Ministers should ‘start doing stuff’ to help farmers and cut fuel costs, says Asda boss

Allan Leighton predicts food prices will inevitably rise, as group’s full-year profits dive by a third to £764m

Ministers vow to spend record £8.4bn on road maintenance in England

Move is part of £27bn five-year investment plan for A-roads and motorways, with almost a third going on work such as resurfacing

Starmer tells Travelodge boss to engage with MPs over sexual assault case

PM tells Jo Boydell of concerns about her lack of availability to discuss how staff gave man access to victim’s room

UK CO2 plant to reopen amid fears Iran war could lead to shortage

Teesside site mothballed in September given £100m by government to restart production for at least three months

Here’s the danger: if Labour doesn’t offer a radical solution to the energy-price crisis, others will

Money-off vouchers won’t do. Instead, the government needs to offer a lasting vision for energy security – because we already know what Reform’s is, says Guardian columnist Jonathan Liew

What are the rules on cryptocurrency donations to UK political parties?

Temporary ban on crypto donations is being introduced after review into countering foreign interference in politics

‘Doge of the left’ could save UK taxpayers up to £30bn, says new green thinktank

Report by Verdant says rooting out waste, fraud and tax avoidance would save money that could help improve public services

UK inflation held at 3% before global energy price hit from Iran war

February annual rate in line with expectations, but Food and Drink Federation fears it is ‘calm before storm’

UK offers to host international summit on reopening strait of Hormuz

Defence chiefs have been discussing how they might unblock the conduit for about a fifth of the world’s oil supplies

UK politics: Reform UK suspends mayoral candidate after he described Jewish security group as ‘cosplayers’ – as it happened

Labour and Liberal Democrats welcome suspension of Chris Parry, the party’s Hampshire mayoral candidate, after derogatory remarks about Jewish group

Reeves slips into yoga voice to try to soothe fears over costs of Trump’s war

The chancellor was meant to set out her contingency plans but it was an announcement without any announcements in it

UK defence firms ‘bleeding cash’ as delayed spending plan leaves industry in ‘paralysis’

Industry groups say delay to defence investment plan (DIP) leaves UK lagging behind in global race for funding

What levers could Rachel Reeves pull to help with rising prices?

What the chancellor could do to counter the economic impacts of Iran war, from stopping price gouging to cancelling fuel duty rises

Rachel Reeves rules out universal support on energy bills

Chancellor says package offered by Liz Truss’s government was unaffordable and any future help will be targeted

Ministers rebuff trade body’s call to boost North Sea oil and gas production

Government emphasises need to ‘get off the rollercoaster of fossil fuel markets’ in response to Offshore Energies UK