Emergency talks: Chancellor and energy bosses hold crisis meeting as gas bills risk climbing to £4,400 August 10, 2022 Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi and Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng will hold emergency talks with energy sector chiefs today as the price cap was forecast to hit more than £4,400 in January. In a new dire outlook for households, Cornwall Insight said bills are set to soar to around £3,582 in October, from £1,971 on Tuesday, before [...]
House builder Crest Nicholson reports mixed fortunes with completions up but post-tax profits dented by uncertainty January 17, 2023 British housebuilding firm Crest Nicholson reported an uptick in revenue and completed homes last year despite continued disruption and pressure to supply chains. The firm’s revenue up until October 2022 was up 16 per cent to £913.6m, up from £786m in the pandemic-affected 2021 report. Home completions also increased by 13.6 per cent to 2,734, [...]
Labour’s Yimby housing policies are vote winners – but how it sells them is crucial April 3, 2024 Labour's plans to solve the housing crisis are promising, but it needs to be tactical about how it pitches them in order to win over as many voters as possible, Jessica Frank-Keyes writes
Shadow energy secretary Ed Miliband ‘not aware’ Russia found oil and gas in Antarctic May 17, 2024 Ed Miliband has said he is “not aware” of the reports Russia discovered huge oil and gas reserves in the British Antarctic territories.
A struggle to get credit: Bank lending to hospitality nosedives following end of Covid loans CBILS and BBLS June 14, 2022 Outstanding bank lending to small businesses in the hospitality sector has fallen by more than £1.4bn since the end of CBILS and BBLS loans schemes. According to new data shared with City A.M., bank lending dropped to £14.6bn in April 2022, down from £16.08 billion in March 2021. With the cost of living crisis eating [...]
Why are private jets so irresistible to the country’s bigwigs? May 13, 2024 City bigwigs and politicians seem set on using private jets to get around. Should we be up in arms or is it vital for efficiency?
Recession kicked into long grass as UK steams ahead of Europe and US March 13, 2023 A recession hitting the UK economy is looking like an increasingly far flung prospect after yet more data today shows businesses and families are fending off the cost of living crunch. A net balance of 43 per cent of UK businesses are buoyant about the economy over the coming year, the highest level in a [...]
FTSE 100 close: London index dips below 8,000 point mark on interest rate hike fears February 21, 2023 London’s FTSE 100 closed below the 8,000 point today driven lower by a broad sell off fuelled by investors sweating over more interest rate rises from central banks. The capital’s premier index slipped 0.46 per cent to 7,977.74 points, while the domestically-focused mid-cap FTSE 250 index, which is more aligned with the health of the [...]
Pound still at lowest level since start of pandemic amid government chaos July 6, 2022 The British pound is at its lowest level since the start of the Covid pandemic in March 2020 as the UK government faces a political crisis. The pound has slid 0.6% today to $1.1883 as a wave of ministers resigned from Boris Johnson’s government. Sterling initially dropped more than a cent to below $1.20 for [...]
Letters: Home ownership isn’t everything June 24, 2022 [Re: Government admits most Brits will not benefit from Boris Johnson’s ‘benefits to bricks’ housing plans, June 22] In essence, the idea is positive but, in practice, it’s not currently feasible. Take for example the government’s plan to allow people on housing benefits to use welfare payments towards a mortgage. Welfare payments stop when a [...]