Pensioners left in limbo as Chancellor refuses to rule out further tax hikes for working Britons

Businesses in Scotland call for 'clear plan' after spending cuts announcement 

Businesses in Scotland have called on the Government to provide a “clear plan” for the economy, following Shona Robison's announcement of millions of pounds in cuts.

Shona Robison told MSPs up to £500 million would need to be stripped out of the current year’s budget.

Speaking after the statement, the Scottish Chambers of Commerce chief executive, Dr Liz Cameron, said businesses “understand tough decisions must be made”.

However, she added: “We also need certainty from the Government that growing the economy remains the top priority.”

“We do not underestimate the scale of the challenge which is impacting communities across the United Kingdom,” she continued.

“That’s why we need to see a clear plan of how the Scottish and UK Governments intend to work in partnership to support economic growth and business investment which is the only route to fund vital public services.”

Scotland's finance secretary confirms £500m spending cuts

The Scottish government will have to make spending cuts of up to £500million, Shona Robison, the finance secretary has said.

Robison said the "direct savings" were necessary to support the Scottish government's 2024/25 budget.

She said that £188m will be found from across the government, which will include cutting active travel funding. £65m will be found by re-purposing cash from other projects and around £60m would be gained through already announced spending controls.

Robison added she was also "reluctantly planning" to utilise up to £460m of additional ScotWind revenue funding.

Warning of tough decisions to come, she said: "As we look ahead, it is clear that further significant action will be needed to reset the public finances onto a sustainable path.

"The chancellor has made clear that UK government funding will continue to be tightly constrained. The prime minister has also made clear the difficult decisions to come."

'Do they want Hamas to win?' Boris Johnson lashes out at Labour 'abandoning Israel'

Earlier today, Boris Johnson accused Labour of "abandoning Israel" in the wake of Foreign Secretary David Lammy's controversial decision to suspend certain British arms export licences to the country.

Lammy had told Parliament yesterday that it was up to the Government to assess the likelihood of a "clear risk" British weapons could be used to break international law in Gaza.

Though the Foreign Secretary noted that the move was neither a "blanket ban" nor an "arms embargo", he said it focused on items that could be used in the conflict in Gaza - indeed, just 30 out of 350 arms export licences to Israel have been rescinded.

But Johnson raged on social media at the news, even asking whether Lammy and Sir Keir Starmer "want Hamas to win".

The former PM wrote: "Hamas is still holding many innocent Jewish hostages while Israel tries to prevent a repeat of the October 7 massacre.

"Why are Lammy and Starmer abandoning Israel? Do they want Hamas to win?"

Johnson had previously labelled the prospect of suspending arms sales to Israel under Rishi Sunak's Government "shameful" and "insane" in a column for the Mail.

While as Prime Minister, he had written in Israeli paper Yedioth Ahronoth: "I am a passionate defender of Israel. Few causes are closer to my heart than ensuring its people are protected from the menace of terrorism and anti-Semitic incitement."

Following Lammy's move yesterday, Israel's minister for diaspora affairs, Amichai Chikli, told the BBC the decision had come "at a very sensitive moment" when Israel was burying six people "murdered in Hamas tunnels".

Chikli continued: "I think we need to combat terrorism together... The fight against Isis, al-Qaeda and Hamas - it's the same war between Western civilisation and radical Islam.

"The threat that is coming from Hamas is also an inner threat that you are facing in the streets of the UK."

Netanyahu: Britain's decision 'shameful', 'misguided' - but Israel will win 'with or without' UK weapons

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has joined the criticism of David Lammy's shelving of 30 British arms export licences to his country.

In a written social media statement this morning, Netanyahu said: "Days after Hamas executed six Israeli hostages, the UK government suspended thirty arms licenses to Israel.

"This shameful decision will not change Israel's determination to defeat Hamas, a genocidal terrorist organization that savagely murdered 1,200 people on October 7, including 14 British citizens.

"Hamas is still holding over 100 hostages, including five British citizens.

"Instead of standing with Israel, a fellow democracy defending itself against barbarism, Britain's misguided decision will only embolden Hamas.

