Minister says 32 authorities providers offline attributable to PHP code flaw – UK politics reside | Politics

32 UK authorities providers offline whereas work carried out to type out PHP programming flaw, minister says
Some 32 authorities providers are offline and 4 are partially unavailable whereas work is carried out to handle potential cybersecurity points, a minister has mentioned.
As the Press Association experiences, organisations across the international stage have been scrambling to repair a crucial safety flaw within the programming language PHP utilized by the vast majority of web sites.
Downing Street on Thursday mentioned no giant UK public-facing crucial providers have been affected, however some “restricted” authorities web sites have gone darkish whereas points are resolved. National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) consultants are working with OpenAI, whose expertise was used to find the vulnerabilities, and companions across the globe to handle potential issues, a No 10 spokesperson mentioned.
In the House of Lords, Liz Lloyd, the tech minister, mentioned:
The info I’ve is that 32 authorities providers are unavailable and 4 are partially unavailable.
Lloyd mentioned that “has largely resulted from precautionary measures taken to guard techniques whereas safety updates and mitigations are utilized”.
The No 10 spokesperson instructed reporters:
Work has already taken place throughout authorities to determine and repair potential exposures to our techniques, and our consultants are persevering with to work intently with each OpenAI and cross-border companions on this subject.
Here is our story in regards to the international impression of the issues recognized within the PHP programming language. It’s by Robert Booth and Aisha Down.
Key occasions
Mahmood condemned by Unison for refusing to let care employee attend personal assembly about her ‘nasty’ proposed ILR adjustments
Andrea Egan, the Unison basic secretary, has criticised Shabana Mahmood, the house secretary, for not letting her deliver a care employee to a gathering to debate Mahmood’s plans to tighten the everlasting residency guidelines for international employees.
Egan described the proposals as “nasty”, and mentioned Mahmood’s failure to interact with folks affected by the foundations was “completely unacceptable”.
The Unison chief was commenting in a post on social media that referenced a story by Arj Singh for the i, which mentioned talks between Mahmood and Unison “broke down after the house secretary refused to permit a migrant care employee to attend the assembly”. Singh mentioned:
The assembly was cancelled by Unison after Mahmood refused Egan’s late request to deliver a migrant care employee who can be affected by the “earned settlement” adjustments, The i Paper understands.
Under draft plans announced last year, international employees would usually have to attend 10 years earlier than with the ability to apply to indefinite depart to stay (ILR) within the UK, as a substitute of 5 years as they do now. But for international care employees, the conventional wait could be 15 years – a proposal Mahmood justified on the grounds their relative low earnings meant giving them ILR was more likely to impose a cost on the taxpayer.
Mahmood is below strain to water down her proposals, notably these referring to care employees, and Unison, which represents many employees within the care sector, has campaigned notably forcefully towards the plan.
In her social media posts, Egan mentioned:
Shabana Mahmood’s failure to interact correctly with the migrant employees whose lives her nasty proposals will devastate is completely unacceptable.
These are sensible, dedicated employees who maintain our public providers collectively. UNISON received’t tolerate them being attacked and ignored.
I’ve modified UNISON’s political strategy to place members first. That contains taking members with me to authorities conferences.
Engaging immediately with employees must be customary for Labour cupboard ministers, not one thing they run away from.
In his report, Singh says:
The care employee who Egan wished to deliver to the assembly has accomplished an NVQ degree 3 and is about to do additional {qualifications} in order that he can develop his profession within the sector, and was planning to inform Mahmood about why he and plenty of different Unison members had chosen to work within the sector.
Singh quotes a Home Office supply as saying that Egan had been invited to a personal assembly with Mahmood and that it was Unison that selected to cancel it. The supply additionally mentioned that it could be flawed for Mahmood to prioritise the views of only one care employee when 200,000 responses to the federal government’s session had been being thought-about.
