Author: Blake Anderson

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Britain’s Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer may have hoped for a more enthusiastic reaction to the long-awaited launch of his government’s industrial strategy on Monday. But it has been overtaken by other events this week, from developments in the Middle East, to a mounting rebellion from his own party over a proposal to cut welfare payments, which risks undermining his premiership.Still, the 160-page document marks an important moment for Britain’s economy. It identifies eight priority sectors including advanced manufacturing, life sciences and…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.The Bank of England is seeing increasing evidence that companies are responding to higher national insurance contributions by cutting hiring, working hours and pay, Andrew Bailey said, as he flagged a softening in the jobs market. The BoE governor said on Thursday that interest rates were likely to remain on a gradual downward path, predicting that growth will slow after a strong first quarter. The central bank would need to maintain a “restrictive monetary policy stance” as it sought to squeeze out remaining persistence…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.The number of foreign direct investment projects in the UK has fallen to the lowest level since records began 18 years ago, highlighting the challenge facing the government as it seeks to revive overseas interest in Britain and spur growth.In the financial year ending this March, 1,375 FDI projects landed in the UK, according to data published by the Department for Business and Trade on Thursday.The figure was down 12 per cent from the previous year and the lowest since records began…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Ultimately, there is only one constitutional reason someone is prime minister. They are there because they can command a majority in the House of Commons. No longer do they fall the moment they lose a vote, but once that spell (and power over their own MPs) is broken, they rarely recover.Less than a year after his landslide victory, Keir Starmer is facing just such a defining moment. If the next few days go badly, we may well look back on this as…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.The UK’s largest Jewish representative body has suspended five of its deputies for two years and issued a warning to more than two dozen others after they signed an open letter criticising the Israeli government’s war against Hamas in Gaza. The decision by the Board of Deputies of British Jews comes after it launched a probe into 36 deputies who signed a letter published in the Financial Times in April that was highly critical of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right government.It…

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. How might the government get out of the hole it has dug for itself over welfare cuts? It has three possible ways out. Here they are, ranked from the best to the worst option (politically speaking). Labour could go for the old, old trick that administrations under pressure often reach for, which is to make a big and eye-catching concession the…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Downing Street has indicated that Sir Keir Starmer will offer compromises to try to buy off rebel MPs who are threatening to unleash the biggest rebellion of his premiership next week over controversial welfare cuts.A rising number of Labour MPs are planning to vote against the bill on Tuesday, with one ringleader telling the FT they demand a “wholesale rethink” of the measures rather than minor tweaks to the plans. A Number 10 aide said on Thursday morning that conversations were taking…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Associated British Foods has upped the stakes in its stand-off with the UK government over the future of the country’s largest bioethanol plant, as a new trade pact with the US threatens to flood the market with tariff-free ethanol.The grocery and retail conglomerate said on Thursday that it had entered formal negotiations with officials over the future of the Vivergo biofuel business, and had launched a consultation with employees to effect a “wind-down” of the facility in case those talks failed. “Unless…

County Durham’s former mining communities are 300 miles away from the small boats of illegal immigrants reaching the British coastline via the English Channel.The area has half the national rate of asylum seekers living within its boundaries and contains none of the asylum hotels that became flashpoints for riots in many parts of northern England last summer. Reform UK’s anti-asylum rhetoric nonetheless found sufficiently fertile territory in these communities at last month’s local elections that it helped propel the party to power in county hall.Councillor Darren Grimes, the new Reform deputy leader of Durham county council, tells stories about “fighting-age men”…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Several major pieces of government legislation including Labour’s flagship employment rights overhaul will not become law until at least the autumn after being caught up in the grindingly slow parliamentary process. Bills on employment rules and reforming the rental market were widely expected to achieve “final assent” that makes them law before the summer recess, when MPs disappear on holiday from late July until early September. Ministers had also hoped to publish the draft audit reform bill “no later than summer recess”, but this…