Key events
Closing summary
Our top story: UK inflation was unchanged last month at 3.8%, confounding expectations of a rise, in welcome news for the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, as she plans for her crucial budget next month.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said that inflation measured on the consumer prices index remained at the same level in September as in August and July.
City expectations had pointed to a 4% reading but the ONS said upward pressure from transport prices was offset by cheaper food and a slowdown in inflation for “recreation and culture”, including live music tickets.
It was the 12th month in a row CPI remained above the government’s 2% target, however.
Our other main stories:
Thank you for reading. We’ll be back tomorrow. – JK
Heathrow’s third runway plans to be fast-tracked
Gwyn Topham
Heathrow’s third runway plans will be fast-tracked so Britain can “experience the benefits sooner”, the government said, as ministers launched a policy review required for the airport’s expansion.
The transport secretary Heidi Alexander said work had started to review the Airports National Policy Statement (ANPS), which sets out the framework for expansion, allowing a final decision by the end of this Parliament to “realise the government’s ambition” of a runway by 2035.
She said that new environmental and climate obligations meant an updated ANPS was necessary to allow a decision, but pledged it would be published for consultation by summer 2026, three years quicker than the ANPS arrived when the previous government backed Heathrow.
The updated policy statement will include Labour’s four key tests for proposed airport expansion – on climate, noise, air quality, and economic growth – and be consistent with net zero commitments, the government said.
Alexander said that Heathrow, as well as the Arora Group, which submitted an alternative proposal, had been asked to provide additional details, with a view to a single scheme being taken forward by November.
Barclays, housebuilders lead FTSE gains
On Wall Street, stocks are broadly flat. The Dow Jones and S&P 500 opened slightly higher while the Nasdaq is down by 19 points, or nearly 0.1%.
In London, the FTSE 100 index is 100 points, or 1% ahead at 9,527, with Barclays among the biggest risers, after it upgraded its profitability expectations – despite putting aside another £235m to compensate drivers over the car loan commissions scandal.
Housebuilders are also among the main gainers, with Persimmon rising by nearly 5%, Barratt Redrow up 3.6% and Berkeley Group 3.2% ahead. Building materials supplier Howden Joinery is the top riser, up 5.2%, while B&Q owner Kingfisher has gained 3.8%.
There has been talk of a housebuilding package from central government for London that will water down affordable housing targets to kickstart stalled development. It is expected in the next few weeks, although some regard it as “Labour’s big housing betrayal”.
Oil rises over 2% on trade talk optimism
In financial markets, crude oil is pushing higher for a second day in a row, rising by more than 2%, lifted by hopes of progress on a US trade deal with China and India.
Brent crude futures, the global benchmark, rose by 2.1% to $62.64 a barrel while US West Texas Intermediate crude futures climbed by 2.4% to $58.64 a barrel.
Donald Trump said he spoke to Indian prime minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday, adding that Modi assured him India would limit its oil purchases from Russia – a thorny issue.
India’s Mint newspaper reported today that the two countries are inching closer to a long-stalled trade agreement that would reduce US tariffs on Indian imports to 15%-16%, from 50% at the moment.
Turning to China, officials from Washington and Beijing are set to meet this week in Malaysia. Trump said on Monday he expected to hammer out a fair trade deal with Chinese president Xi Jinping, whom he is due to meet in South Korea next week – although on Tuesday he said the meeting might not happen.
A summit between the US and Russian presidents has been put on hold.
Spot gold fell by 1.6% to $4,051.89 an ounce, reversing a modest gain earlier. On Tuesday, gold tumbled by 5%, its biggest sell-off since 2020 after weeks of record-breaking gains.
UK energy firms call for regulator Ofgem to be overhauled
The UK’s energy companies have called for a radical shake-up of the regulator Ofgem, accusing it of overseeing a rise in domestic bills and slowing Britain’s economic growth.
The industry’s trade association, Energy UK, has called for Ofgem to be stripped of some of its responsibilities after overseeing “a dramatic increase in red tape” that it claims has reduced growth and pushed up costs for households.
