Inflation could top 5% in the months ahead, the Bank of England’s new chief economist has warned. The remarks by Huw Pill in an interview with the Financial Times are likely to be seized upon as the latest evidence of Britain’s cost-of-living crisis. Mr Pill also told the FT that the Bank would face a
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Green bonds offering savers the chance to back the government’s environmental projects are going on sale – but experts think the “paltry” returns on offer will see demand wilt. The bonds, described as the first ever green savings product issued by a country, go on sale online via the Treasury-backed National Savings & Investments (NS&I)
The maker of a host of well known consumer brands has revealed a big lift in prices and warned of worse to come as it battles “unprecedented cost inflation” around the world. Unilever, which produces foods such as Marmite, Cornetto ice creams and Hellmann’s mayonnaise alongside goods including Dove soap, said it had raised prices
Tesla said it had battled chip shortages, port congestion and rolling blackouts as it reported better-than-expected sales – but warned “outside factors” could hold back further growth. The electric car maker, led by billionaire Elon Musk, also boosted its profitability in the third quarter despite a 6% fall in the average selling price of its
Petrol retailers have been accused of “taking a bigger cut” by a motoring group after warning that record pump prices are expected within days. The Petrol Retailers Association (PRA) – which shot to public prominence last month as the industry grappled delivery problems that sparked weeks of panic-buying in areas of England – blamed rising
Netflix has hailed the “mind-boggling” success of Korean hit Squid Game as it posted better than expected subscriber growth and pencilled in a further acceleration over coming months. The streaming giant revealed that 142 million households had watched the series – already the group’s biggest TV show – in the first four weeks since its
As we begin to hit the shops ahead of Christmas, retail sales are back to pre-pandemic levels for the first time since restrictions eased in April. We are now spending more on items like clothing and furnishings than we were in February 2020, according to real-time credit and debit card data from the Office for
The government has intervened in the £6.3bn takeover of UK defence and aerospace technology firm Meggitt to assess national security concerns. Shareholders last month voted to back the acquisition of Meggitt by US rival Parker-Hannifin, after the deal was agreed by the UK group’s board in August. But Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng has now issued
Households will be able to apply for a £5,000 grant to swap their gas boiler for a low-carbon heat pump, as part of government plans to cut emissions. The government announced that the £450m Boiler Upgrade Scheme, which is part of the more than £3.9bn funding to cut carbon from heating and buildings, will be
Ford has revealed plans to transform its gearbox plant on Merseyside to build electric power units from 2024, safeguarding 500 jobs. Sky News revealed last month that the Halewood factory was in competition with a site in Germany to secure the work. Ford said the government was supporting its investment through the Automotive Transformation Fund.
A former boss of Gucci is being lined up by Carlyle, the global buyout giant, to fashion a fresh growth spurt at End, the British online clothing business it bought this year. Sky News understands that Patrizio di Marco, who left Gucci in 2014 and subsequently had a spell with Dolce & Gabbana, another famed
Matthew Moulding, the boss of the online beauty, nutrition and technology services group THG, is to surrender his golden share in the company in an attempt to restore the City’s confidence after a torrid fortnight. Sky News has learnt that the owner of The Hut Group, which floated just over a year ago, will announce
If the trainee truckers the haulage industry so desperately needs could change direction as fast and frequently as government ministers they would sail through the HGV test. The latest U-turn, executed to address the supply chain crisis, comes from the Department for Transport, and even by the standards of recent weeks it is a screecher.
Job adverts have soared by over 600,000 since late August to a new record high, according to the latest figures released. The number of vacancies in the UK is currently sky-high, a sign that the labour market is yet to fully recover following the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Between 4 and 10 October there
The government wants to change how frequently overseas HGV operators can deliver in the UK to help solve the current supply chain problems. A consultation on extending “cabotage” rights will be launched on Friday to try to shore up supply chains and prevent shops running out of goods or increasing prices due to an HGV
The government is expected to back down today in a row over visas for foreign butchers to prevent a mass cull of British pigs. A shortage of butchers at industrial slaughterhouses has left farmers with too many pigs on their farms, leading to warnings that 10,000 pigs a week could have to be destroyed. It
The EU has offered to cut 80% of checks on some goods moving from Great Britain to Northern Ireland in an effort to avoid a post-Brexit trade clash. It has drawn up plans designed to ease the flow of items across the Irish Sea, including chilled meats, to put an end to the so-called “sausage
UK economic growth picked up in August as bars, restaurants and festivals benefited from a first full month without COVID restrictions in England, official figures show. Gross domestic product (GDP) increased by 0.4% month-on-month, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) – slightly below experts’ average forecast of 0.5% growth. However the report also
A major global shipping company has blamed a backlog of containers at UK ports for a decision to divert vessels elsewhere, threatening delays to deliveries as the pre-Christmas trade rush gets underway. Maersk said it was re-routing one 80,000-tonne container ship per week from Felixstowe, the UK’s largest commercial port, to unload elsewhere in Europe.
The number of job vacancies hit a record high of 1.1 million in the three months to September, as the post-pandemic labour market continued to recover. The Office for National Statistics said the number of job vacancies increased by 318,000, with all industry sectors above or equal to the levels seen between January to March