Author: Blake Anderson

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.A clear majority of Labour voters believe welfare spending is more important than boosting the UK defence budget, according to new polling, highlighting the political challenge facing Sir Keir Starmer as he makes the case for rearmament. The exclusive polling conducted ahead of Wednesday’s Spring Statement also revealed that voters of all parties think the government can increase spending while cutting taxes.Although voters accept there is a limit to the government’s ability to increase borrowing, the survey conducted jointly by Stonehaven and Public…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Pool Re chief executive Tom Clementi has warned that the UK’s specialist insurer against terrorism could become “obsolete or irrelevant” amid the growing threat of state-sponsored attacks.In an interview with the Financial Times, Clementi said that the evolution of terrorist activity had left the insurance sector unprepared to handle key sources of systemic risk, particularly from state-backed cyber groups.An overhaul of Pool Re’s business model, set to take effect in April, reflects a widely held view that terror risk has “bifurcated” into…

It takes a leap of imagination to see it, but on the site of a crumbling 1970s office block a 10-minute walk from Cambridge station, plans are being drawn up for a brand-new campus that could help transform the city.The project, a purpose-built, 80,000 square foot “innovation hub”, aims to bring together founders and investors to create companies that can spill out into the city’s many science parks. It is being promoted by Cambridge university and an alliance of developers and Big Tech interests.Supporters point to similar schemes such as the Station F campus in Paris, the world’s largest start-up…

Tufan Erginbilgiç took the helm of Rolls-Royce as a relative unknown, viewed by many as an unexpected appointment to one of the most prominent jobs in British industry.Two years on, investors in the engineering champion, whose engines power many of the world’s biggest airliners as well as submarines and military jets, know exactly who Erginbilgiç is. Rolls-Royce’s share price has risen eightfold since he started as chief executive in January 2023 and dividend payments have resumed. Full-year figures published last month showed the company was on track to hit its underlying operating profit and free cash flow guidance two years…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.National Grid’s chief executive has insisted the electricity transmission network remained capable of feeding enough power to Heathrow throughout the airport’s closure last week, as airlines’ anger over the decision to shut down for nearly 24 hours grew. In his first comments since the fire on Thursday night, John Pettigrew told the Financial Times that while an “unprecedented” blaze knocked out the North Hyde substation, two others serving Heathrow were working throughout the incident.“There was no lack of capacity from the substations,”…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Chancellor Rachel Reeves has ordered a £2bn Whitehall efficiency drive to help fill a hole in the public finances, but her fiscal problems could worsen in the medium term as she looks at making tax concessions to US President Donald Trump.Reeves did not deny that the UK’s £800mn annual digital services tax is on the table in trade talks with the US, an attempt to minimise the impact on Britain of Trump’s new global tariffs, expected on April 2.The chancellor has big…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Belatedly but determinedly, Europe is taking up the burden of its own defence. Part of this will be to spend more on weapons. As big a part will be to overcome the parochialism that has left arms procurement across the region uncoordinated and inefficient. That parochialism was made a lot worse by Britain leaving the EU. Goodwill and political footwork are helping to contain the impact of Brexit on the joint European security effort. The British, in particular, are keen to keep…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Britain’s chancellor Rachel Reeves did not want this week’s UK Spring Statement to be a fiscal event, but it has veered close to becoming one. Her choices in last autumn’s Budget are partly to blame.In October, she left £9.9bn of headroom against a reformed fiscal rule to balance the current budget by 2029-30. That was low by historic standards. Labour’s misguided campaign promise not to raise taxes on working people also hemmed her in. In the end, an increase to employers’ national…

Investors are bracing for a busy day on Wednesday in the UK with the release of the Chancellor’s Spring Statement and February inflation data. Both could influence investors views on monetary policy.The Office for Budget Responsibility is expected to cut its GDP growth forecast for this year from the 2 per cent forecast in October to closer to the 1 per cent forecast by economists polled by Reuters. Chancellor Rachel Reeves has said she will not raise taxes. However she is expected to announce further cuts to public spending, following a £5bn reduction on welfare.“Britain’s public finances are operating under…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.The writer is head of risk management policy at The Centre for Long-Term ResilienceInvestigators will doubtless need some time to understand the cause of the fire that closed down Heathrow airport on Friday, disrupting more than a thousand flights and affecting some 200,000 travellers. But it doesn’t take long to see how vulnerable the UK is. In this case, an electrical substation in a nearby suburb provided a single point of failure for Europe’s busiest airport.Hub airports have the energy demands of…