6 h. ago Rachel Reeves in standoff over policing and council budgets days before spending review

Chancellor still at negotiating table on Sunday as Home Office demands more cash Rachel Reeves has been locked in a standoff over the policing and council budgets just days before this week’s spending review, which is set to give billions to the NHS, defence and technology.Yvette Cooper’s Home Office and Angela Rayner’s housing and local government ministry were the two departments still at the negotiating table on Sunday fighting for more cash, after weeks of trying to reach a settlement. Continue reading...

Economics

7 h. ago Rachel Reeves strikes 11th hour deal with Angela Rayner to break cabinet civil war deadlock

Exclusive: The Treasury agreed a late deal with Angela Rayner’s Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government on Sunday evening, just days before Rachel Reeves publishes the spending review

Events

8 h. ago Rachel Reeves must do more than hope for the best when it comes to paying for Labour’s spending

Editorial: The chancellor has to balance the competing demands of ministers in her spending review but must make sure she keeps Britain’s finances on a secure footing

Economics

10 h. ago Nicola Jennings on Rachel Reeves’s spending review – cartoon

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Politics

11 h. ago Rachel Reeves in crisis as cabinet civil war blocks spending review plans

The Treasury is scrambling to reach an eleventh-hour deal with Yvette Cooper and Angela Rayner as they push back against budget cuts

Events

12 h. ago Police told to stop asking for more cash to fight crime and 'do their bit' to repair the economy by Labour minister ahead of Spending Review

Technology Secretary Peter Kyle declined to rule out the prospect of a real-terms squeeze on areas such as policing this week.

Politics

12 h. ago Police 'must do their bit' warning as Rachel Reeves set to unveil spending cuts

Technology Secretary Peter Kyle said 'every part of our society is struggling' as he faced questions about police funding ahead of Rachel Reeves' spending review on Wednesday

Events

15 h. ago Minister refuses to rule out cuts to police and housing budgets in spending review

As the Treasury continues to lock horns with Angela Rayner and Yvette Cooper over housing and police force budgets, Cabinet minister Peter Kyle sends a strong signal of the government’s intent

Politics

16 h. ago Spending review: Schools to get more funding but police warned to ‘do their bit’

Technology Secretary Peter Kyle said the Government will commit to the biggest-ever spend per pupil next week.

Events

18 h. ago Rachel Reeves is like Steve Jobs and will rescue the UK economy in the same way that he saved Apple, insists minister ahead of Spending Review

Peter Kyle likened the Chancellor's stewardship of the public finances to the late Mr Jobs' role at Apple when the company was on the brink of insolvency in the late 1990s.

Politics

27 h. ago Labour at war over spending plans as Number 10 tries to stem threat from Farage

Keir Starmer is fighting to quell tensions over how to deal with the threat from Nigel Farage , as bitter Whitehall negotiations over the Government's Spending Review go down to the wire.

Events

27 h. ago Rachel Reeves to splash billions of pounds on NHS and schools

Chancellor Rachel Reeves admitted that some vital public services will lose out on funding in next week's Spending Review - 'I'm not able to say yes to everything'

Politics

27 h. ago Rachel Reeves to announce £86bn for science and technology in spending review

Regions will be handed up to £500 million with local leaders given powers to decide how investment is targeted in their communities.

Economics

33 h. ago Unions pile pressure on Reeves to avoid cuts and impose wealth taxes

Exclusive: The TUC has ratcheted up pressure on the government to introduce wealth taxes amid a growing expectation that the chancellor will unveil a swathe of spending cuts next week

Economics

35 h. ago NHS to get up to £30bn as other services squeezed in spending review

NHS leaders warn expected settlement will not be enough to enable recovery and reform

Economics

38 h. ago Warning UK’s housing crisis will deepen if Reeves makes further cuts in spending review

Exclusive: Building new social housing is facing a ‘cliff edge’ because of a lack of funds, experts say – as Rachel Reeves and Angela Rayner battle over budget plans

Events

39 h. ago NHS to get up to £30 billion as other services squeezed in spending review

NHS leaders warn expected settlement will not be enough to enable recovery and reform

Economics

50 h. ago Starmer goes all in on NHS with PM set to hand health service £30bn spending boost at expense of other public services

The government is putting all its eggs in one basket as it lines up the Department for Health for a £30billion cash boost at next week's spending review.

Economics

58 h. ago ‘Lots of bumps in the road’: Keir Starmer faces testing month before one

From spending review to China audit to assisted dying vote, June’s events have potential to lift or darken Labour moodAs Keir Starmer approaches his first anniversary in Downing Street, there will be several things he wishes he had done differently. But before he can contemplate that July milestone, he faces a busy month strewn with political bear traps.June has proven a difficult time for successive prime ministers: Theresa May, Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak all had to contend with deeply unhappy parliamentary parties reeling from heavy local and European election losses. Continue reading...

Politics

69 h. ago Keir Starmer's muddled politics are reaching their limit. It's time for him to make a choice | Andy Beckett

Veer left or double down on the right? Either way, the prime minister needs to commit and sell it to an impatient electorateAfter less than a year in power, Labour has reached a familiar place. Keir Starmer’s troubled government is at a fork in the road, wondering which direction to follow. With the delivery of its spending review next week after several acrimonious delays, and a Commons vote on its divisive welfare cuts expected later this month, the government’s unity and morale are fragile. The public finances are severely strained, with ever more competing demands, such as for extra defence spending. Though much more energetic than its Tory predecessor, this government often seems opaque, unable to explain its purpose in a compelling way.Many voters and journalists – even more impatient than usual after years of manic politics – are already considering what might replace Starmer’s administration. At barely 20% in the polls, Labour is as unpopular as in its most disliked days und...

Politics