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Analysis: Has Starmer done enough to save his premiership?
Was the prime minister’s speech enough to avert a challenge to his leadership less than two years after he won a landslide general election victory?
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EU’s Kallas criticises Putin’s ‘very cynical’ Ukraine ceasefire calls and rejects suggestion of Schröder as mediator – Europe live | Europe
EU’s Kallas criticises Putin’s ‘very cynical’ ceasefire calls, rejects suggestion of Schröder as mediator on Ukraine
EU’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas earlier was also dismissive of Putin’s “very cynical” calls for a ceasefire “to protect his parade, whereas they were actually still attacking civilians in Ukraine.”
And the former Estonian prime minister, too, was not particularly keen on Schröder as a mediator on Ukraine.
“If we give the right to Russia to appoint a negotiator on our behalf, that would not be very wise.
And second, I think Gerhard Schröder has been the high-level lobbyist for Russian state-owned companies, so it’s clear why Putin wants him to be the person so that actually he would be sitting on both sides of the table.”
Kallas also warned against broader Russian operations in Europe, warning that “clearly, our adversaries are not sleeping; so clearly, they want to increase the influence in Europe.”
“We unfortunately already see this in sports organisations, where, you know, Russians are let to compete like nothing has happened. And there are discussions there. We also saw this Venice Biennale where they are there like nothing has happened. So clearly they are working all the time and we have to be vigilant as well.”
Key events
Evacuated US and French MV Hondius passengers test positive for hantavirus
Angelique Chrisafis in Paris and Sam Jones in Madrid
Meanwhile, a French woman and an American national evacuated from the cruise ship at the centre of a deadly hantavirus outbreak have tested positive for the virus, as the complex operation to repatriate those onboard continued on Monday.
The French woman was one of five French passengers who disembarked from the ship in Tenerife on Sunday before being flown to a hospital in Paris.
The French health minister, Stéphanie Rist, said the woman was in a serious condition on Monday.
Rist said the woman had started to feel very unwell on Sunday night and “tests came back positive”. Rist told France Inter radio: “Unfortunately, her symptoms worsened overnight.” She is being treated in a specialised infectious diseases unit of a hospital in Paris.
Personnel in full-body protective gear and breathing masks began escorting the travellers from ship to shore in Tenerife in the Canary Islands on Sunday, in an effort that was continuing on Monday. More than 100 people of 23 nationalities are being evacuated in less than 48 hours, in an operation described by Spanish authorities as “complex” and “unprecedented”.
Spain’s health ministry said on Monday that “all possible measures had been adopted from the start in order to cut possible chains of transmission”, adding that passengers underwent a health check and had their temperatures taken when the ship arrived off Tenerife on Sunday.
It also said the French woman who had developed a fever on the evacuation flight had not had a high temperature when she was examined onboard the MV Hondius.
‘Extremisms and violence carry consequences,’ EU foreign policy chief says as EU adopts sanctions on Israeli settlers
Let’s bring you a bit more on the long-stalled sanctions on Israeli settlers, which – as expected (10:04) – have now been approved after the change of government in Hungary.
French foreign minister Jean-Noël Barrot was the first to break the news (14:49), but we now also heard from the EU’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, who said:
“EU Foreign Ministers just gave the go-ahead to sanction Israeli settlers over violence against Palestinians. They also agreed new sanctions on leading Hamas figures. It was high time we move from deadlock to delivery. Extremisms and violence carry consequences.”
But Israel has already condemned the move, saying it was adopted in “an arbitrary and political manner.”
“Equally outrageous is the unacceptable comparison the European Union has chosen to make between Israeli citizens and Hamas terrorists. This is a completely distorted moral equivalence.”
“Israel has stood, stands, and will continue to stand for the right of Jews to settle in the heart of our homeland,” foreign minister Gideon Sa’ar said on X.
Kallas will be speaking at a press conference following the ministerial meeting in the next half hour and I will bring you the key lines here.
