Business

A pilot scheme scrapping peak-time ScotRail fares will end next month following a “limited degree of success”. Transport Scotland said the trial – subsidised by the Scottish government – cost £40m but “did not achieve its aims” of encouraging more people to swap their cars for rail travel. The scheme began in October last year

British tech tycoon Mike Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter are among six tourists missing after a luxury yacht sank in a tornado off the coast of Italy. One person has been confirmed dead, believed to be the vessel’s Canadian chef, while four of the missing passengers are British and two are American, according to Italian

Mike Lynch’s co-defendant in a recent US fraud trial has died after a road accident a few days before Mr Lynch went missing. Stephen Chamberlain, the former vice president of the finance company Autonomy, was hit by a car while out running in Cambridgeshire on Saturday morning, his lawyer said. Mr Chamberlain had faced the

British tech billionaire Mike Lynch is missing off Sicily’s coast after a yacht sank, Sky News understands. One person is dead and six others are missing after a UK-flagged superyacht named Bayesian sank off the coast of Sicily in a storm. Follow live: Superyacht sinks latest Sky News also understands the yacht is owned by

Dozens of Ted Baker stores will shut for the last time this week amid growing doubts over a future licensing partnership with the retail tycoon Mike Ashley. Sky News understands that talks between Mr Ashley’s Frasers Group and Authentic, Ted Baker’s owner, have stalled three months after it appeared that an agreement was imminent. Administrators

Labour has urged rail union leaders to “get around the table” as drivers threaten fresh strikes despite a recent pay rise offer from the government. Sir Keir Starmer’s attempts to resolve years of industrial action were hamstrung when ASLEF (the Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen) announced its members employed by LNER would strike

The private equity backer of Six Nations Rugby is plotting to buy a stake in one of Britain’s biggest audit firms – a deal which could have ramifications across the professional services sector. Sky News has learnt that CVC Capital Partners is among the buyout firms preparing to table bids for a controlling stake in

Hundreds of Border Force officers at Heathrow Airport go on strike from the end of the month. The 650 members of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union will be on strike from August 31 to September 3, then working-to-rule and refusing to work overtime until September 22. The long-running dispute centres on enforced changes

The accounting giant PwC has been fined £15m by the financial conduct regulator in its first-ever financial penalty on an audit firm. One of the so-called big four accounting firms, PwC was said by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to have missed a number of audit red flags and failed to act immediately to report

British retailers saw sales rise last month after a boost from Euro 2024 and summer discounting, official figures show, in a further sign of a growing economy. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said retail sales grew 0.5% last month, after contracting 0.9% in June. Money blog: Fines for parents taking children out of school

The boss of mobile phone firm Three has hit out at the UK’s “abysmal” 5G speeds and availability. Chief executive Robert Finnegan made the comments as he urged regulators to approve the company’s planned merger with Vodafone – arguing the £15bn move would pave the way for better investment in network infrastructure. It came as

The UK economy grew 0.6% over three months, official figures show.  But there was no growth at all in June, the Office for National Statistics said, as businesses delayed purchases until after the general election. Gross domestic product (GDP) – the measure of everything produced in the UK – expanded from April to June. This

A “major breakthrough” which could signal the end of national rail strikes has been made in the long-running pay row involving drivers, according to the Department for Transport (DfT). The department says that, following a series of “positive” talks led by the government, the train drivers’ union ASLEF has agreed to recommend a new pay

The price of food bought by poorer people during the cost of living crisis rose more quickly than it did for those with higher incomes, according to new research. Goods disproportionately consumed by people on lower incomes became more expensive faster than costlier kinds of food, thinktank the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said. Money

The first increase in inflation this year is less a reason for panic than a signal that, after almost three years of wild volatility, the UK’s measure of price increases is returning to a period of what looks far more normal fluctuation. The primary reason CPI stepped up to 2.2% in the year to July

The owner of Paddy Power is in talks to buy the consumer arm of London-listed Playtech in a deal that could be worth about £2bn. Sky News has learnt that Flutter Entertainment, which recently moved its primary listing to the US, is in discussions to buy Snaitech, one of Italy’s biggest gambling companies. It was

The pace at which prices are rising has sped up, according to official figures. The rate of inflation grew to 2.2% in July, up from 2% a month earlier, data from the Office for National Statistics showed. It is the first time since December last year that the rate has increased, rather than fallen. But

Online adverts for nutrition brands Huel and Zoe featuring Dragons’ Den star Steven Bartlett have been banned after they failed to disclose his involvement in the firms. The sponsored posts on Facebook, which appeared on users’ newsfeeds in February and March, included quotes from the celebrity entrepreneur praising the companies’ products. The Zoe advert featured

While attention has inevitably been on the first rise in grocery price inflation since March last year, the latest till roll data from Kantar Worldpanel also contains valuable insights into the grocery market itself. The figures highlight in particular the continued success of the biggest two players in the market, Tesco and Sainsbury’s, in terms

By now, you are probably aware that at 3.30pm the new chancellor will tell MPs of an approximately £20bn black hole in the public finances, necessitating immediate painful spending cuts today and paving the way for tax increases in an October budget. Rachel Reeves and her team will then challenge the Tories over who knew