Page 2 - Uk

Why London's housing crisis is driving away its most valuable residents

High housing costs, limited construction and uninspiring homes are pushing working-age Londoners to smaller towns

Pakistani ex-minister arrested on sexual assault charges in UK: Report

A former Pakistani state minister was arrested on sexual assault charges relating to young girls in the UK, but he contested an election in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) while on police bail, according to a British media report on Wednesday. Rukhsar Ahmed was reportedly "re-elected" in the PoK polls last week, after being out of office for five years. Ahmed was arrested at Manchester Airport back in July 2024 on suspicion of rape and trafficking children in care as part of a grooming gang scandal, The Guardian newspaper reported. "Ahmed was arrested at Manchester airport on 18 July 2024 in relation to past child sexual abuse allegations linked to the Rusholme area of the city, where he lived for many years," the report said. The 62-year-old was expected to report to the Greater Manchester Police under his bail conditions last month, but reportedly failed to oblige. According to the UK media report, British police wanted to restrict Ahmed's ability to travel abroad as part of his

Essar Group plans $5.8 billion energy transition investment in UK by 2035

​Essar Energy Transition Fuels (EETF), a unit ​of Essar Group, operates a 200,000-barrels-per-day Stanlow refinery

AI creates two-speed jobs market in UK as demand shifts to senior talent

Software developers, whose profession has been transformed by AI and suffered dramatic job losses since 2022, are back in demand with postings rising 14%

Bain Capital to acquire UK vitamins maker Vitabiotics in $1.2 billion deal

The private equity firm will back the 55-year-old company's global expansion, with its Asia team leading growth in India, the Middle East and China

Andy Burnham becomes UK PM: Can Britain's 'King of the North' end a decade of political turmoil?

Andy Burnham is Britain's newest prime minister, becoming the country's seventh leader in just a decade. But who is he, how did he rise to the top

UK PM Burnham names Kanishka Narayan as first AI minister to attend cabinet

Narayan, a Labour politician from Wales, was appointed minister for AI and online safety in September 2025 under Burnham's predecessor Keir Starmer

What to know about key challenges Andy Burnham faces as UK prime minister

Andy Burnham begins his first full day as UK prime minister on Tuesday, after entering 10 Downing Street on a wave of enthusiasm and a mountain of challenges ahead. The pressing issues look familiar. They were the same ones his predecessor, Keir Starmer, faced: a sluggish economy, a cost-of-living crisis, overstretched public services, and foreign policy that includes wars in Ukraine and the Middle East and managing relations with US President Donald Trump. Burnham became prime minister after spending most of the past decade running Greater Manchester as mayor of a northwest England region with 3 million residents, before winning his ticket back to Parliament in a special election last month. Leading a national government delivering services for 70 million people is a monumentally larger task with problems on a larger scale. These are some of the main issues confronting Burnham: Boosting the economy and decentralising ...

India-UK ties expected to stay the course with Andy Burnham as new PM

Strategic experts forecast that the strength of the India-UK partnership will stay the course under incoming British prime minister Andy Burnham, who clinched the Labour Party leadership in the same week as the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) entered into force. Burnham, 56, was elected unopposed on Friday and will take over from Keir Starmer at Downing Street on Monday after the formal choreography of the handover of power is completed. While much is expected to change, given the former mayor of Greater Manchester's pledge to do things differently, the one major constant in terms of foreign policy is expected on the India front. "Over this past year, we have valued close engagement with the Greater Manchester authorities, particularly Mr Andy Burnham, whose energy and warm support has done much to strengthen India-North-England ties," Vishakha Yaduvanshi, the Consul General of India in Manchester, told PTI. As the first head of India's new diplomatic mission in t

Thames Water warns funds may run out as Andy Burnham weighs next move

Thames Water warns it could run out of cash by November unless creditors inject fresh funds, with its future hinging on incoming UK PM Andy Burnham's stance

US, UK, 12 others reject China's South China Sea claims, back 2016 ruling

The United States, United Kingdom and a dozen other Western and Asian countries reasserted on Sunday that China's expansive claims in the South China Sea are illegal based on a 2016 arbitration ruling. A joint statement issued by the nations said they rejected "destabilising" actions in the disputed waters that threaten regional peace. The announcement commemorated a July 12, 2016, arbitration ruling by a tribunal established in The Hague under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, saying the landmark decision is "a significant milestone and is final, legally binding and definitive." China refused to join the arbitration initiated by the Philippines in 2013 after a tense standoff in the contested waters a year earlier that ended with Beijing effectively seizing a disputed shoal. Beijing rejected the 2016 ruling and continues to defend its claims to virtually the entire sea passage, a key global trade route that has long been feared as one of Asia' most active ...

Andy Burnham set to become next UK premier with majority of MP votes

At the end of the first day of the party's leadership contest to replace Keir Starmer, 322 of 403 Labour members of Parliament voted for Burnham

Britain's Farage quits parliament in protest, will stand for re-election

Nigel Farage quits as a UK lawmaker to trigger a by-election, saying he will seek a fresh mandate and continue Reform UK's political campaign

Rare copy of US Declaration of Independence found in UK archives

The text had been listed in 18th century records as simply "another document" but in May a volunteer at Britain's National Archives took a closer look

UK's 'Bregret' syndrome: Decade on, Brexit objectives prove unworkable

A decade after the Brexit vote, slower growth, higher trade costs and persistent immigration challenges have fuelled rising public regret over leaving the EU

Starmer has resigned, but what can new PM do differently against Reform UK?

When Starmer led Labour into the election in 2024, he was facing down the party's traditional rivals in the Conservatives

From landslide win to downfall: How Keir Starmer lost backing of supporters

Dutiful rather than dynamic, Keir Starmer was elected Britain's prime minister to be a safe pair of hands who would end years of political chaos under the Conservatives. His term is ending less than two years later after missteps, party infighting and one colossal error of judgment that indirectly ensnared him in the scandals surrounding Jeffrey Epstein, a man he had never met and whose sexual crimes he was not complicit in. On Monday, Starmer said in an emotional statement that he is stepping down as leader of the governing Labour Party, though he will remain caretaker primer minister until a new Labour leader is chosen in coming weeks. "The question my party is asking now is whether I am best placed to lead us into the next general election," he said. "I have heard the answer of my parliamentary party to that question, and I accept that answer with good grace." Starmer's selling point was "no more soap opera politics," said Rob Ford, a political science professor at the Universit

Britain's economic woes fuel Brexit discontent a decade after EU exit

Simon Boyd's firm makes prefabricated steel structures on the south coast of England and ships them to customers as far away as Ghana and Barbados. Mike Hawes represents Britain's carmakers as the head of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders. The business leaders were on different sides of the debate when Britain voted to leave the European Union in 2016. But 10 years later they are both frustrated by Brexit. A decade ago, backers promised that Brexit would be the key to a bright new future where, freed from the edicts of EU bureaucrats, Britain would regain control of its laws and its borders and the economy would boom. But the reality failed to live up to the hype as Britain struggled to adjust to life without unfettered access to the 27-nation free trade bloc and its market of 450 million people. Economic growth is anemic, taxes are high, public services are creaking and successive governments have been unable to stem the flow of migrants who wash up on the English ...

UK's Starmer considers political future, could decide as soon as Monday

Keir Starmer weighed his future as PM amid growing Labour calls to quit after Andy Burnham's election win intensified leadership pressure

10 years after Brexit vote: How Britain's financial industry recovered

A decade after Brexit, London's finance sector remains resilient but has lost market share as the UK grapples with weaker investment appeal