose an average of £1,720 a year, or be £420 better off

The government had already announced big reforms to the welfare system, but Reeves announced further cuts to balance her books. 

The ‘standard’ element of Universal Credit will rise, with the rate for a single person aged 25 or over increasing from £92 a week in 2025/26 to £106 a week by 2029‑30.

However, the health element which you get if you can’t work will be almost halved and frozen for new claimants, with some additional protections for the sickest. Existing claimants will see the health element frozen until 2029.

Eligibility criteria for the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) will be tightened

Accompanying analysis shows that three million families will lose out, with an average loss of £1,720 a year. However, 3.4 million families will be better off under the new rules, to an average £420 a year by 2029-30.

If you’re a taxpayer

• You’ll end up with a bigger tax bill

The Chancellor did not raise any taxes in the Spring Statement. However, the documents show that most of us will end up paying more tax anyway.

The OBR said taxes will rise from 35.3% of Britain’s gross domestic product to a record high of 37.7% by 2027-28.

This is because most of the thresholds for when we start paying tax remain frozen until at least 2028, while wages rise with inflation.

Jason Hollands, managing director of wealth managers Evelyn Partners says that the freeze is ‘putting everyone in a slowly tightening financial thumbscrew’, adding that the absence of further tax measures in the statement provides ‘only limited comfort’.

• You are more likely to be investigated by the taxman

Rachel Reeves promised funding for the tax office to investigate more individuals and businesses for tax fraud, believing this will bring in additional estimated revenue of £1bn.

You’re a saver or investor

• You can still use your cash ISA… for now

Earlier this year, many expected Reeves to use the Spring Status to cut the amount of cash that could be saved in a tax-free ISA to persuade more people to invest in shares.

This did not happen. However, experts warn changes are still on the cards, and urged those who want to put next tax year’s £20,000 Isa allowance into a cash account to do so as soon as possible.

‘Cash ISAs remain popular for a reason — they offer security, accessibility and certainty, particularly for older savers or those with shorter-term goals,’ says Rachael Griffin, tax and financial planning expert at wealth manager Quilter.

‘The key will be finding the right balance and encouraging investment without alienating those who rely on safer options.’

The next step is likely to be a consultation, and it looks unlikely that the £20,000 overall Isa limit will be cut in coming years, as yesterday’s document shows it remaining in place until at least 2029-30.

• You might get more help with investment

Michael Summersgill, chief executive of DIY investment group AJ Bell says that the Spring Statement document talked about ‘getting the balance right’ between saving and investing.

The government wants to encourage more people to invest their money, rather than saving in cash, and said it is working closely with the financial regulator to delivery targeted support ‘to give people the confidence to invest’.

If you invest in the stock market, some of your investments including defence stocks and housebuilders, could benefit from Reeves’ spending decisions, which include an extra £2.2 billion for defence and a focus on pushing housebuilding to 40-year highs.

If you’re a pensioner

• You’ll escape the welfare cuts but might pay tax

While working age benefits have been cut, pensioner benefits escaped the cull. The state pension will still rise using the ‘triple lock’ formula, meaning it always rises by 2.5%, inflation, or earnings growth – whichever is the highest.

However, frozen tax thresholds mean the pension is fast approaching a scenario where those who rely on the state pension alone will pay income tax on a portion of it.

Jon Green, head of retirement policy at Quilter says this is a ‘bizarre tax cliff edge for pensioners’ who are potentially only a year away from paying tax if their statement is their only income.

If you’re a civil servant

• Your job could be on the line

Reeves reiterated her plans for a leaner civil service, with money earmarked for severance payments as well as AI tools to replace manpower.

Whoever you are

You should expect more pain to come. As the Chancellor battles what she referred to repeatedly as an ‘uncertain world’ she has limited ability to hit the economic targets she has set herself without raising taxes or making cuts to public services.

After the Spending Review concludes in June we’ll no doubt see more evidence of the cuts and changes needed, but we won’t know where the axe will fall for several months.

As Johnson, at the IFS, put it, ‘What the Chancellor has all but guaranteed is another six months of damaging speculation and uncertainty over tax policy. That didn’t go well between last July’s election and October’s Budget. I fear a longer rerun this year.’  

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Rachel Reeves has delivered her spring statement in the House of Commons, as she tries to settle nerves against a tricky economic backdrop.

The event was originally intended to be a simple forecast for how the measures revealed in the Chancellor’s budget last October are panning out.

But shifting geopolitical forces, plus unease from businesses and a lack of headroom following that budget, mean today’s announcement will carry more weight.

In her statement, Reeves has presented analysis from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), the public body funded by the UK Treasury that provides independent economic forecasts and independent analysis of the public finance. It sets out how her measures are expected to impact the British economy.

Over the past few weeks, she and the Treasury have been going back and forth with the OBR to figure out what tweaks might need to be made to get their forecast in the best possible state.

It’s these tweaks that are being presented alongside the latest OBR predictions today.

‘Final adjustments’ to welfare cuts announced

After the cuts to disability benefit changes announced by Liz Kendall last week, Reeves confirmed how much Universal credit payments will change by.

In order to find £500 million extra, the Universal Credit standard allowance will increase to £106 by the end of the decade. Before today, it was due to rise to £107.

Accompanying analysis shows that three million families will lose out, with an average loss of £1,720 a year. However, 3.4 million families will be better off under the new rules, to an average £420 a year by 2029-30.

The health element of the benefit will also be frozen after being cut by 50% – the previously announced reforms would have seen them rise by inflation after being halved.

Reeves added Labour is ‘investing £1bn to provide guaranteed, personalised employment support to help people back into work’.

She added: ‘If you can work, you should work…More than 1,000 people are qualifying for Personal Independence Payments. 

‘And 1 in 8 young people are not in employment, education or training. If we do nothing, we are writing off an entire generation.’

Last week, Liz Kendall said Pip would not be frozen, but said people ‘will need to score a minimum of four points in at least one activity to qualify for the daily living element of Pip from November 2026.’

She added: ‘This is not affect the mobility component of Pip and only relates to the daily living element.’

250,000 will now be pushed into poverty

At the same time the OBR assessment of the Chancellor’s measures was released, the government’s department for Work and Pensions published its impact assessment of cuts to welfare.

This included the effects of the latest changes outlined above.

At the heart of it was a pair of numbers certain to draw a lot of attention: the measures would put an additional 250,000 people in relative poverty, including 50,000 children.

However, the DWP pointed out this number does not take into account the impact of £1 billion funding to get disabled and those with long-term health conditions back into work.

The funding was expected to ‘mitigate the poverty impact among people it supports into work’, the assessment says.

Extra £2.2 billion of funding for Defence

Reeves has announced there will be extra cash given to defence for things such as drones.

She said the spend isn’t just about boosting ‘our national security,’ but also our economic security.

Reeves told the House of Commons: ‘Today I confirm that I will provide an additional £2.2bn for the Ministry of Defence next year a further downpayment on our plans to deliver 2.5% of GDP.

‘This additional investment is not just about increasing our national security but increasing our economic security, too. As defence spending rises, I want the whole country to feel the benefits.

‘So I will set out the immediate steps that we are taking to boost Britain’s defence industry and to make the UK a defence industrial superpower.

‘We will spend a minimum of 10% of the Ministry of Defence’s equipment budget on novel technologies including drones and AI enabled technology driving forward advanced manufacturing production in places like Glasgow, Derby and Newport creating demand for highly skilled engineers and scientists and delivering new business opportunities for UK tech firms and start-ups.’

House building will hit a 40-year high

Building homes in the UK will hit the highest levels for more than 40 years, Reeves has said.

She told the House of Commons: ‘The OBR have concluded that our reforms will lead to housebuilding reaching a forty year high of 305,000 by the end of the forecast period.

‘Changes to the National Planning Policy Framework alone will help build over 1.3 million homes in the UK over the next five years taking us within touching distance of delivering on our manifesto promise to build 1.5 million homes in England this parliament.’

No tax rises – instead a tax evasion crackdown

Reeves has said she isn’t planning to increase taxes to tackle the economy’s woes, instead she’s planning to crackdown on tax dodgers.

