Reeves eyes Gulf trade pact as UK government’s ‘next deal’ after EU summit
Rachel Reeves said the UK government is closing in on a trade pact with six Gulf nations, including Qatar and Saudi Arabia, as its next major deal.
The chancellor told the BBC the agreement would be the government’s “next deal” as it looks to boost trade ties following Brexit.
Reeves suggested economic growth would be strengthened through recent trade deals with the United States, the EU and India, all inked within a fortnight.
Britain is in a better place than any other country in the world in terms of deals with those countries.
The first deal and the best deal so far with the US, we’ve got the best deal with the EU for any country outside the EU, and we’ve got the best trade agreement with India.
The chancellor also said the UK was “not looking to have trade negotiations with China”.
In early April, foreign secretary David Lammy said Labour was continuing discussions with the Gulf over a trade deal, which were started by the previous Conservative government.
Reeves’ comments come after a new trade deal with Brussels was struck on Monday.
The Prime Minister hailed his deal, set out at a summit in London, as a “win-win” for both parties, which would be the start of a “new era” in the UK-EU relationship.
The wide-ranging deal will allow more British travellers to use passport e-gates when going on holiday to Europe, while farmers will get swifter, easier access to trade on the continent as a result of an agreement on animal and plant product standards.
A “youth experience scheme” allowing young Britons to study and live in Europe, and a new security and defence partnership were also agreed.
But the deal has been met with criticism after the UK agreed to grant European fishing trawlers a further 12 years’ access to British waters.
Sir Keir Starmer hailed a “mood change” in the relationship with the bloc, saying: “The EU and the UK wanting to work together, all of us prepared to say let yesterday be yesterday, we are looking forward to tomorrow.
We are not going to litigate old arguments, we are going to go forward in the spirit of what we do together, we do better.
Conservative party leader Kemi Badenoch said, however:
This deal will mean Britain becoming a rule-taker, accepting dynamic alignment, giving up fishing rights and paying new money to the EU.
Nobody has lost more than the fishermen.
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BioNTech to invest £1bn in UK over next 10 years
Germany’s BioNTech, which developed the world’s first approved Covid-19 vaccine with backing from US firm Pfizer in the first year of the pandemic, is to invest £1bn in the UK over the next decade, creating two new research centres and a London headquarters.
The investment is supported by a government grant of up to £129m, one of the largest grants ever awarded to a pharmaceutical firm, the company said. BioNTech added that it would accelerate clinical trials of personalised mRNA immunotherapies, with a focus on cancer medications.
BioNTech, led by chief executive Prof Uğur Şahin, intends to create two new research & development centres, the first of which will be based in Cambridge. It will be home to more than 90 scientists, including the company’s existing researchers working in the UK. The Cambridge labs will focus on genomics, oncology, structural biology, and regenerative medicine.
The firm will establish its UK headquarters in London, which will bring together its existing London-based teams and create new jobs in global and regional supporting roles iover the next 10 years. BioNTech’s London office will also host its artificial intelligence hub led by its subsidiary InstaDeep.
The drug developer hopes to bring several cancer treatments to the market by 2030. So far, several hundred patients have received potential mRNA-based cancer immunotherapies in the UK by taking part in BioNTech’s global clinical trials.
BioNTech shot to prominence in late 2020, when its Covid jab was developed by a “dream team” scientist couple, Şahin and Özlem Türeci, the company’s chief medical officer.
Richard Torbett, chief executive of the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry, said:
This investment is a testament to the fantastic skills, research capabilities, and scientific infrastructure we have in the UK. It is also a template for how the UK could unlock further life science sector growth by removing the barriers and roadblocks to investment.
Big investments like this are years in the making and require both sides to have confidence that the other will deliver on their commitments. Trust is slow to build, but this deal shows it is worth the time and the risk.
Life science companies are already the largest investors in UK R&D – but much of this comes from a handful of companies with deep UK roots. The UK has an opportunity to capture more of the global science pie if we can improve our competitive offering to the sector.
Big BT union rejects ‘derisory’ pay offer
Mark Sweney
One of BT’s biggest unions has rejected a “derisory” pay offer that it says would result in almost 30% of its members receiving no rise at all.
Prospect, one of the largest unions representing BT workers, said that 96% of those who voted rejected the offer.
The union, which said the turnout for the vote represented 68% of its BT members, said the telecoms giant’s pay offer worked out at just a 1.28% rise six out of ten managers.
Under the offer 28% of BT managers would not receive any pay rise, while the current rate of inflation stands at 2.6%.