In a social media post commenting on the identical story, the Labour MP John McDonnell mentioned:
The work visa subject is inflicting completely pointless division within the Labour Party at a time when the brand new chief is settling himself into the job. Listening to quite a few employees employed on work visas within the care sector has been important in gaining an understanding of what they face and the impact on our public providers of the proposed rule adjustments. All Unison wished was to make sure the house secretary had the chance to understand absolutely the considerations of the individuals who can be affected by her proposals. I urge her to assume once more on this choice to not meet.
32 UK authorities providers offline whereas work carried out to type out PHP programming flaw, minister says
Some 32 authorities providers are offline and 4 are partially unavailable whereas work is carried out to handle potential cybersecurity points, a minister has mentioned.
As the Press Association experiences, organisations across the international stage have been scrambling to repair a crucial safety flaw within the programming language PHP utilized by the vast majority of web sites.
Downing Street on Thursday mentioned no giant UK public-facing crucial providers have been affected, however some “restricted” authorities web sites have gone darkish whereas points are resolved. National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) consultants are working with OpenAI, whose expertise was used to find the vulnerabilities, and companions across the globe to handle potential issues, a No 10 spokesperson mentioned.
In the House of Lords, Liz Lloyd, the tech minister, mentioned:
The info I’ve is that 32 authorities providers are unavailable and 4 are partially unavailable.
Lloyd mentioned that “has largely resulted from precautionary measures taken to guard techniques whereas safety updates and mitigations are utilized”.
The No 10 spokesperson instructed reporters:
Work has already taken place throughout authorities to determine and repair potential exposures to our techniques, and our consultants are persevering with to work intently with each OpenAI and cross-border companions on this subject.
Here is our story in regards to the international impression of the issues recognized within the PHP programming language. It’s by Robert Booth and Aisha Down.
Steve Witkoff flawed about Putin being a ‘humanitarian’, says No 10
Yesterday Steve Witkoff, the property developer appointed by Donald Trump as his lead international coverage envoy, described Vladimir Putin as a “humanitarian”. Andrew Roth has extra about that right here, in a bit stating that that is a unprecedented lie.
Douglas Alexander, the Scottish secretary, was giving interviews this morning. Asked if he agreed with Witkoff’s description on LBC, he was reassuringly blunt. He replied:
No, we don’t.
We see him as anyone who illegally invaded Ukraine at the beginning of this unrest, who has been answerable for conduct by his authorities that included tried assassinations on UK soil.
So we merely don’t recognise the outline of Vladimir Putin as a humanitarian.
In distinction, we’re crystal clear that we stand foursquare behind Volodymyr Zelensky and the folks of Ukraine of their battle for freedom.
At the No 10 foyer briefing, a No 10 spokesperson additionally argued that Witkoff had obtained it flawed. Asked about Witkoff’s remark, the spokesperson mentioned:
We don’t recognise that characterisation … Putin has killed 1000’s of individuals, Ukrainians and his personal. He’s ravenous kids and the aged of warmth and heat and destroying crucial nationwide roads.
Tories declare crime figures ‘spiralling uncontrolled’ – and why the information would not again this up
The Conservative occasion appears to have missed the bit within the ONS report on the crime figures the place it mentioned “crime towards people and households has usually decreased during the last 10 years”. (See 9.54am.) Chris Philp, the shadow house secretary, has issued an announcement saying:
Crime is spiralling uncontrolled below Labour. Record numbers of sexual offences, knife crime and store theft present what occurs when criminals know they will get away with it. This is a direct consequence of Labour reducing police numbers by 2,000 and letting 1000’s of prisoners out of jail early.
The Tories justify this declare by wanting on the ONS report and selecting out all of the worst bits (a method not unfamiliar within the international stage of journalism). Their briefing highlights 4 figures specifically. Here is an extract.
