Reeves warns more difficult choices to come after axing winter fuel payment – live

British nationals have been urged to leave Lebanon and not travel to the country amid mounting tensions in the region.

David Lammy said events were “fast-moving” and Foreign Office staff are working “round the clock” to help ensure the safety of UK citizens.

Fierce diplomatic efforts are being made to prevent the conflict spiralling into regional war after an escalation in fighting between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

The foreign secretary said on Monday: “We are advising British nationals to leave Lebanon and not to travel to the country. This is a fast-moving situation. FCDO staff are working round the clock to help ensure the safety of British nationals.”

In its travel guidance, the Foreign Office warns events in the region could escalate with “little warning” and leave commercial routes out of Lebanon severely disrupted.

“Do not rely on FCDO being able to evacuate you in an emergency,” it adds.“You should have a personal emergency plan that does not rely on the UK government. This may include the ability to leave quickly or to shelter in place if you judge it necessary and safe to do so.”

Israel and Hezbollah have exchanged fire almost daily over the border since the war in Gaza erupted in October, but tensions have heightened following a strike in the Golan Heights.

Britain’s pensioners will take the brunt of a raft of brutal cuts announced by the new chancellor Rachel Reeves to deal with a £22bn black hole in the country’s finances.

To gasps in the Commons chamber, Ms Reeves announced that she would be removing winter fuel allowance payments for pensioners from almost 7 million of the households that currently receive them.

The bold move on the winter fuel allowance – a benefit that was first introduced by Labour’s Tony Blair in 1997 – is similar to a policy proposed by Theresa May in 2017, when the outcry over the proposal almost sank the Tory election campaign. The plan did not feature in the Labour election manifesto this year, and visibly came as a complete shock to MPs.

Our political editor David Maddox has the full story:

Jeremy Hunt has said people will “smell a rat” with Rachel Reeves’ claims about the state of public spending.

The shadow chancellor told the BBC: “I think what will make most people smell a rat this morning is that on the one hand Rachel Reeves says there is a big black hole and on the other hand she finds 22 per cent, 10 times inflation, to pay junior doctors, nearly three times inflation for every other public sector worker without asking for any productivity improvements in return.”

The Labour government has “failed another generation of families” with the cancellation of a series of planned social care reforms, the architect of the plans has warned.

Rachel Reeves announced the cancellation of the Dilnot Reforms on Monday, alongside a swathe of other spending cuts to address a black hole in the public finances left by the previous Conservative government.

Sir Andrew Dilnot, whose government-backed commission proposed a cap on social care costs, described the changes as a “a tragedy”.

Our political correspondent Millie Cooke has the full story:

Robert Jenrick has announced a series of “hard truths” to the Conservatives during a released leadership campaign video this morning.

He said: “The even harder truth is that the severity of these challenges now threatens our future.”

Mr Jenrick claimed the Tories are the country’s “best hope” but they “have a mountain to climb and real choices to make”.

The MP for Newark added: “We won’t regain people’s trust with platitudes. I believe our people and Parliament must be sovereign. I believe that anyone who comes here illegally must be deported within days. I believe that ending mass migration won’t be plain sailing. But we must do it.”

Scottish public finance minister Ivan McKee said chancellor Rachel Reeves “absolutely should have known” about the need to make cuts when the new Labour government came to office.

The SNP Holyrood minister told BBC Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland: “Labour should have known about this. They’ve either been incompetent in not checking the numbers, which were readily available during the election campaign, or they’ve been very misleading about the process that’s happened here.”

When asked whether the cuts amounted to austerity he said the Chancellor had “been very clear that there will be more cuts coming on top of what’s already happened with the winter fuel payments, which is very concerning, so it’s absolutely austerity and there’s no doubt about that”.

He said the Scottish Government now had “some difficult decisions to make” and refused to commit to maintaining the universal aspect of the winter fuel payment benefit, adding that they still needed to to review the numbers around it as “we only got told about this 90 minutes before it was announced”.

He also took aim at Scottish Labour politicians who, he said, had ruled out a return to austerity: “During the election campaign Ian Murray said it was “mince” that there was going to be Labour austerity cuts as a consequence of electing a Labour government, so when you’ve got him on your programme maybe get him to eat that “mince” because he’s been absolutely proved wrong.”

Sir Keir Starmer could visit the community reeling from the Southport knife attack on Tuesday, the chancellor suggested.

Asked whether the prime minister will be in the north-west seaside town, Rachel Reeves told Sky News: “I’m sure he will be and I know that the Home Secretary is already there.”

Reacting to the attack, she said: “Beyond the worst nightmare of any parent what’s unfolding in Southport. And my thoughts and prayers are with all of those families affected.

“And I also just pay tribute to the emergency services, particularly at Alder Hey Hospital having to treat the children and families who have been impacted by what happened yesterday.

“Nothing can prepare you for something like this. And I think everybody across our country today is thinking of that community and those families.”

Jeremy Hunt has said Rachel Reeves’ claim of the Tories leaving behind a £22billion shortfall on public finances made him “angry”.

The shadow chancellor slammed Ms Reeves’ statement to the Commons yesterday a “political exercise” in a bid to damage the Conservative Party.

He told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme that there were “big pressures on public finances” but his party had a plan to boost productivity to deal with them.

The chancellor has been pressed on whether she made the choice of axing winter fuel payment for pensioners to favour public sector workers.

Ms Reeves replied: “Their pay has fallen behind pay in the private sector this last decade. It’s the first time they’ve had a real terms pay increase in ten years. And I think that is right.”

She added: “We had to make difficult decisions yesterday. And the changes in the Winter Fuel Payment to restrict it to pensioners on Pension Credit was a difficult decision. But it’s one that will save the public purse £1.5nm a year.”

The minister insisted she is “not singling out any group” and there are “more difficult choices to come in the autumn”.