Labour to ‘miss homes pledge’ and ‘pension megafunds’ plan
The i says Labour’s pledge to build 1.5 million homes by the end of this parliament has been “thrown into doubt” by comments from the head of Homes England, the government’s housing agency. The newspaper said Peter Denton said in an email to staff that the target was “in fact” part of a “two-term parliamentary package”.
The Times said the government was facing a growing “business backlash” from last month’s budget, which included a £25 billion increase in employers’ national insurance. The newspaper said the British Retail Consortium had drafted a letter telling chancellor Rachel Reeves that its members would not be able to bear the additional cost of the measures. It quoted the letter as saying that “the scale of the new costs … and the speed at which they are occurring, combined with the costs of a host of other regulations, create a cumulative burden that will make job losses inevitable and price increases inevitable.” .”
According to the Daily Mail, councils will be allowed to increase council tax by 5% next year, meaning the average bill will increase by £110. The newspaper said Downing Street would allow councils to do this to help them cope with rising costs. However, it added that the news comes two weeks after some “eye-watering” tax increases in the Budget, despite Labor having previously attacked the Tories over similar council tax increases.
According to the Financial Times, Reeves hopes to unlock investments worth £80 billion by reforming local government retirement schemes and setting up eight pension “mega funds”. Meanwhile, the chancellor will deliver her first official residence speech on Thursday, an annual address given by a sitting chancellor in the City of London. Reeves told the newspaper she also wanted to reassure businesses that the latest tax increase was part of “one of a kind in the parliamentary budget”.
The Daily Telegraph says Essex Police have been charged with attacking free speech after launching an investigation into columnist Allison Pearson over alleged racial incitement in social media posts last year. Hatred. Pearson said she was visited by two police officers on Sunday to tell her about the investigation, but they did not reveal which post the post was about or who made the complaint. Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson reportedly called the police behavior “appalling”, while shadow home secretary Chris Philp said he was “deeply concerned that this will have a chilling effect on free speech and freedom of expression”.
According to the Guardian, a report from Human Rights Watch said that Israel is using evacuation orders to “deliberately and massively force” Palestinian civilians in Gaza to be displaced, a policy that amounts to a “crime against humanity.” The report comes amid growing evidence that Israel is “stepping up efforts to bisect the Gaza Strip and create a buffer zone” and “build infrastructure to support operations in the territory,” the newspaper said. long-term military presence.”
Donald Trump has made a “shocking appointment” of a Fox News TV host and former soldier as U.S. secretary of defense, Metro News first reported. The newspaper said that despite having no government experience, 44-year-old Pete Hegseth will run “the world’s largest military machine and its $800bn (£627bn) budget”, with responsibility for 1.3 million serving personnel , 1.4 million reservists and civilian employees around the world.
The Daily Mirror’s headline was “Britain’s wild west of plastic surgery”. The paper said an ITV investigation found potentially fatal procedures, including liposuction, were carried out by people with only a few hours of training. It added that Health Minister Wes Streeting had pledged to crack down on rogue operators.
The Sun says a video taken at this summer’s European Championship appears to show Premier League’s David Coote using a rolled-up US note to sniff out a line of white powder, which he later communicates via WhatsApp Sent to a friend. The footage has not been independently verified by the BBC.
