Rishi Sunak confirms updates to the price of fuel, petrol and alcohol in the UK

direct to your inboxThe limit on contactless payments is set to rise from £45 to £100.Chancellor Rishi Sunak, who will announce the plans in his 2021 Budget, said the change will boost the retail sector and help protect jobs in the UK.The change will legally come into force from today, but firms will need to make the necessary systems changes before being able to offer customers the higher limit.The UK has been allowed to make the change after leaving the EU, which limits contactless payments to

direct to your inboxRishi Sunak will unveil the 2021 Budget today.The Chancellor will set out the UK government's spending plan in his annual statement. Last night, it was revealed he would be revealing an extension to the furlough scheme until the end of September.

direct to your inboxThe Chancellor is set to extend the furlough scheme when he unveils the 2021 Budget on Wednesday afternoon.Rishi Sunak is expected to announce that the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme will remain in place until September - two months later than its most recent end date.But the government's contribution will be reduced from July with employers asked to pay in alongside the taxpayer for the cost of furloughed employees.The scheme, has protected more than 11 million jobs since

Joe Biden rather than repeat the "failures of the past" ahead of setting out the Budget.Ian Blackford said he fears "more of the same" from the Chancellor after a decade of austerity under Conservative governments.And the SNP Westminster leader insisted the UK should look towards the response of President Biden after the House of Representatives passed a 1.9 trillion dollars Covid relief bill.Blackford said: "I think what the Covid pandemic has shown is the basic inequalities that exist in the

David Linden has called on Chancellor Rishi Sunak to make the Universal Credit uplift permanent as part of a wider post-covid recovery programme.The Glasgow East MP said axing the uplift - worth £1040 a year to claimants - at a time of rising unemployment would be "unconscionable".Linden, the Nationalists' spokesman on work and pensions, spoke out as the Tory Chancellor prepares to deliver a Budget like no other in recent history.The UK Government says it will set out "the next phase of the plan

2017 RICS benchmarking figures put the national average rent on pubs at £37,691 - nearly twice Sunak's top estimate. Many have voiced concern that any support for hospitality that will be announced at Wednesday's budget could be based on these figures, which are described as being 'fundamentally wrong'.It could mean that pubs and restaurants would not receive - and have not received so far - the sums they need to survive through the coming months of restrictions and closures.

coronavirus vaccine roll out will receive a £1.65 billion boost to help it meet the target of offering a dose to every adult by July 31.

direct to your inbox The issue of vaccine passports is one which is beset with complex moral and legal considerations, but it could pave the way out of the coronavirus pandemic and for more normal life to return.