Rising costs forcing 3m UK households to skip meals, Which? report finds
Three million UK households are being forced to skip meals as consumers resort to drastic measures to deal with rising costs, according to a Which? report published on Thursday.The conflict in the Middle East and subsequent surge in oil and raw material prices has led to businesses preparing to raise prices, putting more pressure on household finances and hitting consumer confidence.The Which? consumer insight tracker for the month to 10 April shows a fall in consumer confidence to -62.This is the lowest level since the peak of the cost of living crisis in 2022 and down from -56 the previous month.Most adults – 71% – believe the UK economy will deteriorate in the next 12 months, with only 9% predicting it will get better.
And 85% are now worried about food prices, up from 83% in February,To manage rising costs, families are compromising on their shopping and eating habits, with 43% buying cheaper products, 37% purchasing more supermarket-branded budget items and 31% buying extra items when on sale,On top of that, one in 10 UK households are now skipping meals and one in seven are going without some foods,Apart from rising food costs, eight in 10 of those surveyed are worried about fuel prices, up from one in seven back in February,As a result, more than two-thirds of UK adults are now adjusting their driving habits, resulting in fewer leisure trips and visits to see family and friends.
The Which? survey also found an increasing number of missed bill payments.The average rate of missed payments over the past three months has risen to 7.5%, up from 5.7% at the end of 2025.“Our latest research highlights the deepening strain not only on household finances, but also on people’s physical and social wellbeing as cost-of-living pressures bite,” said Rocio Concha, Which? director of policy and advocacy.
“Without meaningful interventions, the number of people taking drastic measures is likely to increase.”Which? is calling for urgent policy changes, outlined in a manifesto launched in parliament this week that sets out to address costs and widen access to essential items.“We need to see urgent action, as set in our cost of living manifesto, to address these costs and help restore confidence before even more households are pushed into serious financial difficulty,” Concha said.
Bank of England warns ‘higher inflation is unavoidable’ after leaving interest rates on hold
The Bank of England has left interest rates unchanged at 3.75% but warned that the UK may need to brace for hikes later this year, as “higher inflation is unavoidable” as a result of the war in the Middle East.The Bank’s rate-setting monetary policy committee (MPC) voted to leave borrowing costs on hold on Thursday, with its nine-member committee split 8-1 in their decision.Andrew Bailey, the governor of the Bank of England, said: “The war in the Middle East is causing inflation to rise again this year.”He added that the policymakers were monitoring the global situation and its impact on the UK economy “very closely”, but that the decision to hold rates at 3
Eurozone inflation soars to 3% as Iran war drives up energy prices
Inflation across the eurozone has soared to 3% this month as the Iran war drove up energy prices and growth stumbled.Consumer prices rose by 3% in the year to April across the single currency bloc, data from the statistics body Eurostat showed on Thursday morning, up from 2.6% in March and 1.9% in February.That took inflation further above the 2% target set by the European Central Bank, which is scheduled to set eurozone interest rates on Thursday afternoon
Maryland becomes first state to ban surveillance pricing in grocery stores
Maryland has become the first state in the US to ban surveillance pricing in grocery stores.Maryland’s law bans grocers and third-party delivery services from using a person’s personal data to set higher prices. Wes Moore, the governor, signed the measure into law on Tuesday. “At a time when technology can predict what we need, when we need it, when we’ll pay for it and also – when we’ll pay more for it, and at a time when we’re watching how big companies are then using these analytics against us to make record profits, Maryland is not just pushing back. Maryland is pushing forward because we are going to protect our people,” Moore said at the bill signing ceremony
Tech giants’ results show rosy outlook for AI boom and US stock market
Unusual simultaneous reports of financial results by several of the US’s largest tech companies gave positive indications for the stock market despite widespread fears of an AI bubble on Wednesday.Four of the so-called Magnificent Seven tech stocks, the most valuable publicly traded companies in the world, reported their quarterly financial results on Wednesday. The cluster is not typical, as these disclosures do not often occur on the same day, and provides a snapshot of how the tech industry is faring as it rides the AI boom. Amazon, Alphabet and Microsoft all revealed double-digit gains in their cloud computing units, which have seen supercharged growth thanks to increasing adoption of AI. Meta, not in the business of cloud computing, failed to meet Wall Street expectations
‘I really was one of those bandwagon fans’: meet Katharina Nowak, F1’s youngest race president
Before her first Miami Grand Prix in charge, Nowak opens up on F1’s boom time in the US and flying the flag for women in the sportThere is an air of buoyant confidence about Katharina Nowak that is striking but also understandable given the robust state of Formula One in the United States and at the Miami Grand Prix, where the 29-year-old who is at the helm of the race believes the sport only has more to come.“F1 is at its strongest right now that we’ve seen, the interest in F1 is still going up and will go further,” she says in the buildup to this weekend’s meeting in Florida. “From my seat at the table, we are seeing the interest continue to grow.“Obviously 2022, when we launched the Miami GP, was a perfect storm but last year ESPN reported record-breaking viewership numbers in the United States for 22 out of the 24 races. We’ve seen it in our success in our ticket sales this year that, there is strong demand for the Miami GP and for F1
Trial or error? Lancashire bear brunt as county game adjusts to new substitute rules | Ali Martin
Lancashire are not the most popular county at the moment. From next week the live-streamed coverage of their matches at Old Trafford will go behind a paywall – free to members, £20 a season if not. And so the thrill of Jimmy Anderson bowling from the end that bears his name will play out to a smaller audience.Although beyond this, or the broader sadness at Old Trafford becoming a dystopian hotel-cum-events space where the first team feels secondary, there seems to be widespread agreement that the Red Rose have been hard done by of late: namely, in the ongoing trial of injury replacements in English cricket.To recap, this year sees teams in the County Championship able to replace a player if they are afflicted by injury, illness or a significant life event – a broadening of existing allowances for concussion or England call-ups
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