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Here are the key points from Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s budget speech:

Economy - graphic for rolling budget coverage 27 October

• The chancellor says there are “challenging” months ahead, adding that inflation in September was 3.1% and is likely to rise further – the OBR expect it to average 4% over the next year

• Pressures caused by supply chains and energy crisis will “take months to ease”.

• Economy to return to its pre-COVID level at the turn of the year – an improvement on OBR forecasts revealed in March

• Economy expected to grow by 6% in 2022, and 2.1%, 1.3% and 1.6% over the next three years

• In July last year, at the height of the pandemic, unemployment was expected to peak at 12% but the OBR now expect it to peak at 5.2%

• Compared to 2020, wages have grown by 3.4%

Debt and borrowing - graphic for rolling budget coverage 27 October

• Underlying debt is forecast to be 85.2% of GDP this year

• It will reach 85.4% in 2022-23, before peaking at 85.7% in 2023-24

• It then falls in the final three years of the forecast from 85.1% to 83.3%

• Total departmental spending over this parliament will increase by £150bn, growing by 3.8% a year in real terms

NHS - graphic for rolling budget coverage 27 October

• Spending on healthcare to increase by £44bn to over £177bn by the end of this parliament

• Extra revenue from health and social care levy will go towards NHS and social care as promised

• Health budget will be the largest since 2010, with record investment in research and development, better screening, 40 new hospitals and 70 hospital upgrades

Crime - graphic for rolling budget coverage 27 October

• Mr Sunak says the budget funds an ambition to recruit 20,000 new police officers

• Extra £2.2bn for courts, prisons and probation services, including £500m to reduce the backlog in courts

• Programmes to tackle neighbourhood crime, reoffending, county lines crimes, violence against women and girls, victims’ services, and improved response to rape allegations

• £3.8bn for the “largest prison-building programme in a generation”

Housing - graphic for rolling budget coverage 27 October

• £11.5bn to build up to 180,000 affordable home – 20% more than the previous programme

• £1.8bn to bring 1,500 hectares of brownfield land into use

• £640m a year to help those who are rough sleepers and homeless

Cladding - graphic for rolling budget coverage 27 October

• £5bn to remove unsafe cladding from the highest risk buildings, partly funded by a residential property developers’ tax, which will be levied on developers with profits over £25m at the rate of 4%

Transport - graphic for rolling budget coverage 27 October

• £21bn for roads as part of a larger investment in transport

• £2.6bn for upgrades of over 50 local roads

• More than £5bn for road maintenance – enough to fill one million more potholes a year

• More than £5bn for buses, cycling and walking improvements

• HGV levy (previously suspended until August) will now be suspended until 2023

• Vehicle excise duty for heavy goods vehicles to be frozen

• Funding to improve lorry park facilities

Rail - graphic for rolling budget coverage 27 October

• £46bn investment in railways, with an integrated rail plan to be published soon

• £5.7bn for London-style transport settlements in Greater Manchester, Liverpool City Region, Tees Valley, South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, West Midlands, West of England

Child services - graphic for rolling budget coverage 27 October

• £300m for parenting programmes for families, tailored services to help with perinatal mental health

• £150m to support training and development for early years workforce

• £200m for Supporting Families programme which helps families with varied needs

• Over £200m to continue the holiday activity and food programme

• £560m for youth services – enough to fund up to 300 youth clubs in England

• More than £200m to build or transform up to 8,000 community football pitches in the UK

• £2bn new funding to help schools and colleges, bringing total support (some already announced) to almost £5bn

• Restoring per pupil funding to 2010 levels in real terms, equivalent to a cash increase for every pupil of more than £1,500

• 30,000 new school places for children with special needs and disabilities

Business support - graphic for rolling budget coverage 27 October

• New 50% business rates discount for businesses in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors, including pubs, music venues, cinemas, restaurants, hotels, theatres, and gyms

• This will mean any eligible business can claim a discount up to a maximum of £110,000 – a tax cut worth almost £1.7bn

• Mr Sunak says that, together with small business rates relief, this means more than 90% of all businesses in these sectors will see a discount of at least 50%

Alcohol duty - graphic for rolling budget coverage 27 October

• An overhaul of alcohol duty, cutting the number of main duty rates from 15 to six – the stronger the drink, the higher the rate

• Small producer relief will extend the principle of small brewers’ relief to small cidermakers and others making alcoholic drinks of less than 8.5% ABV

• Sparkling wines will pay the same duty as still wines of equivalent strength, rather than the 28% they currently pay. Duty will also be cut for fruit cider

Fuel duty - graphic for rolling budget coverage 27 October

• Planned rise in fuel duty will be cancelled, meaning that – after 12 consecutive years of frozen rates, the average car driver will save a total of £1,900

Coronavirus - graphic for rolling budget coverage 27 October

• National living wage to increase next year by 6.6% to £9.50 an hour. For a full time worker, that’s a pay rise worth over £1,000

• This move will help more than two million of the lowest-paid workers, Mr Sunak says

Tax - graphic for rolling budget coverage 27 October

• Mr Sunak says his goal is to reduce taxes and the universal credit taper, which reduces financial support as people work more hours, is in his sights

• The rate is currently 63%, so for every extra £1 someone earns, their universal credit is reduced by 63p. Mr Sunak announces plans to cut this by 8 percentage points (from 63% to 55%). This will come into effect “within weeks”

• Work allowances being increased by £500 – combined with the change to the taper, this is a tax cut worth more than £2bn, he says. Nearly two million families will keep, on average, an extra £1,000 a year

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Jaguar Land Rover cyberattack pushes overall UK car production down more than a quarter

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 Jaguar Land Rover cyberattack pushes overall UK car production down more than a quarter

UK car production fell by more than a quarter (27.1%) last month as a cyberattack at Jaguar Land Rover halted manufacturing at the plant, industry figures show.

