Rachel Reeves dismisses reports universal free school meals could be axed in cost-cutting drive

Published

18 hours ago

March 25, 2025

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Rachel Reeves has pushed back at suggestions ministers are considering ending universal free school meals for primary school children.

The chancellor said she did not “recognise” reports in The Times that Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, had suggested making free school meals for younger pupils means tested instead of universal, as is the case for older children.

Currently, all children in reception, year one and year two are entitled to free school meals, but according to the newspaper, Ms Phillipson made the recommendation as part of a package to reduce school spending by £500m.

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A source close to Ms Phillipson told Sky News the reports were “complete rubbish” while the chancellor pointed to the government’s decision to roll out free breakfast clubs in all primary schools from April.

Ms Reeves told broadcasters: “This government is rolling out free breakfast clubs in all primary schools from April.

“I don’t recognise those claims that the government are looking at means-testing free school meals.

“In fact, this government are ensuring that all children get a good start to the day with a breakfast club, helping working parents and helping all children get a good start in life.

“That is what this government is determined to do after 14 years of Conservative failure.”

On Wednesday the chancellor is expected to deliver a spring statement that sets out savings of around £10bn, including the £5bn of welfare savings announced last week.

Ms Reeves has also confirmed the civil service will be forced to cut £2bn a year by slashing administration costs by the end of the decade – although the savings will be used to protect frontline services from cutbacks.

The proposed cuts follow a speech by the prime minister in which he announced the abolition of NHS England, the administrative body that runs the national health service, in a bid to slash red tape and cut costs.

Today Sir Keir Starmer said the government was “looking across the board” at making cuts to unprotected departmental budgets.

“We’re not going to alter the basics, but we are going to look across and one of the areas that we will be looking at is: can we run the government more efficiently?” he told the BBC.

As well as suggestions that free school meals could be curtailed, The Times also said Ms Phillipson had offered to stop funding for free period products in schools as well as dance, music and PE schemes.

The source close to Ms Phillipson also denied those claims, saying: “It’s no secret that there are some tough choices coming down the track – but if people don’t think Bridget is going to fight tooth and nail to protect programmes that support the most disadvantaged children, they don’t know Bridget very well.

“Any suggestions those things are being ‘offered up’ is complete rubbish.”

At the same time, Ms Reeves has drawn criticism for hinting she could abolish or slash the digital services tax paid by tech companies while reducing benefits for ill and disabled people.

The levy, introduced in 2020 under former Conservative prime minister Rishi Sunak, ensures that digital companies with global sales exceeding £500m and with at least £25m worth of UK sales pay a tax of 2% on those UK sales.

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said changing the policy would amount to “appeasement” of Donald Trump following reports the government could alter or abandon the tax in a bid to avoid punitive US tariffs.

Asked if the government was also considering abolishing or slashing the digital services tax paid by tech companies, Ms Reeves said: “Digital services tax is hugely important, it brings in around £800m a year and ensures that companies pay tax in the country that they are operating in.

“So we will continue to make sure that businesses pay their fair share of tax, including businesses in the digital sector.”

Addressing the cuts that are expected in Wednesday’s spring statement, the prime minister’s official spokesperson said: “The whole cabinet is focused on delivering high quality public services.

“This is shown in fixing the NHS and giving our kids the best opportunities and doing it to give taxpayers the best value for money.”

Turning to the suggestions the digital services tax could be axed, the spokesman added the UK would only do a deal with the US that was “in this country’s national interest”.

Politics

JD Vance even less popular with Brits than Donald Trump, new polls shows

Published

10 mins ago

March 25, 2025

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JD Vance even less popular with Brits than Donald Trump, new polls shows

JD Vance is less liked among the UK public than Donald Trump, Sir Keir Starmer or any other major UK politician, a new poll shared with Sky News has found.

Just 14% of the British public have a favourable view of the US vice president, compared with 21% for Mr Trump and 29% for the prime minister and Reform UK leader Nigel Farage.

Ipsos questioned 1,132 adults aged 18 and over across Great Britain online between the 14 and 17 March – just weeks after the heated exchange between Mr Vance, Mr Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the White House over military assistance to Ukraine.

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The poll was carried out before a conversation on the messaging app Signal – between US officials, including the vice president – was accidentally leaked to an American journalist, who was added to the encrypted chat in error.

In the conversation, Mr Vance and other officials – including National Security Adviser Michael Waltz, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth – discussed plans to conduct airstrikes on Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis, which took place on 15 March.

During the discussion, Mr Vance questioned the rationale behind the military action, arguing that attacking the Houthis would largely serve European interests, with the continent benefiting from US protection of shipping lanes in the Red Sea that are a frequent target for attacks

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In a message addressed to Mr Hegseth, Mr Vance said: “If you think we should do it let’s go. I just hate bailing Europe out again.”

Mr Hegseth, who had made the case for military action against the Houthis, replied: “I fully share your loathing of European free-loading. PATHETIC.”

Keiran Pedley, Ipsos director of politics, told Sky News: “It is clear from these numbers that Vance is unpopular with the British public.

“A majority hold an unfavourable view of the vice president, including clear majorities of Conservative, Labour and Lib Dem voters. Reform UK supporters are more split, with slightly more holding an unfavourable view than a favourable one.”

The leak of the messages to Jeffrey Goldberg, The Atlantic’s editor in chief, has raised concerns about US national security and the Trump’s administration’s attitude towards Europe as it seeks to reach a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine to end the war.

