Business

The football financier Keith Harris is spearheading a bid to buy a 45% stake in the Premier League football club Crystal Palace in a deal that could be worth close to £200m. Sky News has learnt that Mr Harris is advising a group of businessmen including Zechariah Janjua and Navshir Jaffer on an offer to

The 2024 Autumn Budget in one word? Big. What we got from Rachel Reeves today was, in economic terms, a major departure from economic policy as we’ve known it in this country for the past decade-and-a-half. We got the single biggest increase in taxes in any fiscal event since 1993. The tax burden itself is

Are you richer or poorer? Use our budget calculator to see how you have been affected by Labour’s first budget in more than 14 years, and the first ever from a female chancellor. Rachel Reeves had promised “more pounds in people’s pockets”. Put your details in the table below and find out if that is

The minimum wage for those aged 21 years and over will rise by 6.7% to £12.21 – with pay for those aged 18 to 20 set to go up by 16.3% to £10 an hour. Chancellor Rachel Reeves has confirmed the increases ahead of Wednesday’s budget, and they will take effect from April 2025. The

Small businesses have called for the government to “significantly increase” the employment allowance to prevent them from having to shut down following the budget. Chancellor Rachel Reeves is set to raise national insurance contributions paid by employers – despite promising not to increase the tax “for working people” – to help fill a £40bn black

A second group of Thames Water lenders will this week submit a fully funded £3bn financing package that it will argue is cheaper and more certain than a rival offer endorsed by the company last week. Sky News has learnt that the water utility’s Class B bondholders – which are reported to include Aviva, BlackRock

Rent has remained unaffordable in England, having been so since records began, the latest official figures show. The typical private sector renter, on a typical wage in England, paid a figure deemed to be unaffordable by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Renters on a median income – the midpoint between the highest and lowest

The Labour government’s first budget will embrace the “harsh light of fiscal reality” but “better days are ahead”, Sir Keir Starmer will say in a speech on Monday. Chancellor Rachel Reeves will deliver the budget on Wednesday and setting the tone for the announcement, the prime minister will warn of “unprecedented” economic circumstances and the

A former chair of one of Britain’s biggest auditors is to step down as chairman of Interpath, the independent advisory firm, because of a potential conflict of interest involving its private equity backer’s choice of auditor. Sky News has learnt that Interpath, which has been engaged by billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe on his cost-cutting campaign

Britain’s biggest energy retailers have told ministers that they will provide more than £500m of extra help for households as the government tries to deflect criticism over the winter fuel payments row. Sky News has learnt that EnergyUK, the industry body, is planning to make a joint announcement with the Department for Energy Security and

The Premier League is drawing up plans to present its clubs with fresh proposals for a financial settlement with the English Football League (EFL) as soon as next month. Sky News has learnt that a meeting of the top flight’s shareholders on November 22 is expected to include a discussion on a range of new

The amount employers pay in national insurance is set to rise in next week’s budget to raise money for public services, Sky News understands. Reports have suggested it could be increased by up to two percentage points and will – in part – be used to help fund the NHS. A government source told Sky

Mitie Group, the London-listed outsourcer, has kicked off a search for a successor to Derek Mapp, its long-serving chairman. Sky News has learnt that the FTSE-250 company is working with the search firm MWM Consulting on a hunt for Mr Mapp’s replacement. Potential candidates have started being sounded out in the last few weeks, according

The chancellor will need to spend an extra £20bn by the end of the parliament to maintain public investment at its present levels. Rachel Reeves has promised to unveil a “budget for investment” next week, while reversing the “years of underinvestment” overseen by the previous Conservative government. However, this would involve taking on billions of

Frasers Group, the owner of Sports Direct, House of Fraser and Flannels, has written to Boohoo ordering it to sack its chief executive and appoint Frasers founder Mike Ashley instead. Boohoo, the online fast fashion retailer, had ignored a private Frasers request to install Mr Ashley, according to an open letter from Frasers Group to

The energy supplier which rescued rival Bulb after its collapse in 2021 has repaid the final tranche of government support provided to secure the deal, delivering what it will say this week amounted to an unexpected £1.5bn profit for taxpayers. Sky News has learnt that Octopus Energy will announce on Thursday that it has paid

Folkestone has been drawing in crowds in recent years with regeneration and private developments transforming parts of this port town on the Kent coast. But many residents will tell you that the fabric of this community is being torn apart. Local services are deteriorating and have been for some time. Leisure centres have shut down

One person has died and 10 have been hospitalised after an outbreak of E. coli linked to McDonald’s Quarter Pounder burgers, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has said. Infections were reported between 27 September and 11 October across 10 US states; Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Oregon, Utah, Wisconsin and

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has upgraded its projection for UK growth this year by 0.4% to 1.1% – the largest upward revision for any advanced economy. In a boost to Chancellor Rachel Reeves as she prepares to travel to Washington for the IMF’s annual meeting this week, its latest world economic outlook predicts strengthening

Bonuses to water company bosses rose this year to £9.1m – despite record sewage discharges and financial woes at some utilities. Executives from English and Welsh water firms received a total of £9,126,858 in the 2023/2024 financial year, up from £9,012,777 a year earlier, according to analysis of company filings done by the Liberal Democrats.