A former Bank of England chief economist has told Sky News that “repeated mistakes” by the government have been “sucking all life” from the economy ahead of the budget.

Andy Haldane said the country had to find a new way of treating the build-up to the annual fiscal event, as budget rumour and speculation – initiated in part by ministers and via leaks – had fed acts of self-harm for the past two years.

“It’s been a bad hand played, in truth, pretty poorly,” he said of the chancellor’s stewardship during his appearance on Mornings with Ridge and Frost.

“So mistakes have been made and repeated mistakes. And the worst of that, I would say, is it’s repeated mistakes.”

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The build up to this budget, and Rachel Reeves‘s first speech last October, have each been dominated by talk of crisis for the public finances.

Mr Haldane told Sophy Ridge: “The black hole narrative that you and I discussed a year ago, sucking all life or energy and light from the economy, has been a mistake repeated this time as well.

“So not enough has been done to give growth a chance to create that stability. It’s only 16 months since Keir Starmer said I want to tread more lightly on our lives. That has singularly not happened. That speculation is proof positive of that.”

Mr Haldane, who served on the Bank’s rate-setting committee for seven years, was speaking after official figures last week showed a bigger than expected climb in the UK’s unemployment rate to 5% – a level not seen since the COVID pandemic.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) also reported weaker than forecast economic growth during the third quarter of the year, slowing to 0.1%.

He argued there was a clear link between the data and the looming budget, which takes place next week.

“If you speak to businesses, speak to consumers, their fearfulness about where the axe will fall is causing them, not unreasonably, to save rather than spend, to not put their balance sheet to work and that has taken the legs from beneath growth in the economy,” he said.

Asked if that was the government’s fault or inevitable, he replied: “The process has become far too elongated and far too leaky, to be honest.

“You know, we have this pretty much daily speculation about the next tax rise… we need to re-engineer that process to either make it watertight, like the Bank of England’s monetary policy decisions or a genuinely open consultation.

“Right now, we have this halfway house of leaks and speculation which serves absolutely no one. Least of all the economy.”

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He made his remarks after the events of last Friday that saw the chancellor apparently rule out a Labour manifesto-breaking hike to income tax.

That was despite Ms Reeves using a speech earlier this month to prepare the ground for such a move – to the horror of many Labour MPs.

Treasury sources insisted the U-turn could be explained by better than expected economic forecasts by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).

Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh’s ousted prime minister, has been sentenced to death after being convicted of crimes against humanity.

It follows a months-long trial in the country that found her guilty of ordering a deadly crackdown on a student-led uprising last year.

The former leader, exiled in India, was tried in absentia after the United Nations said up to 1,400 people may have been killed in the violence.

Bangladesh’s health adviser under the interim government said more than 800 people were killed and about 14,000 were injured.

The students initially started protesting over the way government jobs were being allocated, but clashes with police and pro-government activists quickly escalated into violence.

The court revealed conversations of Hasina directing security officers to drop bombs from helicopters on the protesters.

She also permitted the use of lethal weapons, including shotguns at close range for maximum harm, the court was told.

Hasina, who previously called the tribunal a “kangaroo court”, fled to India in August 2024 at the height of the uprising, ending 15 years of rule.

In a statement released after the verdict, Hasina said the ruling was “biased and politically motivated” and “neither I nor other political leaders ordered the killing of protesters”.

“I am not afraid to face my accusers in a proper tribunal where evidence can be weighed and tested fairly,” she added.

The 78-year-old is the daughter of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who led the country to independence.

The International Crimes Tribunal, Bangladesh’s domestic war crimes court located in the capital Dhaka, delivered its four-hour verdict amid tight security.

Hasina received a life sentence under charges for crimes against humanity and the death sentence for the killing of several people during the uprising.

The packed courtroom cheered and clapped when the sentence was read out.

The tribunal also sentenced former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan – also exiled in India – to death.

A third suspect, a former police chief, was sentenced to five years in prison as he became a state witness against Hasina and pleaded guilty.

The ruling is the most dramatic legal action against a former Bangladeshi leader since independence in 1971 and comes ahead of parliamentary elections expected to be held in February.

Foreign ministry officials in Bangladesh have called on India to hand over the former prime minister, adding it was obligated to do so under an existing treaty between the two nations. India has not yet made any response.

Paramilitary border guards and police have been deployed in Dhaka and many other parts of the country, while the interim government warned any attempt to create disorder will be “strictly” dealt with.

It comes after Hasina’s Awami League party called for a nationwide shutdown as part of a protest against the verdict.

The mood in the country had been described as tense ahead of Monday’s ruling.

At least 30 crude bomb explosions and 26 vehicles were set on fire across Bangladesh during the past few days.

Local media said two people were killed in the arson attacks, according to the Associated Press.

Hasina is also the aunt of former UK government minister, Tulip Saddiq, who resigned from her Treasury job at the start of this year.

