Just 1% of the estimated £1.1bn lost from the government’s Covid business support programme in England as a result of fraud and error has been recovered so far, the public spending watchdog has said in a report urging ministers to learn lessons from the scheme. The “overwhelming majority” of fraud and error occurred during the […]
Accenture has announced plans to cut 19,000 jobs, about 2.5 per cent of its workforce, as corporate clients grow increasingly cautious about the strength of the global economy. The business, one of the world’s biggest consultancy groups, follows others in the sector in implementing sweeping layoffs after lowering its annual forecast of sales and profits. […]
Consumer confidence continued to rise this month despite growing concern about personal finances, a closely watched survey shows. It rose by two points to minus 36 on the monthly index by GfK, the market intelligence company. The biggest factor was a rise in the likelihood that people would buy big-ticket items such as furniture and […]
The Bank of England has pushed up the cost of borrowing to its highest level in nearly 15 years amid concerns that inflation will persist. The central bank raised interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point to 4.25 per cent, its highest level since November 2008, in the latest increase as the central […]
Retail sales volumes beat expectations to rise by their biggest margin in months to return to pre-pandemic levels in February. Sales rose by 1.2 per cent in February, the largest monthly growth since October, after a revised 0.9 per cent rise in January, according to new figures published by the Office for National Statistics. Strong […]
Britain is less prepared for a pandemic now than it was three years ago, thanks to the sale of a key vaccine manufacturing plant, leading scientists have warned. Professor Adrian Hill, director of the Jenner Institute, which was responsible for the Oxford Covid vaccine, said that the recent loss of the Vaccines Manufacturing and Innovation […]
A key group of Brexit-supporting Conservative MPs are yet to say whether they will vote for Rishi Sunak’s Brexit deal. Parliament will vote tomorrow on the so-called Stormont brake – a key part of the prime minister’s Windsor Framework agreement that would allow the Northern Ireland Assembly to reject new incoming EU rules. European Research […]
More UK sectors reported an increase in output than at any time in the past 10 months in February, as stronger demand and weaker cost inflation drove activity, according to the Lloyds Bank UK Sector Tracker. Of the 14 sectors monitored by the tracker, 11 saw output expand in February (vs. 6 in January) – […]
UK property transactions fell four per cent in February as the fall out from last September’s mini budget continued to drive down the UK’s housing market. Sales of residential property fell 18 per cent during the year with just 76,920 transaction across the UK, as buyers were forced to deal with higher borrowing costs as […]
SSE will invest £100m in the UK’s first pumped hydro storage scheme in 40 years in a bid to support the UK’s renewable energy transition. The project will take excess energy from the grid and use it to pump water 500m up a hill from Loch Lochy in the Scottish Highlands to a vast upper […]