Reeves: inflation figures are latest ‘encouraging sign that our plan for change is working’
Speaking about the latest inflation figures, chancellor Rachel Reeves said there were “encouraging signs that our plan for change is working.”
UK inflation dropped to 2.6% in March, meaning prices are rising slightly more slowly. Reeves said:
Inflation falling for two months in a row, wages growing faster than prices, and positive growth figures are encouraging signs that our plan for change is working, but there is more to be done.
I know many families are still struggling with the cost of living and this is an anxious time because of a changing world.
That is why the government has boosted pay for three million people by increasing the minimum wage, frozen fuel duty and begun rolling out free breakfast clubs in primary schools.
Key events
The shadow home secretary, Chris Philp, has criticised the government over channel crossings, claiming that Keir Starmer has lost control of British borders.
In a post on social media the MP for Croydon South said:
2025 so far is the worst year ever for illegal small boat crossings. This will only end with a removals deterrent where all arriving get promptly removed – then there would be no point crossing. But Labour cancelled Rwanda before it started. Starmer has lost control of our borders.
The previous Conservative administration, of which Philp was a part, spent £715m over two years on the Rwanda plan, including £50m on flights that never took off, without a single forced deportation being made.
Zarah Sultana, who was elected as Labour’s MP for Coventry South, has voiced her support for striking workers in Birmingham. Posting to social media she said “Amid a cost-of-living crisis, Birmingham bin workers were told to swallow an £8,000 pay cut. Now they’re being vilified for refusing. They’re absolutely right to strike – and they have my full solidarity.”
Sultana was among several Labour MPs who had the whip withdrawn from them shortly after last year’s general election for voting with the SNP on an amendment attempting to end the two child benefit cap.
Nigel Farage earlier was suggesting that while he was out campaigning for the May local elections that are taking place in some areas of England, the Conservatives were nowhere to be seen on the ground. They have been active on social media, however, and are attempting to hammer home a message associating the bin strikes in Brimingham with Labour-run councils.
Labour’s bin strike, coming to a town near you?
The Birmingham bin strike is a warning: Vote Labour, get trash.
The only way to stop them is to Vote Conservative on 1st May. pic.twitter.com/8NG3STdMSx
— Conservatives (@Conservatives) April 16, 2025
If you are interested more in the background to the dispute, at least from the council’s perspective anyway, the Birmingham Live website has published today a lengthy Q&A with council leader John Cotton.
China accuses UK politicians of ‘arrogance’ in British Steel row
Jasper Jolly is a financial reporter for the Guardian
China has accused UK politicians of “arrogance, ignorance and a twisted mindset” as it defended British Steel’s owner Jingye after a barrage of criticism over the narrowly averted shutdown of its blast furnaces.
Beijing’s embassy to the UK accused unspecified British public figures of slandering China’s government and businesses, in comments published on Wednesday on its website.
It followed criticism of the actions of Jingye, British Steel’s Chinese owner since 2020, by the business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds. Reynolds accused Jingye of not acting in good faith after it threatened to shut down British Steel’s furnaces at Scunthorpe within days, with the loss of 2,700 jobs. The government stepped in on Saturday to avoid the shutdowns with emergency legislation to take control of British Steel.
In an unusual question-and-answer format, the Beijing’s embassy wrote: “The anti-China rhetoric of some individual British politicians is extremely absurd, reflecting their arrogance, ignorance and twisted mindset.”
You can read more of Jasper Jolly’s report here: China accuses UK politicians of ‘arrogance’ in British Steel row
UK in talks with France about deal to swap people seeking asylum
Rajeev Syal
Rajeev Syal is the Guardian’s home affairs editor
The British and French governments are involved in early talks about a returns agreement that would involve both countries exchanging people seeking asylum.
Officials have discussed a pilot scheme under which a small number of people who come across the Channel to the UK by irregular means would be sent back to France.
The UK would look to accept from France a limited number of people who have a right to be in Britain, especially those with a case for family reunification.
Home Office insiders have described the talks, first reported in the Financial Times, as positive.
A Home Office spokesperson said the government was “intensifying” its collaboration with France and other European countries.
Small boat crossings across the Channel are at record levels, with almost 8,200 people having made the journey to the UK since the start of the year, up 30% compared with the same period last year.
Before Brexit, the UK was a party to the EU’s Dublin regulation, under which people should be processed for asylum in the country at which they first entered the bloc.
Read more from Rajeev Syal’s report here: UK in talks with France about deal to swap people seeking asylum
A judge has fined Cambridgeshire county council £6m for health and safety breaches on the world’s longest guided busway after three deaths and multiple incidents of injury.
PA Media reports that Ben Compton KC, for Cambridgeshire county council, requested that the authority be given six years to pay the money, adding: “It’s a council – these are hard times.”
The judge rejected this and gave the local authority three years to pay, and also ordered that the council pay more than £292,000 in outstanding costs, saying “I acknowledge the financial challenges that face the defendant, I don’t underestimate that”.
However the judge pointed out that the council had set aside more than £18m in a reserve fund to cover legal risks.
PA Media is reporting a government spokesperson has said the country is seeking “a better deal with the EU” as well as considering a trade deal with the Donald Trump administration in the US.
It quotes the spokesperson saying:
Growth is a priority as part of our plan for change, delivering good British jobs and more pounds in people’s pockets. Reducing trade barriers for our businesses is vitally important to that, which is why we are seeking better trading relations with partners across the world – getting a better deal with the EU to see cheaper food and drink on people’s tables, alongside a new economic deal with the US.