President Trump has dismissed the significance of the accidental leaking of US military intelligence to Mr Goldberg, telling Garrett Haake, a reporter from Sky News’ US partner network NBC, that the journalist was “a sleazeball” and that his presence on the Signal chain had “no impact at all”.

Asked how he came to be added to the chat, Mr Trump said it was one of Mr Waltz’s staffers who “had his number on there”.

Asked if he still had confidence in Waltz, Trump said he did: “Michael Waltz has learned a lesson, and he’s a good man.”

The US president also expressed confidence in his team and supported comments by his defence secretary that the story was a non-issue, arguing it was “the only glitch in two months, and it turned out not to be a serious one”.

Downing Street has also insisted it is confident any UK intelligence shared with the US was being handled appropriately.

The prime minister’s official spokesman said: “The US is our closest ally when it comes to matters of defence, we have a long-standing relationship on intelligence and defence cooperation.

“We will continue to build on the very strong relationship we already have with the US on defence and security matters.”

Politics

Cboe seeks approval for Fidelity’s Solana ETF

Published

22 mins ago

March 25, 2025

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<div>Cboe seeks approval for Fidelity's Solana ETF</div>

Cboe BZX Exchange, a US securities exchange, has requested permission to list a proposed Fidelity exchange-traded fund (ETF) holding Solana (SOL), according to March 25 filings.

The request now sits with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, which must approve the filing before trading of the Fidelity Solana Fund can commence on the exchange.

This is the latest in a spate of filings with the federal agency by exchanges and fund sponsors seeking to launch ETFs holding SOL and other cryptocurrencies.

On March 12, Cboe filed to list another spot SOL ETF sponsored by asset manager Franklin Templeton.

Cryptocurrencies, Investments, SEC, Markets, United States, Cryptocurrency Exchange, Donald Trump, CME, Solana, Ethereum ETF, Bitcoin ETF, ETF — *Source:* *James Seyfart/Bloomberg Intelligence*

Numerous filings

Cboe’s filing comes after asset manager Volatility Shares launched an ETF using financial derivatives known as futures to track the performance of spot SOL.

Launched in March, Volatility Shares Solana ETF (SOLZ) and the Volatility Shares 2X Solana ETF (SOLT) are the first ETFs providing US investors with exposure to Solana’s native token. The SOLT ETF tracks SOL’s performance with 2x leverage.

Analysts at Bloomberg Intelligence peg the odds at 70% that US regulators approve a spot SOL ETF this year, according to a February post on the X platform.

Other asset managers seeking to list spot SOL ETFs include Grayscale, VanEck, 21Shares, Canary and Bitwise, according to Bloomberg Intelligence.

On March 17, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), the US’s largest derivatives exchange, launched SOL futures contracts. Experts say this is further indication that spot SOL ETFs will soon be approved in the US.

Roughly a dozen asset managers are seeking the SEC’s approval to launch altcoin ETFs in the US. The proposed ETFs for altcoins range from Litecoin (LTC) and XRP (XRP) to Dogecoin (DOGE) and Official Trump (TRUMP).

Issuers are also asking for the SEC to approve changes to existing ETFs, including allowances for staking, options and in-kind redemptions.

The SEC eased its stance on cryptocurrency after US President Donald Trump began his second term in January.

Under former President Joe Biden, the SEC brought upwards of 100 lawsuits against crypto firms, alleging various securities law violations. In 2024, the regulator greenlighted spot Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) ETFs but stymied proposed ETFs tied to other cryptocurrencies.

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Brazil’s data watchdog upholds ban on World crypto payments

Published

31 mins ago

March 25, 2025

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Brazil’s data watchdog upholds ban on World crypto payments

Brazil’s data protection agency has upheld its decision to restrict cryptocurrency compensation tied to the World ID project, citing user privacy concerns.

The National Data Protection Authority (ANDP) rejected a petition by World ID developer Tools For Humanity to review its ban on offering financial compensation to users who provide biometric data through iris scans, the agency said in a March 25 announcement.

ANDP will “maintain the suspension of the granting of financial compensation, in the form of cryptocurrency (Worldcoin – WLD) or in any other format, for any World ID created by collecting iris scans of personal data subjects in Brazil,” a translated version of the announcement reads.

The company faces a daily fine of 50,000 Brazilian reais ($8,800) if it resumes data collection activities.

Cointelegraph reached out to Tools for Humanity but had not received a response at the time of publication.

Brazil, Identity, Identification, Worldcoin — *World ID verification in Brazil was short-lived, with the ANDP banning data collection more than two months after it was launched in the country. Source:* *Worldcoin*

ANDP’s investigation into World, formerly known as Worldcoin, began in November of last year amid concerns that financial rewards could compromise users’ ability to consent to offering sensitive biometric data.

The controversial “World ID” is created when users agree to iris scans, which generates a unique digital passport that can authenticate humans online.

As Cointelegraph reported, Tools For Humanity was ordered to stop offering services to Brazilians as of Jan. 25.

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Although World ID has run afoul of Brazilian law, the use of digital identification methods is growing in other markets due to the rise of AI deepfakes and Sybil attacks.

The rise of bots and AI is also watering down online discourse on social media platforms such as X and Facebook. As Cointelegraph reported, up to 15% of X accounts are believed to be bots.

Research from blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis also showed that generative AI is making crypto scams more profitable by enabling the creation of fake identities.

Some companies are attempting to create digital identity solutions without triggering privacy concerns and regulatory crackdowns. Earlier this year, Billions Network launched its own digital identity platform that doesn’t require biometric data.

The platform is based on a zero-knowledge verification technology known as Circom and has already been tested by major financial institutions such as HSBC and Deutsche Bank.

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