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
Business
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
The UK’s national debt could hit 300% of GDP by the 2070s because of the string of major challenges still facing national governments after a “rapid succession of shocks”, according to a report for the Treasury. The independent Office for Budget Responsibility laid out how climate change, defence and the fact people were living longer
The economy contracted in May as the additional public holiday for the King’s coronation weighed on output, according to official figures. Data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed negative growth of 0.1% during the month, better than economists had predicted but continuing the yo-yo pattern seen throughout the last year that has left
Billions of pounds allocated to tackle Britain’s housing crisis has been returned to the Treasury because the housing department was unable to find projects to fund. Figures released under the Freedom of Information Act show the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) was unable to find projects for the £1.9bn of funding budgeted
The Bank of England says it expects the proportion of income UK households spend on mortgage payments to remain below levels seen during the financial crisis. Its latest Financial Stability Report declared that squeezed households were proving resilient in the face of challenges posed by rising living costs and interest rate hikes to tackle high
A new economic organisation, set up by Liz Truss, will launch on Wednesday, with a report claiming the average British person is £10,000 worse off than people in the US. The Growth Commission, made up of economists brought together by the former prime minister, said its work would focus on highlighting the issue of low
The pace of wage growth, already described as “unsustainable” by the governor of the Bank of England, has ticked up further, according to shock official figures. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported average weekly earnings excluding bonuses hit an annual rate of 7.3% during the three months to May. That matched the highest level
The Bank of England is reiterating its forecast that inflation will fall over the rest of the year, with governor Andrew Bailey saying it will fall “markedly”. The rate of price increases will come down due to lower energy costs, which should result in falling food bills for shoppers, Mr Bailey’s Mansion House speech is
EasyJet has revealed the cancellation of 1,700 flights during the peak summer holiday season. The low cost airline indicated that, like many rivals, it had been forced to act in response to the impact of air traffic control (ATC) strikes in Europe and knock-on effects of the closure of airspace due to the Russia-Ukraine war.
The escalating row between Boohoo and Revolution Beauty, the AIM-listed retailer, is poised to intensify with a complaint to the junior stock market regulator. Sky News has learnt that Boohoo is drafting a letter to the AIM regulatory authorities demanding that Revolution clarifies an earlier stock exchange announcement that the online clothing retailer had obstructed
Britain’s biggest water company is this weekend corralling its shareholders to support a major capital injection as it prepares to publish delayed annual accounts. Sky News has learnt that Thames Water has secured backing from investors including Omers, the Canadian pension fund, and the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) for a commitment to provide new equity. Further
BT Group has kicked off a formal search for a successor to Philip Jansen, its chief executive, as he weighs a number of job opportunities in the US. Sky News has learnt that BT is working with the search firm Spencer Stuart on a process to identify a successor to Mr Jansen, who took on
Heads of the UK’s biggest banks have been summoned by the UK’s financial watchdog over concerns interest rates on savings are too low. Higher Bank of England interest rates have led banks to put up mortgage costs, but savings rates are not rising as fast – a situation Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has said “needs resolving”.
Wilko, one of Britain’s biggest discount retailers, is racing to secure a cash injection as it prepares to launch a financial restructuring aimed at securing its future. Sky News has learnt that Wilko, which is owned by its founding family and employs about 12,000 people, is working with advisers to raise tens of millions of
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