‘Impossible to speak about culture’ in this noise, Macron tells off attendees at Africa summit
Here we have a clip of the French president, Emmanuel Macron, playing school teacher and asking attendees to quieten down at a youth-focused session at the Africa Forward Summit in Nairobi, Kenya, interrupting the event as speakers addressed the audience.
“I’m sorry guys, it’s impossible to speak about culture, to have people like that, super-inspired, coming here and making a speech with such noise,” he said.
This is a total lack of respect.
A Swiss crew member of the cruise ship hit by an outbreak of Hantavirus is in quarantine in the Netherlands, and a Swiss national is self-isolating in Switzerland, the Swiss authorities said on Monday.
The cases are in addition to that of a Swiss man who travelled on the cruise who tested positive for the Andes strain of the Hantavirus infection, a spokesperson for home affairs and public health said.
He is now being treated at a hospital in Zurich, and his wife is self-isolating, according to Swiss authorities.
A French woman and an American national evacuated from the cruise ship at the centre of a deadly hantavirus outbreak have tested positive for the virus, as the complex operation to repatriate those onboard continued on Monday.
You can read our earlier report here:
European Union foreign ministers reached a political agreement on Monday on new sanctions targeting violent Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank.
“It’s done. The European Union is sanctioning today the main Israeli organisations guilty of supporting the extremist and violent colonisation of the West Bank, as well as their leaders,” French foreign minister Jean-Noël Barrot wrote on social media.
A little bit more context to our earlier news that the European Union has imposed sanctions on 16 individuals and seven entities in Russia for systematic unlawful deportation of Ukrainian children.
On Monday, prior the announcement the EU hosted, alongside Canada, a meeting of the 47-country International Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children to increase diplomatic pressure on Russia and rally support for work to verify and trace those who are taken.
“War has really many faces, but stealing the children is really one of the most horrific,” EU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos said ahead of the gathering. “We should stop this, and Russia should pay.”
The officials targeted by Monday’s sanctions include the heads of children’s camps, government representatives and military officers in charge of youth training.
One of the 16 named was Lilya Shvetsova, head of the “Red Carnation” camp in occupied Crimea. The EU said she supervised “activities aimed at shaping the political and ideological views of children present at the facility, including Ukrainian children.”
Like others on the list, she was determined to be “supporting and implementing actions and policies contributing to the deportation, forced transfer, forced assimilation, including indoctrination, or militarized education of Ukrainian minors.”
EU leaders dismisses suggestions Schröder could help mediate between Russia and Europe
Pjotr Sauer
Russian affairs reporter
The EU on Monday dismissed Vladimir Putin’s suggestion that the Kremlin-friendly former German chancellor Gerhard Schröder could serve as a European mediator in peace talks aimed at ending the war in Ukraine.
Over the weekend, the Russian leader put forward Schröder – a longtime ally – as a possible figure to help restart talks with Europe, saying he would “personally” favour the former German leader for the role.
Schröder, 82, previously held senior positions in Russian energy projects, including work on the Nord Stream gas pipelines and a seat on the board of Russian oil company Rosneft.
He stepped down from the role several months after Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine under mounting pressure, but has never explicitly condemned Putin over the invasion.
Putin’s surprise pitch comes as the Russian president suggested the conflict in Ukraine could be drawing to a close – a rare instance in which Putin appeared to hint at a possible timeline for ending the invasion.
But Putin’s top advisers have stressed that the Kremlin continues to demand that Ukraine withdraw its troops from the eastern Donbas region as a precondition for future negotiations.
The Russian president remains determined to seize the remaining parts of the region by force this year before any serious talks begin, people familiar with his thinking told the Guardian.
EU sanctions 16 individuals, 7 entities over unlawful deportation, forced transfer of Ukrainian children
Meanwhile, the European Union has imposed sanctions on 16 individuals and seven entities in Russia for systematic unlawful deportation of Ukrainian children.
