UK transport funding cut by 5% but there is some good news for drivers
Government spending on transport is set to be reduced following the recent spending review. However, more cash has been set aside to fund the UK's continued transition to electric vehicles, plus to maintain and repair the nation's decaying road network.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves has just set out the government's spending plans until the next Parliament in three years' time, and while funding for the National Health Service will increase by three per cent year-on-year until 2028/29, the Department for Transport's day-to-day spending will be cut by as much as five per cent. Advertisement - Article continues below
This is the second-largest department cut as a result of the Spending Review, followed by the Foreign Office, which is seeing a 6.9 per cent reduction in spending, mostly on foreign aid.
However, despite there being less overall funds available, the Treasury now says it plans to invest £1.4 billion over the next three years into turbocharging the UK's transition to electric vehicles.
Exactly how the government plans to do this is another matter, although a spokesperson did tell Auto Express that 'the Government will consider raising the Expensive Car [VED] Supplement threshold for EVs only at a future fiscal event' – meaning that such a move is still on the cards, potentially for Autumn's Budget. Skip advert Advertisement - Article continues below
The UK's Society of Motor Manufacturers responded positively to the government's announcement, but chief executive Mike Hawes was keen to point out that 'Some support for EVs has [already] been made available, but more substantive measures to incentivise private consumer demand are still needed if world-leading targets are to be met.'
The Electric Vehicle Association England (EVA) also welcomed the investment, but said that 'what matters now is how this funding will be spent'.
The trade body's Chief executive Vicky Edmonds warned that 'VAT on public charging, alongside more planning and regulatory barriers, continue[s] to promote a 'two-tier' system between EV drivers with and without access to reliable and cost-effective home charging."
On that point, an additional £400 million has also been allocated to aiding the rapid deployment of public EV chargers – Government figures show there are now 76,500 across the UK. Unfortunately, there is no word on whether the government plans to cut VAT on public charging in order to address the difference in cost between public and home charging.
It's important to mention that the Government also pledged £24 billion (or roughly £8 billion per year) over the current parliament to fixing and maintaining the UK's major roads. The RAC's head of policy, Simon Williams, hailed this as "wonderful news', stating that 'Local authorities now have a golden opportunity to end the cycle of merely filling potholes and instead begin to be much more proactive in their maintenance. This must include both more surface dressing to keep decent roads in good condition, and resurfacing those that are at the end of their lives.'
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Find a car with the experts Car Deal of the Day: A Volkswagen Golf R Estate for less than a GTI
Car Deal of the Day: A Volkswagen Golf R Estate for less than a GTI
The Golf R Estate is one of the best performance estates around – and right now it's criminally cheap. It's our Deal of the Day for 9 June. Should Citroen make a new 2CV? Some say oui, others say non
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A new Citroen 2CV could be inbound, but would this be a French fancy or a financial flop? Car Deal of the Day: A fully-loaded Jeep Avenger for under £200 per month
Car Deal of the Day: A fully-loaded Jeep Avenger for under £200 per month
The petrol-powered version of Jeep's charming baby SUV is our Deal of the Day for 8 June
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Daily Mail
20 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
EuroMillions player could find themselves richer than Adele or Anthony Joshua today if they scoop £208million jackpot on traditionally unlucky Friday 13th
The biggest lottery prize the UK has seen could be won in today's EuroMillions draw - making the winners richer than popstar Adele or boxer Anthony Joshua. Today's draw falls on traditionally unlucky Friday 13th and has an estimated jackpot of £208million. According to Allwyn, the National Lottery operator, it would be the largest prize awarded in the UK. There will also be 13 guaranteed £1million prizes won by UK players in the special EuroMillions Millionaire Maker. The draw comes on this year's only Friday 13th - a day which is shrouded in superstition and considered unlucky by many. However, despite the perceived unfortune, it may be your lucky day. If won by a single-ticket holder, the jackpot prize will see the winner pocket enough to to put them ahead of music superstar Adele who is thought to be worth £175million. It would also make the winner twice as rich as Sir Andy Murray on £100million, leave £75million England captain Harry Kane in the dust and just head off Anthony Joshua with his £195million fortune. Andy Carter, Senior Winners' Advisor at Allwyn, operator of The National Lottery, said, 'Friday the 13th might have spooky connotations, but for some lucky players, it could be the day their lives change forever. 'With 13 guaranteed new millionaires, and potentially the nation's biggest ever National Lottery winner, it's the perfect time to defy superstition and take a chance. The unluckiest day of the year, might just become a day you'll never forget.' The total prize money has now been capped, meaning prize pots in the next winning tier will be boosted. In the past two EuroMillions draws this month, UK players have won more than £4.5M and £2M for matching only the five main numbers and one lucky star. 