Penulis: Agus S

A human-sized Labubu doll was sold this week for a record 1.08m yuan ($150,324; £110,465), according to a Chinese auction house.

The 131cm (4ft 4in) figurine was sold at the Yongle International Auction in Beijing. The auctioneer said it was now the most expensive toy of its kind in the world.

Labubu dolls are quirky monster characters created a decade ago by Hong Kong artist Kasing Lung, which have increased in popularity in recent years after a number of celebrity endorsements.

Labubu dolls, sold by Chinese toy company Pop Mart, usually cost around 50 yuan ($6.95; £5.12).

This week’s auction was dedicated entirely to Labubu.

Forty eight items were put on sale with around 200 people in attendance.

The auction house said it raised a total of 3.37m yuan.

The figurines have sparked a global buying frenzy after frequently appearing in social media posts by Lisa from the K-pop group Blackpink.

The soft toys became a viral TikTok trend after being worn by other celebrities including Rihanna and Dua Lipa.

Former England football captain David Beckham also posted a photo on Instagram of a Labubu attached to his bag.

Earlier this year, Pop Mart pulled the dolls from all UK stores following reports of customers fighting over them.

The Chinese retailer often sells the collectable toys in mystery “blind boxes”.

These items are popular with customers who only find out the design of the figurine once they have opened the packaging.

The popularity of Labubu toys has contributed to the success of Pop Mart.

The firm’s revenue was 13bn yuan for 2024, more than double the figure seen the previous year.

It opened new stores in five countries including Italy and Spain last year.

Plans show Lego figures will feature in towers at the new entrance.

The Earl of Devon says the money will go towards restoring parts of the castle.

The diamond-encrusted tiara – expected to fetch about £400,000 – reaches nearly £890,000.

The jewellery was owned by Nancy Astor, the first woman to take a seat in Parliament.

The J69 plate and Peugeot Ion were listed at auction with a starting price of £100,000.

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Chancellor Rachel Reeves has unveiled the contents of the UK’s first multi-year spending review since 2021.

The review sets the day-to-day budgets of government departments over the next three years, used to pay staff and deliver public services.

It also sets their investment budgets until the end of the decade, to pay for new infrastructure such as hospitals, schools, and military kit.

Here is a summary of the key points.

Salisbury MP John Glen asked the chancellor for an update, only to be told it was the Health Secretary’s decision.

The PM and chancellor badged their Spending Review as start of a new chapter but the economic backdrop is inescapable.

The big bet for the government remains on economic growth – finding it and sustaining it.

Some departments, including the Home Office and Foreign Office, have lost out in the government’s Spending Review.

SNP say Scotland has been “short changed” but the chancellor claims it is the largest settlement since devolution.

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Rachel Reeves’s key choice in this Spending Review is to prioritise long-term investment over day-to-day spending.

Within that, some cash will be routed to the Midlands and the North of England rather than London.

And against tight limits on day-to-day spending, the chancellor chose to funnel funding towards health.

These are important strategic reprioritisations. The key judgements are longer term.

You will not be riding on these railways, or getting energy from new nuclear plants in this Parliament. It will take a few years to see the inside of a newly-subsidised social house. There are no quick fixes to many years of under-investment.

For Reeves this was the culmination of a planned strategy from the important technical changes she made to her borrowing rules at last year’s Budget.

The existence of this extra £113bn capital spending arises from that decision, and it is borrowed money.

All of this has added to the pressure on day-to-day spending in the final years of the Parliament.

Some of those spending settlements look very tight indeed set against growing expectations and demands in education and local councils.

A return to a reasonable rate of economic growth is not just the aim of these plans, it is required to make them credibly add up in later years.

The pattern of spending appears to suggest a hope or an expectation that the numbers will be replenished later, assuming that growth will pick up.

Achieving that will require not just effective and efficient government spending on these major long-term projects, but sufficient confidence and vision to get the private sector to pour its money into similar plans.

So this will not instantly transform the country, the state of roads, hospitals and schools, or the provision of services within them. But with a still healthy parliamentary majority, the chancellor has some time.

There is a pathway here to a more balanced, sustainably-growing economy. Indeed, faster growth will be needed to make the Budget numbers add up.

Acorn says its project will safeguard about 18,000 jobs that would have been lost, including jobs at Grangemouth.

The Scottish government says wealthier pensioners will be made aware of the benefits of not accepting the money.

