The run-up to the Budget typically sees speculation about what might be in it, which the government is trying to keep to a minimum this year.

Healey and Prime Minister Andy Burnham face a difficult balancing act, trying to offer more support to households and meet commitments on defence spending, while also sticking to Labour’s manifesto commitments on tax and the government’s self-imposed fiscal rules.

The previous chancellor, Rachel Reeves, set out two main rules, which the new leadership has vowed to follow. These are:

In March, the OBR calculated that the first rule would be met with a gap – or headroom – of £23.6bn. However, this headroom is expected to have shrunk.

Analysts at KPMG believe it could have fallen to £12bn, mainly due to the rise in government borrowing costs this year.

However, one option that has been floated is Healey potentially accepting a smaller buffer, reducing the need to increase taxes in the Budget.

Your First Home scheme

Further details on the “Your First Home” scheme, aimed at helping first-time buyers in England to purchase a property, are expected to be announced in the Budget.

The scheme will allow people to buy a new-build home with a deposit of 2.5%. It would provide them with a loan worth 20% of their property’s value to help pay for the purchase.

Capital Gains Tax

There has been speculation that Capital Gains Tax – which is imposed on the profit people make when they sell an asset that has increased in value – could be changed, through either higher rates or by removing or amending exemptions.

Mansion Tax

The High Value Council Tax Surcharge – dubbed the Mansion Tax – was announced in last year’s Budget and will apply to properties in England valued above £2m from April 2028. However, reports have suggested the government is considering extending it to properties worth more than £1.5m.

Taxes on banks

Banks have been reporting bumper profits, leading to calls from unions to increase taxes on the sector. But banks have pushed back, suggesting heavier levies would undermine the government’s aim to boost growth and make the UK less competitive.

SpaceX’s massive Starship rocket blasted off from Texas Monday morning on its most ambitious test flight yet, beginning a roughly 10-hour mission aimed at sending the spacecraft around Earth six times.

Minutes into the uncrewed spacecraft’s ascent, the rocket lost one of its engines, throwing into question whether the test flight would abandon its goal of reaching orbit for the first time. After several tense minutes, flight controllers decided the spacecraft was “go” for orbit and continued with the mission.

Starship successfully completed an orbital burn with just a single Raptor engine to reach the Earth’s orbit about 26 minutes after liftoff.

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“Starship is orbital,” Mission Control announced as people cheered the milestone.

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The launch marks Starship’s 14th test flight and its first attempt to reach orbit, a major step beyond previous suborbital missions that ended with splashdowns about an hour after liftoff. 

The spacecraft is also expected to deploy 26 Starlink satellites before splashing down in the Pacific Ocean west of Chile.

All Starship flights so far have been uncrewed, but NASA is looking to use a future version of the spacecraft as a lunar lander for astronauts.

The longer-term goal is even more ambitious: a large fleet of Starships capable of carrying humans to Mars.

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Apple’s “Taptic Engine” system – enabling haptic feedback in its devices – first debuted with the Apple Watch in 2014.

Since then, it has improved its underlying system, and with that expanded haptics in its devices.

Taction, which makes headphones and gaming headsets, claimed in 2021 that these improvements infringed patents it was issued in 2020.

It wrote in its complaint, external that by producing better haptic vibrations in its devices, Apple had been able to improve its overall user experience.

As such, the tech giant had been “capitalising on Taction’s innovation and success by selling devices that infringe [its] patents”, Taction said.

It also accused Apple of using its inventions “without license or authority”.

A San Diego judge ruled in 2023 that Apple did not infringe upon Taction’s patents.

However, an appeal was subsequently taken up by a federal appeal circuit – resulting in a September jury trial at the US District Court for the Southern District of California which found in its favour.

In Friday’s verdict, external, jurors did not find that Apple had infringed the patents in question willingly.

It marks one of many similar lawsuits the tech giant has defended itself against in recent years.

In November 2025 a judge ordered Apple to pay $634m, external to medical tech firm Masimo after a jury found it had infringed a patent for blood-oxygen reading tech.

The Local Apprenticeships Service was initially planned as a pilot in a limited number of areas but would now be available to any English mayor who wants it, he said.

Through the scheme, which the Treasury says will roll out across England from March 2027, local teams plan to match young people with employers, including small businesses that have never taken on a trainee.

The department said an extra £100m was going into the scheme, “fully funded” by savings from the Department for Work and Pensions.

Powers to implement the scheme will rest with mayors because “they know which firms are hiring, which colleges are delivering, which estates have been left behind,” Healey said.

It comes as the final instalment of a major report by former minister Alan Milburn is expected to set out recommendations for tackling the one in eight people aged 16 to 24 in the UK who are Neets in the coming weeks.

Healey said these young people had been “signed off, written off” which the Labour government would address.

Helen Miller, director of the Institute for fiscal studies think tank, told the BBC that sticking to fiscal rules alone would not be enough to reduce debt because it is “basically a promise to get down debt tomorrow”.

