5 top UK news stories today (24 February 2026)

Here’s your UK news roundup for Tuesday (24 February 2026):

Criminals ‘systematically’ targeting UK shops

Criminal gangs are systematically targeting shops, retailers have warned, with 5.5 million incidents of shoplifting detected last year, costing the industry an estimated £400 million. The British Retail Consortium (BRC) has warned over endemic violence towards shop workers – who faced an average 36 incidents of violence involving a weapon every day last year – and said high levels of theft were causing anxiety among retail staff. [Guardian]

Reform vows to overhaul pension schemes

A Reform government would end more generous defined benefit pension schemes for new local government workers and merge nearly 100 separate schemes to create a £500bn British Sovereign Wealth Fund. The new fund would increase investments in UK companies, products, housing and infrastructure by £100 billion, according to Richard Tice, head of Reform’s proposed new Department of Business Trade and Energy. In a speech on Tuesday, Tice will also vow to ditch the government’s environmental targets and scrap new employment rights, including protections around sick pay and unfair dismissal.

UK facing similar threats as before World War 2, says minister

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and wider threats to the UK and its allies share “a lot of similarities” with the three-year run-up to the Second World War, the armed forces minister has said. Al Carns, a former special forces colonel in the Royal Marines, said Ukraine is on the frontline of Europe’s defences as Vladimir Putin’s full-scale onslaught enters its fifth year. But he warned Britain is not immune, with Russia attacking the UK and its interests across four different kinds of frontlines. The minister spoke about daily threats in the North Atlantic, the Arctic, and cyber attacks, as well as the danger posed by fake news and other forms of disinformation spread online – designed to sow or amplify divisions within UK society or between Britain and its friends. [SkyNews]

Billions wiped out over AI fears

The AI scare trade erupted again on Monday as growing concerns about the disruptive power of the technology dragged down shares of payments and software companies, sending IBM to its worst plunge in 25 years. It all began with a bearish report published over the weekend by a little-known firm called Citrini Research, which outlined the potential AI risks to parts of the global economy. Black Swan author Nassim Taleb also had a warning: brace for escalating volatility and potential bankruptcies in the software sector as the AI rally enters a more fragile phase. [Bloomberg]