The Scottish government says it was not consulted on the chancellor’s new plan that could leave some Scots pensioners worse off than those in England and Wales.

The government says every corner of the country will benefit, but research backers call for a long-term plan for science.

This week’s Spending Review may be an opportunity for the UK government show investors its vision

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All the talk of departmental budgets and fiscal rules may feel somewhat distant from the cost of food shopping and your finances.

The Spending Review is not a Budget in which taxes are changed or a host of new policies announced. But, don’t be fooled, it will have an impact on you and your money.

Here are seven ways you could see a change.

If you work in the public sector your job or your pay could be directly affected.

The defence sector and the NHS are getting a significant amount of government funding. Science and tech will see investment; other areas much less so.

Over the next three years, Home Office funding is down 1.7% a year, the Foreign Office loses 6.9% a year, mainly in aid spending, the Department for Transport loses 5% a year, Environment and Rural Affairs loses 2.7%, and Business and Trade loses 1.8%.

Some of these cuts are tied to specific savings, but it could also mean a squeeze on jobs and wages in those sectors.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has also announced some long-term projects, which will create new jobs in time. For example, giving the go-ahead to the new Sizewell C nuclear plant will create 10,000 direct jobs and thousands more in connected businesses, ministers say.

Any child in England whose parents receive universal credit will be able to claim free school meals from September 2026.

Universal credit is a benefit paid to those on low incomes, many of whom are in work. Currently, a household must earn less than £7,400 a year to qualify for free school meals in England.

All primary school children in London and Wales can currently access free meals. In Scotland, all children in the first five years of primary school are eligible, as well as all children from families receiving the Scottish Child Payment benefit.

Parents in Northern Ireland can apply if they receive certain benefits and are below an income threshold which is approximately double the current England level, at £15,000.

The chancellor promised money for “renewal” projects in 350 communities, such as improvements to parks, youth facilities, swimming pools and libraries.

However, the documents strongly suggest there will be rises in council tax in the future, to improve local authorities’ spending power.

As well as this, local government funding is likely to rise slightly and this affects a number of things such as social care for older people, various local services or the cost of a parking permit. Or, in time, it could be as simple as the cost of a garden waste bin.

In the nations of the UK, several areas of policy are devolved, and that can lead to a complicated funding structure that will need to be analysed.

Reeves said, through the funding formula, the government in Scotland would receive £52bn from 2026 to 2029, there will be £23bn for Wales, and £20bn for Northern Ireland.

In October, the £2 cap on bus fares, covering most bus journeys in England, was raised to £3.

This was due to run until the end of 2025, but now the government says it will last until “at least” March 2027. There are separate bus caps in London and Manchester.

The chancellor also promised plans to develop Northern Powerhouse Rail from Liverpool to Manchester.

The government will also put money towards building and improving tram networks in Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire and the Midlands.

The Newcastle to Sunderland metro line will also receive an extension, while nearly £1bn will go towards improving train services in the south west of England.

Last winter, the winter fuel payment – which helps cover energy costs during the coldest months – only went to low-income pensioners in receipt of pension credit.

This winter, it will go to all pensioners in England and Wales who have an annual taxable income of £35,000 or less. Separate policies in Scotland and Northern Ireland may now be reconsidered.

Details of the change of policy came on Monday, although how this is paid for will not be clear until the autumn Budget.

The Treasury said it would cost £1.25bn to restore the payment, of either £200 or £300, to millions of pensioner households.

It is quite difficult to get your head around the numbers involved in the mammoth project to build a new nuclear power plant.

A total of £17.8bn of taxpayers’ money has been pledged for the new Sizewell C plant in Suffolk to date.

The Treasury will borrow that money, but the interest on that debt is paid for through household energy bills. The government estimates that will be about £1 a month on a bill.

However, ministers stress that longer-term – perhaps in about 10 years’ time – this domestically generated power will reduce household bills significantly, compared with bills had the plant not been built.

The chancellor also confirmed its manifesto plan to improve insulation in homes in order to reduce energy use and therefore bills.

A total of £39bn is going to be invested in affordable and social housing in England. The aim of this is to improve the availability of homes for those on lower incomes.

The government says this investment will help ministers hit their target of building 1.5 million new homes by 2030.

The money will come over the next 10 years.

But, like so many of these policies, there are questions over where the money is going to come from, whether it will need to be topped up in time, and whether it will ultimately lead to tax rises.

