Updated at\u00a010.24 EDT<\/p>\n
Key events<\/p>\n
Edinburgh Airport is hoping NATS can fix the technical problem fast!<\/p>\n
They\u2019ve posted on X:<\/p>\n
double quotation markWe are aware of a technical issue affecting which may impact operations. We are working closely with air traffic control, airlines and other partners, and hope @NATS can resolve the issue as quickly as possible.<\/p>\n
Share<\/a><\/p>\n Manchester and Stansted airports are also affected by the UK\u2019s air traffic control technical issue, Reuters report.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>ITV: Heathrow, Gatwick, Southend, Isle of Man and Jersey Airports all affected<\/p>\n Heathrow, Gatwick, Southend, Isle of Man and Jersey Airports are all affected by today\u2019s disruption, ITV News report<\/a>.<\/p>\n A spokesperson for Jersey Airport said:<\/p>\n double quotation mark\u201cUK air traffic control is currently experiencing issues which is impacting flights across the UK including services between Jersey and UK.<\/p>\n Passengers are advised to check the latest flight information directly with their airline.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a>NATS apologises for delays<\/p>\n Britain\u2019s National Air Traffic Services have apologised for the problems affecting flight departures today.<\/p>\n Posting on X, NATS confirms there is a \u2018technical issue\u2019:<\/p>\n double quotation mark\u2139\ufe0f Technical issue We are investigating a technical issue which is causing some disruption to flight departures. Our engineers are on site and we will provide an update as soon as we can.<\/p>\n We apologise for the delay this will cause to journeys, passengers should check with their airline on the status of their flight. We will provide updates on https:\/\/nats.aero<\/a><\/p>\n Share<\/a>Some UK departing flights disrupted by technical issue<\/p>\n A technical problem with air traffic control is disrupting some flights across the UK.<\/p>\n Some departing flights at airports across Britain were disrupted on Tuesday after air traffic control provider NATS experienced a technical issue, Heathrow Airport said, adding that arriving flights were not currently affected.<\/p>\n Heathrow said it was working with NATS to resolve the problem as quickly as possible, Reuters reports.<\/p>\n Back in 2023, a technical problem at NATS led to widespread disruption across UK airports\u2026<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a010.24 EDT<\/p>\n Bailey: Food inflation has been lower than expected<\/p>\n Labour MP Julie Minns turns the Treasury committee\u2019s attention to agriculture, and the impact of recent hot weather.<\/p>\n She explains that she recently visited the UK\u2019s largest sheep auction, and saw that lambs are being sold earlier than usual \u2013 which means farms are receiving lower prices, but are forced to sell because the pasture hasn\u2019t been there this year.<\/p>\n Andrew Bailey replies that the agricultural sector is important, and the Bank has noted that yields have been lower on cereal crops, such as winter wheat, spring barley and oats.<\/p>\n Internationally, El Ninos have historically affected the prices of rise, coffee, cocoa and palm oil.<\/p>\n Bailey says, though, that food prices haven\u2019t risen as fast as expected yet:<\/p>\n double quotation markFood price inflation has come in under where we thought it would.<\/p>\n However, I think unfortunately this is another area where the risks are. On the upside, we have built into our forecast stronger, stronger food inflation by the end of the year.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Bailey: No secret plan to raise interest rates unconditionally<\/p>\n Bailey then insists that the Bank of England<\/a> doesn\u2019t have a \u201csecret plan\u201d to raise interest rates.<\/p>\n He says he sometimes get quite frustrated that some of his comments are interpreted as unconditional statements. They are conditional, he insists, because the world is uncertain.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Governor Andrew Bailey then tells MPs that mortgage rates in the UK have risen faster than in most, if not all, other major countries.<\/p>\n He says:<\/p>\n double quotation markUK mortgage rates now are typically at the moment about 75 basis points [three quarters of a percentage point] higher than they were at the point when the conflict broke out.<\/p>\n I think with the possible exception of Japan, although that\u2019s a little hard to map, that\u2019s the largest increase in mortgage rates in the G7.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Watch the Bank of England hearing here<\/p>\n You can watch the Treasury committee hearing with some of the UK\u2019s top central bankers here:<\/p>\n Q: What would it take for Bank of England<\/a> policymakers to change course on rates?<\/p>\n Bank of England policymaker Alan Taylor argues that has already course-corrected, even though \u201ceven though it may look like we\u2019ve done nothing in terms of changing Bank rate\u201d.<\/p>\n He points out that before the Iran war began, the markets was expecting two, maybe three cuts this year.<\/p>\n Instead, rates have been on hold all year \u2013 which Taylor dubs \u201can active decision to maintain restrictiveness.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Deputy governor Dave Ramsden takes an alternative view, pointing out that wage growth has actually been below the Bank\u2019s forecasts this year.<\/p>\n He argues that the global inflationary picture is much more of an upside inflation risk, rather than the \u2018benign domestic picture\u2019.<\/p>\n That\u2019s why Ramsden was happy to vote to hold interest rates at the Bank\u2019s last meeting, while Greene voted for a rise.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Bank of England policymaker Megan Greene then tells MPs that the the length of time the oil price has been high worries her, given the dangers of 2nd round effects (where high prices push up wages, which push up prices).<\/p>\n Greene argues it is better to act now on interest rates, and change course if the inflation shock is lower than she fears.<\/p>\n She explains:<\/p>\n double quotation markIf you think that you might be in a situation with higher energy costs and more second round effects and act accordingly and determine actually that\u2019s not the case, then you can course correct, you\u2019ll stay on top of inflation.