Author: Blake Anderson

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Nigel Farage’s Reform UK has introduced looser vetting criteria for all new candidates, even as it battles fresh controversy after one of its MPs suspended himself from the party amid an investigation into Covid loans.Reform introduced a new set of “common sense” candidate vetting standards on Monday, which are designed to be “more proportionate” and strike a better balance between party reputation and freedom of expression. An email sent to Reform members on Friday, and seen by the Financial Times, said: “We’re…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.The UK government is taking steps to rein in employers’ use of “gagging clauses” to cover up workplace harassment, in a set of changes championed by the whistleblower at the heart of the Harvey Weinstein scandal. Government-backed amendments to the employment rights bill would make non-disclosure agreements null and void when they were used by employers against employees who had been subjected to harassment, including sexual harassment and discrimination, the government said.The provisions would also allow people who witness harassment to “call it…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.UK officials are hopeful that the country’s steel industry will avoid being slapped with a 50 per cent tariff by Donald Trump when a deadline expires on Wednesday for nations to negotiate tariff deals with the US president.London is locked in intensive talks with Washington to fully implement the “economic partnership” agreement signed by both sides on May 8. The accord offered a zero-tariff quota for UK steelmakers, but has not been agreed two months later.A spokesperson for Prime Minister Sir Keir…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Sir Keir Starmer is set to host French President Emmanuel Macron on a three-day state visit with irregular migration and defence on the agenda, but a deal to allow the UK to return asylum seekers to France is yet to be reached.    Macron will give a speech before parliament on Tuesday to be followed on Thursday by in-depth talks with the UK prime minister, just before a virtual meeting with Ukraine’s European backers about maintaining military support as Russia steps up attacks.But UK…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Exceptionalism has been one of few constants in the otherwise sinuous story of the English state. The nation split from the Catholic church, clung on to monarchy, evolved into an empire spanning a quarter of the globe and introduced its de facto lingua franca. Even after its domain dwindled, self-belief lingered sufficiently to persuade a majority of its voters to separate themselves from their closest trading partner.Despite proudly carrying the baggage of centuries of invasions, conquests, dynasties and destinies, a newly unmoored…

Stay informed with free updatesSimply sign up to the UK tax myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox.Downing Street has declined to categorically rule out imposing a “wealth tax” on Britain’s richest people after former Labour leader Lord Neil Kinnock said such a levy was a good way to fill a growing hole in the public finances.Chancellor Rachel Reeves is under mounting pressure to raise taxes after last week’s £5bn retreat on welfare savings despite having ruled out a wealth tax on several occasions, including in April this year.Kinnock has called for a 2 per cent tax on assets…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.A maternity wear group that was part of the 2021 rush of London stock market listings is on the verge of collapsing into administration, two years after being taken private by its former backers at a 90 per cent discount.Seraphine Group, whose clothes were worn by Catherine, Princess of Wales, during her pregnancies, has filed notice to appoint administrators from Interpath Advisory, people familiar with the matter told the Financial Times. Seraphine floated in July 2021 with “BUMP” as its stock market…

Ministers must devolve more powers to prison governors and align the “free-spinning cogs” of the justice system in England and Wales if they want overcrowding and reoffending rates to fall, the sector’s chief inspector has warned. Charlie Taylor said jails remained “massively overcrowded” despite “expedient decisions” by the government to ease a capacity crunch over the past year, and that a better prison system required more staff autonomy and rehabilitation opportunities for inmates. “The amount of central control is absolutely staggering,” he told the FT. “Governors are not able to make decisions about some really basic stuff, like buying a new washing…

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. There were an awful lot of analyses of Labour’s first year in office in the weekend’s papers (including mine). But the most significant thing behind Labour’s difficult first year lies in something that happened under the last Labour government, which we still haven’t recovered fully from: the global financial crisis. Some thoughts on that in today’s note.Inside Politics is edited by…

Stay informed with free updatesSimply sign up to the House & Home myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox.Did people not take their shoes off as much in the 1980s? Because when I was a child, there wasn’t a snowdrift of abandoned shoes at the front door, like there is in my house now. I’m sure we just walked around indoors, wearing shoes, and took them off to go to bed. But times have changed. It seems we’re all removing our shoes as soon as we step into our own — and each other’s — homes. Going for dinner…