Changes to the government’s self-imposed rules mean there will be a further £10bn for Homes England to boost housebuilding.

Paul Gibson says funding has a “massive impact” on the level of service the force can provide.

The rain and high winds experienced during stormy weather can damage homes and cause power outages.

Increasing costs are presenting financial challenges and its trips are on hold, the charity says.

The Treasury confirms funding for the stations in Devon and Somerset is in the spending review.

Drakeford accuses Rhun ap Iorwerth of being “very bad at listening” as he is heckled.

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The government has set out how much it is going to spend over the next four years on the public services that millions of people use every day.

That includes the NHS, schools and public transport as well as welfare benefits, armed forces, energy projects and a whole range of other government spending.

We asked a handful of readers, who had contacted the BBC via Your Voice, Your BBC News, their views and reaction to Wednesday’s announcement.

Ollie Vass, 19, works for a nutritional supplement company, where he earns £31,000. His girlfriend Grace Sangster also 19 is on an apprenticeship scheme earning £40,000.

They each started saving from the age of 13, earning money mowing lawns and working in restaurants.

In April, with the help of a small inheritance and their Lifetime ISAs, the couple completed on a £360,000 two-bedroomed terraced house near Slough.

Ollie and Grace had both wanted to see more support for young people starting out, especially first-time buyers, and more apprenticeships.

Grace’s initial reaction to the Spending Review was “it wasn’t brilliant”, but the extra NHS spending was a positive. “I hope that is to pay workers more.”

Both her and Ollie think the government announcing £39bn of spending on social housing is the wrong move.

“They [the government] have made it impossible for first-time buyers putting stamp duty up. I just think they are looking at the wrong place,” says Grace.

“They should be making it easier for lower income households to buy,” she suggests, adding: “It’s not the mortgage people cannot afford, it’s the deposit.”

Ollie says he would have liked to see the bus fare cap returned to £2 a journey from £3, and also look at subsidising rail fares, which he thinks are too expensive.

Lewis Eager, 26, works three shifts a week in the on-demand delivery service for a supermarket in Southend-on-Sea, earning about £10,000 per year. He lives with his parents who he pays £120 a month.

He says he was “broadly happy” with the Chancellor’s Spending Review, and especially pleased with the expansion of free school meals, investment in apprenticeships and nuclear energy.

“After doing some research, I have a lot more confidence in nuclear energy,” he says, adding it will be “extremely positive” if it leads to lower bills.

When it comes to training for career, Lewis hopes employers will respond to the government’s new spending by lowering barriers to applicants.

Lewis completed a business administration apprenticeship and an Open University degree, but says he cannot find full-time work.

He estimates he has applied for more than 4,000 jobs without success.

“Getting knocked down all the time is horrible,” he says, and even entry-level jobs seem to require experience.

He sees a “looming crisis” among young people unable to get on the jobs ladder, and would like to see more money go into adult education.

Lewis says one aspect of the Spending Review he disliked was the potential for council tax rises.

Resheka Senior, 39, is a nursery nurse and her husband Marcus, 49, a school caretaker. Between them they take home more than £50,000 a year. But the couple say they are still struggling, particularly while Resheka is on maternity leave.

When she goes back to work, Resheka says she won’t be much better off because she will have to pay for childcare before and after school for her five-year-old and all day for the younger children, aged two and nine-months.

They have debts that they are shuffling between credit cards and no prospect of moving out of their two-bedroom council flat in Woolwich, London.

“I don’t want to stay at home. I’ve been working since I was 15 years old,” says Resheka. But she would like to see more support for couples who are “making an honest living”.

“It’s not as if I’m saying I want benefits,” she says. “We’re putting back into the economy. We just need some help.”

She wants the government to pay for free breakfast and after-school clubs, or more free childcare on top of the 30 hours a week currently provided.

She told the BBC the chancellor’s announcement that free school meals would be expanded was a good thing for struggling families.

Given her son’s school already does them, Resheka didn’t think there was much else that would directly impact her circumstances.

Sylvia Cook, 72, used to sell accounting software, then published books about Greece, before she retired.

Living on a pension of £20,000 means being careful with her outgoings, so she welcomes the government’s U-turn on winter fuel payments as “a good decision, if a little late”.

The extra £200 “obviously eases things”, she says.

She doesn’t disagree with the government spending more money on public services such as the NHS, but thinks more time should be spent looking at “inefficiencies” and how the money is spent.

