How British towns got left behind

The Victorians called Britain and Germany “awkward cousins.” These days, Keir Starmer is trying to revive that Anglo-German amity as part of a broader reset with the European Union. The prime minister has wooed Chancellor Friedrich Merz since the Christian Democrat leader took po ...  Show more

Despite the war in Iran and its economic consequences preoccupying ministers, much work is going on behind closed doors in Whitehall to strike a closer relationship with Brussels. Nearly a decade after Britain voted to leave the EU, Keir Starmer has tasked his ministers with nego ...  Show more

After the resignation of Liz Truss the UK will soon have its third prime minister this year. Britain has long been considered a politically stable nation. So has something changed? The governing Conservative Party is divided on many issues, including the country’s future directio ...  Show more

Many ‘red wall’ constituencies across northern England, the Midlands and north Wales switched from Labour to the Conservatives in the 2019 general election partly thanks to then prime minister Boris Johnson’s energetic pledge to revitalise struggling communities outside the so ...

By the middle of the 20th century, the English town of Grimsby was the biggest fishing port in the world. When the catch was good “fishermen could live like rock stars”, says Kurt Christensen who first went to sea aged 15. He was instantly addicted to a tough and dangerous life o ...  Show more

Local leaders respond to the PM’s plan to “level up” the country. On the day Boris Johnson set out his plan to “level up” the UK by spreading power and opportunity more evenly, a collective noun of mayors from some of the key English regions give us their chain reactions. First, ...  Show more