Jersey minister proposes 1mm increase to lobster catch size
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BBC News
10 minutes ago
- BBC News
Staffordshire library part of £5m modernisation project
A library in Staffordshire is set to be part of a £5m modernisation project, the county council has County Council has revealed Wombourne Library will be one of 10 larger libraries in the region to undergo extensive work in the next few library will close its doors at 16:00 BST on 2 August, with a temporary library set to open in its place in the adjoining community centre on 7 August.A county council spokesperson said work would take about three months, with the library reopening in the autumn. Hayley Coles, Staffordshire County Council's cabinet member for Communities and Culture, said: "This investment is for libraries that haven't been improved in recent years and the money will be spent entirely on improving the public areas."At Wombourne there will be a dedicated children's area, free Wi-Fi and access to the internet, as well as space for people to work on their own devices, access business start-up advice and dozens of other services."She added: "Although Wombourne's temporary library will be a little smaller, residents will be able to order from the service's whole stock as usual."We'll keep them updated as work progresses and I'm sure they'll be pleased with the final result when it reopens."As well as Wombourne, nine other libraries run directly by Staffordshire County Council, including Leek, Stone, Biddulph, Perton, Kidsgrove, Burntwood, Rugeley, Uttoxeter and Cannock, are in line for future investment. Follow BBC Stoke & Staffordshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
Telegraph
10 minutes ago
- Telegraph
‘My electric car costs have surged now my son is learning to drive'
I've been through a lot with my electric and hybrid cars. Making the switch to an electric vehicle (EV) and installing a charge point at home for my second-hand electric Renault Zoe took months, and I've recently battled to find any insurer to cover my battered hybrid Toyota Auris. We opted for these cars because we were keen to reduce our environmental impact, while reducing our fuel costs at the same time. What I hadn't considered was what would happen when my children wanted to learn to drive – something that, it turns out, could cost us thousands because of the pricier driving lessons and expensive insurance required to get them behind the wheel of these vehicles. We live in Hadleigh, Suffolk – my husband, Josh, a charity fundraiser, and I, a personal finance journalist, along with 17-year-old Finn, and 15-year-old George. Public transport is limited, so we're keen for them to pass their driving tests – but I had no idea how much more expensive we'd made it by opting for two automatic, environmentally friendly cars. Pricier driving lessons Manual cars are rapidly disappearing from our roads. In 2024, only 22pc of new car registrations were manual, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, and more young people are taking their practical driving test in an automatic as a result. Already, almost 21pc of all passes in 2023-24 were in automatic vehicles, according to data from the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA), compared with 17pc the previous year and just 5pc a decade earlier. Much of this is being fuelled by the switch to EVs, according to the AA Driving School, which predicts that one in four driving test passes will be in automatic cars by 2026. Seb Goldin, of Red Driver Training, said there had been a 16pc increase in automatic driving lesson hours at his firm between 2023 and 2024. 'This is likely accelerated by the accessibility when it comes to learning and the advent of electric cars,' he said. This trend is set to pick up pace over the next few years, due to the planned 2030 ban on sales of new petrol and diesel cars – but, as we've discovered, it's adding extra costs for learner drivers. More expensive driving lessons are the first thing you'll notice. While specific prices vary depending on the area and the individual instructor, the AA Driving School quoted typical prices per hour for driving lessons as £40 for a manual car and £42 for an automatic in London, with respective prices at £38 and £40 in Edinburgh, and £35 and £36.50 in Cardiff. Just a couple of pounds difference may not sound like much, but given it takes an average of 45 hours of driving lessons (if you can access an additional 22 hours of private practice) to pass your test, learning in an automatic could add around £100 before you can even ditch the L-plates. Higher insurance costs Once you're on the road as a new driver, the real costs kick in – particularly