Rachel Reeves delivering her spring statement in the Commons. Photograph: House of Commons
Labour is braced for a backlash from its MPs over welfare cuts called ‘appalling’ by a foodbank charity
Rachel Reeves was accused of balancing the books at the expense of the poor in her spring statement, as official figures showed three million households could lose £1,720 a year in benefits.
The chancellor confirmed welfare cuts of £4.8bn, but insisted the government’s priority was to restore stability to the public finances in the face of rising global borrowing costs.
Economists warned Reeves could be forced to come back with more tax rises in the autumn, with the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) saying that any tariffs imposed by Donald Trump may upend their forecasts.
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Ruth Curtice, the director of the Resolution Foundation thinktank, said while Reeves was right to balance the books, she was “wrong to do so on the backs of low- to middle-income families, on whom two-thirds of the welfare cuts will fall”.
Helen Barnard, the director of policy at the food bank charity Trussell, said: “The insistence by the Treasury on driving through record cuts to disabled people’s social security to balance the books is both shocking and appalling. People at food banks are telling us they are terrified how they’ll survive.”
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Keir Starmer confirms that he’s proud to be a red Tory continuing austerity and targeting poor and disabled scum.Keir Starmer says pensioners can freeze to death and poor children can starve and be condemned to failure and misery all their lives.
Elon Musk attends U.S. President Donald Trump’s Cabinet meeting at the White House on March 24, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Photo: Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images)
“Wisconsin voters should get to decide this election, not the richest billionaire in the world,” said the Working Families Party.
Early voting is underway for the April 1 election to determine ideological control of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, and right-wing billionaire Elon Musk recently admitted why he is pouring millions of dollars into the close contest: It “will decide how congressional districts are drawn” in the state.
As Mother Jones‘ Ari Berman reported Tuesday, Musk—the richest person in the world and a key figure in Republican President Donald Trump’s administration—made that comment Saturday, while hosting the right-wing candidate, Judge Brad Schimel of Waukesha County, and U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), for a discussion on X, the billionaire’s social media platform.
Musk said that if Judge Susan Crawford of Dane County wins, “then the Democrats will attempt to redraw the districts and cause Wisconsin to lose two Republican seats. In my opinion that’s the most important thing, which is a big deal given that the congressional majority is so razor-thin. It could cause the House to switch to Democrat if that redrawing takes place.”
Liberals have had a 4-3 majority on the swing state’s highest court since the 2023 election of Justice Janet Protasiewicz. Crawford and Schimel are fighting for a 10-year term filling the seat now occupied by 74-year-old left-leaning Justice Ann Walsh Bradley, who decided not to seek reelection. In addition to determining the future of Republicans’ 6-2 advantage for congressional districts, next week’s election is expected to impact abortion care, labor rights, and voter suppression efforts in Wisconsin.
From @ariberman.bsky.social:Elon Musk revealed why he's spending millions to flip the Wisconsin Supreme Court It’s all about preserving gerrymandered districts that lock in Republican power.www.motherjones.com/politics/202…
Berman noted that if Crawford won and Wisconsin’s maps changed before the 2026 midterm elections, a Democrat-controlled U.S. House of Represntatives could “scrutinize the unprecedented role Musk is playing in shredding the federal government, accessing sensitive personal information on millions of Americans, and the $38 billion in federal funding his businesses receive.”
The billionaire also has a personal stake in the race related to one of his businesses. As The New York Times noted Saturday: “A conservative-controlled court could be in a position to issue a Musk-friendly decision in a lawsuit from his electric car company, Tesla, challenging Wisconsin’s law prohibiting vehicle manufacturers from owning dealerships. On social media, Mr. Musk began to show interest in the Wisconsin court election eight days after Tesla filed the lawsuit in January.”
Crawford campaign spokesperson Derrick Honeyman told The Associated Press on Monday that “this race is the first real test point in the country on Elon Musk and his influence on our politics, and voters want an opportunity to push back on that and the influence he is trying to make on Wisconsin and the rest of country.”
As of Tuesday, Musk has recently given at least $3 million to the state’s Republican Party, according to WisPolitics—which has also “tracked nearly $19.5 million in spending” on the race by two political action committees (PACs) affiliated with the billionaire.
GOP paid canvasser shows depth of support for Schimel. None.www.jsonline.com/story/news/p…
As Common Dreams reported last week, Musk’s America PAC is also offering registered Wisconsin voters $100 if they sign a petition opposing “activist judges,” which led critics to accuse the billionaire of trying to buy the state Supreme Court seat.
Those critics include the Working Families Party, which has sent a pair of emails in recent days highlighting how much Musk has spent “to install MAGA extremist Brad Schimel” on the court, and arguing that “Wisconsin voters should get to decide this election, not the richest billionaire in the world.”
