Foreign firms that win defence contracts will have to invest in UK under new policy – UK politics live

Wes Streeting says overseas suppliers of defence contracts will need to spend the equivalent amount in the UK This is from Rhun ap Iorwerth , the Welsh first minister, summarising what he will be putting to Andy Burnham at their meeting in Glasgow today. Today, I represent Wales

Wes Streeting says overseas suppliers of defence contracts will need to spend the equivalent amount in the UK This is from Rhun ap Iorwerth , the Welsh first minister, summarising what he will be putting to Andy Burnham at their meeting in Glasgow today. Today, I represent Wales at the National Economic Council in Glasgow. This is an opportunity for the UK Prime Minister to prove his commitment to a respect agenda that works both ways.

The public’s initial reaction to John Healey’s first budget is in some key respects broadly positive, with nearly half of Britons (45%) regarding the budget as being fair, relative to just 20% seeing the measures announced as not fair. This is a notable improvement on last year, when Rachel Reeves’ second budget was declared ‘not fair’ by a near-inverse margin of 48% to 21% . In fact, on this measure, this is one of the most positively received budgets in recent times.

In data going back to 2010, only George Osborne’s first budget in 2010 and Rishi Sunak’s Covid budgets of 2020 and March 2021 have been judged ‘fair’ by a greater proportion of Britons (50-55%). Continue reading...