My colleague Helena Horton has this report, suggesting that ancient and culturally important trees in England could be given legal protections under plans set out in a UK government-commissioned report. Read more here.
Liberal Democrat MP for Torbay Steve Darling has reiterated his party’s call for action to be taken over sewage discharge from privatised water companies in England.
Posting to social media, Darling said:
Yet another reminder of why we must end the sewage dumping scandal and reform the water industry. Yesterday’s downpour led to sewage discharges on beaches across Torbay – including Meadfoot, Paignton Sands, and Goodrington –right in the middle of the Easter holidays. Enough is enough. We need tougher regulation, a ban on bonuses for failing water company bosses, and a system that puts the environment before profit.
His party leader, Ed Davey, is expected to be campaigning today in Devon and Cornwall.
On Monday the Unite union overwhelmingly rejected an offer to settle the industrial dispute with Birmingham city council. The no vote was 97% on a 60% turnout. Further talks are set to be held today.
The council’s plans to scrap the role of waste recycling collection officer (WRCO), and the union maintains that WRCOs face a pay cut of £8,00o. The city council has claimed no worker needs to lose money from their salary if they move into alternative roles of the same grade.
The union’s general secretary Sharon Graham has said: “If the council puts in writing what it says in public then we would likely be much closer to a deal.”
Speaking to the Birmingham Live website, council leader John Cotton confirmed that talks would not involve councillors, but would be led by the director of people services at the council.
PA Media reports that Tommy Robinson has lost an appeal against his 18-month sentence for the civil offence of contempt of court at the court of appeal. Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, was jailed in October last year after admitting multiple breaches of a high court order made in 2021.
PA Media has had a dig into those inflation figures to see where prices have been rising and falling. A significant factor is that petrol and diesel both saw price cuts picking up pace. The average cost of petrol last month was 5.0% lower than it was a year earlier.
There was worse news on some food products though, with potatoes, cheese, breakfast cereals and yoghurt all seeing an acceleration in inflation last month. Coffee, cocoa and powdered chocolate all continued to rise faster than the headline rate.
Our senior economics correspondent Richard Partington has this analysis of today’s inflation data, suggesting that the optimism of Rachel Reeves in her statement this morning may well have been misplaced. You can read it here.
Birmingham bin dispute: council and union to have discussions later today
With talks planned for later today, Birmingham city council’s leader has said it is “open to negotiations” with Unite on resolving the dispute which has disrupted refuse collection in the city, but said he was disappointed union members had not accepted the offer currently on the table.
PA Media reports John Cotton said “It’s really disappointing that Unite have rejected a second reasonable offer from the council. However, our door remains open to talk, so I’m really pleased that there will be further talks taking place later today.”
“Obviously, I’m not going to offer a running commentary on what happens in those negotiations but what I will say is what we cannot accept is anything that results in crossing our red lines around our equal pay liability, or indeed imperilling the transformation of the waste service.
“These are really important things that need to happen for the benefit of the citizens of Birmingham, but we’re absolutely open to negotiations and bringing this dispute to a close which has gone on, frankly, for far too long.”
Cotton claimed that most of the backlog of rubbish piling up on the streets of Birmingham could be cleared by the end of this week, stating that more than 18,000 tonnes of rubbish has been cleared off the streets since 4 April.
Minister Lilian Greenwood has faced questions over immigration during the media round on Wednesday morning, confirming to Sky News “there are discussions ongoing with the French government” on the issue.
The FT has reported that a “migrant return” deal might be in the frame.
Greenwood told viewers “We are absolutely focused on fixing the broken asylum system that we have inherited from the Conservative government. It is not a short-term issue. This is going to take really hard work to tackle those organised gangs that are preying on people, putting their lives in danger as they try to cross the Channel to the UK. Of course, that’s going to involve conversations with our counterparts on the European continent.”
In a separate exchange on the issue during an appearance on GB News, she castigated the previous government for wasting “hundreds of millions of pounds” on its Rwanda deportation scheme. Greenwood said:
Obviously what we are doing is ensuring that those people who do arrive here illegally and have no legitimate claim are subject to returns, and that’s what we’ve been doing since we came to office.
Undoubtedly there is an incentive for people to come if they think they’re going to be able to stay. We saw under the last government. A huge backlog in asylum claims. People were allowed to stay here, at huge cost to the taxpayer, living in hotels. That is a completely unacceptable situation.
People who arrive in the UK have to have their claims looked at and processed quickly. Of course, there will be people who have a legitimate right to be here and genuine refugees. But for those who are not, they need to be returned, and that’s the system that we are determined to ensure works effectively.
Nigel Farage has issued a local election campaign video this morning, which he recorded yesterday afternoon, in which he calls the Conservative party a “self-entitled arrogant up themselves bunch of losers.”
He claims that while he has been out campaigning in Durham and Northumberland, the Conservatives “are not on the pitch, not campaigning out around the country, not appearing for any media interviews.”
There is more economic data being released today by the ONS – this time on house prices and rent.
The ONS reported:
Average UK house prices increased by 5.4%, to £268,000 in the year to February 2025, up from 4.8% in the 12 months to January 2025.
Average UK private rents increased by 7.7% in the year to March 2025, this is down from 8.1% in February 2025.
As ever there are variations between nations and regions. The ONS said the north west was the English region with the highest house price inflation, at 8%, and London the lowest with 1.7%.
The average house price for Wales was £207,000 in February 2025, up 4.1%, the average house price for Scotland was £186,000 in February 2025, up 5.7% and in Northern Ireland the figure was £183,000, which was up 9%.
