The UK’s private sector shrank for the second consecutive month in May, fuelling concerns that the economy’s strong start to the year could be reversed in the second quarter. The S&P Global/CIPS purchasing managers’ index (PMI) — a key barometer of economic health — rose slightly to 49.4 in May from 48.5 in April, but […]
British consumer confidence has bounced back this month, according to the latest GfK survey, as fears of a global trade war subside and optimism about personal finances improves — despite a spike in inflation linked to rising household bills. The consumer sentiment index rose by three points to -20 in May, its highest level in […]
The UK government is considering selling the Sevington border control post in Kent, a facility built for post-Brexit customs checks, following this week’s UK-EU trade pact that could render dozens of similar sites redundant. Constructed in 2021 at a cost of tens of millions, the Sevington site near Ashford was designed to process up to […]
The UK government’s continued focus on traditional free trade agreements (FTAs) is misaligned with the country’s service-based economy, according to a new report from the Tony Blair Institute (TBI), which calls for a fundamental rethink of Britain’s trade policy. The think tank argues that lengthy, goods-focused FTAs offer diminishing returns and are poorly matched to […]
HSBC has told thousands of UK employees that their pay could be cut if they fail to meet new in-office attendance requirements, as the bank steps up efforts to tighten its hybrid working policy. In a memo sent to employees in its UK high street and commercial banking division, which employs around 24,000 people, the […]
OpenAI has announced a major strategic move to accelerate its expansion into hardware, with the acquisition of io, the San Francisco-based tech start-up founded by Sir Jony Ive, the former chief design officer at Apple. The merger, valued at $6.5 billion (£4.8 billion), will bring together Ive’s team of engineers, product developers and designers under […]
Public sector borrowing in the UK surged past expectations last month, hitting £20.2 billion, as higher spending on public services and increased benefit payments drove up government outlays. The figure, released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), came in significantly above the £17.9 billion forecast by economists and surpasses the £19.2 billion recorded in […]
Artificial intelligence continues to dominate venture capital headlines — and cheques — but a new report from Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) warns the surge in AI investment is masking a growing divide in the startup ecosystem, with many non-AI ventures starved of capital and so-called ‘zombiecorns’ now on the rise. According to SVB’s State of […]
The European Commission is preparing to introduce a €2 handling fee on online parcels entering the EU as part of a sweeping overhaul of its customs system, aimed at managing the billions of low-value items flooding into the bloc—primarily from China-based e-commerce giants such as Shein, Temu, and Alibaba. The proposed fee is intended to […]
The UK’s banking industry is urging the government to extend new legal protections for retail workers to branch staff in banks and building societies, warning that they face similar risks of abuse, violence, and intimidation. A proposed new standalone offence for assaulting retail workers is being introduced under the government’s crime and policing bill, currently […]