UK transport secretary calls HS2 an ‘appalling mess’ as she confirms delay - as it happened

Here’s more detail from our transport correspondent Gwyn Topham:The HS2 high-speed rail network cannot be delivered on its current schedule and budget and will be delayed beyond 2033, the government has admitted, blaming mismanagement by the previous government for schedule and cost overruns.Transport secretary Heidi Alexander told MPs that there was “no reasonable way to deliver” the 2033 target for the first trains to run from London to Birmingham.She did not immediately confirm a new price for the project, which some suggest will now top £100bn at current prices, having officially been in a range of up to £57b n at 2019 prices, nor yet how long the delay would be.But Alexander said she was “drawing a line in the sand” as she unveiled what she called a “litany of failure” over the last 15 years. The government is publishing the findings of a review commissioned last autumn by Labour into the troubled transport scheme, and the first assessment in a “reset” of construction under new HS2 Ltd chief executive Mark Wild

Women more worried about economy under Trump than men, poll finds

Women across the political spectrum are more concerned about the state of the US economy and inflation under Donald Trump than men are, according to a new exclusive poll for the Guardian.More Democrats than Republicans are now concerned about the economy following the president’s return to power. But pessimism was higher for women even among Republicans and independents, according to a new Harris poll.Overall, 62% of women and 47% of men said that the economy and inflation were getting worse, a gap of 15 percentage points. The gender gap crossed party lines with both Democratic and Republican women expressing greater concerns about the economy than men did

UK inflation eases slightly to 3.4% as food price rises offset transport cost falls

Inflation in the UK eased slightly to 3.4% last month as a steep fall in air fares and petrol prices was offset by a jump in the cost of food.May’s decline in the consumer prices index (CPI), down from the official figure of 3.5% for April, complicates the Bank of England’s interest rates decision on Thursday, although policymakers are still almost certain to hold interest rates at 4.25%

Qantas rebounds from worst-ever performance to be named world’s 14th best airline in ranking

Qantas has rebounded from its worst-ever performance in the aviation industry’s annual awards to be named the world’s 14th best airline, after the national carrier’s reputation was badly damaged by a string of scandals during the pandemic.The national carrier climbed 10 spots in the 2025 Skytrax World Airline awards from its nadir of 24th place in 2024, after customers across more than 100 nationalities voted in the world’s largest airline passenger satisfaction survey.Qatar Airways was named the world’s best airline for the second consecutive year, which will benefit Qantas’s main domestic competitor, Virgin Australia, given it has just entered into a partnership with the Gulf carrier.Virgin recently entered a code-sharing agreement with Qatar, meaning there is now a second Australian carrier apart from Qantas that flies to the Middle East with a global network of connections beyond that.Qatar has been crowned the winner of the Skytrax awards nine times

Optus agrees to $100m penalty for selling phones to customers who couldn’t afford them or were out of range

Optus has agreed to pay a $100m penalty after conceding it engaged in unconscionable conduct when selling phones and contracts to hundreds of customers that could not afford them, did not want them, or didn’t even have coverage to use them.The negotiated penalty, if approved by a federal court judge, came after court action taken against Optus by the consumer regulator. If imposed, it would be the largest ever for the telco sector.The Optus chief executive, Stephen Rue, said the misconduct was inexcusable.“I would like to sincerely apologise to all customers affected by the misconduct in some of our stores,” Rue said

Trump threatens to keep 25% tariff on UK steel imports over Port Talbot concerns

Donald Trump is threatening to keep 25% tariffs on some or all of its steel imports from the UK unless it gives specific guarantees over the Indian-owned steelmaking plant at Port Talbot in south Wales, sources have told the Guardian.An agreement to reduce tariffs on UK car exports to the US and scrap them for the aerospace sector was signed off by the US president and Keir Starmer on Monday, on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Canada.However, it did not include the removal of tariffs on steel imports from the UK. Officials are still negotiating over the fine points of a deal to cover the steel and aluminium industry, amid US concerns about the fact that Tata Steel imports raw materials from abroad.Starmer told reporters in Banff, Canada: “There’s further work to do in relation to steel, but we’re getting on and doing that work