5 important things happening in the UK today

Here are 5 important things happening in the UK today, Thursday 18 September 2025.

• Concerns over whether the France-UK migrant returns deal is workable: The UK government has failed to deport asylum seekers to France for the third day in a row, leading critics to describe its landmark “one in, one out” returns agreement with France as unworkable. The government’s failure to remove a single asylum seeker since the agreement was announced in July has led critics to claim the scheme is doomed to failure, with efforts to get flights off the ground set to be snarled up in expensive and lengthy litigation. [Financial Times]
• EU pushes for young workers as part of new deal: The Government will have to concede to EU demands on youth mobility before signing a deal on food safety. The European Union is refusing to finalise one of Sir Keir Starmer’s Brexit reset priorities unless No 10 accepts a higher number of temporary workers from Europe, negotiators have said. Both sides agreed to pursue individual pacts as part of a wide-ranging reset of post-Brexit trade terms earlier this year. [Telegraph]

• Starmer banks on £150 billion investment to placate critics of Trump state visit: Prime Minister Keir Starmer has sought to navigate a politically treacherous state visit by Donald Trump with an announcement of £150 billion of US investment in the UK, as the president was kept safely within the confines of Windsor Castle. [Guardian]
• Bank of England expected to hold interest rates: Interest rates are widely expected to be held at 4% when policymakers at the Bank of England meet on Thursday. The Bank rate, which heavily influences borrowing costs and savings rates, was cut from 4.25% to 4% by the Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) at its last meeting in August. It took the rate down to its lowest level for more than two years, but many analysts believe there will be no further cuts during the rest of this year. [BBC]
• On Thursday, Oil was trading at $67.16. The pound is trading at $1.36, €1.15, and ¥9.66.

Now read: What the UK’s job numbers and inflation will mean for the Bank of England’s interest rate decision this week