The head of the British armed forces will tell his American counterparts the UK is prepared to send troops to defend Ukraine’s skies and seas but not to the frontline with Russia, as planning intensifies for a postwar settlement.

Tony Radakin, the chief of the defence staff, will on Wednesday attend meetings at the Pentagon designed to finalise what 30 different countries are willing to commit to Ukraine’s national security.

Radakin is expected to confirm the UK will provide soldiers to help with logistical support and training, but not deploy them close to Russia. Officials had been talking about deploying as many as 30,000 troops to protect Ukrainian sites, but that has been scaled back amid opposition from some European countries.

One British official said:

Wednesday is a really important moment. Nothing happens in Washington without the president giving the green light, so Trump giving his support to security guarantees on Monday kickstarted a lot of activity.

Another said Radakin would echo the pledges made last week by John Healey, the defence secretary, who said Britain was willing to deploy troops to Ukraine “to secure the safe skies, safe seas and to build the strength of the Ukrainian forces”.

They said ministers envisaged this as meaning logistical and training support rather than sending battalions of frontline troops who could end up in combat.

Councils across England are weighing up their own legal challenges after a high court ruling blocked people seeking asylum from being housed in an Essex hotel.

The Conservative-run Broxbourne council in Hertfordshire said it was taking legal advice “as a matter of urgency” on whether it could follow the example of neighbouring Epping Forest district council, which successfully applied for an injunction to stop asylum seekers being accommodated at the Bell hotel in the town.

Corina Gander, the leader of Broxbourne council, said a hotel in the town of Cheshunt put “an enormous strain on local services”.

“We are going to be looking at the ruling of Epping yesterday and we will be expecting to go down the same path as Epping,” the Conservative councillor told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

Gander said her council had previously tried to get legal advice to block the hotel, but had not been successful. “What Epping have done is they have really set a precedent for local councils,” she added.

Ministers are braced for such legal challenges, as the government is working on contingency plans to house asylum seekers.

The ruling has been seized on by Reform UK leader, Nigel Farage, who said the party’s 12 councils would also consider such challenges. Writing in the Telegraph, Farage said those authorities would do “everything in their power” to replicate Epping’s approach, describing the case as a template for resistance to the Home Office’s use of hotels.

Not all Conservative councils are rushing to the courts, however. The leader of South Norfolk council, Daniel Elmer, said his authority would instead use planning rules to ensure hotels in this area housed families rather than single men. “If we can punish people who put up sheds in their gardens without permission, then we can take action against hotels being converted into hostels,” he said.

The Liberal Democrats have called for rail fares to be frozen to “avoid another hit to the cost of living and encourage more people on to trains”.

The party said, according to its own research, that if regulated rail fares rise in 2026-27 to follow inflation then that would mean some commuters could face rises of above £2,000 since 2020. A season ticket from Winchester to London would then cost £6,984, up by £256 from last year, and £226 more from Cambridge, said the Lib Dems.

Commenting on the figures, Paul Kohler, MP for Wimbledon and Lib Dem transport spokesperson said:

This is nothing short of ludicrous. Commuters are simply being taken for a ride. We simply cannot allow the current rate of inflation to set rail fares while services get worse.

To increase rail fares at all in the midst of a cost of living crisis would be nothing other than a slap in the face to ordinary people.

The Liberal Democrats are calling on the government to scrap the 2026-27 rail fare rise and get more people on to the trains. Raising fares is a false economy that will only drive down passengers and revenue in the long run.

The government has agreed a new deal with Iraq to return illegal migrants as part of wider moves to limit small boat crossings, reports the PA news agency.

The deal, signed by Home Office minister Dan Jarvis, will set up a formal process to return Iraqis who have arrived in the UK with no right to stay in the country. It comes after an £800,000 deal last year with Baghdad to help the country crack down on smuggling networks and organised crime.

Earlier this year Keir Starmer and Iraq’s prime minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani agreed to strengthen cooperation on migration.

Jarvis signed the agreement during a visit to the UK by Iraq’s deputy foreign minister Faud Hussein. The Home Office said the accord would allow the “swift” return of illegal migrants. Home Office statistics said since previous deals, the number of Iraqis arriving in the UK by small boat has fallen to 1,900 in the year to March 2025, down from 2,600 in the previous year.

Jarvis said:

By working together on security, development and migration challenges, we are building stronger relationships that benefit both our countries whilst tackling shared challenges like organised crime and irregular migration.

