Ailbhe Rea

1 week ago | bloomberg.com | Ailbhe Rea |Joe Mayes

Keir Starmer(Bloomberg) -- UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is less than 10 days away from the biggest parliamentary challenge to his authority in his not-yet year-long tenure. Unpopular cuts to disability benefits unveiled earlier this year as part of Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves’ efforts to balance the country’s books are due before the House of Commons for their first vote on July 1, with a large-scale rebellion brewing on the Labour back benches.

1 week ago | bloomberg.com | Ailbhe Rea

Workers at an HS2 construction site in London. (Bloomberg) -- The UK government is set to announce that the completion of the High Speed 2 rail line will be delayed and the cost will rise, faulting the previous Conservative administration for wasting billions of pounds on the troubled project.

1 week ago | bloomberg.com | Ailbhe Rea

When Donald Trump dropped the UK-US trade deal — literally — at the G7 yesterday, Keir Starmer did what I imagine most of us would have done in that situation. Without thinking (blink and you would have missed it) he picked the papers up. Yet the optics of our prime minister bending down in front of Trump, scrambling around to salvage the pieces, made for something of an uncomfortable visual metaphor.

2 weeks ago | bloomberg.com | Ailbhe Rea

While the world reacts to Israel’s attack on Iran, Keir Starmer has been sitting down in Number 10 with our very own Mishal Husain (yes, that Mishal Husain, who is now our esteemed colleague at Bloomberg) in Downing Street to discuss a situation changing rapidly even as they spoke.

2 weeks ago | bloomberg.com | Joe Mayes |Alex Wickham |Ailbhe Rea

Rachel Reeves on June 11. (Bloomberg) -- Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves announced a record funding boost for the National Health Service in a spending review that marks a watershed moment for the Labour government after nearly a year in power focused on fiscal prudence. The NHS will see a 3% real terms rise in day-to-day expenditure in each of the next three years, amounting to a £29 billion ($39 billion) increase in its budget, Reeves told the House of Commons on Wednesday.