It is estimated that Russia “have deported and forcibly transferred nearly 20 500 Ukrainian children,” the statement said.
In a statement, the council said the decision “targets those responsible for the systematic unlawful deportation, forced transfer, forced assimilation, including indoctrination and militarised education, of Ukrainian minors, as well as their unlawful adoption and removal to the Russian Federation.”
The sanctioned entities include “federal state institutions” from Russia and officials and politicians from territories occupied by Russia.
“Those listed today are subject to an asset freeze, and EU citizens and companies are forbidden from making funds, financial assets or economic resources available to them. Natural persons are additionally subject to a travel ban that prohibits them from entering or transiting through EU territories.”
The move comes just hours before a separate discussion on the issue of Ukrainian children this afternoon.
Putin’s Ukraine hints could be attempt to distract critics from Russia’s weaknesses, Germany’s defence minister says
Back to Vladimir Putin’s suggestions of ending his aggression on Ukraine, German defence minister Boris Pistorius said it could be another deception while the Russian president tries to distract from his country’s own weakness, Reuters reported.
Putin could end the war himself if he wanted to, Pistorius said.
“And there’s always the fear – I hope I’m wrong – that this is yet another deception, but it can’t be ruled out.”
“I believe that Putin is ultimately trying to distract from his own weakness with this approach. He can currently point to hardly any territorial gains, and his army keeps losing parts of conquered territory,” he added.
EU in talks with US artificial intelligence giants over their AI models
Elsewhere, the European Commission is in ongoing discussions with US artificial intelligence giants OpenAI and Anthropic about the operation of their models, a spokesperson said at the midday briefing, Reuters reported.
Spokesperson Thomas Regnier said the commission welcomed OpenAI’s proactive engagement, including its intent to grant access to its new AI model.
He added that the Commission has had a four or five meetings with Anthropic though no discussions on a possible access to its AI models have taken place yet.
“With one (OpenAI), you have a company proactively offering to give access to the company. With the other one (Anthropic), we have good exchanges though we’re not at a stage where we can speculate on potential access or not“, Regnier said.
Poland investigates how wanted fugitive former minister left Hungary for US
Jakub Krupa
Meanwhile, Poland’s former justice minister Zbigniew Ziobro, wanted by Polish authorities with allegations of over 20 criminal charges, moved to the US over the weekend, leaving Hungary where he held political asylum granted by the previous government of Viktor Orbán.
Ziobro was one of the most prominent faces of the PiS government and played a central role in its controversial judiciary reforms, which critics say undermined the rule of law and the independence of courts, leading to prolonged conflict with the EU.
He is being investigated on 26 charges, with prosecutors alleging that he ran a criminal group and abused his position through the misuse of resources from a fund designed to help victims of crime. He denies the allegations, and claimed asylum in Hungary in January.
His move to leave Budapest coincides with the inauguration of the new pro-European government of Péter Magyar, who publicly said he would revoke the previous government’s decision to grant him protection and extradite the minister back to Poland.
Ziobro confirmed his whereabouts in an interview with the right-wing broadcaster Republika TV which also announced him as their “political commentator” based in the US.
“I am in the United States, I arrived yesterday,” he said, adding the US was “an extremely complex, beautiful country, the strongest democracy in the world,” and Poland’s “ally, the guarantor of Poland’s security.”
Ziobro had his Polish passports revoked last year as part of the investigation into 26 alleged abuses of power, but given his asylum status in Hungary, he was given an international refugee passport.
“These are well-known procedures associated with granting a citizen the right of asylum, [when] one also uses appropriate documents that allow them to move around the world. I have had such a document all the time and I used it effectively,” he told Republika.
The so-called Geneva passport, however, would require a visa to enter the US, raising questions over whether the broadcaster, with close links to Donald Trump and the US Republicans, may have applied for a US visa for the former minister.
Despite being wanted by Poland under domestic law, a follow-up motion to issue a European Arrest Warrant has yet to be decided by courts.
