Todays budget might have left you with a bit more money in your pocket but some of the Public Services you rely on will face big Spending Cuts. So is it a vote winner . Mr chancellor of the exchequer. Cheering it was the last Spring Budget before the next election. Tonight well interrogate Whyjeremy Hunt made the announcements he did. And interrrogate one of his treasury ministers. Overall, the tax burden is going up. Correct . The tax burden is still too high, overall. Absolutely. And its going up . Well also talk to labours Campaign Chief. Well talk live to representatives of business and Public Sector workers and our Politics Panel is here to help us decode it all and tell us when we might be going to the polls. Todays was a budget that was as much about what comes next as about what comes now. Theres another 2p cut in National Insurance that will kick in soon but theres also the growing realisation that whoever wins the next election, they will face a daunting choice either oversee
p9p up and south west and then it starts to pep up later in the day. it could affect the south east and wimbledon. further north showers will sink southwards and there will be sunny spells in between. a mixture of sunshine and showers for much of the country. at the moment, it doesn t look that great for wimbledon, we could have thundery downpours at times, a lack of sunshine and temperatures in the mid teens. this developing area of low pressure could swipe the south east as it moves towards denmark. the low countries, dunlop will bear the brunt of this deepening below. for us on wednesday we are in between systems so it is pay, won t pay or can pay, won t pay or we re not saying? what s the point of independent pay review bodies if the government takes no notice? we ll be speaking to a former conservative health minister and the assistant general secretary of the tuc. also tonight, after an overnight israeli air strike on what it describes as a command and control centre in
with their energy bills after april is to be announced by the government. lots of storis in the mix today we d love to hear your thoughts on them. get in touch with me on twitter, @annitabbc, and use the #bbcyourquestions. and coming up, the final countdown. preparations are under way in cornwall for a rocket launch tonight that could mark a breakthrough moment in the uk s space race. harry has accused members of his family of being complicit in the pain and suffering endured by his wife, meghan. in two television interviews which were broadcast on itv and the american broadcaster cbs he admitted his relationship with his brother and father was strained but insisted he hoped for reconciliation. the palace hasn t commented on either interview, which were given in advance of the official release of prince harry s book spare. our royal correspondent daniela relph reports. harry, the interview. what an original name! the themes of the interviews were familiar. fury at the
hello, welcome. we start in the uk. the chair of the conservative party, nadim zahawi, has confirmed that he made a payment to the tax office to settle a disagreement about his tax affairs. mr zahawi said hmrc accepted that an error concerning shares he gave to his father for help in setting up the polling company yougov in 2000 had been careless and not deliberate. it comes after newspaper reports that he d paid a seven figure sum and been subject to a penalty. it s understood the dispute over mr zahawi s taxes was resolved while he was serving as chancellor of the exchequer. earlier, labour had called on nadhim zahawi to resign. here s our political correspondent helen catt. nadhim zahawi is a seniorfigure in the government, the chairman of the conservative party, who sits in the cabinet. last year, he was for a few months borisjohnson s chancellor, in charge of the country s finances. is the hmrc still after you, sir? but since then, he s faced questions about his
office, he was met by israel s new prime minister. mr biden will also meet the palestinian president. that s it for me for now, i will be back later in the evening. now on bbc news, hardtalk with stephen sackur. welcome to hardtalk, i m stephen sackur. 25 years ago, almost 1.5 million christians lived in iraq. now there are around a quarter of a million. and after years of war and sectarian violence, many of them have been displaced from their ancestral homes. can anything be done to reverse this trend toward extinction? well, my guest is archbishop bashar warda of erbil, home to the largest remaining christian community in a country, a region where christianity has deep roots. does it have a future? archbishop bashar warda, welcome to hardtalk. thank you. welcome, thank you. it s a pleasure to have you here, but i have to ask you, archbishop, how demoralising is it for you as the chaldean archbishop of erbil to see your christian community getting smaller and smaller year af