TODAY’S WEATHER

☀️ It should be a beautiful day across Scotland, with unbroken sunshine for Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen, although it’ll feel a little cooler in the north London will be dry and hot. (Here’s the UK forecast).

THE BIG STORIES
Reeves to deliver Spending Review | More violence in Northern Ireland | Curfew set in Los Angeles

📣 Chancellor Rachel Reeves unveils the Spending Review at lunchtime today with a volley of capital projects expected, alongside more cash for the NHS and defence. There are, however, likely to be deep cuts in some “unprotected” government departments. Today’s edition wraps up the pre-announcements and expectations in detail below. ⬇️ (BBC Live coverage)

📣 There’s been a second night of violence in Ballymena with fireworks and bottles being thrown at police, and water cannon and baton rounds being used to disperse crowds. It came after 15 police officers were injured and several homes attacked on Monday night in what is being called racially-motivated “mob fury”. (Guardian)

📣 A curfew has begun in part of downtown Los Angeles to tackle looting and violence during protests against immigration raids in the city. The measure, imposed by Mayor Karen Bass, covers a square mile of the sprawling city. (AP)

• California governor Gavin Newsom said President Trump’s decision to send military forces to the LA protests put the nation on the precipice of authoritarianism. “California may be first, but it clearly won’t end here,” Newsom said from a studio in Los Angeles. “Other states are next. Democracy is next.” (New York Times £)

• Trump’s actions have catapulted Newsom to the front of Democratic resistance to Donald Trump. Pundits think it will be a big political boost to the governor. (Politico)

• Protests, meanwhile, have spread to at least 10 other US cities, with “multiple” arrests in New York City overnight. Bigger demonstrations are expected in the days ahead. (AP)

• The world’s most popular TikTok personality, Khaby Lame, has left the US after being detained by immigration agents in Las Vegas. The Senegalese-Italian influencer allegedly overstayed his visa. (AP)

IDEAS
The Spending Review at a glance: what is Reeves planning to splurge your tax pounds on?

🗣️ You might be forgiven for thinking that so much of the Spending Review has been pre-briefed, she’ll have nothing new to say when she stands up in the House of Commons at 12.30, just after Prime Minister’s Questions.

But even more was briefed out yesterday, for today’s newspapers to chew over. With no one title having it all… let’s try and round up yet more multi-billion spending commitments (and try to avoid any doublers).

First, the story so far of the Review, which sets the budget for government departments for the next few years.

• On Monday we told you how “splurge” would be word of the week, as money was committed to education, the NHS, national security, high-tech growth sectors, and more broadly “firing up the economy”.

• Yesterday, it was the turn of nuclear energy - a multi-billion-pound commitment to building a new reactor at Sizewell, as well as modular reactors around the country.

So, what have we learnt in the last 24 hours?

• There’s big, and welcome, news for the University of Edinburgh: its plan for the UK’s most powerful supercomputer is back on, with £750 million headed its way. The project was axed just after the General Election last year, when government sources said it “made little strategic sense”. How things change. (Gov.uk announcement).

• The Acorn project in Aberdeenshire has long been mooted, and missed out on funding in 2021… it’s expected to get the go-ahead today as well. The carbon capture project will store greenhouse gas emissions under the North Sea, creating thousands of jobs in an area that needs to transition away from fossil fuel-based industries. (The Scotsman) (Press & Journal)

• The Faslane nuclear submarine base on the Clyde will see a £250 million redevelopment. (The Herald)

• Affordable homes - grants for local authorities, private developers and housing associations - are being heavily trailed today: £39 billion to “renew Britain” over the next 10 years says the FT, which places that in the context of the wider £113 billion plan to “bolster the country’s creaking infrastructure”. That bigger sum includes the other commitments listed here - there will be yet another announcement, next week, which sets out details. (FT £) (Guardian)

And how will the politics of all this play?

