5 important things happening in the UK today

Here are 5 important things happening in the UK today, 26 August 2025.

Food inflation hits 18-month high: The rising cost of chocolate, butter, and eggs has helped drive food price inflation to its highest in 18 months, a survey says. Food inflation hit 4.2% this month, compared with 4% in July, according to the British Retail Consortium’s latest shop price monitor. It is higher than at any time since March of last year, when it was 3.7%. [BBC]

Home Office promises ‘big surge’ in asylum hotel closures in new year: The Home Office has promised a “big surge” in asylum hotel closures in the new year, with five more to shut in the coming months, as ministers face mounting pressure over the government’s record on immigration. Speaking after a weekend of protests and counter-protests over the use of hotels to house asylum seekers, the Home Office minister Angela Eagle said the government had inherited a “border security system in tatters” and accused opposition parties of offering “the fag packet plans without the substance on delivery”. [Guardian]

Record 6.5 million Brits on jobless benefits: The number of Britons on jobless benefits has hit a record 6.5 million after jumping by 500,000 under Labour. The tally of people receiving some form of worklessness welfare surpassed six million for the first time after Sir Keir Starmer came to power last summer and has risen by more than half a million since then, according to official figures. [Telegraph]

UK unemployment rate set to hit 5%: Joblessness in the UK will soon hit the highest level since the beginning of 2021, when the country was in the grip of Covid-19 lockdowns, according to analysis pointing to a rapid weakening in the jobs market. The unemployment rate is on track to hit 5% in the three months to August, according to Resolution Foundation research based on a range of job indicators. The official rate was 4.7% in the second quarter. [Financial Times]