British Business Bank set on delivering Labour’s growth ambition June 28, 2025 Arguably one of the biggest winners from Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ latest spending splurge, the British Business Bank had its lending capacity beefed up and pledged to back the UK’s innovators with its expanded range. The bank had its funding capacity increased to £25.6bn in the Spending Review from near £15.6bn as it targets eight key [...]
What Invest 2035 will mean for UK professional services June 9, 2025 When the UK government announces its Invest 2035 on Wednesday, law and professional services will be a key component of its 10-year growth plan
Nissan: UK taxpayers to guarantee £1bn loan amid Sunderland plant uncertainty May 28, 2025 The UK taxpayer is to guarantee a £1bn loan to Nissan as part of a major restructuring of the struggling carmaker. The Japanese firm announced plans earlier this month to axe 20,000 jobs globally and shut down seven factories. Confirmation of the restructuring piled uncertainty onto the future of its Sunderland facility, which is the [...]
Small businesses ‘held back’ by £112bn of late payments May 14, 2025 Small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) are owed some £112bn in late payments, new research has suggested, with buyers “holding back” UK growth. Nearly 5.5m companies with fewer than 250 employees and modest revenues are seen as the “backbone” of the UK economy and key to unlocking growth. But new research by the Centre for Economics [...]
What a trade deal with India means for the UK May 7, 2025 The UK government is heralding a “new era” for British business: after three years of negotiations, a free trade agreement has been signed with India. This is the third agreement the UK has brokered since Brexit and it is also the biggest of them all, given India is the largest single economy that the UK [...]
Ministers call in HSBC, Natwest and Lloyds bosses for small business lending talks May 6, 2025 Top bank bosses were summoned for talks with ministers on Tuesday after a government report revealed that small businesses were having difficulty securing loans. Senior executives from HSBC, Natwest and Lloyds will be in attendance for the meeting, which will be chaired by minister for small business Gareth Thomas. A report from the Department of [...]
ONS set to weigh up cost to public purse of British Steel rescue April 29, 2025 The UK’s official statistics body has begun an assessment of the cost of running British Steel since the loss-making business was rescued by the government, City AM can reveal, in what could prove to be another blow to Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ fiscal targets. The UK’s top statistician Professor Sir Ian Diamond said the Office for [...]
What was the Office of the Regulator of Community Interest Companies? March 17, 2025 The Office of the Regulator of Community Interest Companies is the latest (and perhaps the most obscure) victim piled upon the government’s bonfire of quangos. First there was the Payment Systems Regulator, which was rolled into the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Then, Sir Keir Starmer announced his most radical health reform yet by shuttering NHS [...]
Workers rights: Don’t let ‘rogue’ firms undercut good employers, MPs urge March 3, 2025 Changes to the government’s workers’ rights package should be made to ensure “rogue firms” don’t undercut Britain’s best employers, MPs have urged. The Employment Rights Bill, which is currently making its way through Parliament, should have loopholes closed to avoid some companies exploiting work insecurity, the House of Commons Business and Trade Committee (BTC) has [...]
MP seeks referral for Vodafone to covid corruption commissioner January 9, 2025 Tory MP Sir John Hayes has called for Vodafone to be referred to the Covid Corruption Commissioner over allegations listed in a multi-million-pound lawsuit