Author: Blake Anderson

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Germany has paused the processing of asylum claims from Syrians, a move replicated by the UK and several EU countries after the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s government.Germany’s interior ministry said on Monday that more than 47,000 asylum claims had been put on hold while Berlin awaited more clarity on the situation in Syria. For the time being, Syrian applications would be pushed down the pile and “other asylum decisions would be prioritised”, it said.The UK, Austria, Finland and Greece also halted the…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Although her tenure is barely more than a month old, I can already tell what is going to annoy me most about Kemi Badenoch’s leadership of the Conservative party. It is the dismissal of her political interventions with the phrase “America-brained”. A speech that she made last week (in Washington, naturally) was widely criticised for its focus on American topics, for its American audience, its use of American English and its supposed disconnection from the concerns of the British voting public.The argument…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Rachel Reeves has called on the EU to drop “unnecessary” trade barriers with the UK to boost economic growth, on a landmark visit to Brussels. The UK chancellor told journalists before the meeting of Euro area countries that she aimed to persuade fellow finance ministers to improve the post-Brexit relationship, given that both the UK and EU have “struggled” with growth. “The number one mission of this government is to grow the economy and . . . to see people’s living standards improve,” she said. “And…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Ministers should temporarily take over Thames Water to avoid a “slow death” for the heavily indebted company and contagion of other UK utilities, according to a former government adviser and Oxford university professor.Sir Dieter Helm on Monday urged the government and Ofwat to bring Britain’s largest privatised water utility under the special administration regime to allow a “proper restructuring” and enable management to focus on infrastructure improvements over a deal with creditors.Ministers and the regulator have so far opposed special administration, under…

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. Barring some crisis or row that it would be eccentric to overlook, I thought I’d spend this week discussing in more detail the policy questions the Labour government needs to grapple with, if it wants to meet its refined objectives. Today: some thoughts on civil service reform, specifically civil service pay.Inside Politics is edited by Georgina Quach. Read the previous edition…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Some 40 years ago, the UK became a pioneer in the privatisation of publicly owned industries. Initially the focus was upon a few large businesses. But over time this changed, as the government privatised monopolies or quasi-monopolies and then went on to contract with private suppliers of a wide range of sensitive public services. The experience has now been lengthy and varied enough to learn some important lessons, the most important of which is that the basic principles of economics matter.If a…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.The push by UK companies to diversify their boardrooms is stalling, with fewer ethnic minority directors appointed in 2024 and women still struggling to occupy the most senior roles such as chair and chief executive, new data shows. Headhunter Spencer Stuart, which carried out the research, said there was a risk that some companies were now “resting on their laurels” after meeting targets for minimum levels of representation for minorities. “Part of the reason we are seeing diversity appointments decrease or stall is…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Water regulator Ofwat employed several consultancies at the same time they were advising water and sewerage companies, raising conflict of interest concerns. Five advisory groups, including PwC and Deloitte, were contracted by the regulator for England and Wales over the past six years while also providing regulatory or management advice to water companies, according to research from government contracting experts Tussell. Ofwat remains locked in negotiations with water companies over the price increases they can charge customers for the next five years.…

Demand for staff in the UK was the weakest for four years in November as Budget tax increases have spread gloom over the pre-Christmas jobs market, according to a survey of UK recruiters. KPMG and the Recruitment and Employers Confederation, which published the monthly report on Monday, said a drop in its vacancies index, from 46.1 to 43.9, pointed to the sharpest contraction in job openings since August 2020. The survey also showed a steep drop in staff placements. Jon Holt, group chief executive and UK senior partner at KPMG, said businesses were “having to weigh up the prospect of…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Local council committees would be bypassed on planning decisions to prevent “damaging delays” to building homes, prisons and infrastructure under proposals to be put forward by Sir Keir Starmer as he seeks to reach ambitious housebuilding targets. Ministers will set out plans on Monday that would allow locally-appointed planning officers to greenlight projects that comply with existing development plans, avoiding scrutiny from local council committees that can often lead to months of wrangling and indecision. Deputy prime minister Angela Rayner said on Sunday…