Liberal Democrats call for Treasury to be replaced with big growth department, and smaller spending departmentFamilies of nurses and carers have said they fear being torn apart under an immigration crackdown condemned as “an act of economic vandalism”, Josh Halliday reports.Q: You are here being hosted by UK Finance. But the financial services sector does not like your plans for a windfall tax on banks. Have you dropped your support for that? Continue reading...

11 Feb 2026 10:38 ✍️ RSS THE GUARDIAN

White House tells investors ‘they shouldn’t panic’ but says job numbers will be lower in future because of US deportation programme; Heineken hit by slower beer salesBarratt Redrow shares plunged after Britain’s biggest housebuilder reported lower profits and warned of a subdued market.In contrast with rival Bellway, which talked of “clear signs of improvement” in housing demand yesterday, Barratt Redrow sounded less optimistic.During the first half we delivered a resilient performance in a subdued market while making strong progress integrating Redrow. As that integration nears completion, our focus is on disciplined execution. We are embedding our proven operating model across the enlarged group, delivering operational excellence, strengthening efficiency, and positioning Barratt Redrow to deliver volume growth, margin progression, and capital returns through the cycle.However, while progress made on planning reform is encouraging, a stable and supportive demand environment is essential to enable increased delivery at scale across the sector.Along with its peers, Barratts suffered an extended period of uncertainty from buyers ahead of the budget, although once this hurdle was overcome, many customers then decided to complete before the end of the calendar year.Even so, the currently unstable political environment continues to weigh on consumer confidence, while affordability concerns remain in sharp focus particularly for first-time buyers. That being said, mortgage availability constraints are easing and the possibility of interest rate cuts later this year could help to spark the sector as a whole into life.The big reveal from tech start-up Altruist Corp, which is led by former Wall Street professionals, is a new tool helping financial advisers personalise tax strategies for clients and deal with all the admin. The worry is that this is just the tip of the iceberg and fresh efficiencies will be unleashed by AI to disrupt the financial advice and investment industry and reduce the fees which can be charged. As the AI cards are shuffled, the pile of potential losers is mounting up, and speculation about which sector will be hit next is rife. Continue reading...

11 Feb 2026 10:31 ✍️ RSS THE GUARDIAN

As council declares it’s ‘no longer bankrupt’, people say closure of services have added to social isolation and crimeWhen Birmingham city council announced last week it was “no longer bankrupt”, after years of budget cuts and asset sales, one retired police officer was left feeling despondent.Wendy Collymore had experienced first-hand the impact of the council’s cost-cutting drive on the UK’s second largest city when the adult day centre her elderly father attended was forced to close in 2024. Continue reading...

10 Feb 2026 11:43 ✍️ RSS THE GUARDIAN

Born of student disquiet after the 2008 crash, the group says it is reshaping economists’ educationAs the fallout from the 2008 global financial crash reverberated around the world, a group of students at Harvard University in the US walked out of their introductory economics class complaining it was teaching a “specific and limited view” that perpetuated “a problematic and inefficient system of economic inequality”.A few weeks later, on the other side of the Atlantic, economics students at Manchester University in the UK, unhappy that the rigid mathematical formulas they were being taught in the classroom bore little relation to the tumultuous economic fallout they were living through, set up a “post-crash economics society”. Continue reading...

10 Feb 2026 08:00 ✍️ RSS THE GUARDIAN

Two decades of weak pay growth have left poorer households stuck, Resolution Foundation says, fuelling political uneaseIt would take 137 years for lower-income families in the UK to see their living standards double at the current rate of growth, according to a thinktank.A two-decade stagnation in disposable incomes has created a “mood of unease” across the country, the Resolution Foundation says, warning of the risk of “further political disruption” unless pay growth accelerates. Continue reading...

10 Feb 2026 00:01 ✍️ RSS THE GUARDIAN

Investors reassured by support for PM after fears about effect of a more left-leaning replacement on public financesBusiness live – latest updatesUK politics live – latest updatesUK borrowing costs dipped back on Monday after rising earlier in the day, as cabinet ministers voiced support for the embattled Keir Starmer.The yield, or interest rate, on UK benchmark bonds initially increased on Monday as traders reacted to Sunday’s resignation of the prime minister’s chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, over the decision to appoint Peter Mandelson as ambassador to Washington. Continue reading...

09 Feb 2026 16:46 ✍️ RSS THE GUARDIAN

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial newsSanae Takaichi’s conservatives cement power in landslide Japan election winSterling is dropping this morning after the resignation of Morgan McSweeney, Keir Starmer’s chief of staff, increased the pressure on the prime minister.The pound has fallen by half a eurocent to €1.146, the lowest since 22 January.In the UK, political pressure on PM Starmer is mounting which is weighing on UK assetsThe Japanese parliamentary election, held yesterday, saw an overwhelming victory for the Liberal Democratic Party. The party, led by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, won two thirds of the seats in the lower house, the best result for a single party since the end of the Second World War.Japanese stocks performed well as Takaichi intends to pursue supportive fiscal policy. Japanese government bond yields edged slightly higher, while the yen gained ground after Japanese Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama reiterated her willingness to preserve the stability of the currency. Continue reading...

09 Feb 2026 15:52 ✍️ RSS THE GUARDIAN