The Bank of England has cut interest rates by another quarter percentage point, bringing down the cost of borrowing to 4.5%. And in a sign that households can expect more cuts in the months to come, two members of the Bank‘s Monetary Policy Committee said they would have preferred to reduce rates even more, by
Business
Planning rules will be ripped up to make it easier to build new nuclear reactors and create thousands of highly skilled jobs, the government has announced. The reforms are the latest in a series of proposals designed to “get Britain building” to help grow the economy, after powers for environmental quangos to delay infrastructure projects
US imports racked up a record monthly high in December as companies rushed to secure products in advance of trade tariffs imposed by Donald Trump. Official figures showed a 3.5% leap in imports compared to the previous month as the clock ticked down to Mr Trump‘s return to the White House on 20 January. The
Tesco has expressed interest in acquiring more than 100 Crown Post Offices whose future has been placed under review as the state-owned company explores shifting them to a franchise model. Sky News has learnt that Nigel Railton, the Post Office chairman, told a group of MPs this week that Britain’s biggest retailer had informed it
Demand for electric vehicles accelerated in January, with fully battery-powered cars outperforming an overall contraction in the car market that the industry blames on declining business and consumer confidence. Battery EVs (BEVs) accounted for 21% of almost 140,000 new car registrations in January, the highest-ever share for the month and a year-on-year increase of 41.6%.
An arms race for artificial intelligence (AI) supremacy, triggered by recent panic over Chinese chatbot DeepSeek, risks amplifying the existential dangers of superintelligence, according to one of the “godfathers” of AI. Canadian machine learning pioneer Yoshua Bengio, author of the first International AI Safety Report to be presented at an international AI summit in Paris
The government’s plan to meet housebuilding targets by building on the so-called grey belt is “rushed” and “not properly thought through”, according to a Lords committee report. The grey belt policy is also unlikely to make any significant difference in the number of new homes that can be built, the report from the House of
The Treasury Select Committee has sent a formal notice to HM Revenue & Customs demanding answers to critical questions about how it has been enforcing trade sanctions on Russia, following a Sky News investigation into the government department. Last month Sky News reported that while HMRC had issued six fines in relation to sanction-breaking since
Barclays says an IT glitch that left some customers locked out of their accounts has been resolved after the disruption entered a third day. The bank said the “technical issue” has been fixed and delayed payments processed. In a statement on Sunday, Barclays said: “We are working on bringing balances up to date for some
A newlywed couple say they have been locked out of their bank accounts while on their honeymoon as Barclays suffered a major IT glitch. People were unable to access money overnight after the issue struck on what was payday for many British workers. Hundreds of customers reportedly claim they are experiencing interrupted services and missing
Donald Trump has said he will place 25% tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico and 10% tariffs on goods from China from Saturday. The move raises fears of price increases for US consumers as the US president suggested he would try to blunt the impact on oil imports. He has been threatening the tariffs
The UK’s benchmark stock index has reached another all-time high, in a month of record breaking. The FTSE 100 index of most valuable companies on the London Stock Exchange closed at 8,666.65, breaking the record set on Thursday night after four consecutive days of rises. January has been the best month in more than two
India’s richest family has clinched a landmark deal to buy a 49% stake in the Oval Invincibles in a deal that will unite the London-based team with the ownership of the Indian Premier League’s Mumbai Indians. Sky News can exclusively reveal that the Ambani family, who have a fortune estimated to be tens of billions
Shares in Microsoft have fallen sharply after investment spending came in higher than expected in its latest results, released just days after the DeepSeek market shock for tech stocks. The company, which has received reprimands from shareholders previously over AI-related bills, had already let it be known it expected to spend $80bn this year ahead
Lidl has been given approval by a High Court to open its first ever pub in Northern Ireland. The German supermarket chain will be able to move forward with the plan to open a bar inside its store in Dundonald, near Belfast, after a judge dismissed an appeal brought by another trader. Making the ruling
Don’t, whatever you do, call it a “relaunch”. When the chancellor stands up and delivers her much-anticipated speech on Wednesday – with all sorts of exciting schemes for new infrastructure and growth-friendly reforms – she will cast it as part of the new government’s long-standing economic strategy. Having begun the job of repairing the public
Quiz Clothing, the troubled fashion business, is close to collapsing into administration days after its shares were delisted from the London stock market. Sky News has learnt that Quiz, which is chaired by the former JD Sports chief Peter Cowgill, is lining up Teneo as administrator in a move expected to take place before the
The average asking price to rent a home outside London has fallen for the first time since before the COVID pandemic, according to a property website. Rightmove credited improved levels of rental properties for the welcome shift, but declared that advertised private rents in the capital continued to tick up, for a 13th consecutive quarter,
One of Britain’s biggest luxury boat manufacturers has collapsed into administration less than two months after it was sold to new investors. Sky News has learnt that Fairline Yachts, which is based in Oundle, Northamptonshire, had fallen into insolvency proceedings after DF Capital, the company’s main lender, triggered the appointment of Alvarez & Marsal (A&M)
The owner of Hobbycraft is among a pack of suitors circling WH Smith, the 233-year-old high street chain which has been put up for sale. Sky News has learnt that Modella Capital, whose executives have previously been involved in retailers including Paperchase and Tie Rack, is one of a handful of parties to have held