Budget 2026: Healey hikes taxes on banks and landlords to fund £100 handouts to 20m households
Posted on Wednesday October 28, 2026

Few surprises as chancellor uses low-key speech blaming ‘global economic storms’ for stoking energy prices and cost of living crisis

• Budget 2026: key points at a glance

• Briefing: key questions answered by Heather Stewart and Pippa Crerar

• Editorial: Budget’s bold ambitions and welcome first steps

John Healey raised taxes on banks and landlords to fund a £100 winter handout for 20 million families as official forecasts made clear there is no end in sight for the cost of living crisis.

In his first budget, the chancellor blamed “global economic storms” for the grim outlook, as the war in Iran drives up oil and gas prices.

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Budget 2026: key points at a glance
Posted on Wednesday October 28, 2026

John Healey has announced his first budget – here are the main points, with political analysis

• Healey offers £100 payment to households to help navigate ‘global economic storms’

• UK growth forecast for 2027 slashed despite Healey’s budget measures

John Healey starts by saying that his budget is “delivered at a time when global uncertainties and pressures are swirling worldwide and hitting people here at home”.

Healey says he will meet the fiscal rule that day-to-day spending must be covered by tax receipts, and the investment rule that government debt, defined as public sector net financial liabilities, must be falling as a percentage of GDP in the third year of the forecast.

The government will have £15bn of headroom in 2029-30 and £22bn in 2030-31, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility, the government’s forecaster.

Government borrowing will be 4.2% of GDP this year, 3.4% next year, then 2.9%, 2.1% and 1.8% by 2030-31, the OBR says.

Predictions of slowing growth were wrong, Healey says. The OBR says GDP will grow by 1.2% this year, 1% next year, 1.6% in 2028, 1.8% in 2029, 1.7% in 2030 and 1.6% in 2031. In March the OBR had predicted GDP growth of 1.1% in 2026, rising to 1.6% in 2027 and 2028, and dropping to 1.5% in 2029 and 2030.

Government debt is forecast to be 83.2% of GDP this year, 83.8% next year then falling to 83.1%, 82.3% and 81.7% in the following years.

Labour’s priority is cheaper energy, Healey says. He announces a series of measures to try to cut bills, including scrapping a levy on bills to fund hydrogen to lower bills and moving older renewables onto fixed-price contracts.

Healey says the government will extend a VAT cut through the winter and spring to July, taking £50 pounds off the annual price cap.

He confirms the government is abolishing standing charges on gas bills for 23m homes in a move it says will save two-thirds of households an average of £45 a year.

He says 20m households in council tax bands A to D will receive a £100 energy payment paid directly into bank accounts. It will cost £2.6bn, he says.

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‘A pretty grim picture’: outlook for UK living standards slashed despite Healey’s budget
Posted on Wednesday October 28, 2026

OBR cautions about Middle East war dragging down growth and triggering a fresh cost of living crisis

• Healey offers £100 payment to households to help navigate ‘global economic storms’

• Budget 2026: key points at a glance

• Budget 2026 live – latest updates

British households face a “grim picture” for living standards as the war in the Middle East drags down growth and triggers a fresh cost of living crisis, the government’s independent forecaster has said.

As John Healey announced his first budget, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) issued its report showing a sharp downgrade for growth in 2027, household disposable incomes and the public finances, despite the measures taken by the chancellor.

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Budget 2026: what it means for your wallet, your mortgage and your pay
Posted on Wednesday October 28, 2026

How the chancellor’s measures on tax, benefits and pensions will affect your personal finances

• Healey offers £100 payment to households to help navigate ‘global economic storms’

• Budget 2026: key points at a glance

• Budget 2026 calculator: find out if you are better or worse off

Josh graduated two years ago from an English university and is back home in London. He earns £28,500, out of which he pays £3,186 in income tax and £1,274 in national insurance (NI) contributions a year. This results in take-home pay of £2,003 a month or £24,040 a year. Despite an outcry, the salary threshold for repaying his plan 2 student loan will remain frozen at £29,385 for three years from next April, so any pay rise is likely to trigger payments. Graduates must repay 9% of earnings over the threshold.

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AI bots flooded 2023 UK government consultation on disposable vapes ban
Posted on Tuesday October 27, 2026

Three-quarters of all responses were machine-generated in failed attempt to stop bill from passing into law, research finds

AI bots flooded a government consultation with tens of thousands of fake responses in a failed attempt to stop the UK’s ban on disposable vapes.

Three-quarters of all the responses to the 2023 consultation on the tobacco and vapes bill were machine-generated, in what is thought to be the first coordinated attempt to use AI to derail health policymaking in the UK.

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‘Meaningless as a laptop screensaver’: reviewers slate Musk’s AI-made Odyssey film
Posted on Tuesday October 27, 2026

Tesla tycoon launched Grok project after criticising Christoper Nolan’s diverse casting for his Homeric blockbuster

Elon Musk has released an AI-generated rival to Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey after pledging to make a version “true to the art of Homer”.

Having criticised the hit movie in the summer, the tycoon said he would use Grok Imagine to make a “historically accurate” adaptation.

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Liverpool v Chelsea: Carabao Cup fourth round – live
Posted on Wednesday October 28, 2026

⚽ Latest updates from Anfield, 8pm (GMT) kick-off
⚽ Live scores | Football Daily | And email Scott here

Basque pals Andoni and Xabi embrace warmly … but so much for friendship, because Chelsea turn Liverpool around, so the home side are kicking towards the Kop in this first half. They’re not huge fans of that. They kick off.

The teams are out! Liverpool in red, Chelsea in blue. These lads always look good when they play each other. We’ll be off in a couple of minutes!

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Arsenal v Benfica: Women’s Champions League – live
Posted on Wednesday October 28, 2026

⚽ Minute-by-minute updates from 8pm (GMT) kick-off
⚽ Live scoreboard | Moving the Goalposts newsletter

1 min Benfica, in white, kick off from right to left as we watch.

The players are ready for action on a crisp, chilly night at Meadow Park. Let’s play!

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