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Andy Burnham has declined to rule out tax increases in the upcoming autumn Budget, acknowledging the UK is in a "challenging position" on public finances.

The warning comes as official figures showed government borrowing rose to £1.8 billion in July, 68.7% higher than a year earlier, while inflation surged to a four-month high of 2.9% amid fallout from the Iran war. Chancellor John Healey faces pressure to raise taxes or cut spending as public finances leave no room for extra borrowing.

Separately, Housing Secretary Angela Rayner said the government is "tilting" towards council and social housebuilding with £10 billion in funding for more than 70,000 homes. London Mayor Sadiq Khan will receive £6 billion to spend on housing, with further allocations directed to Greater Manchester, the West Midlands and other regions. Britain also became the first ally granted access to Ukraine's battlefield data to help train military AI systems.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham has unveiled a £10 billion package to build 70,000 social and affordable homes across England, marking the first major spending announcement of his government. Around 60 per cent of the new homes will be for social rent, with funding distributed among 33 strategic partners including local councils — a first for the scheme.

The allocation forms part of a wider £39 billion programme aiming to deliver 300,000 homes over ten years. Greater Manchester receives the largest regional share at £529 million for 4,400 homes, while London is set for a separate £6 billion allocation. Housing Secretary Angela Rayner said secure housing "can be a lifeline for families," while Shelter said the move puts councils back in the fight against homelessness.

Conservative shadow housing secretary James Cleverly dismissed the announcement as "sleight of hand", and Reform UK proposed alternative plans prioritising British-born tenants. More than £16 billion remains to be allocated outside London.

Ukraine and the United Kingdom signed an agreement on Monday to share battlefield artificial intelligence data and defense technology, a partnership designed to merge Kyiv's operational experience with Britain's AI ecosystem. President Volodymyr Zelensky and Prime Minister Andy Burnham sealed the deal in Kyiv during a meeting of allies.

Under the agreement, Britain will access Ukraine's Avengers AI Labs database, which contains millions of images of Russian tanks, air defense systems, drones, and artillery captured by battlefield cameras and infrared sensors. The data will train AI models for British armed forces. Pilot projects with three UK startups — Sintela, Mind Foundry, and Skyral — will test the technology at British defense sites to protect bases and critical infrastructure using AI-powered fiber-optic sensors.

Burnham also agreed to share classified details on Storm Shadow cruise missile components with Ukraine. Moscow accused Britain of escalating its involvement in the conflict, while Zelensky said Ukraine needs $27 billion to confront Russia this winter.

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham has called for a bolder approach to rebuilding relations with the European Union, telling European Council President António Costa during a meeting on Sunday evening that the UK should build on existing security cooperation to collaborate more closely across all areas.

The two leaders met aboard a train bound for Kyiv, where they will mark Ukraine's Independence Day on Monday. During the same journey, Burnham discussed defence spending mechanisms with Luxembourg Prime Minister Luc Frieden, including a UK-backed multilateral defence facility and a Canadian-supported defence bank.

The push follows a Brexit reset agreed under former prime minister Keir Starmer in 2025, though Burnham has ruled out rejoining the EU, customs union, or single market. A UK-EU summit scheduled for later this year is expected to advance discussions on the relationship. This marks Burnham's first international visit as prime minister.

Britain’s energy price cap is expected to rise 4% to a three-year high when Ofgem announces the October-to-December rate on Wednesday, driven by the Middle East conflict and European heatwaves. Cornwall Insight forecasts a typical annual household bill of £1,729, up from £1,663.

Energy UK has called on the government for expanded assistance, proposing a £1.9 billion social discount scheme offering up to £450 to struggling households. Chief executive Dhara Vyas urged more targeted, permanent support. Customers already owed suppliers a record £4.7bn in arrears at the end of last winter.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s government plans to remove VAT from household electricity bills in October, which would reduce the cap by roughly £45. Meanwhile, the Energy Ombudsman accepted 46,532 cases in the first half of 2026, a 16% increase from the same period a year earlier, with billing disputes accounting for 58% of complaints.

Reform UK will unveil proposals on Monday to make British citizens born abroad wait longer for social housing, prioritising British-born workers under 35, married couples with children, and military veterans on waiting lists. Deputy leader Richard Tice will also outline ambitions to build 50,000 affordable social homes annually, against a government target of 18,000 per year.

Tice claims 1.3 million people await social housing and that over half a million homes are occupied by foreign nationals. The plans follow a June pledge by Nigel Farage to evict foreign nationals from social housing, giving them three months to relocate or face deportation. Some foreign-born Britons would be exempted, including those born while British parents were temporarily overseas.

Shelter's chief executive warned the plans would disrupt thousands of families and risk homelessness. Labour dismissed the proposals as unserious and unworkable, noting illegal migrants and most visa holders are already ineligible. The Conservatives accused Reform of trying to catch up with their own policies, while the Liberal Democrats called it a cruel gimmick.

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham will travel to Kyiv on Monday for Ukraine's independence day, using his first foreign trip in office to announce the declassification of UK-made components for Storm Shadow/Scalp cruise missiles. The move, allowing European defence firm MBDA to share technical data, is intended to help Ukraine develop its own long-range strike capability.

Burnham will co-chair a coalition of the willing meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron, joining remotely, and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. The visit follows a deadly drone strike on a Kryvyi Rih shopping centre on Friday that killed at least 16 people, and comes as Kyiv warns it has exhausted US-made Patriot interceptors.

Russia, which accused Britain of deliberately escalating the conflict, has withdrawn its ambassador from London without naming a replacement. Zelenskyy, whom Burnham hosted at Downing Street shortly after taking office in July, is seeking hundreds of additional air-defence missiles ahead of winter.

Serious sexual and violent offenders released from prison in the UK will be confined to areas just a few miles wide under a restriction zone scheme launching in October, Justice Secretary Alex Norris announced.

Probation officers will use GPS-based electronic tags to track offenders' movements in real time around the clock, with boundaries set for as long as deemed necessary. Offenders will receive push notifications warning them to turn back if they approach exclusion zone limits, and those who breach conditions face recall to prison. Victims will have a say in setting boundaries to reduce the chance of unexpected encounters.

The Ministry of Justice said it is investing £700 million in probation services and recruiting 1,300 new officers. Prime Minister Andy Burnham is due to present findings from his review of the early prisoner release scheme when Parliament returns on September 1, having already blocked early release for rapists and child groomers.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham will dispatch more than 100 Whitehall officials to bolster the teams of England's regional mayors and grant them new powers to approve large-scale developments, under plans unveiled following a virtual meeting with local leaders.

The pilot programme will send five to 10 high-performing civil servants to each of 18 mayoral authorities for secondments of six to nine months. A new fast-stream scheme in Yorkshire and Humber will open applications in October, and the Future Leaders Scheme will expand to local authority staff. A digital devolution programme will also create a data-sharing model between central government and mayors.

Separately, mayors will gain authority to greenlight developments of more than 150 homes, commercial spaces exceeding 15,000 square metres, or buildings 30 metres or taller, with a consultation due next week. Ten of 14 devolved mayors back the move, as the government remains just over a quarter of the way to its 1.5 million-home target. The Liberal Democrats called the plan a "direct attack" that would silence residents.