Refuge in the Spanish Embassy in caracas. Hed challenged the venezuelan president , Nicol S Maduro, injuly s elections, which the opposition claims it won. Mr gonzalez s Opposition Colleague Maria Corina Machado says he left the country because his life was in danger. Earlier, the European Unions Foreign Affairs chiefjosep borrell, described it as a sad day for democracy in venezuela. In a statement, he said. Lets get the reaction of some residents of caracas. Translation i feel. Hopelessness. What little hope we had went off with him. I think that his departure says a lot. Translation im very upset. But at the same time, i think hes safe where he is. We need to keep on fighting. And with faith. Im not losing hope. But this needs to end yesterday. Not tomorrow, but yesterday. Our reporter Mimi Swaybee is monitoring the situation from our london newsroom. Good our london newsroom. To speak with you. Now with good to speak with you. Now with the Opposition Leader exiled in spain where do
Our political correspondent Hannah Miller reports. Were going to have to take the Tough Decisions and take them early. Things will get worse before they get better. So weve had to take Tough Decisions to stabilise the economy. Its already a familiar Refrain Keir Starmer saying hes going to make choices that seem uncomfortable in order to change the country. Top of the list of difficult decisions, targeting the Winter Fuel Payment at only the poorest pensioners. That is not easy, and no Prime Minister wants to take a decision like this, but the Winter Fuel Payments are now to be targeted, they were untargeted before, and i think everybody thought that wasnt a particularly good system. This year, around 10 Million pensioners in england and wales will no longer receive the allowance of up to £300, which the treasury suggests will save around 1. 4 billion. But at their conference in brighton, some Union Leaders are calling for the government to change course. To do this on the Winter Fuel
Quite simply they are doing this because of inflation and the rate of Price Increases and the International Comparisons are clear, although inflation is falling, in the uk it is not falling by as much or down to as low a level as it is elsewhere in europe in the us, and the us, and the bank has been talking up food prices and the amount we pay for services and the speed that wholesale, lower wholesale prices are being passed through the supply chain to us. The bank talked about crystallising risks, essentially the fear that when it comes to private sector wage growth, rings might be becoming embedded so they argued they needed to continue acting despite the impact it will have on households and businesses and we know the impact it will have on uk households and Mortgage Holders and also those ran singh. Also a warning from the bank also those renting. They said the rates will be high for a while, they are expecting inflation to meet the target of the Prime Minister, to half inflation t
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
And in the euro area, where wholesale Energy Prices feed through more directly to Consumer Prices. Where there is more uncertainty is around the time it will take the other non Energy Components of the Consumer Price of Consumer Price inflation to come down as well. Price inflation for food and Non Alcoholic beverages has been very high, but it does appear to have peaked. And as you can see in this chart, there are signs in the monthly figures that it has started to ease. And evidence collected by the banks Regional Agents suggests that a moderation in food inport prices is being passed through the supply chain to Consumer Prices. So we do expect that food Price Inflation will come down gradually over the rest of this year. The Shadow Chancellor has said the Interest Rate rise weve seen today is another hammer blow to families who are seeing their mortgages increase. Rachel reeves said that the government needs to force the banks and lenders to do more to Mortgage Holders help includin