She told MPs: ‘As I promised in the autumn, this Statement does not contain any further tax increases. But when working people are paying their taxes, while still struggling with the cost-of-living, it cannot be right that others are still evading what they rightly owe.’

She added: ‘Today I go further, continuing our investments in cutting edge technology, investing in the HMRC capacity to crack down on tax avoidance and setting out plans to increase the number of tax fraudsters charged every year by 20%.’

'I can't afford to keep my heating on'

David Wilson, 46, from Norfolk, who has degenerative bone disease on his hips, said he is ‘terrified’ of his disability benefits being cut.

The tumours on his hips cause him ‘pain every day’ and he uses crutches to get around, he told Metro.

Cold weather worsens his symptoms and mobility, but David can only afford to keep his heating on when his six-year-old son visits at his rural home.

David, who had a career in financial services, stopped working in 2022 and has received Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment (Pip) since.

He said he has cut ‘pretty much everything’ in his life to afford food and enough oil for his son’s visits.

‘I don’t use my heating at all and haven’t done so for many months. I have my son during weekends. I can’t afford £350 to get 500 litres of heating oil, what little I have I’ll keep it for when my son visits,’ he explained.

While he doesn’t know yet exactly how much his benefits will be cut, he fears he could ‘probably lose £300-£400 per month.’

‘I can’t speculate too much, the idea is too frightening.

‘I don’t know what will happen. I will end up being more of a burden on the welfare system by having to get emergency accommodation because I can no longer afford my rent,’ he said.

He has used Trussell Trust and other foodbanks, but he said they don’t have capacity to provide people with fresh produce and proteins.

‘There’s potential that this generation will be malnourished,’ he warned.

Commenting on the spring statement, he said: ‘I felt the hypocrisy of the statement was disgusting. The Chancellor said if we don’t make these cuts we will be writing off a generation, while they will be putting multiple generations into poverty and destitution with a sweeping hand.

‘To attack the disabled people and those who are already suffering poverty, it beggars belief.’

The planned benefit cuts have also scared the UK’s LGBTQ+ disabled community, who are already closest to falling into poverty.

Josh Shani, from London, who has brittle bone disease, told Metro the cuts will ‘push more people into poverty,’ adding that ‘people wouldn’t expect a Labour government to do this.’

‘They are going to kill disabled people,’ she said.

Food banks said they are ‘extremely worried’ over the planned cuts to disability benefits.

Trussell Trust foodbank’s head of policy Sumi Rabindrakumar told Metro the charity is ‘extremely worried because we know disabled people are three times more likely to face hunger.’

‘When you look at that reality of people on precarious incomes the idea of making record cuts is really a brutal prospect,’ she said.

She accused the planned cuts for not being ‘really about pushing people to work, they are about making immediate savings.’

Three-quarters of people referred to Trussell Trust have a disability or are living with someone with a disability, she said, adding that ‘there is already a high risk of hunger facing people with disability.’

What are the government’s fiscal rules?

The government’s fiscal rules would more accurately be called targets, but ‘rules’ makes them sound more definitive.

There are two main ones: firstly, the government wants to bring in as much or more money (through taxes and other sources) than it spends day-to-day.

This would mean its budget would be in surplus, and any borrowing would be for investment spending which should ultimately get the money back.

Secondly, the government wants its net financial debt (defined as public sector net financial liabilities) to be falling relative to the size of the economy compared to the previous year.

The Chancellor is aiming to achieve both of these goals by the 2029/30 financial year, and today the OBR has revealed how that’s going – as well as its forecasts for the UK’s economic growth.

In order to avoid breaking those fiscal rules, Reeves is trying to find ways of boosting the government’s finances without too much borrowing or raising taxes.

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Chancellor Rachel Reeves is set to stand up in Parliament to give her most important speech since October’s budget later on today.

In the spring statement, she will set out the current economic reality in the UK and any measures she’s planning to take to get the country’s finances on the right track as part of her mission to ‘further and faster to kickstart growth’.

Despite Tory leader Kemi Badenoch’s efforts to paint it as an ’emergency budget’, today’s announcement doesn’t carry the same weight and won’t be as comprehensive as October’s. The Chancellor has promised no big policy changes.

But we should be prepared for a sobering assessment of the UK’s big fiscal picture – and probably some unpleasant news for certain government budgets.

Here’s how you can watch the Spring Statement live today

What’s the background?

The reason the Tories are keen to describe it as an emergency budget is because the economy is in a pretty unhealthy state at the moment. That’s one thing everyone seems to agree on.

Growth is not happening as quickly as the government would like, while borrowing costs are up. The opposition says this is down to Reeves’ last budget, while the Treasury blames global factors.

Elements of both are likely to be right. There’s no disguising the fact that it’s a turbulent time for the world economy, thanks in no small part to a certain ally across the Atlantic who thinks the most beautiful word is ‘tariff’.

But at the same time, Reeves gave herself a relatively small amount of headroom last year to allow for the twists and turns of the global market and, for good measure, she also set herself rules for the future which she swore not to break.

Research body the Institute for Fiscal Studies said the Chancellor ‘chose a set of pass–fail fiscal rules, repeatedly declared these to be “non-negotiable”, and then set out to meet them by the smallest of margins’.

What will be announced?

It’s now thought Reeves’ headroom has been wiped out since October. And with tax rises ruled out, and Reeves determined to avoid borrowing as far as possible, that leaves one main avenue to getting things back on track: cuts.

So, here we are. The two big government announcements you might remember from this month – the abolition of NHS England and £5 billion in welfare cuts – were both paving the way for today.

Pretty much every government department is being asked to find ways to save as much money as possible. We may learn just how big that ask will be at the spring statement, but make no mistake – it’ll be big.

Take the Civil Service for instance. Yesterday, Reeves told the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg she wanted to cut government running costs by 15% before the end of the decade.

Asked on Sky News how many civil servants could lose their jobs as a result, she said about 10,000.

A further headache for the Chancellor – and one that’s particularly tough politically – was revealed yesterday.

The Office for Budget Responsibility, which checks all of Reeves’ numbers, has reportedly said the £5 billion in cuts to benefits won’t actually add up to £5 billion – and will actually be considerably less.

So even more welfare cuts are expected to be announced today. Remember, many Labour MPs were already aghast at the measures taken by Liz Kendall last week.

But expect to hear some attempts to dampen the misery with moves that have already been announced in advance: a £2 billion boost to social and affordable housing, an increase in defence funding, the approval of the Lower Thames Crossing, and £1.6 billion for highway maintenance.

Tightrope of cuts and funding

There’s another spanner to throw into the works too.

You may remember another big government announcement from last month, in which Keir Starmer committed to raise defence spending to 2.5% of GDP from 2027 then 3% .

That boost would be fully funded with an enormous cut to the aid budget, he said. So it may not directly mean cuts elsewhere, but since there can be no reduction in the defence budget, that means more money will have to be found in other departments.

In her spring statement, the Chancellor will tell MPs that a ‘more insecure world’ requires a greater focus on national security, with a promise to increase defence spending by £2.2 billion from April as part of the previously announced plan for the biggest boost in military funding since the Cold War.

She will say: ‘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.’

Add to that the ambitious projects in areas like housing and infrastructure already announced by the government, and you’ve got a recipe for significant pain in public services.

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Fiscal fanatics, pay attention – Rachel Reeves is making her spring statement in the House of Commons later today.

This is the second-most important economic announcement from the government of the year, behind only the budget in autumn.

Even though it won’t contain as many major new announcements as a budget, today’s statement is predicted to be a big moment in the first year of the Labour government.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer has ruled out changing his government’s fiscal rules today, saying they’re needed to ‘stabilise the economy’.

But with growth staying stubbornly low, and international trade increasingly unpredictable, the Chancellor will likely need to find lots of money without raising taxes or relying on borrowing.

That could mean deep cuts to the budgets of many government departments, which are expected to be set out in today’s statement.

Here’s where you’ll be able to watch along at home.

What time is the spring statement?

The 2025 spring statement is expected to begin at around 12.30pm, immediately after the end of Prime Minister’s Questions.