In a report, the trade group noted that despite the government’s plan to reduce the cost of regulation by 25% by the end of this parliament, Ofgem’s headcount had been allowed to increase by 120% over the past 10 years while its budget grew by 200%. By contrast, the energy sector’s workforce had grown by only 8% over the same period. Ofgem is the energy regulator for Great Britain.
Work to link HS2 to west coast mainline to be delayed for four more years
Work to connect HS2 to the west coast mainline will be deferred for another four years as part of a “reset” of the troubled high-speed rail project.
The work between Birmingham and Handsacre in Staffordshire was originally halted in early 2023 by the previous government to limit spending on HS2.
The decision to extend the pause means cities in northern parts of the country will have a long wait for even the secondary benefits of HS2, after construction of the planned remaining leg of the railway north of Birmingham was scrapped in 2023.
The connection will eventually cut 25 minutes from journeys between London, Liverpool, Manchester and beyond, using new high-speed trains and track as well as the existing mainline.
Princes Group targets lower than expected £1.24bn float
The company behind Princes Tuna, Napolina Pasta and Naked Noodle is targeting a lower-than-expected valuation of up to £1.24bn when it floats on the London stock market.
Princes Group reiterated that it hopes to raise £400m, and plans to use the money to fund expansion.
The 150-year-old group, owned by Italian food and drinks maker NewPrinces since May last year, said today that it is aiming for a market valuation of £1.16bn to £1.24bn, rather than £1.5bn, in a sluggish UK IPO (initial public offering) market.
The Liverpool-based company has become one of Europe’s biggest grocery suppliers in recent decades through nearly two dozen acquisitions and mergers.
The company plans to sell up to 84.2m new shares priced between 475 and 590 pence, with NewPrinces intending to buy up to £200m worth of shares.
Shares in its parent company dropped by 10% on the Milan stock exchange following the announcement.
Princes shares are expected to trade on the London Stock Exchange on 5 November 5.
Its debut will test investor appetite in the London stock market, which has lost mega deals including Unilever’s ice cream business and fast-fashion retailer Shein and is on track for its lowest number of new flotations this year.
Princes joins Texas-based data centre company Fermi’s dual listing – the biggest this year – and alternative lender Shawbrook’s planned float of up to £2bn.
Fermi raised more than $680m in early October, giving it a valuation of close to $12.5bn.
*This post has been corrected. An earlier version said the expected valuation was £1.14bn, not the actual figure of £1.24bn.
Jaguar Land Rover hack has cost UK economy £1.9bn, experts say
The hack of Jaguar Land Rover has cost the British economy an estimated £1.9bn and affected more than 5,000 organisations, a cybersecurity body has said.
A report by the Cyber Monitoring Centre (CMC) said losses could be higher if there were unexpected delays to the return to full production at the carmaker to levels before the hack took place in August.
“This incident appears to be the most economically damaging cyber event to hit the UK, with the vast majority of the financial impact being due to the loss of manufacturing output at JLR and its suppliers,” the report said.
The CMC is an independent non-profit organisation made up of industry specialists including the former head of Britain’s National Cyber Security Centre.
Reeves expected to scrap ‘low-value imports’ loophole that benefits Shein and Temu
Rachel Reeves, the UK chancellor, is reportedly planning to close a tax loophole in her budget next month that allows overseas retailers including Shein and Temu to send small packages to the UK without paying any customs duties.
The arrangement, central to the business model of the online marketplaces where almost all sellers are based in China, has been criticised by British high street chains that complain it creates an uneven playing field.
Currently parcels containing goods worth up to £135, known as “low-value imports”, can be imported without incurring any customs duty. By contrast, goods worth over £135 can incur duty of up to 25%.
Reeves will use her 26 November budget to close this loophole, which experts say costs the industry as much as £600m a year, according to a Financial Times report quoting unnamed government officials.
ITV’s share price has dropped sharply to its lowest since April after its biggest investor, Liberty Global, sold half its stake.
