Net migration to UK drops 69% year on year, ONS says
Figure of 204,000 in 12 months to June 2025 is lowest since 2021, statistics body saysUK politics live – latest updatesNet migration to the UK was an estimated 204,000 in the 12 months to June 2025, down 69% year on year and the lowest annual figure since 2021, the Office for National Statistics said.More details soon … Continue reading...
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Live Updates: Death Toll From Hong Kong Apartment Fire Rises to 55
Firefighters were still trying to fully extinguish the blaze, a day after it engulfed several towers in the complex. Many people were still trapped in the buildings.
Pope Lands in Turkey, Planning to Meet Erdogan With a Message of Outreach
Leo XIV arrived in the country’s capital, Ankara, and will be received by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the opening leg of a trip that will also take in Lebanon.
Reeves dismisses Tory claims of ‘Benefits Street budget’ – UK politics live
Chancellor says 60% of families that will be better off after the two-child limit is scrapped are in workAsk the Guardian your budget questionsThe Conservative party is attacking the budget on the grounds that Rachel Reeves is putting up taxes supposedly to fund more spending on benefit claimants. Even though the rationale for this claim is questionable, the Tories were making it before the budget was announced, and Kemi Badenoch firmed it up last night, claiming it was a “Benefits Street budget”.On LBC this morning, asked if the budget meant “alarm clock Britain paying for Benefits Street”, Reeves said she did not accept that. She said 60% of the families that would benefit from the removal of the two-child benefit cap (the most expensive welfare announcement in the budget) were in work.I don’t think children should be punished by this pernicious policy any longer. And the cost to society of this is huge, the cost for councils of temporary accommodation, when people can no longer afford the rent, putting families in B&Bs, kids having to move to school all the time because parents have moved from B&B to another lot of temporary accommodation, and there’s costs for years to come, because all the evidence shows that kids that are growing up poor are less likely to get into work and more reliant on the welfare state in the future for them.So this is a good investment in those kids, to give them the chances that I want for my kids, and everyone wants for their kids. It also saves money for taxpayers on that accommodation, on those additional health costs, and ensuring that those kids grow up to be productive adults. Continue reading...
US banks announce UK expansion projects hours after budget
JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs reveal plans for London and Birmingham, with sector spared tax risesTwo of Wall Street’s biggest banks have announced major expansions plans in the UK, hours after they were spared increased taxes in Rachel Reeves’s autumn budget.JP Morgan on Thursday revealed plans to build a 3m sq ft tower in London’s Canary Wharf, which will serve as its new UK headquarters and house more than half of its 23,000 UK staff. It is understood the project will cost £3bn. Continue reading...
Hong Kong fire latest: rescue crews search for survivors after 55 killed and hundreds reported missing
Three men arrested as 26 rescue teams on site at Wang Fuk Court residential apartment complex in Tai Po district. Follow the latest updates liveReport: death toll rises as hundreds reported missingWhat we know so far about the blazeBamboo scaffolding may be to blame for spread of fireA visual guide to the fireThe death toll has risen again to 44, fire officials say.Officials said they are still having difficulties proceeding into the upper floors in some of the buildings in the residential complex as the fire continues. Continue reading...
Europe scrambles to join Ukraine talks as EU nations attempt to bolster militaries – Europe live
Macron due to unveil proposals for a new voluntary military service to boost the country’s defences without having to return to regular conscriptionA US group has identified several obscure but potentially key sanctions it says could seriously disrupt Russia’s war effort in Ukraine after last month’s targeting of the Kremlin’s biggest oil firms.Previous rounds of sanctions have been applied to Russian energy companies, banks, military suppliers and the “shadow fleet” of ships carrying Russian oil. Continue reading...
OBR chair ‘mortified’ by budget leak as ex-cybersecurity chief called in to investigate
Richard Hughes, head of Office for Budget Responsibility, says he has apologised to chancellor for ‘letting people down’How Rachel Reeves’s budget was leaked 40 minutes earlyBusiness live – latest updatesUK politics live – latest updatesThe chair of the Office for Budget Responsibility has said he felt “personally mortified” by the early release of its budget documents and said the former boss of the National Cyber Security Centre will be involved in an investigation into the incident.Richard Hughes said he had written to the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, and the chair of the Treasury select committee, Meg Hillier, to apologise, and launched the inquiry. Continue reading...
Labor strikes deal with Greens on nature laws overhaul amid criticism ‘dirty deal’ being ‘rammed through’
Deal to rewrite the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act marks end to five-year struggle to fix broken systemGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastA major overhaul of federal environment protection laws has been rushed through the Senate under a deal between Labor and the Greens, ending a five-year struggle to deliver on Graeme Samuel’s blueprint to fix the broken system.The legislation passed the upper house after 7pm on Thursday, handing Anthony Albanese a major political win on the final sitting day of the parliamentary year. Continue reading...
Paddy Power owner says raising online gambling taxes will hit profits hard
Flutter says move in budget will affect underlying earnings by about $320m in 2025-26 and $540m in 2026-27.Business live – latest updatesThe Paddy Power and Betfair owner, Flutter Entertainment, has warned the budget move to increase UK gambling taxes will hit its annual profits by $860m (£650m) over the next two years.The chancellor, Rachel Reeves, announced on Wednesday that remote online gaming duty would rise from 21% to 40%, while online sports betting – excluding horse racing – would increase from 15% to 25%. Continue reading...