Business

The chancellor is urging a focus on rip-off charges ahead of a meeting with UK regulators this week, as stubborn inflation threatens the government’s target of halving inflation this year. Jeremy Hunt is to meet bodies with oversight of key industries such as food and energy in the week after the shock Bank of England

A Treasury minister has refused to commit to public sector pay rises, arguing it would be “irresponsible” not to take into account the impact on persistently high inflation. Speaking to Sky News’ Sophy Ridge On Sunday programme, John Glen signalled the government could reject recommendations by the independent review bodies in the face of concerns

Braemar, the London-listed shipbroker, faces being plunged into crisis as a delay to the publication of its full-year accounts threatens to trigger the suspension of its shares. Sky News has learnt that Braemar, which has a market capitalisation of approximately £92m, is likely to tell investors within days that it will be unable to meet

A logistics technology business run by a 29-year-old entrepreneur has swooped on parts of Tuffnells Parcel Express, the prominent delivery company which collapsed this month with the loss of more than 2,000 jobs. Sky News has learnt that Shift, which was founded by Jacob Corlett, has struck a deal with administrators at Interpath Advisory to

Security staff at Heathrow Airport have called off all strikes having voted in favour of a pay deal. Members of the Unite union had been due to walk out nearly every weekend from mid-June until the end of August but paused their planned action on Saturday and Sunday to vote on a new proposal from

Mortgage lenders and Chancellor Jeremy Hunt have agreed that people should be given a 12-month break before repossession proceedings start amid soaring interest rates. After the rise of the base rate to 5%, Mr Hunt met with leaders of financial institutions including Lloyds, NatWest, Barclays and Virgin Money. They agreed that the repossession break should

There was a surprise rise in retail sales last month despite inflationary pressure and rising borrowing costs, official figures show. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said retail sales volumes grew by 0.3% in May, far better than the 0.2% decline forecast by economists, as warm weather boosted sales of outdoor goods and summer clothes.

The Bank of England has shocked economists and investors by raising interest rates half a percentage point to 5% – the highest level since 2008. Economists had expected the Monetary Policy Committee to raise interest rates by only a quarter percentage point, but the MPC voted 7-2 for the surprise increase, explaining that it was

Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund is selling its stake in McLaren, the supercar maker and Formula One team-owner, in a deal that will reinforce Bahrain’s status as the company’s biggest shareholder. Sky News has learnt that Mumtalakat, Bahrain’s state investment fund, will announce on Thursday that it is buying the preference shares in McLaren Group

The prime minister and his chancellor find themselves in something of a conundrum. They have committed themselves to halving inflation this year – without referring to the fact this is actually something the politicians outsourced to the Bank of England 25 years ago – even, if the chancellor is to be believed, this comes at

The rate of price rises has remained 8.7% despite expectations of a fall, according to official figures. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) announced the consumer price index measure of inflation stood at 8.7% in the year up to May, the same as the rate in April. A slight decrease, to 8.4%, had been expected

The chancellor has ruled out mortgage bill support for fear it would increase inflation. Answering questions in the House of Commons, Jeremy Hunt told MPs that “schemes which involve injecting large amounts of cash into the economy, right now will be inflationary”. Despite expressing sympathy for people with higher mortgage costs he said, “we won’t

The pace of grocery inflation has eased to its slowest monthly rate this year, according to industry data that backs hopes the worst may be over. Kantar Worldpanel, which tracks supermarket sales and prices, reported a rate of 16.5% over the four weeks to 11 June. That was down from the 17.2% figure revealed a

It’s too early to talk about job losses, as part of a deal that would create the UK’s biggest mobile phone operator, the Vodafone UK chief executive exclusively told Sky’s Ian King Live programme. “Some roles” might be impacted by the merger with Three, Ahmed Essam said, in his first interview since the deal was

Thousands of jobs could be created in Scotland under a Labour proposal to create a publicly-owned clean energy company with its headquarters north of the border, the leader of the opposition has said. Sir Keir Starmer set out his proposal to launch Great British Energy (GBN) during his party conference speech in Liverpool last year

A robotics start-up in which the online grocer Ocado is a sizeable shareholder is this weekend on the brink of collapse. Sky News has learnt that Karakuri, which developed technology capable of assembling ready-meals for food industry clients, is on the brink of filing a notice of intention to appoint administrators. City sources said that

Former Tesco chairman John Allan – who was forced to step down after misconduct allegations were made against him – has insisted he is “completely innocent”. In his first broadcast interview since the controversy erupted with Sky News’ Sophy Ridge On Sunday programme, the 74-year-old said there was “absolutely no substance” in the claims about

Britain is facing a deepening “mortgage crunch”, with households already wrestling with the cost of living crisis facing yet a further squeeze on their budgets. It has been warned that those renewing their property loans next year will end up paying out on average an extra £2,900 annually. Most expensive items in a summer BBQ

The bosses of Britain’s biggest banks have told Rishi Sunak that technology companies must contribute to the cost of an online fraud “pandemic” that is undermining international investor confidence in the UK economy. Sky News has obtained a letter to the prime minister signed by the chief executives of nine lenders, including Barclays, NatWest and

Tesco has reported “encouraging early signs” that grocery inflation is starting to ease while revealing a leap in sales. The UK’s largest retailer said there was a slowdown in price growth across the market and it was continuing to focus on value for its customers. The company updated on its performance as the food sector