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Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, found his position challenged after Wes Streeting resigned as Health Secretary. At the same time Angela Rayner, the former deputy prime minister, announced that her tax troubles had been resolved after a payment of £40,000 in stamp duty that she owed. Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, was given permission by the National Executive Committee of the Labour party to stand for parliament in the Makerfield by-election, brought about by the resignation of its MP Josh Simons. Reform chose as its candidate Robert Kenyon, a self-employed plumber, who had stood in 2024. Mr Streeting caused trouble for Mr Burnham by saying that ‘leaving the European Union was a catastrophic mistake’. Mr Burnham then went as far as to say: ‘I am not proposing that the UK considers rejoining the EU.’ Amid market jitters, he also undertook to abide by the government’s current fiscal rules.
HS2 could now cost up to £102.7 billion, Heidi Alexander, the Transport Secretary, said; it would not start running until at least 2036 and that trains would go at 197mph instead of 224mph. A ‘Unite the Kingdom’ demonstration organised by Tommy Robinson rallied in Parliament Square while a pro-Palestine Nakba Day march ended at Waterloo Place off Pall Mall; there were 43 arrests. In Glasgow there were 14 arrests as 3,000 Celtic fans gathered in the Trongate after their team’s victory over Heart of Midlothian. Hundreds of teenagers were found to be boasting in videos on TikTok about stealing motorbikes. Arsenal won the Premier League for the first time in 22 years. Dame Felicity Lott, the operatic soprano, died aged 79.
The Treasury asked supermarkets to cap the prices of foods like bread, milk and eggs. Inflation fell from 3.3 to 2.8 per cent. The government loosened sanctions on Russian oil that is refined into diesel and jet fuel in third countries. The cost of government borrowing went up again. GDP rose by 0.3 per cent in March and 0.6 per cent in the first quarter. Unemployment rose to 5 per cent from 4.9 per cent. British Gas apologised for breaking into customers’ homes to fit prepayment meters; it faced having to pay £112 million in payments, compensation and writing off customers’ debts. Swatch shops in Manchester and Liverpool closed for two days after large queues formed to buy its £335 Royal Pop pocket watch.
Abroad
During talks with President Donald Trump of America, Xi Jinping, the ruler of China, said: ‘The Taiwan question is the most important issue in China-US relations.’ Mr Xi told Mr Trump that President Vladimir Putin of Russia might regret his decision to invade Ukraine, according to sources credited by the Financial Times; China denied the report. Mr Putin then visited Mr Xi. A Russian missile destroyed a block of flats in Kyiv, killing 24 people. Ukraine hit an oil refinery in the city of Ryazan, south-east of Moscow. Russia and Ukraine exchanged 205 prisoners of war.
Mr Trump said he had called off a planned attack against Iran at the request of Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The US state department said Israel and Lebanon had agreed to extend their ceasefire after talks in Washington; Israel launched a strike on Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. An Israeli air strike on Gaza City killed the Hamas commander Izz al-Din al-Haddad. An Iraqi national, Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood al-Saadi, was arrested in Turkey and taken to America, where he was charged with planning two terrorist attacks on Jewish institutions in North America and 18 in Europe. A jury in California rejected a lawsuit by Elon Musk against OpenAI and its chief executive Sam Altman because it was brought too late according to a statute of limitations. The Republican congressman Thomas Massie, a critic of Mr Trump, was beaten in the Kentucky primary by Ed Gallrein, whom the President had endorsed.
The World Health Organisation declared an ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo a public health emergency of international concern, as deaths reached 136 and cases were found in Uganda. Nigeria and the United States said they had killed a senior Islamic State leader, Abu-Bilal al-Minuki, in the Lake Chad Basin. Bulgaria’s entrant Dara won the Eurovision Song Contest with ‘Bangaranga’; the United Kingdom came last with one point for ‘Eins, Zwei, Drei’ sung by Look Mum No Computer. CSH
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