Business

There will be a lot of positive talk from the chancellor when he delivers his autumn statement on Wednesday, but this will be a fiscal event full of illusory gains. The government is on track to borrow less than previously forecast, which will give rise to a fantasy that Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has more space

A court hearing to liquidate a Barclay family holding companies in order to smooth a sale of The Daily Telegraph is poised to be adjourned after a last-gasp offer to repay more than £1bn to Lloyds Banking Group. Sky News understands that a hearing scheduled to take place in the British Virgin Islands on Monday

Jeremy Hunt has said there is the chance to lower taxes in the autumn statement next week, arguing the economy had “turned a corner”. Ahead of Wednesday’s financial announcement, the chancellor said that as inflation had halved over the year, “this is the moment” to focus on growth. But he argued that there is a

Sir Jim Ratcliffe and the Glazer family are on the brink of finalising a $33-a-share deal that will see the petrochemicals tycoon acquiring a 25% stake in Manchester United Football Club. Sky News can reveal that months of talks between the Ineos billionaire and the Red Devils’ controlling investors for the last 18 years have

Retail sales took an unexpected fall last month, according to official figures suggesting a slump to COVID lockdown levels with only online operators seeing growth. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported a 0.3% decline overall in October 2023, following a fall of 1.1% in September. A rise in volumes of 0.3% had been expected

The government has announced plans to remove benefits and step up monitoring of welfare recipients in an effort to bring more people into work. Job seekers will have benefits such as free prescriptions and legal aid removed if they’re judged not to be looking for work under the chancellor’s Back to Work Plan which aims

Hotel Chocolat has agreed to a £534m takeover offer from Mars, the maker of goods from Snickers bars to Pedigree dog food. The UK specialist chocolatier retailer said the offer represented a 170% premium to its London share price of 139p and the deal would allow its brand to expand internationally This breaking news story

Manchester United has confirmed its chief executive of two years, Richard Arnold, “has decided to step down” as part of a “management transition”. The development was revealed shortly after Sky News reported that Mr Arnold would be replaced by the club’s general counsel, Patrick Stewart, on an interim basis. The change is taking place as

There has been a sharp decline in the rate of inflation to 4.6%, driven by a big easing in energy costs. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the annual rate slowed last month, from the 6.7% figure reported in September, mainly due to the lower energy price cap imposed on households at the start

Roughly 500 jobs are to go at pharma giant Pfizer’s Kent site. The roles are to be cut as Pfizer is discontinuing its pharmaceutical sciences small molecule (PSSM) operations at Sandwich in Kent, the company confirmed to Sky News. It’s part of a company-wide cost-cutting program, Pfizer said. Affected staff were notified on Tuesday morning

The pace of wage growth has eased back from a record level, according to official figures that also showed no change in the UK’s jobless rate despite the tough economy. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported that average wages excluding bonuses were 7.7% higher than a year earlier in the three months to September.

Royal Mail has been fined £5.6m by the industry regulator for missing targets covering both first and second-class deliveries. Ofcom said that for the 2022-23 financial year – a time when it was hit by 18 days of strikes by frontline workers – Royal Mail’s reported performance results showed that it had only delivered 73.7%

An infrastructure investor owned by Schroders, the fund management behemoth, is in pole position to buy a solar farms operator that received hundreds of millions of pounds from a scandal-hit local authority. Sky News understands that Schroders Greencoat has become the leading contender to acquire Toucan Energy, which collapsed into administration exactly a year ago.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) wants government action over escalating baby formula prices that are “exploiting” UK families. In an interview with Sky News, WHO called out the “profit-driven” multinational manufacturers for “manipulating the price” of their baby formulas. The most recent research shows prices in the UK have risen 24% over the past two

Nigel Farage will next week begin a formal legal fight with NatWest Group and its former boss as he seeks millions of pounds in damages over the debanking scandal which escalated into a crisis for the state-backed lender. Sky News has learnt that Mr Farage, the former UKIP leader, has instructed London-based Grosvenor Law to

Families “should feel optimistic” that the worst of the cost-of-living crisis is over, the chancellor has told Sky News. Acknowledging households have “suffered enormously” from energy, food and fuel inflation in the last 18 months, Jeremy Hunt said they should now feel some relief despite the UK economy slowing to a halt in the third

