In her interview with Jeremy Vine, Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, also said she was “angry” about Donald Trump’s decision to go to war in Iran.double quotation markI’m angry that Donald Trump has chosen to go to war in the Middle East, a war that there’s not a clear plan of how to get out of.It’s why we didn’t want to enter this.Yes, it will have implications for our economy.I get that.

We are monitoring very closely what’s happening, trying to bring the oil and gas into the UK so that those supplies are there, and to try and get the prices down.We are preparing, as you would expect … every single eventuality.It is no surprise that Reeves, and other ministers, are angry about Trump’s decision to launch this war.Anger may even be an understatement.But mostly ministers have not said this in public, and this may be the harshest public statement we’ve had from a member of the government about Trump’s decision making.

Britain’s long-term national interest requires closer partnership with the EU, Keir Starmer has said, citing war in the Middle East and the increasingly volatile international situation.The UK will convene 35 countries – excluding the US – to explore ways to reopen the strait of Hormuz, the vital shipping route for oil and gas that has been blocked by Iran.Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, has said she is “angry” about Donald Trump’s decision to start a war with no clear plan to get out of it.(See 4.51pm.

)For a full list of all the stories covered on the blog today, do scroll through the list of key event headlines near the top of the blog,Reform UK has said it could rerun an attack ad against Anas Sarwar that claimed he would “prioritise the Pakistani community” in Scotland, the Press Association reports,PA says:double quotation markThomas Kerr, a senior figure in the party and one of their Holyrood candidates, said he could not rule out re-airing the ad which was branded “racist” by Scottish Labour leader Mr Sarwar and first minister John Swinney,The former Tory councillor spoke to reporters at a press conference alongside Reform UK Scotland leader Lord Malcolm Offord in Glasgow’s east end,The pair posed in front of two vans that showed pictures of migrants, all non-white, on a boat with large red writing above that read: “Scotland is at breaking point.

”Smaller words below the picture said: “Glasgow has become the illegal migrant capital of the UK.Only Reform Scotland will stop this.”During the press conference, at Tollcross international swimming centre, Lord Offord said a Reform Scottish government would use Holyrood’s powers to clamp down on migration, which is reserved, through areas including housing policy, which are devolved.During the event, the party was asked whether it would rerun its attack against the Scottish Labour leader, who was born in Glasgow to Pakistani parents, that was first used in the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse byelection in 2025.Kerr said he could not rule it out, telling reporters: “This is a man who is hoping to be first minister at Holyrood for all of Scotland and I think it’s right that he is held accountable for statements he has made.

“The sort of campaign that Reform will run is one to make sure that this man [Mr Offord] sitting next to me is in Bute House.“We’re not interested in second place, we’re not interested in propping up Anas Sarwar or John Swinney, we want to make sure that this guy sitting next to me wins and is in Bute House to get the real fundamental change this country needs.”Pressed again whether Reform could re-use the video, Kerr said: “I am not going to rule out using Anas Sarwar’s words against him because Anas Sarwar is a grown-up politician who deserves to be scrutinised like anyone else in this country.“He is hoping to be first minister.Every single statement that man has made should be under massive amounts of scrutiny.

”In a BBC interview this morning, Rachel Reeves confirmed that any energy support package introduced later this year would be targeted, not universal,(See 8,44am,)The Greens say they disagree; they want every household to get help,In a statement, the Green co-deputy leader Rachel Millward said:double quotation markFor administerial efficiency, and to ensure no one slips through the net, the Green party believes that support with escalating energy bills must be offered to every household.

Rachel Reeves says it makes no sense for the best-off households to receive support.If she was really concerned about inequality and fairness, she’d reform taxes to tackle this – including introducing a wealth tax and equalising capital gains tax with income tax.That’s the best way, not only to claw back support offered to those who may not need it, but also to raise extra funds for the public services poorest households are most dependent on.In her interview with Jeremy Vine, Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, also said she was “angry” about Donald Trump’s decision to go to war in Iran.double quotation markI’m angry that Donald Trump has chosen to go to war in the Middle East, a war that there’s not a clear plan of how to get out of.