Ziobro insisted that he “will gladly stand before any court, and an … American court is certaintly an independent court.”
“If they want to bring an extradition case, go ahead; as prosecutor general [in the past], I remember my battles in extradition cases involving the US, and it is a demanding procedure,” he said.
The former minister doubled down on his claims that he could not face a fair trial in Poland, implying that Poland’s prime minister Donald Tusk would try to politically interfere with his case.
“That’s the advantage of this situation, this American freedom,” he said. “You can fight [in court] on fair terms, before an independent American court, and certainly, if such a moment comes, I will do so and not have a single bit of fear that Donald Tusk will have an influence on the case by handpicking a judge.”
Poland’s deputy foreign minister Marcin Bosacki told journalists on Monday morning that Polish authorities were “clarifying the matter and looking forward to serious talks with our American partners on how did Zbigniew Ziobro end up in the United States?”
“We very much hope that this matter will not cast a shadow over … traditionally good bilateral relations between Poland and America,” he said.
Bosacki revealed that “not so long ago the American ambassador assured us that the United States had no intention of hosting Zbigniew Ziobro on its territory.”
Separately, Poland’s public prosecutor’s office said it was investigating the circumstances surrounding his travel to the US to determine if anyone helped him to “flee and evade criminal responsibility, thereby obstructing the investigation” into alleged irregularities.
“Everything suggests the suspect, Zbigniew Ziobro, has chosen to continue evading the Polish justice system,” the prosecutor’s office’s spokesperson, Przemysław Nowak, told a press conference.
“Zbigniew Ziobro has not had a passport for many months, so one thing is certain: [he] certainly did not enter the United States under general rules,” Nowak said.
He also said the prosecutors will ask the US to clarify if Ziobro or his deputy, Marcin Romanowski, who also claimed asylum in Budapest but reportedly left over the weekend, were granted US visas.
If the US confirmed it granted Ziobro a visa, prosecutors would seek to request extradition from the US, he said, but warned that it would likely be an extremely complex “and often difficult” procedure and could take even “years”.
“The extradition procedure with the United States is usually lengthy and is not an easy procedure. I am speaking of … ‘a standard’ extradition, when it concerns non-media proceedings and persons … on standard terms. Well, there is a suspicion that perhaps in this case we have certain non-standard rules for crossing the border by the suspect,” he said.
(Amazingly, Nowak said the extradition process was last updated in 2006, when Ziobro was… the justice minister.)
‘Schröder won’t be representing Europe,’ Estonian foreign minister insists
Estonian foreign minister Margus Tsahkna also dismissed Putin’s suggestion that former German chancellor Gerhard Schröder could coordinate talks with the European Union to secure a peace deal in Ukraine.
“Gerhard Schröder is a Putin idea. I think they are very close. Gerhard Schröder won’t be representing Europe,” said Tsahkna, as he arrived for an EU meeting in Brussels.
EU’s Kallas criticises Putin’s ‘very cynical’ ceasefire calls, rejects suggestion of Schröder as mediator on Ukraine
EU’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas earlier was also dismissive of Putin’s “very cynical” calls for a ceasefire “to protect his parade, whereas they were actually still attacking civilians in Ukraine.”
And the former Estonian prime minister, too, was not particularly keen on Schröder as a mediator on Ukraine.
“If we give the right to Russia to appoint a negotiator on our behalf, that would not be very wise.
And second, I think Gerhard Schröder has been the high-level lobbyist for Russian state-owned companies, so it’s clear why Putin wants him to be the person so that actually he would be sitting on both sides of the table.”
Kallas also warned against broader Russian operations in Europe, warning that “clearly, our adversaries are not sleeping; so clearly, they want to increase the influence in Europe.”
“We unfortunately already see this in sports organisations, where, you know, Russians are let to compete like nothing has happened. And there are discussions there. We also saw this Venice Biennale where they are there like nothing has happened. So clearly they are working all the time and we have to be vigilant as well.”
