The British Business Bank has reached a major milestone in its mission to support smaller businesses across the UK, with more than £5 billion now delivered through its ENABLE structured guarantee programmes. Since the first transaction in 2017, the ENABLE Guarantees and ENABLE Build schemes have backed lending to a wide range of sectors — […]
British manufacturers have urged the government to ensure that small and medium-sized businesses are major beneficiaries of the UK’s rising defence spending by embedding legally binding offset agreements in future military procurement contracts. Ahead of the release of the government’s revised Defence Industrial Strategy, MakeUK Defence — the trade body representing more than 600 UK […]
Two of Britain’s largest bioethanol producers have issued stark warnings that a recent UK-US trade deal could trigger site closures and significant job losses across the sector, unless the government intervenes with targeted support. The concerns centre on the removal of a 19 per cent tariff on US ethanol imports as part of the transatlantic […]
Britain’s steelmakers are bracing for a sharp escalation in trade tensions after the United States signalled it will double import tariffs on UK steel to 50% from Wednesday — despite a recent transatlantic deal to remove such duties. The expected hike replaces the 25% tariff President Trump imposed on foreign steel earlier this year, which […]
UK business confidence surged in May to its highest level since last August, according to new data from Lloyds Bank, driven by a sharp rebound in global financial markets and a softening in trade tensions between the US and its partners. The Lloyds Bank business barometer rose by 11 points to 50 per cent, up […]
Reform UK has become the first political party in Britain to accept bitcoin and other cryptocurrency donations, Nigel Farage announced during a high-profile appearance at the Bitcoin Conference in Las Vegas. Farage told the audience that Reform UK had updated its website to accept crypto donations from eligible UK donors, marking what he called an […]
Celebrity interior designer Celia Sawyer has accused Netflix of copying her idea for an erotic home makeover show, claiming the streaming giant’s How to Build a Sex Room mimics a concept she previously pitched — and was told would be “deleted”. Sawyer, best known for Channel 4’s Four Rooms and frequently dubbed the “Queen of […]
Elon Musk’s Starlink is on track to play a larger role in the UK’s broadband infrastructure, with telecoms regulator Ofcom proposing new temporary spectrum licences to expand the satellite internet provider’s capacity across the country. Under the plans, Starlink would gain access to additional E band frequencies at three of its existing ground stations in […]
Nationwide Building Society will hand £100 to more than four million members following what it described as an “outstanding twelve months” of performance, capped by its takeover of Virgin Money and a surge in mortgage lending. The £410 million “Fairer Share” payout — the third consecutive annual bonus to qualifying members — was revealed in […]
Capita, Pizza Express, Lidl and British Airways are among more than 500 companies publicly named and shamed by the UK government for failing to pay thousands of staff the legal minimum wage. The Department for Business and Trade on Thursday published a list of 518 employers who collectively owed £7.4 million to nearly 60,000 workers. […]