Wednesday briefing: Why Labour wants to cut financial red tape – and why critics fear that risks a new crisis

In today’s newsletter: Rachel Reeves has announced the ‘biggest financial regulation reforms in a decade’ – but are they enough to spark the economy? Good morning. The chancellor, Rachel Reeves, has vowed to cut back regulation in the UK financial sector in a bid to unlock growth.Reeves has announced a raft of changes in what the Treasury describes as the “biggest financial regulation reforms in a decade”. Her plans include loosening rules on the financial sector, increasing innovation, and allowing lenders to offer mortgages at more than 4.5 times a buyer’s income.Defence | Personal information about more than 33,000 Afghans seeking relocation to the UK after the Taliban takeover was released in error by a defence official – and the Ministry of Defence tried for nearly two years to cover up the leak and its consequences at the cost of £2bn, it can be revealed.UK news | Two men who carried out a “moronic mission” to fell one of the most loved and photographed trees in the UK have been jailed. Daniel Graham, 39, and Adam Carruthers, 32, were each given prison sentences of four years and three months for an act of criminal damage that caused the Sycamore Gap tree to crash down in 2023.US politics | Republican lawmakers have moved to block a Democratic effort to force the release of the so-called Epstein files, a near-mythological trove of undisclosed information about the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein at the centre of an internal political war among US conservatives.Television | MasterChef presenter John Torode will not return to the BBC cooking show after producers Banijay UK said his contract would not be renewed. Torode had earlier said he was the subject of an allegation of using racist language that was upheld as part of an inquiry into the behaviour of his former co-presenter Gregg Wallace.Tax and spending | HM Revenue and Customs has been sharply criticised by parliament’s spending watchdog for being unable to track how many billionaires pay tax in the UK. Highlighting “significant opportunities to collect more revenue”, it called on the tax authority to take immediate action. Continue reading...

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