FTSE 100 Live: Stocks jittery as Starmer makes play to reopen Strait of Hormuz April 17, 2026 Good morning and welcome back to the Morning Wire liveblog. The UK and France are set to co-chair a meeting with allies later today in a bid to strum up ways to re-open the Strait of Hormuz. The vital waterway, which sits off Iran’s coast, sees around a fifth of the world’s oil supply flow [...]
Top Foreign Office civil servant ousted over latest Mandelson bombshell April 16, 2026 The top civil servant in the Foreign Office has been ousted after losing the confidence over Sir Keir Starmer and foreign secretary Yvette Cooper. Foreign Office permanent under-secretary Sir Olly Robbins has become the latest Westminster figure to lose their role to the Mandelson scandal after it had emerged the disgraced peer was denied clearance in [...]
UK suffered biggest unemployment surge in G7 April 16, 2026 UK unemployment rose at a faster pace than any country in the G7, the OECD has said, with a sharp rise in joblessness particularly damaging for the youngest people. Unemployment levels across the country rose sharply by 0.8 percentage points over the year to 5.2 per cent between the last three months of 2024 and [...]
‘Pet projects’: Tories slam pension mandation powers as Labour refuse to back down April 16, 2026 The Conservatives have slammed the controversial mandation powers in the Pension Schemes Bill, after parliament swept aside the amendments put forward by the House of Lords. Labour has come a step closer to finalising the bill, after it used its government majority to stamp out more than 80 amendments put forward by the upper house, [...]
UK rejoins Erasmus: British students to study across Europe from 2027 April 16, 2026 Six years after Brexit, British students will soon be able to study and work across Europe again, as the UK formally re-joins the Erasmus programme. The legal text, signed in Brussels on Wednesday, is intended to bring the UK back into the programme in 2027 after the UK pulled out of in December 2020 as [...]
Tube strikes: Londoners braced for RMT walkouts from next week April 16, 2026 A series of six Tube strikes will start from next week, which have been described by Transport for London (TfL) as “completely unnecessary”. In a fresh blow to London businesses, the entire London Underground network will be disrupted for two 24-hour chunks – from midday Tuesday to Wednesday – and then the same time period [...]
Nick Candy eyes payday after £275m home sale to Labour donor April 16, 2026 Reform UK fundraiser Nick Candy is looking to cash in on his assets after it was revealed that he sold his £275m home to a former Labour donor in what was put down as the largest house purchase in history. Quadrature Capital’s Suneil Setiya bought the hidden Chelsea mansion from Candy, according to the Financial [...]
UK economy jumped above forecasts before Iran war April 16, 2026 The UK economy was growing ahead of expectations before the war in the Middle East erupted, official data has shown. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said GDP grew by 0.5 per cent over February, though City analysts have suggested the figures are “too good to be true” given trends seen in recent years. In [...]
FTSE 100 Live: Entain leads modest stock jump; Surprise growth ‘pushed to rear view’ April 16, 2026 Good morning and welcome back to the Morning Wire liveblog. Markets are betting the latest round of peace talks will bring some resolution to the conflict in the Middle East. US markets managed to clinch a record high close on the latest news of peace talks but in London the FTSE 100 splintered and finished [...]
Reeves says diplomacy is ‘best economy policy’ as UK tax burden to mount April 15, 2026 Chancellor Rachel Reeves has said that de-escalating the war in the Middle East is the “best economic policy” to protect growth as the International Monetary Fund showed the UK tax burden was set to deepen at a faster pace than any country. Speaking at a CNBC event in Washington, Reeves doubled down on her attacks [...]