China’s out to destroy our steel industry? We can do that on our own. April 15, 2025 The two remaining furnaces at the Scunthorpe steel plant, known as Anne and Bess, have blasted through plenty of crises over the course of their long lives and now, thanks to an emergency effort by ministers to source enough materials to keep them fed, it seems they’ll roar for a few more years. But it [...]
Why the UK can’t get a grip of its energy crisis April 14, 2025 A months-long cost-of-living crisis, state bailouts of consumer energy bills, endless planning rows, judicial interventions and now the near-collapse of Britain’s only manufacturer of virgin steel all show different sides to the UK’s ongoing energy crisis. Its dependency on foreign imports, poor planning of infrastructure and lack of control over soaring bills means the extent [...]
British Steel: No 10 won’t rule out future Chinese involvement in steel making April 14, 2025 No 10 has declined to rule out future Chinese involvement in steel making, amid a race to keep the British Steel furnaces alight in Scunthorpe. The UK government has now said it is “confident” it will beat a race against time to keep the site running after taking control of the plant from Chinese owners [...]
Government’s privacy dispute with Apple ‘really strange’, expert says April 14, 2025 The government’s position in its privacy and encryption row with Apple is “really strange” and “doesn’t make sense”, an expert has said. Earlier this year, it was reported that the government had issued a notice under the Investigatory Powers Act 2016, asking Apple for the ability to access data from Apple users. This was said [...]
Reynolds fails to confirm British Steel will get raw materials required April 13, 2025 The business secretary has declined to guarantee that British Steel will be able to secure enough raw materials in time to keep the Scunthorpe blast furnaces going. Jonathan Reynolds said he would not “make my situation or the nation’s situation more difficult” by commenting on specific commercial details, the day after taking emergency powers to [...]
Reynolds issues guidance to British Steel after MPs back emergency law April 13, 2025 The business secretary Jonathan Reynolds has issued instructions to British Steel, using the emergency powers approved by Parliament on Saturday to save the Scunthorpe blast furnaces. A government source confirmed that Reynolds had given directions to the company following the extraordinary sitting of Parliament. But they declined to give details of those instructions, saying they [...]
Cabinet Office to shed 2,100 jobs as government shrinks civil service April 10, 2025 The Cabinet Office will lose almost a third of its staff as Labour seeks to shrink the civil service, the government has announced. Around 1,200 jobs will go through redundancies and leavers not being replaced under plans unveiled to civil servants on Thursday, with another 900 transferred to other departments. The 2,100 job cuts represent [...]
UK-India trade deal reportedly 90 per cent agreed, businesses told April 10, 2025 The UK’s trade deal with India is reportedly 90 per cent agreed, businesses have been told, according to a report in the Guardian. Firms were informed on a call with trade negotiators this week that some remaining issues included cars, pharmaceutical drugs and the whisky trade, the newspaper reported, with India currently the largest overseas [...]
Starmer says UK government must ‘rise to the moment’ on tariffs April 10, 2025 The UK government needs to “rise to the moment”, Sir Keir Starmer said, adding that he would not “pretend” US President Donald Trump’s tariffs are “good news”. Speaking this morning after Trump announced a 90-day pause in his sweeping global tariffs, while raising his tax rate on Chinese imports to 125 per cent, the Prime [...]
US tariffs: Reeves stresses ‘imperative’ to improve UK-EU trading relations April 9, 2025 Rachel Reeves has stressed it is “imperative” for the UK to improve its trading relationship with the European Union (EU), amid US President Donald Trump’s global trade tariff war. The Chancellor’s comments emerged in an interview with the Financial Times (FT) ahead of a crucial summit with EU leaders in London next month. Reeves told [...]