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Here are all the main announcements from Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s autumn statement to MPs:

Energy bills

• Energy bill aid for households extended beyond April for a further year through energy price guarantee, but average annual bill will be £3,000 from current £2,500. Amounts to around £500 support for households.

• Additional cost of living payments next year of £900 to households on means-tested benefits; £300 to pensioner households and £150 for individuals on disability benefit.

Autumn statement – latest reaction

• An additional £1bn of funding to enable a further twelve month extension to the household support fund.

• Government will proceed with the Sizewell C new nuclear plant with £700m investment by taxpayer to bolster energy security and diversify further from harmful carbon.

• New funding, from 2025, of a further £6bn in energy efficiency.

• Working age and disability benefits uprated by inflation with an increase of 10.1% at cost of £11bn.

• Over 600,000 more people on Universal Credit to be forced to meet with a work coach in a bid to get more into the workforce and better-paid jobs.

• Increase in social rents to be capped at a maximum of 7% in 2023/24.

• National Living Wage to rise by 9.7% from April to an hourly rate of £10.42, an annual pay rise worth over £1600 to a full time worker.

Pensions

• Pension credit to rise by 10.1%, worth up to £1470 for a couple and £960 for a single pensioner. This delivers on promise under the so-called triple-lock.

Tax

• Reduces the threshold at which the 45p rate becomes payable from £150,000 to £125,140.

• Maintains freeze on the income tax personal allowance, higher rate threshold, main national insurance thresholds and the inheritance tax thresholds for a further two years – to April 2028.

• Dividend allowance will be cut from £2,000 to £1,000 next year and then to £500 from April 2024.

• The annual exempt amount for capital gains tax will be cut from £12,300 to £6,000 next year and then to £3,000 from April 2024.

• From April 2025, electric vehicles will no longer be exempt from vehicle excise duty.

• Stamp duty cuts announced in the mini-budget will remain in place, but only until 31 March 2025.

• While the employer’s National Insurance contributions threshold is frozen until April 2028, the employment allowance will be retained at its new, higher level of £5,000 until March 2026.

• R&D tax relief for SMEs deduction rate cut to 86% and the credit rate to 10% but increase the rate of the separate R&D expenditure credit from 13% to 20%.

• Windfall tax on major oil and gas producers raised to 35% from 25%. A 45% energy profits levy rate to be imposed on electricity generators to raise a combined £14bn next year.

• Nearly two thirds of properties will not pay a penny more in business rates next year. Says thousands of pubs, restaurants, and small high street shops will benefit to the tune of £14bn over five years.

Business support

• By the end of next year, changes to EU regulations in five growth industries: digital technology, life sciences, green industries, financial services and advanced manufacturing will have been decided.

• Plan to help make Britain the “new Silicon Valley” will also see public funding for R&D (research and development) increased to £20bn by 2024/5.

• “We will deliver the core Northern Powerhouse Rail”. Promises existing funding for HS2 to Manchester, East West Rail., new hospitals programme and gigabit broadband rollout.

NHS

• Adult social care secures additional grant funding of £1bn next year and £1.7bn the year after. Says this means an increase in funding available for the social care sector of up to £2.8bn and £4.7bn respectively.

• Increases the NHS budget, in each of the next two years, by an extra £3.3bn.

• To invest an extra £2.3bn per year in our schools.

• An extra £1.5bn for the Scottish government, £1.2bn for the Welsh government and £650m for the Northern Ireland Executive.

Economy

• Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) forecasts borrowing in this financial year of £177bn, £140bn in 2023/4.

• OBR sees “overall” UK growth in 2022 of 4.2% but economy now in recession. Contraction of 1.4% expected in 2023.

• OBR sees a rise in unemployment from 3.6% today to 4.9% in 2024.

• OBR sees an average inflation rate this year of 9.1% and 7.4% next year.

• Two new fiscal rules: Underlying debt must fall as a percentage of gross domestic product by the fifth year of a rolling five-year period, and that public sector borrowing must be below 3% of GDP over the same period.

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Israel warns Gaza City residents to flee south to ‘humanitarian area’

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Israel warns Gaza City residents to flee south to 'humanitarian area'

Any remaining residents in Gaza’s largest city should leave for a designated area in the south, Israel’s military has warned.

Israeli forces are carrying out an offensive on suburbs of Gaza City, in the territory’s north, as part of plans to capture it – raising concern over an already-devastating humanitarian crisis.

While Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has faced pressure to stop the attack and allow more aid in, the military has announced a new humanitarian zone in the south.

Spokesperson Avichay Adraee said Gaza City residents should head to a designated coastal area of Khan Younis.

There, he said they would be able to receive food, medical care and shelter.

On Thursday, Israel said it has control of around 40% of Gaza City and 75% of the entire territory of Gaza.

Many of the city’s residents had already been displaced earlier in the war, only to return later. Some of them have said they will refuse to move again.

That’s despite the military claiming it is within a few kilometres of the city centre, coming after weeks of heavy strikes.

But the war in Gaza has left Israel increasingly isolated in the diplomatic sphere, with some of its closest allies condemning the campaign that’s devastated the territory.

Just two weeks ago, a famine was declared in Gaza City and surrounding areas by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, a globally recognised system for classifying the severity of food insecurity.

A resident runs with his belongings in Gaza City. Pic: Reuters
Image:
A resident runs with his belongings in Gaza City. Pic: Reuters

There is also concern within Israel, where calls have grown to stop the war and secure the release of the remaining 48 hostages.

Israel believes 20 of those hostages are still alive.

Even as relatives of those hostages lead protests, Mr Netanyahu continues to push for an all-or-nothing deal to release all hostages and defeat Hamas.