Sexual offences have reached the very best degree on document below Labour, with the police now logging round 600 of them each single day. Police in England and Wales recorded 218,994 sexual offences within the yr to June 2026, the very best annual whole for the reason that collection started in 2002-03 …
Police are recording extra rapes of girls than at any level since data started, at a price of round 142 day by day. There had been 51,731 recorded rapes of girls aged 16 or over within the yr to June 2026, the very best determine for the reason that collection started in 2004-05 …
More persons are being caught carrying knives and blades than at any level since data started. Police recorded 30,216 offences of possessing an article with a blade or level within the yr to June 2026, the very best determine for the reason that collection started in 2008-09 …
Thefts and robberies from outlets have reached a document excessive below Labour, with greater than 1,500 recorded each single day. Police recorded 519,516 shoplifting offences and 31,089 robberies of enterprise property within the yr to June 2026, a mixed 550,605 and the very best whole for the reason that collection started in 2002-03.
But these claims are extremely selective – to the purpose of being deceptive.
On sexual offences, and rape, the ONS report factors out that a lot of the rise over time is because of extra offences being recorded, and never essentially extra of them happening. It says “there was a basic improve in police recorded sexual offences during the last decade, largely due to enhancements in police recording practices”. And it features a particular warning about drawing the flawed conclusions from the figures.
Police recorded sexual offences should not a great indicator of developments over time. Improvements in police recording practices, the introduction of latest offences, and elevated reporting by victims have contributed to the extent of offences lately.
On knives, whereas extra folks could also be carrying them, the Tories have ignored the figures suggesting fewer criminals are literally utilizing them. The ONS says:
Knife-enabled crime recorded by the police decreased by 6% in yr ending (YE) June 2026 (to 48,615 offences), in contrast with YE June 2025 (51,567 offences). Levels remained 12% decrease than YE March 2020 (55,170 offences).
And, on shoplifting, the Tories are once more presenting the information in a deceptive manner. The ONS says:
Following a interval of will increase in shoplifting, there was a 2% lower (to 519,516 offences) in YE June 2026 in comparison with the earlier yr (530,336 offences).
The Tories have justified their “document excessive” declare by combining the shoplifing figures with the figures for robberies from enterprise properties. They describe this as “store crime” – although many enterprise properties should not outlets. And the ONS has a caveat about these figures too.
The variety of theft of private property offences fell by 7% (to 57,193 offences) in contrast with the earlier yr, nevertheless, general theft elevated by 10% (to 88,282 offences) primarily due to enhancements to recording practices for theft of enterprise property.
And the ONS says, with shoplifting, extra offences are additionally now being recorded than previously.
Recent will increase in police recorded shoplifting probably mirror each development in offences and improved reporting ensuing from nearer engagement between police and retailers. Reporting charges for shoplifting are identified to be very low and police are actively encouraging the reporting of all incidents and the submission of supporting proof, comparable to CCTV, to strengthen intelligence, determine offenders, and hyperlink associated offences.
Gender pay hole persevering with to say no, ONS says
The Office for National Statistics has additionally revealed a report on the gender pay gap. It says:
The gender pay hole for full-time staff has continued to say no within the UK. It was 6.8% in April 2026, down from 7.2% in April 2025. This compares with 9.4% a decade in the past and 16.4% 25 years in the past.
This chart exhibits the pay hole development over time.
Patrick Maguire was not the one particular person to interview John Healey yesterday. Robert Peston, ITV’s political editor, spoke to the chancellor too, and he has written a blog about essentially the most attention-grabbing factors to emerge. This is what Peston says about Healey’s feedback in regards to the banks. (See 10.41am.)
Secondly, I requested Healey whether or not he sees the banks as making extreme earnings, which might be the coherent justification for him to extend the surcharge on financial institution earnings – as he’s anticipated to do within the Budget subsequent week.
He mentioned: “You know the banks are the engine of asset placement on this nation. The banks are doing properly in the meanwhile and that’s good to see.
“It’s good for Britain – and the funds is the place I’ve obtained choices to take throughout the economic landscape, throughout the tax system. I’ll set these out on Wednesday subsequent week.”
This appeared like he’ll improve the surcharge however doesn’t have an financial rationale for doing so.
