British Steel: No10 ‘confident’ it will secure materials to keep plant running April 14, 2025 The UK government is confident it will beat a race against time to keep the British Steel furnaces running after taking control of the plant from Chinese owners Jingye this weekend. Civil servants and steel workers were rushing to secure the raw materials to keep the Scunthorpe site’s furnaces going – which supply Network Rail [...]
London Stansted to submit planning application for expansion ‘in coming weeks’ April 14, 2025 Stansted Airport intends to submit plans to increase its passenger capacity to nearly 51m “within the coming weeks” after reporting a record season of winter passenger traffic. The London hub said it had recently concluded a consultation on the proposals, with the expansion expected to be completed by the 2040s. A record winter of traffic [...]
British Steel announces new interim leadership April 14, 2025 British Steel has announced the appointment of Allan Bell as interim chief executive after the government took over its Scunthorpe steelworks. Bell will take up the position with immediate effect, while Lisa Coulson has also been appointed chief commercial officer. Both are long-term employees of British Steel, with more than three decades of collective experience [...]
Demand for London offices hits post-financial crisis high April 14, 2025 Demand for office space in Greater London and the South East rose to its highest first-quarter level since the financial crisis in 2025, according to new data. Around 1.2m sq ft of space was let in London during the first quarter of 2025, up 39 per cent on the final quarter of 2024, according to [...]
US dollar weakens as de-dollarisation becomes ‘real, and frankly scary, prospect’ April 14, 2025 The dollar has fallen 0.7 per cent today, marking its fifth straight day of decline, as markets continue to reassess the currency’s position in the global economy. The DXY index, which tracks the dollar’s value against a basket of currencies, dropped to its lowest in three years in trading today. The dollar index has now fallen [...]
Wood Group shares soar following £242m Sidara bid April 14, 2025 Wood Group shares soared more than 13 per cent on Monday after the announcement of a £242m takeover bid from the UAE’s Sidara. The stock clawed back significant ground in early trading after a torrid start to the year that has seen it drop nearly 60 per cent amid concerns over Wood Group’s governance and [...]
UK house prices hit record high in April despite stamp duty changes April 14, 2025 The average UK house price rose 1.4 per cent in April despite fears of a market slowdown in the wake of changes to stamp duty. UK house prices hit a new record high of £377,182, according to Rightmove. Analysts said that lower mortgage rates have offset the impact of stamp duty changes and the typical [...]
Reeves unveils £500m support for tariff-affected small businesses April 13, 2025 Chancellor Rachel Reeves has launched a £500m plan to smaller businesses affected by US president Donald Trump’s tariffs. Run by the British Business Bank, the Growth Guarantee Scheme will now provide additional lending capacity for firms that will need support with cashflow issues due to changes in tariffs. Lending up to £2m per business group, [...]
MPs approve bid to take control of Scunthorpe steelworks April 12, 2025 MPs have approved plans to save British Steel’s Scunthorpe blast furnaces after an extraordinary sitting of the Commons on Saturday. Emergency legislation giving the government the power to instruct British Steel to keep the plant open passed the Commons unopposed. It will now be debated by the Lords as the Government attempts to get the [...]
Labour MP calls for action over Grangemouth oil refinery April 12, 2025 A Labour MP has urged the UK Government to intervene to help the Grangemouth oil refinery remain open, saying there are “striking similarities” between the plant there and the Scunthorpe steel plant. Brian Leishman said he hoped the UK Government would nationalise British Steel and take the plant at Scunthorpe “under Government control” – but [...]
