Economy

It is worth being precise about the headline. The Commission's £258bn is not the total cost of Britain's infrastructure pipeline, nor an estimate of national decay. It is the gap between what the state has committed and what would be required to build the …

The immediate cause is supply, not demand. A cluster of disruptions across the Middle East and North Africa has removed barrels from the market and rattled traders. Saudi Arabia reportedly suspended some shipments after drone attacks forced the temporary closure of its East-West pipeline, …

Economists describe the way aCentral Bankresponds to incoming data as its "reaction function". In simplified form, the MPC leans towards higher rates when it sees the economy running hot — strong demand, tight labour markets and accelerating pay — and towards lower rates when …

The most recent official snapshot, published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in September, covers the three months to July 2026. It describes gradual weakening rather than collapse. The unemployment rate stood at 4.9% for the May-to-July period, up 0.2 percentage points on …

The car industry faces two overlapping pressures. The first is a long-scheduled tightening of the TCA's rules of origin. From 1 January 2027, an electric vehicle traded tariff-free between the UK and EU must contain 55% combined UK-EU value added, with 70% of the …

The phrase covers a bundle of measures, the most significant of which is the draft Industrial Accelerator Act, published by the European Commission in March 2026. It is a proposal, not law: the European Parliament and member states must still negotiate it, a process …

The headline figures are substantial. The UK spent roughly 2.3% of GDP on defence in 2025 (on NATO's measure) and is expected to reach about 2.6% in 2026. Ministers have pledged to raise core defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027 — or …