Autumn statement: Energy bills help, pensions up and other key announcements from chancellor at a glance
Here are all the main announcements from Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s autumn statement to MPs:
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
World
Brutal murder on ‘date’ exposes robbery gang suspected of targeting dozens of women in South Africa
Thirty-year-old Olorato Mongale made sure to take all the measures necessary for a safe first date in South Africa’s biggest city, Johannesburg.
She had agreed to meet ‘John’ in the daytime. She sent her friends her phone location after leaving her house and promptly texted them “on the road” at 2.47pm.
They replied “enjoy!”, hoping she would find love.
An hour later, their friend had gone silent and her phone location was showing up in dangerous areas of the city.
A search party of seven friends set off to trace Olorato’s digital footsteps.
It’s believed Olorato’s killers were part of a gang robbing young women at gunpoint
“It didn’t make sense. Where is she? Why is she missing?” says Karabo Mokoena, as we drove to the locations involved in their search.
“Every place we went to looked dodgier and dodgier. It made me panic – I was very scared.”
After finding her bag on a pile of bricks off the side of a main road, they filed a missing person report at a police station.
“I thought there was no way we were not going to find her. We did end up finding her but not in the way we would have hoped,” says Karabo.
Olorato’s body had been dumped at the dirt entrance of a random house less than 100m from where her friends were searching into the night.
Her face was swollen and her eyes black-blue from violent impact. Her top was ripped open to expose her breasts.
Police told Sky News that her post-mortem showed signs of blunt force trauma. She was likely beaten to death.
Olorato’s body was dumped outside this gate – she was likely beaten to death
“It was like I was dreaming, seeing her body like that with those bruises and blood everywhere,” says Olorato’s mother, Keabetswe Poppy Mongale, describing the moment she had to identify her only child at the morgue.
“I don’t think what I saw will ever go away,” she adds.
“It was very painful. I don’t wish that on any parent because my beautiful little girl looked different because someone chose to do that to her.”
Olorato’s mother says the image of her daughter in the morgue will never go away
CCTV from the driveway of Olorato’s building shows the last time she was seen alive, leaving her home to meet ‘John’.
In the video, she walks towards a white Volkswagen Polo and hesitates as she reaches the left back door. John had come with a friend.
Four days after Olorato was killed, police found the car in a different province with traces of her blood splattered across the back seat.
CCTV showed Olorato walking to a car for what she thought was a date
One suspect was shot dead but the second man is still on the run
Philangenkosi Sibongokuhle Makanya – ‘John’ – was shot dead by police in KwaZulu-Natal shortly after they found the vehicle.
The second man in the car, Bongani Mthimkhulu, is still on the run.
The two men have since been identified as part of a dangerous criminal syndicate that lure young women out on dates and rob them at gunpoint.
“Within the four days, the investigating officers received 94 calls from women who were raising concerns and identifying the suspects as those they once met,” South African Police Service deputy national commissioner Lieutenant General Tebello Mosikili told Sky News.
“It was unfortunate about Olorato, but others were released after being robbed.”
Olorato’s friends say she ‘ticked all the boxes when it came to being careful’
A 24-year-old student who survived an armed robbery at the hands of Olorato’s suspected killers says she was happy to see Philangenkosi killed but she’s still scared for her life.
“As women, we are not even safe anymore – we can’t even walk freely,” she says.
“The moment you leave your house you wonder if you will make it back alive. I don’t feel comfortable walking around the street. I leave the house and then turn back.
“Even when I’m home, I still don’t feel safe and always want to keep myself locked indoors,” she says with a shaky voice – choosing to remain anonymous.
After meeting other victims of the syndicate, she was shocked to hear details of almost identical abductions.
“This other girl was surprised because we went through the exact same situation. They also approached her with the same tactic – let me take you out to lunch to get to know you – only for her to be robbed.”
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
South Africa has one of the highest femicide rates in the world – an average 15 women are killed a day, many by their intimate partners.
According to police statistics, more than 5,500 women were murdered in South Africa last year. An increase of 33.8% compared with the previous year.
“South Africa has six times the average rate of femicide – hundreds of women have already been killed since Olorato’s murder,” says Cameron Kasambala from Women for Change.
The advocacy group raises awareness of rising cases of femicide and gender-based violence across South Africa.
Campaigner Cameron Kasambala says many femicide cases take a long time to be resolved
In the hours after her murder, Olorato’s friends contacted Women for Change to share her missing poster after receiving little immediate help from the local police station.
“I think her friends were the real heroes in that moment,” says Cameron.
