United Kingdom

    Banks and building societies are increasing the rates on their mortgages as the era of rock-bottom interest rates finally comes to an end around the world. This week one building society, Skipton, increased rates on some mortgages by 0.37 percentage points while another mutual, West Bromwich, scrapped its market-leading 10-year fix, which charged just 2.59pc. Riskier first-time-buyer mortgages have also been affected. Virgin Money, previously one of the cheapest lenders in this area, has already increased the cost of several of its mortgages for borrowers with 5pc deposits by up to 10pc. Commentators say it is a matter of when, not if, the cost of borrowing to buy a home increases. Here’s why. Why will rates rise? The interest rates paid by British mortgage borrowers are s...

    Patients could be told to bring two forms of identification including a passport to hospital to prove they are eligible for free treatment under new rules to stop so-called health tourism. The most senior official in the Department of Health told MPs on Monday that he was looking at making hospitals check patients’ papers to find out whether they should be paying, a proposal he admitted was “controversial”. It would mean that those trying to access health services, including British citizens, might have to prove their identity before having operations and undergoing tests in hospitals, but it would not cover care received at GP surgeries. Chris Wormald, the department’s permanent secretary, told the public accounts committee that passport checks were already taking place a...

    Sporting a scruffy white beard and salt-and-pepper wavy hair, Chris Dunn blends in well with those around a breakfast table at Timothy’s House of Hope, a meal site in Davenport for the hungry. I’ll keep you in my prayers, Dunn told a man, who asked not to be identified as he fought back tears over a plate of biscuits and gravy. He’s struggling through a divorce and living out of the back of his truck, which needs a new timing chain. I love you like a brother, Dunn added as he patted the man on the back. It’s obvious the 56-year-old Dunn, who’s rocking close-fitting jeans, a wool sweater and Under Armour shoes, isn’t there for the free spread; he’s there to listen. As a homeless outreach worker for the Center, he spends part of most days checking in on his “friends” at vari...

    European leaders have come to a 27-nation consensus that a hard Brexit is likely to be the only way to see off future populist insurgencies, which could lead to the break-up of the European Union. The hardening line in EU capitals comes as Nigel Farage warns European leaders that Marine Le Pen, leader of the Front National, could deliver a political sensation bigger than Brexit and win France’s presidential election next spring – a result that would mean it was “game over” for 60 years of EU integration. National Front leader Marine Le Pen has made it clear she would like to take France out of the euro and the EU. According to senior officials at the highest levels of European governments, allowing Britain favourable terms of exit could represent an existential danger to t...

    The borough of Waltham Forest, which covers Walthamstow and surround areas, has an astonishing 543 off-licences covering a population of 271,170. That works our as one ‘offie’ for every 499 people - more than twice the national average of one per 1,044 people. The figures, from the Office for National Statistics, include those places which can only sell alcohol for consumption off-site. That means pubs and clubs are not counted. The second booziest place might come as something as a surprise - it is Fenland in Cambridgeshire. The leafy district - to the east of Peterborough - may not be a renowned party hot-spot but has a total of 169 off-licences, or one for every 587 people who live there. Third is Hackney, with one off-licence for every 650 people, while fourth is Wolve...

    The Scottish and Welsh governments will be able to intervene in a historic legal battle over the UK's decision to split from the EU, the Supreme Court announced on Friday (18 November). The move means lawyers from the devolved governments, led by the SNP and Welsh Labour, will able to address the top court as the UK government attempts to overturn a ruling from the High Court "Counsel for the Scottish Government and for the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain have been invited to address in their skeleton arguments the relevance of points of Scots Law, so far as they do not also form part of the law of England and Wales, to the determination of the present proceedings," a spokesman for the Supreme Court said. The High Court decided MPs must have a vote on the trigge...

    A polar air mass has spread across the UK, bringing with it the threat of freezing temperatures, storm force winds and snow this weekend. Severe weather warnings are in place across a swathe of the country with wintry showers threatening ice overnight and snow falling on higher ground in western and northwestern areas. Flurries have already been seen as far south as Exeter. The wintry weather is being brought in by a cold northwesterly "polar air mass" from the Arctic Sea, with clear spells allowing temperatures to plunge below freezing. © PA A snowplough clears a road over Grinton Moor near Reeth , North Yorkshire Yellow "be aware" warnings of ice have been issued by the Met Office for the Midlands, the North of England, Northern Ireland and Scotland. The area of low pres...