As ministers voted today, they should be in no doubt, the firstjob is to keep people safe, them every single day, protect them every single day, they make the hardest budgetary decisions, harderthan they make the hardest budgetary decisions, harder than those of the treasury, because they have no choice and they have to put a roof over their head and they have to pay for their food. And they have to pay for their heating. We note that now the sums are not adding up and we are getting the letters coming in, and the constituents are scared and they are telling us they are frightened, as they will not switch to switch because they know if they do, they will have bills they cannot pay, and we need to protect those vulnerable people and i commend my friend for driving forward the ambition to get 880,000 pensioners signed up get 880,000 pensioners signed up to Pension Credit. I really hope that people will test the system and make sure they can. 243 system and make sure they can. 215 questio
Our reporter ben king has the details. When drinkers gather at londons King Charles Pub this evening, there will be a new tax regime in place. Changes announced in March Come Into Effect today taxing stronger drinks more and weaker drinks less. At the same time, Alcohol Duties rise with inflation up by io. I . The result a complex series of changes. 12 sparkling wine will be i9p cheaper as higher rates for fizz are abolished. A can of pre mixed gin and tonic will be 5p cheaper. But a bottle of 12 still wine will rise 44p. A bottle of vodka up 76p and a bottle of 20 port up £1. 30. So among drinkers, there will be some winners and losers. But the wine and spirits industry, which sees many of its products hit with higher taxes, says customers will see higher prices and less choice. We have the biggest duty increase in almost 50 years at the same time as we have inflation rife and a cost of living crisis. On top of that, we have Raw Materials like glass that are increasing in price expon
in scotland. it is not clear exactly when she will leave office, but as i say, she has been head of the scottish government for the last eight years. she has been making headlines in recent weeks because of a wider debate on teenagers rights, calling for a wider debate on teenagers rights, she defended plans to allow i6 year olds to change their legal sex. scotland s gender recognition bill that she wanted to introduce into scotland brought her into conflict and a clash with the uk government based in westminster, which blocked scotland plus two gender recognition bill. the secretary of state for scotland alisterjack used a special order known as a section 35 order to prevent that there becoming law on the grounds it would have an adverse impact on the laws. those are laws that apply across scotland, england and wales. that was a claim disputed by the scottish government, butjust to remind you, that gender recognition bill was to allow i6 year olds to change their legal sex
At one point they were down by almost a third. Metro bank is the youngest lender on britains high streets. It launched here back in 2010 in the wake of the Global Financial crisis to take on the likes of lloyds and ba rclays. It was the first to do so for more than 100 years. But its had a series of Financial Issues and on thursday there were reports that its urgently trying to raise up to £600 million to shore up its finances. So should customers be worried . Heres our Business Correspondent theo leggett. Well, i dont think customers should be too worried at this stage. Although a 25 drop in the share price is clearly not a good look, metro bank insists that, fundamentally, its finances are pretty sound, it made a profit in the first half of this year, and it continues, crucially, to meet all regulatory requirements in terms of the financial buffers its obliged to give. 0n terms of the financial buffers its obliged to give. On top of that, the Financial Services Compensation Scheme d