“You can spend a lot of money and achieve nothing,” she says. “It’s got to be spent properly.”

She highlighted an example of being contacted multiple times by NHS services. “Why are they duplicating?”

She also suggests changes to the tax system, efficiency savings across government and cutting perks for MPs and civil servants.

“There are so many inefficient things they haven’t got the common sense to sort out.”

Additional reporting by Rozina Sini.

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The chancellor highlights “uncertainty” in the world as economists warn of tax rises if the economy fails to grow.

Council tax is expected to rise by 5% a year to pay for local services, documents in the Spending Review suggest.

Projects in the South West were not included in the chancellor’s spending review on Wednesday.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves pledges £39bn across 10 years for social and affordable housing in England.

The government is making financial contribution of £50m towards the redevelopment of Casement Park.

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The UK food watchdog has warned people with allergies not to buy imported Dubai chocolate if they have any doubts about ingredients because of different labelling standards.

The Food Standards Agency’s chief scientific advisor said shoppers should stick to “trusted” retailers in the UK as the products they sell are more likely to be made for the domestic market.

Dubai chocolate has become hugely popular fuelled by so-called “influencers” on TikTok, leading UK supermarkets such as Waitrose and Lidl to impose per person limits to meet demand.

But a recent investigation by the BBC found several TikTok Shop users selling food without listing allergen information.

UK businesses are legally required to declare if a product they sell contains one of the 14 regulated allergens – including nuts and milk.

The FSA found some imported Dubai-style chocolate products may not have been intended for sale in the UK and therefore lack a full ingredients list or allergen labelling that are legally required.

Professor Robin May, the FSA’s chief chief scientific advisor, said: “Some imported Dubai-style chocolate products don’t meet our standards and could be a food safety risk, especially for consumers with allergies.”

He added: “As it’s difficult for consumers to tell the difference between products made for the UK and those that aren’t, if you have a food allergy or intolerance, we advise that you do not buy the product unless you’re certain it’s intended for sale here.”

By law, products made to UK standards must have labels that have the ingredients written in English, the name of the food, a best before or use by date, and the name and address of a UK or European Union (EU) business that is responsible for information on the product.

If the food is not from the EU or UK then an importer must be listed.

The FSA said it had worked with local authorities to identify a number of Dubai chocolate products that posed a health risk to consumers with allergies.

It said some of these products may also contain additives and colours which aren’t allowed to be sold in the UK.

The popular treat combines the flavours of chocolate, pistachio and tahini with filo pastry, and is inspired by the Arab dessert Knafeh.

The regulator is now sampling products to work out the scale of the problem.

It said shoppers should report any concerns to their local authority and is working with allergy charities to raise awareness.

The portraits made out of several types of digestives are covered with varnish to protect them.

Scientists near Reading help protect the world’s cocoa supply from pests and diseases.

The bar was one of a batch sent by Queen Victoria to British troops fighting in the Boer War.

Mr D’Souza reviewed 21 eggs last year and was watched by more than 4.2 million people on TikTok.

Mondelēz International, which owns the brand, says it took the “difficult decision” to axe the 360g bar.

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Council tax is expected to rise by 5% a year to pay for local services, documents in the Spending Review suggest.

Bills are also expected to rise further to pay for an increase in police funding.

Local authorities have the power to raise the tax by up to 5% every year, although some choose lower increases.

However, Wednesday’s Spending Review assumes councils will raise it to the maximum level.

The review allocated a 1.1% increase in grant funding to local government, but said total spending power for councils would rise by 2.6%. That includes funds councils can raise from council tax, as well as things like business rates.

Councils can raise council tax by more than 5% if they hold a local referendum or get approval from central government.

Council tax has generally increased by the maximum of 5% a year recently amid strained town hall budgets. Some councils in particular financial difficulty have increased bills by significantly more.

On whether councils would have to raise council tax by 5%, Chancellor Rachel Reeves said nothing had been changed in terms of the 5% council tax cap, which was brought in by the previous government.

“It is a cap, councils don’t have to increase council tax by 5%,” she told BBC Breakfast.

“That’s to invest in things like social care, but also as is normal to put money into policing.”

Local services ranging from social care and libraries to bin collection and street cleaning are funded through council tax.

The Spending Review also says police spending power will rise by 2.3% a year in real terms.

Council tax includes a so-called police precept, which helps fund services such as regular community policing.

