‘No Kings’ organisers say nearly 7 million people march in anti-Trump rallies

Nearly 7 million people across the country turned out for the second “No Kings” protests against President Donald Trump and his administration, marking the largest single-day demonstration against a sitting president in modern history, organizers said.

As the government shutdown approaches its third week, millions of demonstrators joined protests in more than 2,500 cities and towns in all 50 states, with several global cities joining in, to stand up to what organizers called Trump’s “authoritarian power grabs.”

In June, more than 5 million people turned out for the first “No Kings” protests.

“There is no greater threat to an authoritarian regime than patriotic people-power,” Ezra Levin, a co-founder of Indivisible, one of the organizers, said.

Ahead of the marches this week, the president insisted he was “not a king,” while administration officials and congressional Republicans baselessly labeled the demonstrations “Hate America rallies” and blamed Antifa for being behind the protests. The demonstrations are led by a coalition of civil rights and advocacy groups.

After golfing Saturday, Trump returned to his Mar-a-Lago residence and fired off several posts from his Truth Social, including an AI-generated video that appeared to show him wearing a crown, flying a jet, and bombing a crowd of protesters with brown liquid.

Pink Floyd star David Gilmour says Roger Waters reunion is impossible

David Gilmour has said nothing could ever make him reunite with Pink Floyd bandmate Roger Waters.

The guitarist has unequivocally shut down any suggestion the pair would put their differences aside and perform again.

Gilmour and Waters have been feuding for decades since the latter quit the “Another Brick in the Wall” group in 1985 – and in 2024, the pair sold their rights to Sony Music for more than half a billion dollars.

In a new interview, when asked what would have to happen for him to consider sharing a stage with Waters in the future, Gilmour told The Telegraph: “Nothing. There is no possible way that I would do that.”

Gilmour previously hit out at Waters, claiming he “supported genocidal and autocratic dictators like Putin” – and earlier this year, Gilmour’s wife, the lyricist Polly Samson, accused Waters of being “antisemitic to his rotten core” in an online row over Israel and Ukraine.

Waters responded on his official account, saying he was “aware of the incendiary and wildly inaccurate comments made about him on Twitter by Polly Samson, which he refutes entirely”.

In the new interview, Samson said she spoke out against Waters as she did not want there to be any confusion as to which Pink Floyd member she was married to.

“If they knew you’re married to someone from Pink Floyd, half the time people were giving me quite strange looks and it was really uncomfortable and I just wanted to draw a line and make it clear that these were not views held by me or the person I was married to,” she said.

In 2024, Pink Floyd sold their music rights, as well as their name-and-likeness rights, in one of the largest music deals in history.

The group’s iconic artwork, mostly created by the British design company Hipgnosis, which adorned albums such as The Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here and Animals, were said to be part of the deal.

Gilmour said the deal stemmed from a desire to be “rid of the decision making and the arguments that are involved with keeping it going”.

He added that the sale was less about a “financial standpoint” and more about “getting out of the mud bath that it has been for quite a while”.

Tory MP reports deepfake Reform defection video to police

A Conservative former minister has reported a deepfake video of him announcing he had joined Reform UK to the police, according to reports.

George Freeman, the Tory MP for Mid Norfolk, said he had “no intention of joining Reform or any other party”, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS).

A deepfake video of the politician, which was widely circulated on social media, appeared to show Mr Freeman announcing he had joined Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.

In the video, Mr Freeman appeared to say “the time for half measures is over” and that the “Conservative party had lost its way”, as he announced he was defecting.

But the video was a fake, and Mr Freeman has reported it to the police, the LDRS said.

Responding to the fake clip, Mr Freeman said: “The video is a fabrication, created without my knowledge or consent, and uses my image and voice without permission.”

“Regardless of my position as an MP, that should be an offence.”

He added: “This sort of political disinformation has the potential to seriously distort, disrupt and corrupt our democracy.”

Mr Freeman said he did not know whether the incident was a “politically motivated attack” or a “dangerous prank”.

But the former science minister said it was clear there had been a “huge increase in political disinformation, disruption and extremism” in recent months.

