‘Worrying’ levels of screen time means young people losing confidence to socialise in person, minister warns – UK politics live

Culture secretary Lisa Nandy says ‘majority of young people spend all, or almost all, of their free time alone in their bedrooms, online’The National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR), the thinktank saying Rachel Reeves will need to raise taxes to cover a £40bn deficit in the public finances (see 9.13am), says that the chancellor faces “an impossible trilemma”.In his foreward to the report, David Aikman, the NIESR director, says:The UK economy enters the second half of 2025 still confronting weak growth and stubborn inflationary pressures. While external factors – including continued trade policy uncertainty and persistent geopolitical risks – certainly matter, domestic challenges dominate the outlook. Chief among these is the government’s increasingly acute fiscal predicament. Simply put, the chancellor cannot simultaneously meet her fiscal rules, fulfil spending commitments, and uphold manifesto promises to avoid tax rises for working people. At least one of these will need to be dropped – she faces an impossible trilemma.The government is no longer on track to meet its “stability rule”, with our forecast suggesting a current deficit of £41.2bn in the fiscal year 2029–30. With the autumn budget approaching, the chancellor faces unenviable decisions. The spending review has already set departmental budgets tightly until 2029, limiting scope for further cuts. Meanwhile, manifesto commitments restrict the options for tax increases. This leaves the government either breaching its fiscal rules – risking higher borrowing costs or even market instability – or making politically difficult and economically damaging compromises at a time when … the poorest 10% of UK households face a further decline in their living standards this year.Our view is that it will be crucial for the chancellor to restore market confidence by demonstrating fiscal discipline. This will require a determined attempt to rebuild the fiscal buffer and that will inevitably involve gradual but sustained tax increases or spending cuts. In charting this path, the government must prioritise protecting public expenditure that supports society’s most vulnerable, while safeguarding public investment essential for sustainable future growth. Continue reading...

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