FTSE 100 close: London index dips below 8,000 point mark on interest rate hike fears February 21, 2023 London’s FTSE 100 closed below the 8,000 point today driven lower by a broad sell off fuelled by investors sweating over more interest rate rises from central banks. The capital’s premier index slipped 0.46 per cent to 7,977.74 points, while the domestically-focused mid-cap FTSE 250 index, which is more aligned with the health of the [...]
Explainer: How the Conservatives lost the farmers’ vote February 21, 2023 The Conservatives have lost Britain’s farmers. In December, support for the Tories among farmers dropped to 42 per cent. For the first time in living memory, less than 50 per cent of the farming community said they would vote Conservative if there was an election tomorrow. In December 2021, that number was 57 per cent. [...]
Rent controls will only help those already in homes and hobble everyone else February 21, 2023 Sadiq Khan thinks rent controls are a great idea for London. They're not: they would reduce investment and therefore supply in a private rented sector that's already struggling, writes Ian Fletcher
Sainsbury’s cuts prices as supermarkets battle to provide cheap food in cost of living crisis February 20, 2023 Sainsbury’s has become the latest British supermarket to try and reduce the price of their products, after it revealed it will launch discount £2 fruit and vegetable boxes. Sainsbury’s said that its ‘Taste Me, Don’t Waste Me’ boxes will include a variety of surplus fresh fruit and vegetables with the boxes being sold at a [...]
Prepayment customers twice as likely to go into debt, new data reveals February 20, 2023 People with prepayment meters in their homes have been nearly twice as likely to dip into debt due to the cost of living crisis than others.
Audit reform plans ‘ready to go’ but government delays now holding UK back, accountancy chief warns February 20, 2023 The UK government’s failure to overhaul the country’s audit sector risks seeing Britain lose its position as a world-leading investment hub, the head of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales has warned. ICAEW chief Michael Izza told City A.M. continued delays to the UK’s planned reshaping of the country’s audit sector could see foreign investors [...]
Lloyds Bank profit poised to be held back by setting aside millions to cope with cost of living defaults February 20, 2023 A build up of reserves to cope with an expected jump in loan defaults and a slow down in the mortgage market is expected to have held back profits at Lloyds Bank last year, results out on Wednesday could show. Britain’s biggest mortgage lender is poised to be the latest bank to underwhelm markets in [...]
Vault Festival, London’s take on Edinburgh Fringe, desperately needs our help February 20, 2023 Just under Waterloo Station, you'll find a venue which for eight weeks every year creates a fertile ground of comedy, cabaret and the dramatic arts. The Vault Festival has brought us comic relief, but now it's being turfed out of its unique venue and needs Londoners to save it, writes Adam Bloodworth.
Buy-now pay-later complaints jump as shoppers rely on providers amid cost of living crunch February 19, 2023 Shoppers are filing more complaints about buy-now pay-later (BNPL) firms to the UK's financial complaints body as shoppers turn to firms like Klarna and Zilch to fund their spending in the cost of living crisis.
Week ahead: UK January borrowing bill to hit £5bn to pay for cost of living support, experts predict February 19, 2023 Britain is expected to have borrowed around £5bn last month, largely to pay for household energy support, new figures out from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) this week are poised to show. The difference between what the government spends and takes in tax revenue – the deficit – is likely to have been kept [...]