"Israel is pursuing a just war with just means, taking unprecedented measures to keep civilians out of harm's way and comporting fully with international law.

"Just as Britain's heroic stand against the Nazis is seen today as having been vital in defending our common civilization, so too will history judge Israel’s stand against Hamas and Iran's axis of terror.

"With or without British arms, Israel will win this war and secure our common future."

Meanwhile, bigwigs in the US were left feeling let down by the move, with one Washington source telling ITV: "They assured us they wouldn't do this."

Tugendhat promises 'Conservative REVOLUTION' as he vows to make Tories 'a serious force again'

Tom Tugendhat has thrown his hat into the Tory leadership ring at his campaign launch event in London today.

Tugendhat, the MP for Tonbridge, told attendees that voters had stopped taking the Conservatives "seriously" - and pledged to make the party a "serious force again" under his potential stewardship.

He joked that he was "here to apply for a job" - but sounded bullish as he said: "I don't want to be leader of the opposition... I want to be Prime Minister."

On immigration, Tugendhat warned there was no "quick fix" to the ever-growing number of arrivals in the UK, and repeated his pledge to cap said number at 100,000 annually.

He said the UK's public sector "cannot depend on other people’s children to step in for our own", adding: "We can only change the migration numbers and truly grow the economy... if we are serious and honest about the choices we need to make."

"It is just not true to say that one Bill or one treaty could do that," he said. "We need to rethink our entire economy."

Labour MP calls for UK to provide Israel with means to defend itself

Labour MP Graham Stringer has said he believes Jews who live in Israel have an absolute right to defend themselves.

He also said his party and Muslim leaders needed to "think out their position" after the election of a spate of pro-Gaza MPs in July.

Speaking on GB News, he said: "Jeremy [Corbyn] went past any possible defence of him and his politics when he laid a wreath for Black September in Tunisia.

"Black September, you'll remember, were a group that murdered Israeli athletes of the 1972 Munich Olympic Games..."

WATCH GRAHAM STRINGER'S INTERVIEW HERE

Reform's James McMurdock: 'If you have your phone snatched... thank the "Free Palestine" activists!'

If you have your phone snatched this morning and the police are delayed maybe you can thank the 2 “Free Palestine” activists on the strand.

If you want your voice heard write to your MP’s office! pic.twitter.com/Cv30RDVT3n

— James McMurdock MP (@JamesReform) September 3, 2024

Reform MP James McMurdock has hit out at a pro-Palestine protest in central London in a video on social media.

The MP for South Basildon and East Thurrock, referencing a demonstration which has seen the UK office of Apco Worldwide, a communications company linked to Israeli weapons firm Elbit Systems, daubed in red paint, said: "If you have your phone snatched this morning, and the police are delayed, maybe you can thank the two 'Free Palestine' activists on the Strand!"

As the party's youngest MP walks along the street with the targeted office in the background, he can be heard jabbing: "Interesting time and world we live in, isn't it? Free Palestinian activists setting the world to right with red paint..."

Defence Secretary weighs into arms exports row as he declares British support for Israel 'unshakeable'

Defence Secretary John Healey has backed up Foreign Secretary David Lammy's move to cut 10 per cent of British export licences to Israel amid a sharp backlash from both the country itself and Conservatives in the UK.

Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant said he was "deeply disheartened" by the move - and slated the timing of the announcement following the murder of six hostages in Gaza.

The list of suspended sales includes components for military aircraft including F-16 jets and drones, as well as naval systems and targeting equipment.

But Healey has claimed the decision "will not have a material impact on Israel's security", speaking to Times Radio.

The Defence Secretary said he informed his Israeli counterpart, Gallant, about the suspension before it was announced.

Healey continued: "As I said to the defence minister Yoav Gallant yesterday when I spoke to him before the announcement, we have a duty to follow the law, but this does not alter our unshakeable commitment to support Israel's right to self-defence and to the defence of Israel if it comes under direct attack again, just as UK jets back in April helped intercept Iranian drones and missiles that were targeted directly at Israeli civilians."

Healey said Gallant "found the call unwelcome", adding: "That's not surprising, but sometimes your closest friends are the ones that need to tell the hardest truths."

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