The returns deal is the latest part of the Home Office’s policies to stop small boats crossing the channel. Similar agreements have already been made with Albania and Vietnam since Labour came into power. Another deal with France recently came into force, where small boat migrants who have arrived over the English Channel from the French coast can be returned to the country.

Jarvis said:

This visit reinforces the strength of the UK-Iraq partnership and demonstrates our government’s commitment to serious diplomacy that delivers real results.

As someone who served in Iraq, I understand first-hand the importance of building enduring relationships in the region, and the new agreement we have signed is a testament to the trust and cooperation we’ve built with our Iraqi counterparts.

However, the announcement was criticised by Conservative shadow home secretary Chris Philp, reports the PA news agency. He said:

Over 50,000 illegal immigrants have crossed the Channel in Labour’s short time in power, the worst illegal immigration crisis in our history. Labour has surrendered our borders, and the consequences are being felt in our communities, from rising crime to shocking cases of rape and sexual assault by recent arrivals.

Now they boast about a measly returns deal with Iraq, but barely any small boat arrivals are Iraqi, and most would qualify for asylum anyway. It’s a sham designed to look tough while crossings keep soaring.

Labour has scrapped Conservative deterrents and created the conditions for chaos, leaving the British people to foot the bill. Only the Conservatives will stop the crossings and restore control of Britain’s borders.

Train fares in England are now expected to rise by a higher-than-expected 5.8% next year, causing concern among passenger groups.

Rail ticket increases are usually calculated by adding one percentage point to July’s inflation reading on the retail prices index (RPI), which came in 0.2 points above forecasts on Wednesday at 4.8%.

The government has not yet confirmed how it will calculate rail fare increases for 2026 regulated fares, which account for about half of rail journeys.

They would rise by 5.8% if ministers follow the pattern of last year, when they rose by 4.6% in March – one percentage point above the RPI reading from July 2024.

This would be higher than the 5.6% increase that had been predicted, after both the consumer and retail prices index measures of inflation rose more than expected in July, fuelled by higher food prices and travel costs, particularly air fares.

Before the publication of July’s inflation figures, passenger groups had warned that such fare increases risked pricing out some passengers, at a time of a squeeze on consumers’ wallets, including rising food prices.

Almost half of rail fares in England are set directly by Westminster. The devolved Scottish and Welsh governments usually cap fares at a similar level. Regulated fares include season tickets on most commuter journeys, off-peak returns on long-distance routes and flexible tickets for urban rail.

A 5.8% increase in rail fares would result in the cost of an annual season ticket for travel between Gloucester and Birmingham rising by £312 from £5,384 to £5,696, while an annual season ticket between Woking and London would climb by £247 from £4,260 to £4,507.

The Department for Transport (DfT) said there would be an update on changes to regulated fares later this year, but no decisions had yet been made on next year’s rates.

Rachel Reeves is considering plans for a tax on expensive homes in an effort to raise billions of pounds and close a large hole in the public finances.

The UK chancellor has ruled out increases to income tax, VAT and national insurance, but Treasury officials have been tasked with exploring other options to boost revenue.

One proposal being considered would be to remove the longstanding capital gains tax exemption on primary residences above £1.5m, according to the Times. Homeowners selling properties above that level would be subject to a capital gains tax at 18% for basic-rate taxpayers and 24% for higher taxpayers.

The proposals are set out to raise between £30bn and £40bn to stabilise the public finances while allowing Reeves to stick to her election pledge not to raise the three biggest taxes on income and consumption.

When asked about the report, a Treasury source said they would not comment on “speculation”.

Reports have also suggested officials are considering wider changes to the way property wealth is taxed. Reports suggested an annual levy on higher-value properties had been considered.

The suggestion from the thinktank Onward had urged the Treasury to impose an annual charge of 0.54% on the portion of a home’s value above £500,000, rising to 0.81% on the portion above £1m, though officials stressed no decisions had been made.

Meanwhile, the Guardian reported that ministers have been considering replacing stamp duty with a new national property tax, payable by owner-occupiers when homes are sold. It could be accompanied by a longer-term plan to replace council tax with a proportional levy linked directly to property values.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves said there was “more to do to ease the cost of living” after the latest official figures showing UK inflation rose by more than expected last month.

According to the PA news agency, Reeves said:

We have taken the decisions needed to stabilise the public finances, and we’re a long way from the double-digit inflation we saw under the previous government, but there’s more to do to ease the cost of living.

That’s why we’ve raised the minimum wage, extended the £3 bus fare cap, expanded free school meals to over half a million more children and are rolling out free breakfast clubs for every child in the country.

Through our plan for change we’re going further and faster to put more money in people’s pockets.

