Isa explainer: should you go for cash or stocks & shares? February 23, 2023 Savers have just over four weeks to make the most of this year’s tax-free savings allowance. We look at the different types of ISA available and how to find the one that’s right for you. Individual Savings Accounts, or Isas, were introduced by the government to encourage more people to save and allow savers to [...]
Drax: Biomass energy giant which received £6bn from taxpayer reports 84 per cent earnings hike February 23, 2023 Power generation firm Drax is the latest winner from the energy price crisis, with its earnings up 84 per cent in the last 12 months to £731m. Drax, which received £6bn in green energy subsidies from British taxpayers over the last four-decades, was the latest energy giant to announce bumper profits; recent announcements include Shell [...]
Mark Kleinman: British Steel, Freetrade’s Future and Investment Association grumbles February 23, 2023 I wasn’t wrong a few weeks ago when I wrote here that sorting out Britain’s financially troubled steel industry would ultimately be someone other than Grant Shapps’ mess to clean up. What I didn’t anticipate then was that just a month later Kemi Badenoch would become the fourth business secretary in six months given the [...]
Britain passing up £18bn economic boost due to ‘failure’ to build enough homes February 23, 2023 Britain is passing up on a near £18bn economic boost due to the government and businesses’ “failure to build enough new” homes, a former Tory housing minister has claimed today in a new report. Brandon Lewis, ex-housing and planning minister, in a foreword to a report by think tank Policy Exchange said decades of weak [...]
UK public services struggling despite near 70-year tax high, report warns February 23, 2023 UK public services can no longer match people’s expectations despite the tax burden being on course to hit a 70-year high, a think tank report has warned. Government decisions to date have done “little to shift the dial,” the Institute for Government (IfG) and CIPFA warned today in their latest performance tracker on the state-run [...]
Let’s be honest, American taxpayers are doing us a huge favour with green subsidies February 23, 2023 US President Joe Biden might think playing a trade war with the EU over green subsidies is a good idea. For our part, the UK should stay out of it and reap the benefits, writes Harrison Griffiths
We didn’t know it, but it was 2015 not 2008 that changed the housing market forever February 23, 2023 2015 was the year when the "demand and supply" argument in housing was won and lost. Supply won the argument, because in order to build more, we have to drive more affordability first, writes Giles Mackay
FTSE 100 close: Wall Street sell off spreads to London pushing premier index further away from 8,000 point mark February 22, 2023 London’s FTSE 100 was drawn into a sell off on Wall Street last night, pushing it further below the 8,000 point threshold today. The capital’s premier index fell 0.59 to 7,930.64 points, while the domestically-focused mid-cap FTSE 250 index, which is more aligned with the health of the UK economy, slid 0.82 per cent to [...]
Inflation bites into profits of Actimel owner Danone with sales up 13 per cent to £23.7bn February 22, 2023 French food giant Danone, producer of Actimel, has reported a full year increase in sales but admitted that soaring inflation and a hike in costs had impacted its profit margin. The food manufacturer said sales increased to €27.7bn (£23.7bn) in 2022, up 13.9 per cent on a reported basis and 7.8 per cent on a [...]
British Steel confirms 260 jobs at risk amid coke oven closures February 22, 2023 British Steel announced 260 jobs are at risk amid proposals to close its coke ovens at its plant in Scunthorpe. The firm said the UK remains “uncompetitive” compared to rival markets with energy and carbon costs “some of the highest” globally. It said it had seen a £190m rise last year and the facilities were [...]