the most and conservative thing i could do would be to cut taxes by increasing borrowing. that s just cutting taxes and saying future generations have to pick up the tax after. i won t to do that. but i do want, where it s possible to do so, responsibly, to move towards a lower tax economy, and i d hope to show a pass in that direction. but this will be a prudent and responsible budget for long term growth, tackling inflation, my investments, morejobs, and that s path to lower taxation as and when we can afford it. but you said also, that the forecast from the obr, which is the economic watchdog which marks your homework, you have said that the numbers have gone against us. so the picture is bleaker than it was at the beginning of the year? why then are you looking now to cut taxes at all? these forecasts change the whole time. what happened in the autumn was that the forecast went in our favour unexpectedly, quite close to the end. so i was able to introduce the biggest busi
meanwhile, the us carried out its first airdrop of humanitarian aid for gaza on saturday with more than 30 thousand meals parachuted by three military planes. here s our correspondent wyre davies who is injerusalem 7 with the latest on the chances of a ceasefire. there are increasingly positive signs around the hope for a cessation in hostilities, a temporary ceasefire, that could last perhaps as long as six weeks over the muslim holy month of ramadan. but i think it s really important not to get ahead of ourselves here because there are still key differences between israeli demands and the demands of hamas. it s understood the negotiators have arrived in cairo today. it s not clear if there is an israeli delegation but hamas officials are said to have arrived. the israelis will probably want to know how many of the hostages being held by hamas are still alive and which ones would be released by hamas under the terms of this deal. it s not clear, equally, how many palesti
there may be an imminent agreement for a ceasefire however temporary between how hamas and is real. they expressed hope that a deal could be reached and optimism grew but there were significant obstacles and anybody covering the story of the past few months knew that hopes of a ceasefire are dashed by realities on the ground and one of visual s obstacles and demands was that hamas should give a detailed list of hostages who would be released under the terms of any future agreement. of course, in exchange for palestinian prisoners in israeli jails. that list has not been provided by hamas. there are thought to be about 134 hostages held by hamas and other groups in gaza. about 30 of those may actually be there. if you wanted to know who was still alive, there. if you wanted to know who was stillalive, he there. if you wanted to know who was still alive, he was going to be released. that has not been forthcoming so we understand it is not official, but we understand from severa
drops from the sky. the us military delivering 38,000 meals for gazans in dire need. the un says famine will be inevitable, the mission and ongoing effort to get more aid into gaza through land, sea and air. but it drops like these are not enough. access through the land routes, say us officials, is crucial. 0n officials, is crucial. on friday, president biden said america is insisting the israelis allow more aid trucks into gaza. israelis allow more aid trucks into gaza- into gaza. innocent lives on the line and into gaza. innocent lives on the line and children s - into gaza. innocent lives on the line and children s lives| the line and children s lives on the line. we will not stand by until we get more aid in there. we should be getting hundreds of trucks in, notjust several. hundreds of trucks in, not ust several. ,, , ., several. signs of hope as well for dozens several. signs of hope as well for dozens of several. signs of hope as well for dozens of hostages -
two major political parties say they have reached an agreement to form a coalition government. this comes after a tense election campaign with allegations of vote rigging. these are the two men who will be taking the top jobs asif ali zardari, from the centre left pakistan people s party, will be the candidate for the presidency his second time in the role. and, set to reassume the prime ministerial role also for the second time from the centre right, pakistan muslim league s shehbaz sharif, the younger brother of former prime minister nawaz sharif. bbc urdu s farhat javed, has been following the election closely and had this update on the late night announcement. it was sort of expected that soon there would be some announcement from any of three major parties in pakistan. and what we saw today in a late night press conference, pakistan s people s party and nawaz sharif, pml n and muslim league nawaz they announced that they are going to form a coalition government. th