She suggested that reducing the benefits bill, including removing support from some people, could be one way of cutting the national debt sooner.

Elsewhere in his speech, Healey repeated his promises to re-industrialise the country and said Rolls Royce would invest £300m more into its British factories in Derby, Bristol, Glasgow and Rotherham.

He also said he was bringing back the Union Learning Fund in England, established in 1998 and abolished by the Tories, to help working people gain more skills in an age of artificial intelligence. It was initially unclear how this would be funded.

Once the temperature outside starts to fall again, it is important to stay warm, especially for the very young, old, and those with health conditions or reduced mobility.

But there are plenty of ways you can keep bills lower without letting the temperature in your home fall below the recommended 18C minimum.

You may already have hung thicker curtains and blocked the draughts over the last couple of winters, but do not forget to switch off radiators in rooms you are not using and wrap up.

Money Saving Expert advises to “heat the human not the home”.

Turning down the flow rate on a combi boiler can save you money as often the water is being heated higher than it needs to be.

Batch cooking and using an air fryer or microwave rather than heating up the oven for a small item can save energy.

Take shorter showers and wash clothes at 30C rather than 40C. Dry clothes outdoors if you can, rather than using a tumble dryer, or hang clothes indoors but ventilate well or use a dehumidifier to avoid damp.

If you are thinking about moving home, or undertaking renovations, it is worth thinking through how to reduce bills. When it comes to white goods, look for energy-efficient appliances.

MILAN — Jennifer Lopez arrived at Dolce & Gabbana’s Milan Fashion Week after-party on Saturday, September 26, in a sheer black lace gown layered over lingerie and topped with an oversized black fur coat, a dramatic change from the tailored suit she wore to the brand’s runway show earlier the same day.

The 57-year-old actress and singer, who stars in the Netflix romantic comedy “Office Romance,” was photographed arriving at the party in a floral lace slip dress with a corset-inspired bodice, according to photos obtained by the Daily Mail. The dress was sheer and worn over a set of black high-waisted lingerie, and the fur coat draped across her chest and fell to just below mid-thigh, according to a report on the look syndicated by Yahoo and AOL. Marie Claire described the ensemble as part of the “naked dress” trend, noting that Lopez is no stranger to it.

Lopez completed the outfit with a black satin clutch and peep-toe stiletto heels with thin ankle straps. Her jewelry included a gold statement necklace set with large green gemstones and matching drop earrings, according to the same report. Marie Claire described the pieces as a suite of emerald and diamond jewelry, and outlets varied slightly in how they characterized the stones and metal. The coverage reviewed included no comment from Lopez or her representatives on the look, and it did not identify a designer for the evening ensemble.

The after-party followed Dolce & Gabbana’s Women’s Spring/Summer 2027 show, held at the fashion house’s Metropol venue in Milan, according to Just Jared. Lopez arrived at the show wearing a tailored black look from the label’s Fall/Winter 2026 collection, complete with a matching cap and tall boots, and paired it with pieces from Dolce & Gabbana’s Alta Gioielleria jewelry line and a Marlene clutch, the outlet reported. Other descriptions said the daytime outfit included a black three-piece suit with a waistcoat, white collared shirt and black tie, a baker boy hat, knee-high boots and a silver brooch. The contrast between the structured daytime tailoring and the lace evening look drew attention from fashion outlets. Comic Basics described the suit as giving Lopez a polished, almost androgynous edge that stood in sharp contrast to what came next.

Other guests at the party included British model Lady Kitty Spencer, 35, who wore a plunging lace midi dress, and model Brooks Nader, 29, who wore a little black dress, according to the Daily Mail’s coverage of the event. Just Jared noted that Nader also attended the show earlier in the day, wearing a different take on the label’s signature black.

Saturday’s outfits capped a busy week for Lopez in Milan, where she has appeared in a series of looks that fashion outlets have followed closely. On September 22, she attended the Vogue World: Milano event in a head-to-toe leopard-print look that paired a Dolce & Gabbana coat with a micro miniskirt, a styling credited to her longtime stylists, Mariel Haenn and Rob Zangardi, according to Fiction Horizon. During the week she was also photographed in a sheer pink Chantilly lace blouse with lace-trimmed distressed jeans, Comic Basics reported. Vogue Italia also caught up with her as she arrived at the show, capturing a brief video interview shared on Instagram.

Lopez’s history with Milan runways is well known. She famously modeled a reimagined version of her green Versace dress at the brand’s Spring 2020 show during Milan Fashion Week, Fiction Horizon noted, though this season her loyalties have been with Dolce & Gabbana.

Her approach to style has been an evolving one, according to a 2025 interview with InStyle. “I want to always feel more original,” Lopez said in that interview, as quoted by Comic Basics, when discussing how her fashion choices continue to change rather than stay tied to one era or aesthetic.