Forbes reported Tuesday that “Musk is far from the only billionaire who is financially backing the Wisconsin Supreme Court race. Among the other billionaires listed in public filings as spending thousands to support Schimel—either directly or through the Wisconsin Republican Party—are ABC Supply co-founder Diane Hendricks, Uline president Elizabeth Uihlein, Uline CEO Richard Uihlein, and Joe Ricketts, the founder of TD Ameritrade and owner of the Chicago Cubs. Crawford has also drawn significant billionaire support from the likes of Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, and Democratic megadonor George Soros, who gave the Wisconsin Democratic Party $1 million in January.”
WisPolitics noted Tuesday that “Crawford has now reported $26.5 million raised, a record for any judicial candidate in U.S. history,” while Schimel “has now raised $14.3 million.” However, according to Michael Waldman, president and CEO of the Brennan Center for Justice, dark money on the race is favoring the right-wing candidate.
“It’s already the most expensive judicial race in American history,” Waldman said in a Tuesday newsletter. “According to data collected by the Brennan Center and analyzed by my colleagues Ian Vandewalker and Douglas Keith, campaigns and committees have spent $81 million so far, with a week to go.”
“Much of the money being spent is untraceable,” he stressed. “As the latest data shows, Crawford’s campaign spending of $22 million is more than double that of Schimel’s $10.4 million. But independent groups like super PACs and nonprofits spending untraceable dark money favor Schimel by a much larger margin: $13.5 million benefiting Crawford compared with almost $35.5 million boosting Schimel.”
Only seven days until Wisconsin’s April 1 election.
Only one week to help elect Judge Susan Crawford and keep Elon Musk from buying a Supreme Court seat for Brad Schimel.
Schimel also got a boost on Friday from Trump, who endorsed him on social media, writing in part that “Radical Left Liberal Susan Crawford… is the handpicked voice of the Leftists who are out to destroy your State, and our Country.” The president added Saturday: “It’s a really big and important race, and could have much to do with the future of our Country. Get out and VOTE, NOW, for the Republican Candidate—BRAD!!!”
Meanwhile, Crawford is backed by groups like Wisconsin Conservation Voters IEC, which has invested more than $1.13 million to turn voters out in support of her.
“The stakes in this election could not be higher,” the group’s deputy director, Seth Hoffmeister, said in a Tuesday statement. “Judge Susan Crawford will defend our democracy and protect Wisconsin’s natural resources. She is a strong advocate for the values that make Wisconsin great—fairness, accountability, and a commitment to serving the people, not polluters. Judge Crawford will ensure that our State Supreme Court remains independent and dedicated to upholding the rights and freedoms of all Wisconsinites.”
Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.Orcas discuss Donald Trump and the killer apes’ concept of democracy.
Hossam Shabat is seen reporting from northern Gaza. He was killed in an alleged targeted strike by Israel on March 24, 2025. (Photo: Drop Site News)
“His ability to cover one of the most brutal military campaigns in recent history was almost beyond comprehension,” said a colleague of Hossam Shabat.
Colleagues of Al Jazeera journalist Hossam Shabat on Monday posted the Palestinian reporter’s own words on social media after he was killed in what was reportedly a targeted attack by U.S.-backed Israeli forces in northern Gaza.
“If you’re reading this, it means I have been killed—most likely targeted—by the Israeli occupation forces,” said Shabat in the statement before his death. “When this all began, I was only 21 years old—a college student with dreams like anyone else. For past 18 months, I have dedicated every moment of my life to my people. I documented the horrors in northern Gaza minute by minute, determined to show the world the truth they tried to bury.”
Shabat had been reporting for Al Jazeera Mubasher on the Israeli assault on Gaza that began in October 2023 in retaliation for a Hamas-led attack, documenting the destruction of northern Gaza and the impact of Israel’s blockade and attacks on the people there.
Witnesses told Al Jazeera that Shabat’s car had been targeted in Beit Lahiya, and his colleague at the network, Tareq Abu Azzoum, reported the Israeli forces carried out the strike without “any prior warning.”
Also on Monday, an Israeli airstrike killed Palestine Today journalist Mohammad Mansour, as well as his wife and son. They were killed in their home in Khan Younis, Abu Azzoum reported.
Mansour and Shabat’s deaths bring the number of journalists who have been killed by Israeli forces in Gaza to 208, according toMiddle East Eye.
British journalist Owen Jones said Shabat’s work “was instrumental in understanding the depravity of Israel’s genocide. That’s why Israel killed him.”
The Israeli state just murdered Palestinian journalist @HossamShabat.
One of the finest journalists on earth, his courageous work was instrumental in understanding the depravity of Israel’s genocide.
