Business

Labour has pulled £1.3bn of investment in tech and AI projects promised by the Tories. The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) said the funding committed by the previous Conservative administration was not allocated in its budget and so will not proceed. It included £800m for the creation of a next-generation exascale supercomputer at

The first interest rate cut since the start of the COVID pandemic is good news – but experts are warning of a hard slog back towards more comfortable borrowing cost levels. The Bank of England had raised Bank rate 14 consecutive times from December 2021 to try and keep a lid on a surge in

The Bank of England has cut interest rates by a quarter percentage point to 5%. The Bank’s nine-member Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted five to four to bring borrowing costs down, bringing to an end the joint-longest plateau for rates since the Bank was granted independence in 1997. Lower interest rates will instantly be reflected

The Bank of England will implement its first interest rate cut since 2020 at midday on Thursday, if financial markets and many economists are right, hours after the US central bank signalled it could act next month. The Federal Reserve held its benchmark rate in the 5.25%-5.50% range on Wednesday evening but downgraded its view

Wizz Air has been named the worst performing airline for customer service by a leading consumer group. Which? said the low-cost carrier ranked the lowest “by far” in a poll of around 1,000 adults. Those surveyed were quizzed on how well airlines performed across eight areas of customer service, including how easy it was to

This year’s budget to support the next wave of renewable energy schemes has been raised to a “record” £1.5bn, the government has announced, following a failed funding process in 2023. Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said the additional £500m for the looming renewable energy auction represented a commitment towards Labour’s goal of delivering clean, cheap, low-carbon

A new scheme offering settlements of £600,000 to victims of the Post Office scandal has been unveiled by the government. Ministers said it would help sub-postmasters traumatised by the scandal, in which faulty IT software called Horizon led hundreds of staff to be falsely accused of stealing from branches, receive financial support without “unnecessary bureaucracy”.

Rachel Reeves has accused her predecessor of hiding a “£22bn funding gap” for the current financial year, announcing a series of “tough decisions” to compensate. The chancellor told MPs that the investigation she ordered into the spending plans Labour inherited following the election found a Conservative “cover-up” that “put party ahead of country”. Her statement,

Rachel Reeves has scrapped some winter fuel payments, along with a raft of other government programmes and policies to plug a projected government overspend of £22bn. The chancellor said those not in receipt of pension credit will no longer receive the extra money as she repeatedly told MPs: “If we cannot afford it, we cannot

By now, you are probably aware that at 3.30pm the new chancellor will tell MPs of an approximately £20bn black hole in the public finances, necessitating immediate painful spending cuts today and paving the way for tax increases in an October budget. Rachel Reeves and her team will then challenge the Tories over who knew

Eddie Jordan, the former Formula One team-owner, has launched a multimillion pound legal fight against HSBC over its alleged mis-selling of a complex bond in which he invested. Sky News has learnt that Mr Jordan, who became one of Grand Prix motor racing’s most flamboyant and successful figures during a stint at the helm of

Cineworld has confirmed six cinemas will close as part of plans to cut jobs and save money, as the company struggles with debt. The cinemas will shut in “late September 2024” if the cost-cutting plans get legal approval. They are: • Glasgow Parkhead; • Bedford; • Hinckley; • Loughborough; • Yate; • Swindon – Regent

A London-listed building products company which was bailed out by investors during the pandemic is weighing a further cash call in the wake of a stinging profit warning. Sky News has learnt that SIG, which has a market value of just over £300m, is considering raising up to nearly half that amount through an equity-raise

NatWest has an increasingly confident air about it. The biggest lender to small and medium-sized businesses in the UK today posted another set of results that were better than expected – and raised its profit forecasts for the year. It also announced an eye-catching acquisition – agreeing to pay up to £2.4bn in cash for

Competition among fuel retailers is “failing consumers” because drivers are still paying too much to fill up, according to regulators. In an update on its monitoring of the fuel market, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said the cost to all motorists from the previously identified increase in retail fuel margins since 2019 was over

The chief executive of AstraZeneca has criticised a public health body for refusing to make one of its breast cancer treatments available to NHS patients in England and Wales. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) decided in March this year that patients should be denied access to Enhertu because it said the

The private equity giant Apollo Global Management is on the brink of a deal to buy Evri, the British parcel delivery company, in a £2.7bn deal. Sky News has learnt that Apollo has seen off competition to acquire the company from rivals including JD.com, the Chinese internet group, and DHL. The deal could be announced

It is now even harder and more expensive for the UK’s biggest water provider to borrow money as leading credit ratings agency Moody’s has downgraded its debt to “junk” status. Thames Water’s parent company had already defaulted on some loan payments that make up its £16.5bn debt pile. More pressure will be put on its

Rachel Reeves is to hold talks with a group of Canadian retirement funds which have invested tens of billions of pounds into the British economy in a bid to convince them to back her “big bang” pension reforms. Sky News has learnt the chancellor will meet funds including the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB),

Efforts to secure access to cash for consumers and businesses are being stepped up through a series of new rules to be imposed by the City watchdog. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said that from 18 September, banks and building societies would face greater obligations to weigh if local communities lack access to services, like