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South China Morning Post
7 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
Starmer's Labour promised to boost UK living standards. A year on, not much has changed
UK living standards are no higher than when Labour swept to power a year ago, highlighting the problems piling up for Prime Minister Keir Starmer as he struggles to contain the rise of Nigel Farage's populist Reform UK party. Discretionary incomes tumbled 4.2 per cent in April after a wave of bill increases and tax raises, and failed to improve in May – the worst two months for households since the spring of 2022 when Russia's invasion of Ukraine sent energy prices rocketing, according to Retail Economics. In total, they have fallen 7.5 per cent this year to levels seen just after Labour won a landslide victory in July last year, with the least well-off hit hardest. The bleak findings come as separate analysis shows the number of Britons with second jobs jumping to a record high and one in six workers struggling to pay their monthly bills. The figures help to explain why political discontent is brewing in Britain – despite Starmer's claim that wages growing faster than prices is a sign of things improving. Labour has been overtaken in opinion polls by Reform UK, which has surged in support as it promises tax cuts and handouts to lower-income Britons. With pay growth running at around 5 per cent, well above the 3.4 per cent rate of inflation, Starmer and Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves said they are delivering on an election promise to make working people better off. But Retail Economics' data covers changes in tax and some bills not captured by official data, suggesting that the real picture for households is much worse. Disposable incomes recovered strongly from the spring of 2023 after being hit by soaring energy and food bills that pushed inflation to a peak of 11.1 per cent. However, 'awful April' this year delivered a fresh blow as food prices jumped and a raft of regulated costs, from local authority taxes and rail fares to energy and water bills, shot up.
South China Morning Post
2 days ago
- South China Morning Post
Rare earth realisation: US must tackle tech, pollution despite Pentagon move, CEO says
The United States is scrambling to reduce its dependence on rare earths from China, with the Pentagon splashing out US$400 million on Thursday to become the largest shareholder in American miner MP Materials. While some say the move will help wean the US off the Chinese supply, a senior American industry executive has warned that a variety of hurdles face US and European mining efforts – from securing the necessary midstream technology to obtaining government permits for what can be a highly pollutive and sometimes radioactive mining process. 'It depends upon the strategy and who's doing it,' David Argyle, CEO of Ohio-based REalloys, said during a Zoom interview on Friday. If all of the conditions are met, he said, 'you can make big inroads, maybe achieving 40 [or] 50 per cent of the US' strategic needs. You can probably have [the rare earth problem] solved in 2027 [or] 2028'. REalloys delivers high-end magnet materials and magnets for US-protected markets, including the US National Defence Stockpile, US Defence Industrial Base, US Nuclear Industrial Base, robotics, electric aviation and critical infrastructure industries. Beijing has tightened its grip over supplies of middle and heavy rare earths as leverage in its trade war with Washington, forcing the US side to ease its tech curbs during talks in London in early June.
The Standard
2 days ago
- The Standard
Trump says US to supply weapons to Ukraine via NATO
Firefighters work at a site of an apartment building, damaged during Russian drone and missile strikes, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine July 10, 2025. (REUTERS/Alina Smutko)