How to watch live and what TV channels is it on?

Coverage of the spring statement can be found on BBC Two as part of a Politics Live special, while ITV1 will screen it as an ITV News special beginning at 12.15pm.

Sky News will also broadcast live coverage of the event.

If you prefer watching without any bells or whistles, you can also follow the spring statement on parliamentlive.tv

When will Rachel Reeves’ announcements come into effect?

Unlike last year’s budget, it’s not expected that major tax changes are likely to be announced tomorrow.

So there may not be that much to come into effect.

If she asks government departments to start tightening their belts, it’s likely that work will begin immediately to try and find savings.

And many of the measures that are likely to come up today have been announced in the past couple of days – such as a £2 billion boost to social and affordable housing, an increase in defence funding, the approval of the Lower Thames Crossing, and £1.6 billion for highway maintenance.

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An Isle of Man woman whose husband died of Motor Neurone Disease declared ‘history has been made’ after the island voted to approve the legalisation of assisted dying.

The island in the Irish Sea became the first part of the British Isles to take the step following a landmark vote in the capital of Douglas.

Members of the island’s legislative council approved their final reading of the bill, which means it will be sent forward for royal assent – the formal final stage before it becomes law.

In its current state, the law will only apply to people who have lived on the Irish Sea island for five years or more who have a terminal illness with a life expectancy of no more than 12 months and who have a ‘settled intention’ to end their life.

Doctors will also be allowed to opt in, after the British Medical Association called for medical professionals to be able to choose whether to provide the service.

Sue Biggerstaff from the Manx village of Ballabeg, whose husband Simon died of MND in 2022, said: ‘I am delighted that dying people like my husband Simon will soon have choice over their deaths.

‘No one should have to suffer like he did at the end. I thank members of both Houses for their dedication and hard work on this process.

‘History has been made today and Simon’s legacy is that people like him will soon be granted the compassion and choice that they deserve.’

However, opponents of the legislation said it could leave vulnerable people feeling pressured to end their own lives early because they believe they are becoming a burden on their loved ones.

Dr Alex Allinson, a local GP who introduced the private member’s bill in 2022 as a member of the House of Keys (MHK), said he hoped the plans would be in place by 2027.

He said: ‘It has been a long process, but it was something that, when I went into politics, I was committed to try to advance.

‘I’m very grateful to be in the privileged position of being able to bring this legislation through.

‘People have been trying on the Isle of Man for the last 20 years to provide dignity and autonomy for those who are facing an imminent death.’

Dr Allison added: ‘I see this as a culmination of the efforts of many members of our community to provide for assisted dying for people on the Isle of Man.’

The latest news comes as the committee scrutinising the assisted dying bill in the UK parliament is set to complete its work.

Labour MP Kim Leadbeater’s bill is expected to soon move to its report stage before the all-important third reading takes place.

It passed its second reading with a majority of 55 at the end of November last year.

Bills to legalise assisted dying are also in progress at the Scottish Parliament and on Jersey in the Channel Islands.

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The Home Office has scrapped a hotel chain’s contract for accommodating asylum seekers over ‘concerns about its performance and behaviour’.

Stay Belvedere Hotels, which operates 51 hotels in England and Wales as well as Napier Barracks, will no longer house people awaiting asylum decisions.

The company’s website boasts of being a ‘leading provider’ of asylum accommodation due to its expertise in providing services that ‘don’t just meet, but exceed the expectations of our clients’.

According to The Times, the firm that operated the Bibby Stockholm barge is among the operators that will take over control of the Stay Belvedere sites.

Angela Eagle, the minister for border security and asylum, said: ‘Since July, we have improved contract management and added more oversight of our suppliers of asylum accommodation.

‘We have made the decision to remove Stay Belvedere Hotels from the Home Office supply chain and will not hesitate to take further action to ensure Home Office contracts deliver for the UK.’

The company was awarded the wider contract, worth around £2 billion a year, under the Conservatives in 2019.

Napier Barracks became notorious for ‘inhumane conditions’ in 2020, with one asylum seeker describing those living there as ‘scared, depressed and traumatised’.

The following year, nearly 200 people at the site caught coronavirus in a wide outbreak.

Australia-based Corporate Travel Management (CTM) is reportedly one of the contractors that will share management of the sites previously run by Stay Belvedere.

It was criticised for its operation of the Bibby Stockholm barge, which was moored off Portland Port in Dorset.

Asylum seekers were evacuated from the ship just days after arriving, following the discovery of Legionella bacteria.

And in December 2023, Albanian national Leonard Farruku was found dead on board in a suspected suicide.

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It’s become the go-to conversation starter for pals coming back to the table with a pint in pubs across the UK: ‘Guess how much this just cost me?’

You’re not losing your mind. Beer is getting more expensive all over the country – and according to industry bosses, it’s close to crossing a devastating threshold.

The British Beer and Pub Association has said cost hikes from last year’s budget will force the price of the average pint past £5 for the first time.

Londoners may be asking, ‘Didn’t that happen about 20 years ago?’ – but this doesn’t just apply to the city where night-out funds go to die.

Pub firms everywhere say they’re expecting the average cost of a pint to rise by 21p once the new measures come into effect at the start of next month.

They include an increase in the national minimum wage, a cut to the business rates discount for the sector, and changes to employers’ national insurance contributions.

The Chancellor may have also announced a penny off a pint with a drop in draught beer duty, but landlords say that’ll be more than cancelled out by the rise in their running costs.

As we all know, not every pint is equally costly, and the coming hike may affect some brands more than others.

If you’ve ever wondered what are the most expensive beers on tap, industry news site the Morning Advertiser has published research ranking the nation’s favourite (and some not so favourite) pints by price.

And for good measure, here are the brands least likely to make a serious dent in your wallet.

Again, certain readers are probably baffled to find there are places in the UK where you can pay less than £6 for a Birra Moretti – and they probably live around the south-east of England.

For those curious about the best destinations for travellers in search of a cheap pint, see the map below.

Despite Scottish nectar Tennent’s coming bottom of the leaderboard for price, its home country is not the cheapest place to get a drink.

Instead, it’s the north-east of England that takes the crown, good news for any stag or hen parties heading to Newcastle.

But wherever you head, it’s likely to get more expensive in the near future.

Emma McClarkin, chief executive of the British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA), said: ‘No one wants to see the cost of an average pint increase by a further 21p and break the £5 average pint barrier that will be required for pubs to maintain their punishingly slim profit margins.

‘It is more urgent than ever that government looks at ways to cap or reduce the costs of doing business so we can keep pubs open, preserve their community value, and make sure the price of a pint remains affordable for all.’

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An ex-MP who repeatedly punched a constituent after drinking ‘six or seven pints on an empty stomach’ showed the alcohol tag on his ankle on morning television.

Mike Amesbury said he was now living a ‘nightmare’, but admitted it was of his own making.

The former Labour MP resigned his seat, triggering a by-election for Runcorn & Helsby in Cheshire.

Mr Amesbury spent three nights in prison for attacking Paul Fellows, 45, in the street.

He pleaded guilty to assault after the row, which was filmed by CCTV. Footage showed Mr Amesbury punch his victim in the head, knock him to the ground, then follow him onto the road and punch him again at least five times before shocked bystanders pulled him away.

The former MP said he felt ‘threatened’ when his constituent told him he was upset about local issues, but acknowledged that attacking him was the ‘wrong’ judgment call.

Appearing on Good Morning Britain, Amesbury rolled up his suit trouser leg to show the bulky black tag on his ankle, which he must wear for 120 days.

It takes a measurement of his sweat every 30 minutes, in order to monitor whether he has consumed alchol.

Mr Amesbury said he had not touched booze since the disastrous evening, and said he intended to stay sober even after the mandatory period of wearing the tag is finished.

He told hosts that the assault happened after a busy Friday in parliament on October 26 last year, when he was a relatively new MP and feeling anxious with Labour ‘having a tough time’.

After visiting three pubs, he was the worse for wear when he was recognised by a constituent in the street in Frodsham, who confronted him.

‘I was a very public face in community, a connected Member of Parliament but whether it winter fuel, other issues as well,’ he said. ‘People quite, quite vexed.

