Here’s your UK news roundup for Thursday (16 April 2026):
Bank of England boss won’t rush on interest rates
Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey says the UK’s central bank will not rush to make a decision on interest rate rises, despite the world facing what he described as a “very big energy shock”. Speaking to the BBC at the meeting of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington, he said higher oil and gas prices would certainly feed through to prices. But other factors made a decision on rates “very, very difficult”, he said ahead of the Bank’s next meeting on 30 April. [BBC]
Private rents in Great Britain have stopped rising for the first time since 2017
Average private rents have stopped rising in Great Britain after almost a decade of increases, as more landlords cut their prices to secure a tenant, data shows. The typical advertised private rent outside London for properties coming on to the market remained flat at £1,370 a calendar month in the first three months of 2026, according to the property website Rightmove. [Guardian]
Business boss pushes for reopening of North Sea fields
The boss of Britain’s largest industry body has called on the government to green-light extraction from two major North Sea oil fields and slash the windfall tax on domestic oil production in a bid to revitalise the country’s ailing oil and gas industry. CBI chief Rain Newton Smith said the North Sea was a “critical part” of the UK’s energy transition and that removing the additional tax on domestic producer profits and waving through the Jackdaw and Rosebank projects would encourage investment and economic activity. [CityAM]
Social media bosses called in by Starmer
Prime Minister Keir Starmer will haul social media bosses into Downing Street this morning to demand better protections for children online. The PM will tell senior leaders from Meta (which owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp), Snap, Google (which owns YouTube), TikTok, and X that “looking the other way is not an option”. It follows MPs rejecting a blanket ban on social media for under-16s for a second time last night. [SkyNews]
Financial news
On Thursday, Oil was trading lower at $94.92. The pound is trading at $1.36, €1.15, and ¥9.26.
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