6 h. ago Voters could abandon centrist parties if budget fails, warns former cabinet secretary

Simon Case says voters will look elsewhere if chancellor cannot find solutions to tax, spending and debt problemsVoters will look elsewhere if Rachel Reeves does not use next week’s pivotal budget to show that “centre-ground” politicians can fix the UK’s entrenched economic problems, the former head of the civil service, Simon Case, has said.Case told the Guardian that at the time of last year’s general election, when he was still cabinet secretary, he believed Labour would be forced to break its manifesto promise to not raise taxes because of the state of the public finances. Continue reading...

Events

3 d. ago Swinney warns Starmer and Reeves of ‘risks’ if Budget fails to end austerity

Scottish First Minister John Swinney said the ending of austerity was what people are ‘desperately seeking’.

Events

3 d. ago Starmer warns his cabinet to ‘stop talking about ourselves’ after Labour briefing war

PM tells ministers that ‘distractions’ means their focus has ‘shifted’

Events

3 d. ago Starmer warns Cabinet must ‘stop talking about ourselves’ after Labour briefing war

PM tells ministers that ‘distractions’ means their focus has ‘shifted’

Events

3 d. ago Dire warning over £22m shortfall if Welsh Government budget fails to pass

Labour needs political help to pass the budget for 2026-27

Events

3 d. ago Keir Starmer warns Cabinet against ‘distractions’ after briefing row

The Prime Minister also made a plea for unity at the Tuesday meeting.

Events

3 d. ago Labour Traitors War: Keir Starmer warns Cabinet against 'distraction' of party infighting after coup frenzy

The Prime Minister stressed to his senior ministers that they must ‘work as one team’

Events

5 d. ago The Guardian view on Europe’s firewall against the far right: in growing need of repair | Editorial

The fragility of France’s cordon sanitaire against Le Pen is part of a worrying wider pattern, as centrist parties seek to revive their fortunesEarlier this autumn, Giorgia Meloni laid out the strategic path to a new era of nationalist populism across Europe. Addressing a gathering of the French far-right party Identité-Libertés, which is led by Marine Le Pen’s niece, Marion Maréchal, Italy’s prime minister underlined the need to work towards “the unity of the right and the centre-right” adding “I hope that one day this can also happen in France  but that will depend on you.”Ms Meloni knows of what she speaks. Her Brothers of Italy party, which has a lineage going back to postwar neofascist movements, became hegemonic under her leadership by mounting a reverse takeover of the Italian right. Less than a decade ago, it scored a marginal 4% in a general election. Currently, it stands at 31% in the polls. Forza Italia, the centre-right party founded by Silvio Berlusc...

Events

8 d. ago Rachel Reeves ‘set to ditch plan to raise income tax’ in Budget

Chancellor reportedly set to abandon income tax hike plan amid fears move could anger voters

Economics

2 w. ago Canada’s Liberal party says budget of ‘sacrifice’ needed to avoid recession

Country set to unveil PM Mark Carney’s spending plan as it battles trade war with US and protracted cost of living crisisCanada’s ruling Liberal party has said a budget of “sacrifice” is required to confront both a trade war with the US and a protracted cost of living crisis that threatens to push the country into a recession. But with opposition parties signalling they won’t support the fiscal plans of the prime minister, Mark Carney, a failed parliamentary vote on the budget could plunge the country into another federal election in the coming weeks.The country’s finance minister, François-Philippe Champagne, will on Tuesday unveil a spending plan his government has signalled will include both steep deficits and spending cuts. Few details have leaked ahead of the announcement, which will mark the first substantive look at how Carney plans to avoid a recession while locked in a trade war with the US, Canada’s biggest economic partner. Continue reading...

Economics

3 w. ago More than 55,000 UK firms in severe distress, research shows

Experts have warned that the upcoming autumn Budget ‘must deliver urgent support to avoid a wave of failures’.

Politics

3 w. ago Budget airline's passengers are being charged £84 to check in at airport as the website regularly fails to work

Disgruntled customers travelling with Wizz Air have complained of extra costs as a result of the technical glitch. One traveller reported an £84 fee as a result of the website not working.

Economics

3 w. ago Racism of 70s and 80s back on the streets of London, warns Cabinet minister Wes Streeting

The Ilford North Labour MP stressed he had thought that such abuse had been confined to the ‘history books’

Events