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Budget is drawing attention across 3 news outlets right now. The reports below are the current coverage, newest first.

The coverage

HSBC profits surge 32%, sparking fresh calls for bank taxes in the budget – business live
BusinessThe Guardian

HSBC profits surge 32%, sparking fresh calls for bank taxes in the budget – business live

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news UK shop price inflation ‘highest since 2024’ as retailers struggle to limit price rises The 6% drop in HSBC’s share price this morning has made rather a dent in the FTSE 100 share index. The ‘Footsie’ is down 108 points, or 1%, at 10,659 points. “You don’t usually get fireworks from HSBC results, and these are no exception. There are signs of some improvement overall, and a boost to the buyback is welcome, but it’s clear why the market wasn’t really inspired by these numbers. HSBC seems to be doing ok, but ok doesn’t really cut it in a world where inflation is back on the menu and growth may start to slow. At least it’s not exactly rolling in profits this time around, providing some useful air cover ahead of a UK budget that will may include another raid on banks.” Continue reading...

Tories dismiss PM’s budget ‘everyday fixes’ as little more than ‘cheaper gherkins’, and ‘an insult to families’ – UK politics live
PoliticsThe Guardian

Tories dismiss PM’s budget ‘everyday fixes’ as little more than ‘cheaper gherkins’, and ‘an insult to families’ – UK politics live

Removing tariffs on more than 100 products, including gherkins and baked beans, was one of five measures announced this morning before tomorrow’s budget It is not just gherkins where the Treasury is cutting import tariffs. (See 9.07am .) Here is the lists from the Treasury of mostly food imports where tariffs are being cut. Garlic (8% + £100 per 100 kg) Gherkins (12%) Yes, I do. We certainly stand taller in the world. The terrible projections of doom as to what would happen to our financial sector etc haven’t happened. Our growth rates are higher than our European competitors. Our exports, particularly of services to the European Union, have actually rocketed. And we’ve now got more trade deals and more options around the rest of the world. Five months ago, Andy Burnham says … I’m not going to reopen these arguments. Two-and-a-half years ago, a Labour government got a massive majority in

Why won't MPs tax the rich? We asked them – and their answers gave us hope | Faiza Shaheen
BusinessThe Guardian2 outlets

Why won't MPs tax the rich? We asked them – and their answers gave us hope | Faiza Shaheen

Even most Reform voters are in favour of a tax on the super-wealthy. Yet the first budget of the Burnham era looks set to dodge the issue In John Healey’s first budget this week, we will finally get a sense of the economic policies that will deliver Andy Burnham’s pledge to end neoliberalism. Or will we? Capital gains tax equalised with income tax? Ruled out . A genuine wealth tax on those sitting on over £10m? Off the table . Even the briefed increase in the banking surcharge only takes us back to where it was until the Conservatives cut it in 2023. We can cross our fingers for trailed policies on supporting high streets, financial devolution and longer-term investment, but there is still more than a whiff of trickle-down economics in the air. Poll after poll shows that the British public overwhelmingly supports wealth taxes on the super-rich – including three in five Reform-leaning vot

Number of UK businesses in financial distress ‘at two-decade high’
BusinessThe Guardian2 outlets

Number of UK businesses in financial distress ‘at two-decade high’

Administrator BTG says 738,144 firms struggling as calls grow for more support for private sector in budget Business live – latest updates The number of UK businesses in financial distress has hit its highest level in more than two decades, as pressure grows on the chancellor to provide more support to the private sector in Wednesday’s budget . There were 738,144 businesses in “significant” financial distress in the third quarter of this year, up 1.6% compared with the same period last year, according to BTG. That is the highest level since the administrator’s closely watched “red flag” report began in 2004. Continue reading...

