Britain's cost of living crisis has seen inflation soar to 40-year highs, with a widening number of strikes over pay offers that fail to keep pace with rising prices.

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Cost of living crisis: what are your rights if your landlord wants to increase your rent?

The Bank of England has raised its benchmark rate from 0.1% to 1.75%, whereas until the financial crisis of 2008 it ranged from 5% to 15%.

UK workers are striking in vast numbers as runaway inflation erodes wages at a record pace and is set to plunge the economy into recession.

With double-digit inflation and an economy teetering on the brink of recession, the cost-of-living crisis has dominated the race for Downing Street.

A trade union on Monday warned of more strikes at the UK's largest container port if pay demands are not met, threatening to cause further disruptions to the supply chain.

Taxation has turned out to be the main issue dividing the two candidates in the current Conservative Party leadership contest.

It's a weekday, but 50-year-old Lebanese finance ministry employee Walid Chaar is not at work and hasn't been since June.

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British trade union membership is currently around 6.5 million, but was more than double that in the late 1970s, when unions worked together to bring the UK to a standstill.

UK inflation hits new 40-year high as food prices rocket

The two candidates battling to be Britain's next prime minister vied to present themselves as defenders of Scotland's place in the United Kingdom on Tuesday, promising more scrutiny of Scotland's government to undermine a new push for independence.

A spike in wholesale energy prices has fed into retail charges for businesses and households.

The price of gas and electricity is soaring in Britain and many millions of people are likely to be pushed into fuel poverty. And this is even with an "energy price cap."

British foreign minister Liz Truss clashed over the future of the economy with former finance minister Rishi Sunak on Thursday as the two contenders to be Britain's next prime minister debated the Bank of England's warnings of a long recession.

The UK housing market downturn that started in the 1980s saw prices fall in absolute terms for the first (recorded) time, and this continued until 1994.

Former British finance minister Rishi Sunak said it was still "early days" in the contest to replace Prime Minister Boris Johnson, as two opinion polls showed his rival Liz Truss had extended her lead in the race to be Britain's next leader.

Across a range of other sectors, platform cooperatives want to revolutionise industries including transport and delivery by providing workers with fair wages and better conditions.

While the price hikes are much higher than inflation, analysts believe that the service costs Amazon much more than it charges and is used to lure and keep customers.

Differences over how to revive Britain's slow-growth, high-inflation economy could hardly be starker within the ruling Conservative Party as the two remaining contenders to become its new leader, and thereby prime minister, clash over tax.

The basic idea is that the consistent ratcheting up of workers' pay to match inflation and cost of living increases leads to firms raising prices to protect their profit margins.

Hopes that the Polish central bank's monetary policy tightening cycle may be nearing its end could be shattered by government policies aiming to support domestic demand and ease the pain of inflation in a pre-election year, economists say.

The election of Margaret Thatcher as Conservative prime minister in May 1979, signalled the start of a period of major restrictions on trade union power.

Britain's economy is struggling under the strain of two major risks in the form of double-digit inflation and a possible recession, leaving the Bank of England in a dilemma about how much further it should raise interest rates.

Britain's heavy-handed approach to industrial relations has backfired as employees reject its "nonsense" demands for pay restraint and increasingly join unions, the head of the country's biggest trade union umbrella group said.

The fact that UK higher education is still significantly state-subsidised means, in effect, UK taxpayers continue to fund privately educated students during their university studies.

Some cabin crew at Ryanair went on strike in Belgium, Spain and Portugal on Friday in a dispute over pay and working conditions, causing limited disruption as the budget airline cancelled dozens of flights that left hundreds of passengers stranded.

British Airways staff at London's Heathrow airport voted on Thursday to strike over pay, threatening disruption at one of Europe's busiest aviation hubs during an already chaotic summer for air travellers.

Britain plans to make "buy now, pay later" (BNPL) companies carry out affordability checks, gain approval by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and ensure adverts are fair and clear, the government said on Monday, in measures to regulate the sector.