Energy crisis: Treasury mulling over emergency cash request for industrial firms October 11, 2021 The Treasury is now considering a formal emergency funding request to help bailout industrial firms struggling with energy price rises in what appears to be an end to a cabinet row. The Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Beis) today submitted a formal funding request to Rishi Sunak’s department, after the Treasury yesterday said [...]
Bank of England to launch another jumbo rate hike to tame over 10 per cent inflation August 17, 2022 The Bank of England is set to launch a series of jumbo rate hikes to tame inflation that is beginning to be driven by domestic factors, City economists warned today. Prices climbed 10.1 per cent annually in July, the fastest acceleration since February 1982 and much higher than the Bank and analysts’ forecasts, according to [...]
Boris Johnson set to resign as UK Prime Minister July 7, 2022 Boris Johnson has agreed to resign as UK Prime Minister, after a sensational 48 hours which saw his government implode. The BBC and Mirror reported just after 9am today that he will quit as leader of the Conservative party and will stay on as caretaker Prime Minister until a new party leader is chosen. A [...]
Time for a plan for growth, not endless Westminster tittle-tattle February 8, 2022 In the grand scheme of political endorsements, “not a complete clown” sits somewhere between Lyndon B. Johnson describing President Gerald Ford as a nice guy who played too much American football without a helmet on and Churchill describing Clement Attlee as a sheep in sheep’s clothing. What makes it unusual is that the man offering [...]
Best of the year: the business stories of 2021 December 29, 2021 Back in April, Credit Suisse got entangled in a “disaster pile-up” involving Greensill and Archegos. Eliot Wilson wrote of how the Swiss bank lost billions of dollars because of its relationship with the US based hedge fund Archegos and the now infamous Greensill Capital. This kind of economic catastrophe happens when banks have risk management [...]
Cost of living squeeze already biting UK economy as experts warn worst is still to come March 24, 2022 The damage the cost of living squeeze is inflicting on UK households is already starting to weigh on the economy as top forecasters warn the worst effects of spiralling living standards are yet to come. A fresh flurry of data released today revealed consumers are slashing spending to alleviate pressure on their finances caused by [...]
Windfall tax the backdrop for energy giants’ results May 1, 2022 London’s biggest oil companies will face an odd dilemma this week as they present what is likely to be their best set of results for years while facing calls to cough up more in tax. The businesses are predicted to report a combined 13 billion dollars (£10.5 billion) in profit from the first three months [...]
Exclusive: Energy crisis is a ‘state of emergency’ and the Government has to act now, warns So Energy August 11, 2022 The Government is running out of time to tackle rising household energy bills ahead of winter, warned Simon Oscroft, co-founder of So Energy.
British Gas owner Centrica hands £250m to shareholders as profits surge November 10, 2022 British Gas owner Centrica will hand £250m to shareholders as high wholesale prices put the firm on course for massive profits.
If Liz Truss thought winning was hard, governing will be a formidable task September 6, 2022 It will not feel like it to Liz Truss, but that was the easy bit. Political campaigns are always brutal, exhausting and emotional affairs; none more so than this summer’s long and fractious Conservative leadership contest. But the challenges of the last few months pale into insignificance against the enormity of what the new prime [...]