Britain’s poorest households are expected to see a huge increase in their living costs when energy bills rise this autumn, leading economists have warned. The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said the fresh surge in gas and electricity bills expected in October could lead to average annual inflation rates of as high as 14% for the poorest tenth of households. The increase in the energy price cap to close to £2,800 is likely to hit poorer families disproportionately because a larger share of their total spending goes on energy. The IFS said the poorest tenth of households typically spend almost three times as much of their budgets on gas and electricity as the richest 10% do.' The Government has responded by announcing specific financial support for low-income households and pensioners, and wider support for all households to pay their energy bills, funded by a windfall tax on energy companies.

On 25 May Sue Gray’s report on the behaviour of' Downing Street staff during lockdown was published. The senior civil servant, who described how staff partied while the rest of the country was in lockdown, said many events 'should not have been allowed', and that the PM and his officials 'must bear responsibility for this culture'. Warnings about parties breaking Covid rules were ignored, the report says. Boris Johnson told MPs he took 'full responsibility for everything that took place on my watch'. He said he had been 'humbled by the whole experience' and had learned lessons.' Sue Gray said she learned of multiple examples of 'unacceptable' treatment of security and cleaning staff during her partygate investigation. Mr Johnson’s remarks are also being scrutinised by the Commons privileges committee, which must decide whether he knowingly misled Parliament, particularly when he categorically denied knowledge of rule-breaking parties. If he is found to have knowingly misled parliament, he would be in breach of the ministerial code and would in theory be expected to resign.

On 11 June the English football team will play a match against Italy with no fans watching. There have also been a number of recent incidents where pitches have been invaded. Despite the general jubilation of such scenes, they also saw players and coaches intimidated or even attacked. Police data in January showed that arrests at football matches across the top five English leagues are at their highest levels for years. Gareth Southgate, the England manager, says it is an 'embarrassment' that England are playing a home game behind closed doors, as a consequence of the chaos at Wembley before the Euro 2020 final against the same country. He added,' 'Normally when you watch those things happening abroad, we're all grandstanding about how it’s someone else's problem and how this country should be dealt with and now it’s us. That’s not good behaviour for the reputation of our country.' The FA said it was 'reviewing our regulations to help stamp out this behaviour and to ensure the safety of everyone inside a stadium'.

Despite a 50% increase in students taking a Religious Studies GCSE, no central government funding has been spent on the subject in the last five years. During the same period, £387 million was allocated to music projects, £154 million to maths, £56 million to science, £28.5 million to English, and £16 million to languages. Also many academies fail to offer the high-quality RE provision that according to Ofsted ‘affords students the opportunity to make sense of their own place in the world’. Almost 500 secondary schools are still reporting zero hours of RE provision in year 11; 34% of academies have no timetabled RE. Teaching RE is a legal requirement for all schools. Maintained schools have a statutory duty to teach it, while academies and free schools are contractually required through the terms of their funding agreement to make provision for teaching it.

Prince Charles delivered the Queen’s speech last week, giving the world a glimpse of the future king. Joe Little, editor of Majesty Magazine, says the Queen’s increasingly infrequent appearances have a ‘huge inevitability’ about them given her age; in the future we will only occasionally see her. Rushed to hospital in October, struck down with Covid in February and increasingly frail, her appearances are now rare. Just three weeks from an unprecedented four-day weekend to celebrate her Platinum Jubilee, we can pray that her strength and stamina grows in that time. Buckingham Palace speaks of the Queen’s ‘episodic mobility issues’, but she is still sharp and conducting her duties from the comfort of Windsor Castle. On her good days, she needs a walking aid; on bad days she is immobile. In June the Queen will not use the gold state coach in the Platinum Pageant procession. She will travel by car to an easier entrance than the Great West Door of St Paul’s Cathedral.

Cabinet secretary Simon Case has said in a letter to civil servants that the Government wants to cut up to 91,000 jobs within three years to save money. The civil service has grown a lot since 2016. Major changes like Brexit and the response to the pandemic created jobs which are not needed now. No 10 insists its approach is about ‘good housekeeping’, and more efficiency and automation will mean no cut in services. But where the numbers will be reduced is not clear. What would cuts to a big department like works and pensions or defence mean in practice? Although the civil service is often associated with Whitehall and the machinery of government, tens of thousands of people work on things like delivering benefits and keeping the courts running.

Ireland’s foreign minister, Simon Coveney, has warned Boris Johnson against any move to change the Northern Ireland protocol. He said, ‘What we can’t do is accept that the British government would act unilaterally, they would pass legislation to effectively breach international law, to set aside elements of a treaty that this prime minister designed and put in place. That would cause more problems than it would solve.’  Foreign minister Liz Truss, announcing a new law to change the post-Brexit trade deal for Northern Ireland, insisted it would be legal under international law. She said the proposed legislation would make changes to the deal - rather than scrapping it - to resolve ‘the grave situation in Northern Ireland’. But in response, the EU said it would ‘need to respond with all measures at its disposal’ if the UK went ahead with the legislation. Pray that all decisions will be according to God’s plans.

Rishi Sunak implemented a 5p per litre cut in fuel duty in March, but retailers are taking profits of 2p per litre more than before the cut. The RAC said it seems some of the cut is being swallowed up by increased profits. Tory MP Robert Halfon, who has campaigned for fuel duty cuts, demanded action from his party’s leadership, saying these companies are fleecing motorists; nobody else is doing well out of the war in Ukraine and the cost-of-living crisis. The chancellor’s 5p cut has not been reflected at the pumps: ‘Time and time again we see global prices go up and overnight they’re reflected in pump prices. When it’s the other way round, it takes much longer.'

Health campaigners accused Boris Johnson of ‘playing politics’ with children's health after the department of health said it plans to defer the bans on multi-buy deals for junk food and pre-watershed TV advertising for a year. Officials will assess the impact on household finances as families struggle with the increasing cost of living. Curbs on junk food placement in stores will still go ahead in October. Public health minister Maggie Throup insisted the Government remains committed to tackling the issue of childhood obesity. Prof Graham MacGregor, a cardiologist who is chairman of Action on Sugar, said the delays contradicted the ‘levelling up’ agenda.

Justin Welby is encouraging Christians to pray in the lead-up to this gathering of Anglican bishops that only happens once in ten years. He said that the conference theme, 'God's Church for God's World', reminds us that we are called upon to pray for the needs of the world. There are many needs: world peace, global climate crisis, the effects of the pandemic - to name but a few. Please pray that as they meet and consider their shared mission and ministry, that they hear the call from God, and that they call others to make a difference for Christ in the world. The chaplaincy team has developed a prayer guide with contributions by religious communities from across the world. This invites people to devote a day to prayer on Trinity Sunday (12 June) and to continue praying during the summer.