Survey exhibits ‘vital improve’ in proportion of adults in England and Wales experiencing home abuse, ONS says
There has been a “vital improve” within the proportion of adults in England and Wales who’ve skilled home abuse, the Press Association report. In its report on as we speak’s crime figures (see 9.54am), PA says:
Some 9.6% of individuals aged 16 and over are estimated to have been the sufferer of home abuse within the yr to March 2026, or round 4.7 million folks.
This is up from 7.8%, or round 3.8 million folks, within the yr ending March 2025.
The rise signifies “actual change” within the prevalence of home abuse and is a “vital improve”, in line with the Office for National Statistics (ONS) which carried out the survey.
The leap has been pushed by an increase in associate abuse, skilled by 7.9% of individuals aged 16 and over within the newest figures, in contrast with 6.1% within the earlier yr.
Some “minor adjustments” to the best way the survey is carried out are more likely to have influenced the dimensions of the rise, the ONS mentioned.
But their finest evaluation is there was a real rise within the degree of home abuse.
While there was a leap within the prevalence of associate abuse, figures for household abuse are broadly related, at 2.8% of adults within the yr to March 2026, in contrast with 2.7% within the earlier 12 months.
Meghan Elkin, ONS head of crime statistics, mentioned: “While minor survey adjustments and the same old uncertainty round gathering knowledge on this delicate matter are more likely to have affected these estimates, our evaluation is that the rise in home abuse contains actual change.
“More knowledge factors are wanted to additional perceive the uncertainty and what this tells us about developments in home abuse.”
Badenoch criticises authorities for not sending minister to talk at Police Federation convention
Kemi Badenoch has criticised the federal government for not sending a minister to handle the Police Federation’s convention.
Addressing the federation this morning, she mentioned she was “not scared to wade in” and never scared to “again the police”.
She instructed the viewers:
Too typically today, we fail to recognise sacrifice and repair. Whether it’s hounding courageous and aged veterans by means of the courts, hounding law enforcement officials who attempt to do the correct factor, and even bizarre members of the general public who step in to assist solely to search out that they’re in hassle themselves.
It’s no surprise the folks on this nation have gotten too scared to wade in, too scared to do the correct factor. Well, I’m completely different. I’m not scared to wade in, and I’m not scared to again the police.
I feel it’s telling that for 2 years in a row, the Labour authorities has not despatched anybody to handle this convention – not the policing minister, not the house secretary.
But Badenoch additionally mentioned she wouldn’t promise law enforcement officials an enormous pay rise.
Now, I do know that you’d additionally like an enormous pay rise as properly.
I’m sorry that I can’t promise that simply but – no less than not on day one.
I’m not going to face right here and promise one thing with no plan to pay for it.
Too many politicians have executed that, and it solely results in disappointment.
Criminals who refuse to attend sentencing face dropping jail privileges below new guidelines
Offenders who refuse to face their victims’ households in court docket for sentencing might be stripped of privileges or saved in cells for weeks below authorities adjustments granting wider powers to judges in England and Wales, Geneva Abdul experiences.
Barclays boss signifies that he accepts financial institution taxes will rise in funds, means that’s ‘bearable’, and backs Healey
Kalyeena Makortoff
Kalyeena Makortoff is the Guardian’s banking correspondent.
CS Venkatakrishnan, CEO at Barclays, appears to have admitted defeat over financial institution tax hikes, that are anticipated to be a headline measure in Healey’s funds subsequent week.
When requested whether or not the financial institution may think about tilting property or asset placement out of the UK and to the US – the place it additionally has operations – because of increased taxes, Venkatakrishnan gave his full backing to the chancellor.
He instructed reporters:
I recognise that the chancellor and the federal government has been entrusted with an vital obligation by the general public and the folks. And they must stability a bunch of concerns. He [Healey] is the person within the enviornment, and I deeply respect the accountability he bears on his shoulders and need him properly.
His long run objective is identical as our long run objective, which is to get development.
