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Charles III was formally proclaimed king on Saturday during an Accession Council that was televised for the first time, in an indication of the new monarch’s determination to modernise and streamline the monarchy. At the ceremonial event in St James’s Palace in London, Charles swore to take on the “heavy responsibility of sovereignty”. Recalling the

King Charles III will address the UK on Friday as tributes were paid from around the world following the death of his mother Queen Elizabeth II at the age of 96. The new King arrived in London from Balmoral, the royal estate in Scotland, and with Queen Camilla beside him immediately greeted crowds gathered outside

Liz Truss, UK prime minister, has announced an estimated £150bn package to shield Britain from soaring energy prices — but with just six months’ cover for business compared with two years for households. The dramatic state intervention was accompanied by promises to increase domestic oil and gas production, restart fracking for shale gas and reform

The Bank of England’s chief economist said on Wednesday that plans by Liz Truss for a freeze in energy bills for households and businesses was likely to force the central bank to raise interest rates despite bringing down the rate of inflation in the months ahead. Asked by MPs on the House of Commons Treasury

Liz Truss has taken office as Britain’s new prime minister and will on Tuesday finalise a package that could cost more than £100bn to address the UK’s energy crisis and protect households and business. The emergency measures, which will lead to a sharp increase in government borrowing, are the priority for the new administration. Truss

Liz Truss has comfortably won the race to become leader of the Conservative party and on Tuesday will become Britain’s prime minister, facing one of the most daunting economic crises of recent times. The foreign secretary beat her rival Rishi Sunak, former chancellor, in a ballot of Conservative party members by 81,326 votes to 60,399

Liz Truss, widely expected to be named Britain’s prime minister on Monday, has promised to tackle the cost of living crisis in her first week in Number 10, as she looks to accelerate long-term reforms to the electricity market. Truss, the foreign secretary, said she would immediately set out “action on energy bills and energy

Surging inflation, the rising cost of government debt and Liz Truss’s promises on tax cuts and defence spending will blow a £60bn hole in the public finances by the middle of the decade, according to Financial Times calculations. Although Truss, favourite to be named Britain’s next prime minister on Monday, has said she will stick

The G7 countries have agreed to introduce a price cap on purchases of Russian oil in an attempt to limit the Kremlin’s ability to fund its war against Ukraine. The initiative will hinge on an incentive system whereby importers seeking insurance cover and shipping services from companies based in G7 and EU countries to transport

Global stock markets kicked off September on a downbeat note, extending their declines into a fifth day as weak Chinese data and new Covid-19 lockdowns in the world’s second-largest economy weighed on sentiment. A FTSE gauge of worldwide shares lost 1.3 per cent on Thursday, having closed the previous session down 0.6 per cent. Wall

Europe’s bond market is on course for its worst month on record as investors have bet on big rate rises from the European Central Bank and Bank of England at a time of unprecedented inflation. The region’s market for high-grade government and corporate debt posted a fall of 5.3 per cent in the month to

UK consumers increased their credit card borrowing at the fastest annual rate in 17 years last month, according to figures published on Tuesday, in a sign of the intensifying cost of living crisis. Data from the Bank of England showed that the annual rate of credit card borrowing was 13 per cent higher in July

Shell chief executive Ben van Beurden has warned that Europe may need to ration access to energy for several years as the crisis confronting the region is likely to last more than one winter. The forecast from the head of Europe’s largest oil and gas company came after further cuts to Russian supplies sent European

Outgoing UK prime minister Boris Johnson on Sunday warned that the country would face “eye-watering” energy bills and promised his successor would soon announce a “huge package” of financial support for struggling households. Writing in the Mail on Sunday newspaper, Johnson said that while Russia wanted the UK to “buckle” in the face of surging

Typical household energy bills in Britain will rise above £3,500 in October and could exceed £6,000 by April. But why are they suddenly going up by so much and what can be done to mitigate the impact on households and the wider economy? Why are bills soaring? The simple answer is the price of gas

The typical UK household gas and electricity bill will rise to £3,549 a year from October from £1,971 at present, the sector’s regulator confirmed on Friday, as consumers grapple with a cost of living crisis driven by soaring energy costs. Ofgem said the 80 per cent increase in the so-called price cap, which governs the

Financial markets are betting the Bank of England will more than double interest rates by May next year, as concern mounts about further rises in UK inflation. The shift in expectations in the swap market — which anticipates interest rates of 4 per cent in May compared with 1.75 per cent today — are among

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has moved to restore Japan’s status as a nuclear-powered nation for the first time since the 2011 Fukushima crisis, accelerating the restart of reactors and signalling the construction of new plants. Kishida’s decision to throw his political weight behind the nuclear power sector is intended to rein in soaring energy costs

The euro hit a fresh two-decade low against the dollar on Tuesday as fears of tighter US Federal Reserve monetary policy and a European energy crisis darkened investor sentiment. Europe’s common currency fell as much as 0.4 per cent to $0.9899 reaching a fresh 20-year low, having dropped below parity with the dollar on Monday,

UK inflation is on course to hit 18.6 per cent in January — the highest peak in almost half a century — because of soaring wholesale gas prices, according to a new forecast from Citigroup based on the latest market prices. The investment bank predicted that the country’s retail energy price cap — which limits