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Chancellor to pitch budget at wealth creators – UK politics live
‘No indications’ PHP code flaw has led to government systems being hacked, cyber security official says – as it happened
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Wes Streeting, the defence secretary, has said Britain should prepare for the threat of “state-sponsored terrorism” by hostile powers targeting everyday infrastructure as part of a national conversation about resilience in the face of emergencies. A UK cyber security official has said that there ar…
theguardian.com
MPs pay tribute to Diane Abbott as they debate black history month
MPs debated black history month earlier today. Politicians are often fairly unpleasant to their opponents, but there was a surprise moment near the start of the debate when Joy Morrissey, the Tory spokesperson for women and equalities (and not someone known for being particularly woke or leftwing),…
Voters significantly more likely to back progressive coalition led by Burnham than Tory/Reform UK one, poll suggests
YouGov has published some interesting polling on what voters think about various coalition options. Here are some of the key points. Voters are significantly more likely to support a progressive coalition than a rightwing coalition. The most popular coalition option polled was a Labour/Lib Dem one,…
Fahnbulleh says ministers won't 'faff around' in getting rid of gas standing charges, implying decision coming in budget
Miatta Fahnbulleh, the energy secretary, has heightened speculation that a government announcement about getting rid of the standing charges on gas bills will come in the budget on Wednesday next week. Andy Burnham implied this strongly yesterday when he said he had asked John Healey, the chancello…
the-independent.com
Burnham has flu jab, as NHS encourages those eligible for free injection to get one
Andy Burnham has had his flu jab. He has posted about it on Instagram, and at the same time the Department of Health and Social Care is launching a publicity campaign to encourage people eligible for a free jab to get one. James Frith, a health minister, said: Vaccines save lives. It has never been…
The latest edition of the Guardian’s Politics Weekly UK podcast is out. It features Jessica Elgot and Alexandra Topping talking about whether or not the government will allow the Rosebank oilfield development to go ahead, after the less controversial Jackdaw gasfield was approved yesterday.
Starmer granted core participant status in grooming gangs inquiry
Keir Starmer may be summoned to give evidence at the grooming gangs inquiry, the Press Association reports. PA says: The former prime minister, who ordered the probe last year, has been listed as a core participant for the inquiry’s hearings which are due to begin in December. This means he is amon…
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Former PM Starmer may be called to give evidence at grooming gangs inquiry
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According to Christopher Hope from GB News, Kemi Badenoch is unhappy about Andy Burnham going on Gogglebox (see 2.35pm) – but only because she wants an invite too! Hope says: A political row has broken out over Andy Burnham’s decision to go on Channel 4’s programme ‘Gogglebox’. A Tory source tells…
Cyber security official says there are 'no indications' PHP code flaw has led to government computer systems being hacked
Ollie Whitehouse, chief technology officer at the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre, told Radio 4’s the World at One that incidents like today’s computer system shutdowns because of a coding problem were likely to re-occur. He explained: [This] highlights to a lot of organisations that technology…
theguardian.com
Burnham to appear on Gogglebox with Steve Rotheram
Kemi Badenoch has been routinely complaining about Andy Burnham spending time on supposedly trivial things, like discussing how he makes his tea in a summer Q&A, or doing a social media video about pork scratchings. So God know what she is going to say when she finds out he’s on Gogglebox tomorrow…
the-independent.com
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“Nearly 7,000 miles of road resurfacing – the equivalent of travelling between London and Singapore – will be completed this year,” the Department for Transport is saying. It says councils in England are doing 10% more resurfacing than last year, because they are getting more government funding.