if you're driving an EV. The average annual premium for 17 to 24-year-olds driving manual vehicles was £1,260 in April 2025, according to data from comparison website Compare the Market, but it was £1,642 for electric vehicles – a chunky 30pc more. Insurance premiums take into account the risk based on both the driver and the car they are driving, so younger drivers of EVs get clobbered both ways. Julie Daniels, motor insurance expert at Compare the Market, said: 'Younger drivers face higher premiums because they are statistically more likely to be involved in a claim – and the expense of repairing EVs can amplify that risk'. One in five new drivers crash within the first 12 months after passing their test, according to research by Ocean Finance, while around 37pc of 18 to 24-year-olds had at least one near miss in 2024. Automatic and electric cars also tend to cost more to purchase and repair, which again increases insurance costs. EVs are generally newer cars, with fewer second-hand models on the market compared to internal combustion engine cars. Newer cars of whatever engine type tend to have more technical functionality than older vehicles, which affects their value and repair costs. The type of driving licence you have can also push up insurance premiums. Craig Codell, electric vehicle product manager at Admiral, one of the UK's largest motor insurers, said this is because drivers with an automatic licence are more likely to make a claim than a driver with a manual one. Given the continued shift towards EVs, I worry that younger people are being priced out of learning to drive, particularly if they only have access to an EV, and their parents can't spare the extra cash. Finn has been looking for a summer job to help fund his driving, but if we weren't willing to cover the insurance and lessons he couldn't just magic up hundreds of pounds out of nowhere. 'Our car insurance leapt from £406 to £2,019' Back at home, it appears I am stuck between a rock and a hard place. Either way, it seems we'll have to fork out more. We face higher costs of car insurance, and for each driving lesson if Finn goes for an automatic-only driving licence. Or, we'll potentially need to stump up for extra driving lessons if Finn learns in a manual car, but doesn't have access to a manual for practice. It's frustrating that opting for more environmentally friendly vehicles should also land us with higher costs. Plus, with our car insurance up for renewal, it became apparent that our current insurers were not exactly keen to add a 17-year-old with a provisional licence to our policies. The renewal quote for our electric car with LV car insurance leapt from £392 a year to £1,134. Meanwhile, Churchill, the insurer for our hybrid car, pushed the annual premium up from £406 to £2,019. If we'd stuck with a manual Volkswagen Polo, of the same age and mileage as our electric car, the quotes after adding Finn started from £587 for a standard policy. The price rises seemed huge and made me think twice about whether we could afford to add Finn to our insurance. There's certainly no question of being able to cover him on both cars. Both companies suggested using their temporary insurance policies to cut costs – where, for example, you can insure an additional driver for up to 90 days in the policy year, split across up to five separate occasions. But this didn't sound ideal for weekend driving practice. Tech to bring prices down Thankfully, plugging our details into comparison websites revealed some less eye-watering prices. The cheapest option for both cars were telematics policies with Hastings Direct, often know as 'black box' insurance. Hastings Direct YouDrive came in at £569 for the electric car, and £490 for the hybrid. With a telematics policy, the insurer monitors your driving, either by fitting an electronic monitoring device, providing a monitoring device to plug in yourself or using an app on your smartphone. The device or app then tracks aspects of your driving, such as when, where, how far and how fast you drive, and how aggressively you brake, corner and accelerate. Drive safely, and your insurer could potentially cut your premiums. For the pleasure of driving without an insurer looking over our shoulders, I was quoted £610 for a stripped-down essentials policy for the hybrid, or £626 for a higher-rated policy with a lower excess. Premiums for the electric car rose to £749 and £802 for the same policies, but there were cheaper options elsewhere from around £650. Based on the insurance costs, I've added Finn to the hybrid policy rather than the electric. It's a shame, because the electric car is smaller, and therefore easier for a learner to park – and it has lower running costs.
