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Shield poorer households from costs of clean energy plans, says Ofgem

Britain’s clean energy future risks creating “winners and losers” if lower-income households are not shielded from the costs added to energy bills to pay for it, the head of the energy regulator has said.Jonathan Brearley, Ofgem’s chief executive, said a “systematic approach” to sharing the rising costs of the government’s green power ambitions was needed to avoid poorer households facing soaring monthly payments.The regulator for Great Britain launched a root-and-branch review on Wednesday into how the costs of upgrading the energy networks can be recovered through home energy bills in a way that is fairer.The review could include plans to cut standing charges for lower-income households while wealthier customers pay a higher cost for upgrading the energy system.Brearley told the Guardian: “All of these changes that one might make to create a better energy system will have winners and losers

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HSBC boss says Rachel Reeves putting up bank taxes would harm UK growth

The boss of HSBC has joined a growing chorus of bankers cautioning Rachel Reeves against increasing taxes on banks in her autumn budget, warning it risked “eroding” investment and ultimately harming UK growth.Georges Elhedery, its chief executive, said banks in the UK were already subject to the highest level of taxes on profits compared with other sectors, and paid more than in most other countries. He said placing further financial pressures on lenders could spell trouble for the UK economy.“Additional taxation on banks does run the risk of eroding our continued investment capacity in the business and in supporting our customers, and ultimately in delivering growth for the UK,” he said on Wednesday, as the bank revealed a 29% drop in second-quarter profits.The intervention comes amid growing speculation that Reeves could use her autumn budget to announce a fresh round of tax rises, as forecasts for public finances worsen

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Charity in legal action against minister for failing to act over Thames Water

A river charity is taking legal action against the environment secretary, Steve Reed, accusing him of an unlawful failure to publish his policy on taking failing water companies into temporary nationalisation.Lawyers for River Action argue that Thames Water has breached its duties and violated its licence conditions seriously and repeatedly, making it the clearest possible case for special administration.Special administration is a temporary insolvency and restructuring process for companies that provide essential public services such as water, energy and transport. It is designed to ensure continuity of service while the company is stabilised and restructured.There is a bespoke special administration regime (SAR) for the water industry, which was created in 1991 and is designed to prioritise customers and services while putting financial interests second

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Ministers take note: now is the moment to fight to keep AstraZeneca’s listing in London | Nils Pratley

It was an opportunity for Sir Pascal Soriot, as chief executive of AstraZeneca, the UK’s finest pharmaceutical firm, to kill the story stone dead if he wished. Does he want to move the company’s stock market listing to the US, as reported by the Times a few weeks ago? He declined to answer. Then he did something else: he turned his press conference after Tuesday’s half-year numbers into a declaration of love, more or less, for all things American.“The US is the country in our industry where innovation is taking place,” he said, noting that half the group’s sales will be in the US by 2030. The new multibillion-dollar manufacturing facility in Virginia – part of a $50bn investment in the US over the next five years – had progressed to signoff in 33 days

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AstraZeneca chief executive hails ‘vital importance of US’ as Trump tariffs loom

AstraZeneca’s chief executive has hailed the “vital importance of the US” to the British drugmaker, days after announcing a $50bn (£37bn) investment in the country at a time when Donald Trump’s threatened tariffs are looming over the sector.Pascal Soriot, who leads Britain’s most valuable company, refused to comment, however, on recent media reports that AstraZeneca is considering moving its main stock market listing from the UK to the US.Soriot told reporters on Tuesday he had met a large number of members of Trump’s administration, including the commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick.He said AstraZeneca, which is headquartered in Cambridge, had discussed with officials “how we can contribute as a company to the pharmaceutical sector in the US, also how we can invest and how we can actually help deliver medicines to patients in America that are made in America”.Asked by reporters whether AstraZeneca had requested any commitments from the US administration in return for its $50bn investment, the largest manufacturing investment in the company’s history, Soriot said it had not

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Trump’s 15% tariff on medicines will harm patients, say EU drugmakers

The European pharmaceutical industry has condemned the US move to put 15% tariffs on medicines imported from the EU, calling the taxes a “blunt instrument” that would harm patients on both sides of the Atlantic.They were responding to a White House text of the deal that inferred the 15% baseline rate on imports from the EU would also apply to drugs if the agreement is implemented on the US side on Friday as expected.“As part of President Trump’s strategy to establish balanced trade, the European Union will pay the United States a tariff rate of 15%, including on autos and auto parts, pharmaceuticals, and semiconductors,” the text said.The European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries (EFPIA) said: “Tariffs on medicines are a blunt instrument that will disrupt supply chains, impact on investment in research and development, and ultimately harm patient access to medicines on both sides of the Atlantic.”The trade organisation represents drug companies across the bloc including Bayer in Germany, Novo Nordisk in Denmark, and US multinationals with operations in Ireland such as Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson

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Aston Martin’s 24-hour scramble to get lower US tariffs pays off

Aston Martin scrambled to deliver three months’ worth of cars to dealers in the US within 24 hours as it rushed to qualify for lower tariffs that came into effect on 30 June.By invoicing the whole quarter’s cars on that same day it avoided having to report a sales slump that might have alarmed investors.The operation may not have matched the drama of the James Bond films that have long featured the brand, but it “was quite exciting, to put it mildly”, said Adrian Hallmark, Aston Martin’s chief executive.Donald Trump has shaken the global economy with a trade war, causing a particular stir in the car industry with his imposition of a 25% tariff on 3 April on top of an existing 2.5% levy

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Bank of England governor blocks Rachel Reeves’s Revolut meeting

The governor of the Bank of England blocked a meeting that Rachel Reeves tried to secure with watchdogs and Revolut, amid concerns the chancellor was meddling in an independent process over the fintech’s UK banking licence.Andrew Bailey intervened after learning of the plan to bring together representatives from Revolut, the Treasury and the Bank’s regulatory arm, the Prudential Regulation Authority, to discuss the fintech’s ambitions to become a fully authorised UK bank.The three-way meeting, first reported by the Financial Times, had been due to take place in the past few weeks but was cancelled over concerns that the central bank’s regulatory decisions should be independent from government interventions and influence.A Treasury spokesperson said: “The chancellor and the governor have a strong and productive relationship, and the government fully supports the operational independence of the Bank of England.”The Bank declined to comment

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UK online safety law leads to 5m extra age checks a day for pornography sites

Five million extra online age checks a day are being carried out in the UK since the introduction of age-gating for pornography sites, according to new data.The Age Verification Providers Association (AVPA) said there had been a sharp increase in additional age checks in the UK since Friday, when age verification became mandatory for accessing pornography under the Online Safety Act.“As a result of new codes under the Online Safety Act coming into force on Friday, we have seen an additional 5m age checks on a daily basis, as UK-based internet users seek to access sites that are age-restricted,” said Iain Corby, the executive director of the AVPA.The UK has also seen a surge in popularity of virtual private networks, which obscure a user’s real location and thus allow them to access sites blocked in their own country. Four of the top five free apps on the Apple download store in the UK are VPN apps, with Proton, the most popular, reporting a 1,800% increase in downloads

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People in the UK: have you been the victim of phone theft recently?

According to data compiled by an insurance firm, nearly two in every five mobile phones stolen in Europe are taken in the UK. Claims made to the American insurance company SquareTrade showed 39% of all phone thefts across the company’s 12 European markets were in Britain.The data revealed that phone theft claims in the UK had increased by 425% since June 2021 and 42% of phone thefts in the UK occurred in London.We’d like to hear from people who have been the victim of phone theft in the UK in the last six months? Has your phone been snatched out of your hands? What happened next and how easy was it to secure your data and accounts? Did you report it to the police? Has it changed your behaviour using your phone or sense of safety on the streets? Why do you think that the UK is the phone theft capital of Europe.You can tell us if you have been the victim of phone theft in the UK by filling in the form below

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Glorious Goodwood: 150-1 shot Qirat wins Sussex Stakes after shock of all shocks

The teeth, perhaps, were slightly gritted, but Richard Hannon offered some perspective after watching his colt, Rosallion, finish second to the 150-1 shot Qirat in the Sussex Stakes on Wednesday.“That’s horse racing,” the trainer said. “That’s what keeps us all in it. It’s not a great day when you’re second in these races but we’re lucky to be part of them.”Mundane words like “shock” and “upset” do not come close to describing the result of this Group One contest, one of the most prestigious and prized events in the global racing calendar, which was won by a horse that finished 27th of 30 runners in the Royal Hunt Cup Handicap on his previous trip to the track

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Tour de France Femmes 2025: Le Court sprints to stage five win and takes yellow jersey – as it happened

Kim Le Court won stage five of the Tour de France Femmes, becoming the first African rider to win a stage of the race. The Mauritian also took the yellow jersey from Marianne Vos, who lost time on her rivals after getting dropped by a breakaway.That’s the lot from me, both for today, and for the rest of the race. Thanks for reading and for emailing in and enjoy the remaining stages. It’s been fun