Business

Britain’s biggest mortgage lenders will this week launch a multimillion pound campaign aimed at illustrating the range of support they are providing to cash-strapped customers as the industry faces its most intense scrutiny in years. Sky News understands that a £5m advertising blitz paid for by participating banks will urge customers to ‘reach out’ if

Nigel Farage has launched a website to tackle de-banking following the fallout from the closure of his account with Coutts. The former UKIP and Brexit Party leader sparked a crisis at the prestigious bank’s parent company NatWest after complaining he had been excluded over his political views. It led to the chief executives of both

An activist fund manager has been building a stake in Dr Martens, the globally renowned bootmaker which has seen its valuation slump amid supply chain bottlenecks and a slowdown in US sales. Sky News has learnt that Sparta Capital has quietly accumulated stock worth tens of millions of pounds in London-listed Dr Martens, and has

Mortgage payers are now in the minority in the UK. Data from the census reveals that there are more people renting, and more people owning their homes outright, than there are people still paying off their mortgage. Within the EU just three countries – Germany, Austria and Denmark – have more renters as a share

There has been a surge in the number of people seeking breathing space from their debts while corporate insolvencies are running at levels not seen for 13 years, according to official figures. The Insolvency Service data covering England and Wales during the second quarter of the year showed 6,342 companies were registered as insolvent in

NatWest has reported a better-than-expected surge in half-year profits as the taxpayer-backed lender reels from the Nigel Farage de-banking debacle. At the end of a week in which its chief executive Dame Alison Rose was forced to quit for her own role in the row, the bank revealed £3.6bn in pre-tax profits – up from

Coutts chief executive Peter Flavel will stand down over his handling of Nigel Farage’s accounts. In a statement from the new NatWest chief executive, it was announced that Mr Flavel had stepped down by mutual consent and with immediate effect. “We have fallen below the bank’s high standards of personal service”, Mr Flavel said. “As

The parent company of British Gas has revealed half-year profits for its UK household supply arm that are up by almost 900%. Centrica said that underlying earnings at British Gas rose to £969m compared to the £98 million achieved a year earlier. It said that the bulk of the growth, however, was not down to

The Federal Reserve – the US central bank known as the Fed – has recommenced its programme of interest rate increases. The rate has been increased by 0.25 percentage points in an effort to further bring down inflation. The Fed had decided to hold interest rates last month, after 10 consecutive rises, as inflation fell

NatWest boss Dame Alison Rose has stepped down as chief executive effective immediately after she admitted to being the source of an inaccurate story about Nigel Farage’s bank account. Her four-year tenure as chief executive has ended in ignominy over her admission that she had discussed Mr Farage’s bank details with a BBC journalist. Howard

NatWest boss Dame Alison Rose has admitted she made a “serious error of judgement” when she discussed Nigel Farage’s Coutts bank accounts with the BBC business editor Simon Jack. Last week Dame Alison apologised to the former UKIP leader for the closure of his accounts and ordered an immediate review of the processes followed by

British mobile operator Virgin Media O2 has announced plans to lay off up to 2,000 employees by the end of the year. The telecoms giant reportedly started to hand some staff redundancy notices on Monday night. The job cuts will amount to more than a tenth of the mobile operator’s workforce, the Daily Telegraph reported.

The BBC has issued an apology to Nigel Farage over a story on the closure of his Coutts bank account, “which turned out not to be accurate”. In a statement, the broadcaster said: “Because of this evidence, we have since changed the headline and the copy on the original online article about his bank account

Bank chiefs have been summoned by City Minister Andrew Griffith to discuss how customers can be protected from being “de-banked” after Coutts terminated its relationship with Nigel Farage. Mr Griffith is expected to write to the bosses of 19 banks, building societies and digital challengers warning that the government will “take all action necessary” to

The specialist retail investor which owns Homebase has pumped millions of pounds of additional funding into Wilko to help salvage its future. Sky News has learnt that Hilco has agreed to lend about £5m to Wilko as the general merchandise chain faces an intensifying cash squeeze. The new debt comes in addition to a £40m

Takeaways and betting shops could be converted into homes more easily as the government launches a review of extensions, conversions and renovations. In proposals to be formally announced on Monday, new freedoms to enlarge existing homes will also be outlined. The idea is to make it easier to “build upwards and outwards, with new extensions