“I have reported this matter to the relevant authorities, and I urge anyone who sees the video to report it immediately rather than share it further,” he added.

Norfolk Police was contacted for comment.

Aston Villa visit Spurs after political storm over Europa League tie

Tottenham will bid to extend their unbeaten run and keep up their pursuit at the top of the Premier League table as Aston Villa, fresh from being caught up in a political storm, visit London.

Spurs have not lost in their last seven games, and will hope to again close the gap to league leaders Arsenal to just two points after their north London rivals beat Fulham yesterday evening. Their early fixture list had, perhaps, fallen kindly, though, and building momentum over the next few weeks will be key if Thomas Frank’s side are to maintain a relatively strong start.

Villa will represent a useful test of their progress as Unai Emery seeks improvements from his squad across a tricky little period. Clashes with Manchester City and Liverpool are to come for a club which has spent much of this week dealing with off-field matters surrounding their Europa League tie with Maccabi Tel Aviv.

Follow all of the latest from Villa Park with our live blog below:

What you are getting wrong about protein products– and which ones work

As part of my research for this piece, I went into the supermarket to count the number of products with “high protein” on their packaging – a few aisles in, I realised the scale of the task ahead of me.

I wasn’t looking for wholefoods naturally high in protein, but rather foods that have been engineered to have a higher protein total. By the end, I’d accrued an extensive list including crisps, cereal, cheese, chocolate bars, yoghurt, noodles, bread, ready meals, milkshakes, pasta and pizza – a food that, while not a bastion of health, is pretty high in protein anyway.

Branding is designed to encourage purchases, and the healthy connotations associated with the phrase “high protein” serve as additional motivation to part with your cash. Protein helps build and repair bodily tissues such as muscle, while also supporting other important processes such as hormone regulation and immune function. These benefits have been well-publicised in recent years, and as a result, many people want more of it.

But are these high-protein products really necessary?

There are two main arguments against products engineered to contain more protein. One: the increased protein content comes alongside unwanted sugar, salt, saturated fat and additives. And two: most people are already consuming enough protein.

This first point was the subject of a recent Channel 4 documentary, Joe Wicks: Licensed to Kill, which highlighted most protein bars’ status as an ultra-processed food – a categorisation identifiable by their largely unrecognisable ingredient lists. Off the back of this, Joe Wicks and featured expert Professor Chris van Tulleken called for mandatory warning labels on harmful food based on existing government guidance.

Professor van Tulleken is a professor of global health and infection at University College London, and the author of Ultra-Processed People. He believes that ultra-processed products’ elevated protein offering is usually accompanied by high levels of sugar, saturated fat, salt and sweeteners, as well as other unwanted ingredients such as emulsifiers. These products also often lack the fibre and nutritional goodness of wholefood equivalents.

So, what are his high-protein wholefood alternatives? “A post-gym bowl of chicken soup and a glass of milk, or some hummus and pitta bread”, he says.

If we are getting enough protein in our diets, and it is in plentiful supply in wholefoods, what is driving food manufacturers to dial up protein on everything from snack bars to health drinks? Nichola Ludlam-Raine, a specialist registered dietitian and author of How Not to Eat Ultra-Processed, describes the phenomenon above as a “health halo”.

“A health halo is where manufacturers draw your attention to one aspect of a product [in this case, its protein content] while completely distracting you from all other parts – for example, I once saw a packet of marshmallows that were high in sugar, but said ‘fat-free’ on the packet,” she explains. “If a product is high in fat, salt and sugar, then a little bit of extra protein is not going to make it ‘good’ for you.”

However, despite their recent exposure, Ludlam-Raine does believe some high-protein products can have a place in a healthy diet. “There are functional products that are genuinely high in protein – about 20g per serving – and convenient for people who are on the go,” she says. “If someone has just done a workout, that is likely to be a better option than a chocolate bar or a packet of crisps, because protein does help with muscle repair.