‘Lots of members of parliament got personal alarms on them and so forth.

‘Mr Fellows was somewhat vexed about, I think it was a local bridge. I think you mentioned winter fuel as well.

‘I did feel personally threatened at that time and I made an instantaneous judgment call which was wrong. I should have walked away.’

He said that he was ‘being punished and rightfully so’.

Mr Amesbury was initially given a 10-week prison term, which was reduced to a suspended sentence after an appeal meaning he only spent three nights at HMP Altcourse.

He was also ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work, undertake a 120-day alcohol monitoring requirement, go on an anger management course and complete 20 days of rehabilitation work.

After he resigned his seat, a writ to trigger a by-election is due to be issued in Wednesday. The vote must take place between 21 and 27 working days after this, suggesting it will be scheduled for May 1.

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On Wednesday, Chancellor Rachel Reeves will stand up in Parliament to give her most important speech since October’s budget.

In the spring statement, she will set out the current economic reality in the UK and any measures she’s planning to take to get the country’s finances on the right track.

Despite Kemi Badenoch’s efforts to paint it as an ’emergency budget’, Wednesday’s announcement doesn’t carry the same weight and won’t be as comprehensive as October’s. The Chancellor has promised no policy changes.

But we should be prepared for a sobering assessment of the UK’s big fiscal picture – and probably some unpleasant news for certain government budgets.

The reason the Tories are keen to describe it as an emergency budget is because the economy is in a pretty unhealthy state at the moment. That’s one thing everyone seems to agree on.

Growth is not happening as quickly as the government would like, while borrowing costs are up. The opposition says this is down to Reeves’ last budget, while the Treasury blames global factors.

Elements of both are likely to be right. There’s no disguising the fact that it’s a turbulent time for the world economy, thanks in no small part to a certain ally across the Atlantic who thinks the most beautiful word is ‘tariff’.

But at the same time, Reeves gave herself a relatively small amount of headroom last year to allow for the twists and turns of the global market and, for good measure, she also set herself rules for the future which she swore not to break.

Research body the Institute for Fiscal Studies said the Chancellor ‘chose a set of pass–fail fiscal rules, repeatedly declared these to be “non-negotiable”, and then set out to meet them by the smallest of margins’.

It’s now thought her headroom has been wiped out since October. And with tax rises ruled out, and Reeves determined to avoid borrowing as far as possible, that leaves one main avenue to getting things back on track: cuts.

So, here we are. The two big government announcements you might remember from this month – the abolition of NHS England and £5 billion in welfare cuts – were both paving the way for Wednesday.

Pretty much every government department is being asked to find ways to save as much money as possible. We may learn just how big that ask will be at the spring statement, but make no mistake – it’ll be big.

Take the Civil Service for instance. Yesterday, Reeves told the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg she wanted to cut government running costs by 15% before the end of the decade.

Asked on Sky News how many civil servants could lose their jobs as a result, she said about 10,000.

There’s another spanner to throw into the works too.

You may remember another big government announcement from last month, in which Keir Starmer committed to raise defence spending to 2.5% of GDP from 2027 then 3% .

That boost would be fully funded with an enormous cut to the aid budget, he said. So it may not directly mean cuts elsewhere, but since there can be no reduction in the defence budget, that means more money will have to be found in other departments.

Add to that the ambitious projects in areas like housing and infrastructure already announced by the government, and you’ve got a recipe for significant pain in public services.

Metro will make sure you know all the details on Wednesday.

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Cash-strapped councils could miss out on funds for fixing roads unless they can show they’re winning the battle against the pothole scourge.

From today, local authorities in England will be required to publish annual reports laying out the state of their roads – and how many potholes they’ve managed to fill in.

If they don’t, they face missing out on a share of £1.6 billion in highway maintenance funding from the government, which includes half a billion pounds specifically for tackling potholes.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the move would force councils to ‘prove they’re delivering for their communities’.

But the Local Government Association (LGA) has said many English councils are already struggling to work out how they’ll balance their budget for next year.

Earlier this month, it was revealed that completely fixing pothole-pocked roads across England and Wales could cost around £17 billion and take 12 years.

A survey from the Asphalt Industry Alliance also found one in six miles of local highways has less than five years of structural life left.

And it’s not just B-roads that are affected – when one almighty fissure split open the M25 last October, almost 60 cars were taken out and drivers were left sitting helplessly on the hard shoulder for hours.

One victim, Stephanie Vincent, said the two burst tyres on her husband’s BMW would cost over £700 to replace.

She said: ‘I can’t believe the amount of cars that were damaged. It’s lucky nobody was injured really.’

Today, Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander announced £4.8 billion funding for National Highways over the coming year, which will go towards maintenance as well as new road projects.

The figure is not far off the £5bn that will be cut from the UK’s welfare bill in savings unveiled by Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall last week.

She said: ‘After years of neglect we’re tackling the pothole plague, building vital roads and ensuring every penny is delivering results for the taxpayer.

‘The public deserves to know how their councils are improving their local roads, which is why they will have to show progress or risk losing 25% of their £500m funding boost.’

Starmer added: ‘British people are bored of seeing their politicians aimlessly pointing at potholes with no real plan to fix them. That ends with us.

‘We’ve done our part by handing councils the cash and certainty they need – now it’s up to them to get on with the job, put that money to use and prove they’re delivering for their communities.’

Councillor Adam Hug, the LGA’s transport spokesperson, said the £500m funding would ‘help start to address’ the maintenance backlog, adding councils ‘already spend more than what they receive from central government on tackling potholes and repairing our roads’.

He called on the government to ‘ensure that councils receive sufficient, long-term funding certainty’ as part of its ongoing spending review.

A report from the LGA released today revealed three quarters of councils think it will be difficult to balance their budget for the coming year.

It also said up to 60p in every £1 of extra income from council tax could end up being used to cover the rise in employer National Insurance Contributions announced by Rachel Reeves at the budget last year.

Today’s announcement marks the beginning of a big week where the government’s spending plans will come under intense scrutiny.

Reeves will deliver her spring statement on Wednesday, setting out how she plans to get the UK economy on a more stable footing.

In an interview on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg yesterday, she confirmed her plans include slashing the running costs of the Civil Service by 15% before the end of the decade.

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An average family in Britain could be £1,400-a-year poorer by 2030, according to new analysis.

Frozen tax thresholds, rising mortgage and rent costs, and falling real earnings are all predicted to leave people worse off in the next five years.

The hardest blows will fall on the poorest third, who will bear the impact at twice the rate of middle and high earners, according to the analysis by thinktank The Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF).

The anti-poverty charity’s report predicts that the Labour government will miss one of its stated ‘milestones’ to raise living standards before the next election.

The £1,400 drop by April 2030 equates to a 3% fall in disposable income for the average family.

The lowest income households will be £900 per year worse off – a 6% fall, it said.

Average earnings are also set to fall by £700 per year by 2030, according to the JRF.

And the situation could be even worse for some as the analysis doesn’t account for the £5bn cut to disability benefits announced this week.

The charity used modelling forecasts from the Bank of England and others to create its prediction.

It also polled of 5,000 people with YouGov.

Alfie Stirling, its director of insight and policy, said Labour risks running the ‘first parliament on modern record to see a fall in average living standards from start to finish’.

It branded the welfare cuts ‘wrong’ and wants the plan scrapped.

Instead the government should instead raise cash by increasing tax on wealth and investments, it said.

This is unlikely to happen after by chancellor Rachel Reeves ruled out any more tax rises earlier this week.

When asked about the foundation’s findings, Reeves rejected the claims that living standards are falling.

She claimed that living standards in the last Consversative-run parliament ‘were the worst ever on record’.

The analysis came shortly before the chanellor’s spring statement in which more cuts are set to be announced in a bid to improve the country’s finances.

Today Reeves said the Civil Service’s administrative running costs will be slashed by 15% as part of her efficiency drive.

Whether this helps drive economic growth – the government’s top priority – remains to be seen.

The Bank of England recently halved its growth outlook for the UK economy this year to 0.75% – pouring more water on hopes of the economy reigniting after years of tepid growth.

