Business

Heathrow is set to announce a multibillion-pound expansion plan to create extra capacity at the airport – as it prepares its proposal for a third runway. The UK’s biggest airport has announced a “once-in-a-generation investment” beginning this year to improve existing buildings and boost passenger numbers. The development is separate from a new runway –

The entrepreneur who masterminded Deliveroo’s evolution into one of Britain’s biggest consumer technology businesses is preparing to hand over the reins to a new chief executive. Sky News has learnt that Will Shu, who set the company up in 2013 and participated in its delivery service himself, is contemplating stepping back as CEO as soon

Donald Trump has signed two proclamations imposing 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminium imports to the US. A proclamation is a form of presidential directive to government officials, but they do not carry the force of law, as an executive order would. However the White House has said the tariffs will take effect from

Few materials matter quite as much as steel and aluminium. Steel, an alloy of iron and carbon, is the main metallic ingredient in the structures we live in and the bridges we build. If it’s not made of steel it’s made with steel. Aluminium, on the other hand, is a wonder material we use with

Companies are slowing investment until they see more momentum in the economy, according to a closely-watched report on employment conditions which warns that budget measures are “acting as brakes” on hiring. The Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) and KPMG’s latest snapshot on recruitment found permanent staff vacancies declined at the steepest rate since August 2020

Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, has called in the bosses of Britain’s biggest high street lenders for a fresh round of talks on the government’s economic growth agenda. Sky News has learnt that executives from companies including Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, NatWest and Nationwide have been asked to attend a meeting with Ms Reeves on

Valentine’s Day might be a gift-giving occasion your wallet could do without, but it’s thousands of pounds cheaper than being alone. Being single costs £2,533 more a year, Sky News can reveal. Suddenly, that box of chocolates doesn’t seem so expensive. Single people are forced to spend 22% more on rent or mortgages, council tax

Legal & General (L&G), the FTSE-100 insurance and asset management group, is preparing to kick off a search for a successor to chairman Sir John Kingman. Sky News has learnt that the company, which this week announced a major corporate deal in the US, is close to appointing headhunters to oversee the appointment process. City

Apple has reportedly been ordered by the UK government to allow it access to encrypted data stored by the company’s users worldwide in its cloud service. At the moment, only the Apple account holder can access such data – not even the US technology giant can see it. Apple, which makes iPhones, iPads and iMacs,

The private equity backer of one of Britain’s oldest industrial manufacturing groups is in talks to sell an advanced defence technology business that will bring its parent’s dismantling close to completion. Sky News has learnt that Advent International, the buyout firm which bought Cobham for £4bn in 2020 and then swooped on London-listed Ultra Electronics

The government is spending £22bn on “unproven” technologies which will have a “very significant effect” on energy bills, according to an influential committee of MPs. There has been no assessment of whether the programme to capture and store carbon from the atmosphere is affordable for billpayers, said a report from the Public Accounts Committee (PAC)

Sir Keir Starmer has reinforced his commitment to reducing household energy bills by £300 a year by 2030. The prime minister told Sky News’s political editor Beth Rigby that the figure is “what we are driving towards” and his plan to build more nuclear reactors will help. Politics live: Chancellor reacts to grim growth figures

The Bank of England has cut interest rates by another quarter percentage point, bringing down the cost of borrowing to 4.5%. And in a sign that households can expect more cuts in the months to come, two members of the Bank‘s Monetary Policy Committee said they would have preferred to reduce rates even more, by

Planning rules will be ripped up to make it easier to build new nuclear reactors and create thousands of highly skilled jobs, the government has announced. The reforms are the latest in a series of proposals designed to “get Britain building” to help grow the economy, after powers for environmental quangos to delay infrastructure projects

Tesco has expressed interest in acquiring more than 100 Crown Post Offices whose future has been placed under review as the state-owned company explores shifting them to a franchise model. Sky News has learnt that Nigel Railton, the Post Office chairman, told a group of MPs this week that Britain’s biggest retailer had informed it

Britain could do a slimmed down trade deal with the United States within months, the last politician to oversee negotiations with Donald Trump’s administration over a UK-US agreement has told Sky News. Last night Sky News revealed that leading members of the Trump administration believe a trade deal with the UK could be sealed in

