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Textile manufacturers in Leicester are still underpaying and exploiting workers, despite a clampdown by enforcement bodies and concerted efforts by UK retailers to clean up their supply chains, according to new research by the Low Pay Commission. Labour abuses in garment factories in the city in the East Midlands have been known for years, but

Sir Keir Starmer will on Monday tell Labour to change its “instincts” and focus as much on boosting growth as on the redistribution of wealth, as he tries to wrest the mantle of economic competence from the Conservatives. Starmer believes the fractious Tory leadership contest has offered Labour a chance to regain the public’s trust

The Conservative leadership contest has another six weeks to run before the UK has its next prime minister, but Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss have already earmarked key allies for potential top roles in government. Both leadership campaigns insist no job offers have been made and that it is premature to discuss who might serve

The UK and French governments will each have a seat on the board of a new satellite operator aiming to take on billionaire space entrepreneurs Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos under merger terms being thrashed out on Sunday between Eutelsat and OneWeb. Paris-listed Eutelsat and OneWeb, the space-based internet pioneer rescued from collapse by a

European governments are attempting to water down Brussels’ plans to push the bloc into cutting gas demand to better weather a shortage of Russian supplies this winter. Diplomats from the 27 EU member states have been locked in negotiations since the European Commission proposed measures last week requiring countries to cut gas use by 15

The writer is former chief economist at Goldman Sachs and was a UK Treasury minister It is now over 12 years since the Conservative party regained power. As members ponder their fourth leader during that time, the country urgently needs their choice — and our next prime minister — to have a credible vision of how to

The battle between Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss to become Britain’s next prime minister switched to immigration over the weekend, as the two Tory leadership contenders vowed to outdo each other in tightening up control of the country’s borders. Sunak, the former chancellor, hinted he would clamp down on the number of people fleeing war

While you may not have realised it from Christine Lagarde’s understated delivery, the European Central Bank last week became a lot more pugnacious towards both financial markets and the eurozone’s fiscal policymakers. For quite some time the ECB, which Lagarde heads, has been visibly uncomfortable about being “the only game in town”. It was long

The US military’s top officer said China was becoming more aggressive in intercepting military aircraft and undertaking unsafe aerial manoeuvres over the past five years. General Mark Milley, chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff, said China was conducting “dangerous intercepts” against American military aircraft and ships, and was also targeting Canada, Australia, Japan

Imagine asking a room of five hundred women: “Raise your hand if you have experienced imposter syndrome.” I did this recently. A sea of hands went up, including my own. Because we’ve been schooled to believe that we are in the grip of this “syndrome” and that whenever we feel self-doubt, insecurity or questioning we

Singapore is lobbying its largest technology companies to relist in the city-state, arguing it is their “national duty” in an escalation of the financial hub’s bid to boost the appeal of its stock market. Over the past year, exchange officials have intensified attempts to persuade Singapore-based companies, including tech conglomerate Sea and superapp Grab, to

The EU’s trade chief has vowed to accelerate efforts to boost the union’s network of trade deals, as Brussels responded to member state calls to strengthen global supply chains, wean itself off Russia and deepen links with key allies. Valdis Dombrovskis, EU trade commissioner, said geopolitical pressures were “shifting our perspective on trade policy”, adding

China’s new Belt and Road Initiative investments in Russia have fallen to zero for the first time, signalling Beijing’s reluctance to incur sanctions in the wake of the Ukraine war. In contrast with past multibillion-dollar pledges and contracts, Beijing struck no new deals with Russian entities under the Belt and Road programme in the first

China is preparing a system to sort US-listed Chinese companies into groups based on the sensitivity of the data they hold, in a potential concession by Beijing to try to stop American regulators from delisting hundreds of groups. The system is designed to bring some Chinese companies into compliance with US rules that require public

The UK government is set to become a minority shareholder in a listed French business, as France’s Eutelsat nears a deal to acquire OneWeb, the space-based internet company rescued from bankruptcy by Boris Johnson’s government. According to people involved, a deal will be announced as soon as Monday and involve a takeover of OneWeb by

When Volkswagen boss Herbert Diess’s strongest competitor, Elon Musk, parked his electric cars on the German group’s lawn by building a factory just 200km from its historic Wolfsburg headquarters, the Bavarian executive’s response was warmer than many expected. Publicly, Diess told anyone who would listen that Tesla was “paving the way” and “good for the

The World Health Organization has classified the worldwide monkeypox outbreak as a “public health emergency of international concern”, putting it on par with diseases such as Covid-19, Ebola and polio. It is the highest possible designation under international health regulations, and was last deployed for Covid-19 more than two years ago. The WHO does not

It is human nature to prioritise the near term over the far off, and to care more about what is proximate than remote. For many of those in the west, the consequences of climate change, though known to be serious, have been something that were largely experienced by other people, or would be felt by

China has issued stark private warnings to the Biden administration about the upcoming trip to Taiwan by Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the US House of Representatives, triggering alarm bells among White House officials who oppose her visit. Six people familiar with the Chinese warnings said they were significantly stronger than the threats that Beijing has

Ukraine accused Russia of firing missiles at its key grain exporting port of Odesa on Saturday, a day after Moscow signed a deal allowing Kyiv to resume grain exports in a bid to alleviate the growing global food crisis. Two Kalibr cruise missiles hit Odesa’s port and two others were shot down by Ukrainian air