Telegraph
10 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Inflation risks are taking Britain towards the debt-crisis cliff edge
The UK's consumer price index was 3.6pc higher in June than the same month last year – significantly above the Bank of England's 2pc inflation target. The broader retail price index rose even more, by 4.4pc. Unemployment is also up, hitting 4.7pc during the three months to May, a four-year high. And last week's double dose of downbeat data came against a backdrop of broader economic weakness, with GDP having shrunk in both April and May. It's now screamingly obvious that Labour's crude Keynesianism – 'pump priming' the economy by upping state borrowing and spending – isn't working. Worse than that, this Government's actions are pushing Britain towards a budgetary crisis every bit as serious as that in 1976, when the UK was forced to go 'cap in hand' to the International Monetary Fund for a bail-out. Chancellor Rachel Reeves's higher tax rates have been hammering economic activity, causing tax revenues to fall. Yet Labour's leadership, driven by ideological fervour and fearing the party's increasingly strident far left, keeps pushing spending up regardless. The sharp rise in the rate of employer National Insurance contributions (NIC) has caused hiring to plunge since it was announced in last October's Budget, undermining NIC revenues overall. Labour's higher capital gains tax (CGT) rates mean investors aren't selling assets, causing CGT revenues to plunge. A far more punitive non-domicile tax regime and much higher inheritance tax on businesses has sparked an exodus of wealthy individuals, with countless UK entrepreneurs moving abroad. The top 1pc of earners generate 30pc of all income tax receipts, with the top 5pc paying almost half. But when you push the seriously rich overseas with a student-politics tax regime, they often stop investing and close their UK-based businesses. So the revenue loss goes way beyond income tax, spreading across the gamut of employment and corporate taxes too. As a former asset manager, I talk to many senior people at the global pension funds, insurance companies and other institutional investors that lend governments serious money. They ask me about UK politics and public policy and I ask them what they are doing and why. So when I say financiers are not only deeply unimpressed but seriously alarmed at this Government's actions, that's directly from the horse's mouth. Anyone remotely financially literate can see investors are demanding ever higher returns to bankroll this increasingly spendthrift Government. The interest rates our Government pays to borrow are now at their highest level since the late 1990s, but on a far greater volume of debt. The UK's benchmark 30-year gilt yield last week breached 5.5pc – and has been way above 5pc for the whole of this year. Borrowing costs, then, are consistently much higher than the 4.85pc peak they momentarily touched during Liz Truss's 'mini-budget' crisis in October 2022. Yet the broadcast media's reaction, hysterical back then, is now ridiculously complacent. Draw your own conclusions as to why. Last August, just after Labour took office, the 30-year yield was below 4.5pc. Since then, increasingly sceptical investors have pushed it a full percentage point higher. During this same period, the Bank of England has cut its benchmark borrowing cost from 5.25pc to 4.25pc, a percentage point in the opposite direction. 'Market rates' and 'policy rates' moving against each other are a clear sign of brewing systemic danger. The warning signals are flashing red, yet almost no one in a political and media class addicted to government spending wants to acknowledge what's going on. In April 2024, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) forecast the Government would borrow £87bn over the subsequent 12 months. When that financial year ended in April 2025, the figure was £148bn, an astonishing 70pc more. Endless discussions about whether 'fiscal headroom' in 2029/30 is £5bn or £10bn is utter displacement activity. We can't even get within £60bn of our borrowing estimate within the current financial year. The reality in front of us is that Britain borrowed £148bn last year and £110bn or three quarters of that increase in our national debt went on interest payments on debt previously incurred. Our public finances resemble a Ponzi scheme. Reeves and Keir Starmer cite crowd-pleasing nonsense about 'school breakfast clubs' and 'world-class public services'. As if it's fine to drive the UK into bankruptcy, provoking a full-on bail-out and all the resulting financial and economic chaos because the money is being spent under virtue-signalling headings. 'Borrowing costs are going up around the world', bleat fresh-faced government spin doctors. Yes, but UK gilt yields and total debt service payments are now easily the highest in the G7. Plus, much of the private money invested in UK gilts is 'levered' – or also borrowed. And when the backers of the Government's backers get worried, as they now are, they will eventually 'margin call' creditors, igniting a sudden and self-reinforcing sell-off that sends yields and economy-wide borrowing costs into orbit. On top of all that, Britain is a stark outlier when it comes to the share of 'index-linked' state debt – with regular interest payments rising in line with RPI inflation. Around 30pc of UK gilts are 'linkers', compared to just 12pc in Italy (the G7's next highest) and 5pc in Germany and the US – reflecting long-standing market concerns about vast UK government off-balance-sheet liabilities, not least the trillion-pound-plus bill for still insanely generous pensions for state employees. Britain's sky-high share of index-linked state debt, a long-standing ruse to keep headline yields as low as possible, is coming home to roost. As inflation rises, debt service costs ratchet upward, resulting in ever more borrowing to pay those costs as our tax-strapped economy struggles. That's why, when last week's higher-than-expected inflation number emerged, yields rose sharply. The UK is close to the debt-crisis cliff-edge – and ministers can't say they weren't warned.
