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Politics latest: PM opens up about his late brother - as he hails his 'personal courage'

Rachel Reeves has announced winter fuel payment changes will be implemented in time for this winter, and more pensioners will get it. But Keir Starmer failed to say how many will receive it during a PMQs short on answers. Meanwhile, the prime minister has opened up about his late brother.

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It's good night from the Politics Hub

We are signing off for the evening.

Rachel Reeves was the main provider of political news today, gearing herself - and the rest of us - up for next week's spending review with some big transport investment announcements.

She also teased out a bit more information on the government's winter fuel payments U-turn, which lest we forget remained a cast-iron commitment just a few short weeks ago.

We've also had PMQs, which covered not just domestic issues but also Trump tariffs and the war in Gaza, and much more.

You can catch up on the main things you need to know via the key points above, and we'll be back with more tomorrow morning.

Have a lovely evening and we hope to see you then.

'He shaped my life': Starmer opens up about his late brother

You may recall news late last year of the death of the prime minister's brother, Nick Starmer, who passed away on Boxing Day.

Sir Keir said of Nick, 60, who had cancer: "He met all the challenges life threw at him with courage and good humour. We'll miss him very much."

'He was pushed to one side'

He's spoken a bit more about his brother today, as he welcome F1 star Lewis Hamilton to Downing Street for a roundtable discussion about supporting young people in education.

PM Starmer said his brother "really struggled at school" and had a learning difficulty, and was then "pushed to one side and treated as someone who would never learn".

"He struggled a lot as a result of that," he said. "You might think someone who sits here as prime minister has no idea what it's like to struggle at school, but I know from my own brother what it was like, and how much courage and resilience he had to have.

"That shaped his life, and shaped my life as well."

Hopefully not a sign the public has stopped listening...

We all know Labour - and Rachel Reeves specifically - aren't polling well.

Nonetheless, it was a backdrop of members of the public for her big speech this morning in Rochdale.

Unfortunately, not everyone seemed entirely engaged...

Next time just read the Politics Hub, sir - it's the best way to absorb any political news.

That's it for tonight's Politics Hub With Sophy Ridge - the show returns tomorrow from 7pm.

Where are we at with Trump's tariffs - and how are they impacting the UK?

We've got some absolutely enormous charts to show you now, and who better than our economics and data editor Ed Conway to point at them.

Ed has all the latest on where we're at with Donald Trump's steel tariffs and how they're impacting the UK.

Though recent history tells us this might all be out of date within weeks, days, perhaps even hours. Who knows with this particular president.

Watch Ed's analysis below:

Was cutting the winter fuel allowance a mistake?

If there's one issue that came up plenty on the doorstep during last month's elections, it was the winter fuel allowance.

Labour's decision to cut it right back last year cost them lots of votes.

And despite months of telling us it had to be done and there was absolutely no going back, it turns out there is some going back - with the chancellor to restore the payment for more pensioners this winter. 

Asked to acknowledge this was a policy mistake, though, and minister Lilian Greenwood MP just won't go there.

She insists the government's bringing it back for more people because ministers have "created a sense of stability in the economy".

"We had to make a very difficult choice," she tells Sophy Ridge.

"We want to enable more pensioners to receive the payment."

Transport projects key to economic growth, minister says

Lilian Greenwood MP is a transport minister, and she's joining us to discuss the chancellor's announcements today.

She says the 拢15bn investment in bus, tram, and rail projects outside London is all about "unlocking growth" in parts of the country that have been left behind for too long.

Asked how much growth, though, and she can only say: "I haven't got a number for you."

But she insists: "We know when we improve transport connectivity, it allows our regions to function more effectively."

Asked by Sophy Ridge about the UK's poor record on transport infrastructure, she says empowering local metro mayors - and giving them "long-term certainty" - will help get projects delivered.

She points to Greater Manchester, where "they are looking to electrify the whole of their bus fleet", as an example -and a mass transit system in West Yorkshire.

Greenwood tells Sophy it's all about "capital investment - money that we're spending to invest in our economy".

Spending might be tight in other departments, but investing in infrastructure will create the jobs and housing growth that will drive economic growth and free up more cash in the long run.

Chancellor doesn't want to be austerity-lite, but there are some difficult decisions to come

The chancellor's announcement today of 拢15bn investment in public transport projects outside London is a bit of a taste of things to come, says our deputy political editor Sam Coates.

It's part of more than 拢100bn worth of investment in "capital projects", doled out as part of next week's spending review.

That means things like schools, hospitals, roads, and trams.

Sam says Rachel Reeves is very keen not to have herself painted as an "austerity-lite chancellor", keen to show this is a government that will spend big to improve people's lives.

"But there'll be quite a lot of difficult decisions as well," warns Sam.

That's thanks to the "quite aggressive borrowing limits" the chancellor has set herself, meaning "day-to-day spending will be constrained".

So what might next week look like? Sam guides you through it all below, with some help from a companion鈥�

Labour must make sure new transport projects aren't a road to nowhere

The government has announced 拢15bn for transport projects outside London in what the chancellor calls the biggest investment of our time. 

Now, we don't have the greatest record in this country of building things. 

Look at Lincolnshire County Council, which spent 拢50m building a bridge and then stopped because they ran out of money. Apparently, they're still looking for an extra 拢33m. 

Look at HS2 - all the time, all the money, ploughed into a train that was billed as the key to levelling up but ended up just being a slightly quicker trip between London and Birmingham.

We always pay attention to the flashy announcements when they're promising billions of pounds of investment - whether it's Rachel Reeves, Rishi Sunak or George Osborne.

But we need to start paying more attention to what happens next: the roads that stop, the train lines that never happen, the local councils that show devolution isn't always the key to better spending. 

And the millions of pounds of wasted money that the good people of Lincolnshire could I'm sure find some better uses for.

Politics Hub With Sophy Ridge is live

Our flagship weeknight politics programme is under way.

Joining us this evening is RMT union boss Eddie Dempsey, Labour MP Lillian Greenwood, and former Tory minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan.

Watch live in the stream at the top of this page.

100,000 people affected by attempt to steal money from HMRC

Around 100,000 people are being contacted by the government after criminals accessed HMRC tax accounts, leading to the loss of 拢47m. 

MPs have heard that around 0.2% of those who have PAYE accounts have been affected, though they have not lost any money themselves.

John-Paul Marks, HMRC's chief executive, told the Treasury Select Committee they have written to those people.

He described the incident as "organised crime phishing for identity data".

Angela MacDonald, HMRC's deputy chief executive, said: "At the moment, they've managed to extract repayments to the tune of 拢47m. Now that is a lot of money and it's very unacceptable."

Marks also confirmed that HMRC phone lines are also currently down, but should be working again by tomorrow morning.

Not a cyberattack

An HMRC spokesperson insisted the incident "was not a cyberattack". 

They said it "involved criminals using personal information from phishing activity or data obtained elsewhere to try to claim money from HMRC".