Lopez has also been in the spotlight this year for her acting. “Office Romance” premiered on Netflix on June 5 and stars Lopez as Jackie Cruz, the chief executive of an airline called AirCruz, who falls into a secret romance with the company’s new lawyer, played by Brett Goldstein. The film was directed by Ol Parker and written by Goldstein and Joe Kelly, and it is rated R. Lopez is also a producer, along with Goldstein and Kelly. Deadline reported that Goldstein and Kelly wrote the film specifically for her and said they would not make it without her.

Lopez described the movie’s tone in a Netflix Tudum interview. “Office Romance is a very classic romantic comedy, but with these unexpected jokes,” she said. “It’s a little different from the other romantic comedies that I made, which are very sweet and wholesome.” The film also reunites Lopez with Edward James Olmos, who played her father in the 1997 film “Selena” and plays her father again in this one, according to Netflix.

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Shares of PB Fintech rallied as much as 4% to hit a high of Rs 1,214 on the BSE on Monday after international brokerage Bernstein reiterated its Outperform rating on the stock and a target price of Rs 2,310, indicating a potential 91% upside from the previous close.

The positive view comes after PB Fintech shares suffered a sharp 39% decline over two trading sessions following the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India’s (IRDAI) proposal to ban ‘dark patterns’ on insurance websites. The proposed rules include practices that require customers to share personal details before they can access product features and pricing information.

The brokerage said the proposed framework could result in a 40% reduction in insurance take rates for PB Fintech, translating into a potential 36% cut in FY28E consolidated revenue, with Paisabazaar cushioning some of the impact. A shift in term plans towards a trail-based structure could also defer cash flows, creating an initial working-capital drag.

Management indicated scope to rationalise growth-linked costs in FY28, particularly call centre hiring, variable payouts and performance-marketing spends. Under its scenario analysis, Bernstein assumes organic premium growth for PB Fintech, currently estimated at 35-40%, will reset to a lower level in FY28E, with lower customer pricing partly offsetting the impact through higher volumes.

The brokerage has also factored in a potential 4% cut in FY28E premium growth, although it noted that the range could be wide, alongside the 40% reduction in take rates. As a result, its scenario analysis points to a potential 36% reduction in FY28E revenue growth compared with its previous estimates.

Bernstein expects core-business direct costs to be reduced meaningfully in FY28E as the focus on growth moderates, before normalising from FY29E as growth-related spending resumes. It has also factored in a phased rationalisation of indirect costs across FY28E and FY29E.
Taken together, the scenario analysis points to a potential 34% cut in FY28E PAT compared with the brokerage’s previous estimate. Bernstein now sees FY28E profit at Rs 1,100 crore, below its FY27E PAT estimate of Rs 1,250 crore despite the cost-control measures. Earnings are expected to recover to Rs 2,000 crore by FY30E, compared with the earlier estimate of Rs 3,200 crore.

What did IRDAI say?

The regulator proposed replacing the existing complex and fragmented distribution structure with three broad categories of entities: Insurance Distribution Entities (IDEs), Insurance Distribution Persons (IDPs) and Market Infrastructure Institutions (MIIs).

It proposed a set of structural reforms aimed at lowering insurance costs, expanding coverage among underserved sections and putting the sector on a sustainable growth path. The draft paper focuses on several key areas, including rationalising Expenses of Management (EoM), reintroducing segmental commission limits and prohibiting “dark patterns”.

Under the proposed framework, insurers would have to disclose product and pricing information without requiring customers to share personal details. The paper also proposes disclosing commission rates on policy documents and streamlining motor insurance.

Other distribution-related proposals cover the types of policies banks can sell, a ban on incentives to agents, enabling insurers to use Market Infrastructure Institutions (MIIs) for insurance sales, and prohibiting compulsory bundling of insurance products, such as credit life insurance.

At present, the public can access product features and pricing information only after providing personal details. IRDAI said this is one of the ‘dark patterns’ frequently seen on insurer and distributor websites and is also against guidelines issued by the Central Consumer Protection Authority under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019.

The regulator defines dark patterns as practices or deceptive design patterns using user interface or user experience interactions on any platform that are designed to mislead or trick users into doing something they did not originally intend or want to do.

IRDAI has proposed recalibrating the commission framework alongside these changes. Rather than applying a uniform approach, commission limits would factor in the segment, line of business, distribution channel, product complexity and the effort involved in selling and servicing the product.

Disclaimer: This article has been written by Veer Sharma, who is not a SEBI-registered Research Analyst or an Investment Adviser. Veer Sharma and his/her ‘relative(s)’ (as defined under Section 2(77) of the Companies Act, 2013) do not hold any financial interest in the companies mentioned in this article as of the date of publication. The views/recommendations mentioned in this article, wherever applicable, are those of the respective SEBI-registered Research Analyst/brokerage and have been reproduced/reported with due attribution. They should not be construed as the views or recommendations of The Economic Times Digital or the journalist. Readers are advised to consider the original research report and make their investment decisions based on their own assessment. Brokerage disclaimers here.