United Kingdom

The Bank of England kept its main interest rate unchanged at 4.5% on Thursday, despite the fact that the economy is barely growing, EuroNews.com reported. Policymakers are also contending with increased uncertainty, particularly in light of tariff policies enacted by the Trump administration in the US. The decision by the nine-member Monetary Policy Committee was widely expected and comes a day after the US Federal Reserve also held interest rates. Minutes from the meeting showed that eight members voted to keep policy unchanged, with one backing a quarter-point reduction.

Yorkshire and the Humber saw a significant rise in insolvency activity in February, UK.News.Yahoo.com reported. Research from the UK's insolvency trade body, R3, indicates a 39 per cent increase. Despite this, new business start-ups in the region rose by 0.2 per cent, the only increase in England.

The UK Labour government announced it would save billions of pounds a year by slashing welfare spending, unveiling controversial reforms which have provoked criticism from disability campaigners and divided Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s governing party, Bloomberg News reported. The government will toughen the criteria that sick and disabled people must meet to qualify for Personal Independence Payments (PIPs), a key benefit aimed at helping people with disabilities go about their daily lives, Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall told the House of Commons on Tuesday.

Appeal judges have approved emergency funding allowing Thames Water to access as much as £3 billion ($3.9 billion) and stave off temporary nationalization, Bloomberg News reported. The UK’s Court of Appeal dismissed a challenge to the proposed loan after a three-day hearing last week. The decision should give the beleaguered utility access to much needed funds and prevent a messy insolvency while it seeks a long term fix for its financial woes. The debt will be provided by a group of senior creditors — including Elliott Management, Silver Point and Pimco.

Most households in England will be charged the maximum increase in council tax for the third consecutive year after local authorities confirmed their plans before the 2025-26 financial year, The Guardian reported. Nearly nine in 10 (88%) of 153 upper-tier authorities in England will impose a 4.99% increase in April, the most allowed without triggering a local referendum. If councils increasing bills by 4.5% or more this year are included in the tally, the proportion rises to more than nine in 10 (94%), according to analysis by the PA news agency.

Rachel Reeves has defended her fiscal rules and pledged to bring down government borrowing, as the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer faces dissent from Labour party colleagues opposed to cuts to welfare payments and government spending, Bloomberg News reported. “When we’re spending £100 billion ($130 billion) a year on servicing government debt, I don’t think anyone could seriously argue that we don’t need to get a grip of government borrowing and government debt,” Reeves said in an interview with Bloomberg TV on Monday.

The U.K. economy unexpectedly shrank in the first month of the year, the latest frustration for a relatively new government that has pledged to bring an end to a decade-and-a-half of stagnation, the Wall Street Journal reported. Gross domestic product was 0.1% lower in January than in the final month of 2024, the Office for National Statistics said Friday, weaker than the 0.1% rise expected by a consensus of economists. It also marks a slowdown from the 0.4% recorded in December.

Jockey Frankie Dettori is filing for bankruptcy following a long-running tax-avoidance case, The Telegraph reported. Dettori, who has ridden more than 3,300 career winners, announced the move three months after losing a court bid to retain anonymity in a battle with HM Revenue & Customs. He said: “For the last six-months, my advisors have been working with HMRC in an attempt to find a solution to my financial situation. “Regretfully, I will be filing for bankruptcy.

A lawyer argued Thursday that global mining giant BHP Group should be held liable for Brazil’s worst environmental disaster 10 years ago when a dam collapse poured tons of toxic mining waste into a major waterway that killed 19 people and devastated villages, the Associated Press reported. High Court Justice Finola O’Farrell said she would rule later in the class action case in which claimants are seeking 36 billion pounds ($47 billion) in damages from Australia-based BHP. The case was filed in Britain because one of BHP’s two main legal entities was based in London at the time.