Afternoon.

It’s Wednesday 16th September: Heathrow’s third runway has hit a fairly large climate-shaped obstacle, thousands of people are leaving work to care for loved ones and Nissan is putting £170m into Sunderland.

Kettle on.

📅 On this day: In 1992, Britain crashed out of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism, a system designed to keep European currencies trading within agreed ranges. The government spent billions trying to prop up the pound before admitting defeat on what became known as “Black Wednesday”.

Plans for a third runway at Heathrow have run into a fairly significant problem: the government’s climate advisers say it doesn’t currently fit with the UK’s legally binding climate targets.

The Climate Change Committee says expansion could still go ahead, but airlines would need to deal with all their emissions by 2050, using cleaner fuels and technology where possible and paying to permanently remove CO2 for whatever remains.

That could make flying more expensive, and some of the technology needed is still developing. Sustainable aviation fuel, for example, currently accounts for less than 1% of global jet fuel use.

The government backs expansion because it believes a bigger Heathrow would boost trade and economic growth. So the question is increasingly not just whether to build another runway, but who pays for making all those extra flights compatible with the UK’s climate commitments.

More than 1,500 people a day are estimated to be leaving work to care for an older, disabled or seriously ill loved one. Research from Carers UK suggests more than one million people have done so in the past two years.

Around one in five UK adults provides some form of unpaid care, often for a family member or friend. Among those still working, nearly half surveyed said they were considering cutting their hours or leaving altogether, with exhaustion, inflexible workplaces and unreliable social care among the reasons.

Workers already have a legal right to unpaid carer’s leave. Carers UK wants that to become paid leave, so taking time off to care for someone doesn’t also mean losing income.

One caveat: the survey included more than 10,500 carers but was not nationally representative, so the UK-wide figures are estimates rather than an official count.

Nissan is putting £170m into its Sunderland factory to build another model there, providing a useful vote of confidence in Britain’s biggest car plant.

The Japanese manufacturer will make the Kicks e-POWER, a small hybrid SUV, in Sunderland alongside the Qashqai, Juke and electric Leaf. The investment is particularly notable because Nissan is in the middle of a global restructuring involving factory closures, job cuts and cancelled models.

There had also been questions over Sunderland’s future. Earlier this year, Nissan considered leasing one of its production lines to Chinese carmaker Chery, while the government has been discussing financial support in return for longer-term investment.

No production date for the new Kicks has been announced yet, but £170m and another model heading Sunderland’s way is considerably more reassuring than an empty production line.

UK inflation rose from 2.9% to 3.1% in August, largely as higher energy prices fed through to the cost of living. The latest figures put inflation at its highest since March, although underlying inflation remained steadier.

The Bank of England announces its latest interest-rate decision tomorrow. Rates are widely expected to stay where they are, but another rise in inflation gives policymakers one more reason to be cautious about cutting them.

Complaints taken to the water consumer watchdog in England and Wales rose 84% last year, from 8,235 to 15,115, the biggest annual increase in the organisation’s 20-year history. Confusion and anger over rising bills were a major factor.

At the same time, the government is reportedly considering giving mayors and other local leaders more influence over water companies, including a say over investment plans and greater powers to hold executives to account. The proposals have not yet been formally adopted, but follow a major review of how England and Wales’s water industry is regulated.

McLaren is investing £500m in its UK operations, including a new assembly plant, more in-house manufacturing and, for the first time, an SUV. The expansion is expected to create 1,000 UK jobs by 2032.

The supercar maker is expanding beyond the low-slung sports cars it is famous for, following Ferrari, Lamborghini and pretty much everyone else in discovering that their customers also occasionally need somewhere to put the children.

Residents of Piddington in Oxfordshire have voted overwhelmingly to leave the United Kingdom, although King Charles can probably hold off rearranging the map.

The village held a symbolic referendum in protest against government plans to house up to 1,256 male asylum seekers at a former military site near Bicester. Of 312 votes cast, 285 backed “independence”.

The vote has no legal effect. Residents organised it to draw attention to concerns about the scale of the accommodation and what they say has been inadequate consultation. The government says moving people from asylum hotels into larger sites will save money and that it works with councils and police over local impacts.

Britain has just recorded its second-best butterfly season in 16 years, with more than 100,000 volunteers spotting nearly 1.4 million butterflies and day-flying moths in this summer’s Big Butterfly Count. Painted ladies had a particularly good time of it, with sightings up 335% from last year.

There is, unfortunately, a butterfly-sized catch. The hot, dry weather that helped adult butterflies this summer may have left caterpillars short of food, meaning conservationists are warning that numbers could fall sharply next year.

Still, after the summer we’ve had, it’s nice to discover that at least somebody enjoyed the heatwaves.

Have a great day.

See you tomorrow.

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