5 important things happening in the UK today

Here are 5 important things happening in the UK today, Thursday (30 October 2025).

Reeves in hot water for renting out a second home without permission: Rachel Reeves has admitted to “inadvertently” breaking housing rules by renting out her south London home without the specific £945 licence required by the local council. The Chancellor admitted the error to the Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, and to parliamentary ethics officers, after it was first disclosed by the Daily Mail. Reeves put her family home in Southwark up for rent after moving into No 11 Downing Street last year following Labour’s election victory. [Guardian]

Starmer hints at basic income tax rise: Prime Minister Keir Starmer has paved the way for manifesto-busting income tax rises on working people in a major political gamble to allow him to spend cash on the NHS and boost growth. Starmer refused to repeat the pledge, which has been a Labour mantra since the election, during Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday, as he blamed the previous Conservative government for worse-than-expected productivity forecasts, leaving a black hole in the public finances. [The i Paper]

Virgin to launch service to challenge Eurostar: Virgin Trains will be able to launch rail services through the Channel Tunnel after the UK’s rail regulator approved its application to share a depot with Eurostar. The decision means Eurostar’s monopoly on passenger services is set to be broken for the first time since the tunnel opened in 1994. Temple Mills railway storehouse in east London is the only depot in the UK able to accommodate the larger trains used in continental Europe, and which is already linked to the cross-Channel line. [BBC]

Bank of England predicted to cut interest rates next week: The Bank of England is poised to cut interest rates for the sixth time in just over a year amid rising unemployment, weaker than anticipated inflation and concerns that tax rises at next month’s budget will weigh on economic growth. Analysts at Goldman Sachs, the US investment bank, said in a note to clients on Tuesday that the Bank’s monetary policy committee (MPC), the group of nine economists who set the base rate every six weeks, will vote 5-4 in favour of lowering borrowing costs by a quarter of a percentage point to 3.75 per cent at its meeting next week. [Times]