Thames Water ‘close to deal that would spare it Ofwat fines until 2030’

Last April, the president unleashed a tidal wave of tariffs on ‘liberation day’. Analysts say the policy has failed, even by the Trump administration’s own termsBefore Donald Trump declared “liberation day” on 2 April 2025 and shocked the world by raising import tariffs on nearly every country the US did business with, he had spent almost three months causing chaos in Washington.The wholesale slashing of government jobs under Doge (the “department of government efficiency”) and the defunding of US aid agencies had shown White House watchers that the US president was in a hurry to upset institutions he considered profligate or useless. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Pressure intensifies for Gabbard after president’s displeasure with Iran war testimonyDonald Trump has privately asked cabinet officials in recent weeks whether he should replace his director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, venting frustration that she shielded a former deputy who undercut his rationale for war with Iran, according to two people briefed on the discussions.It is not clear that Trump will actually fire Gabbard over the episode. Currently, there is no standout candidate to take the job, and advisers have cautioned that creating a high-profile vacancy before a successor is ready could cause unhelpful political distractions. Continue reading...

The National Capital Planning Commission had previously delayed the vote after thousands of negative public commentsHello and welcome to the US politics live blog.The National Capital Planning Commission will meet this afternoon to decide on Donald Trump’s White House $400m ballroom project, after a federal judge halted construction earlier this week.House Republicans announced that they will pass a bill, advanced by the Senate last week, to end the record-breaking partial Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shutdown after previously rejecting the measure.Democrats quickly celebrated the win with Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer saying “House Republicans caved” after previously “[derailing] a bipartisan agreement, making American families pay the price for their dysfunction”.Nasa’s lunar rocket successfully launched and the astronauts on the first crewed lunar rocket in more than 50 years received praise from across the US.Attorney general Pam Bondi’s job with the Trump administration is reportedly at risk. The president is said to be unhappy with Bondi’s performance as the head of the justice department and the controversy surrounding the Epstein files, according to a New York Times report.Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida signed legislation on Wednesday to require documented proof of citizenship to register to vote and to begin a process that will eventually unenroll voters who have not provided citizenship documentation.Supreme court justices appeared skeptical of the Trump administration’s argument to restrict birthright citizenship for hundreds of thousands of children born to undocumented immigrants of temporary foreign nationals. Trump himself attended the hearing, widely considered to be the first time a sitting president has attended arguments at the supreme court. Continue reading...

Brent crude jumps 6.5% as US president vows to hit Iran ‘extremely hard’ over coming weeksBusiness live – latest updatesOil prices soared and stocks sank after Donald Trump vowed in a televised speech to hit Iran “extremely hard” over the coming weeks, knocking investors hopes of a near-term end to the conflict in the Middle East.Brent crude prices jumped by 6.5% on Thursday morning to more than $107.6 a barrel, reversing Wednesday’s drop when hopes of a de-escalation pushed the international benchmark below the $100-a-barrel mark at one point. Continue reading...

Labour says it is ‘untenable’ for Simon Dudley to continue in his role after he said that Grenfell was tragic ‘but everyone dies in the end’Good morning. One of the big policy decisions for all parties ahead of the next election is whether or not to keep the pensions triple lock. Most mainstream economists and welfare experts think it is overly generous (pensioners used to be significantly poorer than working-age people, but that is no longer the case), and ultimately unaffordable. But it is popular, and pensioners turn out to vote in elections in much higher numbers than younger people.The Conservatives at one point suggested they might drop it, but Kemi Badenoch now defends the triple lock quite strongly. Labour has not said what its election plans are yet. Nigel Farage, the Reform UK, says he will take tough decisions to cut welfare spending, and he was thought to be sceptical about the triple lock. But Robert Jenrick, his Treasury spokesperson, is thought to be in favour, and at a press conference later they are expected to confirm Reform UK would keep it.Reform UK is facing calls to sack its housing spokesman after he said the Grenfell Tower fire was a “tragedy” but that “everyone dies in the end”.Simon Dudley, a former executive at Homes England and the Ebbsfleet Development Corporation, said the pendulum had “swung too far the wrong way” on regulation after the deadly blaze at the west London tower block in 2017.If Nigel Farage has an ounce of decency, he will sack his housing chief immediately.These disgraceful comments about those who died in the Grenfell Tower fire are beyond the pale and it is completely untenable for Simon Dudley to continue in his position. Continue reading...

Battlefield outcomes are connected by the sharing of weapons and intelligence as well as the damage to the global economyThe Iran and Ukraine wars are becoming more intertwined with every passing week – to the point that some analysts argue the two conflicts are beginning to merge.Quite how each war will affect the trajectory of the other is hard to predict, but it is already clear that their interconnectedness is drawing more countries into both cauldrons, extending an arc of instability that straddles Europe and the Middle East. Continue reading...

After threatening to withdraw from the alliance, the president did not mention it in his address to the nation, and will meet the secretary general, Mark Rutte, next weekAfter all the excitement about Donald Trump’s rapidly escalating rhetoric on Nato and (his own) suggestions he would go even further in last night’s address to the nation, he … just didn’t say anything about it at all.Whether it was the late phone call intervention by Europe’s finest Trump whisperer, Finland’s Alexander Stubb, or the prospect of next week’s Washington visit from Nato’s secretary general Mark Rutte, we will never know, but the fact is that we live to fight another day. Continue reading...

Party’s housing spokesperson made comments while criticising safety regulations brought in after 2017 tragedyCampaigners for Grenfell families have called on Reform UK and its housing spokesperson to apologise after he said the tower fire was a “tragedy” but that “everyone dies in the end”.Simon Dudley, a former head of Homes England, had announced in February that he was joining Reform, as Nigel Farage said he was planning to bring more “experts” onboard to advise the party. Continue reading...

Reversal of fortune comes just one week after she was dumped in favour of Dinesh Gourisetty, who then withdrew his nominationGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastMoira Deeming will secure a top spot on the Victorian Liberal party’s upper house ticket unopposed – less than a week after members voted to dump her – after the withdrawal of candidates from a re-run ballot.Deeming was on Sunday ousted from the number one spot for the western metropolitan region by Dinesh Gourisetty. Continue reading...

Exclusive: documents chronicle years-long campaign to make it easier to build intensive livestock unitsMinisters are rewriting planning rules to make it easier to build intensive livestock farms despite concerns about water pollution, air quality and local opposition.Documents obtained by the Guardian under the Freedom of Information Act show that proposed changes to the national planning policy framework (NPPF) were discussed by ministers and officials in response to concerns of the country’s leading chicken producers, who have been lobbying on the issue for at least two years. Continue reading...

Fake X account posing as his vet sparked global false reports of Jonathan’s death while soliciting crypto donationsAt 194 years old, Jonathan, the giant tortoise, was a youngster when Queen Victoria ascended to the throne – and has now lived long enough to fall victim to a crypto scam.News outlets including the BBC, Daily Mail and USA Today falsely reported his death after an X account posing as Jonathan’s vet broke the news. Continue reading...