UK unemployment has risen to 5.1%, a four-year high, while private-sector wage growth has slowed to its weakest pace since November 2020. The data complicates the Bank of England's policy stance amid Middle East-driven inflation pressures.
The Bank of England held interest rates at 3.75% in its April decision, voting 8-1 to pause the cutting cycle as the Iran conflict pushes oil prices to a four-year high and inflation rises to 3.3%. Next decision: 18 June.
Three years after the Conservatives’ “Levelling Up” agenda was quietly shelved by the incoming Labour government, replaced by a new framework of “Regional Growth Missions,” the fundamental question that animated the original policy remains stubbornly unresolved: is the UK’s extreme…
UK manufacturing output declined for the third consecutive month in March, according to data from the Office for National Statistics released on Thursday, with the sector contracting by 0.4% compared to February as export orders weakened and domestic demand remained…
Chancellor Rachel Reeves unveiled a £40 billion infrastructure and green energy spending package on Wednesday in her Spring Spending Review, the most ambitious public investment programme since the post-war reconstruction era. The package, spread over five years to 2031, allocates…
UK unemployment rose to 4.6% in the three months to February 2026, the Office for National Statistics reported on Wednesday, continuing a gradual upward trend that began in mid-2025 as the effects of higher employer National Insurance contributions and a…
The UK economy expanded by 0.5% in the first quarter of 2026, the Office for National Statistics confirmed on Friday, comfortably exceeding the consensus forecast of 0.3% and providing a welcome boost to Chancellor Rachel Reeves ahead of her spring…
