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It was a busy week for the Labour government.

While conference season rolled on, there was plenty of tangible progress across government departments.

1. Letting supported housing tenants keep more pay

Labour has the benefits penalty for taking on extra hours.

More than 325,000 residents in supported housing and temporary accommodation will now keep more of what they earn when they get a job or work longer.

Until now, Housing Benefit was withdrawn faster than Universal Credit, so some residents ended up worse off for earning more. The new rules bring the two into line.

2. Free family seating on flights

Labour will airlines from charging parents to sit with their children.

Parents of under-14s can pay up to £104 on a return journey to sit beside their children. Passengers will also be able to fix simple name errors on a booking for free, where charges can reach £40.

Alongside this, UK airport eGates are switching to contactless technology, so passengers can walk through without placing their passport on the reader. Testing shows it’s up to 25% faster, and every eGate is due to be upgraded by early 2027.

3. Live petrol prices on Google Maps

Labour has finding the cheapest fuel.

Drivers can now search for a nearby forecourt in Google Maps and see near real-time petrol and diesel prices, which could save a household with a car around £40 a year.

The prices come from the Fuel Finder scheme, which has required petrol stations to report price changes within 30 minutes since February. It now covers 99% of fuel sold on UK roads.

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4. Requiring courts to record domestic abuse offences

Labour has judges flag offences against partners and family members.

Courts must now say publicly when an offence involves domestic abuse, creating a single record that police, prisons, and probation can all see. That helps frontline staff spot repeat offenders and manage the risk they pose.

Domestic abuse is already treated as an aggravating factor in offences like assault and stalking, but until now there was no consistent way to capture it once someone was convicted.

5. Real-time tracking to catch waste criminals

Labour has disposal sites to log every incoming load.

Rogue operators have long hidden behind falsified paper records. The new digital trail gives investigators the evidence to spot suspicious patterns and target their inquiries.

More than 12,000 permitted sites across England are covered from 1 October, and waste collectors are due to join from spring 2027.

6. Deal with Germany on Cyber-attacks cooperation

Labour has a joint plan with Berlin to disrupt hostile state activity.

The two countries will share information and coordinate action to spot, deter, and disrupt cyber-attacks, sabotage, and threats to critical infrastructure, particularly from Russia.

It was launched alongside the Prime Minister’s first face-to-face talks with the German Chancellor in Berlin. Britain and Germany are Europe’s two largest economies and its biggest investors in defence.

7. £1.4 billion on flood defences before winter

Labour is homes from extreme weather.

More than 600 projects across England are due to protect tens of thousands of households this winter, in what’s described as the largest flood defence programme in English history.

Alongside this, more than £24 billion is going into local road maintenance over four years, and energy network operators are out clearing branches before storms.

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