Bank of England interest rate cut joy for mortgage holders as Reeves blames mini-Budget for inflation - live
The Bank of England has decided to cut interest rates for the first time in more than four years
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The Bank of England has cut interest rates for the first time since 2020 as inflation continues to remain steady, holding at their two percent target for two consecutive months.
Bank Rate is currently 5.25per cent, a 16-year high where it has been pegged for the last year to fight inflation, but it has now been set at five percent, a drop of 0.25 percentage points.
Governor Andrew Bailey said the move comes after inflation pressures “eased enough that we’ve been able to cut interest rates today”.
The decision will come as joy for homeowners who have been struggling with rising mortgage payments as major banks have confirmed rates could go down as low as three per cent.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves has welcomed the move but warned “millions of families are still facing higher mortgage rates after the mini-budget”.
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If she ends the housing crisis, Rayner’s political legacy will be set in stone
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Minister is first Labour MP of new parliament investigated by standards watchdog
A Treasury minister is being investigated by parliament’s standards watchdog, the first such inquiry since the election.
Tulip Siddiq, economic secretary to the Treasury and MP for Hampstead and Highgate, is under investigation for the late registration of interests, according to the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner’s website.
The inquiry is thought to relate to Ms Siddiq’s failure to register rental income from a property in London, which a Labour spokesman said was “an administrative oversight” for which she had apologised.
The spokesman said: “Tulip will co-operate fully with the Parliamentary Commissioner on Standards on this matter.”
Ms Siddiq is the first MP of the new parliament to be placed under investigation by the Standards Commissioner.
But investigations into three former MPs which began during the last Parliament remain open.
Former Conservative MP Bob Stewart is being investigated for failing to declare an interest and an alleged lack of co-operation with the watchdog’s inquiry.
Ex-Tory and Reclaim MP Andrew Bridgen is being investigated over registration of his interests, while former Tory Sir Conor Burns is being investigated for use of information received in confidence.
During the last parliament, the Standards Commissioner opened more than 100 investigations into MPs, the majority of which were resolved by “rectification” – a procedure that allows MPs to correct minor or inadvertent breaches of Commons rules.
Comment: Angela Rayner’s ambitious housing plan may be the making of her
The new deputy prime minister’s first big outing in the Commons was her chance to prove that she has not been pushed to the political margins by Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves – and she delivered in spades, says John Rentoul:
Sidelined? No – Angela Rayner’s ambitious housing plan may be the making of her
The new deputy prime minister’s first big outing in the Commons was her chance to prove that she has not been pushed to the political margins by Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves – and she delivered in spades, says John Rentoul
Pictured: John Healey and David Lammy meet Qatar’s Emir Sheikh bin Hamad al-Thani in Doha
Watch: Rachel Reeves admits taxes will rise in first Budget
Universities face sanctions if they fail to address staff-student relationships
Universities in England could face sanctions if they fail to take steps to prevent an “abuse of power” in intimate personal relationships between university staff and students, the higher education watchdog has said.
The Office for Students (OfS) will introduce a new condition of registration which will require higher education institutions in England to set out how they are protecting students from harassment and sexual misconduct.
It comes after a fifth of students who responded to an OfS survey said they had experienced unwanted sexual behaviour in the 2022/23 academic year.
Universities and colleges will not be able to use non-disclosure agreements (NDAs), which forbid students from talking about incidents of harassment or sexual misconduct, under the OfS’s condition of registration.
Higher education institutions will be required to take “one or more steps to make a significant and credible difference in protecting students” from any conflict of interest or “abuse of power” in intimate staff-student relationships.
But universities will have the flexibility to develop and publish their own policies on relationships between staff and students – including the restrictions or prohibitions they consider appropriate, the watchdog has said.
The OfS said: “We have said that a ban on intimate personal relationships is a step which would be considered to meet our requirements.
“A statement, on its own, which discourages relationships between staff and students will not be considered to meet our requirements.”
Labour ‘failed another generation’ with axing of social care reforms
The Labour government has “failed another generation of families” with the cancellation of a series of planned social care reforms, the architect of the plans has warned.
Rachel Reeves announced the cancellation of the Dilnot reforms on Monday, alongside a swathe of other spending cuts to address a black hole in the public finances left by the previous Conservative government.
Labour has ‘failed another generation of families’ with axing of social care reforms
Sir Andrew Dilnot, whose government-backed commission proposed a cap on social care costs, described the cancellation of planned reforms as a ‘a tragedy’
Rayner: Majority of local communities will see their housing targets increase under Labour
Angela Rayner has said a majority of areas across the UK will have their housing targets increase under Labour plans to build 1.5million new homes in the next five years.
Ms Rayner told the BBC: “The method that we are using, what we are consulting on, is first of all around housing stock, so what they currently have, and then it is about affordability.
“So the reason that their target will have gone up is because they are not meeting the needs locally and therefore that has to be met.
“But I will be open with your listeners, the majority of places have had an uplift in their target because year upon year the Conservatives promised that they would build 300,000 homes and they failed to meet that target, year upon year.
“And that is why I have had to set the target at what it is and it is based on what the actual need is out there to solve this housing crisis.”
How much do junior doctors earn with pay rise deal?
The BMA and DHSC confirmed the total pay uplift across 2023-24 and 2024-25 will be 22.3 per cent on average.
The offer consists of an additional uplift of 4.05 per cent for the pay year 2023/24 on top of the average 8.8 per cent already awarded. This will be backdated to April 2023.
For 2024-25 the government have offered junior doctors an average increase of 8 per cent.
The BMA and DHSC have also agreed to change the name of “junior doctors” to “resident doctors” from September of this year.
Ministers entered formal negotiations with the BMA’s junior doctors’ committee days ago. The breakthrough comes after more than a year of strikes and deadlocks between the previous government and junior doctors.
The deal would mean a doctor starting foundation training in the NHS will see their base pay increase to £36,600, compared to around £32,400.
Tory leadership race: Lord Frost endorses Robert Jenrick
Robert Jenrick has been backed by former Brexit minister Lord Frost in the Tory leadership race.
The Conservative peer said he is endorsing the former immigration minister over the Rwanda scheme.
Writing for the Telegraph, he said: “Anyone can talk. It takes courage to act. I know that. I gave up my ministerial career on principle in December 2021 by resigning in protest against yet another Covid lockdown. So, too, Robert resigned last year in protest at the government’s migration policy, and was one of the small group who refused to back the Rwanda Bill unless it freed us from the European Convention on Human Rights.
“If we had taken a different course then, and the boats had slowed or even stopped – who knows what the story of this election might have been? More firm stands on points of principle might have changed the outcome, at least in part. Instead, we continued full on to disaster. Only a few, like Robert, stood by their beliefs. To me, that makes a difference.
“That ability to see the big picture, and to stand on principle to deliver it, is why I support Robert Jenrick as leader of our party. I hope others will look at what he is saying – and then do the same.”
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