“It’s not a substitute for wholefoods like chicken, eggs or tofu, which are giving you other nutrients too – my patients eat predominantly wholefood diets. But there is a gap where these products can be useful for people who struggle to meet their daily protein needs.”

Read more: We’ve overcomplicated fitness – these six simple things will make you healthier than most people

Now to address the second key argument against high-protein products: Many people are already eating enough protein.

“The recommended nutrient intake for protein in the UK is 0.75 grams per kilogram of body weight,” says Professor Javier Gonzalez, a professor of nutrition and metabolism at the University of Bath’s Centre for Nutrition, Exercise and Metabolism.

“There are some good arguments that a little higher than this – up to 1.2g/kg – may have additional benefits for muscle health and weight control. The requirements of athletes can be even higher than this – up to around 1.8g/kg.”

Ludlam-Raine says daily protein goals can vary between 1g/kg and 2g/kg depending on several variables, such as age and activity levels. “I think, if you’re exercising and/or looking to lose weight, 1.6g/kg of ideal body weight is a nice number to roughly aim for,” she says. “I work with a lot of people with a BMI of above 40, so we use their ideal body weight rather than their current body weight to avoid overestimating.”

Many UK adult diets are already hitting this figure, and for this group, high-protein products are likely to be surplus to requirements. But “protein is essential to life”, and there are those who could be missing the mark, says Ludlam-Raine. “Although most people are having enough protein, there are cohorts of people I work with who are definitely not,” she explains. “For example, if you follow a vegan diet, cutting out meat, fish and dairy could leave you with a protein deficiency.”

Ludlam-Raine recommends keeping a food and symptom diary for a week to check if this is the case.

“Ask yourself if you’re having five portions of fruits and vegetables each day, wholegrains daily, two portions of fish – one of which is oily – per week, and limiting processed red meats,” she says. “Then look at food labels on your yoghurt, eggs, meat and other protein sources. Add up the protein content, and if you’re getting a figure equivalent to roughly 1.6 times your ideal body weight in kilograms each day, there isn’t a deficiency.”

While protein deficiencies are not particularly common, 96 per cent of UK adults are falling shy of their 30g daily fibre requirements, according to the National Diet and Nutrition Survey. Sprinkling a few extra fruits, vegetables, wholegrains, beans, legumes, nuts and seeds into your diet each week represents an effective remedy for this.

“For your snacks, always think about getting protein and fibre,” Ludlam-Raine advises. “Think apple and cheese, berries and yoghurt, carrots and hummus, or nuts and dried fruit.”

Read more: I’m a trainer specialising in longevity – these are the five changes that have the biggest impact on my clients

Professor Gonzalez says ultra-processed foods are often eaten by athletes he works with due to their high energy density and lack of filling fibre. “They can be a useful tool to meet the high energy demands of endurance athletes,” he says. “They are also often convenient for travel thanks to their packaging and the lack of need for refrigeration.

“There are many athletes who try to avoid so-called UPF and there are many athletes who eat them regularly. There are few elite endurance athletes who avoid them entirely since many of the specialised sports nutrition products would fit this category.”

Read more: The science-backed exercise method that can help fight the effects of ageing

“To date, there is strong, consistent evidence that diets high in sugar, salt, saturated fat and energy density [ie. calories] tend to lead to excess energy intake and/or increased risk of cardiometabolic disease,” says Gonzalez. On this point, our featured experts agree.

“Whether so-called ultra-processed foods have a unique role over and above these well-established factors is yet to be clearly demonstrated,” Gonzalez continues. “There should be research attention paid to these foods. As they tend to be high in energy density, it would be sensible to limit the consumption of many of these foods if you are looking to control body weight.

“That said, there are also foods in this category that are not high in energy density and may be a useful part of a diet when looking to control body weight.”

In short: take a glance at the back of the packet. If the high-protein product doesn’t serve your wider nutritional needs – containing unnecessarily high levels of sugar, salt and saturated fat – the extra few grams of protein are unlikely to be a worthy trade.

High-protein products should also be reconsidered if, from knowledge or experience, their ingredients cause symptoms of gastrointestinal (GI) distress such as stomach aches and bloating.

