Fiscal recklessness aside, it’s the super-rich who’ll benefit from Reform UK policies | Richard Partington

For a politician who has done more than most to shape Britain’s current challenges, nothing seems to stick to Nigel Farage. Not the chaos of the post-Brexit referendum years; or the contradiction of his closed-border English nationalism combined with a fondness for courting nomad capitalists from Malaysia to Mar-a-Lago.This is, of course, because the Reform UK leader is the agitator-in-chief. He has prodded successive prime ministers into action, but has not been in the driving seat himself. Things though are changing

UK plans to build six weapons factories to bolster military readiness

The UK will spend £1.5bn on building six munitions and energetics factories to “better deter our adversaries” as part of its long-awaited strategic defence review.John Healey, the defence secretary, said the funds formed part of plans for an “always-on” weapons pipeline and would support the procurement of up to 7,000 UK-built long-range weapons.The 130-page strategic defence review will set out the threats Britain faces, including the “immediate and pressing” danger posed by Russia, and the capabilities needed to meet them. Due to be unveiled by Keir Starmer on Monday, it will draw heavily on lessons learned from the war in Ukraine

UK trade secretary to seek exemption from US steel and aluminium tariffs

The UK’s trade secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, will meet his US counterpart next week to thrash out a timeline for exempting the UK from US steel and aluminium tariffs after Donald Trump announced he would double them.British officials are seeking clarity on the implications of Trump’s announcement on Friday night that he planned to double the tariffs from 25% to 50% from Wedneday 4 June, piling further pressure on global steel trade.Reynolds is expected to meet his US counterpart, Jamieson Greer , at the OECD meeting in Paris next week. He will seek to agree a timeline for implementing the deal agreed to lower steel, aluminium, auto and other product tariffs.A UK government spokesperson said: “The UK was the first country to secure a trade deal with the US earlier this month and we remain committed to protecting British business and jobs across key sectors, including steel

Drones, AI and new technology will dramatically change nature of war, UK defence review to warn

Britain is facing “a new era of threat” with drones, artificial intelligence and other technologies changing the nature of warfare more fundamentally than at any other point in history, the government’s strategic defence review is expected to conclude on Monday.The 130-page document written by three advisers to the prime minister, Keir Starmer, will warn of the “immediate and pressing” danger posed by Russia and is expected to try to draw heavily on lessons learned from the war in Ukraine.But it will also focus on China, not described as an enemy but as a “sophisticated and persistent challenge”, which at times has been willing to cooperate with Moscow, and two smaller “regional disruptors” – Iran and North Korea.It will paint a picture of the most heightened military and security threat since the end of the cold war, though it falls short of saying that the intensity of Moscow’s cyber and sabotage activities means the UK has already drifted into a war with Russia.The analysis, put together by a team headed by the former Nato secretary general George Robertson, is not expected to set out fresh commitments for defence spending

UK citizens face fingerprint checks each time they visit EU

British citizens who travel frequently to the EU face having their fingerprints individually checked each time they cross the border into the Schengen area because of delays in developing an app to verify biometrics digitally, it has emerged.It will be “business as usual” this summer but “a big change” in travel will be phased in from November, Doug Bannister, the chief executive of the Port of Dover has said.“Significant infrastructure” including reclaiming 13 hectares of land in the Port of Dover to handle passengers getting out of cars and buses has been put in place to try to minimise disruption, Bannister said.Under the system being built, all car passengers will have to get out of their vehicle to be individually fingerprinted and photographed.On every subsequent journey, a fingerprint or a facial image will be verified along with passport number, in a major shift designed to get rid of “wet stamping” and allow the number of days British visitors stay in the EU in any given year to be automatically recorded

Labour spending review must be ‘economic reset’, Louise Haigh to say

Next month’s spending review must be an “economic reset” based on a bold wealth tax and higher public investment, the former cabinet minister Louise Haigh has said, as Keir Starmer faces renewed pressure from within Labour to change course.Haigh’s comments came as Andy Burnham called for Labour to “re-establish itself unequivocally once again as the party of working-class ambition” with ambitious offerings on housing and education.Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, said ministers should allow mayors to build on public land, and set a target for the point at which more new social homes are being built than existing ones are sold off.Haigh and Burnham made their interventions on Saturday at an event organised by the Labour-allied thinktank Compass at the Ministry of Sound, a nightclub in London.Haigh, who quit the cabinet in November after it emerged she had been convicted of fraud over a missing work phone, reiterated her call for a wealth tax after the local election results from 1 May, which she called “a warning” from voters that they wanted bolder policies