Economy
The Bank, the markets, prices and pay: the British economy, reported with the numbers checked.
Economy grows 0.7 per cent in the third quarter as services carry the expansion
Output rose faster between July and September than in the spring, with business services and computer programming doing most of the work, construction falling back, and September alone growing 0.2 per cent.
RWE and KKR reach financial close on a £12 billion pair of wind farms off Norfolk
Financial close on Vanguard West and Vanguard East locks in about 2.8 gigawatts of new North Sea capacity, the biggest project financing yet put together for British offshore wind, with £1 billion of it coming from the National Wealth Fund.
Chancellor cuts the Bank of England's bond-buying ceiling to £482.4 billion
John Healey and Andrew Bailey have lowered the authorised size of the Asset Purchase Facility to match the gilts it now holds, down 46 per cent from its January 2022 peak, as the Bank weighs selling the remaining gilts to the Government rather than to the market.
Permanent hiring falls back to 46.6 in October, while the pay needed to land scarce staff keeps rising
Recruiters placed fewer people in permanent jobs for the first time in four months and temporary billings fell for the first time since March, yet starting salaries rose faster as employers competed for candidates in short supply.
Public service productivity grew 0.3 per cent in the year to June, but remains below its 2019 level
Public service output rose 2.0 per cent while inputs rose 1.6 per cent in the latest ONS quarterly estimates, which continue to indicate a fifth consecutive year of productivity growth in 2025 after the large fall of 2020.
Greater Manchester agreement with the National Housing Bank opens the way to £500 million for homes and regeneration
The framework agreement, the first of its kind in England, allows Greater Manchester projects to seek up to £500 million alongside the city region's Good Growth Fund, with each scheme still subject to the Bank's due diligence and approval.
Bank Rate rises to 4 per cent in the first increase since 2023, with inflation set to near 5 per cent
The Monetary Policy Committee voted 8-1 to lift Bank Rate by a quarter point to 4 per cent, as one member pressed for a half point rise and the Bank warned that higher energy prices could yet feed through into pay and prices.
Largest businesses to face mandatory human rights checks on their supply chains
The Government will legislate for a due diligence regime covering businesses with turnover above £350 million, with powers to take goods made with forced labour off the market in Great Britain.
Borrowing hits £24.5 billion in September as public debt passes £3 trillion for the first time
Debt interest of £10.9 billion was the largest September figure on record, and borrowing across the first half of the year ran £6 billion ahead of the official forecast, one week before the Budget.
Profit warnings reach 65, the highest since 2024, as policy uncertainty weighs on listed companies
EY-Parthenon counted 65 profit warnings from UK listed companies in the three months to the end of September, up from 59 in the previous quarter. Policy change and geopolitical uncertainty were linked to 54 per cent of warnings, and 38 per cent referenced the conflict in the Middle East.
Ninety Labour MPs press Healey for a higher Machine Games Duty rate on Category B machines
Alex Ballinger and 89 colleagues have written to the Chancellor asking for a new higher rate at the Budget on 28 October, with pubs and bingo games protected. Betting and arcade trade bodies say a rise on the scale modelled by the Social Market Foundation would close venues and cost thousands of jobs.
Burnham pledges law to stop non-compete clauses “trapping” workers and blocking start-ups
The Prime Minister told Manchester's Innovation Nation Summit the Government will legislate so non-competes no longer block hiring at start-ups and scale-ups, calling it the “Bosman ruling for the innovation sector”.
Royal Mail to cut up to 2,500 head office jobs by end of 2027
The proposed cuts would fall on the Farringdon Road head office and support roles through natural attrition and voluntary redundancy, with no compulsory redundancies and no cuts to frontline delivery staff.
UK growth revised up as Britain seals fastest G7 pace in first half of 2026
The ONS now says the economy grew 0.5 per cent in the second quarter, with business investment and household incomes stronger than thought, weeks before John Healey's first Budget.
Diesel hits record 199.18p a litre as Healey opens talks with US over export ban threat
The Chancellor told the BBC that pump prices were ‘extreme’ and that Britain was discussing a possible American diesel export ban with Washington, as the RAC warned prices had entered uncharted territory.
What the earnings figures mean for the state pension triple lock
Pay growth of 3.9 per cent sets a floor under next April’s uprating, but the final figure waits on September’s inflation data.
Chancellor names two new faces to the Bank of England’s Court
David Craig and Paul Nowak will serve on the Bank’s governing body until August 2030; Hanneke Smits joins in January.
Inflation climbs to 3.1% as fuel and transport costs bite
Consumer prices rose 3.1 per cent in the year to August, up from 2.9 per cent in July, with transport inflation running at 4.6 per cent.
Unemployment holds at 4.9% but vacancies slide as the labour market cools
Pay growth slowed to 3.5 per cent and vacancies fell to 702,000, while payroll and survey data told increasingly different stories about jobs.
House prices tell two stories as Lloyds and Nationwide diverge
Lloyds reported the first annual fall in prices since November 2023; Nationwide recorded a 1.6 per cent annual rise. Both agree on one thing: the market is barely moving.