In the headlines
A fifth of taxpayers will end up in the 40p income tax band due to the government not raising its threshold with inflation, according to the Institute of Fiscal Studies. Until 2028, all income above £50,270 will be taxed at 40% or more, in what will effectively be the biggest tax increase since the 1970s. Britain will back Ukraine’s bid for Nato membership after the war with Russia ends, says the I newspaper. Rishi Sunak made the pledge to Volodymyr Zelensky when the pair met at Chequers yesterday. English children are the “best readers in the Western world”, says The Times. A new global literacy survey involving 43 countries and hundreds of thousands of school pupils ranked England fourth, after Singapore, Hong Kong and Russia.