The Treasury Select Committee has sent a formal notice to HM Revenue & Customs demanding answers to critical questions about how it has been enforcing trade sanctions on Russia, following a Sky News investigation into the government department. Last month Sky News reported that while HMRC had issued six fines in relation to sanction-breaking since

What if Britain has, almost entirely by accident, navigated itself into about the best possible position it could be in, as Donald Trump embarks on a trade war with nearly all his economic partners? I realise this might, at first, sound a little odd. After all, when the world is facing economically-destructive measures (blanket tariffs

Donald Trump has ordered sweeping tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China, kicking off a trade war that will affect the globe. Here we look at the tariffs and what they all mean for the world: What did Trump announce? The US president has confirmed that goods from Mexico and Canada will face 25% tariffs, while

The UK economy is forecast to improve more slowly than previously predicted after stagnant growth late last year. The EY ITEM Club expects UK gross domestic product (GDP) to grow by 1% in 2025, down from a previous estimate of 1.5%. The economic forecaster is the latest influential group to cut its predictions amid continued

Barclays says an IT glitch that left some customers locked out of their accounts has been resolved after the disruption entered a third day. The bank said the “technical issue” has been fixed and delayed payments processed. In a statement on Sunday, Barclays said: “We are working on bringing balances up to date for some

Barclays has advised customers to seek help from friends and family or even contact food banks after a major IT glitch left some locked out of their accounts. Hundreds of people reportedly claim they are experiencing interrupted services and missing funds after the issue struck on what was payday for many British workers and the

A newlywed couple say they have been locked out of their bank accounts while on their honeymoon as Barclays suffered a major IT glitch. People were unable to access money overnight after the issue struck on what was payday for many British workers. Hundreds of customers reportedly claim they are experiencing interrupted services and missing

The UK’s benchmark stock index has reached another all-time high, in a month of record breaking. The FTSE 100 index of most valuable companies on the London Stock Exchange closed at 8,666.65, breaking the record set on Thursday night after four consecutive days of rises. January has been the best month in more than two

An electric cargo bike logistics company which received backing from an arm of Barclays has crashed into administration after failing to land new funding, triggering the loss of more than 100 jobs. Sky News understands that Outspoken Logistics Limited, which trades as Zedify, has parachuted in Interpath to handle its insolvency. It comes after an

India’s richest family has clinched a landmark deal to buy a 49% stake in the Oval Invincibles in a deal that will unite the London-based team with the ownership of the Indian Premier League’s Mumbai Indians. Sky News can exclusively reveal that the Ambani family, who have a fortune estimated to be tens of billions

Shares in Microsoft have fallen sharply after investment spending came in higher than expected in its latest results, released just days after the DeepSeek market shock for tech stocks. The company, which has received reprimands from shareholders previously over AI-related bills, had already let it be known it expected to spend $80bn this year ahead

Lidl has been given approval by a High Court to open its first ever pub in Northern Ireland. The German supermarket chain will be able to move forward with the plan to open a bar inside its store in Dundonald, near Belfast, after a judge dismissed an appeal brought by another trader. Making the ruling

Don’t, whatever you do, call it a “relaunch”. When the chancellor stands up and delivers her much-anticipated speech on Wednesday – with all sorts of exciting schemes for new infrastructure and growth-friendly reforms – she will cast it as part of the new government’s long-standing economic strategy. Having begun the job of repairing the public

Quiz Clothing, the troubled fashion business, is close to collapsing into administration days after its shares were delisted from the London stock market. Sky News has learnt that Quiz, which is chaired by the former JD Sports chief Peter Cowgill, is lining up Teneo as administrator in a move expected to take place before the

The average asking price to rent a home outside London has fallen for the first time since before the COVID pandemic, according to a property website. Rightmove credited improved levels of rental properties for the welcome shift, but declared that advertised private rents in the capital continued to tick up, for a 13th consecutive quarter,

One of Britain’s biggest luxury boat manufacturers has collapsed into administration less than two months after it was sold to new investors. Sky News has learnt that Fairline Yachts, which is based in Oundle, Northamptonshire, had fallen into insolvency proceedings after DF Capital, the company’s main lender, triggered the appointment of Alvarez & Marsal (A&M)

London’s fifth-biggest airport will this week submit an application to aviation regulators that could enable it to capture a bigger slice of the leisure travel market. Sky News has learnt that London City will on Monday table a bid to alter the take-off and landing gradients used by aircraft flying into and out of the airport –