Pay increases granted by British employers stayed at three per cent in the three months to March, according to figures from human resources data firm Brightmine that are likely to be welcomed by the Bank of England. It marked the fourth consecutive rolling quarter of pay awards at that level and the joint lowest pace of increase since December 2021. BoE officials are watching closely to see how employers react to an increase in social security contributions – known in Britain as national insurance – and a higher national minimum wage. Both took effect in April. “Currently, the data isn’t…
Author: Fatimah Idera
Britain’s economic growth forecast for 2025 received the sharpest downgrade of any major European economy from the International Monetary Fund on Tuesday as the UK braces for the global fallout from the U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade tariffs. The Fund also said British inflation would be higher this year than it had thought in January, and higher than in any other Group of Seven country – showing the economic risks facing finance minister Rachel Reeves and Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey, who will attend IMF spring meetings this week. Britain remains on course to grow more strongly than France,…
The Fund manager City Of London Investment Group on Tuesday reported a $170 million outflow from emerging markets in the three months to March 31, citing uncertainty from tariffs imposed by the U.S. President Donald Trump. Trump’s tariffs have caused turbulence in global markets, creating volatile trading swings across asset classes, clouding the global economic outlook, and prompting recession fears. Read also: Trump may shut down US embassies in Africa, others City Of London said its funds under management dropped in the first half of April by $200 million compared with the end of March, and currently stood at $9.7…
Starmer British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said a landmark ruling that the legal definition of a woman under equality laws should be based on biological sex provided much-needed clarity and a clear position to underpin gender policies. Recall that the Supreme Court ruled on April 16 that single-sex services for women, such as refuges, hospital wards and sports, could exclude trans women, clearing up legal ambiguity. Read also: UK Supreme Court defines woman as biological female Starmer in his first comments since the ruling, said he welcomed it. “I think for those that are now drawing up guidance, it’s a…
With the death of Pope Francis, announced by the Vatican on Monday, Roman Catholics around the globe will start speculating on who among the red-robed cardinals will succeed him. Given the nature of cardinal appointments Francis made during his papacy, there will inevitably be some expectation that the Argentine pontiff’s successor will be another non-European, and that like Francis he could be another progressive, opposed to the Church’s conservative wing. However, the election process that will take place once Francis is buried is highly secretive and nothing will be certain until white smoke pouring from the chimney of the Sistine…
Democratic U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen met on Thursday with Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the man wrongly deported to El Salvador in a case that has pitted a defiant Trump administration against the courts and fanned the prospect of a constitutional conflict. The senator posted on X an image of himself in El Salvador with Abrego Garcia, dressed in a collared shirt, jeans and a baseball cap, a day after being denied access to the notorious prison for gang members where he has been held. “I said my main goal of this trip (to El Salvador) was to meet with Kilmar.…
Sainsbury’s Britain’s second largest food retailer after Tesco forecasted flat profit this year as it pledged to sustain its competitive edge if a price war emerges. Last month, Asda, the number three player, flagged the start of a potential price war, saying it would take a hit to profits to finance price cuts aimed at reversing a slide in its market share. Tesco responded last week, forecasting 2025/26 adjusted operating profit in a range of up to 500 million pounds lower than analysts’ consensus expectations prior to its update. It said it was sending a message that it has the…
London risks becoming an “ageing city” as Labour hammers landlords with red tape, experts have warned. Average private rents in London jumped by 9.1pc to £2,243 per month in April, according to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The typical house price in the capital stands at £556,000, according to the latest UK House Price Index. Rents have been surging since the pandemic, with a tax raid on landlords and Angela Rayner’s looming Renters’ Rights Billfuelling the problem. Labour’s legislation is set to ban “no fault” evictions and will make it harder to raise rents, prompting…
President Donald Trump of the United States of America will walk away from trying to broker a Russia-Ukraine peace deal within days unless there are clear signs that a deal can be done, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Friday. “We’re not going to continue with this endeavour for weeks and months on end. So we need to determine very quickly now, and I’m talking about a matter of days, whether or not this is doable in the next few weeks,” Rubio said in Paris after meeting European and Ukrainian leaders. “The president feels very strongly about that.…
Google illegally dominated two markets for online advertising technology, a federal judge said on Thursday, dealing another blow to the tech titan in an antitrust case brought by the U.S. U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema in Alexandria, Virginia, ruled that Google unlawfully monopolised markets for publishers and servers and the market for exchanges, which sit between buyers and sellers. Antitrust enforcers failed to show the company had a monopoly in advertising ad networks, she wrote. The ruling could allow prosecutors to argue for a breakup of Google’s advertising products. The U.S. Department of Justice has said that Google should have…