Mahmood condemned by Unison for refusing to let care worker attend private meeting about her 'nasty' proposed ILR changes
Andrea Egan, the Unison general secretary, has criticised Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, for not letting her bring a care worker to a meeting to discuss Mahmood’s plans to tighten the permanent residency rules for foreign workers. Egan described the proposals as “nasty”, and said Mahmood’s fa…
32 UK government services offline while work carried out to sort out PHP programming flaw, minister says
Some 32 government services are offline and four are partially unavailable while work is carried out to address potential cybersecurity issues, a minister has said. As the Press Association reports, organisations around the world have been scrambling to fix a critical security flaw in the programmi…
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UK government services offline after global PHP cybersecurity threat
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Global cyber-security issue takes 32 government services offline -- what we know
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Steve Witkoff wrong about Putin being a 'humanitarian', says No 10
Yesterday Steve Witkoff, the property developer appointed by Donald Trump as his lead foreign policy envoy, described Vladimir Putin as a “humanitarian”. Andrew Roth has more about that here, in a piece pointing out that this is an extraordinary lie. Douglas Alexander, the Scottish secretary, was g…
the-independent.com
Tories claim crime figures 'spiralling out of control' - and why the data doesn't back this up
The Conservative party seems to have missed the bit in the ONS report on the crime figures where it said “crime against individuals and households has generally decreased over the last 10 years”. (See 9.54am.) Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, has issued a statement saying: Crime is spirallin…
Gender pay gap continuing to decline, ONS says
The Office for National Statistics has also published a report on the gender pay gap. It says: The gender pay gap for full-time employees has continued to decline in the UK. It was 6.8% in April 2026, down from 7.2% in April 2025. This compares with 9.4% a decade ago and 16.4% 25 years ago. This ch…
the-independent.com
Patrick Maguire was not the only person to interview John Healey yesterday. Robert Peston, ITV’s political editor, spoke to the chancellor too, and he has written a blog about the most interesting points to emerge. This is what Peston says about Healey’s comments about the banks. (See 10.41am.) Sec…
Survey shows 'significant increase' in proportion of adults in England and Wales experiencing domestic abuse, ONS says
There has been a “significant increase” in the proportion of adults in England and Wales who have experienced domestic abuse, the Press Association report. In its report on today’s crime figures (see 9.54am), PA says: Some 9.6% of people aged 16 and over are estimated to have been the victim of dom…
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Badenoch criticises government for not sending minister to speak at Police Federation conference
Kemi Badenoch has criticised the government for not sending a minister to address the Police Federation’s conference. Addressing the federation this morning, she said she was “not scared to wade in” and not scared to “back the police”. She told the audience: Too often these days, we fail to recogni…
the-independent.com
Criminals who refuse to attend sentencing face losing prison privileges under new rules
Offenders who refuse to face their victims’ families in court for sentencing could be stripped of privileges or kept in cells for weeks under government changes granting wider powers to judges in England and Wales, Geneva Abdul reports.
theguardian.com
Barclays boss indicates that he accepts bank taxes will rise in budget, suggests that's 'bearable', and backs Healey
Kalyeena Makortoff is the Guardian’s banking correspondent. CS Venkatakrishnan, CEO at Barclays, seems to have admitted defeat over bank tax hikes, which are expected to be a headline measure in Healey’s budget next week. When asked whether the bank might consider tilting assets or investment out o…
Healey argues his budget will refute Andy Haldane's claims about Tory policies being better for growth than Labour's
Here are some more lines from Patrick Maguire’s interview with John Healey in the Times. This passage sums up the overall picture very well. Maguire writes: So what is the chancellor now concentrating on? One could be forgiven for thinking him utterly unreconstructed: a party man and proud of it. T…
Robbery up 10%, while overall crime rates generally going down, ONS figures show
The Office for National Statistics’ latest report on crime figures is out. It covers crime in England and Wales in the year ending June 2026 and it starts: Crime against individuals and households has generally decreased over the last 10 years with some notable exceptions, such as fraud. This chart…
At this stage of the budget process, John Healey has almost certainly made all his key decisions. But, just in case he hasn’t, he could try our budget interactive. It allows you to make a decision on some of the options facing the chancellor, and then it will tell you what the impact would be on bu…
Healey accepts Labour has put a ‘lot of pressure’ on business and says helping entrepreneurs will be a budget priority
Good morning. A week today John Healey, the chancellor, will be doing a media round defending the budget he is presenting on Wednesday next week. Ahead of that, he has given an interview to Patrick Maguire from the Times. As you would expect, there is no real detail in it about the measures he will…
the-independent.com
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