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a009.41 EDT<\/p>\n Bailey: Oil price could be higher….<\/p>\n Treasury committee chair Dame Meg Hillier begins by asking the Bank of England<\/a> about the economic consequences of the ongoing Iran war.<\/p>\n BoE governor Andrew Bailey responds, pointing out that the conflict is \u201cobviously\u201d a high level of high level of energy prices.<\/p>\n And he warns that oil price (which approached $100 a barrel today<\/a>) could rise higher.<\/p>\n Bailey says:<\/p>\n double quotation markI think it\u2019s fair to say that we\u2019ve got higher energy prices. They could be higher still.<\/p>\n Bailey adds that pipelines are helping to move oil out of the region, but points out that the Houthis have attacked the Red sea area, which is where the Saudi pipeline goes to.<\/p>\n And he touches on crack spreads \u2013 the price difference between crude oil and its refined products.. That spread has widened, and it\u2019s not all due to the Iran war.<\/p>\n Bailey explains that Russia has \u201cquite a concentration\u201d of refining capacity, which Ukraine has been successful at attacking.<\/p>\n double quotation markQuite a bit of the crack spread is actually not to do with, you know, the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a009.29 EDT<\/p>\n Bank of England hearing begins at parliament<\/p>\n Over in parliament, some of the Bank of England\u2019s top policymakers are starting to be questioned by MPs on the Treasury Committee.<\/p>\n Happily, there\u2019s a range of hawks and doves from the BoE, so we might hear about the disagreements at the central bank about interest rates.<\/p>\n Governor Andrew Bailey (who has recently been the \u2018swing voter\u2019 on the monetary policy committee is accompanied by deputy governor for Markets and Banking, Sir Dave Ramsden, as well as two external members \u2013 Megan Greene and Professor Alan Taylor.<\/p>\n In July, Greene voted to increase the Bank Rate by 0.25% while the other three witnesses were in the majority voting to hold rates. Taylor, though, is among the most dovish of the committee, and was voting for interest rate cuts earlier than many other colleagues last year<\/a>.<\/p>\n Pleasingly, Taylor and Greene are at opposite ends of the table \u2013 reflecting their positions on the hawks-and-doves-ometer.<\/p>\n The committee says:<\/p>\n double quotation markThe session will focus on July\u2019s Monetary Policy Report<\/a>, and the MPC\u2019s most recent decision to hold the Bank Rate at 3.75%.<\/p>\n MPs are likely to question witnesses on the potential inflationary impact of the ongoing war in Iran and how the MPC considers recent developments in AI.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a009.30 EDT<\/p>\n Before today\u2019s UK bond sale took place, strategists at RBC had said some investors might be wary of buying into long-dated debt due to last week\u2019s global drops in fixed income prices, \u201cwhich continues to reinforce the risk of trying to catch a falling knife here\u201c.<\/p>\n However, they said UK-specific factors were more positive and had contributed to a narrowing of 10-year gilts\u2019 yield premium over German debt.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>About the UK’s ‘moron premium’….<\/p>\n The jump in UK borrowing costs has reignited talk that the UK is suffering from a \u2018moron premium\u2019 on its debt.<\/p>\n This term was coined by Dario Perkins of City research firm TS Lombard back in 2022 after Liz Truss\u2019s mini-budget sparked a bond sell-off, and tends to be trotted out whenever UK bonds are under the cosh.<\/p>\n Yesterday, chancellor John Healey cited Liz Truss, austerity, and Brexit as causes of the UK\u2019s borrowing challenges.<\/p>\n But, in a note titled \u201cDiagnosing the cause of the UK\u2019s moron premium\u201d, Simon French of Panmure Liberum argues that the real cause of this excess yield premium is the UK\u2019s inflation problem, due \u2013 he argues \u2013 to an inefficient supply side of the economy,,<\/p>\n French argues:<\/p>\n double quotation markIf something broke in the Gilt market in 2022, as Healey claims, then it was higher global inflation revealing the UK as a high beta economy for that theme.<\/p>\n Truss and Austerity did not make the UK economy high beta, and whilst Brexit did add inflationary frictions into the UK\u2019s trading regime it has been less significant than the frictions created in domestic-orientated supply.<\/p>\n It would be easy to dismiss this as political framing from Healey, but for the fact that an honest diagnosis is necessary to unwind some of the luxury beliefs that gum up the supply side of the UK economy. \u201cControl\u201d – still an ill-defined concept by this government – will need to be a Trojan Horse for supply side reform if the UK government\u2019s moron premium is to be reduced.<\/p>\n [\u2018high beta\u2019 is a financial term for heightened volatility, such as a stock which moves up and down more rapidly than the wider market].<\/p>\n Share<\/a>At least there were plenty of bids…..<\/p>\n Matthew Amis, investment director for rates management at Aberdeen Investments, is encouraged that there was strong demand for UK debt at today\u2019s sale \u2013 even though buyers demanded a high interest rate.<\/p>\n Amis explains:<\/p>\n double quotation mark\u201cWith rising government bond yields, in particular long-end maturity bonds, today\u2019s 30-year syndication was a key health check for the gilt market. UK long issuance has been much reduced in recent years, with the last 30-year syndication coming back in 2025.<\/p>\n \u201cA poorly received gilt syndication would have put further pressure on gilt yields and in turn government finances. Despite this negative build-up, the re-opening of the 2056s gilt was well received by the market. UK primary issuance continues to be well-received and today\u2019s syndication shows demand for gilts at these yields remains in good health.\u201d<\/p>\n According to Reuters, the UK received more than \u00a385bn of bids for the debt on sale, allowing it to choose the most attractive offers when selling \u00a34.25bn of debt (however, even those offers can\u2019t have been terribly eye-catching, as the UK agreed to pay such a high yield on this debt).<\/p>\n![\"Bank](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/7424.jpg\")
Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey faces parliament treasury committee \u2013 watch liveShare<\/a><\/p>\n