It’s why we didn’t want to enter this.Yes, it will have implications for our economy.I get that.We are monitoring very closely what’s happening, trying to bring the oil and gas into the UK so that those supplies are there, and to try and get the prices down.We are preparing, as you would expect … every single eventuality.

It is no surprise that Reeves, and other ministers, are angry about Trump’s decision to launch this war.Anger may even be an understatement.But mostly ministers have not said this in public, and this may be the harshest public statement we’ve had from a member of the government about Trump’s decision making.Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, has rubbished the idea that the government is gaining a windfall because of the Iran war.News organisations like the Mail (here) and GB News (here) have reported prominently figures purportedly showing the Treasury could gain an extra £8bn in tax receipts because of higher oil prices (which boost VAT receipts) and higher energy company profits (which boost windfall tax receipts).

But, in an interview with Jeremy Vine on Radio 2 earlier, Reeves said this did not take account of the extra costs the government is facing as a result of the war.Reeves said:double quotation markLet’s be clear, since Trump started this war, which we disagree with, the costs of borrowing for government have gone through the roof.The revenues that we’re likely to get through, on income tax and capital gains tax, are likely to come down because the economy is likely to be weaker.So the idea, the idea that there’s any windfall coming to the Treasury – I mean, that’s just for the birds.The main parties are making rival claims today about the government’s record on the cost of living.

That is because April marks the start of the financial year, and there are a lot of cost/tax/benefit changes that come into force either from today, or 6 April.Labour released a list of the positive measures it is taking credit for earlier this week, and Keir Starmer spoke about some of them at his press conference this morning.Starmer said:double quotation markJust look at what is happening today.Today your energy bills will be cut, because of our action at the budget and whatever happens in Iran, that price is now fixed until July.Today, if you need a prescription, instead of rising as they used to, the price will be frozen for a year.

Today, if you are working on the national living wage, your wages will go up.Next week, on Monday, the state pension will go up.Next week the two-child limit will be scrapped, lifting 450,000 children out of poverty – the vast majority from working households.And next week, the biggest strengthening of workers’ rights in a generation will become law – a huge boost to the economic security of working people.Now, some people may say, this isn’t new, this was already planned.

To which I say – yes.That is my point.Everything I’ve done in politics, certainly since the Ukraine War in 2022 is a response to this new and dangerous world.But the Conservatives have put out their own list.They say “families will be £913 worse off in 2026”, and they cite these eight factors to make their case.

double quotation mark1) Council tax will increase on average by £1112) Water bills will increase by £333) Vehicle excise duty will increase by £5 for each car4) TV licence will increase by £5,505) Some households will pay £329 more in rent6) Groceries and basic essentials are set to increase by £3627) Essentials like broadband are set to rise by £40 over the year8) Mobile phone contracts are set to rise by £27,60The Conservatives also claim that energy bills could rise by £288 from July, and they say households will spend £79 more per car on petrol this year (a figure they have produced by looking at average mileage per car, the average price of petrol in 2025 and the price now),Mel Stride, the shadow chancellor, said:double quotation markKeir Starmer promised to make the cost of living ‘job number one’ but under Labour, that promise is in tatters,Hardworking families aren’t better off, they’re almost £1,000 worse off this year, while those on benefits get ever more cash.

A Royal Navy captain in charge of one of Britain’s nuclear-armed submarines stepped back from his duties over his relationship with the MP Joani Reid, whose husband faces allegations of spying for China, Aletha Adu reports.Karl Turner gave an interview to LBC this morning about being suspended by the Labour party.Even though party sources have said he was suspended not because he has led opposition to the plan to restrict trial by jury, but because of other misconduct, Turner said he did not accept this.“I think I’m suspended, frankly, because of the jury stuff,” he said.He said he had not been told what alleged misconduct had prompted his suspension.

