Ministers questions. It is always a little different, the pmqs ahead of the budget. He has vacated the chair for the Deputy Speaker. She will be going through some of the notices ahead ofjeremy hunt, the chancellor, delivering his Budget Statement. He will take to his feet shortly and will probably speak for about an hour shortly and will probably speak for Aboutan Hourand shortly and will probably speak for about an hour and then it will be the turn of the leader of the opposition, keir starmer to respond. We will take both of those live and uninterrupted and we will then have reaction from the Chief Secretary to the treasury, laura trott, part of the treasury, laura trott, part of the Treasury Team and her shadow for labour. Here isjeremy hunt. Madam Deputy Speaker, as we mourn the loss of life in israel and gaza, the loss of life in israel and gaza, the Prime Minister reminded us of the Prime Minister reminded us of the need the Fight Extremism and heal divisions. I start today by r
civil servants. meanwhile, separate data from the bank of england shows british lenders reported a sharp increase in the rate at which households and businesses defaulted on loans such as mortgages. the chancellor said the economic outlook was still brighter than expected. let s bring in the chief economist at kpmg. the uk economy remains weaker than any other country in the g7. we still have twin drives of high inflation and rising interest rates. how resilient do the you think the uk economy is? the latest data has been think the uk economy is? the latest data has been more think the uk economy is? the latest data has been more positive - think the uk economy is? the latest data has been more positive than i data has been more positive than what we feared late last year so it seems like the overall economy is more resilient and the majority of the weakness that we saw more recently is related to strikes rather than any fundamental weakness of the economy but obviously w
heading through monday and we re going to be seeing this frontal system, this area of rain slowly moving northward. so the morning pretty wet for northern ireland, north wales and northern england. during the afternoon, that area of rain becomes slow moving across central scotland and could bring some thunder and lightning. a return to sunnier skies towards the south. still one or two showers and top temperatures around 22 degrees. bye bye. hello, this is bbc news with shaun ley. the headlines. finland has announced formally that the country will apply for nato membership, in response to russia s invasion of ukraine. in response to russia s a british military intelligence assessment suggests russia may have lost one third of its ground forces since the start of its invasion of ukraine. ten people have been killed and three injured in a mass shooting in buffalo. president biden says america must do everything in its power to end hate filled domestic terrorism. lebanon holds p
we must all work together to address the hate that remains a stain on the soul of america. our hearts are heavy once again, but our resolve must never, ever waver. the uk government says it wouldn t be deterred from taking action over post brexit trading arrangements in northern ireland to try to help restore power sharing at stormont. and a triumphant ukraine wins the eurovision song contest after claiming the popular vote. good afternoon and welcome to bbc news. sweden and finland have confirmed they will apply for nato membership ending decades of military non alignment. the finnish president, sauli niinisto, called his country s decision historic. however, sweden s governing social democrats, said that as members they would not accept nuclear weapons or alliance bases on swedish territory. reports say both countries are planning to hand their membership applications to nato on wednesday. nato foreign ministers who are meeting in berlin say they want a rapid access