Thames Water faces fresh threat to survival after pensions regulation breach Water Thames Water is facing a fresh threat to its survival after breaching pensions regulations, opening up the possibility of a costly probe. The Reading-based business, which could run out of cash as soon as December, missed a statutory deadline at the end of June to value its company pension scheme and is now facing a [...]
El Nino heatwaves to ‘fuel inflation next year’ Economics The ‘Super El Nino’ triggering record temperatures across Europe could add a full percentage point to inflation next year, hampering central bank efforts to slow down price rises, a top investment bank has warned. According to an analysis by Jefferies, harsh weather unleashed by the meteorological phenomenon will pose “an inflationary threat” next year and [...]
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 [...]
No 10 backs ‘vertical drinking’ in Soho pubs August 7, 2026 Downing Street has waded into the debate over so-called “vertical drinking” and called on Westminster City Council to “work with” the industry to maintain the culture of pints outside London pubs. “Busy pubs full of people talking to each other is not a public nuisance, it is British life and it is thousands of jobs,” [...]
As it happened: Stocks rise despite new tensions in Strait of Hormuz; Oil price climbs August 7, 2026 Welcome back to the Morning Wire liveblog. New tensions in the Strait of Hormuz this morning are leaving markets on edge and handing a blow to earlier optimism around a peace deal between the US and Iran. Oil is moving higher, reversing some of the drawback from the beginning of this week, after an attack [...]
UK debt ‘hits £3 trillion’ milestone August 6, 2026 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 [...]
As it happened: Stocks fall into red as oil fluctuates over Middle East developments August 6, 2026 Welcome back to the Morning Wire liveblog. Oil prices have fluctuated around the $80 mark over the last 24 hours following mixed developments coming out of the Middle East. Brent crude – the international benchmark for oil prices – was heading towards $79 per barrel on Thursday morning, holding up a near 10 per cent [...]
‘Social value’ procurement rules are an absurd waste of time and money August 6, 2026 Procurement is not a sexy topic, but stay with me here. The public sector spends around £400bn a year buying goods and services from the private sector. You can imagine the scale: NHS equipment and Ministry of Defence gear, police cars and IT infrastructure, immigration processing centres, security guards, construction projects and fax machines. It’s [...]
Investors ‘may be less than impressed’ by John Healey’s £9bn borrowing plans August 5, 2026 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 [...]
Want to be as rich as retirees? Buy shares in them August 5, 2026 Firms selling to British retirees have rocketed in value this year – Simon Hunt asks why. The Nasdaq 100 is up around 14 per cent since the start of the year, at the time of writing, while the FTSE 350 is up 9 per cent. But one stock portfolio is doing better than both. I [...]