Tuesday newspaper round-up: Red Sea islands, BoE bond selling, energy imports

(Sharecast News) - Yemen's Houthi militants have seized two strategic islands in the Red Sea, reinforcing the Iran-backed group's ability to control a key shipping route, as concerns mount that the world is facing a new oil supply crisis. The seizure of the islands of Greater and Lesser Hanish is the latest in the militant group's swift advance across Yemen's Red Sea coast, after the capture of the port of Mokha and Perim island in the Bab al-Mandab strait. - Guardian

Economists have urged the chancellor, John Healey, to press the Bank of England to slow down its bond-selling programme that has already cost the exchequer billions of pounds. The Bank's monetary policy committee (MPC) meets this week to not only decide the level of interest rates but also whether they should freeze or slow the sale of government bonds, known as gilts, bought as part of the rescue operation after the 2008 banking crash. - Guardian

The UK spent £84bn on buying oil, gas and electricity from abroad last year, amid warnings that high taxes are killing jobs in the North Sea and risking energy security. The figure is the highest since 2022, when Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine plunged Europe into the most severe energy crisis in decades. A report by Offshore Energies UK (OEUK), which represents the oil, gas, hydrogen, carbon capture and offshore wind industries, also said imports accounted for more than 40pc of the country's energy needs. It warned that this leaves families and firms more vulnerable to global disruption. - Telegraph

Labour ignores rising energy, tax and regulatory costs "at our peril", Ford's UK chief has warned, amid fears of a fresh raid on business. Lisa Brankin said the car giant's British operations were already under heavy pressure, forcing the company to work "really hard to make sure that we keep what we've got". Speaking to The Telegraph during a tour of Ford's Dagenham plant, she said: "I think we neglect the cost issue at our peril, if we think that new jobs will stay here irrespective of cost." - Telegraph

The maker of Lucky Strike and Dunhill cigarettes was a prominent sponsor at the annual conference of Reform UK, which has vowed to scrap the incoming lifelong smoking ban. British American Tobacco and its Omni brand, an initiative to further its nicotine products business, was the sponsor on lanyards worn by delegates at the party's conference in Birmingham this month. - The Times