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The costliest ever Rolls-Royce, the £20million Rolls-Royce Arcadia Droptail - that is, ten of them. The next James Bond movie - the last instalment, No Time To Die, was budgeted at £184million. Covering the estimated £208million cost of the ongoing Covid inquiry. Spain and Barcelona's Lamine Yamal, 17, judged by analysts to be the world's most valuable footballer at £200million - ahead of England and Real Madrid's £175million-priced Jude Bellingham. Enough £52 75cl bottles of Moët & Chandon Champagne to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool and about half of another one. 218,947,368 Mars Bars, at 95p apiece in UK supermarkets. The EuroMillions jackpot is capped once it reaches €250million (approximately £208million). Once at cap and assuming it continues not to be won, it will stay at €250million for a further four draws until it must be won in the fifth draw. In the 'Must Be Won' draw, if no ticket matches all five main numbers and two Lucky Stars, the entire jackpot prize will roll down into the prize tier where there is at least one winner. This means we could see many multi-millionaires created. An anonymous UK ticket holder won the existing record jackpot of £195million on July 19 2022, while just two months earlier, Joe and Jess Thwaite, from Gloucester, won £184,262,899 with a Lucky Dip ticket for the draw on May 10 2022. The UK's third biggest win came after an anonymous ticket-holder scooped the £177million jackpot in the draw on November 26 last year, while the biggest this year was £83million in January. The latest prospects come after a son found his mother's winning EuroMillions lottery ticket tucked away with a heartbreaking message just days after her death in April. Liam Carter, 34, originally from Hampshire but now living in Aberdeen, was sorting through his mother Anne's possessions after she died aged 67 when he found the ticket. Mr Carter discovered a folded envelope inside her kitchen drawer, where Anne usually kept her tickets. She had written on the outside of the envelope: 'Sat draw - don't forget!' Mr Carter said: 'I nearly ignored it, but something told me to check. I scanned it using the National Lottery app, and it said it was a winning ticket — but I'd have to call the lottery line.' He phoned the line and was told his mother, who played the lottery every week, had matched five of the numbers from the draw and had only missed the missing stars - meaning she had won a payout of £18,403. A spokesperson from said: 'Liam's story shows that the lottery isn't just about money - it's about meaning. In this case, a forgotten ticket became something powerful and emotional. 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Among the big winners who did agree to go public with their good fortune were Colin and Chris Weir, from Ayrshire, who were handed £161million in 2011. Colin died aged 71 eight years later after getting through just half of his jackpot, with most of it having been shared between family, friends, and charities. The EuroMillions draw is a biweekly lottery in which members of the public in the UK and eight other European countries participate - with draws held on Tuesday and Friday evenings.
Daily Mail
22 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE My tenant from hell left my £4m Belgravia home in ruins after changing the locks, dumping my possessions in a garage and secretly subletting it to football fans on Booking.com
A trusting pensioner's £4million Belgravia home was wrecked after a tenant changed the locks and secretly sublet the property to droves of tourists on booking sites. The four-bedroom London pad has been owned by Anabel Loyd's family for over three decades, and more recently the 69-year-old's mother decided to officially hand her the home. After renting it out to family 'here and there', as well as a successful stint hiring it out as an AirBnB to various tourists, the Wiltshire woman decided to turn the property into long-term let due to 'slower periods during the winter'. A family friend worked for Foxtons estate agents so she decided to go ahead with the firm, and soon a potential tenant emerged hoping for a two-year contract, which the 69-year-old accepted with break clauses, and a rent of £1,600-a-week. They passed all of the estate agents checks, so Ms Loyd assumed all was well - but things started to go wrong almost immediately. Upon moving into the home, the tenant claimed it was 'inhabitable' because of black marks on the windows despite a deep clean being carried out by the estate agents, according to Ms Loyd. But the problems didn't end there, as the tenant changed the property's locks, dumped droves of Ms Loyd's items into a garage he shouldn't have had access to and began to rent the house out on Ms Loyd told MailOnline: 'I was completely furious. [The tenant] was subletting to huge numbers of people and they would go to the pub for a drink, so the people in the pub, who are truly wonderful, knew exactly what was going on. 'There were all these people going and kind of minibuses of people arriving, I mean, sort of 12 people at a time in a house which isn't terribly big, I mean you could have perhaps fitted eight at a pinch. 'The house, meanwhile, has clearly, progressively been disintegrating.' 'My language on the subject has been truly spectacular. I really felt like going round and smashing my own front windows so that they couldn't let it anymore. 'I was flabbergasted, and very bad tempered. It so bizarre that you almost are laughing about it too because you can't quite believe it is possible. She added: 'It is like having your house burgled, you feel everything is sort of dirty, in a strange way.' 'I wish I could say when I visit for the first time that I will be standing there in floods of tears, but I will be standing there in a tiring fury.' And although her property is currently in the hands of another, a tenant subletting a property without permission is usually considered a civil matter, rather than a criminal one. Recalling the moment she was told of hordes of unassuming Wigan supporters were descending on her home with crates of lager, she added: 'You do end up laughing because you can't believe it. 