Police and Crime Commissioners can raise this precept by £14 a year for a Band D council tax bill without having to have a referendum. This is in addition to a 5% general rise.

Police budgets are made up of funding from both central government and local government and the increase in police spending power assumes a rise in the police precept, Treasury documents suggest.

“This includes projected spending from additional income, including estimated funding from the police council tax precept,” the documents say.

Police leaders have already called for greater funding, with some arguing extra money provided in the Spending Review would quickly go on covering officers’ pay

Louise Gittins, who chairs the Local Government Association, which represents councils, said there were some welcome areas of support in the Spending Review, including children’s services, affordable homes and investment in transport.

However, she said council budgets would remain under “severe financial pressure”.

“Many will continue to have to increase council tax bills to try and protect services but still need to make further cutbacks,” she said.

Tiff Lynch, acting chair of the Police Federation for England and Wales, which represents rank-and-file officers, said: “This Spending Review should have been a turning point after 15 years of austerity that has left policing and police officers broken. Instead, the cuts will continue and it’s the public who will pay the price.

“We await the government’s decision on police pay in the coming weeks. But with this Spending Review, the signs are deeply worrying; the consequences will be even more so.”

Jim McMahon said the council’s financial position was “deteriorating rapidly” and unable to improve.

The rain and high winds experienced during stormy weather can damage homes and cause power outages.

The chancellor highlights “uncertainty” in the world as economists warn of tax rises if the economy fails to grow.

Council tax bills in England are predicted to increase by the maximum amount every year until 2029.

Details about how the region could be split up to form unitary councils has been shared.

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Struggling budget chain Poundland has been sold for £1 and now faces a shake-up which could see up to 100 stores close, the BBC understands.

Its owner Polish firm Pepco confirmed it had sold the brand for a “nominal” sum to US investment firm Gordon Brothers.

Poundland has 825 UK stores and around 16,000 staff and was struggling to compete with other discount stores, with sales down this January and February.

Following the sale a proposed restructure will be put to the High Court in England, Pepco said.

It comes after Pepco warned that increased employer National Insurance contributions which kicked in in April would put added pressure on the chain.

Pepco Group has owned Poundland since 2016, but the firm had to auction the brand off after sales slumped over the past year.

Gordon Brothers is a global investment firm which formerly owned fashion label Laura Ashley.

Pepco said it was effectively offloading an unprofitable part of the business and Poundland remained a well-loved brand with millions of customers annually.

But retail analyst Sofie Willmott from GlobalData said Poundland’s appeal has been waning as UK consumers sought better quality and value for money elsewhere.

“Those who favoured Poundland for low price groceries have been tempted away by the supermarkets who have been aggressively competing on price, and the failure of its clothing range has been a distraction for the retailer”, she said.

Consumer expert Kate Hardcastle said a sale for a nominal amount “often signals a business model that has struggled to keep pace with market forces,

“In this case, it reflects not just internal challenges but profound shifts in how consumers now shop,” she said.

Brands such as Temu and Shein have “fundamentally changed consumer expectations around price, speed and convenience”, she added.

She said this put “unrelenting pressure” on the likes of Poundland.

“Against that backdrop, the once-simple promise of a ‘pound shop’ no longer carries the same weight or differentiation”.

Following its sale the business will continue to be led by Barry Williams, currently managing director of Poundland, it said.

The business will continue to operate under the Poundland brand in the United Kingdom and under the Dealz brand in the Isle of Man and Republic of Ireland, it added.

“We want to sincerely thank all the Poundland team for their ongoing commitment and contribution to the group and wish Barry Williams and his team all the best for the future,” said Pepco chief executive Stephan Borchert.

In March, Pepco said Poundland was “operating in an increasingly challenging UK retail landscape that is only intensifying”.

“Pepco Group expects to obtain a minority investment interest in Poundland”, Pepco wrote in a release.

Gordon Brothers is investing a total of £80m in Poundland which includes an existing secured loan of £30m and a further £30m overdraft.

Mark Newton-Jones, head of Gordon Brothers’ Europe group said it was “delighted” to provide financing for “the substantial turnaround of this iconic retailer”.

He added: “We believe Poundland is an essential retailer serving UK consumers and plays an important role on the High Street.”

He said the group would “ensure we continue providing exceptional value to budget-conscious consumers in the UK.”

Increasing costs are presenting financial challenges and its trips are on hold, the charity says.

