Politics | kieransbrookholmes.claims

Budget verdict: A missed opportunity to tackle intergenerational unfairness and give working people a tax breakk

After working through the Chancellor’s announcements and examining the practical impact on household finances, it is striking how little has changed for ordinary working people. For many families, the only noticeable…

The ‘breathing space budget’ – breathing space for the government, that is | John Crace

The day after the budget is usually the moment when things start to fall apart. When clued-up journalists and economists have had a chance to go through all the fine points the chancellor would rather everyone had…

Further delays for major council overhaul in nine of 14 proposed areas

Proposals for 14 regions to undergo mergers of smaller councils to form larger unitary authorities was put on hold by Local Government Secretary Angela Rayner last month, following concerns around legal challenges. Local…

Viral video doesn’t show zombie knives delivery to ‘migrant hotel’

The original footage was shared by the Metropolitan Police and shows a shipment delivered to a residential address, not a migrant hotel. It relates to an investigation into Jonathan Soares , who imported and sold illegal…

Burnham says he wants to cut welfare bill 'as soon as we possibly can'

Opponents raised concerns over the lack of details on welfare reform in Wednesday's Budget, after welfare spending was forecast to increase from £353bn this year to £431bn in 2031/32. Asked whether he would seek to…

Von der Leyen touts ‘associate member’ status for Canada over objections of EU capitals

Such a status, she said, would be open “only to our closest partners outside of Europe, who are ready to open a new frontier together — and to chart the course together, to think beyond the terms of our partnership…

Matthew Bowles: Badenoch deserves some credit for her Budget response

It was rather appropriate for John Healey to deliver a Budget that was, by almost every metric, a little dull. With the City pricing in the possibility of an early election, a Chancellor keen to avoid upsetting the…

Reform UK launches its own ‘newspaper’ with Farage on front page

Though the party is hiring qualified journalists to write its newspapers, the only "reporter" credited with writing articles is Farage, the party leader. Political parties often put out pamphlets made to look like…

Canada to join EU network of supercomputers

The network consists of 14 supercomputers (some ranked in the global top 10), 19 AI-focused AI factories and 10 quantum computers. The vehicle will also run seven massive AI data center hubs , known as AI gigafactories…

No evidence Donald Trump’s mother said he’d be a ‘disaster’ for the United States

But there’s no evidence Mrs Trump ever said these words. The posts include an image of Mr Trump, alongside text providing some biographical details about Mrs Trump and a quote that refers to the president as “an IDIOT…