Prime Minister Andy Burnham's visit to Berlin led a busy UK day, with Number 10 releasing a joint UK-Germany statement on the Kensington Treaty, a partnership on sabotage and cyber threats and a £1bn German investment pledge for affordable homes. The Foreign Office announced 38 new Russia-related sanctions designations and covered Ed Miliband's first visit to Ukraine as Foreign Secretary. Other items included a drought permit for Wimbleball Reservoir, £33.2 million for vaccine projects and a consultation on extending Awaab's Law.
Thursday 8 October 2026 (Europe/London source-local date) · 27 releases · MediaRelease.co editorial digest
The Environment Agency has granted South West Water a drought permit for Wimbleball Reservoir on Exmoor, Somerset, which serves 390,000 people and was 18% full on 4 October compared with 30% a year earlier. The permit lets the company pause normal compensation flow to the River Haddeo under conditions, and runs until 28 February 2027. South West Water has also applied for a non-essential use ban.
Nuclear Restoration Services has handed responsibility for the reactor buildings area at Trawsfynydd to Costain, allowing work to start on a project to reduce the height of both reactor buildings by nearly half. The programme is expected to create more than 100 jobs at its peak. Large crawler cranes are due later this year, followed by two tower cranes in early 2027.
The Competition and Markets Authority is considering Brink’s offer to sell its UK NoteMachine business and TestLink’s UK business to resolve competition concerns over its acquisition of NCR Atleos. Together the firms operate over 50% of UK cash machines. The CMA will consult on the proposed undertakings and, if satisfied, conditionally clear the deal without an in-depth phase 2 investigation.
Desmond Pheby, 57, of Flintshire, who kept running Wok & Go Franchise UK Limited while disqualified as a director, received a 12-month suspended sentence, 200 hours of unpaid work and a new 10-year ban at Chester Crown Court on 5 October, the Insolvency Service said. He also used a false employment document in civil proceedings. His wife Sharon Pheby received a community order and five-year ban.
HM Revenue and Customs is urging Self Assessment customers to start their 2025 to 2026 tax returns early, ahead of World Mental Health Day on 10 October. An HMRC-commissioned survey of more than 5,200 customers found over 26% feel anxiety when tax or financial deadlines approach. The online filing and payment deadline is 31 January 2027, and paper returns are due by 31 October 2026.
The Rail Accident Investigation Branch has published its report into an incident on the Bluebell Railway in East Sussex on 9 August 2025, when steam locomotives Fenchurch and Stepney moved about 3 metres while a shunter was coupling them. The shunter was uninjured. RAIB found the regulator valve was not fully closed and the air brake not fully applied, and recommended a risk-based review of coupling arrangements.
The UK and Germany have agreed to open an Industrial Tech Corridor, a Kensington Treaty initiative backed by Allianz, Bosch, RWE and Siemens, to connect high-growth tech firms with industrial partners and investors. The countries will also share about €20 million (£17 million) for joint quantum research. Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said the agreements mean more jobs, investment and innovation.
The UK has announced 38 new Russia-related sanctions designations, including oil companies Zarubezhneft and INK Capital, 12 more shadow fleet tankers, three crypto exchanges and two payment platforms, and 17 suppliers of goods critical to Russia’s military. The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office said UK sanctions now cover over 90% of Russia’s oil production capacity and more than 600 shadow fleet vessels.
Sellafield Ltd has completed bulk removal of about 110 cubic metres of BUTEX liquor, a radioactive byproduct of 1950s reprocessing, from the oldest tanks in its Highly Active Liquor Evaporation and Storage (HALES) plant. The transfer took 2,250 operating cycles of 40 litres each and finished in months rather than the expected year. The liquor will be stored in newer tanks before vitrification.
General Fusion’s LM26 machine has reached electron temperatures above 12 million degrees Celsius (1.1 keV) using Magnetised Target Fusion, a result co-published with the UK Atomic Energy Authority and measured by Thomson scattering. The companies say it is the first time the approach has passed the 1 keV milestone. General Fusion is upgrading LM26 to target 10 keV and aims to operate a first plant around 2035.
The UK Health Security Agency’s first weekly winter surveillance report shows flu at baseline levels, but September activity was higher than in each of the past four winters, with possible signs of an early season. Flu positivity rose to 6.5% in week 40, driven by young adults, and COVID-19 activity is increasing. UKHSA urged eligible people to get vaccinated.
The Department of Health and Social Care is investing £33.2 million in eight vaccine projects targeting diseases including Ebola, plague, Marburg, Lassa fever, Nipah virus, chikungunya and Mayaro. Delivered through the UK Vaccine Network and Innovate UK, the funding aims to help scientists develop, test and deploy vaccines faster during future outbreaks. The programme previously supported development of the Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham and Chancellor Friedrich Merz finalised ratification of the Kensington Treaty in Berlin on 8 October and set out next steps for UK-Germany cooperation. These include an Industrial Tech Corridor focused on AI, a counter-hybrid threat partnership, work towards a space cooperation memorandum in early 2027, quantum research funding raised to €19.5 million, and a Regional Dialogue in 2027.