Rachel Curley, deputy general secretary of Prospect, said:
This overwhelming rejection of what is a derisory and insulting pay offer shows the strength of feeling among our members. We have notified the employer of our rejection. It is now time for BT to negotiate a fair award for Prospect members and show more respect for their managers.
Prospect has previously accused BT of targeting older, long-serving staff in its drive to cut jobs.
Reeves backtracks on cash ISA plans
Rachel Reeves has backtracked on plans to reduce the tax-free ISA savings allowance, as she bowed to growing pressure from the City.
The chancellor has confirmed that she will not change the £20,000 annual limit on popular cash ISAs, a move that will benefit millions of savers.
Shell boss plays down reports of BP acquisition
Jillian Ambrose
The boss of Shell has once again played down media reports that the oil major is considering a takeover of its beleaguered rival BP.
Wael Sawan faced shareholders on Tuesday at the company’s annual general meeting where a shareholder questioned the chief executive on the prospects of a Shell-BP takeover.
He said the bar for acquisitions was very high, which was especially true given that Shell’s current share price made it very attractive for the company to continue with its buyback programme.
Sawan was spared from facing trickier questions from protesters who were forced to gather outside the company’s central HQ after Shell decided to hold its AGM in a Heathrow hotel protected by a court injunction against environmental protesters.
Activists from Amnesty International UK, Fossil Free London, and the Justice 4 Nigeria poured fake oil onto a giant map of the Niger Delta, representing the impact of Shell’s activities in the area, while wearing T-shirts reading “Decades of Oil Spills”, “Polluted Waters”, and “Devastated Communities”.
Cranswick to investigate ‘piglet thumping’
Sarah Butler
The UK’s biggest pig meat producer, Cranswick, is to instigate a “fully independent, expert veterinarian review” of its welfare policies and livestock operations across the UK after secretly filmed footage revealed abuse of animals at one of its farms.
Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrisons suspended supplies from Cranswick’s Northmoor farm in Lincolnshire after campaigners released footage of workers grabbing piglets by their hind legs and smashing them on to the hard floor – a banned method of killing known as blunt force trauma or “piglet thumping”.
The campaigners had also recorded evidence of a sow being kicked and beaten with metal bars, as well as a botched killing that left an animal writhing in agony.
Cranswick suspended operations at the farm immediately but said today that it was now carrying out a wider review of its operations which include 400 pig farms as well as poultry facilities. It said:
We have always placed the highest importance on animal health and wellbeing and continuously aim to have the most stringent standards in the sector. We take seriously any instance, anywhere in our supply chain, where behaviour fails to meet those standards.
The company said it had yet to appoint the reviewers but they would be fully independent. The statement was released alongside full year financial results for Cranswick which revealed the group increased sales by almost 5% to £2.7bn while pre-tax profits rose almost 15% to £181.6m.
The number of construction projects started in the UK rose by a third in the past three months, despite a lack of major schemes.
Project starts increased by 33% in the three months to April compared with the previous quarter, according to construction data firm Glenigan.
The number of projects receiving detailed planing consent rose sharply again, by 52% year on year and 51% higher than in the previous three months, because of the approval of the Lower Thames Crossing.
Glenigan’s economic director, Allan Wilen, said:
The results are superficially impressive, but a closer look reveals a sector still struggling to reestablish its foothold. It’s hardly surprising. UK construction is continuing to adjust to mercurial market conditions, sometimes having to respond in the moment to the constantly shifting international and domestic economic landscape. Particularly, higher operational costs, likely to keep rising in the near future, mean clients are delaying investment decisions. Likewise, contractors are lukewarm to putting shovels in the ground right now when funding is not forthcoming.
There’s no denying US tariff policy has definitely exacerbated the uncertainty. However, steps to de-escalate trade tensions may go some way to improving the current situation, with steps like the US-UK tariff deal going some way to improving confidence over the coming months. Furthermore, the government clearly setting out its strategic store will also help to boost momentum as more promised public works are greenlit.
Company insolvencies down in England & Wales but climate remains tough
Fewer companies went out of business in England and Wales last month than a year earlier, according to official figures.
The Insolvency Service said 2,053 companies were declared insolvent in April, 5% lower than in April last year, but 3% higher than in March 2025.
Company insolvencies over the past 12 months have been slightly lower than in 2023, when the annual number hit a 30-year high, but have remained high compared to historical levels.