£7.6m is a lot of money to leave on the table by anyone’s standards. NatWest Group, the taxpayer-backed bank, hopes that headline-grabbing number will persuade stakeholders that it has taken a tough line on the severance package handed to Dame Alison Rose, its former chief executive. Indeed, Dame Alison herself might claim that she herself

Former NatWest boss Dame Alison Rose is to lose £7.6m of her payout as the bank group seeks to draw a line under the debanking row sparked by the closure of Nigel Farage’s Coutts accounts. However, she will still receive around £1.7m. Dame Alison stepped down in late July after admitting she discussed the former

NatWest Group is to scrap the bulk of a possible £10m-plus payout to Dame Alison Rose, its former chief executive, as it tries to draw a line under the debanking row sparked by the closure of Nigel Farage’s Coutts accounts. Sky News has learnt that the board of NatWest, which is just under 40% owned

A regulator has outlined concerns about the “intensity of competition” between fuel retailers. In its first monitoring update since finding that drivers were overcharged by supermarkets last year, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it was yet to receive crucial data on fuel margins covering September and October. It said that while margins –

US actors union Sag-Aftra has agreed a “tentative deal” with Hollywood studio bosses to end a historic 118-day strike. In an announcement on Wednesday, the union said the longest walkout in its history will end at 12.01am US Pacific time on Thursday following a “unanimous vote”. The union, which represents around 160,000 members of the

The Barclay family has renewed its efforts to persuade Britain’s biggest high street lender to regain control of the Telegraph newspapers after restating an offer to repay the bulk of the debt it owes to the bank. Sky News understands that the newspapers’ former owners wrote to Lloyds Banking Group again last week to repeat

The poorest half of UK families will have to wait until the end of 2026 for their real incomes to return to pre-COVID levels, according to independent analysis. The National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) said low to middle income households face seven years of falling living standards due to the fallout from

After six months of falls house prices across the country are on the rise again, according to analysis from part of the UK’s biggest mortgage lender. Last month, for the first time since March, the cost of buying a house increased as the number of properties on the market shrunk, according to the Halifax house

The government will introduce a new law to parliament on Tuesday, which they say will ensure 40% of trains will still run on strike days. The new minimum service level regulations will also make sure “certain priority routes can remain open” – though it is not yet clear which journeys will be covered. Other rules

The UK information regulator has apologised to the former NatWest chief executive Dame Alison Rose, who resigned after discussing the banking affairs of Nigel Farage with a journalist. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) said its comments last month – in which the regulator said a NatWest employee shared information when they should not have done,

More than 16 million people have missed payments on key household bills this year – two million of them for the first time. The government-backed Money and Pensions Service (MaPS) says 30% of British adults have fallen behind on at least one payment in 2023. Credit card repayments were the most common bill that went

The England footballer Ollie Watkins is among a group of investors ploughing new funds into a fast-growing British online sneaker and streetwear marketplace. Sky News understands that Mr Watkins, who played for Aston Villa on Sunday in the 2-0 defeat at Nottingham Forest, is backing The Edit LDN, which has operated concessions in department stores

Seafood allegedly produced using the forced labour of Uyghur people in China may have been sold at Iceland – and could be on sale now at other British supermarkets, according to an investigation. Iceland told Sky News it no longer had a relationship with the Chinese supplier in question. Since 2018, the Chinese government is

Klarna, the buy now, pay later (BNPL) finance giant, is setting up a new British holding company as it clears the path to a stock market flotation that could value it at more than $15bn (£12.1bn). Sky News has learnt that the Stockholm-based consumer credit provider has informed investors it has kicked off preparatory work

Ian King talks to Sky News’s city editor Mark Kleinman about the future of Manchester United. He also speaks to the founder and chief executive of Venrai, Jason Tucker-Feltham, about Sam Bankman-Fried – who’s been found guilty of crypto fraud. Mary Aiken, Professor of Cyberpsychology at Capitol Technology University in Washington, is also interviewed on

Sir Jim Ratcliffe is to commit $300m (£245m) from his multibillion pound fortune to Manchester United Football Club’s ageing infrastructure as part of a deal to acquire a 25% stake that will be unveiled this month. Sky News can exclusively reveal that Sir Jim, founder of the Ineos petrochemicals empire, will pledge the investment alongside

It took just four hours for a jury to find fallen “crypto king” Sam Bankman-Fried guilty of fraud. The 31-year-old has been convicted of stealing billions of dollars from customers of FTX, which was the world’s second-largest crypto exchange before its dramatic collapse last year. To this day, FTX users – at least 80,000 of