Author: Blake Anderson

This article is an on-site version of our Inside Politics newsletter. Subscribers can sign up here to get the newsletter delivered every weekday. If you’re not a subscriber, you can still receive the newsletter free for 30 daysGood morning. The government will — about a minute after this arrives in your inbox — unveil the full details of their planned changes to the UK immigration system, which I will write about tomorrow (and tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow). For now, Georgina has an excellent scoop, which I think illuminates the debate British politics should be having about immigration, but isn’t.…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Cobalt Holdings has said it plans to list in London in June in an initial public offering that will see commodities trader Glencore take a 10 per cent stake in the metal investment company.Cobalt Holdings said on Monday it planned to raise about $230mn from the flotation, with Glencore and investment firm Anchorage acting as cornerstone investors and taking an aggregate 20.5 per cent stake. The groups are betting that the clean energy transition will drive demand for cobalt, which is used…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has announced a migration crackdown to finally honour the Brexiter promise to “take back control”, warning that without action Britain risked becoming “an island of strangers”.In sweeping reforms to Britain’s immigration system, migrants to the UK will need to spend a decade in the country before applying to settle unless they can show “a real and lasting contribution to the economy and society”.The proposal to end automatic settlement after five years is part of planned curbs…

Some find hope in blue skies or a lover’s eyes. I find it in a steaming bowl of peas. A bowl of peas with Maldon sea salt and a lick of butter. On darker days, with ketchup or cheese. If you ever find yourself on the brink of despair, invest in a 1.2kg bag of Birds Eye peas (there are other growers, of course, but none truly compare). As Ed Grace, head chef at Italian-inspired restaurant Trullo says, “alongside asparagus and strawberries, peas are undoubtedly the best kind of British produce you can get”. The UK’s cool, wet climate makes for…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Sir Keir Starmer’s government will face a High Court challenge this week over the export of components for the F-35 fighter jet used by Israel.Campaigners at Palestinian human rights organisation Al-Haq are taking legal action against the Department for Business and Trade over the UK’s supply of critical parts for the combat aircraft.The Labour government last September suspended some export licences to Israel for arms used in military operations in Gaza after a British government review found possible breaches of international humanitarian…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.The job of the UK’s national statistician is unmanageable and needs to be split to overcome the crisis in the production of key economic data, according to a senior figure who led a government review last year of the UK Statistics Authority. Denise Lievesley, a former president of the Royal Statistical Society, said Sir Ian Diamond’s resignation from the post on Friday was an opportunity to redesign a role that was too wide-ranging and required too many different skills to be easily found…

Stay informed with free updatesSimply sign up to the UK employment myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox.A slowdown in the UK jobs market is hitting hiring in education and healthcare as government spending cuts bite, according to surveys that point to headcount reductions across the public sector. Business confidence is at its lowest on record, outside the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a quarterly report by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, which represents HR professionals, after increases in the minimum wage and payroll taxes took effect last month. In the private sector, the balance of employers expecting headcount to…

This article is an on-site version of our The Week Ahead newsletter. Subscribers can sign up here to get the newsletter delivered every Sunday. Explore all of our newsletters hereHello and welcome to the working week.The White House spray tan team can rest up. Donald Trump is off to the Gulf states, where the temperature promises to get into the 40s. It’s a part of the world the US president’s family knows well — Eric Trump has been striking business deals for the Trump Organization ahead of his father’s visit, first to Saudi Arabia then Qatar and the United Arab…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.The writer is director of British Future, a think-tankIs immigration just a numbers game? It shouldn’t be. The white paper expected on Monday offers the government the chance to change the UK’s debate. But the opportunity might be missed.The instinct of Sir Keir Starmer’s government would be to strike a balance between politically useful messages and rational policy. Labour wants to lambast Conservative former ministers for a loss of control, after net inflows hit an unprecedented peak of 900,000 a year in…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Care homes will no longer be able to hire overseas staff as part of a sweeping clampdown on migration that will heavily restrict UK employers’ ability to use the visa system to fill lower-skilled jobs.Home Secretary Yvette Cooper announced on Sunday that the care worker visa route would be cancelled within months, part of a migration white paper to be published on Monday which aims to radically reduce net inward migration to Britain.New rules limiting skilled worker visas to graduate level jobs…