The total number of vehicles coming off assembly lines – including cars and vans – fell an even sharper 35.9%, according to September data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).

“Largely responsible” for the drop was the five-week pause in production at Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) due to a malicious cyber attack, as other car makers reported growth.

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JLR’s assembly lines in the West Midlands and Halewood on Merseyside were paused from late August to early October as a result.

During this time, not a single vehicle was made. Production has since restarted, but the attack is believed to have been the “most financially damaging” in UK history at an estimated cost of £1.9bn, according to the security body the Cyber Monitoring Centre.

It was the lowest number of cars made in any September in the UK since 1952, including during the COVID-19 lockdown.

More on Cyber Attacks

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Are we in a cyber attack ‘epidemic’?

Despite the restart, the sector remains “under immense pressure”, the SMMT’s chief executive Mike Hawes said.

The phased restart of operations led to a small boost in manufacturing output this month, according to a closely watched survey.

Of the cars that were made, nearly half (47.8%) were battery electric, plug-in hybrid or hybrid.

The vast majority, 76% of the total vehicles output, were made for export.

The top destinations are the European Union, US, Turkey, Japan and South Korea.

JLR was just the latest business to be the subject of a cyberattack.

Harrods, the Co-Op, and Marks and Spencer, are among the companies that have struggled in the past year with such attacks.

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English Championship side Sheffield Wednesday file for administration

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English Championship side Sheffield Wednesday file for administration

Championship club Sheffield Wednesday have filed for administration, according to a court filing, which will result in the already struggling side being hit with a 12-point deduction.

The South Yorkshire club currently sit bottom of the Championship, the second tier of English football, with just six points from 11 games.

Known as The Owls, Wednesday are one of the oldest surviving clubs in world football, with more than 150 years of history.

Court records confirm the club have filed for administration. A notice was filed at a specialist court at 10.01am.

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Sky’s Rob Harris reports on the news that Sheffield Wednesday have filed for administration

What has happened?

The Owls, who host Oxford United on Saturday, have been in turmoil for a long time.

On 3 June, owner Dejphon Chansiri, a Thai canned fish magnate who took over the club in 2015, was charged with breaching EFL regulations regarding payment obligations.

Sheffield Wednesday fans protest the ownership at a game away to Leeds United in January. Pic: Reuters
Image:
Sheffield Wednesday fans protest the ownership at a game away to Leeds United in January. Pic: Reuters

Weeks later, Mr Chansiri said he was willing to sell the club in a statement on their official website.

Sheffield Wednesday's troubles have sparked furious protests from fans. Pic: PA
Image:
Sheffield Wednesday’s troubles have sparked furious protests from fans. Pic: PA

Their crisis deepened just days later when another embargo was imposed on the club relating to payments owed to HMRC, before players and staff were not paid on time on 30 June.

In the months that followed, forwards Josh Windass and Michael Smith left the club by mutual consent. Manager Danny Rohl, now at Rangers, also left by mutual consent.

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Frustrated Sheffield Wednesday supporters have targeted their embattled club’s owner in a highly-visible protest during their opening match of the season.

The Owls were forced to close the 9,255-capacity North Stand at Hillsborough after a Prohibition Notice was issued by Sheffield City Council.

‘Current uncertainty’

On 6 August, the EFL released a statement, saying: “We are clear that the current owner needs either to fund the club to meet its obligations or make good on his commitment to sell to a well-funded party, for fair market value – ending the current uncertainty and impasse.”

On 13 August, the Prohibition Notice was lifted, but a month later, news emerged of a winding-up petition over £1m owed to HMRC.

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Last season, Wednesday finished 12th. They had already been placed under registration embargoes in the last two seasons after being hit by a six-point deduction during the 2020/21 campaign, for breaching profit and sustainability rules.

With a 12-point deduction, the Owls would be 15 points away from safety in the Championship.

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Retail sales the highest in three years in a surprise to economists

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Retail sales the highest in three years in a surprise to economists

Retail sales are at the highest level in more than three years, in the latest measure of the UK economy to confound economists.

The amounts bought in shops rose 0.5% in September, far above the 0.2% contraction anticipated by economists polled by Reuters.

It was the fourth monthly rise in a row and brought volumes to their highest level since July 2022.

Money latest: Restaurant sends bitter message to customers

Doing well were computer and telecommunications retailers as the iPhone 17 launched in the month, while online jewellers reported strong demand for gold despite the price hovering around record highs.

Gold has been in demand, and in recent days reached a record high, as some investors moved money out of the US dollar and government bonds amid the ongoing government shutdown.

It came despite a rainy month – which typically keeps shoppers at home – and a five-day tube strike in London.

The impact of the rain could be seen, however, in the boost to online spending, which rose to one of the highest levels since the end of the pandemic.

A fall was recorded in food shop sales from August to September, signalling a response to high food price inflation.

A good week for the economy?

Retail sales figures are significant as they measure household consumption, the largest expenditure in the UK economy.

Growing retail sales can mean economic growth, which the government has repeatedly said is its top priority.

Earlier this week, another key economic measure came in better than expected.

Inflation remained at 3.8% rather than rising to the widely expected 4% – double the target rate set by the interest rate-setters at the Bank of England.

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Post Office compensation ‘worse than original injustice’

Consumers were feeling better about their finances, a closely watched measure of consumer confidence showed on Friday.

Buying sentiment is up from last month, according to market research company GFK, as intentions to buy big-ticket items like electrical goods and furniture rose.

Combined, it suggests people are not feeling too gloomy in the run-up to the November budget.

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