Jeremy Clarkson has warned some bottles of his Hawkstone Cider might explode. The former Top Gear presenter, who owns the craft drink brand, warned there had been a “massive cock-up” in a sweary Twitter update. He wrote: “If the cap has the code L3160, open it underwater, pour it away and get in touch for

The four biggest UK supermarkets have doubled their profit margins on fuel since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, analysis has revealed. Research from the RAC of wholesale and retail prices showed Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons – supermarkets that dominate the UK fuel market – had increased their margins from 4.7p per litre prior

Ministers have rebuffed pleas for financial support from a London-listed electric battery manufacturer which faces collapse within days. Sky News has learnt that efforts by AMTE Power to hold substantive discussions with Whitehall about emergency funding have stalled. City sources said that AMTE’s chief executive, Alan Hollis, had been left frustrated by a lack of

The chief executive of NatWest Group has apologised to Nigel Farage for the closure of his bank accounts and ordered an immediate review of the processes followed by its Coutts subsidiary. In a letter to Mr Farage seen by Sky News, Dame Alison Rose said she regretted “deeply inappropriate comments” about the former UKIP leader

The average asking rent for properties both inside and outside of London have hit a new record high, according to a property website. Data from Rightmove shows tenants outside of London are being asked to pay an average £1,231 per month, with properties inside London reaching a record of £2,567. For the second quarter of

Banks will be forced to give customers three months’ notice of account closures and to provide a full explanation of the reasons under reforms that could be unveiled in the coming days. Sky News has learnt that the Treasury plans to force British lenders to be more transparent with customers amid an escalating freedom of

Inflation is running at close to four times the Bank of England’s 2% target, but today’s data gives us something to celebrate. The consumer prices index (CPI) fell in June to 7.9%, down from 8.7% in May. Economists were pencilling in a drop to 8.2%, so this means inflation is falling faster than expected. It

A decision by Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) to invest in electric vehicle battery production in the UK is “very welcome”, a Labour MP has said. Darren Jones, chair of the cross-party Business and Trade Committee, was responding to reports that Tata will establish a battery gigafactory in Somerset for its JLR operation, potentially creating thousands

Supermarket deals have helped grocery price inflation ease for a fourth consecutive month. Closely watched data from Kantar Worldpanel, which tracks supermarket sales and prices, charted the steepest decline in checkout costs during the four weeks to 9 July since grocery inflation peaked in March. Its inflation measure fell by 1.6 percentage points to 14.9%

Music tourism generated £6.6bn of spending in the UK in 2022, attracting more than 14 million international and domestic tourists to live events, a report has found. Figures show a resurgence for the live music industry in the first full year of festivals, gigs and concerts following the suspension of events during the COVID pandemic.

Train drivers will refuse to work overtime for a week – threatening disruption to services at the height of the summer holidays. The action – part of a long-running dispute over pay – will begin from 31 July, the ASLEF union announced on Monday. It will affect services across 15 train operating companies, and marks

Gresham House, a London-listed asset manager which invests in sectors including forestry and battery storage, is in talks about a private equity takeover. Sky News has learnt that Searchlight Capital, a US-based buyout firm, is targeting a take-private of the alternative investment manager, which is run by chief executive Tony Dalwood. If completed, the deal

British self-made entrepreneur James Asquith has more than a million followers on Instagram and holds the record for being the youngest person to visit every single country. Post-pandemic he has also spotted an opportunity and is starting up the world’s newest airline based at Gatwick. While much of the airline industry has fallen out of

The government is poised to shelve plans to crack down on Britain’s fast-growing ‘buy now pay later’ (BNPL) industry amid Whitehall concerns that it could curb the availability of low-interest products. Sky News has learnt that Treasury officials have been told during recent talks with the industry that a number of its biggest players could

Etsy, the global online marketplace used by millions, is facing claims from sellers it has been withholding thousands of pounds from small businesses by imposing reserves on accounts that take 75% of sellers’ income for 45 days with no warning. Sellers say the company is retaining their income with little care for how it will

Young adults and renters are some of the groups of people worst hit by rising prices as official figures show around 1 in 20 said they’d run out of food in the past 2 weeks and couldn’t afford more. Those aged 25 to 34 were at greater risk of financial vulnerability than those over the

Almost 1,000 workers at Gatwick Airport, including baggage handlers and check-in staff, will stage eight days of strikes from later this month. Staff will strike in a dispute over pay, the union Unite announced, at the start of the school summer holidays. Significant disruption, delays and cancellations are “inevitable”, the union said. The workers will