Britain’s Labour Party is back in government for the first time since 2010 and has promised to hit the ground running with its plan to fix the economy. First it needs to find the money, according to a Bloomberg News analysis. On some problems, incoming Prime Minister Keir Starmer may try to play for time by pushing out big decisions to next year. But many crises are so acute there’ll be no choice but to tackle them immediately. In particular, a series of tricky short-term decisions await on public sector pay, fuel duties, and healthcare and prison funding.

The U.K. economy grew a little more than expected in the year’s first quarter, offering a minor boon to the ruling Conservatives’ struggling campaign ahead of parliamentary elections next week, the Wall Street Journal reported. Gross domestic product expanded 0.7% between January and March compared with the previous quarter, according to updated figures released Friday by the Office for National Statistics. Previous estimates had recorded a 0.6% increase on the quarter. On an annualized basis, GDP grew 2.9%, similarly outstripping previous estimates.

A travel firm has cancelled all bookings until the end of next month due to issues of insolvency. Youtravel is cancelling bookings up to an including July 26 after its tour operator brand, FTI Touristik, filed for insolvency earlier this month, the Glasgow Evening Times reported. In a bid to 'secure its future', Youtravel confirmed that bookings made in the firm's system for arrivals up to and including July 26 will be cancelled without charge by Monday, July 1.

A care home operator which once ranked among the largest in Britain is being put up for sale in a move expected to fetch about £300m, SkyNews reported. Four Seasons Health Care Group has appointed CBRE, the property agent, to oversee an auction in the coming months. The process will be launched after a protracted period in which Four Seasons was reshaped and slimmed-down through a string of asset sales. While far smaller than it was before the pandemic, the company still employs more than 4,000 people and operates more than 45 freehold care homes.

U.K. shoppers returned to retailers by more than expected in May, with sales recovering from the wet weather in the prior month, data showed Friday, the Wall Street Journal reported. Retail sales volumes rose 2.9% on month in May, flipping the 1.8% fall in April, according to the Office for National Statistics. Clothing retailers and furniture stores especially improved sales in the month, following April’s poor weather, the ONS said. Last month was the warmest May on record, while the month before that was the wettest April since 2012, U.K. weather agency the Met Office said.

The head of the Securities and Exchange Commission is encouraging the UK and others to shorten the settlement time for currency trading to better align their markets with those in Asia and North America, Bloomberg News reported. The UK is debating a transition to next-day settlement, known as T+1, for securities transactions, with its Treasury calling for the shift by the end of 2027. But SEC Chair Gary Gensler is nudging the UK to go bigger by adding more asset classes for shorter settlement. The US, Canada, Mexico and other countries already pressed ahead.

The Bank of England held interest rates on Thursday at their highest level since 2008 even as inflation in Britain slowed to 2 percent in May, an important milestone, the New York Times reported. Policymakers kept rates at 5.25 percent, where they have been for 10 months. The officials said that high rates were working and cooling the labor market, reducing price pressures, but they added that monetary policy would need to stay restrictive until they were sure the risk of inflation overshooting their target had dissipated.

Fewer companies went bust in May than the previous month, amid a pick-up in business activity across England and Wales, according to official data, PA Media reported. U.K. company insolvencies fell 6% month-on-month to 2,006, which is 21% lower than in May 2023, the Insolvency Service said. The number of firms going out of business rose steadily during 2021 and 2022, with 2023 seeing the highest annual number of company insolvencies since 1993.

British inflation fell back to the Bank of England’s 2% target for the first time in almost three years, a milestone that likely comes too late to improve the political fortunes of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak before the looming election, Bloomberg News reported. Consumer price increases eased in May from 2.3% the month before, the Office for National Statistics said on Wednesday.