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Ms Siddiq had faced calls to step down over links to her aunt and was also said to be facing a corruption trial in Bangladesh.

She told Sky News in August the accusations were “nothing more than a farce” and said she had never been contacted by the Bangladeshi authorities.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood plans to impose Trump-style visa bans on three African countries if they fail to take back illegal migrants as part of “sweeping reforms” of the UK’s immigration system.

Angola, Namibia and the Democratic Republic of Congo will face visa sanctions, blocking their tourists, VIPs and business people from travelling to Britain if they do not improve co-operation on removals.

Ms Mahmood said: “In Britain, we play by the rules. When I said there would be penalties for countries that do not take back criminals and illegal immigrants, I meant it.

“My message to foreign governments today is clear: accept the return of your citizens or lose the privilege of entering our country.”

The move was reportedly inspired by President Trump’s homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem, who has overseen the mass deportation policy in the US, according to The Times.

Ms Mahmood will address the House of Commons today to lay out “the most sweeping reforms to tackle illegal migration in modern times”, effectively since the Second World War.

Modelled on the Danish system, the aim is to make the UK less attractive for illegal immigrants and make it easier to deport them.

Under the plans, the home secretary will bring forward a bill to change how article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), the right to family life, is applied in migration court cases.

The Home Office has said it’s seen a rise in the use of rights-based appeals in recent years as a means of avoiding deportation.

The changes would see only those with immediate family in the UK, such as a parent or child, being able to use article 8 in future.

The home secretary, who has been in the job for 73 days, also plans to change the law so that multiple attempts to appeal against refusals for asylum will no longer be allowed.

Furthermore, refugees would face a 20-year wait before they can apply for permanent settlement.

The Home Office said the “golden ticket” deal has seen asylum claims surge in the UK, drawing people across Europe, through safe countries, on to dangerous small boats.

Under the proposals, refugee status would become temporary and subject to regular review, with refugees removed once their home countries are deemed safe.

Housing and weekly allowances would also no longer be guaranteed.

Mahmood is new hard woman of British politics – and potential successor to Starmer

Amanda Akass

Political correspondent

@amandaakass

We’re told that Shabana Mahmood, the still new home secretary, is “a woman in a hurry”.

She’s been in the job for 73 days – and is now announcing “the most sweeping reforms to tackle illegal migration in modern times” – effectively since the Second World War.

Her language is not just tough – it’s radical. Not what you’d have expected to hear from a Labour home secretary even just a few months ago.

“Illegal migration”, she believes, “is tearing our country apart. The crisis at our borders is out of control”.

Her team argues that those never-ending images of people crossing the Channel in small boats have led to a complete loss of faith in the government’s ability to take any action at all – let alone deliver on its promises.

The political reality is that successive failures of Tory and Labour ministers have fuelled the inexorable rise of Reform.

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The shake-up also envisions the introduction of safe and legal routes to the UK in a bid to cut dangerous journeys across the Channel.

A new independent body – similar to one in Denmark – is planned to fast-track the removal of dangerous criminals, and last-minute appeals would be expedited.

Ms Mahmood has denied that her plans are “racist”, instead describing them as a “moral mission”.

She said illegal immigration was causing “huge divides” in the UK, adding: “I do believe we need to act if we are to retain public consent for having an asylum system at all.”

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Speaking on Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips, Ms Mahmood said she had observed how illegal migration had been “creating division across our country”.

She added: “I can see that it is polarising communities across the country. I can see that it is dividing people and making them estranged from one another. I don’t want to stand back and watch that happen in my country.”

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said: “Britain has always been a fair, tolerant and compassionate country – and this government will always defend those values.

“But in a more volatile world, people need to know our borders are secure and rules are enforced. These reforms will block endless appeals, stop last-minute claims and scale up removals of those with no right to be here.”

Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch welcomed Ms Mahmood “finally talking seriously about tackling illegal immigration”, but called the plans “weak”.

She said: “If the home secretary actually wants to cut illegal immigration, she should take up my offer to sit down with her and work on a plan that will actually stop the boats, rather than a few weak changes that will meet the approval of Labour MPs.”

Speaking earlier on Sunday, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said: “The home secretary sounds like a Reform supporter.”

“Sadly with the Human Rights Act and ECHR membership, the changes won’t survive the courts or probably even her own backbenchers,” he added.

The Refugee Council warned that the government would accrue a cost of £872m over 10 years as a result of the need to review asylum seekers’ status to remain in the UK.

Enver Solomon, the charity’s chief executive, insisted the changes “will not deter people from making dangerous crossings, but they will unfairly prevent men, women and children from integrating into British life”.

Latest Home Office figures show 39,075 people have arrived in the UK after crossing the English Channel in small boats so far this year.

The arrivals have already passed the number for the whole of 2024 (36,816) and 2023 (29,437), but the number is below the total for 2022 (45,774).