Second, we’re already a financial institution, which makes, successfully, half of our cash elsewhere [outside] the UK. And so this isn’t a query of a monetary hit to us. It’s bearable. It is a query of proportion and it’s a query of market signaling. But as I mentioned, I deeply respect the accountability that the chancellor has and he has our full help and backing.
Bank bosses have been lobbying intensively towards financial institution tax rises since narrowly escaping increased levies throughout final yr’s funds.
That contains JP Morgan boss Jamie Dimon, who mentioned earlier this yr he could scrap plans for a new £3bn London headquarters if the UK authorities grew to become hostile to banks. News of the tower – which is able to home greater than half of its 23,000 UK employees – was unveiled simply days after former Labour chancellor Rachel Reeves spared the sector of additional tax rises in her 2025 autumn funds.
Healey argues his funds will refute Andy Haldane’s claims about Tory insurance policies being higher for development than Labour’s
Here are some extra traces from Patrick Maguire’s interview with John Healey in the Times. This passage sums up the general image very properly. Maguire writes:
So what’s the chancellor now concentrating on? One might be forgiven for considering him totally unreconstructed: a celebration man and pleased with it. There isn’t any such factor as Healeyism, he says when the dialog turns to Anthony Crosland’s evangelism for the combined economic landscape: “I’m simply Labour.”
“Just Labour” is strictly what the bond trading floors concern — and, certainly, it’s what offers Kemi Badenoch hope of pulling off a comeback to rank alongside Lazarus and Bobby Ewing for utter implausibility.
As defined earlier, whereas not going into specifics, Healey was eager to current himself as somebody lowering the burdens going through companies – particularly smaller companies. (See 9am.) But listed below are another traces.
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Healey argued that his funds subsequent week would refute the declare made by Andy Haldane, the previous Bank of England chief economist, about Labour not having the right policies to promote growth. In an article for the Financial Times, Haldane mentioned Conservative insurance policies had been higher for the economic landscape, partly as a result of they had been extra more likely to help “cuts to enterprise and employment taxes and regulation to unleash animal spirits”. In his write-up, Maguire says:
It was Haldane who also said, memorably and mercilessly, that the trading floors had concluded that this was a “conventional tax-and-spend socialist authorities with higher TikTok movies”. At Westminster, this kind of criticism is prone to curdling into thick and immovable consensus. What does Healey say to that? “I’d say to Andy Haldane,” he growls, fixing me with a chilly stare, “communicate to me subsequent Thursday.” And, for the document, he speaks explicitly of “making an argument for a way you deliver welfare prices down” — albeit not by way of the “crude cuts” that had been Starmer’s undoing.
[Healey] is “acutely aware”, too, of the “commerce off” between an ever-increasing minimal wage — notably for the youngest employees — and ranges of employment.
He is aware of the numerous companies who “need to make use of younger folks” generally cite that upward ratchet as a cause they can’t.
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Healey defended the half he performed in bringing down Keir Starmer. Healey resigned from Starmer’s authorities over defence spending, and this contributed to the lack of help for Starmer within the parliamentary occasion that led to him standing down. Referring to this era, Healey mentioned:
The nation was prepared for a change … Wherever you stood on the spectrum of the [parliamentary Labour party], there was a recognition that we would have liked a change.
He additionally argued that altering chief had been good for the occasion.
We have a really uncommon second now. We’re in the course of a parliament, the second half of a parliament, and we’ve obtained an opportunity of a brand new listening to. People are no less than prepared to pay attention once more … the Labour occasion is definitely fairly decided and disciplined, and in any occasion, the second half of a parliament begins concentrating minds.
Robbery up 10%, whereas general crime charges usually happening, ONS figures present
The Office for National Statistics’ latest report on crime figures is out. It covers crime in England and Wales within the yr ending June 2026 and it begins:
Crime towards people and households has usually decreased during the last 10 years with some notable exceptions, comparable to fraud.
This chart exhibits among the key figures. The crime survey figures are primarily based on what folks inform researchers in regards to the crimes they’ve skilled; the opposite figures associated to the crimes reported to the police.
