Economy

Could Labour, under a new leader, go into the next election with a manifesto promising to start negotiations to rejoin the EU? It is beginning to look like a real possibility given Wes Streeting’s assertion that Britain should rejoin the customs union. If Britain were to become part of the customs union, it would make questionable sense to remain outside the single market, and if Britain were to rejoin the single market, it could be sold as little more than a tidying-up exercise to apply for full membership of the EU.   Streeting’s remarks have left Keir Starmer – who spent months in opposition calling for a second referendum which he

What’s wrong with planning a once-in-a-lifetime holiday? Or dreaming of buying your first home? Nothing, of course – unless it hinges on the death of your elderly mother. Increasingly, it seems, many people’s future plans depend on such family tragedies. The sorrow of losing a loved one, soothed by an inheritance pay cheque. Friends speak openly about moving into a bigger house once their inheritance ‘comes through’ There is something unpalatable about the idea of using a deceased relative’s estate to repay a loan you chose to borrow, or finally booking the cruise that has been sitting in your Tui basket since your father’s first dose of chemo. But more

Until Rachel Reeves tightened the rules in last month’s Budget, Motability customers were able to sink into the leather seats of a top-of-the-range Mercedes. But however luxurious the upholstery, it can’t have been as thick and durable as the rhinoceros skin of Motability boss Andrew Miller. He has just been awarded a 23 per cent pay rise to £924,000. There are no prizes for guessing who is contributing to the largesse shown to him by his board. Nearly half of Motability’s £8.1 billion spending last year was covered by the government’s exploding welfare budget. Motability has been under the spotlight Just how impervious to public opinion do you have to be to accept

For the second month in a row, inflation has fallen. Figures released by the Office for National Statistics show that last month the Consumer Price Index fell to 3.2 per cent from 3.6 per cent in October. November’s reduction is the largest since September 2024. For the government, this is very good news. High inflation over the past six months has intensified pressure on Labour to tackle the cost-of-living crisis. This was clearly reflected in last month’s Autumn Budget, with Rachel Reeves announcing freezes to rail fares and fuel duty, as well as measures to lower household energy bills. If inflation continues to decline at this rate, the Chancellor will

In Colombia’s enormous Magdalena River basin, an ecological anomaly has triggered an extraordinary debate among ecologists. Ought some invasive species – in this case hippos – be tolerated, or even welcomed, for the ecological role they play as proxies for prehistoric keystone species lost thousands of years ago? In the early 1980s, infamous trafficker and kingpin Pablo Escobar smuggled four hippopotami – one male, three females – from an American zoo to his private menagerie at Hacienda Nápoles. Years later, on 2 December 1993, Escobar was shot dead by members of the Colombian national police’s search bloc in a shootout in Medellín. After his death, Escobar’s collection of exotic animals

There were ‘too many leaks’ ahead of the autumn Budget, Rachel Reeves admitted this morning as she faced MPs on the Treasury Select Committee. The Chancellor acknowledged there had been ‘too much speculation’ before her statement last month which was ‘inaccurate [and] very damaging’. Much of the scrutiny focused on reports that the Treasury had considered raising income tax, in what would have been a clear breach of Labour’s manifesto promises last year. In an unprecedented scene-setting speech on 4 November – three weeks before the Budget – Reeves dropped heavy hints about income tax rises. However, nine days later, it emerged this was not in fact going to happen,