UK inflation rose again last month to a higher-than-expected 3.8% amid higher food prices and travel costs, adding to fears that the Bank of England will delay further interest rate cuts.

Figures showed the annual rate as measured by the consumer prices index climbed from June’s 3.6% reading, sitting above the central bank’s 2% target for the 10th consecutive month.

That overshot financial market forecasts of a 3.7% figure for July and makes another reduction in the cost of borrowing this year unlikely, with financial markets not fully pricing in the chance of a fresh quarter-point cut until next spring.

The data also suggests rail fares are likely to rise by 5.8% next year. Increases in regulated train ticket prices are usually calculated by adding one percentage point to July’s inflation reading as measured by the retail prices index, which was 4.8%.

The Office for National Statistics said a jump in air fares was behind much of the increase in average prices. Tickets on flights out of the UK rose 30% month on month, although much of the increase was because of the timing of the summer holiday break.

Petrol prices added 0.1 percentage points to inflation after a comparison with last year, when prices at the pumps were falling.

Food and non-alcoholic beverages were up 4.9% year on year in July, an increase from 4.5% in the 12 months to June. Beef, orange juice, coffee and chocolate were among the worst-hit products.

Droughts in Spain, Italy and Portugal, where the UK sources much of its fresh fruit and vegetables, have pushed up prices this summer at a time when prices would usually fall.

Security minister Dan Jarvis said he believes “the very worst politicians” try to drive people apart, when asked on Sky News about Nigel Farage’s opinion piece in the Telegraph on Wednesday about hotels housing asylum seekers.

Jarvis said:

I haven’t read Mr Farage’s op-ed, but I’ve always thought that the best politicians try and bring people together, and the very worst politicians try and drive them apart.

When asked whether the government plans to appeal against the high court’s decision on the hotel housing asylum seekers in Epping, Jarvis said:

Well, we’ll see where we get to with that specific decision. We’re looking very closely at it.

The bigger issue is how we can tackle the asylum backlog. We inherited a very significant backlog from the previous government who effectively stopped processing asylum claims. That’s why we rediverted the resources that had been put in place for Rwanda to ensure that we can process asylum claims much more quickly than was previously the case.

And I think the rate of processing is up by 116%, we’ve returned 35,000 people over the last year who don’t have a right to be here.

Security minister Dan Jarvis has said the government is looking at contingency options for where to house asylum seekers after a court ruled on Tuesday that they cannot live in a hotel in Epping, Essex.

According to the PA news agncy, he told Times Radio on Wednesday:

We’re looking at a range of different contingency options following from a legal ruling that took place yesterday, and we’ll look closely at what we’re able to do.

Asked whether other hotels housing asylum seekers have the proper planning permission, Jarvis said:

Well, we’ll see over the next few days and weeks. Other local authorities will be considering whether they wish to act in the same way that Epping [Forest] district council have.

I think the important point to make is that nobody really thinks that hotels are a sustainable location to accommodate asylum seekers.

That’s precisely why the government has made a commitment that, by the end of this parliament, we would have phased out the use of them.

Keir Starmer’s asylum plans have been plunged into turmoil after a high court ruling blocked people seeking refuge from being housed in the Essex hotel. Epping Forest district council was granted an interim injunction on Tuesday to stop asylum seekers from being placed at the Bell hotel, after continuing protests nearby.

More on this story in a moment, but first here are some other developments:

• The government has agreed a new deal with Iraq to return illegal migrants as part of wider moves to limit small boat crossings. The deal, signed by Home Office minister Dan Jarvis, will set up a formal process to return Iraqis who have arrived in the UK with no right to stay in the country.

• The head of the British armed forces will tell his American counterparts the UK is prepared to send troops to defend Ukraine’s skies and seas but not to the frontline with Russia, as planning intensifies for a postwar settlement. Tony Radakin, the chief of the defence staff, will on Wednesday attend meetings at the Pentagon designed to finalise what 30 different countries are willing to commit to Ukraine’s national security.

• UK inflation rose again last month to a higher-than-expected 3.8% amid higher food prices and travel costs, adding to fears that the Bank of England will delay further interest rate cuts. Figures showed the annual rate as measured by the consumer prices index climbed from June’s 3.6% reading, sitting above the central bank’s 2% target for the 10th consecutive month.

• The UK Space Agency (UKSA) is set to be absorbed by Whitehall as the government seeks to cut the cost of bureaucracy. The agency will merge with Peter Kyle’s Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) in April 2026, in a move the government said would cut “duplication” and ensure “clear ministerial oversight”.