Nadhim Zahawi has drawn up plans for a multibillion-pound package of tax cuts to help businesses facing collapse because of rising energy costs. The chancellor, who is working on an emergency energy strategy for the new prime minister, said the government could learn the “lesson from Covid” and introduce targeted reductions in VAT and business […]
NatWest is refunding £600,000 to more than 700 small and medium-sized businesses after it broke competition rules by forcing them to open fee-paying accounts to take out loans with the taxpayer-backed bank. The Competition and Markets Authority said it was unacceptable that NatWest had compelled small business customers that were applying for loans to open […]
The housing market continues to defy the wider economic gloom, with prices rising for the thirteenth month in a row last month. In the face of rising mortgage rates, a cost of living crisis and tumbling consumer confidence, many market commentators have been forecasting a slide in house prices, which is still yet to come. […]
Inflation in Britain could top 22 per cent on the back of high energy costs next year, Goldman Sachs has warned, as new data showed that consumers are paying record prices in the shops. Inflation, which is already in double figures at 10.1 per cent, could more than double and peak at 22.4 per cent […]
The Co-operative Group has sold its petrol forecourts to Asda, the supermarket chain, for £600 million including liabilities. Britain’s biggest mutual will reinvest the proceeds in its convenience stores, including expanding its wholesale, franchise and e-commerce operations and opening new convenience stores. Part of the cash will also be used to reduce debt. The Co-op […]
The West Midlands has the potential for a £1.5bn a year manufacturing dividend, according to new analysis by the UK’s strategic hub for industrial research. The High Value Manufacturing Catapult analysis marks the move of its HQ to Innovation Birmingham, part of the Bruntwood SciTech network and Birmingham’s leading digital and tech campus. Formed 11 […]
Over 30,000 BT Openreach engineers and 10,000 BT call centre workers are staging a walkout today over pay, as the summer of strike action continues. Members of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) will also be taking action tomorrow in what the union has called “serious determination” to get a bump in wage. The announcement comes […]
The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on Monday sued Idaho-based data broker Kochava for selling geolocation data from hundreds of millions of mobile devices that could be used to track consumers. The FTC said consumer data could be used to trace people’s movements to and from sensitive locations including “reproductive health clinics, places of worship, […]
Elon Musk has subpoenaed a former Twitter employee who has accused the social media company of poor spam policies and security vulnerabilities as the billionaire battles to get out of his $44bn agreement to buy Twitter. Musk is seeking documents and communications from Twitter’s former security chief, Peiter Zatko, who last week filed an 84-page […]
Retailers saw an unexpected pick-up in sales last month, but the mood among companies was still its bleakest since the start of the pandemic, a survey has suggested. Higher prices pushed up the total value of sales compared with August 2021, while volumes were flat, according to a monthly survey by the CBI. The net […]