Read more:
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On Friday, Donald Trump said Washington is in “very deep” negotiations with Hamas to release the captives.

“We said let them all out, right now let them all out. And much better things will happen for them but if you don’t let them all out, it’s going to be a tough situation, it’s going to be nasty,” he added.

Hamas is “asking for some things that are fine”, he said, without elaborating.

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‘Don’t bite me’: Man heard screaming moments before fatal shark attack in Sydney

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'Don't bite me': Man heard screaming moments before fatal shark attack in Sydney

A man was heard screaming in the water moments before he died after a shark attack in Sydney, witnesses have said.

Emergency services responded to reports that a man in his 50s had suffered critical injuries at Long Reef Beach shortly after 10am (1am in the UK) on Saturday.

The man, whose identity has yet to be confirmed, was brought to shore but died at the scene, authorities have said.

Two sections of a surfboard have been recovered and taken for examination, and beaches near the area are closed as drones search for the animal.

Police are liaising with wildlife experts to determine the species of shark involved.

Pic: Sky News Australia
Image:
Pic: Sky News Australia

Surfer screamed ‘don’t bite me’

Speaking to Sky News Australia, witness Mark Morgenthal said he saw the attack and that the shark was one of the biggest he had ever seen.

“There was a guy screaming, ‘I don’t want to get bitten, I don’t want to get bitten, don’t bite me,’ and I saw the dorsal fin of the shark come up, and it was huge,” Mr Morgenthal said.

“Then I saw the tail fin come up and start kicking, and the distance between the dorsal fin and the tail fin looked to be about four metres, so it actually looked like a six-metre shark.”

Mark Morgenthal said it 'looked like a six metre shark' in the attack. Pic: Sky News Australia
Image:
Mark Morgenthal said it ‘looked like a six metre shark’ in the attack. Pic: Sky News Australia

Victim was a father and experienced surfer

New South Wales Police Superintendent John Duncan said at a press conference that the victim was 57 years old, calling the incident a “terrible tragedy”.

“The gentleman had gone out about 9.30 this morning with some of his friends, about five or six of his mates,” he added. “He’s an experienced surfer that we understand.

“Unfortunately, it would appear that a large, what we believe to be a shark, has attacked him. And as a result of that, he lost a number of limbs.

“His colleagues managed to make it back to the beach safely, and a short time later, his body was found floating in the surf, and a couple of other people went out and recovered it.”

Mr Duncan added that officers “understand he leaves behind a wife and a young daughter… and obviously tomorrow being Father’s Day is particularly critical and particularly tragic”.

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Local surfer and eyewitness Bill Sakula also told reporters at the beach: “It’s going to send shockwaves through the community.

“Everyone is going to be a little bit nervous for a while.”

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Surf Life Saving NSW has deployed a drone to search for further shark activity.

Its chief executive Steve Pearce said: “Our deepest condolences go to the family of the man involved in this terrible tragedy.”

Shark attacks are very rare, with this incident widely thought to be the first in New South Wales this year.

The last time a person in Sydney was killed in a shark attack was in February 2022 – the city’s first fatal shark attack since 1963.

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British couple killed in Lisbon funicular crash named

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British couple killed in Lisbon funicular crash named

Two of the three Britons killed in the Lisbon funicular crash have been named.

Kayleigh Smith, 36, and William Nelson, 44, were a couple and died alongside 14 others in Wednesday’s incident.

Ms Smith graduated from the Arden School of Theatre in Manchester, where Mr Nelson ran the master’s degree in directing.

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Lisbon crash: What happened?

The identity of the third British victim has not yet been confirmed.

MADS theatre in Macclesfield, Cheshire, said Ms Smith was a “valued member of our society” who will be “greatly missed”.

It said she was an award-winning director and actress, who had also done multiple crew and front-of-house roles.

Five Portuguese citizens died when the packed carriage plummeted out of control – four of them workers at a charity on the hill – but most victims were foreigners.

Police said the other fatalities were two Canadians, two South Koreans, one American, one French citizen, one Swiss and one Ukrainian.

All but one were declared dead at the scene – and 21 others in the packed carriage were injured.

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‘We felt no brakes anymore’

The yellow carriages of the Gloria funicular are a big draw for tourists, as well as a proud symbol of the Portuguese capital.

The journey is just 265m (870ft) up a steep hill and takes three minutes, with two carriages travelling in opposite directions on a linked cable.

Read more:
Everything we know about the Lisbon crash

Witnesses reported seeing one of the carriages hurtle down the hill before derailing and crashing 30m from the bottom.

The aftermath shows it crumpled and twisted against the side of a building.

People who were in the bottom carriage said they were a few metres into the climb when it started going backwards.

When they saw the other car speeding towards them, many jumped through the windows to escape.

The crash happened around 6pm on Wednesday. Pic: Reuters
Image:
The crash happened around 6pm on Wednesday. Pic: Reuters

Prime Minister Luis Montenegro called the crash “one of the biggest tragedies of our recent past” and authorities are under intense pressure to quickly identifying the cause.

One witness who was in the lower carriage told Sky’s Europe correspondent Alistair Bunkall that the brakes appeared to fail.

The carriage’s brakeman, Andre Marques, has also been confirmed among the dead.

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‘I screamed, we’re all going to die’

Officials said the streetcar, which has been running since 1914, had a half-hour visual inspection every day and underwent full maintenance last year.

The line links the downtown area near Restauradores Square with Lisbon’s Bairro Alto neighbourhood.

A preliminary technical report due on Friday has now been delayed until Saturday. Another report with a broader scope is expected within 45 days.

Three other funicular lines in Lisbon have been suspended.

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