International News

The UK Office for Investment (OfI) and Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Investment Company, today signed an agreement at Downing Street to significantly expand the UAE-UK Sovereign Investment Partnership (UAE-UK SIP), a framework for investment announced in March 2021. Over the next five years, the UAE-UK SIP will drive a significant increase in investment across a further three sectors: technology, infrastructure, and energy transition, as well as build on the existing programme of life sciences i...

We recently asked what your dream home would look like, where it would be, and how many rooms it would have – and thousands of you answered! The results of our survey are now in, and they show that we’re a pretty practical nation when it comes to the type of property we dream of living in. Forget the fanciful notions of walk-in wardrobes, bespoke at-home gyms or luxurious swimming pools, the convenience of a utility room and a home office are far more important to most people. ...

The UK has a brand new cheapest supermarket, it has been announced, and it's not Aldi or ASDA. Lidl has been named the UK's cheapest - pushing rival Aldi from the top spot. The German discounter was the best-value grocer in August, coming up top against all of the Big Four supermarkets as well as fellow rival Aldi. With the kids home full time, shoppers would have paid £24.11 for a basket of 23 essential items at Lidl, that’s 43p less than Aldi and £9 less than...

It is already the UK’s largest mortgage lender, and now Lloyds Banking Group aims to become one of its biggest private landlords, with a target of buying 50,000 homes in the next 10 years. Lloyds is the latest big name on the high street to move into the property market: last month it emerged that the retailer John Lewis was considering plans to build 10,000 rental homes over the next decade. According to accountancy firm Blick Rothenberg, “everyone wants to become a landlord&rdqu...

In the past 12 months all those involved in the property market have been impacted by the effects of coronavirus (COVID-19); HM Land Registry is no different and as a result, this release of the UK House Price index is not as complete as it could be. The data is accurate; however, this release may be subject to increased revisions as more data is added over the coming months. See Reducing delays for further information. The June data shows: on average, house prices have increased 4.5...

Town halls are raking in so much from parking charges that the fees now equal up to 75 per cent of council tax takings. The record £1.76billion made by local authorities in England last year has fuelled concerns that motorists and shoppers are being used as cash cows. On-street permits, parking meters and penalty notices, were among the charges that brought in £1.76billion for the 338 English local authorities over the last financial year. Motoring groups also pointed out th...

UK to work with others to resettle Afghans, Priti Patel says. The government will work with international partners and other countries to resettle up to 20,000 Afghan refugees in the UK, Home Secretary Priti Patel has said. A new scheme will see up to 5,000 Afghans eligible in the first year, with thousands more able to move to the UK in the long term. But Ms Patel told the BBC "we cannot deliver this on our own". Women, girls and religious and other minorities will be given priority...

The first new trains to run between Middlesbrough and London will start on 13 December, operator London North Eastern Railway (LNER) has confirmed. The daily weekday service in each direction will also connect nearby Thornaby with London King's Cross. The services will depart Middlesbrough at 07:08 and Thornaby at 07:15, arriving at King's Cross at 10:22. Northbound from London will leave at 15:25, stopping at York, to Thornaby at 18:08 and Middlesbrough at 18:18. LNER said m...