Government urged to refuse £1bn British Steel repayment to Chinese former owner Politics Business secretary Jonathan Reynolds has been urged to refuse to pay back almost £1bn in loans to the Chinese former owners of British Steel after it was nationalised earlier this year. British Steel owed just under £1bn to companies connected to its owner Jingye Steel before it was taken into public ownership in an emergency [...]
UK debt ‘hits £3 trillion’ milestone Economics The size of the UK’s national debt has now risen above £3 trillion, analysis has suggested, reflecting the burden facing taxpayers across the country. A tracker by a rightwing campaign group and think tank has suggested that national debt had reached the long-awaited milestone after an explosion in spending since 2020. The Taxpayers’ Alliance based [...]
Investors ‘may be less than impressed’ by John Healey’s £9bn borrowing plans Economics Investors may be “less than impressed” by John Healey’s plans to increase borrowing by £9bn a year to take stakes in assets such as infrastructure, analysts have warned. On Tuesday evening, it was reported that the new Chancellor and Treasury ministers were working on a proposal to deploy billions in the direction of infrastructure, housing [...]
Citi boss fires warning at government over banking tax August 5, 2026 The boss of Citigroup has warned the government that “money votes with its feet” and there are “very viable” alternatives to London should Andy Burnham decide to hit the banking sector with higher taxes. Dame Jane Fraser, a Scot credited with turning around the third largest bank in the US, said she was “concerned” at [...]
Net zero and DEI targets cut from procurement rules as firms pressed to raise pay and hire NEETs August 5, 2026 Net zero, modern slavery and equality rules are set to be stripped from procurement rules as Andy Burnham’s premiership looks to force firms to prioritise job creation. Several major tenders for government contracts feature a list of “conditions of participation” that require firms to report on net zero, diversity, ESG –environmental, social, and governance for [...]
As it happened: Stocks rise as oil fluctuates after Red Sea attack; US-Iran deal ‘being circulated’ August 5, 2026 Welcome back to the Morning Wire liveblog. Oil prices have snapped a losing streak following Yemen’s Houthis said they had attacked a Saudi vessel in the Red Sea. Brent crude drew back above the $80 per barrel mark on Wednesday morning on the news, but prices were still down for the week by around 10 [...]
Where are Andy Burnham’s economic advisers? August 5, 2026 Andy Burnham’s allies boasted that highly-regarded economists had been lured as advisers. Mauricio Alencar and Ali Lyon report on the non-appointments of some of Britain’s best economists – and what the Prime Minister and Chancellor’s new teams look like. In the end, all it took was a few rumours. In the weeks leading up to [...]
Big bank bosses on alert as tax noise gets louder under Burnham August 5, 2026 Banks have delivered booming profits for the first half of the year. In this week’s column Samuel Norman takes a look at how the calls for a tax rise on the sector will get louder under the new Prime Minister. “The saxophones are getting louder” is the internet’s new saying to depict growing anxiety. If you [...]
Gatwick expansion green-lit as court throws out activists’ appeal August 4, 2026 Work on Gatwick Airport’s second runway can get under way after the Court of Appeal kicked out a legal challenge against the expansion project. Legal appeals brought by local resident Peter Barclay and the environmental group Communities Against Gatwick Noise Emissions (CAGNE) against the expansion of Gatwick Airport have failed in court for the second [...]
As it happened: Oil prices tumble as Bessent says US-Iran deal imminent; miner stocks rally August 4, 2026 Welcome back to the Morning Wire FTSE 100 liveblog. The price of oil tumbled on Tuesday afternoon after a senior Trump ally said that a deal over control of the Strait of Hormuz could be agreed with Iran in the coming days. The price of Brent crude – the international benchmark for oil – tumbled [...]