Germany shots down idea of ex chancellor Schröder as Russia’s mediator on Ukraine
German Europe minister Gunther Krichbaum has just shot down Vladimir Putin’s suggestion that former pro-Russian German chancellor Gerhard Schröder could act as a mediator on Ukraine.
Schröder, 82, has remained close to Putin long after leaving office, standing apart from most western leaders since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.
He previously held key roles in Russian energy projects, including work on the Nord Stream gas pipelines and a seat on the board of Russian oil firm Rosneft, which he gave up in 2022.
On Saturday, Putin said he thinks the Ukraine war is winding down and suggested Schröder as a potential key negotiator to help end the conflict.
Speaking to reporters in Brussels, Krichbaum said:
“As you know, a mediator must be accepted by both sides, and this seems to be noticeably lacking here.”
He said that Schröder “has not necessarily demonstrated in the past that he could act as a neutral mediator, as an honest broker, so to speak,” as he was “heavily influenced” by Putin.
“Close friendships may be legitimate everywhere in the world, but they do not contribute to being perceived as an honest mediating partner.”
With the new government now formally in place in Hungary, the EU’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas also hopes to finally move on new sanctions on Israeli settlers, which had been stalled by former Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán.
“I expect political agreement on the sanctions on violent settlers, hopefully we will get there,” Kallas told reporters.
Morning opening: ‘New momentum’ gives Europe hope on Ukraine
Jakub Krupa
EU foreign ministers are meeting in Brussels this morning to discuss the latest on Ukraine, the Middle East, and the western Balkans.
The talks will focus on the situation in Ukraine, with Kyiv’s foreign minister Andrii Sybiha hailing “a new feeling of momentum” as he arrived for discussions this morning.
“We have a new reality on the battlefield. Ukraine became stronger after the most difficult winter. … We stabilised the front and we are also in the position that we closed the sky … [can] shoot down up to 90% of aerial objects by which Russians attack us.”
Somewhat mysteriously, he also added:
“We noticed new some very interesting developments in Russia, not only in the economy. So we are following them.”
But there appears to be very little appetite to take seriously Putin’s claims that the war in Ukraine could be coming to an end, with several leaders saying it was probably the latest of his attempts to deceive European leaders about his intentions.
Latvia’s foreign minister Baiba Braže summed it up best:
“We believe that when we see it in action. For now, even during the so-called ceasefire that he begged for, we have not really seen the cessation of hostilities. So, it’s premature to, to really suggest something like that.”
Sweden’s Maria Malmer Stenergard also acknowledged the changing circumstances in Ukraine, saying it’s clear that Russia is getting weaker.
“It’s difficult for them to recruit soldiers, and we saw the[ir] ‘big victory parade’ that was a very small victory parade, and there was no military hardware display at all, because the Kremlin was afraid of Ukrainian drones.”
There is also lots of Ukraine-related meetings happening elsewhere, with Sybiha going to attend talks at Nato and a separate forum on Ukrainian children abducted by Russia. Germany’s defence minister Boris Pistorius is also expected in Kyiv.
Separately, the EU ministers will also talk about the situation in the Middle East and about the western Balkans.
Elsewhere, I will be also keeping an eye on the latest lines about the virus-hit cruise ship in Tenerife, and other developments across the continent.
I will bring you all the key lines here.
It’s Monday, 11 May 2026, it’s Jakub Krupa here, and this is Europe Live.
Good morning.
UK News
UK government borrowing costs rise as Starmer ‘fails to reassure bond markets’ – business live | Business
Keir Starmer’s speech ‘fails to reassure bond markets’ as yields rise higher
UK government borrowing costs are creeping a little higher after a morning of rising political jitters.
The yield, or interest rate, on UK 30-year bonds is now up 8 basis points (0.08 of a percentage point) at 5.65%, up from 5.57% on Friday night. That’s higher than just before Keir Starmer’s speech this morning, when they were up about 5bps.
