The Budget takes shape

Good morning. John Healey’s upcoming Budget begins to take shape across the front pages, as Israel votes for the first time since 7 October 2023. Harry Kane is officially the world’s best footballer, while the Pope is heading to South America. Anthropic is going public, the USS Enterprise has lost a crew member, energy bills are set to spike and Nigella Lawson is sticking it to Strictly. Apple’s new phones are cracking up, Microsoft is cutting jobs, the King and Queen are in the Caribbean and supermarket shelves are being emptied. You’re reading Spectator Daily: here’s everything you need to know today.

BUDGET BRIEFINGS

John Healey, the Chancellor, will raise the national living wage from £12.71 to £13.20 an hour in tomorrow’s Budget, while the minimum wage for workers aged 18 to 20 will rise from £10.85 to around £11.27, the Times reports. This breaks with Labour’s manifesto pledge to bring the minimum wage for under-21s into line with the adult rate. Worries about youth unemployment have seemingly prompted a rethink of a distinction Labour previously described as ‘discriminatory’.

The Chancellor is also said to have ordered his Cabinet colleagues to find further savings as the government stares down what he calls an ‘economic storm’. With the war in Iran having increased energy prices, inflation and borrowing costs, the public finances have been squeezed. Ministers have been told to find the cash for new priorities by cancelling, cutting or reprioritising existing policies, rather than asking for more money. While various efficiencies have already been found, Healey’s long-heralded increase in defence spending may require further cuts.

What have they got up their sleeves?

Additionally, the Guardian suggests Healey can be expected to abolish the Carer’s Allowance ‘cliff-edge’ on Wednesday. This refers to unpaid carers losing their entire £86.45 weekly benefit if their earnings surpass the £204 limit. This has left carers accruing substantial repayment demands, with one review suggesting that 180,000 people had amassed £300 million in overpayment debts between 2019 and 2025. The mooted reform would see the benefit withdrawn more gradually, allowing carers to increase working hours without losing all support.

Yet the former defence secretary is facing criticism from one of his predecessors. In a letter seen in this morning’s Telegraph, Sir Ben Wallace accuses the government of artificially inflating the defence budget by including billions of pounds in intelligence spending. This has apparently made it appear as if ministers are on course to meet their Nato commitment to spend more on the military, despite the alliance having rules clarifying that security service funding does not count towards defence expenditure. Sir Ben has called on the UK Statistics Authority to investigate.

Meanwhile, the Times suggests that a return of free movement is one of the options for closer alignment with the EU currently under discussion. The UK is said to be examining several which will be revealed in the run up to the UK-EU summit on 20 November. The options are being run by officials in Brussels to win support ahead of any formal announcement by Andy Burnham. The Prime Minister confirmed yesterday that he would like to see Britain rejoin the EU ‘in my lifetime’ but that he is not proposing re-entry during ‘this parliament’.

Coming up today

ISRAEL VOTES

Bye-bye, Bibi? Israel is voting today in the first Knesset election since the 7 October attack by Hamas. Benjamin Netanyahu – the country’s longest-serving prime minister – is attempting to secure another term. Polls suggest that the centre-right opposition bloc led by Gadi Eisenkot, a retired general, is likely to win more seats in Israel’s parliament than Netanyahu’s current coalition, but that neither is likely to be able to cobble together the 61 seats needed for a majority government. Jonathan Sacredoti has been celebrating the special nature of Israeli democracy.

Most likely, the opposition will be able to force Netanyahu out by working with parties representing the fifth or so of the country that is Muslim. But conservatives aligned to Eisenkot have ruled out a coalition; a minority government, more elections and another opportunity for Netanyahu to extend his remarkable career might yet loom. Yesterday, a United Nations-mandated investigation accused Israel of committing crimes against humanity in the occupied Palestinian territory.

Meanwhile, Netanyahu’s sometime-friend Donald Trump has been casting aspersions about another election result. The US President declared that Brazil’s election was ‘rigged’ after Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva beat Flávio Bolsonaro in a dramatic comeback. Addressing the right-wing leader’s defeat yesterday, Trump told reports it ‘looked terrible’ and while he ‘didn’t take sides’ it ‘looked like another rigged election, frankly’ and a ‘terrible look for the world’. When it comes to election results and poor looks, the President knows of what he speaks.

Knowing me, knowing Netanyahu

KANE, LEO AND KOENIG

For England and St George. Harry Kane has been named as the best footballer in the world as he won the 2026 Ballon D’Or last night. After a superb year of scoring for both his country and Bayern Munich, his club, the striker has become the award’s first English winner since Michael Owen in 2001. Appropriately, the 70th anniversary ceremony took place in London, with the location marking the inaugural victory of Sir Stanley Matthews in 1956. Kane is only the sixth British player to win it, pipping Spain’s Lamine Yamal and France’s Kylian Mbappe.

Kane is able

Pope springs eternal. After his surgery for lung cancer earlier this month, Pope Leo’s South America tour will go ahead as planned, the Vatican has confirmed. He is scheduled to travel to Argentina, Peru and Uruguay across 6-17 November, visiting ten cities. The 71-year-old has said he is looking forward to his visits ‘with great joy and enthusiasm’, adding that he is ‘looking forward to returning to the continent’ where he has ‘experienced so many moments of [his] life’. The Pope lived in Peru for several years and holds citizenship there.

