Why did Santander buy TSB? July 3, 2025 Santander might have hoped its takeover of TSB would make waves across the banking industry, but analysts have dubbed it a more modest splash. The deal, which is set to be worth £2.9bn when closed in 2026, will add TSB’s five million customers, £34bn in mortgages and £35bn in deposits to Santander’s portfolio as well [...]
Watch: Labour’s ‘total clusterf**k’ July 3, 2025 It wasn’t supposed to be like this. Exactly a year ago the Labour government swept into office promising stability, competence and economic growth. So why, on the one year anniversary of their victory, does it feel like their dying days? This has been a pretty extraordinary week in British politics and it’s a week that [...]
Consumer spending drives ‘healthy pickup’ for UK businesses July 3, 2025 Consumer and business spending has led to a “healthy pickup” in business activity, fresh research has suggested, despite concerns income had been squeezed by higher taxes and energy bills. The Labour government was recently dealt a blow as the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed the UK economy contracted by 0.3 per cent in April, [...]
Bensons for Beds: ‘It would have been easy for staff to lose heart’ July 3, 2025 Bensons for Beds has admitted it “would have been easy” for its employees to “lose heart” during its latest financial year which saw the chain battle a worsening retail environment. The Lancashire-headquartered business paid tribute to its more than 1,800 members of staff for what it called a “strong set of results”. Those results, for [...]
Currys shares soar after retailer posts growth across divisions July 3, 2025 Electricals retailer Currys recorded a jump in cash flow as the firm out-performed competitors with growth across in-store and online sales. Currys posted profit before tax for the year ending May 3 2025 of £162m, falling in line with expectations of a 37 per cent increase pencilled in earlier this year. Net cash – the [...]
Battersea power station lights the way for regenerating our high streets July 3, 2025 Mixed-use development, funded by private capital like Battersea Power Station can bring life back to high streets hammered by Labour’s tax rises, says Jamila Robertson Tomorrow marks the first anniversary of Labour’s landslide victory and their year-long opportunity to attain the growth they promised the electorate. I have written extensively about the damage decisions made [...]
A year of hard Labour: UK plc’s verdict on Starmer and Reeves July 3, 2025 Just a year ago, Keir Starmer’s Labour party won an historic general election victory having promised to be “the most pro-business government this country has seen’. Ali Lyon sees whether industry and business leaders feel the party has met that vow 12 months on. As some of the great and good of Britain’s storied business [...]
Mark Kleinman: BP risks being left a Shell without new chair July 3, 2025 BP risks being left a Shell without new chair A not-so-supermajor? Speculation about a Shell tilt at BP to establish a £200bn oil and gas behemoth has been running wild since a Bloomberg News report in May that the Anglo-Dutch group was “studying” such a move. Last week, that speculation lurched into overdrive, when the [...]
Labour versus the bond markets, businesses and ballots July 3, 2025 Birthdays aren’t best celebrated on a hangover but Labour’s senior leaders will be waking up with a painful headache this morning after haemorrhaging support from both bond markets and backbenchers. As dozens of Labour MPs discovered the level of influence they held over whips in parliament, unsympathetic bond traders flexed their own powers as medium-term [...]
Bank of England policymaker urges faster interest rate cuts July 2, 2025 Bank of England dove Alan Taylor has urged his colleagues on the Monetary Policy Committee to vote for faster interest rate cuts to allow a “soft landing” on the inflation path. Bank officials voted to hold interest rates at 4.25 per cent in June, with inflation bouncing back up to 3.4 per cent in April [...]