Business

Liz Truss has said she is ready to take “tough decisions” and “immediate action” on energy bills during her first week in office, if she becomes prime minister. There have been ever-louder calls in recent weeks for the government to intervene to support the most vulnerable, with energy bills set to rise to around £3,500

Liz Truss will go “bigger than expected” on energy after becoming the new prime minister on Tuesday, Sky News understands. The foreign secretary has won the Conservative leadership contest over rival Rishi Sunak and will succeed Boris Johnson tomorrow. Having made tax cuts a key priority during her leadership campaign, she has remained tight-lipped about

Britain’s biggest water utility is working on plans to raise additional funding just weeks after unveiling plans to tap shareholders for £1.5bn in new equity. Sky News has learnt that Thames Water has begun debating whether it needs to seek new capital to deliver the transformation plan it has set out under Sarah Bentley, its

Bus journeys in England will be capped at £2 between January and March next year to help people deal with the rising cost of living. The Department for Transport said the plan could see some passengers save more than £3 per single bus ticket. The average fare for a three-mile journey is around £2.80, the

Waitrose has admitted to blocking rivals from opening supermarkets in close locations for close to a decade, according to the market watchdog. During an investigation between 2010 and 2019 into supermarket practices, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) found that Waitrose had conspired with landlords to prevent competing companies from opening stores. The practice, which

The chancellor is preparing a multibillion-pound package of tax cuts to help businesses struggling with soaring energy costs. Nadhim Zahawi is drawing up emergency plans to save companies on the brink of collapse for the incoming prime minister, who will be named on Monday. According to The Times, the chancellor believes the government can learn

The UK will enter recession before the end of this year, with growth expected to be weak into 2024. That is the latest forecast from the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), which said it expects the UK economy to record three consecutive quarters of contraction – the definition of a recession – this year. However,

The soaring US dollar has pushed the pound to its biggest monthly fall since October 2016. The pound shed 4.6% in August, having lost 14% so far this year, as concerns grow about the state of the British economy. On Thursday afternoon it hovered just above $1.15. The news was not much better against the

BrewDog has announced it will close six of its pubs, blaming spiralling costs and a “clueless government”. The craft beer firm will shut the Hop and Anchor in Aberdeen, Smithfield Market Arms in London, Hop Hub in Motherwell and its BrewDog bars in Dalston, east London; Old Street, east London; and Peterhead, Scotland. James Watt,

The Co-op has sold its petrol station business to supermarket giant Asda for £600m, it announced on Wednesday, saying the deal would free up cash for the company and strengthen its financial position. The deal includes 129 petrol forecourt sites across the country, representing 5% of Co-op’s total retail portfolio of 2,564 stores. The company

Transport for London has secured around £1.2bn in funding from the government, but the city’s mayor has warned the agreement is “far from ideal”. The funding package replaces TfL’s last bailout, which was the fourth since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020. Andy Byford, Transport for London commissioner, said the agreement, which

British households borrowed on their credit cards last month at the fastest annual rate in over 17 years, a potential reflection of consumers struggling to make ends meet as the cost of living crisis intensifies. According to data from the Bank of England, the annual rate of credit card borrowing in July was 13% higher

Energy price increases of more than 300% are in danger of forcing pubs and brewers across the UK out of business in the coming months, industry leaders have said. Unlike domestic customers, who are facing an 80% increase in average bills in October, businesses operate without any sort of regulated price cap, with some pub

The worst airline for delays at UK airports last year was Wizz Air, an investigation has found. Its departures were an average 14 minutes and 24 seconds behind schedule in 2021, according to analysis of Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) data. The Hungarian company operates from 10 UK airports including Gatwick, Luton and Cardiff. Tui was

Millions of people in the UK will not turn their heating on this winter because of rising energy bills, a survey suggests. The poll, commissioned by the Liberal Democrats, showed 23% of adults plan to take this drastic move, rising to 27% for those with children at home. The results also showed 23% would be

Liz Truss is considering a “nuclear” option that could see VAT cut from 20% to 15%, according to reports. A source told Sky News that Ms Truss “will consider options to help people, but it would not be right for her to announce her plans before she has been elected prime minister or seen all

Boris Johnson has admitted that energy bills will be “eye-watering” this winter – and the cost of heating is already “frightening” for some. Writing in The Mail on Sunday, the outgoing prime minister blamed Vladimir Putin for the worsening crisis – and claimed the Russian president “likes it”. And although Mr Johnson warned the months