“If you get an upset stomach and you link it to products with certain sweeteners like sugar alcohols, swap it for another product that perhaps uses a small amount of sugar instead of a sweetener,” Ludlam-Raine advises.

“Every gut microbiome is unique, and symptoms will vary depending on whether you’re going through stressful scenarios, how you’re sleeping and, for women, the time of the month it is.

“But what we do know is the body succumbs to illness when we’re not supporting it. If you give your body enough of the good stuff, it can stay well.”

For this reason, Ludlam-Raine suggests using the “80:20 rule” to inform your nutrition. This means health-driving wholefoods should make up the vast majority of your diet, then you have a little flexibility with the remaining contents.

“It’s our portion sizes and the frequency we eat foods that matters most,” she says. “The reason some ultra-processed foods aren’t great for us is because they’re low in nutrients, low in fibre, low in protein and they’re hyper-palatable, so they’re really easy to overeat and can displace wholefoods.

“But if you are following the 80:20 rule, eating 80 per cent nutrient-rich foods including different types of fibre, polyphenols and fermented foods such as kefir, I don’t think a small amount of these ultra-processed products is going to upset your gut microbiome.”

Read more: Why stretching isn’t the answer to tight muscles – and the exercises to try instead

Hidden gem holidays: An insider guide to the Dominican Republic

The advent of autumn sees us thinking ahead to how to keep that sunshine feeling going through till winter; and there’s nothing better for keeping our spirits up than the idea of booking a holiday somewhere tropical. Enter the Dominican Republic, a warm and welcoming Caribbean nation perched to the south of the Turks and Caicos islands, and east of Jamaica. Known for its beautiful beaches, premium resorts and some legendary golf courses, there is, as the saying goes, genuinely something for everyone. If you want to make your holiday more than just a fly and flop, there’s plenty to explore, from Pico Duarte, the Caribbean’s tallest mountain, to historic sites in the country’s lively capital, Santo Domingo.

But first, where’s the best place to stay? Consider Costa Esmeralda, in the Miches area on the Island’s northeastern coast, a picturesque and pristine stretch of sand fringed with coconut palms that lean over the calm, turquoise waters of the Atlantic Ocean. Neighbouring Punta Cana and the wider Bávaro area combine to form what’s known as La Costa del Coco, or the Coconut Coast, an area of lavish, all-inclusive hotels which is also popular for windsurfing, kayaking and sailing.

Base yourself at Zemi Miches Punta Cana All-Inclusive Resort Curio by Hilton, an oceanfront resort boasting 800-metres of secluded beach on the shores of Playa Esmeralda. Located just 90 minutes’ drive from Punta Cana International Airport, the emphasis here is firmly on fun and relaxation. It features six restaurants, six bars and lounges, four pools and several water slides, and for those who like to keep fit while away, there’s a pickleball court, a paddle tennis court, and a full-service fitness centre which offers yoga and pilates classes. The Acana spa aims to reconnect soul and spirit with therapies inspired by ancient traditions, while you’ll also find a daily programme of art and cultural activities, plus live nightly entertainment. Bringing the kids? They’ll love spending time at the Coki Cove Kids Club or Palmchat Teens Club.

There’s a choice of rooms, suites or bungalows, all tastefully decorated with Caribbean flair, and offering stunning views. Select accommodations even feature private plunge pools, and Club Azure and bungalow guests have access to additional dining options and a rooftop pool. Talking of dining, you’ll experience a world of flavour, with menus inspired by the traditions of the Caribbean, Thailand, and the Amalfi Coast; think spicy, street-food inspired dishes, wood-fired pizzas, and local favourites. All this, and unlimited drinks and cocktails, too!

What’s more, booking with British Airways Holidays means you can secure your holiday now with a low deposit and spread the cost with flexible payments*. Once you’re ready to jet off, you can enjoy increased checked baggage allowance, a dedicated 24-hour helpline during your trip and the option of quality car hire with no hidden fees, 24-hour support and roadside assistance.