Benchmark 10-year bond yields have risen higher too – now up 6bps, having been 4bps higher earlier in the morning.
Rising bond yields indicate that bond prices have dropped, suggesting less appetite for UK debt and pushing up the cost of borrowing.
These increases comes as Labour MP, David Smith, has said Starmer should set a timetable for his departure and that the government neeed “to act faster, and be more radical”.
Update: Labour MP Catherine West, who announced a challenge to Starmer over the weekend, has now said she wants the prime minister to set a timetable of September for an orderly departure.
Susannah Streeter, chief investment strategist at Wealth Club, says there are concerns in the bond markets that a change of Prime Minister would prompt wider turmoil at the top of government, and less focus on fiscal rules.
Streeter writes:
“Keir Starmer’s address to the nation hasn’t done the trick of calming bond markets. There is still a sense of jitters playing out as concerns about political instability collide with inflationary fears prompted by the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. His speech was designed to project a ‘keep calm and carry on’ message, but the worry is that it lacks the real substance needed to keep Labour MPs on side.
Ten-year gilt yields have crept higher, nudging 5% once more, while longer-dated government debt remains hovering above 5.6%. They have not been at this level for a sustained period since the late 1990s.
Key events
Enrique Díaz-Alvarez, chief economist at global financial services firm Ebury, argues that the pound has weathered the results of the May local elections in the UK remarkably well.
With sterling down just 0.2% so far today, Díaz-Alvarez argues that the Labour bloodbath was roundly expected and priced in by markets, adding:
“Investors are betting that Labour’s overwhelming defeat will not end Starmer’s premiership just yet, but pressure on the prime minister looks set to intensify in the coming days, with a number of backbenchers already calling for his resignation.
“As this is written, no potential rivals on his left have launched a formal bid to replace him, although there are murmurs that the likes of Rayner and Streeting are privately weighing their options.
“A potential lurch to the left is what markets fear most, as this could mean higher taxes, heavier gilt issuance and a broader fiscal risk premium baked into UK assets.
Shorter-dated UK government bonds, which are more sensitive to short-term inflation risks, are also weakening today.
This has pushed up the yields on two-year, and five-year, gilts by around 8bps today – bigger rises than for US shorter-dated bonds.
And still UK bond yields creep higher.
The 30-year bond yield is now up 9.3 basis points (0.093 of a percentage point), to 5.67%.
That takes it nearer to the 28-year high of 5.78% hit last week, amid uncertainty about the future of Keir Starmer’s government.
Keir Starmer’s speech ‘fails to reassure bond markets’ as yields rise higher
UK government borrowing costs are creeping a little higher after a morning of rising political jitters.
The yield, or interest rate, on UK 30-year bonds is now up 8 basis points (0.08 of a percentage point) at 5.65%, up from 5.57% on Friday night. That’s higher than just before Keir Starmer’s speech this morning, when they were up about 5bps.
Benchmark 10-year bond yields have risen higher too – now up 6bps, having been 4bps higher earlier in the morning.
Rising bond yields indicate that bond prices have dropped, suggesting less appetite for UK debt and pushing up the cost of borrowing.
These increases comes as Labour MP, David Smith, has said Starmer should set a timetable for his departure and that the government neeed “to act faster, and be more radical”.
Update: Labour MP Catherine West, who announced a challenge to Starmer over the weekend, has now said she wants the prime minister to set a timetable of September for an orderly departure.
Susannah Streeter, chief investment strategist at Wealth Club, says there are concerns in the bond markets that a change of Prime Minister would prompt wider turmoil at the top of government, and less focus on fiscal rules.
Streeter writes:
“Keir Starmer’s address to the nation hasn’t done the trick of calming bond markets. There is still a sense of jitters playing out as concerns about political instability collide with inflationary fears prompted by the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. His speech was designed to project a ‘keep calm and carry on’ message, but the worry is that it lacks the real substance needed to keep Labour MPs on side.