Jupiter Fund Management is in talks to sell its entire stake in Starling Bank months after the digital lender’s valuation passed £2.5bn. Sky News has learnt that Jupiter, which owns close to 10% of Starling’s equity in its UK Mid Cap Fund and elsewhere across its funds portfolio, has instructed bankers at Citi to find

We have never seen anything like this.  The UK has been through all sorts of ups and downs (sadly more of the latter than the former) in recent years. There was the financial crisis of 2008 and the recession that followed, a lost decade of stagnating real wages and productivity, Brexit and of course the

With the flick of a switch, fuel poverty has become a mainstream economic condition. Defined as spending 10% or more of disposable income on energy, confirmation that typical annual bills will rise from just under £2,000 to more than £3,500 means it will now apply to around half of households in England, Scotland, and Wales.

More than 100,000 postal workers have walked off the job in what has been described as the biggest strike of the summer so far. Members of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) at Royal Mail said the 2% pay rise imposed on them by management was not good enough, and they are instead seeking an amount

Shell Energy is to pay out more than half a million pounds for overcharging thousands of households above the permitted price cap. Industry regulator Ofgem said the supplier would refund and compensate 11,275 prepayment customers as well as pay into a fund to support vulnerable people. Shell Energy had reported the problem itself after discovering

App-based lender Atom bank says its four-day working week trial has been a resounding success. The bank, which is based in the northeast of England, said the trial had been “overwhelmingly positive” for employees, improving productivity and job satisfaction. Recruiting and retaining staff was easier, and there was no negative impact on customer service ratings,

Britain imported no fuels from Russia in June for the first time on record following the imposition of sanctions over the invasion of Ukraine, official data shows. The figure published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) comes after the UK moved to sever all reliance on Moscow for its power needs in the face

The minimum wage should be raised to £15 an hour, the Trades Union Congress says, as it declares it is “time to put an end to low-pay Britain”. Currently, workers aged 23 and over are entitled to a minimum wage of £9.50 with lower rates for younger employees, but the TUC says all workers should

UK private sector growth has moved closer to stagnation as it slowed to a new 18-month low, dragged down by a slump in factory output, latest data indicates. The closely watched S&P Global/CIPS Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) composite flash estimate dropped to 50.9 in August from 52.1 in July, its lowest since February 2021 and

Energy bills are expected to top £5,300 annually in April next year, a massive increase from previous predictions. The dire news comes from energy consultancy Cornwall Insight in its final forecast before Ofgem confirms October’s price cap this Friday. Cornwall Insight’s forecast for October this year has fallen very slightly from £3,583 for the average

UK inflation is set to top 18% in January – the highest point in more than 40 years and nine times the Bank of England’s target – due to rocketing wholesale gas prices, a global investment bank has forecast. Citi has predicted the retail energy price cap would surge to £4,567 in January and then

Water companies have been accused of failing to monitor how much sewage is being pumped into the sea. According to Environment Agency data analysed by the Liberal Democrats, sewage monitors installed by UK water firms did not work “90% of the time” or had not been installed at all. Dozens of pollution warnings were put

Almost 2,000 workers are walking out of their jobs at the UK’s largest container port for eight days from Sunday, in the latest round of industrial action hitting various sectors of the economy. The strike at Felixstowe port on the east coast rounds off a week that saw various strikes by thousands of transport workers

Spiralling energy costs are driving cafes, restaurants and independent shops all around the country to the edge of survival, according to an industry body. The Federation of Small Businesses director Martin McTague told The Independent that soaring bills, combined with reduced consumer spending as shoppers grapple with their own household bills, is forcing thousands of

The founder of Matalan is preparing for a fresh tussle with the retailer’s lenders over its ownership ahead of a deadline for refinancing £350m in debt. Sky News has learnt that John Hargreaves, who reinstated himself as Matalan chairman last month, has in recent days proposed injecting tens of millions of pounds into the business.

Cineworld, the world’s second-largest cinema chain, is preparing to file for bankruptcy within weeks, the Wall Street Journal reports, after struggling to rebuild attendance following the COVID pandemic. The UK-based group, which operates in 10 countries with 751 sites and more than 9,000 screens, has engaged lawyers from Kirkland & Ellis LLP and consultants from