Upgrade to Club World and you’ll also get lounge access**, increased baggage allowance, priority check-in and boarding, and a spacious seat that converts to a fully flat bed. Members of The British Airways Club enjoy even more benefits in the form of collecting Avios (British Airways’ frequent flyer currency) and earning tier points, which unlock frequent flyer status and other benefits. Avios can also be used towards the cost of your holiday, presenting even greater value for money for members.

All this means you can totally relax during your stay at Hilton Zemi Miches Punta Cana All-Inclusive Resort, knowing you’re getting the quality and peace of mind you’d expect from a British Airways Holidays.

If you can tear yourself away from the resort – tough, we know – there’s lots to experience throughout the Dominican Republic. Take a day trip to Santo Domingo, one of the Caribbean’s oldest cities; its walled, cobblestoned, historic centre, the Zona Colonial, has impressive Spanish buildings dating back to the 16th century, including the Gothic Catedral Primada de America and the Alcázar de Colón palace, which sits on the laid-back, cafe-lined Plaza de España. The latter is now one of the city’s many museums, displaying striking medieval and Renaissance art. In the pretty Parque del Este is the Faro a Colón, a large mausoleum and museum dedicated to Christopher Columbus, who landed on the island known as Hispaniola (now divided into the Dominican Republic and Haiti) in 1492. For a taste of life in bygone times, visit Altos de Chavón, a fascinating replica of a 16th century Mediterranean village, featuring art galleries and studios, boutiques and a striking amphitheatre.

Looking for something a little more adventurous? Get back to nature at Los Haitises National Park, where you can explore mangrove forests, caves and unique rock formations, or the 27 waterfalls of Damajagua, a series of tumbling falls perfect for swimming, splashing and jumping into. And don’t miss the incredible Hoya Azul, a cenote, or sinkhole, with crystal-clear, aquamarine waters; it’s located in Scape Park, a natural adventure park featuring lush jungles and jaw-dropping cliffs, where you can go zip-lining or explore the caves. There is whale watching in Samana Bay – humpback whales can be found here during their breeding season, January to March. While Lago Enriquillo, a salt lake with surrounding wetlands, is home to crocodiles and various bird species, including flamingos. All in all, your holiday to the Dominican Republic is guaranteed to be unforgettable; so get booking now!

British Airways Holidays packages include a generous baggage allowance for each customer and come with full ATOL protection for complete peace of mind. Secure your holiday to Hilton Zemi Miches Punta with a low deposit and enjoy flexible payments until you fly*.

*Based on two sharing. Full balance due seven weeks before departure. Subject to availability. T&Cs apply.

**Subject to availability

‘I contacted Nigel’: Reform MP Danny Kruger on defecting from Tories

It might already be a month since Reform’s newest MP Danny Kruger jumped ship to join Nigel Farage’s right-wing camp, but walking to the ex-Tory devotee’s Westminster office, you’d be forgiven for questioning if it really happened.

Two signs for his office – deep within the Palace of Westminster’s labyrinth of carpeted corridors and creaky stairwells – still show Mr Kruger as shadow minister for work and pensions under Kemi Badenoch.

Then inside, hung on the wall alongside Imperial War Museum recruitment posters and a painting of conservative philosopher Roger Scruton, is a framed map of Boris Johnson’s landslide 2019 election victory.

Swathes of Tory blue dominate many of the UK’s regions. The outcome of the snap election steered by Brexit not only saw Mr Kruger, then Mr Johnson’s parliamentary secretary, return his boss to No 10, but also got him his first seat in parliament as the new MP for Devizes.

“I’m not putting the 2024 election map up,” he jokes. “We need that whole map to go turquoise don’t we,” he adds with a smile.

Breakups in any walk of life are hard, but for Mr Kruger, it’s clear to see his split from the Tories was a particularly painful one.

“I regret to say, having been a member and an employee and an MP for the Conservative Party for many years, my whole adult life… I think the time for the Conservatives as that principal opposition, that main challenger from the right, has finished,” the married father of three explains.