Beamed up. Sad news for Star Trek fans. Walter Koenig, who played Pavel Chekov, the Russian navigator of the Starship Enterprise, has died aged 90. He starred in the second and third seasons of the original series, before reprising his role in seven subsequent movies. In a statement, it was confirmed that he had died ‘of old age at home in North Hollywood’ on Sunday ‘surrounded by his daughter and niece’. George Takei – who starred alongside Koenig –said his former colleague ‘was a writer, a teacher, a thoughtful man and a loyal friend’.

‘Remind me, what did we come to see?’

AI OF THE STORM

Anthropic, the tech giant behind the Claude chatbot, yesterday unveiled paperwork for its initial public offering (IPO), beginning what is thought to be one of history’s most eagerly anticipated stock market listings. Anthropic confirmed it lost $80.7 billion in the first half of the year and that it will list its stock on the Nasdaq market under the ticker symbol ‘ANT’, with the market up 1.2 per cent by mid-morning in the wake of the filing. Anthropic said it will use the IPO’s proceeds to fund investments in computing infrastructure.

Microsoft landing. Meanwhile, around 60,000 employees at Microsoft – more than a quarter of its global workforce – have been offered a voluntary buyout package. The technology giant is aiming to reduce costs while ploughing money into artificial intelligence. The scheme is available to staff from the UK, US, Canada and India. It follows cuts earlier this year, which included job losses at Xbox. The technology giant has suggested the programme will empower employees wishing to leave while allowing it to make workforce adjustments.

CARDS, FLATS AND ENERGY BILLS

Red card. Mastercard and Visa face a potential £5 billion lawsuit for allegedly curbing competition and overcharging British businesses. An application has been lodged by the law firms Harcus Parker and Hausfield to pursue a group claim compensating companies who, they claim, have been overcharged on card payments. The claim centres on multilateral interchange fees, set by the pair and charged to businesses through their banks every time a customer pays by card. They will argue that a lack of competition has left businesses paying higher fees.

London’s falling. London’s flat market is enduring its biggest downturn in 17 years. The Telegraph suggests that prices are falling at their fastest rate since 2009, with high mortgage rates, hiked stamp duty and restrictions on buy-to-let landlords all culpable. The squeeze is hitting hardest at the highest end, with the Times reporting that sales of prime London flats have fallen by £3.1 billion since 2023 amid the abolition of non-dom tax status, uncertainty over future tax changes and a lack of suitable properties.

Bad energy. Consumers are in line to face the highest domestic gas prices yet, with household energy bills reportedly forecast to rise to an average of £2,192 a year from January – a hike of 27 per cent. The wholesale gas price has reached a fresh four-year high in recent weeks amid renewed conflict between the US and Iran. A forecast from EDF – one of the country’s leading energy suppliers – has suggested the cap may rise from £1,723 to £2,389 a year by April. This is higher than the previous peak in early 2023 amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Stuck on fold. Users of Apple’s new foldable iPhone – the first the company has released – have reported a fault on some devices which leads to a broken screen. Having gone on sale for £1,999 on Friday, some iPhone Duos have proven difficult to unfold – quite a crucial element – which then causes a popping sound and a line forming down the crease of the screen. Users ranging from Australia to China have taken to social media to complain. With some forecasts suggesting Apple may sell six million Duos this year, this fault is a small fraction of the overall sales.

Failed Prime Ministers at the Cenotaph are a sorry sight – Max Hastings

How much unused council land is there really? – Notes on Growth

What Israel’s election won’t change – Foreign Affairs

The 2016 gambit – The World of Edrith

Did Substack fix the internet? – New Yorker

A Lawson unto herself. The Great British Bake Off has overtaken Strictly Come Dancing in the ratings for the first time, with Nigella Lawson credited with the increased interest. For the first episode in which she replaced Prue Leith as a judge alongside Paul Hollywood, 7.1 million people tuned in, compared to the 6.2 million who watched the dancing programme’s first live show – nearly 1.5 million fewer than its series opener a year before. Channel 4 chiefs are reportedly so happy with Lawson that they have already signed her up for a second series at a sweet £500,000.

Worth every penny!

Bean and gone. Batteries, baked beans and bottled water are selling out at supermarkets following the government’s request that households prepare for food shortages. According to Ocado, the online grocer, various brands of bottled water and other prepper essentials were out of stock yesterday. Iceland, the frozen food supermarket, said that it was ‘clear customers have listened to the Government’s message’ as there has been a ‘40 per cent increase in sales of tinned products over the weekend and strong sales of bottled water too’. See Wes? Somebody listens!

Good news! for easyJet passengers. While Ukraine might be having a little trouble with Starlink, the budget airline has signed a deal with Elon Musk’s company to offer satellite Wi-Fi on its flights. From the first half of next year, high-speed internet will be available on easyJet’s A320 and A321 fleet, with the rollout hopefully completed by early 2028. Customers would be able to browse and stream on their devices in the air as easily as they can on terra firma. Musk previously called Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary ‘an idiot’ for rejecting the technology. Charming!

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