Day: July 23, 2025

Newly-appointed shadow housing secretary James Cleverly says there is no excuse for recent riots but government is making a difficult situation worse

Hello and welcome to the UK politics live blog.

Newly-appointed shadow housing secretary James Cleverly has criticised the prime minister for a “disconnect from reality” when it comes to housing asylum seekers.

Angela Rayner urged the government to acknowledge people’s “real concerns” and flagged high levels of deprivation where the worst riots erupted last summer nearly a year on from the disorder. The deputy prime minister told Cabinet colleagues that immigration and increasing time spent online are having a “profound impact on society”.

Edward Argar has stepped down as shadow health secretary, which he said was on the advice of his doctors after a “health scare” earlier this summer. He will be replaced by Stuart Andrew, a former minister who has been shadow culture minister.

Kevin Hollinrake, who had been shadow housing and communities secretary, will become party chair. He takes over from Nigel Huddleston, who will be the new shadow culture secretary.

Conservative Senedd member Laura Anne Jones has joined Reform UK, becoming the party’s first Member of the Senedd (MS).

The UK government borrowed more than expected in June amid speculation the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, will need to raise taxes at the autumn budget to repair the public finances. Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed public sector net borrowing rose to £20.7bn, up by £6.6bn from the same month a year earlier to reach the second-highest June borrowing figure since monthly records began in 1993.

Artificial intelligence technology will be trialled to assess disputed ages of asylum seekers who say they are children, the Home Office has said. Ministers hope to roll out facial age estimation for migrants arriving by small boats and lorries over 2026, subject to further testing of the technology to go ahead this year.

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Almaty – Kazakhstan’s Halyk Bank has announced it will acquire a 49% stake in Uzbek digital payments company Click for $176.4 million, marking one of the largest cross-border banking investments in Central Asia to date.

The deal values Click at approximately $360 million, highlighting the growing importance of digital finance in the region’s rapidly evolving financial landscape. With over 20 million customers, Click is one of Uzbekistan’s most widely used payment providers.

As part of the agreement, Click will also take a 49% stake in Tenge Bank, Halyk’s Uzbek subsidiary, for $60.76 million. The reciprocal structure of the deal is designed to foster tighter operational integration and shared technological infrastructure between the two institutions – a significant step toward regional financial harmonisation.

“This is a historic moment for Click. Partnering with Halyk Bank and expanding our capabilities through Tenge Bank represents a major step forward in delivering world-class digital financial services to millions of users,” said Ulugbek Rustamov, CEO of Click. “At the same time, the structure of the deal ensures Click retains its independence, continues to shape its strategic vision, and remains a proud national brand.”

Strategic Push Toward Integration

The announcement comes as both Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan continue efforts to modernise their financial systems and ease cross-border payments. Regional trade between the two nations has grown steadily in recent years, with bilateral trade turnover reaching $4.22 billion in 2024, up from $2.9 billion in 2020.

Halyk Bank, already Kazakhstan’s dominant financial institution with a 29% market share and more than 10.9 million active retail clients, views the investment as a strategic step to capture Uzbekistan’s booming digital economy. Click, meanwhile, gains regulatory grounding via Tenge Bank and access to Halyk’s technology and ability to raise capital from its public listing on the London Stock Exchange.

Uzbekistan, whose GDP grew by 7.2% in the first half of 2025, continues to open its financial sector to foreign capital – a key pillar of President Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s economic reform program.

A Shift in Regional Strategy

The deal represents a strategic reversal for Halyk Bank. In recent years, the bank has divested from its Kyrgyz and Tajik operations, selling 100% of its Kyrgyz subsidiary to oligarch Aidan Karibzhanov in 2024 and liquidating its Tajik entity in 2022. The Click acquisition signals a renewed focus on Uzbekistan, with the potential to make the country Halyk’s primary external growth market.

This renewed push comes as Halyk cements its dominance in Kazakhstan, where it controls nearly one-third of all banking assets and processes 90% of its retail loans through digital channels, including via its popular Halyk Super-App.

The Future of Banking in Central Asia

Click’s prominence in Uzbekistan’s digital economy, now backed by Halyk’s financial infrastructure, positions the partnership to pioneer a regional payments ecosystem, long hindered by incompatible systems and protectionist government policy.

The deal is pending approval by regulators in both countries and is expected to close by the end of 2025. Joint product launches and integrated financial platforms are already under discussion.

This is a developing story …