Demolition has begun at Wellington Barracks in Westminster, starting an Army Estate Modernisation Programme upgrade managed by the Defence Infrastructure Organisation and delivered by Galliford Try with Arcadis. Three outdated band facilities will be replaced with purpose-built accommodation for the Foot Guards Bands, followed by refurbished living accommodation and support infrastructure. The project is scheduled for completion in 2028.
Green Hill Solar Farm, a ground-mounted solar generating station of up to 500 megawatts with energy storage and grid connection infrastructure, has been granted development consent by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero. The Planning Inspectorate examined the application from Green Hill Solar Farm Limited and made its recommendation on 8 July 2026. Baroness Curran took the decision on the Energy Secretary’s behalf.
German real estate investor PATRIZIA has pledged £1bn to its UK Essential Living Platform to deliver up to 4,000 affordable, professionally managed homes, working with mayors and local partners. Prime Minister Andy Burnham welcomed the investment in Berlin, where he and Chancellor Friedrich Merz convened the first UK-Germany Regional Growth Forum. PATRIZIA has already invested around £4bn in the UK.
Policing and Crime Minister Sarah Jones hosted two summits on 8 October pressing online marketplaces and high-street retailers to stop marketing knives with combat and violence imagery and to keep dangerous weapons out of easy reach. Retailers were urged to back a renewed Responsible Retailers’ Scheme. Campaigners including Southport attack survivor Leanne Lucas and No Point Knives founder Alan Bacon addressed the meetings.
On his first visit to Ukraine as Foreign Secretary, Ed Miliband joined President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the site of a strike in Pryluky that killed at least 22 people. He announced £54 million in energy and humanitarian winter funding, £6 million to pursue justice for war crimes, and new sanctions on around 40 targets. UK sanctions now cover over 90% of Russia’s oil producing capacity.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham met German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in Berlin on 8 October, where the leaders welcomed the Kensington Treaty partnership and agreed on a strong European response to Russia’s hybrid threats. They reaffirmed support for Ukraine, discussed possible German participation in the Global Combat Air Programme, and agreed close cooperation on illegal migration. Joint cabinet consultations are planned for next year.
A Kyiv Business Centre, described by the Ministry of Defence as the UK’s first dedicated industry base in Ukraine, has opened, giving UK companies, particularly SMEs, a permanent base to build partnerships with Ukrainian firms and pursue co-development, co-production and investment. It was set up by the National Armaments Director Group with industry and finance partners under the UK-Ukraine 100-Year Partnership, and also supports Ukrainian firms seeking UK partners.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham is announcing a £48 million industry partnership to speed up dementia research, with £33 million from the government’s Dame Barbara Windsor Dementia Goals programme alongside funding from Bristol Myers Squibb, GSK and Gates Ventures. The money backs the BARBARA Alliance’s platform to make it easier for people to join clinical trials. Nearly one million people in the UK live with dementia.
The government has opened a consultation on extending Awaab’s Law, which sets legal deadlines for landlords to fix hazards such as dangerous damp and mould, to private renters, temporary accommodation, care leavers’ housing and supported housing. The change could raise the number of protected households from 4 million to around 9 million. The consultation closes on 18 December 2026.
The government has launched the latest phase of its Let’s Move! campaign with a ‘New Moves Club’ fronted by actress Charlie Brooks and fitness coach Joe Wicks, encouraging families with children aged 7 to 11 to try new activities together. A Censuswide survey of 2,006 parents in England found 82% want their family to be more active, but 61% have avoided activities they feared they would not be good at. Fewer than half of UK children get the recommended 60 minutes of daily activity.
Homes England has selected Digbeth Loc Studios Ltd as preferred development partner, subject to contract and a standstill period, for a new creative and mixed-use neighbourhood at Fazeley Street in Digbeth, Birmingham. Working with the Mayor of the West Midlands and Birmingham City Council, the scheme aims to grow the area’s film, television and creative production sector while unlocking new homes, jobs and investment. Digbeth Loc Studios, founded by Steven Knight, is home to the new Peaky Blinders franchise.
Near real-time petrol and diesel prices from the government’s Fuel Finder scheme appear on Google Maps in the UK for the first time from 8 October, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero said. Fuel Finder now reflects around 99% of fuel sold on UK roads, and comparing prices can save car-owning households about £40 a year. Since February, petrol stations have been required to report price changes within 30 minutes or risk a fine.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham is travelling to Berlin on 8 October for his first face-to-face talks with Chancellor Friedrich Merz, as the UK and Germany commit to a counter-hybrid threat partnership against cyber-attacks, sabotage and threats to critical infrastructure. The leaders will also discuss Ukraine, instability in the Middle East and disruption to trade routes such as the Strait of Hormuz, and convene a UK-Germany Regional Growth Forum. The measures build on the 2025 Kensington Treaty, ratified the same day.
Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said the UK’s Consulate General building in Jerusalem will not close following discussions with the Government of Israel, and will be known as the UK Mission, Jerusalem from 8 October. He said the UK does not accept that Israel has the legal right to close the consulate, which has been there for nearly 200 years, and regards East Jerusalem as occupied territory. A number of staff and families have been temporarily withdrawn for their safety.
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