There are also worries next month’s hike to employer national insurance and the minimum wage will create further drag on investment.

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Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets across Turkey for a fourth night yesterday to protest against the arrest of Istanbul’s mayor.

Ekrem Imamoglu – a key challenger to Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan – was detained over allegations of corruption and links to terror organisations on Wednesday.

Hundreds of protesters gathered outside Istanbul’s city hall and engaged with a stand off with police last night.

Fireworks were thrown by some protesters while the police used tear gas and pepper spray in an effort to disperse them.

It was one of numerous protests held across Turkey over Imamoglu’s arrest.

He was among more than 100 people arrested on a range of charges which are widely seen as politically motivated.

Government officials reject this and insist that Turkey’s courts operate independently.

His arrest came as he was due to be selected as a presidential candidate for the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) ahead of the 2028 elections.

As disquiet over the arrests continues, police used pepper spray during the clashes with protesters in front of Istanbul’s famous aqueduct.

What are the charges against the Istanbul mayor?

Imamoglu was questioned for around five hours on Saturday as part of a terror investigation into allegations of aiding the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, the Cumhuriyet newspaper reported.

A day earlier he was questioned for four hours over the corruption accusations.

He appeared in court on Saturday for the first time since his detention where he denied all the allegations against him.

Who is Ekrem Imamoglu?

The 54-year-old has long been seen as Erdogan’s most formidable rival.

Born in 1970 in Akcaabat, a seaside town on Turkey’s Black Sea coast, Imamoglu moved to Istanbul as a teenager.

He studied business and then worked in construction industry before entering politics aged 43.

It was during his time at university that Imamoglu says he ’embraced social democratic values during his time in university’.

A football enthusiast, lmamoglu is well known for his support of his local club, Trabzonspor.

He was first elected mayor of Istanbul’s middle-class Beylikduzu district for the CHP.

His profile took a massive boost when he won mayoral elections in Istanbul in 2019, defeating Erdogan’s AK party.

The electoral authorities annulled the vote and forced him out of office after the AK alleged irregularities. A re-run was ordered which he won.

Why are people protesting?

The arrest came just before the CHP’s – Turkey’s main opposition – was due to hold its primary election today.

Imamoglu had been expected to be chosen as its candidate for the 2028 presidential vote – which may be called earlier.

But his arrest, and the annulment of his Istanbul University degree over alleged irregularities, has put his candidacy in doubt.

This is because the Turkish constitution rules that presidents must have completed higher education to hold office.

The situation, and fears that Erdogan could change the constitution on term limits to allow himself to run again, have prompted millions to take to the street.

The government has tried to curtail this with bans on people gathering together. Hundreds have also been arrested for taking part in the demonstrations.

This has not stopped millions taking to the streets.

Last night chants of ‘rights, law, justice’ could be heard in Istanbul.

One young woman told the BBC she was protesting to defend democracy.

‘I’m here for justice, I’m here for liberty. We’re free people and Turkish people cannot accept this. This is against our behaviour and culture,’ she said.

Another woman, who had brought her 11-year-old son to the protests, said she wanted to bring him as she is worried about his future.

‘It’s getting harder to live in Turkey day by day, we can’t control our lives, we can’t choose who we want and there is no real justice here,’ she said.

Is it safe to travel to Istanbul?

Like with any country, the Foreign Office advises British nationals to always stay vigilant when abroad.

It also warns people that demonstrations occur occasionally in cities and ‘may become violent’ and police ‘have used tear gas and water cannon to disperse protests’.

The Foreign Office advises people to ‘leave the area if one (a demonstration) develops’.

A Foreign Office spokeswoman told Metro.co.uk it is ‘monitoring’ the ongoing situation in Turkey and keeps its travel advice under ‘constant review’.

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Michael Salter-Church promised his partner that it would be legal for them to get married one day.

Five years later he was in Downing Street, with his husband, standing next to the Prime Minister.

For those of you who don’t know him, Michael was the Conservative Party advisor who helped turned same-sex marriage from a pipe dream into reality, overcoming rightwing rebellions and religious objections along the way.

He also revolutionised the London Pride event and made it a key tool in his quest for marriage equality.

The Tory Party was one that previously said it would ‘never’ repeal Section 28, the controversial law which banned the promotion of homosexuality in schools that was passed by the party in 1988 under Margaret Thatcher.

But the law was later repealed in 2003 by Labour and the Liberal Democrats after a number of high-profile former Tory ministers tried to block it.

Michael initially joined the party in 2001 as a press officer, but he soon set about trying to persuade Conservatives to embrace pro-LGBTQ+ policies.

‘It was quite tough in the early years,’ Michael told Metro.

‘I was asking, “Why are we not doing something for the LGBTQ+ part of the electorate?”

‘Section 28 was abhorrent. The Tory Party needed to not just talk about change. It really had to show change.

‘It’s not a piece of clothing you put on and take off. It has to become part of your DNA.’

Despite having only been at the party for a short time, Michael’s points were beginning to have an impact on the party.

After Section 28 was repealed, new party Leader Michael Howard endorsed gay civil partnerships a year later in 2004.

But the big change for the Conservatives happened in 2005, when David Cameron became leader of the Tory Party.

Michael said: ‘People like him, George Osborne and Amber Rudd were arguing society moves on, and saying that embracing LGBTQ+ right was the right thing to do.

‘Friends said to me, “You’re never going to do something on equal marriage.”

‘I was like, “I’ll take the bet, watch me.” I think actually they misread where the Tory party leadership was like.

‘The Tory party leadership was younger and more liberal, but more importantly they believed in real equality.’

By 2009, legalising gay marriage had become a huge talking point.

The Liberal Democrats paved the way with the change at first, with the partylaunching a petition called ‘Marriage without borders’ at the Manchester and Reading Pride events.

It then was published online and was garnering huge traction, with the former leader of the party Nick Clegg publicly stating in 2009 his party backed the legalisation of gay marriage.

By comparison, Prime Minister Gordon Brown defended his ‘record of delivery’ on equal marriage issues, including civil partnerships, gay adoption and fertility rights for lesbians, but refused to commit to ending marriage inequality.

He told Pink News at the time that marriage is ‘intimately bound up with questions of religious freedom’.

After being promoted to the Tory’s Head of Broadcasting, Michael worked on changing his party’s image among the LGBT community.

He set up David Cameron for interviews with Gay Times and Attitude magazine during the 2010 election campaign.

The result ended with a coalition government of the Tories and Liberal Democrats, with gay marriage high on the agenda and Michael pivoting from communications to policy.

‘I suddenly realised the car turned left and were going through the gates of Downing Street,’ Michael recalled.

‘I was wondering, “is there a doorbell? Do you knock?”

‘But the door swung open and I went in.

‘I was honoured when the Prime Minister asked me to he part of his core Number 10 team and to work on LGBTQ legislation.’

He said knew he had his work cut out for him at the time, but was confident in what he could do.

Michael said: ‘We had committed to considering equal marriage in the manifesto, but it was not 100%.

‘It was still divisive. There was quite a lot of people in the grassroots who did not like the idea at all.

‘But I said to my now husband, Rob, “We’re going to get married”.’

After the election, Labour changed its approach with gay marriage too. New leader Ed Miliband rejected the notion of ‘separate but equal’ and pledged a full throttle fight for marriage equality.

A year later, Cameron formally announced his intention to introduce equal marriage at Tory Party conference in 2011.

Opposition came in from all sides. Crossparty MPs including Conservatives, religious groups and even other liberal campaigners criticised the plans.

‘There were definitely times when I thought “Are we definitely going to stick to this?”‘, Michael recalled.

‘I knew it was tough. People were saying, “We’re letting too much blood run, we’re losing support, we should stop it.”‘

‘The more challenging conversations were with some MPs who were saying “this is not a Tory policy.”

‘There was homophobia involved I think and there was also double standards,’ he said.

‘We also went to talk to the churches that had concerns.

‘There were also people were supportive of equal marriage but didn’t like the fact it was being done by Conservatives. They were quite grumpy about it.’

Despite Conservative maneuvering, it was the Liberal Democrat Deputy PM Nick Clegg who continued to push the legal change full throttle.

