The UK boss of McDonald’s has told MPs that widespread cases of sexual harassment and bullying of workers at its fast food shops are “truly horrific” and that the chain was receiving one to two complaints a week about sexual harassment. McDonald’s, which has 1,450 outlets and employs close to 180,000 people in the UK, […]
A leading group of City figures are urging the chancellor to accelerate pensions reform, hand a competitiveness objective to the audit watchdog and incentivise retail investors to back British companies “at a critical pivot point… [for] the economy”. The chancellor has been sent a letter from the Capital Markets Industry Taskforce (CMIT), an influential panel […]
The UK’s business and trade secretary has signed a deal to increase trade with Florida, the British government’s latest pact with a single American state as it awaits a broader, post-Brexit US free trade agreement. The memorandum of understanding, signed on Tuesday by Kemi Badenoch and the Florida governor, Ron DeSantis, is the seventh deal […]
Inflation has slowed to a two-year low of 4.6 per cent on the back of falling energy prices that will all but ensure that Rishi Sunak meets his pledge to halve price growth by the end of the year. In January the government said it wanted to halve inflation, implying an end-of-year target of 5.3 […]
The high street beauty retailer Body Shop has agreed to sell its 250 stores in a £207million deal after struggling with profitability. The retail outlets are being sold to a private equity group after owner Natura & Co reached a deal with Aurelius Group today. The Brazilian cosmetics maker says the sale is set to be finalised […]
UK law and accounting firms are being invited to take advantage of funded support to explore how they can make better use of digital technology and artificial intelligence. A range of support packages are now available as part of a £1.8million accelerator project, led by Lancaster University Management School (LUMS) and working with Oxford Brookes […]
Wages continued to grow at one of the fastest paces on record in the three months to September, underlining that inflation in the UK will take time to return to the Bank of England’s 2 per cent target. Regular pay excluding bonuses increased 7.7 per cent, down slightly from the 7.8 per cent growth in […]
Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden has announced plans to streamline and enhance the business-friendliness of the UK’s investment screening powers, just under two years since their inception. Dowden is set to launch a review aimed at “narrowing and refining” the National Security and Investment Act — a legislation enabling the government to scrutinise and potentially […]
Natwest Group has cleared former chief executive of misconduct over the fallout of the Coutts debanking scandal. Dame Alison Rose stood down as group chief executive in July after she admitted she was the source of a BBC story about Nigel Farage’s finances with Natwest-owned Coutts. Earlier this week the UK’s data watchdog apologised to […]
Tom Kerridge is leading calls from the hospitality industry for Jeremy Hunt to freeze taxes for pubs and restaurants, warning of mass closures without action. The TV chef and more than 200 of Britain’s most senior hospitality chiefs have signed a letter to the Chancellor warning that businesses will close their doors for good if […]