Ten-year gilt yields have crept higher, nudging 5% once more, while longer-dated government debt remains hovering above 5.6%. They have not been at this level for a sustained period since the late 1990s.
Mobile users cry foul over price rises
Mark Sweney
The telecoms regulator has received more than 100,000 complaints from O2 and Sky mobile customers angry over the introduction of surprise price rises.
Ofcom said that the issue of mid-contract price rises foisted on mobile customers, which has resulted in an exodus of customers and provoked an angry response from the government, fuelled the first quarterly increase in complaints about services by the UK’s major telecoms companies for two-and-a-half years.
Complaints about O2, the UK’s second biggest mobile operator with 12.5m consumer customers, more than tripled quarter-on-quarter in the first three months of the year.
The company, which is owned by Virgin Media O2, faced a backlash in October when it announced that mobile bills would rise by £2.50 a month for all customers, the equivalent of £30 a year, from last month.
This is 70p, or 40%, more than the £1.80 increase customers were informed of when they initially signed up to their contracts.
Ofcom said that the rate of complaints about O2 soared from just two per 1,000 customers in the fourth quarter last year to seven per 1,000 customers in the first three months this year.
This works out to almost 87,000 complaints, based on O2’s consumer customer base, and made the mobile network the most-complained about by some distance in Ofcom’s report.
The average across the seven mobile operators tracked by Ofcom was a complaint level of three per 1,000 customers.
The move by O2 sparked a rebuke from the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, and Liz Kendall, the technology secretary.
A customer backlash saw O2 lose 165,000 customers in the fourth quarter last year, with the company attributing about 110,000 of those directly to price increases.
Complaints to Ofcom about Sky Mobile, which is estimated to have almost 4m customers, almost doubled in the latest quarterly report.
Sky received five complaints per 1,000 customers, up from three per 1,000 in the fourth quarter, which works out to almost 20,000 complaints to Ofcom.
At the beginning of the year Sky announced that most of its mobile customers would see their monthly bill increase by £1.50, an annual increase of £18 a year, with the price rise coming in to force from Valentine’s Day.
The company said that it was the first mid-contract price rise it had implemented for mobile customers in more than seven years.
Last January, Ofcom introduced new rules banning mid-contract price rises linked to inflation, and said that telecoms companies must tell customers up front in “pounds and pence” about any future price rises.
“It is disappointing to see an increase in customers complaints during this quarter, especially following a sustained period of decreases in the complaints we received about telecoms companies,” said Cristina Luna-Esteban, Ofcom’s director of consumers and retail markets. “However, a main driver of these complaints appears to be unexpected mid-contract price rise announcements for some mobile customers in the Autumn of 2025.”
XTB: Bond market calm after ‘no knockout blow’ against Starmer
The UK bond market is “relatively stable” after Keir Starmer came out fighting this morning, reports Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB.
She explains:
Although the PM faced challenges to his leadership over the weekend, there has been no knockout blow, and so far on Monday, the markets are calm, yields are moderately higher, and the pound remain above $1.36, even though the dollar is higher on a broad basis today.
For now, it looks like the market is not taking Angela Rayner’s proposal for how to reinvigorate the economy and Labour’s chances seriously. She doesn’t seem to grasp policy trade-offs, for example, she says that creating jobs for young people can go hand in hand with a higher minimum wage. Although the polls give a damning verdict on this government’s track record so far, the markets are clearly willing to ignore the internal fighting going on in the Labour party this week.
The relatively mild reaction in the bond market, 10-year Gilt yields are higher by 4bps, and it remains below 5%, suggests that traders do not believe that the threat to Keir Starmer will materialise. It would need a bigger blow to send yields higher, at this stage. If Starmer can get over this challenge, then the focus will go back to the data: can the economy grow, and can the public debt remain stable? If those things change, potentially because of a new leader, then the Gilt market will react.
There’s little reaction in the bond markets to Keir Starmer’s make-or-break speech, in which he pledged to fight any challenge to his leadership, and promised a new direction on Europe.