He told publicly rebellious Tories it would be a matter of ‘how, not whether’ same-sex marriage is legalised.

The equal marriage bill was eventually published in January 2013 and faced feisty debate in both the House of Commons and Lords.

The Archbishop of Canterbury said it would undermine family life and dozens of Tory MPs pledged to oppose it.

LGBT groups, however, found inventive and creative ways to win politicians over.

‘The gay men’s chorus would come and sing outside the House of Lords every day,’ Michael said.

‘It was their way of trying to get the peers vote for equal marriage.’

Meanwhile, in his back pocket, Michael had a secret weapon: London Pride.

After World Pride 2012 was staged in London, and was labelled a ‘massive flop’, Michael put together a bid to hold a revamped Pride for the next three years.

He said: ‘It was literally around my kitchen table. We said we should organise it. So we formed a little community interest company. We bid for it and won.’

By the time they achieved that they had five months to put together their first Pride, which just so happened to coincide with the moment the Lords were debating equal marriage.

Michael and the other organisers did not miss their moment to make an impact.

‘We all stood in Trafalgar Square and we chanted for equality.

‘All the placards on the parade were about equality.’

The pressure paid off. The Commons passed same sex marriage legislation by 366 to 161.

With more Tories opposed to same sex marriage than opposed, the bill needed the votes of Labour and Lib Dem MPs to pass.

The Lords followed suit by backing it with a 242 vote majority.

Although 133 Tory MPs rejected same sex marriage, the mood had clearly changed within the party.

This was no more evident then at the Conservative Party Conference the very next year, Michael said.

When a constituency association head stood up to criticise equal marriage to the PM’s face, ‘he was basically booed by the rest of the room to sit down.’

‘It showed how far the Tory party had gone and the pragmatism of the Tory party,’ Michael said.

‘Most people had realised that it felt good. People were actually congratulating MPs for doing the right thing.’

It also meant Michael could fulfill his promise to his partner Rob.

They married in 2015 in Devon, and had a reception for staffers and family in Number 10 the same year.

Michael recalled: ‘I never thought as a child growing up I would see my parents, my brother, sisters and Rob’s mum and dad and his siblings in Downing Street with the Prime Minister and it all being totally okay.

‘No one batted an eyelid that here were two guys who were going to get married. 

‘Compare that to when people were hiding their sexuality because of Section 28. What David Cameron and Nick Clegg did was ground-breaking.

‘I have stood on the shoulders of giants who were out their campaigning at the hardest possible times.’

Michael has not stopped working on LGBTQ+ equality, rights and safe spaces despite no longer working in government.

He ran Pride in London until 2021, growing it into London’s third biggest annual one day event.

About a million people cross the footprint of the event each year, and one year London Pride bigger than New York’s.

‘Pride isn’t just a celebration. Pride has always been a protest movement,’ he said.

‘My responsibility was building ladders to help people up.’

Michael also travelled to Belfast Pride to continue the drive to bring equal marriage to Northern Ireland, which eventually happened in 2020.

He has since worked for the world’s biggest communication companies Openreach, where he established the organisation’s pride network.

He also has been promoting workplace inclusivity as a trustee at the National Trust and as Chair of the Horniman Museum and Gardens in London.

‘Progress isn’t linear, that’s why we will have to keep up the fight,’ is how Michael said.

‘And it is a fight. It is a fight against people who actually want to make sure that you can’t live your life as fulfilling as possible.’

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Sinister shadows. An unsettling atmosphere. A profane message directed at a television crew.

Could a woman’s idyllic Surrey home be haunted by the moustachioed Welshman who led the UK through the First World War?

It seems incredibly unlikely. It is incredibly unlikely. But a TV paranormal investigation team was nevertheless sent to an orchard in the village of Churt to see if they needed to exorcise the spirit of David Lloyd George.

They were summoned by a woman named Hannah, who moved into a house four years ago on the land once owned by the Prime Minister.

She and her family appreciated the ‘fantastic vibe’ of the old shop, butchery and outbuildings during the day… but quickly noticed ‘things definitely change when the sun sets’.

‘As soon as you open that barn door, you feel like you’re being watched,’ Hannah said.

‘One day standing there right in front of our furnace was a man… after doing a lot of research, this land was owned by David Lloyd George.’

Lloyd George, for those who slept through history class, was PM for a little under six years in the early 20th century – but they were six of the most consequential years in British history.

After taking office in 1916, he was thrust into dealing with the bloody impact of the Great War. He was a leading figure in the Paris Peace Conference following the Armistice, which led to the controversial Treaty of Versailles in 1919.

Meanwhile, Ireland was erupting in revolution, and Lloyd George was the Prime Minister who negotiated independence for the Irish Free State in 1921. Oh, and he was leader when women first got the vote in 1918.

With all that under his belt while he was alive, you might think it was a shame he’d end up spending the afterlife giving people the creeps on his old apple farm.

Well, good news – when Hannah called in experts from a show called Help! My House is Haunted, it turned out they actually thought the spook was a murderer from the 1700s called Edward.

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As a political reporter (even one who has a history with prime ministerial spirits), I’m afraid this is where I lose interest. I’d been hoping to at least see a DLG doodle mysteriously scrawled on the butchery walls.

There’s at least one other piece of evidence pointing us away from Lloyd George. Apparently, the phantom fired through a message to the TV team’s communication devices telling them to ‘f*** off’.

As the UK’s only Prime Minister not to speak English as their native language, you’d hope the cursing would at least be in Welsh.

Brand-new Help! My House is Haunted is available to stream now, exclusively on discovery+.

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It’s already obvious that the people who crew the UK’s nuclear submarines are made of different stuff.

The patrol can be a claustrophobic, gruelling and isolating job – not to mention the monumental responsibility of manning ballistic missiles.

But imagine, alongside all of that, staying under the waves of the Atlantic for more than six months in one go.

According to naval news site Navy Lookout, one Vanguard-class submarine arrived back home earlier this week after a record-breaking 204 days out at sea.

When your work is that crucial, it’s unlikely you’ve got much time to ponder what you’re missing while you have so little contact from the outside world.

We thought we’d help out the submariners with a quick round-up of the major things that happened while they were away.

Oasis reunion

Not long after the sub went underwater – possibly as soon as two days after – Noel and Liam Gallagher announced they were bringing the band back together for a tour in 2025.

We’d encourage any Oasis fans who were on board to check TicketMaster for spares, but they maybe shouldn’t hold their breath.

Return of the McRib

This will be a tough one to take for fast food fanatics who also happen to be employed by the Royal Navy’s nuclear sub division.

In October, McDonald’s brought the McRib back to the UK for the first time in nine years – but it was available for a limited time only.

Wicked press tour

There are plenty of movies for the crew to catch up on – Oscar winner Anora, Bafta winner Conclave, and new sequels from Wallace & Gromit and Paddington.

But sadly, they won’t get another chance to follow the madcap press tour for Wicked as it happened. Maybe we should hold space for them in tribute.

US election

The Vanguard crew are believed to have left around a month after Joe Biden dropped out of the US presidential race and endorsed Kamala Harris to take over.

Of course, as a defence unit they’re probably aware of how the election turned out.

But they return to a very different world, with Donald Trump two months into his second term in office and once again acting like the world’s main character. More on that later.

Gavin and Stacey finale

This became the most-watched scripted episode of television for 23 years when it was broadcast on Christmas Day last year.

Two pieces of good news for submariners disappointed to have missed out, though: it’s still available on BBC iPlayer, and they’ll also have avoided any spoilers.

Trump’s White House bust-up with Zelensky

The world watched through its fingers on February 28 when Volodymyr Zelensky travelled to the White House for his first in-person meeting with Donald Trump.

What happened next shook the transatlantic alliance that has held firm since the end of the Second World War. We’re still dealing with the aftershocks.

Magpies win Carabao Cup

If any Geordies were onboard the Vanguard sub, they’ll be thrilled to learn Newcastle United FC won their first domestic trophy in 70 years just a day before their return.

And even better, they haven’t missed the opportunity to celebrate. The club issued fans a ‘save-the-date’ for March 29, which presumably will take the form of an almighty Toon party.