A charity that helps parents with young babies says it is itself “massively feeling the pinch”.

Higher prices for some items were offset by declines in other areas, such as petrol, airfares and clothing.

Spending limits for government departments are being outlined by the chancellor. This is how it affects you.

Grants of more than £13m will go to 12 UK food charities to feed people in need.

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Chancellor Rachel Reeves has refused to rule out future tax rises after the UK economy suffered its worst contraction for a year and a half in April.

The economy unexpectedly shrank by 0.3% after taxes increased for businesses, household bills jumped and exports to the US plunged.

The figures come a day after Reeves set out spending plans aimed at boosting growth, with funding increases for the NHS and defence, but budgets squeezed elsewhere.

Economists warned that a failure to increase UK growth would “almost certainly” lead to more tax rises later this year for the government to balance its spending commitments.

Reeves acknowledged the latest economic figures were “clearly disappointing” and refused to rule out tax rises when she next lays out her plans for the economy in the autumn Budget.

“No chancellor is able to write another four years of Budgets within a first year of government, you know how much uncertainty there is in the world at the moment,” she told the BBC.

Monthly figures on the economy are volatile, and the more stable three-month figure to April showed the economy grew by 0.7%.

“With spending plans set… any move in the wrong direction will almost certainly spark more tax rises,” said Paul Johnson, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), an influential think tank.

Ruth Curtice, chief executive of the Resolution Foundation, agreed.

“A weaker economic outlook and the unfunded changes to winter fuel payments mean the chancellor will likely need to look again at tax rises in the Autumn,” she said.

In Wednesday’s Spending Review, Reeves prioritised ploughing billions into long-term projects, in a bid to boost economic growth and improve living standards.

But many of the chancellor’s plans such as new railway lines and the development of nuclear power plant Sizewell C will take years, with current day-to-day spending budgets being squeezed.

Council tax is also expected to rise to pay for local services.

Opposition parties said the chancellor’s previous decision to raise employers’ National Insurance contributions, which took effect in April, was dragging on growth.

The government is also paying more to borrow money.

Lindsay James, investment strategist at British multinational wealth management company Quilter, said this was due to investors being cynical over the government’s spending plans so demanding a higher return.

“With the economy now weakening, we can expect to see concerns around further tax rises increase as we near the autumn Budget – which is likely to weigh on growth even more.”

Growth rising steadily is widely welcomed, as it usually means people are spending more, extra jobs are created, more tax is paid, and workers get better pay rises.

But growth in the UK has been sluggish for many years.

The Office for National Statistics said a poor month for the services sector, which includes businesses ranging from shops and restaurants to hairdressers and financial firms, was behind the contraction in April.

Legal firms and property companies also “fared badly”, it said, following a strong March which saw many homebuyers rushing to complete purchases to avoid stamp duty increases that came in in April.

Lewis Eager, 26, works part-time for a supermarket in Southend-on-Sea, earning about £10,000 a year.

He welcomed the investment in apprenticeships announced in the Spending Review and hopes employers will respond by lowering barriers to applicants.

Lewis, who lives with his parents, estimated he had applied for more than 4,000 jobs but said he cannot find full-time work.

He said he sees a “looming crisis” among young people unable to get on the jobs ladder.

Car manufacturing was also weak in April after the introduction of 25% tariffs on UK vehicles exported to the US. Cars are the UK’s biggest US export, with one in eight cars built in Britain shipped across the Atlantic.

Trade data showed the value of UK exports decreased by some £2.7bn in April, with goods to America alone falling by £2bn, the largest monthly fall on record in exports across the Atlantic.

Since April, the government has agreed a deal on tariffs with the US and has also made trade agreements with the European Union and India.

Despite the tariff pact with the US, a 10% import tax still applies to most UK goods entering America, with higher taxes for steel and cars until the deal comes into force.

Shadow chancellor Mel Stride blamed Reeves’ economic choices for the weak growth.

“The chancellor should have taken corrective action to fix the problems she has caused. But instead her Spending Review has all but confirmed what many feared: more taxes are coming.”

Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesperson Daisy Cooper said the figures were a “wake-up call for the government which has so far refused to listen to the small businesses struggling to cope with the jobs tax”.

In April, employers’ National Insurance contributions rose to 15% from 13.8%, with the threshold for payments reduced from £9,100 per year to £5,000.

Firms also saw minimum wages and business rates go up.

