6:36 am, April 7, 2026
Major supermarkets face call to reinstate pay in line with real living wage
Supermarkets are being urged to restore worker pay in line with the real living wage after a raft stepped back from matching the salary benchmark in recent years amid soaring industry cost pressures.
Investor activists ShareAction is calling on the UK’s biggest grocery chains – and some of the country’s biggest employers – to reinstate pay at the level of the real living wage.
Players in the sector announced pay rises in recent weeks ahead of the April 1 increase in the national minimum wage, which rose to £12.71 per hour for those aged 21 and over across the UK. While many are paying shop workers above the minimum wage, few now match the higher real living wage – a voluntary independent industry designed to be calculated on the real cost of living, and is currently set at £13.45 an hour and £14.80 in London.
Barclays planning return to high street branches
Barclays is planning to return to the high street by opening new branches and bringing back ‘bank managers’, The Times has reported.
Vim Maru, chief executive officer at Barclays UK, told the paper he does not want customers to get ‘stuck in some chatbot’ when they need help.
Since 2018, more than 800 Barclays branches have closed – leaving 206 still open around the UK, according to the company’s latest annual report. Maru has paused the closures and plans to expand again.
Hyundai’s Boulder Concept is a rugged Defender rival
Hyundai is aiming to tackle the rugged off-roader market with its new Boulder Concept.
Unveiled at last week’s New York Auto Show, the Boulder Concept follows a traditional body-on-frame design and is expected to reach production by 2030.
The boxy SUV – which is designed and developed in America – features a new ‘Art of Steel’ design which reflects the truck’s primary material, US-made steel.
The markets
Before the Easter break, UK markets closed strongly with the FTSE 100 closing at 71.50 points, up 0.7%, at 10,436.29. It traded as high as 10,465.24 and as low as 10,287.90 on Friday.
The FTSE 250 ended down 45.89 points, 0.2%, at 21,642.30, and the Aim All-Share fell 4.64 points, 0.6%, to 734.61.
The pound fell to 1.3238 dollars on Thursday afternoon from 1.3324 dollars at the equities close on Wednesday. Against the euro, sterling eased to 1.1463 euros from 1.1476 euros.
UK to host Hormuz planning meeting as Trump deadline looms for Iran
Britain will host a meeting of allied military officers to discuss plans for securing the Strait of Hormuz as Donald Trump’s deadline for Iran to reopen the waterway looms.
The US president has given Tehran until 8pm on Tuesday Washington time (1am on Wednesday UK time) to end its blockade of the strait or be bombed ‘back to the Stone Ages’.
Ahead of Tuesday’s deadline, Britain’s Permanent Joint Headquarters at Northwood, outside London, will host a meeting of military planners to discuss long-term measures to secure the Strait of Hormuz.
Resident doctors in England to strike for six days
Resident doctors in England are to begin a six-day walkout as the row with the Government over jobs and pay intensifies.
Tens of thousands of resident doctors, formerly known as junior doctors, will down their stethoscopes from 7am on April 7.
NHS officials have said the strike will be ‘difficult’ but urged patients to come forward as normal.
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Weather
Much of the UK will enjoy warm, sunny and dry weather today, though cloud will increase in western Scotland with some afternoon rain.
Tonight, north-west Scotland stays wet and cloudy, while the rest of Scotland and Northern Ireland remain mostly cloudy but dry. Elsewhere, skies will be largely clear.
