Inflation in the UK is forecast to accelerate sharply this month, with figures due next week expected to show the steepest monthly rise since October 2022, as households absorb a fresh wave of bill increases. City analysts predict that the Office for National Statistics (ONS) will report inflation climbing to 3.6% in April, up from […]
Britain’s leading retail, luxury, and fashion groups are calling on Chancellor Rachel Reeves to reinstate tax-free shopping for international visitors, warning that mounting pressure from US tariffs is eroding UK competitiveness and forcing businesses to scale back transatlantic operations. In a joint letter four major trade bodies — the British Retail Consortium, British Beauty Council, […]
Dame Amanda Blanc, chief executive of Aviva, has warned that giving the government power to force pension funds to invest in UK assets would be a serious misstep, describing such a move as “a sledgehammer to crack a nut”. Speaking on Thursday, Blanc insisted that defined contribution pensions must be invested in the best interests […]
Gold prices are on course for their sharpest weekly decline in six months, weighed down by a stronger US dollar and renewed optimism following a de-escalation in US-China trade tensions. Spot gold slipped 0.8% in early trading on Friday to $3,213.56 per ounce, bringing total losses this week to 3.3% — the worst weekly performance […]
The government’s long journey to exit its crisis-era investment in NatWest is nearly complete, after the Treasury disclosed on Thursday that its stake in the bank has dropped below 1% — a symbolic threshold that signals the near-final chapter in the UK’s biggest banking bailout. The latest stock exchange filing revealed that the Treasury now […]
Business investment in the UK jumped by 5.9% in the first quarter of 2025, marking the fastest pace of growth in two years and easing concerns that recent payroll tax increases would curb private sector spending. According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the sharp rise in investment from January to March helped lift […]
Wireless Logic, a British telecoms firm specialising in Internet of Things (IoT) communications, has sold a minority stake to US private equity group General Atlantic, in a deal that values the business at £3.5 billion — a staggering 100-fold increase from its valuation when it was bought back from Dragons’ Den investor Peter Jones in […]
HM Revenue & Customs has issued its first tax avoidance Stop Notices to an individual, ordering Paul Baxendale-Walker, a struck-off solicitor and former barrister, to cease promoting two schemes deemed abusive and artificial by the tax authority. In a landmark move, HMRC confirmed that these Stop Notices mark the first time the orders have been […]
Fossil fuel giants, luxury travel users, and shareholders profiting from polluting industries could be forced to contribute directly to climate resilience measures under a new bill to be introduced in Parliament on Thursday. The Climate Finance Fund (Fossil Fuels and Pollution) Bill, tabled by Labour MP Richard Burgon, calls for the creation of a dedicated […]
The number of UK employers voluntarily paying the higher Living Wage has risen by 19% over the past year, despite signs of a cooling labour market and pressure from statutory wage increases. Figures from the Living Wage Foundation show that 16,040 employers are now accredited as paying the voluntary Living Wage — a rate set […]