The Committee to Protect Journalists called for an independent investigation into whether Shabat and Mansour were deliberately targeted.
“The deliberate and targeted killing of a journalist, of a civilian, is a war crime,” Jodie Ginsberg, the group’s chief executive, told Al Jazeera.
Drop Site News, where Shabat was a contributing reporter on the bombardment of Gaza, said it “holds Israel and the U.S. responsible for killing Hossam.”
In October 2024, the Israel Defense Forces included Shabat and five other Palestinian reporters on a hit list, according to Drop Site.
“Hossam regularly received death threats by call and text,” said the outlet. “What we have witnessed for nearly a year and a half is the Israeli military engaging in a systematic campaign to kill Palestinian journalists, as well as members of their families.”
Shabat had filed a story for Drop Site just hours before he was killed about “Israel’s resumption of its scorched-earth bombing of Gaza last week that killed over 400 people, including nearly 200 children in a matter of hours.”
As Drop Sitepublished Shabat’s final dispatch, journalist and editor Sharif Abdel Kouddous wrote that he “was one of a handful of reporters who remained in northern Gaza through Israel’s genocidal war.”
“His ability to cover one of the most brutal military campaigns in recent history was almost beyond comprehension,” wrote Kouddous. “He bore witness to untold death and suffering on an almost daily basis for 17 months. He was displaced over 20 times. He was often hungry. He buried many of his journalist colleagues. In November, he was wounded in an Israeli airstrike. I still can’t believe I am referring to him in the past tense. Israel obliterates the present.”
In his final article, Shabat wrote about the attacks on numerous families in northern Gaza as Israel resumed its assault, abandoning a cease-fire that took effect in January:
Screams filled the air while everyone stood helpless. My tears didn’t stop. The scenes were more than any human being could bear. The ambulances were filled with corpses, their bodies and limbs piled on top and intertwined with one another. We could no longer distinguish between children and men, between the injured and the dead.
At Al-Andalus Hospital the scene was even more painful. The hospital was filled with martyrs. Mothers bid silent farewells to their children. Medical staff worked in horrific conditions, trying to treat the injured with only the most basic means available. It was an impossible situation with massive numbers of dead and wounded being brought in at a terrifying rate.
Israel’s aggression continues. Massacre after massacre, leaving only the screams of mothers in its wake and the dreams of children that have turned to ash. There is no justification for this. Everything is being crushed: the lives of innocent people, their dignity, and their hopes for a better future.
Jeremy Scahill, co-founder of Drop Site, posted on social media a video of Shabat talking with a Palestinian girl about her goal of becoming a journalist.
Shabat concluded his final message to readers by saying he continued covering the assault on northern Gaza “because I believe in the Palestinian cause.”
“I ask you now: Do not stop speaking about Gaza,” wrote Shabat. “Do not let the world look away. Keep fighting, keep telling our stories—until Palestine is free.”
“The Lower Thames Crossing is a gargantuan waste of money that will dirty our air and increase road traffic danger and congestion across the South East.
“We have known for many decades that building new roads creates new traffic, and it’s estimated that this £10 billion scheme will only help journeys on the Dartford Crossing for five years while it induces new journeys to clog up all the roads in the area in short order. How many years before a multi-billion-pound relief road is suggested to cut congestion on the Lower Thames Crossing by those who want this scheme?”
“Instead of building ridiculously expensive and unnecessary new roads, we should be expanding our green public transport network to improve the day-to-day journeys of everyone who needs to get around, for a fraction of the cost.”
New analysis reveals a sharp rise in Islamophobic messages targeting the London mayor, Sadiq Khan, with nearly 28,000 posts last year. Photograph: Steve Taylor/SOPA Images/REX/Shutterstock
Most Islamophobic content referring to London mayor, a prominent voice against online abuse, was on X
The number of Islamophobic posts aimed at Sadiq Khan has more than doubled in a year, according to fresh analysis that suggests the London mayor remains a lightning rod for racist abuse.
Almost 28,000 social media posts referring to Khan included a key Islamophobic phrase last year, a huge increase on the 12,000 sent a year earlier and a more than eight-fold increase from 2022, according to the analysis commissioned by the Greater London authority (GLA).
This year, Khan has already been mentioned alongside Islamophobic keywords 2,180 times. The vast majority of abuse was posted on X, with a record number of posts referring to Khan posted from the UK in the past year. The research found that 89% of the offending Islamophobic posts about Khan since 2015 had originated on the platform.
Khan has been one of the most prominent voices speaking about online abuse, warning that the west must now face up to a “century-defining challenge” after a resurgence of the far right. He has criticised X’s owner, Elon Musk, whom he blames for making the problem of online abuse far worse. Under Musk, the accounts of far-right figures such as Tommy Robinson have been reinstated.
