Starmer’s ailing government is happy to pursue ideas like cutting Motability, but all ministers will do is damage lives and themselves

Months before the government used the budget to launch plans to tackle Motability – the scheme that leases subsidised vehicles with some disability benefits – a website started quietly spying on disabled drivers. Motability Check – run by an unknown third party and now offline – allowed members of the public to type in any number plate and ( largely incorrectly ) see if it was a car provided by the firm. The purpose appeared simple and disturbing: spot that neighbour who says they have a bad back and check with a few clicks if they are milking the taxpayer.

From the spring, the idea that Motability was offering disabled people “free” BMWs and Mercedes began to spread. While the rightwing press suggested someone could get a vehicle for “bed wetting” and acne , blue tick accounts on X gleefully argued the only car available to claimants should be cheap, ugly and “have MOTABILITY written on it, preferably in neon”. By October, the narrative had gone mainstream as the supposed scam of free cars was leapt on by the Conservatives and Reform UK .

Frances Ryan is a Guardian columnist

Starmer’s ailing government is happy to pursue ideas like cutting Motability, but all ministers will do is damage lives and themselves

Months before the government used the budget to launch plans to tackle Motability – the scheme that leases subsidised vehicles with some disability benefits – a website started quietly spying on disabled drivers. Motability Check – run by an unknown third party and now offline – allowed members of the public to type in any number plate and ( largely incorrectly ) see if it was a car provided by the firm. The purpose appeared simple and disturbing: spot that neighbour who says they have a bad back and check with a few clicks if they are milking the taxpayer.

From the spring, the idea that Motability was offering disabled people “free” BMWs and Mercedes began to spread. While the rightwing press suggested someone could get a vehicle for “bed wetting” and acne , blue tick accounts on X gleefully argued the only car available to claimants should be cheap, ugly and “have MOTABILITY written on it, preferably in neon”. By October, the narrative had gone mainstream as the supposed scam of free cars was leapt on by the Conservatives and Reform UK .

Frances Ryan is a Guardian columnist

Starmer’s ailing government is happy to pursue ideas like cutting Motability, but all ministers will do is damage lives and themselves

Months before the government used the budget to launch plans to tackle Motability – the scheme that leases subsidised vehicles with some disability benefits – a website started quietly spying on disabled drivers. Motability Check – run by an unknown third party and now offline – allowed members of the public to type in any number plate and ( largely incorrectly ) see if it was a car provided by the firm. The purpose appeared simple and disturbing: spot that neighbour who says they have a bad back and check with a few clicks if they are milking the taxpayer.

From the spring, the idea that Motability was offering disabled people “free” BMWs and Mercedes began to spread. While the rightwing press suggested someone could get a vehicle for “bed wetting” and acne , blue tick accounts on X gleefully argued the only car available to claimants should be cheap, ugly and “have MOTABILITY written on it, preferably in neon”. By October, the narrative had gone mainstream as the supposed scam of free cars was leapt on by the Conservatives and Reform UK .

Frances Ryan is a Guardian columnist

Bank under budget pressures as it responds to former Fed chair’s report into failure to forecast surging inflation

• Business live – latest updates

The Bank of England has said it is cutting jobs amid sweeping changes at Threadneedle Street after a highly critical review into its failure to forecast surging inflation.

Under budget pressures as it responded to the report from the former US Federal Reserve chair Ben Bernanke, the Bank has opened a voluntary scheme last week as part of an efficiency drive to find savings.

Bank under budget pressures as it responds to former Fed chair’s report into failure to forecast surging inflation

• Business live – latest updates

The Bank of England has said it is cutting jobs amid sweeping changes at Threadneedle Street after a highly critical review into its failure to forecast surging inflation.

Under budget pressures as it responded to the report from the former US Federal Reserve chair Ben Bernanke, the Bank has opened a voluntary scheme last week as part of an efficiency drive to find savings.

Bank under budget pressures as it responds to former Fed chair’s report into failure to forecast surging inflation

• Business live – latest updates

The Bank of England has said it is cutting jobs amid sweeping changes at Threadneedle Street after a highly critical review into its failure to forecast surging inflation.

Under budget pressures as it responded to the report from the former US Federal Reserve chair Ben Bernanke, the Bank has opened a voluntary scheme last week as part of an efficiency drive to find savings.

Offer for $30 a share for entire company comes after Netflix agreed to buy studio and streaming operation

David Ellison’s Paramount Skydance is not giving up in its aggressive campaign to acquire Warner Bros Discovery (WBD), launching a hostile bid despite the announcement on Friday that Netflix had agreed to buy the company’s studio and streaming operation.

Netflix’s accepted bid valued the company at $27.75 a share, though the entertainment company did not agree to acquire WBD’s traditional television assets, including the news network CNN.

Offer for $30 a share for entire company comes after Netflix agreed to buy studio and streaming operation

David Ellison’s Paramount Skydance is not giving up in its aggressive campaign to acquire Warner Bros Discovery (WBD), launching a hostile bid despite the announcement on Friday that Netflix had agreed to buy the company’s studio and streaming operation.

Netflix’s accepted bid valued the company at $27.75 a share, though the entertainment company did not agree to acquire WBD’s traditional television assets, including the news network CNN.

Offer for $30 a share for entire company comes after Netflix agreed to buy studio and streaming operation

David Ellison’s Paramount Skydance is not giving up in its aggressive campaign to acquire Warner Bros Discovery (WBD), launching a hostile bid despite the announcement on Friday that Netflix had agreed to buy the company’s studio and streaming operation.

Netflix’s accepted bid valued the company at $27.75 a share, though the entertainment company did not agree to acquire WBD’s traditional television assets, including the news network CNN.