Here are 5 important things happening in the UK today, Thursday (8 January 2026):
- Starmer urged to rethink rates to save pubs: Labour MPs are calling on Sir Keir Starmer to rethink planned changes to business rates to protect pubs and other hospitality businesses. The pub industry is warning of widespread closures when Covid-era business rate relief comes to an end in April. At Prime Minister’s Questions, Rachael Maskell, the Labour MP for York Central, called on Sir Keir to urgently review the proposals to help “avert a crisis” on the High Street. The PM said the government was in talks with the industry to see what ” what further support and action we can take”. [BBC]
- Hospital patients are collapsing while out of sight on corridors, NHS watchdog says: Patients are collapsing in hospitals unseen by staff because overcrowding means they are stranded out of sight on corridors, the NHS’s safety watchdog has revealed. Using corridors, storerooms and gyms as extra care areas poses serious risks to patients, including falls, infections and a lack of oxygen, the Health Services Safety Investigations Body (HSSIB) said. [Guardian]
- Next warns over UK’s unemployment crisis: Next has warned that Britain’s unemployment crisis will hit its business as out-of-work households are forced to rein in spending. The slowdown will be partly driven by “continuing pressures on UK employment [which was] likely to filter through into the consumer economy as the year progresses”, Next said. [Telegraph]
- Rent control rules to knock £11 billion off property values: New legislation introducing rent controls could lead to £11bn being stripped from commercial property values, fresh analysis has shown, in the latest blow to the confidence for investors. The government is proposing a ban on upward-only rent hikes on commercial property in a bid to support small businesses with costs. The proposed ban can be found in an amendment to the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill, which is still passing through parliament. [CityAM]
- On Thursday, Oil was trading flat at $59.57. The pound is trading at $1.35, €1.15, and ¥9.41.
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