Budget 2026: Healey hikes taxes on banks and landlords to fund £100 handouts to 20m households

Few surprises as chancellor uses low-key speech blaming ‘global economic storms’ for stoking energy prices and cost of living crisis

Budget briefing: the key questions answered by Heather Stewart and Pippa Crerar

Our economics and political editors dissect John Healey’s maiden budget

Labour is still searching for an energy fix for a new world

The chancellor is right to focus on pure affordability, but £100 handouts and delayed decisions won’t shield consumers from the next wave of price hikes

Budget 2026: £100 energy payment for millions and rise in bank tax as watchdog warns on stalling living standards – as it happened

OBR says that living standards are forecast to rise by just 1% over the whole post-Covid decade

Budget winners and losers: pensioners and households gain as banks and betting shops hit

How the Burnham government’s first attempt to ease cost of living pressure pans out for key stakeholders

Healey gives households £100 to help navigate ‘global economic storms’

Payments to 20m homes part of package to cut energy bills and ease cost of living crisis, paid for by bank windfall tax

‘A pretty grim picture’: outlook for UK living standards slashed despite Healey’s budget

OBR cautions about Middle East war dragging down growth and triggering a fresh cost of living crisis

Passengers stranded in Cambodia after cruise halted due to high fuel costs

The luxury MV Odyssey ship slated for a years-long voyage around the world suspends operations amid high fuel prices

Income tax: Healey’s budget leaves thresholds frozen again. How much more will you pay?

Tax policy means freezes reduce take-home pay as earnings rise in line with inflation

Electricity, insurance and eggs: see how life in Australia has got more expensive

Our inflation explorer tracks how prices have risen – or fallen – since 2022

Budget 2026: key points at a glance

John Healey has announced his first budget – here are the main points, with political analysis

What to expect from John Healey’s first budget: who wins, who pays?

Struggling households, new homebuyers and small shops stand to gain, while banks and online marketplaces could face higher levies

Jim Chalmers is blaming Australia’s accelerating inflation on Trump – but voters aren’t buying it

As next week’s all but certain rate rise looms, there is one thing we can all agree on: the end of war in the Middle East can’t come soon enough

Australia’s inflation rate rises to 4.3%, fuelling fears of fifth interest rate hike this year

CPI release comes ahead of Reserve Bank decision next week as the Middle East conflict intensifies the cost-of-living crisis

Plan for multibillion-pound Sizewell nuclear plant a ‘terrible deal’ for UK taxpayers, MPs say

The public accounts committee has said the risk to billpayers is ‘extraordinary’