His exit, probably the biggest scalp for Reform yet, was announced at a press conference alongside Mr Farage last month. A few weeks later, he wrote a letter to his 71,000 East Wiltshire constituents to explain his decision.

Reform, currently 14 points ahead of the Tories in the latest polls, was now the new opposition to the Labour Party, he said, bemoaning a loss in voter confidence in the Conservatives on issues such as mass migration and Brexit.

“We now have – in Nigel Farage’s party – the opposition that we need to Labour, so it’s not just a rejection of the Conservatives, which I deeply regret making on a personal level, it’s an active, positive choice to join Reform because I think they represent the change we need,” he says.

I push him on the emotional impact of his departure from the party he became involved in more than 30 years ago.

As a self-described “horrible little Thatcherite” in his youth, the Etonian later joined Conservative HQ in 2003, and would later work with former Conservative leaders Iain Duncan Smith, Michael Howard and David Cameron.

“It’s a very painful move,” he says, adding that he’s conscious he has “let people down” in Wiltshire where party members worked closely with him since his election win in 2019. “I regret that,” he says.

On those in Whitehall, he says: “I have good friends on the Conservative benches who I know feel dismayed, betrayed by me.” Although, he’s thankful of no personal attacks from former colleagues, including Ms Badenoch.

“However, in this business, you have to put what you think is the interests of your constituents and your country ahead of your personal loyalties,” he says. “Loyalty matters. Parties matter. We couldn’t exist without them, but we have to put country ahead of party, and even if that is personally painful, we must do it in practice.”

Has slipping into Reform – where the slogan is family, community, country – been an easy political marriage? Mr Kruger says so.

He already knew Reform MP Lee Anderson, and after “informal conversations” he says he went to speak to Mr Farage about joining the party, and was gratefully accepted.

“I expect there will be other MPs who move from the Conservatives to Reform,” he predicts, although rather hesitantly adds: “That’s assuming that Nigel actually invites them to do so.”

Mr Kruger’s defection to Reform was particularly surprising, not least following some of his recent criticism of the party.

Only in May he accused members of piggybacking on work by the Conservatives during a Commons debate on Brexit in a “desperate search to be relevant”. In July, he said Reform “would spend money like drunken sailors” during a debate on welfare.

“Well, literally since then, Nigel Farage stood up at his party conference and committed to significant welfare cuts,” says Mr Kruger.

“Tax cuts aside, we have to make spending reductions, not simply for the sake of the public finances, although that imperative is very, very real, but for the sake of the people who are currently languishing on out-of-work benefits.

“It is a scandal and a disgrace and a tragedy that so many people are being written off for life by a welfare system that is essentially inhuman in its judgement of what people’s capabilities are.”

And what about the two-child benefit cap?

Reform pledged to scrap the restriction, in a move that could appeal to left-leaning voters but would cost an estimated £3.5bn.

Mr Kruger supports the idea, but only for working families. “It’s right that the public are concerned that people whose livelihoods is benefits are able to have large families at the public’s expense,” he says.

Next month, Mr Farage will deliver a speech on Reform’s plans for the economy in what has been seen as a bid by the party to bolster its economic credibility, after its manifesto for £90bn in tax cuts, including an increase in tax-free allowance to £20,000, was widely questioned.

“We have to demonstrate, if we are to cut taxes, where the money is coming from for that,” says Mr Kruger.

Aside from the economy, immigration is at the centre of Reform policy, with plans unveiled last month to deport thousands of legal immigrants and scrap migrants’ indefinite leave to remain.

Mr Farage blames a so-called “Boriswave” of migration following the relaxation of post-Brexit rules by Boris Johnson. Mr Kruger agrees. “I’m afraid, yes, he does have to take responsibility as leader of the government,” he says.

The party also wants to deport 600,000 asylum seekers, while building detention centres for 24,000.

Asked where the centres will be, he says: “I don’t want to get into the details of where, but we will be able to stand up facilities that will accommodate all of the asylum seekers and illegal immigrants that arrive.” He insists, through, they won’t be enormous.