Shares in the Love Island broadcaster were down by 8% on Wednesday morning, after Liberty on Tuesday said that it would sell 193m shares, worth about £135m. The sale will reduce Liberty’s shareholding from about 10% to approximately 5%.
ITV has been the target of repeated takeover rumours, with Liberty seen as a possible suitor after it acquired BSkyB’s 6.4% stake for £481m in 2014.
However, the company’s valuation has languished as linear broadcast’s share of advertising has been reduced by competition from online social media video. While that could make it easier to take over, no formal approaches have been made.
The share price decline has come despite the success of the ITV Studios arm, which makes hits for ITV and other broadcasters. Those include the reality TV smash Love Island for ITV, the Until I Kill You miniseries that aired in New Zealand, Canada and the UK, and the Jilly Cooper adaptation Rivals for Disney’s streaming service.
Barclays is the top riser on the FTSE 100, after it upgraded its profitability expectations despite putting aside another £235m to compensate drivers over the car loan commissions scandal.
The bank’s share price is up by 4.4%, compared with a 0.8% increase on the broader FTSE 100.
Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, an investment platform, said:
After a slight stumble thanks to concerns over whether a couple of spectacular bankruptcies in the USA mean the credit cycle is turning down, and some turbulence in US banking stocks, shares in Barclays are turning higher again after a strong set of third-quarter results.
Management feels confident enough to launch a third share buyback of the year, this time for £500m, to take the total for the year to £2.5bn.
That strong signal, and maintenance of targets for return on tangible equity for 2025 and 2026, may help to soothe those who had started to fret as US banking shares took a dive after the high-profile failures of First Brands and Tricolor. Barclays shares are now heading back toward the 17-year high reached last month.
British business lobby to be headed by BAE boss Cressida Hogg
The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has appointed the chair of weapons maker BAE Systems, Cressida Hogg, to be its president.
The appointment means that Britain’s biggest business lobby group will have two women leading it, as it continues to try to rebuild its reputation and influence after a scandal in 2023 over governance, bullying and sexual misconduct. The Guardian in 2023 revealed allegations of sexual misconduct and rape by senior men at the organisation.
Hogg will take over on 1 January from Rupert Soames, who was appointed in December 2023 in the wake of the scandal. She will act as the lobby group’s figurehead alongside director-general Rain Newton-Smith.
As it has rebuilt its reputation, the CBI has taken an increasingly critical stance towards the Labour government. Soames was particularly aggrieved by tax rises at last year’s budget.
Hogg was appointed chair of the FTSE 100’s BAE Systems in May 2023, after a career mainly focused on infrastructure investment. She was previously head of infrastructure at the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board from 2014 and 2018, and before that was managing partner of 3i Infrastructure.
The CBI said it had considered 50 candidates, via the recruitment firm Egon Zehnder.
Hogg said:
I am pleased and honoured to have been nominated to be the next president of the CBI. Whilst this is a challenging time for business, it is also one of opportunity. I look forward to working with the CBI team as we help government achieve our common objectives of making the UK a high-growth economy, attracting the investment needed to drive global competitiveness and increased productivity.
The surprisingly steady inflation reading may be offering some solace to the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, in Whitehall and the Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey in Threadneedle Street.
Isabella Galliers-Pratt, an investment director at Rathbones, an asset manager, said:
This morning’s consumer price index release delivered a modest but meaningful reprieve for policymakers and markets alike, defying expectations of a rise to 4.0% and offering a glimmer of stability ahead of the chancellor’s autumn budget on 26 November.
She flagged declines in prices in food, recreation, and culture as particularly welcome, “suggesting inflationary fears linked to corporate cost pressures may be easing”. She said:
Markets responded positively this morning, with government bond yields edging lower and the FTSE moving higher, offering the chancellor some breathing room given the UK’s substantial proportion of inflation linked debt.
Lower inflation expectations help ease borrowing costs, improving fiscal flexibility. This backdrop also provides the Bank of England with greater scope for policy manoeuvre and may prompt speculation around a more dynamic path for the bank rate.