“Two police stations that were 10 minutes apart, one finds a body and one has a missing case, don’t make a connection for hours. It’s not the most reassuring police work. And if the friends had not come forward, how long would it have taken?
“Unfortunately, Olorato’s case is an exception. Most cases are not handled that quickly.”
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Olorato’s friends say she would be ‘proud to know that her name has not gone in vain’
Olorato’s friends are still contending with the violence of her death – what it means for their daily lives and how they navigate their safety as women in South Africa.
“It is difficult to process and difficult to believe. This is somebody who ticked all the boxes when it came to being careful – being meticulous, checking her surroundings and leaving clues,” says Olorato’s friend, Koketso Sejosengoe.
“It shows it can happen to anybody no matter how safe you are. It is happening to the average girl. They are being targeted. These men know what they are doing and who they are looking for.”
“In the purest sense, Olorato wanted women to be safe and wanted women to be protected,” adds Koketso.
“I think she would be very proud to know that her name has not gone in vain and that her death is standing for something – that there will be change that comes with this.”
Major heatwaves across southern Europe have left Spain, Portugal, Italy, and Greece in sweltering conditions of more than 40C (104F).
Two-thirds of Portugal was on high alert for extreme heat and risk of wildfires on Sunday, with temperatures in Lisbon expected to exceed 42C (107F).
In parts of southern Spain, temperatures are well above average, with 42C also expected in Seville and other cities.
The country’s meteorological service says June is likely to be the hottest Spain has experienced since records began.
In several Italian regions, including Lazio, Tuscany, Calabria, Puglia, and Umbria, outdoor work was banned during peak hours of sun on Sunday, with trade unions pushing for the measures to be extended and rolled out nationwide.
Twenty-one out of 27 cities were under the highest possible heat alert, including Rome, Milan, and Naples.
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Greece has already been plagued by wildfires this summer, with one breaking out south of Athens on Thursday, and several on the island of Chios last Sunday.
Near Athens, authorities deployed 130 firefighters, 12 helicopters, and 12 planes, with 40 people evacuated from the highest-risk areas.
A woman was arrested on suspicion of unintentional arson after wildfires spread across brush and pastureland for three days on Chios.
Flames rise above Thymari, near Athens, after wildfires broke out on Friday. Pic: Reuters
Tourists battle scorching temperatures at the Parthenon in Greece on Friday. Pic: Reuters
Scientists link increasing frequencies of extreme weather events such as heatwaves, wildfires, and storms to climate change.
In France and Germany, at least three people died amid stormy conditions.
A ridge of high pressure above central and western Europe is driving the scorching conditions, says Sky News meteorologist Chris England.
Hotter-than-normal sea temperatures, dry land, and surface winds are also partly to blame, he added.
Tourists in Retiro Park in Madrid on Saturday. Pic: AP
Locals fan themselves in Lisbon on Saturday. Pic: AP
UK heatwave also likely
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UK heatwaves explained
The UK is halfway through a four-day amber heat health alert, with temperatures expected to peak in the mid-30s (86F) on Tuesday.
Heat health alerts are not public weather warnings – but are instead designed to prepare health and social care bodies for the potential impact on their infrastructure and vulnerable groups.
Heatwave thresholds are likely to be met on Monday and Tuesday, which vary between 28C (82F) in the south of England and 25C (77F) across the rest of the country.
A British-Israeli soldier has been killed while fighting in Gaza, Israeli media reports said.
He was named locally as Sergeant Yisrael Natan Rosenfeld, 20, from the city of Ra’anana.
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said it is “looking into reports that an IDF soldier who died in combat in Gaza is a British national”.
The IDF soldier, who served in the 601st Combat Engineering Battalion, was killed by an explosive device on Sunday, the Times of Israel reported.
The paper said Mr Rosenfeld moved to Israel from London with his family 11 years ago.
More than 860 Israeli soldiers have been killed since Israel’s war against Hamas began on 7 October 2023, more than 400 of them during the fighting in Gaza.
The war began when the militant group launched an attack on Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking around 250 hostage.
Israel’s offensive in Gaza has devastated the enclave and killed more than 56,000 people, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, which does not differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count, but says more than half of the dead are women and children.
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It came as Donald Trump called for progress in ceasefire talks in the war between Israel and Hamas.
“MAKE THE DEAL IN GAZA. GET THE HOSTAGES BACK!!!” the US president wrote on social media on Sunday.
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
On Friday Mr Trump raised expectations by claiming there could be an agreement within the next week.
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