The yield, or interest rate, on 30-year UK bonds is now up around 6.7 basis points, up from 5.6bps at the start of the speech.
Ten-year bond yields are up 5bps, up from 4.3% before Starmer took to the lecturn.
These moves shows that bond prices slipped slightly during the speech, with borrowing costs still higher on the day.
E.ON acquires British energy supplier OVO
In the energy world, Germany’s E.On has agreed to buy rival Ovo to create one of Britain’s largest suppliers.
The deal brings together two of the UK’s larger energy suppliers.
In the UK, E.On serves nearly one in seven households and businesses, while Ovo has four million home energy customers.
E.On says existing tariffs will be honoured, and service will continue unchanged.
Chris Norbury, CEO of E.ON UK, says the deal will create a retailer with the capability, the technology and the customer base to make “new energy work for everyone”.
Norbury explains:
“For decades the UK energy system focused too much on those upstream. Now is our opportunity to change that. Solar, batteries, EVs and a retailer built to orchestrate. That is what this deal is about: customers in control and new energy that works for everyone.”
Chris Houghton, CEO of OVO, says:
“The energy market has fundamentally changed in recent years. OVO was founded to challenge the status quo, and we’ve built a strong retail business focused on delivering for customers and supporting the transition to cleaner energy.
“As the market has evolved, scale and access to significant long-term capital for the energy transition have become non-negotiable. Following a thorough review, we believe this decision gives the business the strongest footing for the future.
The GMB union have welcomed Keir Starmer’s decision to nationalise British Steel from its Chines owners, Jingye.
Charlotte Brumpton-Childs, GMB National Secretary, said:
“Unions have long known Jingye will not negotiate in good faith.
“This legislation will cover the whole steel industry – it isn’t specifically for British Steel but it is what will protect it from foreign owners.
“British Steel is a nationally strategic asset, it is right the Government does everything in its power to secure its long term future.
“GMB welcomes this decisive and timely intervention by the Government which will protect one of the UK’s most important industries.”
Starmer confirms nationalisation of British Steel
During his leadership reset speech, Keir Starmer has confirmed that the government will nationalise British Steel.
The PM describes steel as “the ultimate sovereign capability”, arging that strong nations in today’s world need to make steel.
And he declares:
I can announce that legislation will be brought forward this week to give the government powers [subject to a public interest test], to take full national ownership of British Steel.
‘This week’ suggests it will be part of the new legislative programme laid out in the king’s speech on Wednesday.
British Steel employs 3,500 people at its plant in Scunthorpe, and came under government control last April amid fears that its owner, Jingye, was planning to shut down the site.
Bank of England policymaker Megan Greene has said it is worth waiting “a little while” to see how the Iran war unfolds before deciding whether to raise interest rates.
Greene, one of the more hawkish members of the Bank’s monetary policy committee, has told Bloomberg’s Odd Lots podcast that the UK faces ‘upside’ risks on the outlook for inflation.
But, she suggests, it is better not to rush a decision on raising rates, until the ‘progression’ of the war is clearer.
She says:
“It’s worth waiting for a little while to see what happens with the progression of this war and therefore see what we can infer about how it will propagate through the economy before we make a move.”
“We’ve now had a negative supply shock, an energy shock, and that stands to push inflation up and growth down, which is a terrible situation for a central banker to be in.”
Keir Starmer is about to give a crunch speech, as pressure on the PM rises – my colleague Andrew Sparrow will be live-blogging it here:
European stock markets are broadly lower in early trading, as the deadlock over the Middle East conflict worries investors.
France’s CAC 40 index is down 0.75%, while Germany’s DAX has lost 0.2%.
In London, though, the FTSE 100 is up 29 points or 0.3%, with banks and oil companies among the risers.
A precise figure of how much full nationalisation of British Steel could cost has not been announced and it is understood that following legislation an independent valuation would be carried out of the business, to see what, if any, compensation might be due to Jingye.
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