Reeves unveils ‘Great British Summer Savings’ at cost to energy giants May 21, 2026 Chancellor Rachel Reeves has unveil edthe government’s “Great British Summer Savings” campaign, committing hundreds of millions of pounds to lower costs for families by taxing energy companies more. Under a new price adjustment set by the government, children aged five to 15 will be able to travel free on participating local bus services across England from [...]
Former deputy PM Dominic Raab moves into PR with advisory role at Kreab May 21, 2026 Dominic Raab, the former deputy prime minister, is joining the City arm of communications consultancy Kreab as a senior adviser specialising in defence and intelligence. Raab’s new role will see him advising clients on defence and security challenges, including domestic politics, public policy and international geopolitics. Kreab, a leading global strategic communications and public affairs consultancy, [...]
New HS2 budget to blow £33bn hole in public finances May 21, 2026 The government will need to find as much as £33bn in additional cash from tax and spending measures or from other departments to fund its revamped plans to deliver HS2. According to a City AM analysis, the Department for Transport’s updated proposals for the rail line require between £18bn and £33bn of additional public money [...]
Former Tory MP set to call Sunak in libel spat with Hancock May 20, 2026 The Court of Appeal is set to hear the latest chapter in a libel claim brought by expelled Tory MP Andrew Bridgen against former ex-health minister Matt Hancock MP. The legal battle between the ex-politicians erupted in January 2023, when Hancock posted on social media about Bridgen after the Tories suspended him over a “disgraceful” [...]
‘Obscene’ – HS2 on track to cost at least £102bn as minister slams ‘gold-plated folly’ May 19, 2026 HS2 is now poised to cost the taxpayer as much as £102bn and will not run from Euston until at least 2040, according to the transport secretary who blasted the project as a “massively over-specced folly”. Heidi Alexander said the cost of the ill-fated train line was now on course to nearly double from the [...]
Capital won’t wait for Westminster to sort itself out May 19, 2026 Britain can’t afford to spend the next six months navel gazing. We need to get serious about investing, says Katie Perrior Last month I woke up in Austin, Texas, pulled back the curtains in my hotel room and looked out across a skyline punctuated by cranes. Not just a handful of projects but dozens. Much [...]
AI security officials test Anthropic cyber threat as Bank of England to convene chiefs April 11, 2026 AI minister Kanishka Narayan has said that Anthropic’s new cyber model was the most powerful seen yet as finance chiefs from the Bank of England and Treasury are set to meet next week to discuss the threats posed to the financial sector. Narayan revealed that Claude Mythos, a new model that was held back from [...]
Inter Alia play review: spring’s must-book West End ticket April 9, 2026 Inter Alia play review and star rating: ★★★★ When Inter Alia sold out its run, garnering a swathe of positive reviews at the National Theatre last summer, the idea of the ‘Manosphere’ felt fairly fringey. Adolescence had just come out, which proved to be a thorough and fascinating examination of misogyny and its tendrils within [...]
14 charts reveal the massive challenges facing UK and NATO defence spending April 7, 2026 Defence spending is casting a shadow over Downing Street. Military officers are in a state of despair. The choices facing Sir Keir Starmer are stark. The political calculus for the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, has become more complicated than ever as the Iran war puts public finances in danger. Their difficulties go back to February 2025 [...]
UK eyes London expansion for Anthropic after US defence clash April 5, 2026 The government is looking to lure AI giant Anthropic to expand its presence in the UK, in a bid to capitalise on the start-up’s clash with the US defence deparment. First reported in the Financial Times, staff at the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) have sketched out proposals for the $380bn (£287.4bn) company, [...]