The Office of National Statistics latest report shows unemployment has risen from 4.1% when Labour took office in July 2024 to 5.1% on Tuesday, an increase of around 24%. This is the sharpest rise in joblessness in several years and takes us back to levels last seen during the recovery from the pandemic. Businesses have been hit hard by Labour's increase to employers National Insurance Contributions (NICs) and National Minimum Wage (NMW).
Labour's crackdown on foreign workers could cost the UK economy millions, Sir Keir Starmer has been warned. Plans to increase the salary threshold for workers seeking to come to Britain, as part of wider changes to bring down immigration numbers, would cost between 520-710 million because thousands fewer people would be contributing to the UK economy, an independent watchdog has found.
Labour has granted six areas in and around London the power to make larger council tax hikes after reducing their share of government funding. Kensington and Chelsea, Westminster, Wandsworth, Hammersmith and Fulham, City of London, and Windsor and Maidenhead will be allowed to raise rates by more than 5% for two years without local voters needing to sign off the move. The authorities are among those expected to lose out under a move to shift more government cash towards deprived areas from next year. Ministers say the shake-up will make England's funding model fairer - but the Conservatives have accused them of wanting to "punish" low-tax councils.
Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures last month showed there was a 69% drop, from 649,000, in the number of people immigrating minus the number of people emigrating in the year to June 2025. Just under 900,000 people immigrated to the UK between July 2024 and June 2025, down more than 400,000 on the year before. At the same time, 693,000 people emigrated from the UK, up by 43,000 on the previous year.
When the billionaire chief executive of AI chipmaker Nvidia threw a party in central London for Donald Trump's state visit in September, the power imbalance between Silicon Valley and British politicians was vividly exposed. Jensen Huang hastened to the stage after meetings at Chequers and rallied his hundreds of guests to cheer on the power of AI. In front of a huge Nvidia logo, he urged the venture capitalists before him to herald a new industrial revolution,
Freemasonry has the highest moral and ethical standards standards that have been a cornerstone of its identity since the earliest days of organised Freemasonry over 300 years ago. The decision by the Metropolitan Police casts an aura of mistrust over the entire Freemason community. Given the obvious, detrimental impact on our members, United Grand Lodge of England, Order of Women Freemasons and Honourable Fraternity of Ancient Freemasons consider that we now have no choice but to take legal action to challenge this unlawful decision.
The conciliation service Acas has offered to help to try to break the deadlock in the resident doctors' strike in England. The Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service has become involved in an effort to find a resolution to the long-running dispute as medics strike for the 14th time over pay and jobs. Acas's intervention comes after NHS bosses and the Patients Association in recent days urged the government and the British Medical Association to agree to independent mediation to break the deadlock.
After the Gill verdict last month, the Reform UK leader, Nigel Farage, said an investigation into Russian and Chinese influence over British politics would be welcome, so there is an expectation that he, along with other political leaders, would be willing to cooperate. Farage has described Gill, who previously led the party in Wales, as a single bad apple and condemned his actions as reprehensible, treasonous and unforgivable, adding that he was pleased that justice had been served.
Peter Kyle, the business secretary, said: This landmark legislation, now soon to be in law, will drag Britain's outdated employment laws into the 21st century and offer dignity and respect to millions more in the workplace. The bill will introduce rights to guaranteed hours and payment for short-notice cancellation of shifts, bar fire-and-rehire practices in most circumstances, grant paternity and parental leave from day one, and strengthen workplace trade union rights.
Keir Starmer's Whitehall communications chief will address the cabinet on overhauling the government's media strategy on Tuesday as ministers increasingly try to combat far-right rhetoric online. David Dinsmore, a former editor of the Sun who was appointed permanent secretary for government communications in November, will speak to ministers about modernising the way they reach voters. The government is concerned about the proliferation of false and inflammatory far-right content on social media and is stepping up efforts to communicate on those platforms.
It reflects what businesses tell us they are less confident about hiring staff due to sky-high employment costs and a tidal wave of new employment legislation coming down the track. While there has been some easing of cost pressures - with average earnings including bonuses slowing to 4.7 per cent in the three months to October - labour costs remain a challenge.
Police are investigating suspected fraud and money laundering by a former member of staff at Tower Hamlets Council, according to a report. Documents presented to the council's audit committee say the allegations involve inappropriate procurement and approval of services and payments involving undeclared conflicts of interest. The council says the alleged crimes date back to 2018 and that a police investigation is ongoing. The town hall launched an internal investigation called Operation NextWage after police alerted it to the potential crimes.
The government must stop dragging its heels over whether to add China to the enhanced tier of its threat regime, the parliamentary intelligence watchdog has warned. The Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) made up of senior MPs and peers flagged several areas of the National Security Act where there are unresolved issues in its annual report. The Foreign Influence Registration Scheme (FIRS) came into force in July
The company's overall rate of profit on these contracts is capped at around 6%, but Mears' operations across the UK exceeded that limit to the tune of 13.8m. Mears recorded its highest rate of profit in Northern Ireland, peaking at 17%. That was partly due to the fact asylum seekers in Northern Ireland don't have to be dispersed among different local authorities like they do in the UK, reducing transport and administrative costs.
The 82-year-old, of Notting Hill, west London, was driving a Volkswagen Polo at the junction between Grosvenor Road and Chelsea Bridge Road, west London, on 13 March. He said there had been heavy traffic on the Embankment and in such conditions "you don't necessarily react quickly enough to the light". In July he was disqualified for the same amount of time for speeding.
TfL first announced plans to extend an Overground line to Bermondsey all the way back in 2009. It was finally approved by Lewisham Council in 2022. Then, after years of setbacks, in 2024 property developers said they wanted to drop £17 million on a brand new station next to Millwall Stadium. But with no more news, by the end of 2025 south Londoners had all but given up on their dreams of a new Overground hub.
Ten years ago, I walked the route of HS2, the 140-mile railway proposed to run from London to Birmingham, to discover what lay in its path. Nothing had actually been constructed of this, supposedly the first phase of a high-speed line going north. The only trace was the furtive ecological consultants mapping newts and bats and the train's looming presence in the minds of those who lived along the route.
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
The prime minister has said he will "get to the bottom" of where damaging leaks about the Budget and against his Cabinet are coming from. Last week, Chancellor Rachel Reeves told MPs that pre-Budget leaks suggesting she had abandoned plans to increase income tax rates were "unauthorised" and there was an inquiry under way. Sir Keir Starmer told the Liaison Committee, a parliamentary committee made up of every select committee chair, that he did not believe the leaks were coming from inside his own office.