Most of Keir Starmer’s time in office

One of the first people the crew members met when they left their sub was Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, who travelled up to Scotland with Defence Secretary John Healey to greet them.

Oddly enough, the PM’s approval ratings are roughly where they were when the crew are thought to have left – though they took a significant dip in the middle, due to controversial policies like means-testing the winter fuel payment and introducing inheritance tax on farms.

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Around a million people who used to receive Pip but won’t qualify after yesterday’s overhaul stand to lose more than £4,000 a year.

Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall set out her plans to slash the welfare budget in front of MPs yesterday afternoon – with the focus on Personal Independence Payments.

The benefit is used to help disabled people afford all the extra costs they face as a result of their condition.

But Kendall said 1,000 people are signing on for Pip every day, which means the equivalent of Leicester – where she is an MP – is added each year.

She argued this was unsustainable, as spending on working age health and disability benefits is already up £20 billion since the pandemic and set to balloon further.

The biggest change announced yesterday impacted the qualification criteria for Pip.

Recipients of the benefit are given scores of between zero and 12 by healthcare professionals to demonstrate how difficult they find everyday tasks such as washing and eating, with their score determining the amount they are paid.

Kendall announced that from November next year, Pip would only be given to people who score a four or higher on at least one activity – in effect limiting it to the most severely disabled people.

In an appearance on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Ruth Curtice of think tank the Resolution Foundation estimated around a million people who currently receive the benefit would lose it as a result.

She said: ‘The government haven’t given us a number for how many will be affected, and because they’ve made quite a detailed change to the system, we can’t tell exactly who will be affected.

‘I think it would have been good if the government had told us yesterday, but given what they’ve told us about how much they’re planning to save, the Resolution Foundation estimate it’s around a million people who are losing their entitlement to Pip completely.’

Asked how much those people would be losing, she said: ‘Pip varies depending on exactly what you qualify for, but between £4,200 and £6,300 a year.’

The government has said the impact assessment for the full benefit reform package will be released next week as part of Rachel Reeves’ spring statement.

Speaking to LBC this morning, Social Security and Disability Minister Sir Stephen Timms said it will be ‘a substantial number’ who are affected by the changes, adding ‘and it needs to be.’

He said: ‘Some less severely impaired people will lose support. But the result will be that more severely impaired people have that support fully in place for the long term.

Disability charities and campaigners have slammed the plans, with James Taylor of Scope saying the new measures should ‘shame the government to its core’.

He added: ‘Ripping £5 billion out of the system by 2030 will be a catastrophe for disabled peoples’ living standards and independence.

‘The government will be picking up the pieces in other parts of the system with pressure on an already overwhelmed NHS and social care, as more disabled people are pushed into poverty.’

A YouGov poll released today found 51% of Brits thought there was room for spending cuts in the benefits system – with a fifth saying the believed cuts could be made without any negative impact on services.

In an article for The Times today, Sir Keir Starmer wrote: ‘I believe every single worker should feel their contribution to the country is valued.

‘That is why I am so determined to reform work with the biggest levelling-up of employment rights in a generation. And I have seen firsthand just how many barriers are put in the way of disabled people who simply want to get on and lead their lives.

‘So I am equally determined to reform the broken social security system that is holding both our people and our country back.’

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Shoes, coffee pods and celebrity cut-outs – these are just some of the things that civil servants have been splashing taxpayers’ cash on with special credit cards.

The so-called Government Procurement Cards (GPCs) are used to cover costs by staff in several departments.

Currently, the maximum spend on hospitality using the cards – typically used by diplomats and people in trade roles – is £2,500.

But the cards – of which there are 20,000 in total – are set to be frozen this week and the maximum spend slashed, as the government tries to cut down on ‘wasteful spending’.

Everyone who uses one of the cards will now have to reapply for them and justify why they need one.

It comes after Foreign Office staff used the system to pay for £2,493 of shoes at a fashionable shop in Barbados and £2,479 at online shop DJ Superstore.

Foreign Office staff also spent £673 on a website that sells cardboard cutouts of celebrities such as Harry Styles and the Spice Girls, the Mail reported.

Between July and October last year, the Foreign Office bought £49,511 worth of beer, wine and spirits at venues across the world.

At the Cabinet Office, staff spent £742 on Nespresso coffee pods last November and £531 the month before.

Yesterday, the government announced almost all GPCs will be frozen this week and cardholders will be asked to reapply and justify they actually need them.

The Cabinet Office said the move was expected to cut the number of cards in circulation by around half.

Meanwhile, the maximum spend will be cut from £2,500 to £500 – and any spending above that will require approval.

Cabinet Office minister Pat Mcfadden said the move would ‘ensure taxpayers’ money is spent on improving the lives of working people’.

He added: ‘It’s not right that hundreds of millions of pounds are spent on government credit cards each year, without high levels of scrutiny or challenge. Only officials for whom it is absolutely essential should have a card.

‘Our clampdown on government credit cards will deliver savings that can be used to drive our Plan for Change – securing our borders, getting the NHS back on its feet and rebuilding Britain.’

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A major overhaul of the Personal Independence Payment (Pip) disability benefit will mean around a million people lose out on thousands of pounds from November next year.

Many Britons with disabilities rely on Pip to pay the extra costs they face as a result of their conditions.

According to charity Scope, disabled households need an additional £1,010 each month to have the same standard of living as their non-disabled counterparts.

That is the gap that Pip aims to reduce.

The benefit is not means-tested, meaning people with similar disabilities will get similar amounts of money no matter what their income is or how much they have in savings.

In the House of Commons today, Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall said that principle would not change – but the way of deciding who qualifies will.

She said the moves would aim to save £5 billion by the end of this decade.

Away from Pip, the Work and Pensions Secretary announced a consultation on merging Job Seekers’ Allowance and Employment Support Allowance into a time-limited unemployment insurance.

She also said the work capability assessment for Universal Credit (UC) will be scrapped in 2028, with extra financial support for health conditions and UC ‘available solely through the Pip assessment’.

People on UC with the most severe disabilities and health conditions, meanwhile, will never be reassessed ‘to give them the confidence and dignity they deserve’, Kendall said.

But a boss at disability charity Scope accused the government of ‘choosing to penalise some of the poorest people in our society’.

What are Pip benefits?

The Personal Independence Payment began to be rolled out in 2013 amid the phase-out of the Disability Living Allowance for most recipients in England and Wales.

Today, disabled children in England and Wales get Disability Living Allowance and switch to Pip when they turn 16 – although the BBC has found the switch from one to the other is not always smooth, even for those with life-changing conditions like cancer, blindness and epilepsy.

James Taylor, the director of strategy for Scope, told Metro: ‘The significance of Pip is that it recognises life isn’t easy and offers some financial support.’

However, he said the current rate ‘doesn’t go anywhere near far enough’ to cover the extra expense that many disabled people face.

At the moment, the basic rate of living allowance provided weekly via Pip is £72.65 and the enhanced rate is £108.55 – well below the £1,010 a month typically needed according to Scope’s calculations.

The amount a recipient gets is based on the amount of aid and supervision they need for everyday tasks, and extra is available for those with mobility issues.

This is worked out through a system of points depending on the areas where people struggle most.

Health professionals rate each recipient on a scale of zero to 12 for the amount of support they need for everyday tasks, such as preparing food and washing.

It is this points system that lies at the centre of today’s changes.

What changes are coming to Pip benefits?

Speaking to MPs this afternoon, Liz Kendall said Pip would not be frozen, as had been reported earlier this month.

But she added: ‘People will need to score a minimum of four points in at least one activity to qualify for the daily living element of Pip from November 2026.

‘This is not affect the mobility component of Pip and only relates to the daily living element.’

The intention is to stop people who are given low scores across a range of areas from being able to claim the benefit, and limit it only to people who are most severely disabled.

In addition, a review is being launched into the Pip assessment, which will be led by Social Security and Disability Minister Sir Stephen Timms.

This would be run ‘in close consultation with disabled people, the organisations that represent them and other experts’, Kendall said.

The minimum age to claim the benefit will rise from 16 to 18.

