Reuters UK Domestic

By Elizabeth Piper, Andrew MacAskill and Alistair Smout MANCHESTER, England (Reuters) – Prime Minister Rishi Sunak portrayed himself as a tough decision maker and an agent of change on Wednesday, seeking to break with the scandals and chaos of his Conservative predecessors and show the party he can help it win an upcoming election. With …

Analysis-A new chapter? ‘Tough’ Sunak hopes to win over Britain Read More »

By Alistair Smout and Sarah Young MANCHESTER (Reuters) – British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak cancelled the northern leg of the costly HS2 high-speed rail project on Wednesday and pledged to invest billions of pounds in local rail and road links instead, saying it was more suitable for a post-pandemic world. The move to cut in …

UK PM Sunak offers billions for new links after scrapping HS2 northern leg Read More »

MANCHESTER, England (Reuters) -Britain’s government on Wednesday proposed banning younger generations from ever buying cigarettes, a move that would give the country some of the world’s toughest smoking rules and hurt the sales of major tobacco firms. If passed into law, the smoking age would rise by one year every year, potentially phasing out smoking …

Britain proposes ban on cigarettes for younger generations Read More »

MANCHESTER, England (Reuters) – British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Wednesday set out plans to overhaul post-16 education in England with a new qualification and promised a tax-free bonus of up to 30,000 pounds ($36,372) to help attract and retain teachers in key school subjects. The government said it would provide an initial 600 million …

UK to overhaul post-16 education in England with new qualification Read More »

LONDON (Reuters) -Britain’s West Midlands Mayor Andy Street will not resign from the governing Conservative Party over Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s decision to cancel the planned HS2 high-speed railway linking Birmingham to Manchester. In the run-up to Sunak’s official announcement, Street had been highly critical of reports the northern leg of the HS2 railway would …

Regional UK mayor Street says he won’t resign over cuts to HS2 railway Read More »

LONDON (Reuters) – As Rishi Sunak prepared to deliver a major policy speech on Wednesday, the British prime minister received a surprise introduction from his “best friend”: his wife Akshata Murty. The generally media-shy Murty, the daughter of an Indian software billionaire, took the stage at the annual Conservative Party conference just before Sunak was …

UK’s Sunak introduced by ‘best friend’ Akshata before major speech Read More »

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain is cancelling the construction of a key section of the costly HS2 high-speed railway, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said on Wednesday, angering people and businesses in northern England, a region that would have benefited from the project. Below is a detailed look at HS2, which has faced repeated cutbacks to its …

Explainer-What’s happening to HS2, Britain’s costly high-speed railway? Read More »

LONDON (Reuters) – Tesco, Britain’s biggest supermarket, has experienced a higher level of theft this year and wants the police to work more closely with its stores, adding to the chorus of UK retailers warning about the growing problem of shoplifting. Department store John Lewis said in September that shoplifting had reached “epidemic” levels, and …

Tesco calls for police to work with retailers as theft rises Read More »

LONDON (Reuters) – British 30-year government bond yields hit a 25-year high on Wednesday, driven by a relentless sell-off of long-dated debt in the United States and elsewhere. The benchmark 30-year gilt yield touched a peak of 5.115% in early trade, its highest since September 1998 according to Refinitiv data, as British bonds caught up …

UK 30-year yield hits highest since 1998 in global bond rout Read More »