Workers and employers: share your experience of the current UK job market

Britain’s unemployment rate has risen unexpectedly and the number of workers on payrolls has fallen by the most since the height of the pandemic, according to new figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).It estimated that the number of payrolled employees had shrunk by 47,000 in December, the biggest drop since November 2020. The jobless rate meanwhile increased to 4.4 per cent in the three months to November, up from 4.3 per cent in the three months to October

Donald Trump assumes office with promise to be the very bestest best | John Crace

They came in dribs and drabs, the unwanted, the uninvited and the unloved. First to arrive in Washington was Liz Truss, wearing a red Maga hat and a bright blue coat looking like an extra in a Paddington Bear film.Lizzie could be found standing on a street corner in downtown DC, screaming: “I used to be prime minister of the United Kingdom.”“Of course you did,” said a kindly passerby, giving her a wide berth.“I did

Is the penny finally dropping on the post-Brexit economy? | Letters

Kemi Badenoch believes that the only problem with Brexit was that the government didn’t have a plan for the economy following Britain’s departure from Europe (Report, 16 January). This, in itself, is a shocking admission of the Conservative party’s negligence. However, as the erstwhile “poor man of Europe”, Britain’s economy has never been sustainable without easy trade with Europe. This must have been clear. Brexit was always built on the preposterous conceit that we could survive outside the EU

Farage claims chance he could be PM within four years is up to 25% – as it happened

Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, thinks that his chances of becoming PM before Donald Trump leaves the White House in January could be as high as 25%. He made the comment in an interview with Dan Walker for 5 News being broadcast tonight. Farage told Walker he did genuinely believe he could be the next PM. And this is what he said when he was asked if that could happen during Trump’s presidency.Look, Labour have got a whopping great big majority

Lady Oppenheim-Barnes obituary

Sally Oppenheim-Barnes, who has died aged 96, was the former Conservative minister of state for consumer affairs and a politician with an intuitive understanding of what was of concern to the public in general and her constituents in particular. She had recognised the growing importance of the rights of the customer in the booming Britain of the 1960s and on arrival in the House of Commons in 1970 immediately set about making the subject her own.She was a bright, brash, assertive woman who made full use of three years’ Rada training for the stage and who was famed for an eye-catching wardrobe, wrist-rattling jewellery and a large helmet of blond hair that would not have been out of place on the set of Dallas. She knew what she wanted and set out to get it, and having decided on a political career (early marriage and motherhood having put paid to acting), she took advice on how to proceed.A Tory since childhood, who had cried when Churchill lost the 1945 election, she joined the party aged 22 and was advised by Conservative central office that she needed to demonstrate an understanding of contemporary society to stand any chance of selection as a candidate

Trump ally says Peter Mandelson’s US ambassador job will not be blocked

Donald Trump will not block the appointment of Peter Mandelson as British ambassador to the US, according to a London-based ally of the president-elect, as ministers brace for a turbulent four years of British-American relations.Greg Swenson, the head of the UK branch of Republicans Overseas, told the BBC on Sunday he did not believe Trump would prevent the Labour peer from taking up his post in Washington, despite reports to the contrary.Trump allies told British newspapers over the weekend that the incoming president was prepared to veto Lord Mandelson’s appointment in part because of his links to China. Swenson denied this was the case but ministers say the controversy is a sign of what are likely to be bumpy years with Trump in the White House.“I didn’t think [Mandelson] was the right pick, but he is the pick,” Swenson told the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg