Exclusive: Reynolds never met Thames Water investors before rejecting rescue deal July 1, 2026 Environment secretary Emma Reynolds never met the investors behind a proposed Thames Water rescue package before slapping down their deal out of hand last month, City AM can reveal. Reynolds, who is the minister responsible for water policy, has left officials in her department to meet representatives of a large creditors’ group, which includes investment [...]
UK banks’ digital ID bid is a game of optics – and the odds are not in their favour July 1, 2026 A digital ID row has dominated headlines in the last year, and banks are set to join the row. In this week’s column, Samuel Norman takes a look at what they might be in for. Britain’s banks have voluntarily thrown themselves into one of the most toxic culture wars of the decade. Few subjects evoke [...]
Rolls-Royce and BAE shares fired up on Starmer defence investment plan June 30, 2026 London-listed defence stocks including Rolls-Royce and BAE Systems shot higher on Tuesday as investors backed the main beneficiaries of Keir Starmer’s £15bn expansion in military spending. The outgoing prime minister unveiled the government’s long-awaited Defence Investment Plan in a speech in Berkshire. He appeared alongside the Chancellor Rachel Reeves and Defence Secretary Dan Jarvis. The [...]
UK economy’s growth revised down amid first-quarter spurt June 30, 2026 The UK economy grew by 0.6 per cent in the first quarter of the year, the Office for National Statistics has confirmed, yet the final figure for growth last year was revised down slightly. The ONS said on Tuesday that the UK economy grew at a faster pace than many had expected at the beginning [...]
Andaz Lisbon: A long weekend in the City of Seven Hills June 30, 2026 Known for its butter-yellow trams and buttery natas, Lisbon has long been one of Europe’s most popular city breaks. Carys Sharkey checks into the Andaz to gain a fresh perspective on this ancient city Lisbon is known as the City of Seven Hills, but speak to locals and they’ll joke that it feels like a [...]
Why English literature graduates shouldn’t be Prime Minister June 30, 2026 Andy Burnham is set to be the first ever English Literature graduate to serve as Prime Minister. James Ford is very concerned I have a problem with Andy Burnham. It isn’t his litany of U-turns and policy flip flops. It isn’t that he wears a t-shirt with a suit (a bad look on anyone, but [...]
Italy holidays: how to do Positano well, as Netflix moves in June 30, 2026 Italy holidays: Positano is about to appear for its close-up. Here’s how to do it well Coco Chanel needed only a suntan and a scandalous pair of beach pyjamas to turn the French Riviera from a winter health resort into Europe’s most coveted summer address. A generation later, Positano stole the crown. All it took [...]
Starmer to unveil hotly debated Defence Investment Plan in final act June 29, 2026 Sir Keir Starmer will unveil the highly-anticipated Defence Investment Plan in one of his final acts as Prime Minister. Starmer will publish full funding plans for the Defence Investment Plan (Dip), the government’s 10-year blueprint for armed forces, on Tuesday. He will say that more than £5bn over four years will be invested into drones, [...]
Is Andy Burnham a left-wing Liz Truss? June 29, 2026 Say what you like about Andy Burnham (and I intend to say a lot) but he’s not short on ambition. Armed with a single by election victory he now intends to oversee “the biggest change in our lifetime to the way Britain is run.” The PM-in-waiting had popped down to London for some selfies before [...]
Sky owner Comcast announces plan to split June 29, 2026 Comcast, the US media behemoth which owns Sky TV, has announced plans to split in two. The deal comes just as Sky is agreeing terms of a multi-billion-pound acquisition of part of ITV, which would unite the UK’s biggest pay-TV provider with the channels and streaming platform of its dominant free-to-air service. London traders looked unperturbed at [...]