'And I have nothing against Wigan supporters at all.' On the property advertised by Ms Loyd's tenant as 'Regal Haven Four Bed Home Near Buckingham Palace' Luckily, her local publican and neighbours alerted her to the 'minibuses' of tourists packing into her property, which she said could only fit around seven or eight people 'at a pinch'. After briefly searching online, she quickly found her 'unprincipled' tenant had been advertising her home via describing it as a 'regal haven', boasting a 9.3 rating out of 10. And although to find her home on offer to strangers was 'salt to the wound', a string of images showing the damage to the property was 'the straw that broke the camel's back.' 'The sort of straw in the camels back was a US couple who had stayed at the property contacting us,' she said. 'There was dirty laundry, the doorknobs were falling off, a hole in the front door, and the three-foot high weeds in the backyard.' Ms Loyd estimates she would have lost £20,000 in costs after repairing her home, a stone's throw away from Buckingham Palace, as she would have to re-carpet, repaint and more. 'Its accumulative damage and mainly cosmetic, but living in London, anything like that costs a lot of money to get. 'I know I am lucky to live somewhere else, and to have another home, but this is a story of when s**t hits the fan.' 'It doesn't really make it any better. all the same.' And to add insult to injury, her tenant had also piled her possessions in the garage. Ms Loyd also argued they shouldn't have had access to this part of her home, as the author feared some of belongings may be damaged. 'There may be some things that would be of a certain value that would be very difficult to replace. 'Some things you can't rectify if they are really damaged as opposed to paintwork.' While she echoed concerns for books belonging to her husband's family, her main worry was for a painting of her beloved late pet. 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It is understood Foxtons had been in contact with the tenant 12 times between April and May, having also issued him with a Section 8 during this time. It is also understood the tenant has now signed a Deed of Surrender, a formal written agreement to end a tenancy earlier, and has until July 14 to vacate the property.
The Independent
26 minutes ago
- The Independent
Creator of shoes worn by the Queen among innovators honoured at awards reception
The creator of a shoe brand whose products are worn by the Queen has been honoured during an awards reception at Windsor Castle. The King welcomed recipients of The King's Awards for Enterprise at Windsor Castle on Thursday, and chatted to the entrepreneurs and innovators whose practices and products have earned them the prestigious recognition. Among the award winners was Lisa Kay, the creator and chief executive of Sole Bliss, whose products Camilla has frequently been seen wearing at public events, and is said to love for their stylish yet comfortable design. Ms Kay, whose business won an award in the international trade category, shook hands with Charles at the reception, and the pair exchanged a few words. She said: 'I (told the King) that Her Royal Highness has purchased our shoes, so hopefully she finds them comfortable. 'He said, 'She like a heel that's not too narrow', so I said 'Yes, a block heel, I understand', he said: 'Yes, a block heel!' 'He said it gets harder to wear heels as you get older, and I said 'I understand'.' Sole Bliss was launched as a 'very small' business in 2017, Ms Kay said. Its popularity soared after Camilla was spotted wearing a pair of Sole Bliss shoes at the 2018 Royal Cornwall Show. 'A year after we launched, that was amazing,' Ms Kay said. She added: 'Women generally just need comfort, so you're not thinking about your feet, you're thinking about where you are, what you're doing… 'It's for every job really – but especially royalty.' Julia Roberts, Dame Helen Mirren, and Olivia Colman are among the celebrities who were also seen wearing Sole Bliss at public events. Asked how she felt about receiving the King's Award for Enterprise, Ms Kay said: 'It just means the world. 'It's so exciting, you can see I'm very overwhelmed,' she added, laughing and fanning her face with her hand. Ms Kay was also praised by Dame Annabel Whitehead, a courtier and former lady-in-waiting to the late Queen Elizabeth II, who walked up to her during the reception and said: 'We all love you here.' Also at the event were the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, the Duke of Gloucester, and the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology Peter Kyle. The awards recognise outstanding achievements by UK firms in the categories of innovation, international trade, sustainable development and promoting opportunity through social mobility. They are the most prestigious business awards in the UK, with recipients recognised as being among the best of British businesses. Some 197 businesses received awards across the four categories and can now use The King's Awards emblem for the next five years on their products and to promote their services. The viral cuddly toys company Jellycat was also among the winners, with production director Jack Gatacre describing the reward as 'a great honour'. 'We're very happy that people do love our brand,' Mr Gatacre added. The Prince and Princess of Wales were gifted two Jellycat plushies during a royal garden party at Buckingham Palace last month. Seeing the toys, which were in the shapes of a pickled onion and a lemon tart, William said: 'These are like gold dust. My children go crazy for these things. This is a children's currency.' Asked how he felt knowing that George, Louis, and Charlotte love Jellycat plushies, Mr Gatacre said: 'It delights me, it delights everybody at Jellycat that we can make people happy across the world.' Previously known as The Queen's Award for Enterprise, this is the 59th year of the Awards and the third year recipients received a King's Awards for Enterprise following the scheme's name change.