The Senedd elections next year should provide some indication on the prospect of a Reform UK government. There is also the Scottish Parliament elections coming up, too.

“We are the new national party of the right and my hope is that we take power in those countries and can demonstrate what a Reform government looks like ahead of the general election,” Mr Kruger says.

Winning power, so quickly after being formed – can Mr Farage’s achievement leading the Brexit referendum be replicated, perhaps heightened, by entering No 10 in a few years’ time?

Mr Kruger appears cautious. Such is the state of the economy and the Labour Party, he says an election could happen “sooner than you think”.

But an “enormous job” lies ahead in creating policy and showing it can work. “We can’t just arrive on day one with a couple of slogans and ask the civil servants to do it for us,” he insists.

There is also the task of bringing together candidates for 650 seats. There will be “very strict vetting”, Mr Kruger says.

“If we play our cards right, we will be in contention for government,” he adds.

After 35 minutes, the interview ends. Mr Kruger quickly makes his excuses and rushes out for a meeting. It gives me a chance to look up at his bookshelf.

There, among Lisa Nandy’s All In, David Skelton’s The New Snobbery and two books on Stonehenge (the ancient monument sits within his constituency), is Oliver Letwin’s book Apocalypse How?, which imagines a tech-dependent UK in crisis in 2037.

As the former minister looked into the future, I wondered if even he could have predicted a new party overtaking the Tories as the party of the right.

Such is the unpredictability of politics today.

Brexit impact on UK economy ‘negative for foreseeable future’, Bailey warns

Brexit will have a negative impact on the UK’s economic growth “for the foreseeable future”, Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey has warned.

The economy is, however, likely to adjust and find balance again in the longer term, Mr Bailey, who was speaking at the G30 40th annual International Banking Seminar on Saturday, added.

The event in Washington, DC saw Mr Bailey highlight a decline in the UK’s potential growth rate from 2.5 per cent to 1.5 per cent over the past 15 years.

He linked this to lower productivity growth, an ageing population and trade restrictions – including post-Brexit economic policies.

“For nearly a decade, I have been very careful to say that I take no position per se on Brexit, which was a decision by the people of the UK, and it is our job as public officials to implement it,” Mr Bailey said.

“But, I quite often get asked a second question: what’s the impact on economic growth?

“And as a public official, I have to answer that question.

“And the answer is that for the foreseeable future it is negative.

“But over the longer term, there will be – because trade adjusts – some at least partial rebalancing,” Mr Bailey added.

Referencing the works of 18th-century economist and philosopher Adam Smith, he continued: “Why do I give that answer? Because that’s the Smithian growth model: making an economy less open restricts growth over the long term.

“Longer term, you will get some adjustment. Trade does adjust, it does rebuild.

“And all the evidence we have from the UK is that is exactly what is happening.”

Investment in innovation and new technologies, including AI, may help address the decline in productivity growth in the long run, Mr Bailey said.

“If we take account of the impact of ageing and trade restrictions, we’re really putting our chips on investment,” he said.

“We’re putting our chips on general-purpose technology, and AI looks like the next general-purpose technology, so we need to work with it.

“We need to ensure that it develops appropriately and well.”

Mr Bailey warned that, although AI is likely to usher in a breakthrough in productivity long-term, it may “in the current circumstances, be a risk to financial stability through stretched valuations in the markets”.

“It doesn’t undermine the fact that AI, in my view, is likely, in addressing this slower growth issue, that we have and the consequences of it – that it is actually the best hope we have, and we really do need to do all we can to foster it,” he said.

The Bank of England governor’s prediction comes as Chancellor Rachel Reeves is under pressure ahead of next month’s Budget, with official figures showing muted growth in August following a surprise contraction in July.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said gross domestic product (GDP) rose by 0.1 per cent month-on-month in August and fell by 0.1 per cent in July, in a revision to the previous estimate for no growth.

In the three months to August, GDP grew by 0.3 per cent compared with 0.2 per cent growth in the three months to July, the ONS said.

The latest figures come after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) earlier this week forecast UK inflation was set to surge to the highest in the G7 in 2025 and 2026.