The Chancellor introduced her spending review, which saw increases in NHS and school budgets, but cuts for local governments and the Home Office.
Britain has reached a deal with the EU, which removes the need for checks on the Gibraltar-Spain border, by allowing Spanish border officers to check passports at Gibraltar airport.
Winter fuel payments have been restored for pensioners earning £35,000 or less per year.
Farage has said that Reform will reopen Welsh coal mines, if they win the next Senedd election.
WhatsApp is supporting Apple in a legal battle against the Home Office, who ordered Apple to remove their advanced data protection feature.
The Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, has set out the government’s spending review.
This review increases spending in a number of areas, but also makes some cuts in order to pay for the increases.
Quite a few areas were covered, so I’ll go through the biggest changes in each area, to make it a little easier to follow.
The NHS’s day-to-day budget will increase by an average of 3% over the next three years.
The investment budget will remain the same, despite rises in the past two years.
£10 billion has been allocated to improving NHS technology, including improvements to the NHS App.
The budget for schools in England will increase by an average of 0.4% in real terms over the next three years.
Free school meals are to be extended to around 500,000 more children from September next year, so unfortunately not in time for the next school year.
The day-to-day budget for the Home Office is to decrease by 1.7% in real terms over the next three years.
The government has said that it hopes to decrease the department’s spending, which should help to accommodate the decrease in funding.
One way this could be done is by reducing the use of hotels for asylum seekers, which the government hopes to stop using entirely before the next election.
The day-to-day budget of the Ministry of Defence will increase by 0.7% in real terms, with a 7.3% increase in annual investment.
Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government will have a 1.4% decrease in real terms for their day-to-day budget.
However, the government has argued that councils’ ‘spending power’ will actually increase, but only if they increase council tax - which I’m sure many people won’t love.
The Transport department’s day-to-day spending will be cut by 5% in real terms.
The government say that savings will be made once private train companies are nationalised.
The £3 cap on bus fares in England has been extended until March 2027, which is good, though I did prefer the £2 cap (who didn’t?).
The Energy security department’s budget for day-to-day spending will increase by 0.5% in real terms, plus a 2.6% increase for investment.
£11.5 billion has been allocated for the construction of the Sizewell C nuclear power plant.
The Environment department’s day-to-day budget will decrease by 2.7% in real terms.
The Foreign Office’s day-to-day budget will decrease by 6.8% in real terms over the next three years.
This is largely due to reduced aid spending, which we already knew about, and isn’t really a great thing. Trump cut USAID spending not too long ago, though, granted, he did go quite a lot further than Starmer.
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The UK has reached a deal with the EU regarding Gibraltar, to help border crossings.
Gibraltar is located at the southern tip of Spain, and is a British overseas territory.
Under the new agreement, those arriving at Gibraltar airport will show their passports to both British and Spanish border officers.
This will mean that checks will not be needed on the Gibraltar-Spain border.
This system works in a similar way to the Eurostar in London St Pancras, where both British and French border officers check passports.
Previous Conservative governments have been trying to get a deal regarding Gibraltar since 2020. I think that Starmer might be a little better at negotiating.
The Foreign Minister, David Lammy, has said that “We have reached an agreement which protects British sovereignty, supports Gibraltar's economy and allows businesses to plan for the long-term once again”.
The deal certainly seems to be an improvement for those living in Gibraltar, though does allow Spanish border officers to deny entry - which I’m not sure does protect British sovereignty.
The government has restored winter fuel payments for pensioners earning £35,000 or less per year.
According to the government, this will mean that around 9 million pensioners receive winter fuel payments, compared to only 1.5 million previously.
This move follows the government’s previous decision to remove winter fuel payments for almost all pensioners.
Under new plans, winter fuel payments will be paid to all pensioners, but will then be clawed back in taxes for those earning over £35,000 per year.
The government’s previous decision to cut winter fuel payments was justified by claims that it would save £1.5 billion per year. With the new changes, this saving will now be around £450 million per year.
Still a saving, but nowhere near as big.
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Reform UK leader, Nigel Farage, has said he would reopen Welsh coal mines if Reform wins in the next election.
Speaking in Port Talbot, Farage said it is in the “national interest” to reopen coal mines, as it would provide fuel for new blast furnaces, without relying on other countries.
If you’re wondering whether Welsh people want to work in a mine - Farage is confident that they’d be happy to, if the pay was high enough.
Farage did admit that he’d likely need support from the Labour government in Westminster, even if Reform won the Senedd, which is the Welsh devolved parliament.
The next Welsh elections will be held in May, and YouGov polling from April puts Reform in second place, with 25%, behind Plaid Cymru with 30%.
WhatsApp has said that it will back Apple in their legal battle against the Home Office, over the privacy of user data.
This follows an order from the Home Office that Apple disable their advanced data protection feature, which adds end-to-end encryption to some iCloud data - which means that only the user can access the data.
The Home Office believes end-to-end encryption allows criminals to hide evidence, while Apple is arguing that it protects the privacy of all individuals.
Will Cathcart, the Head of WhatsApp, has said that “WhatsApp would challenge any law or government request that seeks to weaken the encryption of our services and will continue to stand up for people's right to a private conversation online.”
WhatsApp has applied to submit evidence to the court which is hearing Apple’s case.
Want to catch up on what’s been happening the past few weeks, or maybe you missed the UK’s new deal with the EU? Here are a couple posts you might like.
Cover photo sourced from House of Commons.
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