International News

As the Bank of England base rate creeps up once more, can we expect mortgage rates, savings rates and loan and credit card rates to follow suit? Last week’s announcement that the Bank of England‘s monetary policy committee (MPC) had voted to raise interest rates by 0.25 percentage points to 1.25% did not come as a shock to most. Some pundits had even suspected the increase could be greater, to 1.5%. In the short term, the decision to increase the base rate caused a stir across ...

UK interest rates have risen further as the Bank of England attempts to stem the pace of soaring prices. Rates have increased from 1% to 1.25%, the fifth consecutive rise, pushing them to the highest level in 13 years. It comes as finances are being squeezed by the rising cost of living, driven by record fuel and energy prices. Inflation - the rate at which prices rise - is currently at a 40-year high of 9%, and the Bank warned it could surpass 11% later this year. The Bank said risi...

Food prices will rise quickly this summer due to soaring costs, grocery analysts have predicted. Prices will rise at a rate of 15% as households pay more for staples such as bread, meat, dairy and fruit and vegetables, the Institute of Grocery Distribution (IGD) said. More vulnerable people will skip meals, it warned. It also predicted that prices would rise faster for longer than Bank of England estimates. The IGD, which provides analysis to major grocers, said the UK was facing the...

Government rental reforms will ban Section 21 evictions in England Today has seen the government announce its new Rental Reform Bill for England, which aims to protect tenants, and ensure all private renters are able to access safe and secure living accommodation. Under the bill, Section 21 evictions – also known as no-fault evictions – will become illegal in England, and landlords will need to provide a reason for reclaiming the property. Section 21 evictions are already illegal i...

Even though it is more than 40 years old, the changes wrought by Margaret Thatcher’s right-to-buy policy can still be felt in Britain today. It established the story the Conservative party continues to tell about itself, of being crusaders for opportunity for all; it transformed the way people thought about what it meant to own or rent their homes; and it shifted almost 2m social housing dwellings into private hands. It became the emblematic policy idea of a prime minister who was pretty u...

Reading will be getting a new secondary school built next to the festival site and leisure centre despite several concerns. Plans for a new secondary school in Reading have been in the works since 2018, when the council identified a site for the new school next to Rivermead Leisure Complex. The latest approval means work on the 1,500 pupil school can now go ahead. Within the 1,500 pupil capacity, there will be 300 sixth form students and special educational needs and disabilities (SEND)...

People hoping to find a property to rent are going to ever greater lengths to secure a home. As well as having to put up more cash in advance, they're offering landlords CVs for their children and photos of their well-behaved dogs. That's because a shortage of available homes is pushing up monthly rents, deposits and leading to bidding wars. Industry body Propertymark says the number of rentals on the books of lettings agencies has fallen sharply. Propertymark surveyed over 4...

PROPERTY prices in Reading, Slough and Wokingham have doubled thanks to the newly built Elizabeth Line. Rightmove’s new Elizabeth Line study reveals asking prices have more than doubled over the past decade in the local areas around Twyford, Reading and Slough. A new study of millions of datapoints from the UK’s biggest property website Rightmove shows how local market activity in areas surrounding stations on the newly launched Elizabeth line has changed over the last ten yea...