At this stage of the funds course of, John Healey has virtually actually made all his key choices. But, simply in case he hasn’t, he may strive our funds interactive. It lets you decide on among the choices going through the chancellor, after which it can inform you what the impression could be on funds headroom, and the way the trading floors and the polls may react.
Healey accepts Labour has put a ‘lot of strain’ on enterprise and says serving to entrepreneurs can be a funds precedence
Good morning. Per week as we speak John Healey, the chancellor, can be doing a media spherical defending the funds he’s presenting on Wednesday subsequent week. Ahead of that, he has given an interview to Patrick Maguire from the Times. As you’ll anticipate, there is no such thing as a actual element in it in regards to the measures he can be presenting to MPs. But the massive image message could be very clear – and fairly shocking, coming from a chancellor serving a PM who in some respects is steering left in comparison with his predecessor. Healey says that he needs to be on the aspect of bloody-minded entrepreneurs who make a revenue, he acknowledges that authorities has made their life more durable over the previous two years, and he means that reducing the ‘price of dwelling’ for enterprise is simply as vital as reducing the actual price of dwelling for households.
In the quote that provides the Times its splash headline, Healey says:
I need to be a chancellor who backs enterprise in Britain making a revenue, and people entrepreneurs who, ultimately, are those who problem the established order, provide you with progressive concepts and try, a few of them by means of sheer bloody-mindedness, to maintain going by means of these kinds of pressures …
If you’re not making a revenue, you’ve obtained nothing to place again into the enterprise. And for the individuals who begin up these companies, those who actually thrive and develop, they must make a revenue — and they are going to be rather more inclined to place it again into their very own enterprise. But we wish it to develop right here and keep right here.
And that is what he says in regards to the authorities has not too long ago been placing “loads of strain” on enterprise.
If you speak to any of the companies which have are available and have both had one-to-ones or spherical tables with me, I’ve recognised that in latest occasions there’s been loads of strain: employment regulation, regulation, tax, enter prices, provide chains.
And so once I discuss the price of enterprise, and recognising that in the identical manner as we’re recognising the price of dwelling pressures, I’m aware of that as I am going into the funds for each companies and households.
All chancellors – together with all Labour chancellors – say they need to assist companies make a revenue. But many individuals within the enterprise group suspect that, once they face fiscal strain, Labour authorities will often default to treating enterprise as a money machine.
Healey’s feedback about eager to be seen as “a chancellor who backs enterprise” and about how tax rises and the Employment Rights Act have elevated prices sound like an implicit rebuke to Rachel Reeves, his predecessor. In his interview Healey defends her choice to extend employer nationwide insurance coverage, saying she needed to take care of the “dereliction of obligation” of the final Tory authorities on the economic landscape. But Healey nonetheless gives the look of eager to be seen as markedly extra pro-business than Reeves.
In his interview Healey doesn’t give particulars of how he’ll minimize prices for enterprise subsequent week. But, in his write-up, Maguire says:
[Healey] is predicted to make use of the funds to make vital cuts to regulation on businesses that one senior Treasury supply described as “the sludge choking companies”. Reporting necessities are more likely to be abolished for a lot of smaller enterprises, The Times understands.
Here is the agenda for the day.
9.30am: The ONS publishes crime figures for England and Wales and – individually – annual gender pay hole figures.
10am: Ofgem chief government Tim Jarvis and Department for Energy and Net Zero everlasting secretary Jonathan Brearley give proof to the Commons public accounts committee about reaching clear energy by 2030.
10.15am: Kemi Badenoch offers a speech on the Police Federation’s annual convention.
Morning: Andy Burnham is in Manchester the place he’s getting a flu jab, and in addition holding a gathering with mayors at No 10 North about mayors retaining proceeds from enterprise charges.
11.30am: Downing Street holds a foyer briefing.
Lunchtime: Miatta Fahnbulleh, the vitality secretary, speaks at a lunch on the Commons hosted by foyer journalists.
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