Why are these changes being made?

To begin her statement today, Kendall reeled off a list of statistics to demonstrate the state of the benefits system.

One in ten people of working age are now claiming a sickness or disability benefit, she said, while one in eight young people are not in education, employment or training.

Since the pandemic, spending on working age sickness and disability benefits are up £20 billion and are forecast to rise by £18 billion by the end of the Parliament in 2029 – a situation not seen in comparable countries.

Sir Keir Starmer has argued the UK benefits system is in a ‘worst of all worlds situation’, which discourages people from working and lands the taxpayer with a ‘spiralling bill’.

The PM has also repeatedly pointed to the concerning state of the public finances, saying a ‘£22 billion black hole’ was handed over by the previous Conservative government.

A DWP spokesperson said: ‘Without reform more people will be locked out of jobs, despite many wanting to work. That is not just bad for the economy, it’s bad for people too.

‘We have a duty to get the welfare bill on a more sustainable path and we will achieve that through meaningful, principled reforms rather than arbitrary cuts to spending.’

What is the reaction to the potential changes?

Responding to Kendall’s statement, the Labour chair of the Work and Pensions Committee Debbie Abrahams said there are ‘alternative, more compassionate ways to balance the books that on the back of sick and disabled people’.

She added: ‘I absolutely fundamentally believe that [Kendall] is on the right course, and I implore my party to try and get our reforms to bed in first before we look to making the cuts.’

Several other voices from the Labour benches voiced concerns, including Rachael Maskell who said the £5 billion cut was ‘incongruous’ with optimising the independence of disabled people.

Former Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell, who had the party whip suspended last year but still sits among Labour MPs, said the cuts ‘will result in immense suffering and – we’ve seen it in the past – loss of life’.

Charles Gillies, Senior Policy Officer at the MS Society and Policy Co-Chair at the Disability Benefits Consortium, said the ‘immoral and devastating’ cuts would ‘push more disabled people into poverty, and worsen people’s health.’

He added: ‘The harmful changes to Pip will make it even harder for disabled people – including many with MS – to manage the overwhelming additional costs of their condition, from wheelchairs to visits from carers.

‘And any targeted cuts to disabled people on Universal Credit (UC) and Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) will largely hit those who are unable to work and rely on these benefits to survive.’

James Taylor, Executive Director of Strategy at disability equality charity Scope, said: ‘The biggest cuts to disability benefits on record should shame the government to its core.

‘They are choosing to penalise some of the poorest people in our society. Almost half of families in poverty include someone who is disabled.’

He continued: ‘The government will be picking up the pieces in other parts of the system with pressure on an already overwhelmed NHS and social care, as more disabled people are pushed into poverty.

‘We expect the consultation will see an overwhelming response. We urge the government to listen to disabled people and think again.’

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They’re the bane of motorists and villagers everywhere thanks to them clogging up the roads and damaging people’s cars.

Now it’s been revealed that fixing England and Wales’ pot-holed roads would cost an eye-watering £17billion – and take 12 years.

One in six miles of local highways has less than five years’ structural life left, the damning survey adds, while 65 per cent of drivers believe roads in their area got worse in the past year.

Potholes not only cause £1.7billion damage to cars each year but are a safety hazard with an average 15 people a month killed or seriously injured in cars or on bikes.

Industry body the Asphalt Industry Alliance (AIA) is calling for councils to get long-term funding decisions that help National Highways plan work on motorways and major A roads.

Its report – named Alarm (annual local authority road maintenance) – said short term approaches resulted in ‘no quantifiable uplift’ despite £20billion spent in the past decade.

Edmund King, president of motorists’ group the AA, said the ‘dismal two steps forward, three steps back’ approach has failed to tackle our ‘pothole plague’.

He added: ‘The UK is nowhere close to getting out of this rut. ‘Alarm’s increasing £17billion backlog of road repairs once again underlines the size of the task ahead.’

This winter, one community in north Wales even set up a makeshift theme park called Pothole Land to showcase ‘two kilometres of potholes with very little actual road to spoil your fun’.

Ceiriog Valley local Russell Kirk told Metro: ‘Some parts of the road are now impassable with 18 inch potholes. A Mini could go down them.

‘It is a struggle for us because some weeks the binmen refuse to take refuse and there could come a point where emergency services struggle to access the road.’

When one almighty fissure split open the M25 last October, almost 60 cars were taken out and drivers were left sitting helplessly on the hard shoulder in the pouring rain for hours.

One victim, Stephanie Vincent, said the two burst tyres on her husband’s BMW would cost over £700 to replace.

She said: ‘I can’t believe the amount of cars that were damaged. It’s lucky nobody was injured really.’

Meanwhile, residents of Whitebarns Lane in the Hertfordshire village of Furneux Pelham were told last year they would have to pay £100,000 if they wanted the short street’s 32 potholes repaired.

Resident Sarah Wright recalled the road damage causing people to fall over and smash their glasses against their face, adding: ‘The elderly people are petrified to use the lane.’

AIA chair David Giles pointed out more than £20 billion has been spent on carriageway maintenance in England and Wales over the last decade – but without any ‘quantifiable uplift’ in the quality of the network.

He said: ‘Almost all – 94% – of local authority highway teams reported that, in their opinion, there has been no improvement to their local network over the last year.’

At the moment, roads are only resurfaced once every 93 years on average.

Despite spending cuts expected in chancellor Rachel Reeves’s spring statement next week, Local Government Association transport spokesman Adam Hug called for ‘a commitment in the review to a long-term financial package to tackle this backlog and put it into reverse’.

Even with a £500 million funding increase in the last Budget, he added, it is ‘no surprise to councils that the local roads repair backlog continues to rise, given inflation and huge demand pressures on local government’.

The government has assigned £1.6 billion of funding for local roads maintenance in the 2025-26 financial year, a boost of £500 million compared to the previous 12 months.

A Department for Transport spokesperson said: ‘For too long, this country has suffered from a pothole plague, which is why we’re investing £1.6 billion to help local authorities resurface local roads and fix the equivalent of up to seven million extra potholes over the next financial year.

‘We want to achieve this in the most cost-efficient way for the taxpayer by providing local authorities with multi-year funding settlements, enabling them to better maintain their road networks and avoid potholes being formed in the first place.’

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Kemi Badenoch was cut off by two separate protesters as she delivered a speech about Margaret Thatcher in central London.

The Conservative leader had only just started to speak when one woman got to her feet and unfurled a banner reading ‘Abolish billionaires’.

Audience members soon ejected the woman from the room at Guildhall.

But it wasn’t long before a second woman began shouting, stopping Badenoch’s speech yet again.

The protester was heard calling out about the cost of living crisis as she, too, was ejected from the room.

Badenoch responded: ‘I hardly think Mrs Thatcher can be blamed for the cost-of-living crisis.’

She was giving the speech to mark 50 years since Thatcher became the first female leader of the Conservatives, five years before her victory at the 1979 general election.

Badenoch told the Centre for Policy Studies, a right-wing think tank, she was preparing to launch ‘the Conservative Party’s biggest policy renewal programme in 50 years’ tomorrow.

After the protest, campaign group Climate Resistance said the Tories were ‘clinging to an ideology designed to stuff the pockets of the super-rich while the planet burns and people struggle to pay their bills’.

The first protester later said the Conservative Party had ‘allowed extreme wealth to be amassed by a tiny minority, fuelling climate crisis and poverty’.

She added: ‘We’re calling for a wealth tax, we need to make the super rich pay to redistribute their money for public services and climate action.’

Speaking about the Thatcher conference, the protester said: ‘It’s just shameful that this event exists. We should not be celebrating this person.

‘She put us on the path that we’re on right now, to this mass inequality we’re seeing, the cost-of-living crisis, the housing crisis, the climate crisis, it’s all connected to her.’

Spokesperson Sam Simons said: ‘Thatcher’s legacy isn’t something to celebrate.

‘Today’s Conservatives are clinging to an ideology designed to stuff the pockets of the super-rich while the planet burns and people struggle to pay their bills.

‘It’s time to tax billionaires out of existence and use the resources to fund social services and climate action.’

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