UK house price and rent rises slow
Annual house price inflation slowed in August across the UK, while private rent rises also eased, according to official figures.
The average price of a home rose by 3% to £273,000 in the 12 months to August, down from 3.2% in July, the Office for National Statistics said.
Average house prices increased to £296,000, with an an annual rate of 2.9%, in England, £211,000 (2%) in Wales, and £194,000 (4.0%) in Scotland, in the 12 months to August.
The average private rent rose by 5.5% to £1,354 in the 12 months to September, down from 5.7% in August.
Average UK house prices up by 3.0%, to £273,000 in the 12 months to August 2025, down from 3.2% in the 12 months to July.
Average UK private rents rose by 5.5%, to £1,354 in the 12 months to September 2025, down from 5.7% in the 12 months to August.
➡️ https://t.co/mUorDH4by0 pic.twitter.com/tapu6y7175
— Office for National Statistics (ONS) (@ONS) October 22, 2025
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Average rents increased to £1,410 (5.5%) in England, £815 (7.1%) in Wales, and £1,004 (3.4%) in Scotland, in the 12 months to September.
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In Northern Ireland, average rents increased to £865 (7.1%), in the 12 months to July.
Signs of peak inflation open door to earlier Bank of England interest rate cuts
Has UK inflation peaked? The latest official figures showing price growth in the UK stayed at 3.8% in September seem to suggest so.
The statement cannot be made with absolute certainty yet but many economists reacted to the latest consumer prices index (CPI) data with a message that the only direction for inflation over the rest of the year was down.
City economists had expected the Office for National Statistics to report an increase from August’s 3.8% to 4%, and they were in good company – the Bank of England also said inflation would top out at that level last month.
Food retailers had other ideas. They slowed the recent escalation in the cost of essential items, helping to ease the pressure on household budgets.
Lidl GB, the UK arm of the German discount supermarket chain, believes there is still the opportunity to open hundreds more stores in Britain, its boss said this morning.
Chief executive Ryan McDonnell told Reuters after Lidl GB published annual results.
We still see the opportunity for hundreds more stores.
He declined to put a ceiling on Lidl GB’s store ambitions. The discounter opened 12 new stores in the year to 28 February, and intends to open 40 in the current year. Next month it will open its 1,000th store.
Rival German-owned discounter Aldi has a target of 1,500 UK stores.
Barclays posts dip in profits as it ups car finance compensation pot
Kalyeena Makortoff
Barclays has reported a dip in profits, as it became the latest high street bank to put aside hundreds of millions of pounds to compensate drivers over the car loan commissions scandal.
The UK lender announced it was setting aside a further £235m, after the Financial Conduct Authority earlier this month proposed a £11bn redress programme.
The scheme, which is currently out for consultation, could end up compensating millions of customers over 14m historic car loan contracts, if they are deemed unfair because of controversial commission arrangements with car dealers
It takes Barclays’ total compensation pot to £325m, having first put aside £90m in February. Barclays no longer provides car finance but is dealing with the fallout for the remaining loans on its books.
Last week, its high street rival Lloyds Banking Group said it was putting aside an extra £800m to deal with potential compensation, bringing its total provision to almost £2bn. Lloyds is the UK’s biggest car lender through its Black Horse division, and is due to report its third quarter results on Thursday.
The new provision weighed on Barclays’ earnings, having reported a 7% drop in pre-tax profits to £2.08bn in the three months to the end of September, down from £2.2bn during the same period last year. That was compared to consensus estimates for £2.1bn.
However, that did not stop the bank from announcing fresh payouts for investors. Barclays chief executive CS Venkatakrishnan said he was launching another £500m worth of share buybacks, and would be moving to quarterly payouts for shareholders – rather than waiting for half-year and end-of-year earnings to do so.
“I continue to be pleased with the ongoing momentum of Barclays’ financial performance over the last seven quarters,” Venkatakrishnan said, adding that he was upgrading the profitability guidance – under a measure known as return on tangible equity – for the full-year.
