Author: Blake Anderson

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.A government scheme to boost the provision of dental care across England has “comprehensively failed” and actually resulted in fewer new patients seeing an NHS dentist, according to an influential cross-party group of MPs. A damning report by the House of Commons public accounts committee (PAC) on Friday warned that the last Conservative government’s “dental recovery plan” has exacerbated the crisis facing the sector. In February last year, ministers vowed to create an additional 2.5mn appointments and allocated £200mn towards their plan…

Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for freeYour guide to what the 2024 US election means for Washington and the worldSir Keir Starmer claimed on Wednesday that his patient diplomacy with Donald Trump had been vindicated, after the US president slapped a 10 per cent “reciprocal” tariff on UK exports, half the EU’s 20 per cent rate.Downing Street said the prime minister’s approach had saved thousands of jobs, but Starmer will now continue to negotiate a UK-US trade deal which he hopes will ultimately cut the US tariff on British exports.Number 10 was relieved that Trump had spared Britain the…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Britain’s two leading environmental protection and conservation agencies will be set new objectives to ensure they are not “blocking” development or nature restoration projects, the government will announce on Wednesday.The Environment Agency (EA) and Natural England will be given clear remits by environment secretary Steve Reed to work for the public and not “get in the way of progress”.“We will be working with those regulators and others to make sure they are prioritising economic growth,” Reed said in an interview.The EA is…

UK consumers are about to be hit by a series of price increases from this month, in what parts of the British media are dubbing “awful April”. Increases to water, energy and telecoms bills will push up inflation, even as chancellor Rachel Reeves’ £25bn boost to employers’ national insurance kicks in, leading employers both to raise prices and to curb wages.Kemi Badenoch, Conservative party leader, will cite the price increases as she attacks the Labour government, warning that the “true cost of Rachel Reeves will really hit home with a vicious cocktail of bill increases and price rises”. Mel Stride, shadow…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.An artificial intelligence tool to mark schoolchildren’s homework is being developed using a trove of UK government data, ahead of plans to sell public records including health information within a decade. A new government scheme has pooled public documents such as curriculum guidance, lesson plans and anonymised pupil assessments, which are now being used to train AI models, including one that can mark children’s work and provide detailed feedback. The “content store” — created by UK company Faculty AI with £4mn of…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.The UK government should replace the windfall tax on oil and gas “as soon as practicable”, a business-led task force has said, warning the window of opportunity to secure the future of the North Sea is “closing fast”. The North Sea Transition Taskforce, backed by the British Chambers of Commerce, said ministers have chosen to “wait too long” with their decision to replace the “flawed” energy profits levy in 2030. The current effective tax rate of 78 per cent on oil and…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Ministers plan to cancel thousands of UK government credit cards in response to concerns about waste after spending on these accounts quadrupled in the past five years to £675mn.The government will freeze around 20,000 so-called procurement cards, which have been handed out to officials in Whitehall departments and agencies since their introduction in 1997 to purchase necessary, lower value goods and services.Officials will have to reapply for the taxpayer-funded cards and make the case for retaining them, with around half expected to…

Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for freeYour guide to what the 2024 US election means for Washington and the worldDonald Trump has specialised in heaping scorn on America’s traditional allies since arriving in the White House, but on Thursday he adopted a strikingly new approach: lavishing praise on a “fantastic” Britain and his “special” guest, Sir Keir Starmer.The UK prime minister was a “special man”, King Charles was “a beautiful man” and Starmer’s wife Vic was “a beautiful, great woman”.Trump even described Starmer’s accent as “beautiful”.The show of appreciation, conducted over several hours of negotiations in the White House,…

Stay informed with free updatesSimply sign up to the UK employment myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox.Ministers are developing artificial intelligence tools to write CVs and covering letters for jobseekers, as they seek to free up Jobcentre staff to work on more complex cases and reduce the UK’s welfare bill.Officials hope to set out their plans within a year and are working to establish if the tools can be built in-house or would need to be contracted from the private sector, according to people briefed on the plans. “Work coaches’ time is so limited and they could be doing…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Britain and India will relaunch talks on a long-awaited trade deal, kick-starting negotiations that timed out due to elections in both countries last year.UK business secretary Jonathan Reynolds will meet Indian commerce minister Piyush Goyal in New Delhi on Monday for two days of discussions.British investment minister Poppy Gustafsson is expected to address investors in the business centres of Mumbai and Bengaluru to pitch the UK as the “best and most connected place” for Indian capital.Advanced manufacturing, clean energy, financial services, and…