Britain

British housebuilders may cut dividends to preserve cash and ride out a property downturn, as high mortgage rates make homes less affordable and economic uncertainty deters buyers.

Prince Harry on Friday faced a backlash in the UK and beyond over his memoir "Spare", with criticism from the media, commentators, army veterans and even the Taliban, as Buckingham Palace kept silent on the widely leaked contents.

British house prices slid in December, capping the largest quarterly drop since the financial crisis more than 10 years ago, data from mortgage lender Halifax showed on Friday.

Britain's opposition Labour party vowed Thursday to overhaul the country after 13 troubled years of Conservative rule -- but insisted it would not spend its way out of trouble.

The UK government on Thursday abandoned plans to privatise the public-service broadcaster Channel 4 after standing accused of waging a political vendetta against the edgy television network.

Extinction Rebellion climate campaigners have announced a temporary halt to public disruption in the UK as they seek broader support, even as other activist groups vow to maintain radical tactics.

British grocery sales rose 9.4% to a record 12.8 billion pounds ($15.3 billion) in the four weeks to Dec.

UK rail staff disrupted the New Year return to work on Tuesday in the latest strike action by workers in a range of sectors over the worst cost-of-living crisis in a generation.

The family of famous actor Benedict Cumberbatch may face legal action for their links to the slave trade in Barbados.

Britain's cost-of-living crisis has turned into a bitter winter in households trying to keep their energy bills down.

European shares were subdued on Wednesday, while UK's FTSE 100 outpaced peers after a long Christmas holiday weekend as investors assessed Beijing's steps towards reopening its COVID-battered economy.

Military personnel stood in for passport control staff at UK airports on Friday as Border Force officers walked out in an escalating wave of public sector strikes over pay.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said Friday it is "completely reasonable" for the UK government to review a newly-passed gender recognition law in Scotland, setting it on a potential collision course with Edinburgh.

Britain's health workers on Friday announced a fresh round of strikes in January, with their long-running dispute over pay and conditions with the government set to continue into 2023.

Britain outlined in a letter to Washington its opposition to US green subsidies, claiming they would "harm multiple economies" and "undermine UK-US trade and investment flows", UK media reported Friday.

Britain's economy contracted more than first thought in the third quarter of this year, putting it bottom among the Group of Seven major advanced nations ahead of what is shaping up to be a dismal 2023, data showed on Thursday.

British public borrowing unexpectedly jumped last month to hit its highest for any November on record, reflecting the mounting cost of energy subsidies, debt interest and the reversal of an increase in payroll taxes, official figures showed on Wednesday.

UK nurses on Tuesday staged a second one-day strike amid an increasingly acrimonious fight with the government for better wages and warnings that patient safety could be jeopardised.

British regulators on Tuesday said they had fined TSB Bank ?48.7 million ($59 million) over an IT upgrade that left customers unable to access services.

In Britain, the damage wrought by rampant inflation can be seen in the fate of the humble egg.

The number of billionaires in the UK witnessed a 20% jump when the rest of the country was struggling to cope with Covid-19.

The downturn across most British businesses eased slightly this month but manufacturers struggled and the economy is still likely to contract this quarter, marking a recession, a survey showed on Friday.

Strike action scheduled to begin on December 29 remains in place pending the outcome of the ballot of members.

The Bank of England raised its key interest rate by half a percentage point on Thursday and indicated that more hikes were likely, despite a looming recession, as it tries to bring down inflation that hit a 41-year high in October.

A British investigation into a trading scheme that claimed multiple tax rebates on dividend payments, said by European countries to have siphoned billions of euros from state coffers, is now focused on nine companies and three individuals, a Freedom of Information (FOI) request shows.

UK nurses stage unprecedented walkout

British electricals retailer Currys cut its full-year profit forecast on Thursday after heavy discounting by rivals in the Nordics region drove it to a first-half loss, sending its shares as much as 10% lower.

British inflation slowed more than expected in November but remained near the highest level in more than 40 years, official data showed Wednesday, as a cost-of-living crisis sparks fresh UK strikes.

Government estimates show that funding will be needed for training and communications on top of all the basic costs associated with the new rules.

Average pay for British public sector workers fell to a 19-year low in October, after adjusting for inflation, according to official data on Tuesday that underscored why so many are going on strike.