TikTok has made a final appeal to the US supreme court in a last-ditch effort to prevent the enforcement of a new American law that could force the platform’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to sell the popular video app or face a nationwide ban. ByteDance and TikTok filed an emergency injunction request to the justices […]
Guy Hands’ property company Annington has agreed to sell a portfolio of 36,347 military homes to the Ministry of Defence (MoD) for almost £6bn, concluding a protracted dispute between the billionaire investor and the UK government. The deal sees Annington, which was acquired by Hands’ private equity group Terra Firma in 2012, hand back its […]
The Business Secretary is facing accusations of failing to fully engage with Vauxhall’s parent company Stellantis ahead of its decision to close the van-making plant in Luton—a move that puts up to 1,100 jobs at risk. Critics claim the Government neglected to maintain meaningful dialogue for months despite an early warning of potential closure. Stellantis, […]
Surrey County Council has admitted it does not have enough state school places to accommodate children transferring from private schools, following the government’s introduction of a 20 per cent VAT levy on independent education. Forecasts obtained through a Freedom of Information request show that for the September 2025 intake, there are expected to be no […]
Ed Miliband, the Energy Secretary, is poised to rewrite Britain’s planning rules to clear the path for a massive expansion of wind and solar energy, effectively reducing local powers to block or alter green energy projects. Under proposed changes, wind turbines and solar farms of a certain scale will be classified as “nationally significant infrastructure […]
Britain’s farmers are set to collectively lose around £600 million after poor growing conditions produced the second-worst wheat harvest on record. New figures from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs reveal that the UK’s wheat crop fell to 11.1 million tonnes in 2024, down from 14 million tonnes the previous year. This is […]
Britain’s workforce will slide to a record low as growing numbers of people too unwell to work dampen the economy’s future prospects, according to the tax and spending watchdog. New projections from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) suggest the share of over-16s either in work or looking for a job will never return to […]
Royal Mail has been fined a record £10.5 million by the postal regulator after delivering more than a quarter of first-class letters late. Ofcom said that the company failed to meet its obligations to handle letters swiftly enough, marking the second financial penalty it has faced in just over a year. Under its regulatory obligations, […]
The UK economy unexpectedly shrank by 0.1 per cent in October, marking its second consecutive monthly decline, according to official data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Economists had predicted a return to modest growth following September’s fall, but uncertainty ahead of the October Budget and persistently high interest rates kept both consumers and […]
More than 10,000 people running small businesses have enrolled in the Help to Grow: Management programme, a government-subsidised training initiative designed to enhance leadership and boost productivity. By September, 10,635 individuals had signed up, with 7,860 completing the 12-week course since its launch in June 2021. The scheme, which costs business owners £750 each, is […]