![All eyes will be on Scotland during Thursday's vote, with talk of another independence referendum simmering [Russell Cheyne/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/2021-05-04BRITAIN-POLITICS-SCOTLAND.jpg?resize=570%2C380)
Dubbed ‘Super Thursday’, local and regional votes come as the UK is on the path to pandemic recovery.
Boris Johnson
![Johnson is grappling with an array of accusations which opponents say show that he is unfit for office and that his government is riddled by sleaze and cronyism [File: Phil Noble/Pool via Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/2021-04-26T160510Z_1843313534_RC2S3N9M7H1L_RTRMADP_3_BRITAIN-POLITICS.jpg?resize=570%2C380)
Political finance watchdog says ‘reasonable grounds’ to suspect an offence was committed, but PM denies any wrongdoing.
![Johnson outside London's Downing Street last week amid the coronavirus pandemic [File: John Sibley/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/2021-04-14T105209Z_1065858463_RC2MVM9H3E7F_RTRMADP_3_HEALTH-CORONAVIRUS-BRITAIN-JOHNSON.jpg?resize=570%2C380)
British PM cancels his first major foreign visit since taking power in 2019 as coronavirus cases surge in India.
![The vaccine programme is seen as one of few successes in the government's handling of a pandemic that has left the country with a higher death toll and worse economic damage than its peers [File: Steve Reigate/AFP]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/000_92P2K8.jpg?resize=570%2C380)
PM Boris Johnson hails hitting ‘significant’ occasion two months after country embarked on biggest vaccination drive.
![British Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaks to US President Joe Biden from London, UK, January 23, 2021 [Downing Street Handout via Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2021-01-23T232106Z_1683145568_RC2YDL91H82S_RTRMADP_3_USA-BIDEN-BRITAIN-JOHNSON.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
British PM ‘looks forward to deepening alliance’ with the US in first phone call with Biden since his inauguration.
![British Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak has extended support measures to companies several times already and has said his response to the pandemic will cost nearly $380bn [File: Hollie Adams/Bloomberg]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/367351422.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
The UK’s biggest lobby group has asked the government to extend its job support programme until the end of June.
Why is the virus that causes COVID-19 mutating? Should we be concerned about the more contagious variants?
![Last month, the government announced Johnson's intention to visit India as part of efforts to speed up talks on trade, with the UK in search of new bilateral deals after leaving the EU [File: Jeff J Mitchell/Pool via Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2019-08-25T163915Z_2041539272_RC175A1088D0_RTRMADP_3_G7-SUMMIT.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
The UK is in search of new trade deals after leaving the EU but alarming rise in COVID cases forces change to PM’s plans
![For 65 years, NORAD has tracked Kris Kringle's merry progress as he flies around the world in his sleigh delivering toys [File: Henning Bagger/EPA-EFE]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/h_56496405.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
THE WEEK IN NUMBERS
Small businesses surviving COVID, Brexit trade and tracking Santa
We round up the numbers to know from the week’s biggest economic stories so you can impress yourself and your friends.
![The UK will exit the EU’s single market and customs union on December 31, when the Brexit transition period ends [File: Olivier Hoslet/Pool via Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/2020-12-09T194326Z_1702997055_RC2VJK9H5Y28_RTRMADP_3_BRITAIN-EU-JOHNSON.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
UK PM and top EU official set for crunch call as fractious talks over post-Brexit trade deal drag on.
![PM Johnson says London and southeast England - with about a third of the English population - are currently in the highest level of a three-tier system of rules and will now be placed in a new Tier 4 level [Toby Melville/Pool/AP]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/AP_20354591609916.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
Prime Minister Boris Johnson scales back plans to ease restrictions over Christmas in England as infections soar.
![Since leaving the European Union in January, Johnson wants to promote what he calls 'global Britain' [File: Cathal McNaughton/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/2017-01-18T120000Z_947003005_RC1DAAEFCFC0_RTRMADP_3_BRITAIN-EU-JOHNSON-INDIA.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
Amid Brexit fears, UK PM picks India for first bilateral visit in hope of boosting ties with countries further afield.
![The UK and the EU are trying to reach some sort of agreement before the Brexit transition period ends [File: Geert Vanden Wijngaert/Bloomberg]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/366511815.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
Both the UK and the EU fear they will be unable to reach a deal before the Brexit transition period ends.
![British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen agreed on Monday to meet in person 'in the coming days' to see whether they can find common ground on a post-Brexit trade deal [File: Henry Nicholls/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/2020-12-05T114756Z_1862395786_RC2ZGK90RJJO_RTRMADP_3_BRITAIN-EU.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is heading to Brussels to try and break a deadlock over a post-Brexit trade deal.