Ollie Vaulkhard, director of Vaulkhard Group which owns 17 hospitality venues across Newcastle upon Tyne, said the business was under pressure from the cost increases.

“Each one of those is manageable – you put them all into a pot, ultimately we’ve got to charge our customers more,” he said.

Council tax is expected to rise by 5% a year to pay for local services, documents in the Spending Review suggest.

Projects in the South West were not included in the chancellor’s spending review on Wednesday.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves pledges £39bn across 10 years for social and affordable housing in England.

After the government outlined its spending plans, people with a range of incomes give us their reaction.

The government is making financial contribution of £50m towards the redevelopment of Casement Park.

Copyright 2025 BBC. All rights reserved.  The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking.

Last month, Boeing celebrated carrying its billionth passenger on the 787 Dreamliner – an impressive feat given it only launched 14 years ago. Until today’s tragic Air India crash in Ahmedabad, the model was a mainstay of intercontinental travel and had an exemplary safety record.

This is a different plane from the Boeing 737 Max, which was in the headlines after fatal crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia, which killed hundreds of people in 2018 and 2019 respectively.

A software fault was found to have caused those incidents and the model was grounded worldwide for 18 months.

So far, there is nothing to suggest any fault on Boeing’s side today in India. A much fuller picture will come once the plane’s black boxes – the electronic recording devices that store vital flight information – have been recovered.

Various theories have been posited as to what could have caused the crash in Ahmedabad, but one pilot I spoke to said that nowadays it’s rare for a manufacturer fault to cause a fatal incident.

Barring the very notable exception of the Boeing 737 Max crashes, he said, most were down to human error in the cockpit.

It’s also important to remember that when you fly commercially, you will almost always either be on a Boeing or an Airbus model as the plane-making industry operates as an effective duopoly.

Even so, Boeing has found its name associated with yet another tragic aviation incident.

The company said its “thoughts are with the passengers, crew, first responders and all affected” and added that it was working with Air India to gather more information on the crash.

When stock markets opened in New York on Thursday, Boeing shares dropped 5%.

The tragedy is another problem for a firm that lost nearly a billion dollars a month last year, as it grappled with a safety crisis, quality control issues, as well as a damaging workers’ strike which lasted seven weeks.

After one of its doors flew off midway through an Alaska Airlines flight in 2024, Boeing was forced to pay $160m (£126m) in compensation.

Before that, the company also reached a $428m settlement with Southwest Airlines for the financial damages caused by the long-term grounding of its 737 Max fleet.

In addition to severe financial issues, Boeing has faced serious questions over its safety practices. In April, the company said it had seen “improved operational performance” from “our ongoing focus on safety and quality”.

In 2019, a former employee told the BBC that under-pressure workers had been deliberately fitting sub-standard parts to aircraft on the production line.

John Barnett, who worked as a quality control manager during his more than 30 years at Boeing, took his own life in March last year. Boeing denied his assertions.

Another whistleblower, engineer Sam Salehpour, told US politicians that he was harassed and threatened after he raised concerns about the safety of Boeing’s planes.

Boeing said retaliation was “strictly prohibited” and it had seen a “more than 500% increase” in reports from employees since January, “which signals progress toward a robust reporting culture that is not fearful of retaliation”.

Boeing has also been embroiled in a series of legal battles related to the crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia. Last month, the firm narrowly avoiding criminal prosecution by coming to an agreement with the US Department of Justice (DoJ).

To the dismay of victims’ families, the DoJ said Boeing would admit to “conspiracy to obstruct and impede” an investigation by the US Federal Aviation Administration and would pay more than $1.1bn in fines.

Unsurprisingly, Boeing’s top executive team has undergone a pretty significant shake-up over the past couple of years.

Its new boss, Kelly Ortberg, came out of retirement a year ago to try to revive the ailing company.

He has promised an improvement to Boeing’s safety culture and recently said he was confident the aviation giant would soon return to profitability.

Today he faces more awful news to navigate.

The plane maker has agreed to pay $1.1bn to avoid prosecution over two fatal crashes that killed 346 people.

Families criticised the move, which would avoid a trial that is due to begin in June.

The commitment from the state-owned airline comes as Boeing pushes to rebuild its business.

Boeing’s boss says it’s looking to sell 50 more planes China has on order to other countries.

The F-47 fighter jet contract is a boost for Boeing, which has faced slumps in both military and civilian sales.

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