Rachel Reeves will not be investigated over pre-budget briefing, FCA says
The UK’s financial regulator has decided not to immediately investigate Rachel Reeves and the Treasury over pre-budget briefings but left the door open for further examination of what the Conservatives claimed amounted to market manipulation.In a letter addressed to the chair of the Treasury committee, Meg Hillier, the the chief executive of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said the regulator had turned down requests by politicians including the shadow chancellor, Mel Stride, to open an inquiry into briefings made before last week’s announcement by the chancellor.Nikhil Rathi said the FCA had “not commenced an enforcement investigation” into potential market abuse, but added that the regulator would consider the findings of a Treasury inquiry into pre-budget leaks.On Wednesday, the Treasury minister James Murray said the department’s permanent secretary, James Bowler, would review “security processes” to inform future events.He said the inquiry had the “full support” of Reeves and the “whole Treasury team”.
The FCA said: “We have requested details of this work and that the outcome, including of the inquiry into any leak of market-sensitive or inside information relating to the budget, is shared with us so we can consider as appropriate.”This year’s budget was preceded by numerous stories about what was being considered, including the revelation in the Financial Times days beforehand that Reeves had abruptly dropped a plan to raise income tax rates.Allies of the chancellor said the U-turn had come about because of improved forecasts from the Office for Budget Responsibility, but the OBR later clarified it had not updated its forecasts for two weeks.The confusion around Reeves’s decisions and the competing explanations as to why they were taken has led to accusations that Treasury officials deliberately misled reporters in an attempt to keep UK borrowing costs low.Stride said this week that Treasury’s “leaks and spin” had led to market speculation being “rife, and the gilt markets volatile”.
He added in his letter to the FCA: “It seems increasingly clear that the chancellor has been giving an inaccurate picture of the economic and fiscal context and this appears to be driven by political considerations.”However, Rathi said in the letter that the core purpose of the regulator’s market abuse rules was to ensure a level playing field and confidence in markets.“Its purpose is not to make judgments on political discourse, even though that discourse may on occasion have an impact on markets,” he said.“How the government publicly communicates its position in advance of a fiscal event or similar is a matter for parliament through its accountability mechanisms.”Sign up to Business TodayGet set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morningafter newsletter promotionControversies around the budget have also ensnared the OBR.
Its chair, Richard Hughes, resigned on Monday, after the Treasury watchdog mistakenly published a key document before the chancellor delivered her speech.Hughes said he took “full responsibility” for the failure to handle sensitive information, after damning internal inquiry that also found that this was not the first time the OBR had inadvertently published budget documents early.It emerged that its reports had also been accessed early in March 2025 before the spring statement, although no action was taken as a result of the breach.In his letter, Rathi said the FCA was considering the OBR’s report into the early release of the Economic and Fiscal Outlook document.He added that the regulator welcomed the statement from the OBR that it “would cooperate fully with the FCA”.
Rising racism blamed for collapse in number of foreign nurses coming to UK
The number of overseas nurses and midwives coming to the UK is collapsing, figures reveal, with rising racism and changes to immigration rules blamed for the fall.Between April and September, 6,321 nurses and midwives from abroad joined the register of those licensed to practice in the UK, compared with 12,534 who did so in the same period in 2024.At the same time, more international staff are leaving Britain, according to workforce data published by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC).Health organisations said the trends would make it harder for the already understaffed NHS to provide the care expected of it and that patients would face even longer waiting times for treatment.Suzie Bailey, an NHS workforce expert at the King’s Fund thinktank, said: “The dramatic fall in international nurse and midwife recruitment and retention should be sounding alarm bells for politicians, health and care leaders and people who rely on health and care services
GPs failing older people living with frailty, National Audit Office finds
GPs are failing to provide adequate support for people living with frailty, an independent watchdog has found.Frailty is a syndrome related to ageing and in which body systems gradually lose their in-built reserves. Symptoms include exhaustion and people living with frailty are more likely to be housebound.GPs are required to identify any registered patient aged 65 or over who is living with frailty, but only one in six were assessed for the condition in 2024/25, according to a National Audit Office (NAO) report. One in four were assessed in 2017/18
Families to be offered help to leave temporary accommodation under UK child poverty strategy
Families will be offered help to get out of temporary accommodation and support with childcare as part of the government’s delayed child poverty strategy, with ministers saying the entire package will lift more than half a million children out of poverty.The new proposals in a strategy that was originally due to come out in the spring are in addition to the abolition of the two-child limit for some benefits, which will have the greatest impact on poverty, at a cost of £3bn during this parliament.As part of what Keir Starmer described as a “moral mission” for his government, the UK-wide strategy will include an £8m investment in a pilot scheme across 20 councils with a particular prevalence of homeless families in temporary B&B accommodation, to ensure they are all moved within six weeks.There will also be a new legal duty for councils to inform schools, GPs and health visitors when a child is put in temporary accommodation with their family. In a parallel policy strand, ministers will work with the NHS to prevent mothers with newborn babies being discharged back to B&B hostels or other similarly unsuitable housing
Parents say concerns were not acted on before London nursery worker’s arrest for abusing children
More claims have emerged that parents’ concerns about the nursery worker Vincent Chan were not acted on before he was unmasked as a paedophile, as the government vowed to improve child safety after the scandal.Chan worked at a north London branch of the Bright Horizons nursery chain from 2017 until his arrest in June 2024. He pleaded guilty on Wednesday to 26 offences including sexual assaults against girls aged two to four who were in his care, some carried out as children slept and some of which were filmed.Parents have said they are “sickened” and through their lawyer have told of concerns they had about Chan which they said were not taken seriously. They have blamed Bright Horizons for failings before Chan’s arrest
Preventing infections in older people is hit and miss, says England’s chief medic
The medical profession must do more to prevent and manage infections in elderly people as the current methods are “hit and miss”, the chief medical officer for England has said.Writing in his annual report for 2025, Prof Chris Whitty said preventing and treating infections had led to “extraordinary improvements in life expectancy over the last 150 years”.But he stressed there had not been enough research into infections in elderly people, a growing segment of society.“Whilst we are very systematic about reducing infections and preventing infections in children and in young adults, in older adults it’s often a lot more hit and miss,” he said at a briefing to the press.Data for England from 2023 reveals that the vast majority of deaths from infectious diseases were among older adults, and in this group most were caused by respiratory infections or Covid
NHS braces for ‘unprecedented flu wave’ as hospitalised cases in England rise
The NHS is facing an “unprecedented flu wave”, a senior healthcare leader said, as the number of people with the illness in hospitals across England hit a record high.The statistics, published by NHS England as part of its first weekly snapshot of the performance of hospitals this winter, found that an average of 1,717 flu patients were in beds each day last week – more than 50% higher than last year – including 69 patients whose condition was critical.This is compared with 1,098 flu patients in NHS hospital beds at the same time last year, representing a 56% increase. In 2023 there were 160 flu patients in beds in the same week.Prof Julian Redhead, the national director for urgent and emergency care, said the figures confirmed the NHS’s “deepest concerns” that the health service was bracing for an unprecedented flu wave this winter, with cases “incredibly high for this time of year and there is no peak in sight yet”
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