Morning Briefing: Wednesday 28 October 2026
- If you heat your home with gas: the typical annual bill is forecast to rise by £276 in January. The Chancellor has said standing charges, which average £108 a year, will go for about 23 million homes, but unit prices will rise to cover them. The Treasury estimates three-fifths of households save about £45 a year on average; heavier users will pay more.
- If your only income is the state pension: the full state pension is set to rise to £13,036.40, above the £12,570 tax-free allowance, which would draw about a million people into income tax. Today’s Budget is expected to set out a new personal allowance that keeps them out of it.
- If you are saving for a first home in England: more detail is due today on the Your First Home scheme — a 2.5% deposit on a new-build and a loan of 20% of the price, for joint incomes up to £110,000, or £140,000 in London. All of this is expected rather than announced until Healey sits down this afternoon.
Likud Leads the Count, but Neither Bloc Reaches 61 Seats
With about 55% of votes counted this morning, Benjamin Netanyahu’s bloc stood at 56 seats against 49 for Gadi Eisenkot’s alliance — both short of the 61 needed in the 120-seat Knesset. Exit polls make Likud the largest party, on 27 seats t…
Houthi Strike Claim on Saudi Refinery Lifts Brent Above $115
Brent crude rose 1.32% to $115.59 a barrel this morning after the Iran-backed Houthis said they had hit Ras Tanura, Saudi Arabia’s largest refinery, with a ballistic missile. That undid most of Tuesday’s fall: Brent had dropped 1.7% to clo…
Flávio Bolsonaro Reaches the United States After Passports Cancelled
The defeated Brazilian presidential candidate has arrived in the US, sources told the BBC. He left hours after his passports were cancelled for missing a Supreme Court deadline to surrender them in a money-laundering inquiry; he denies wro…
Oleshky Truce Widened Across Kherson Ahead of Friday Evacuations
A ceasefire agreed to get food and medicine into Russian-occupied Oleshky has been extended across the wider Kherson region, Ukrainian officials say, with no breaches reported. Melania Trump, who brokered it with Pope Leo XIV, said the are…
Trump Floats Venezuela as a ‘51st State’ at Texas Rally
Donald Trump suggested on Tuesday that Venezuela might one day become the 51st US state, showing off a tanker he said held “one million barrels of oil” under a deal with the country’s US-backed interim government. “We’re celebrating the gr…
Healey Delivers First Budget Promising ‘Breathing Space’ on Bills
John Healey presents his first Budget at about 12:30 today, the first of Andy Burnham’s premiership, conceding that Britain faces “a difficult moment”. Gas standing charges are to go for about 23 million homes and fuel duty is expected to…
Debt Interest Nears £100bn as War Shrinks the Chancellor’s Headroom
About £100bn of the roughly £1.42tn Healey will allocate this year goes on debt interest, with government borrowing costs at multidecade highs since the war on Iran began in February. The Resolution Foundation estimates the £24bn buffer bu…
Rosebank Can Be Approved Within Climate Targets, Insiders Say
The Rosebank oilfield could be approved without breaching UK emissions targets, government insiders have told the Guardian, because emissions from exported oil do not count against domestic limits. Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh had be…
MPs Warn Digital Landline Switch Could Leave Remote Areas Cut Off
MPs for remote constituencies have urged the security minister, Dan Jarvis, to make sure the switch from copper landlines to an internet-based network does not leave people unable to call for help in a storm. The switch is due to finish by…
King Acknowledges ‘Suffering of the Past’ as Caribbean Tour Begins
The King opened his first Caribbean tour as monarch in the Bahamas by acknowledging the “great suffering of the past” amid calls for slavery reparations, saying it was “only right” to recognise historic injustices. In line with government…