My advice for Burnham’s first budget? Hit the banks – and hit them hard | Polly Toynbee
BusinessThe Guardian2 outlets

My advice for Burnham’s first budget? Hit the banks – and hit them hard | Polly Toynbee

Bankers have barely begun to repay the billions they cost the country after 2008. In this PM they may have met their match Vibes matter. We live by how we feel – an idea that orthodox economics gets wrong and Andy Burnham’s first budget looks set to get right. This walking good-vibes maestro is spreading a confetti of small good deeds. These may not shift the dial yet on 40 years of neoliberal economics, but they show the way he’s heading. Eyecatching everyday things – from capping bus fares to that small but resonant sum of £45 VAT on average off electricity bills – get people talking, alongside bigger plans for a national care service , electoral reform and a possible journey back to the EU . Polly Toynbee is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

The chaos in France is a ‘warning signal’ for Australia’s public spending and rising costs
WorldThe Guardian

The chaos in France is a ‘warning signal’ for Australia’s public spending and rising costs

Australia’s public debt may be well below that of France but there are lessons to be taken from its economic woes Get our daily political email , free app or daily news podcast The explosion of discontent that led to major protests and violence in France and across Europe is a “warning signal” that Australia could follow the same path without an “honest conversation” about the budget, economists say. Hundreds of thousands marched in cities across France on Saturday to protest against school underfunding, as complaints of insufficient teacher numbers and dilapidated infrastructure mingled with broader discontent about cost-of-living pressures. Sign up for Guardian Australia’s Politics, really newsletter here Continue reading...

Carers allowed to earn over the weekly limit without losing out as ‘cliff-edge’ abolished in the budget
PoliticsThe Guardian

Carers allowed to earn over the weekly limit without losing out as ‘cliff-edge’ abolished in the budget

Controversial mechanism that hit unpaid carers with huge penalties to be scrapped following Guardian investigation The controversial rule that led to unpaid carers being punished with penalties amounting to thousands of pounds is to be abolished, the Guardian can reveal. The chancellor, John Healey, is to announce a new digital taper system for carer’s allowance in Wednesday’s budget, effectively ending what is regarded as one of the UK benefit system’s most feared and unfair administrative practices. Continue reading...

Bookies fear budget hit but gaming machine self-harm killed off the old-fashioned shops
BusinessThe Guardian

Bookies fear budget hit but gaming machine self-harm killed off the old-fashioned shops

A wholesale plunder of local communities via casino-gaming took place and racing was content to sit on sidelines Has it really been almost a year since racing’s last bout of Budget-related anxiety? Apparently so, because having successfully persuaded Rachel Reeves to exempt racing from a (modest) hike in betting duty in 2025, here we are again, nervously anticipating Wednesday’s budget amid warnings that John Healey could effectively sound the death-knell for high-street betting shops. Healey is widely expected to raise the rate of machine games duty (MGD) in the budget, a move which could, according to some predictions, lead to the closure of thousands of high-street shops with significant knock-on effects for racing’s income from off-course gambling. Continue reading...

What makes Andy Burnham think Britain can rejoin the EU? – podcast
PoliticsThe Guardian

What makes Andy Burnham think Britain can rejoin the EU? – podcast

Andy Burnham claims revising Brexit would ‘bring people together’. The PM wants to look again at issues such as free movement but rules out joining the euro or Schengen. Would rejoining the EU open old wounds and risk further division? Plus, as the chancellor, John Healey, gears up for a tricky budget, what should you be looking out for? You can watch this episode of Politics Weekly on our YouTube channel here . Read Jessica Elgot’s deep dive on how Andy Burnham and John Healey have been preparing for the budget here . Any questions on Andy Burnham’s comments about rejoining the EU please send to politicsweeklyuk@theguardian.com . Continue reading...

Anthropic files for stock market IPO; Meta announces $95bn fundraising drive to pay for AI expansion – business live
BusinessThe Guardian

Anthropic files for stock market IPO; Meta announces $95bn fundraising drive to pay for AI expansion – business live

Meta says share sale will support its “continued investment in AI infrastructure and personal superintelligence”, as Elon Musk warns some AI cloud computing firms face ‘guppy-level death’ UK government borrowing costs are dropping this morning, a welcome sign ahead of Wednesday’s budget. The yield (or interest rate) on 10 and 30-year UK gilts have both dropped by around three basis points (0.03 of a percentage point) this morning. Issuing loans to public financial institutions creates a financial asset that offsets the increase in outstanding government debt. If the investments that the PuFins make generate sufficient returns for the PuFins to repay their government loans, then long term debt sustainability is little affected. Limited transparency and the risk that the PuFins may suffer impairments on their investments will probably make bond market investors skeptical of the extra gilt

This explainer is written from the reports listed above. Follow any headline for the original coverage.

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