He also said he wanted to get the whip back.double quotation markI’m a Labour MP, I was born Labour.I had very little choice.It was rammed down our throats as kids.My father was a trade unionist.

My mother was a trade unionist,The Labour party is the nearest thing I’ve got to a religion,I want to be back in the Labour fold, but I’m not going to kowtow, and I’m not going to start doing as I’m told on juries, because it’s the worst idea that any government of any political persuasion could have ever come up with,It’s barmy, and it won’t work,The Liberal Democrats have welcomed Keir Starmer’s comments about wanting a closer relationship with the Europe – but said the PM should not back their call for the UK to join a customs union with the EU.

Responding to Starmer’s press conference this morning, Al Pinkerton, the Lib Dem Europe spokesperson, said:double quotation markThis is a welcome, albeit overdue, moment of honesty from the prime minister.Warm words and handshakes however do not fix broken supply chains, the rising cost of living, or the strangulation of our economic growth to the tune of £250m a day in lost tax revenue as a result of the Conservatives’ botched Brexit deal.With Trump waging an illegal war in Iran and threatening to pull the US out of Nato, it is now more important than ever that we strengthen ties with those allies we can rely on.That’s why, ahead of the next UK-EU summit, the government must formally scrap its arbitrary ‘red lines’ on our relationship with the EU, and have the courage to negotiate a customs union as a matter of economic urgency.The Green party says Keir Starmer should be more explicit about telling the US and Israel that they must end the war against Iran.

It released a statement from the Green MP Siân Berry saying:double quotation markKeir Starmer is at last waking up to the need to look to partners across the European Union rather than the US for long-term security.However, he is still refusing to oppose the US war in Iran that is destabilising the whole region.Parliament has never agreed to UK bases being used to facilitate the US war on Iran, nor has it agreed to a further build up of UK troops just as thousands of US marines and paratroopers arrive for a possible ground invasion.Now Keir Starmer is offering to take the international lead on clearing up Trump’s regional destabilisation by hosting a summit on how to reopen the strait of Hormuz.Keir Starmer claims the growing involvement is just defending UK and allies’ interests, but won’t put that to parliament for a vote.

He knows the quickest way to open the strait of Hormuz is to tell the US and Israel to end their war.Here is the full text of Keir Starmer’s opening statement at his press conference.Peter Ricketts, the former head of the Foreign Office and former national security adviser, has told Radio 4’s the World at One that he thinks countries like the UK may end up having to pay tolls to Iran, after the war is over, to get their supplies through the strait of Hormuz.Asked to comment on the PM’s plan for a multinational initiative to reopen the strait (see 10.18am), Ricketts said:double quotation markThe reality is that no western nation is going to put naval vessels through the strait of Hormuz against the declared opposition of the Iranians.

It would simply be too dangerous to do that …I think we have to face the fact that Iran has learned they can monetise passage through the straits and they’re not going to give that up.So I don’t think we’re going to go back to free passage through the strait of Hormuz as if nothing had happened.I think they are going to, durably, be charging nations, shipowners, for their vessels to go through the strait, partly to raise money for the enormous reconstruction that they’re going to have to do.So that’s where I think the durable shock comes from.Energy is going to be more expensive, and I don’t think there’s any western military escorting operation that is going to clear that.

Ricketts said he thought nations would be willing to pay Iran for this because that would be a better option than having the strait closed.And he said he could imagine European countries negotiating with Iran for access on this basis.But there was likely to be a cost, he said.double quotation markIt’s all very unattractive and uncomfortable, but I don’t think the Iranians are simply going to stand back and say, ‘Right, strait now open, you can sail through whatever you like.’If you vote Conservative in the English local elections, Kemi Badenoch will come out personally and fix the pothole at the end of your road.

That, of course, is not true.But it is the impression given by the photocall she has taken part in this morning.She was promoting Tory plans for what they call a “national pothole patrol”.This is what the party says about how it would work.double quotation markUnder the plan, a new national pothole patrol will be backed by £112