In April, there were 379 compulsory liquidations – the highest monthly number since September 2014 – 1,544 creditors’ voluntary liquidations (CVLs), 105 administrations, 24 company voluntary arrangements (CVAs) and one receivership appointment.
The number of CVLs was similar to both March and the 2024 monthly average. Administrations were lower than in March, while CVAs were higher.
One in 190 companies on the Companies House register entered insolvency between 1 May 2024 and 30 April 2025, a rate of 52.5 per 10,000 companies. This was down from the 57.0 per 10,000 companies that entered insolvency in the 12 months ending 30 April 2024.
While the insolvency rate has increased since the lows seen in 2020 and 2021, it remains much lower than the peak of 113.1 per 10,000 companies seen during the 2008-09 financial crisis and recession. This is because the number of companies on the effective register has more than doubled over this period.
Jo Hewitt, a senior managing director in the corporate finance & restructuring segment at FTI Consulting, said:
The number of compulsory liquidations was 24% higher than March 2025, and remained significantly higher than the 2024 monthly average, suggesting that the climate remains challenging for businesses.
Whilst corporate insolvency rates showed a slight increase of 3% compared to March 2025, it is too early to tell if businesses in England and Wales will be resilient to the recent market volatility and tariff uncertainty as the full impact on companies and their supply chains will take a while to play out. Although this month’s interest rate cut may provide a welcome reprieve for over leveraged borrowers, we anticipate that external headwinds, such the rise in employer’s National Insurance Contributions and falling oil prices, together with the continued geopolitical uncertainty will drive financial distress in certain sectors over the coming months.
European stock markets are pushing cautiously higher, following modest gains in Asia.
The UK’s FTSE 100 index has advanced 45 points to 8,745, a 0.5% gain, while Germany’s Dax is 0.25% ahead, France’s CAC edged up 0.1% and Italy’s FTSE MiB added nearly 0.5%.
Oil prices have fallen slightly, with Brent crude down by 0.26% to $65.37 a barrel. In currency markets, sterling has gained 0.1% to $1.3373 against the dollar.
The dollar is generally on the backfoot amid ongoing concerns over the US economy, and has lost 0.2% against a basket of major currencies.
JP Morgan’s chief executive, Jamie Dimon, warned last night that investors were being too complacent as markets shook off news that the US has lost its last triple-A credit rating amid fresh concern over the federal government’s burgeoning debt pile.
Credit ratings agency Moody’s dealt a blow to Washington on Friday when it stripped the US of its top-notch rating, downgrading the world’s largest economy by one notch to AA1 and become becoming the last of the big three agencies to drop its triple-A rating for the US.
The announcement unnerved markets on Monday morning, but stock markets had recovered by the end of the day.
Speaking at JP Morgan’s annual investor day meeting in New York, Dimon warned against complacency. “We have huge deficits; we have what I consider almost complacent central banks. You all think they can manage all this. I don’t think [they can],” he said.
Dimon said he saw an “extraordinary amount of complacency” and added that he believes the possibility of stagflation – a recession with rising prices – was far higher than investors believe.
Moody’s downgrade came as Donald Trump struggles to push his “big, beautiful” tax and spending bill through Congress, Moody’s said it expected the US budget deficit to keep rising.
Australia’s central bank governor warns global economy is ‘complete rollercoaster’
More on Australia’s interest rate cut, the second reduction this year – partly designed to protect indebted households from Trump’s tariffs, which have spooked consumers and businesses, and created the potential for a protracted trade war.
The Reserve Bank of Australia’s governor, Michele Bullock, said inflation was coming down, and the jobs market was robust, but characterised the global backdrop as a “complete rollercoaster”.
Post Office data leak: hundreds of Horizon victims offered up to £5,000 compensation
Hundreds of former post office operators will be compensated by the Post Office after it accidentally leaked their names and addresses last June.
The Post Office has confirmed that individual payouts will be capped at £5,000, although higher claims may still be pursued.
It comes almost a year after 555 victims of the Horizon IT scandal had their personal details published on the Post Office’s corporate website.
The Post Office said victims would receive £5,000 or £3,500 depending on whether the address published was current.
In a statement, it said:
We have written to all named individuals either directly, or via their solicitors.
If there are any individuals whose name was impacted by last year’s breach, but who have not received information about the payment for some reason, they can contact us or ask their solicitors if they have legal representation.
The law firm Freeths said that 348 clients, out of the total 420 it represented, who had their data breached had already received payment. Freeths said it had been told most of those affected would receive a “significant interim compensation payment”.
