Sunday 25 October 2026
Written automatically each morning by Claude from 10 news feeds, and published without editing.
The Budget is on Wednesday and the shape of it is coming out. Chancellor John Healey will include a new £1.5bn borrowing facility for local leaders, to be designed with mayors over the next two years. It builds on Andy Burnham’s line that they should no longer have to go “cap in hand to Westminster”. There is also another £1bn for social and affordable housing, which takes the 10-year programme to more than £40bn. Neither is huge against the overall fiscal picture, but together they show where the growth argument is heading: devolved spending power and housebuilding.
Burnham has also said he wants a “factual” and “evidence-based debate” about returning to free movement between Britain and the EU. That is a notable thing for a prime minister to say out loud. He stopped short of committing to anything.
On the global side, European luxury groups have lost about €250bn in market value as Chinese consumer demand fades. Cooling global equity markets are making the slide worse. China is the swing factor for the sector, and so far there is no sign of it turning.
In tech, Ukraine’s military says Starlink restrictions have been lifted, after a slowdown that hampered the communications used by its drones against Russian strikes. TechCrunch reports that Elon Musk had ordered SpaceX to throttle access. Service now looks normal, but the episode has revived the question of European alternatives. There is no decent one yet.
Elsewhere, Brazil votes today in a tight contest between Lula, 80 and seeking a fourth term, and Flávio Bolsonaro, son of the imprisoned former president. A Bolsonaro win would move Latin America’s largest economy closer to Donald Trump. Serbia is also voting, with Aleksandar Vucic in a close race against the student-led anti-corruption movement.
In the US, the Justice Department is moving to pre-emptively block Alaska’s Senate result if Republican Dan Sullivan loses. Officials in both parties were stunned. It adds a new layer of legal risk to the midterms.
Israel votes on Tuesday 27 October. The army is closing West Bank crossings and restricting the movement of Palestinian workers beforehand.
Sources
- Israel to close West Bank crossings on election day as crackdown escalates — BBC News
- Luxury groups’ value drops by €250bn as Chinese consumer demand fades — FT
- Bolsonaro and Lula face off in knife-edge Brazil election — FT
- Serbia votes in election pitting longtime leader against student movement — Al Jazeera
- Budget to include £1bn for social and affordable housing — BBC News
- Burnham open to ‘honest discussion’ on EU free movement — BBC News
- Voters in Brazil to choose between Lula and Bolsonaro’s son — BBC News
- Ukraine depends on Starlink - can Europe plug the gap? — BBC News
- Healey’s first budget to include big devolution package to boost growth — Guardian
- Ukraine military says Starlink service restrictions have been lifted — FT
- Starlink seems to be working normally again in Ukraine — TechCrunch
- Facing an electoral wipeout, Trump goes after the system — Politico
BBC News, FT, Al Jazeera, Guardian, TechCrunch, Politico — 2026-10-25