Budget 2024 – live: Hunt and Starmer ‘in conspiracy of silence’ as Britain faces hardest five years since WWII

“Bad nerves” is not a reason to claim sickness benefits, a Tory former minister has said during a debate on the Budget.

Rachel Maclean said an unknown proportion of those claiming sickness benefits for mental health were citing “bad nerves”, which she described as a “totally meaningless” phrase.

Citigroup has cast doubt on the sums in Jeremy Hunt’s Budget, describing the chancellor’s spending plans as “fiscally offside” by £50-60bn.

The global investment bank said the chancellor’s productivity costings were overly optimistic and that his planned spending cuts were “undeliverable”, Bloomberg reports.

It added that tens of billions of pounds extra would be needed to plug gaps.

Lord David Cameron emphasised the “incredible unity between allies” when asked about the leaked call between German military officials.

The foreign secretary was asked whether he agreed with Germany’s assessment that trust among allies is unbroken after the officials were heard in the leaked audio suggesting UK service personnel were on the ground in Ukraine.

He told a press conference in Berlin: “I don’t want to play into the hands of some Russian narrative about divisions between allies. What I see … is incredible unity between allies, incredible unity in Nato.

“Of course, we’re going to have areas where we want to discuss what more we can do, what more we can help. And those are the sorts of discussions that good friends and allies with this unity have in private.”

Stabilising the UK’s debt is likely to require additional tax rises, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said.

Speaking at the IMF’s regular press briefing on Thursday, director of communications Julie Kozak told reporters: “IMF staff will be analysing the announced policies in greater detail but the aim to continue the fiscal consolidation pursued since 2022 to reduce inflation and stabilise debt is welcome.”

She added that the national insurance cut and reform of the child benefit system had been funded by “well-conceived revenue-raising measures”.

Ms Kozak said: “Significant spending to protect service delivery, growth-enhancing investment and the appropriate commitment to stabilise debt are likely to require additional revenue-raising measures in the medium term.”

Conservative MP Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown told the Commons it was a disappointment that the tourist tax was not mentioned in Jeremy Hunt’s Budget speech.

The Cotswolds MP, who is campaigning against the tax, said: “If they can do it for the cut in capital gains tax, I say to them why can’t they do it for reintroduction of the tourist tax?”

He added: “This is huge stuff we are dealing with here, a huge potential benefit, and I cannot see why the Government won’t do a proper study into it, because what we know from our figures is that British businesses lost out by £1.5 billion in 2022, and even more in 2023.

“It would benefit many big retail shops, hospitality venues, airports and cultural destinations, and particularly areas of high tourist destinations like the Cotswolds. It also shows that Britain is missing out on a £10 billion EU market.”

Lord David Cameron said that peace will be achieved by “helping the Ukrainians deliver what they need on the battlefield”.

Speaking at a press conference in Berlin alongside his German counterpart, the Foreign Secretary said he and Annalena Baerbock discussed “what we can do in terms of medium and longer-range missiles”.

He said: “It’s a sovereign decision for every country. But in terms of what Britain has done, I know that what we have given to the Ukrainians has helped them to resist this appalling invasion.

“To all those in Germany and beyond and around the continent, around the world, who want to see an end to this conflict, who want to see a peaceful settlement, who want to see peace on our continent, I absolutely agree that you get peace through strength.z

“You get peace by demonstrating that Putin cannot win, you get peace by helping the Ukrainians deliver what they need on the battlefield.”

A senior Labour MP has stirred the pot over speculation about a May election, posting a lighthearted meme on Twitter featuring popstar Justin Timberlake.

Jonathan Ashworth, the shadow paymaster general, shared an image of Justin Timberlake with the words ‘it’s gonna be May’ above a news report saying Rishi Sunak had refused to rule out a spring vote.

Mr Timberlake’s old band NSYNC released a song in 2000 called It’s Gonna Be Me.

Instead, the Conservative leader said: “I’m not going to say anything about that. What matters is the choice at that election”.

Labour has urged Rishi Sunak to “get a grip” after Home Office figures showed the record start to the year for small boats crossing the English Channel has been extended, Archie Mitchell reports.

Some 225 individuals were confirmed to have crossed the Channel on Wednesday 6 March on five boats, taking the total for the year so far up to 3,208.

That exceeds the 3,150 that had arrived by the same point last year, and is almost 45 per cent more than the 2,212 that had arrived by 6 March 2022, which was the highest year on record for small boat arrivals.

Labour’s shadow immigration minister Stephen Kinnock said: “In January, Rishi Sunak and James Cleverly told us that small boat arrivals were down by a third, they said their plan was working, and they insisted that the reduction in crossings last year was nothing to do with the weather.

“All those claims now look utterly ridiculous, and even worse, their complacency has left our country dangerously exposed and ill-prepared for what continues to be a record start to the year for small boat crossings.

“Instead of ignoring what’s happening, the Prime Minister needs to start facing up to the seriousness of this situation and the reality of the chaos that is unfolding in the Channel.

“But if he is too weak to get a grip, he should call an election, so Labour can fix this mess. We will take urgent action to establish a new cross border police unit and a new security partnership with Europol to smash the smuggling gangs, and we will end the use of hotels by asylum-seekers through fast-track processing and returns.”

Lord David Cameron is set to hold a press conference with his German counterpart Annalena Baerbock this afternoon.

The foreign secretary will discuss with Ms Baerbock defence cooperation, the war in Ukraine and other security issues.

We’ll bring you the main updates from the press conference – you can also watch it live by following the link below.

The pair are also expected to discuss the war in Gaza and illegal migration.

Berlin is said to have become increasingly annoyed with the UK because prime minister Rishi Sunak won’t take time out of his schedule to make a personal visit.

And the two allies were embroiled in somewhat of a diplomatic spat earlier this week when it was reported that German military officials had accidentally leaked British military secrets while discussing the conflict in Ukraine.