This might appear all good news: a morale-boosting splurge that will bring economic benefits and serve a useful political purpose, too, in targeting spending at areas where Reform has been doing well.

But it’s the result of months of horse-trading between cabinet colleagues. Much of the spending is long-term investment, so results won’t appear straight away. And with national finances strained, cuts are also inevitable, most likely in day-to-day spending in “unprotected” areas such as local government and prisons. People will feel those cuts very quickly, by contrast to the spending. The Independent reports Reeves may have to make £5 billion in cuts to balance the books.

As Chris Mason explains today, the chancellor doesn’t have much wriggle room.

Politically, it’s tricky for Reeves within her own party, too. If you want to understand how divided Labour is on those decisions, just look at LabourList’s polling of its readers - who would prefer Reeves to cut away at defence, which is getting a big rise instead. There’s “gloom” among some Labour MPs at the prospect of “brutal” departmental cuts.

And what about Scotland?

We can see already that some money will be directed straight at projects in Scotland, such as the Acorn development, and that supercomputer. But there will be more spending, and the potential for more cuts too, as the Barnett Formula sums are done, and the Scottish Government’s budget is adjusted.

The Scottish Government may have some wriggle room to aborb, or pass on, those changes. It makes its own spending announcements on June 25, once those sums - and political decisions - are complete.

AROUND SCOTLAND

📣 Scottish drug fatalities spiked by a third in the first quarter of the year, with 308 deaths between January and March. The increased number of deaths come despite a new safe consumption room opening in Glasgow. (Sun)

• It was a “day of shame” for the SNP with damning statistics on drugs deaths, violent crime and A&E waiting times. (Mail)

📣 Plans for Flamingo Land on Loch Lomond have been recalled by public finance minister Ivan McKee, placing the project at risk. He said the £43.5 million development raised issues “of national significance”. (STV)

📣 The Edinburgh Book Festival has unveiled its programme for this year, with a focus on “the positive power of hope”. Highlights will include events featuring Hanif Kureishi, who will appear online after being paralysed in a catastrophic fall, former Scotland footballer Ally McCoist, and former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon. (Guardian) (Scotsman)

• Sir Ian Rankin has stepped in to become a backer of the Festival, helping plug a financial hole left by the withdrawal of former sponsor Baillie Gifford. (The Herald has the exclusive)

AROUND THE UK & WORLD

📣 Mourners in Austria held a candlelit vigil last night for the victims of a school shooting in the city of Graz. The suspect, a 21-year-old, took his own life in a school bathroom shortly after the attack, taking the death toll to 10. (BBC)

📣 The details of hundreds of maternity cases at the scandal-hit Nottingham University Hospitals Trust were most likely deleted “intentionally or maliciously”, say police. (BBC)

📣 Britons are “hoarding cash” because of economic uncertainty and a fear of banking system outages, according to the Bank of England’s chief cashier. (Guardian)

📣 That EuroMillions jackpot has rolled over again and now stands at £208 million. If it was awarded to a single winner in the UK, that would be a record. But it won’t grow any further - the top prize has hit a cap. (Independent)

SPORT

⚽️ Kieran Tierney has returned to Celtic on a five-year deal, describing himself as “lucky and grateful” he’s got the chance to return to Celtic Park. (Sky Sports)

⚽️ Rangers are planning a big clear-out, with the club’s new sporting director saying he’s ready to make “hard and fast” decisions on who comes in, and who goes. (The Sun)

⚽️ Thomas Tuchel is discovering just how challenging it can be to manage England: his side lost 3-1 to Senegal last night in a friendly played in Nottingham. “Outpassed, outrun and outwitted, England encountered opponents who were quicker of foot and mind, cleverer and more coherent,” writes Richard Jolly. England were booed off the pitch. (Independent)

• “It is exactly one year to the start of the 2026 World Cup, and if this abysmal performance is a realistic indicator of England's hopes next summer, then the German will need to conjure up a miracle in the next 12 months.” (BBC)