5 important things happening in the UK today

Here are 5 important things happening in the UK today – 31 July 2025.

Airlines demand answers after air traffic control failure: Airlines are demanding answers from the air traffic control (ATC) provider NATS after a system outage grounded flights across the UK. NATS, which has apologised, said it had taken 20 minutes to resolve the issue by switching to a back-up system. It resulted in more than 150 flights being cancelled and thousands more being grounded on Wednesday. [BBC]
Met police to more than double use of live facial recognition: Britain’s biggest police force is to more than double its use of live facial recognition to up to 10 deployments a week. The move by the Metropolitan police comes as it restructures to cover the loss of 1,400 officers and 300 staff amid budget shortages. Live facial recognition – which involves the matching of faces caught on surveillance camera footage against a police watchlist in real time – will now be used up to 10 times a week across five days, up from the current four times a week across two days. [Guardian]
UK energy bills could be set according to wealth: Britain’s energy regulator has proposed making changes to energy bills so that households would be charged different rates depending on their wealth or income. Ofgem is floating the idea of a “progressive approach” to the standing charge portion of the bill, as part of efforts to make sure the costs of the shift to cleaner power are fairly distributed. [Financial Times]
GPs threaten a winter strike: Leaders of the British Medical Association’s (BMA) GP committee have warned the Health Secretary they will consider re-entering a dispute this autumn if their demands are not met. Family doctors want to lead new “community hubs” announced as part of Mr Streeting’s 10-year health plan, as well as a new funding agreement for practices. [Telegraph]