Budget: Octopus boss Greg Jackson hails cuts to energy bills November 26, 2025 Octopus Energy boss Greg Jackson has hailed the cuts to energy bills announced in today’s Budget, as the Chancellor slashed multiple renewable levies. Jackson welcomed the energy bill cuts as a “positive step” as Rachel Reeves described energy costs as “one of the greatest drivers of the rising cost of living”. Reeves said she will scrap [...]
Budget: Reeves introduces ‘permanently lower’ taxes for retail and hospitality November 26, 2025 Chancellor Rachel Reeves has confirmed she will introduce permanently lower business rates for retail, hospitality and leisure firms, paid for by higher levies on big properties. Retailers have been crying out for business rates reform for years, with concerns that the tax creates an unfair playing field between high street and online firms, which only owe [...]
Retail confidence falls at its fastest rate since 2008 November 25, 2025 Confidence amongst retailers has dropped at its fastest rate in 17 years as firms become increasingly pessimistic about their fortunes amid high taxes and low spending. Retailers expect demand to remain subdued heading into December, with sales set to fall again – albeit at a somewhat slower pace, according to the CBI’s latest quarterly Distributive [...]
What sport wants from the Budget: UK industry leaders share hopes and fears November 24, 2025 Ahead of the Autumn Budget on Wednesday, City AM asked decision-makers from across the UK’s sport sector what they are hoping to hear from Chancellor Rachel Reeves. UK Athletics – Jack Buckner, CEO Major sporting events drive sport. They make us feel good, but they also are profitable. They generate income. It’s challenging putting on [...]
Family businesses on brink after inheritance tax crackdown November 19, 2025 The damage wrought by the Chancellor’s inheritance tax crackdown on family firms has been laid bare by fresh research that found over a third are on the brink of closure before the end of the parliament. A poll of family business owners found nearly two thirds of the UK’s 4.8m family businesses are worried about [...]
COP30 must move beyond doomsday narrative November 19, 2025 Green campaigners insist that emissions cuts must come first for the poor - when what they really need are jobs, food and an escape from poverty.
COP out: Big businesses swerve climate conference November 18, 2025 COP 26 in Glasgow represented a high-water mark for companies flouting their ambitious transition plans and lofty climate credentials. This year’s summit could not be more different, writes Ali Lyon. Reclining on stage at the 26th COP summit in his native Glasgow, Alan Jope was at home both literally and spiritually. The Unilever chief executive [...]
Black Friday morphs into Black November November 18, 2025 ‘Black Friday’ has been around since the 1950s, when Philadelphia police to describe the chaotic day after Thanksgiving. Since picked up by retailers, it has now morphed into a crucial day of shop discounts in the retail calendar – and (for better or worse) become synonymous with online giant Amazon in the process. But this [...]
It’s time for BBC Sport to ditch the corporation and go it alone November 13, 2025 The BBC lurches from existential crisis to existential crisis, and yet fundamental questions about its remit and structure are rarely addressed during the frenzied bouts of self-flagellation that Britain’s public broadcaster indulges in at times such as these. Although its latest crisis – widely described as its greatest since the last greatest one – has [...]
Forget Russia, China and North Korea – Britain’s no 1 enemy is bureaucracy November 13, 2025 Ukraine has proved that the side that can innovate fastest and deliver lethality at the lowest costs will win, writes Blythe Crawford During this week of Remembrance, as we honour those who gave their lives for our security and values, Europe faces a stark awakening. Russia has escalated missile and drone assaults across Ukraine, struck [...]