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Nigel Farage skips budget in Commons over seating ‘altercation’ concerns

Reform UK leader ‘shocked’ by £10bn pledged to Ukraine and doubles down on cutting tax for crypto investors

Nigel Farage skipped the chancellor’s first budget because he was worried he would get in a “physical altercation” with another MP in a row over seating arrangements.

The Reform UK leader was not present in the House of Commons but gave a press conference afterwards in which he said he was “shocked” by the £10bn going to support Ukraine and doubled down on his party’s policies on cutting tax for crypto investors.

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© Photograph: Zeynep Demir Aslim/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Zeynep Demir Aslim/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Zeynep Demir Aslim/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock

Markets punish Lula's re-election as fiscal doubts resurface

27 October 2026 at 01:31
Brazil's real and bonds fell sharply on the first trading day after Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's re-election to a fourth term, with the São Paulo stock exchange triggering an automatic trading halt. Investors fear widening fiscal deficits as Lula faces a Congress tilted toward the opposition.

No 10 plays down UK joining EU single market after Burnham suggests referendum would be needed – as it happened

26 October 2026 at 17:22

The prime minister previously said that he wanted a debate on how Britain can establish a closer relationship

Speaking at his rough sleeping summit in Downing Street this morning, Andy Burnham expanded on the claim he made on Good Morning Britain about tackling rough sleeping being cheaper than ignoring the problem. (See 11.13am.)

He said:

We’ve also got to be conscious when we speak to the rest of the country, the taxpayers of this country, that actually to leave people sleeping rough has financial consequences. It doesn’t work for anybody and it doesn’t work for the public purse, because if you leave people in a position where they are in and out of A&E, and in and out of a hospital bed, that doesn’t make sense for anybody.

There is a rock-solid business case to do something to end homelessness, to put people on a path to recovery, so that they can contribute once again. And that should be the thinking that we take to this conversation.

Burnham is throwing another £432m at a problem he failed to solve in Greater Manchester. Under Labour, rough sleeping has hit record highs – yet their answer is always more taxpayers’ money and more empty promises.

[John] Healey must use his budget this week to cut taxes for working people, get the ballooning benefits bill under control, and stop pushing up energy prices.

John Healey is expected to confirm on Wednesday that the full state pension will rise by £489 to £13,036 – equivalent to 3.9%.

However, the rise will push about one million people on low incomes who rely on the state pension above the £12,570 personal allowance threshold, meaning they would be dragged into paying income tax.

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© Photograph: ITV

© Photograph: ITV

© Photograph: ITV

Brazil's top electoral court pauses runoff count after extending voting

26 October 2026 at 01:31
Brazil's top electoral court, the TSE, paused counting votes in the presidential runoff after Justice Cristiano Zanin extended voting nationwide to 6 p.m. local time. The pause came as Lula and Flávio Bolsonaro remained locked in one of the country's tightest races in decades.

Lula and Bolsonaro locked at 50-50 ahead of Brazil runoff

25 October 2026 at 01:48
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and challenger Flávio Bolsonaro held their final televised debate on Friday, trading barbs over the cost of living and corruption just two days before Sunday's runoff. A new Datafolha poll released the same week put both candidates at 50% of valid votes, the tightest reading of the race so far.

Treasury yields post biggest drop since 2023 banking crisis

23 October 2026 at 10:30
U.S. Treasury yields posted their sharpest one-day drop since the 2023 banking crisis as investors rushed into government bonds amid a broader tech-stock sell-off. Analysts described the move as a flight to safety rather than a signal of imminent recession.

France hit by debt sell-off as violent protests unnerve investors

19 October 2026 at 16:23

Difference between French and German borrowing costs widens after public buildings burned and shops looted

France has been hit by a fresh wave of selling in its bond and stock markets after violent protests over the weekend led to thousands of arrests and left public buildings burned and hundreds of shops looted across the country.

The chaos has spooked investors as analysts worried that it would undermine Paris’s efforts to cut spending and reduce its debt.

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© Photograph: SDIS 87/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: SDIS 87/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: SDIS 87/AFP/Getty Images

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