Shapps ends flagship small business digital support scheme December 15, 2022 Grant Shapps has pulled the plug on the ‘Help to Grow: Digital programme’ following lacklustre participation and rising costs, sparking a backlash from industry bodies. In a statement on Thursday, Shapps who currently serves as the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy said Government “cannot justify the continued cost” of the “Digital” [...]
Bank of England sends interest rates to 14-year high but slows hike cycle to 50 points December 15, 2022 The Bank of England today sent interest rates to their highest level since October 2008, although it slowed the pace of increases to avoid unnecessarily intensifying a looming recession by squeezing households and businesses’ finances. Threadneedle Street’s monetary policy committee (MPC) voted 6-3 in favour of a 50 basis point rise to 3.5 per cent, [...]
Ofwat hikes water bills for businesses December 15, 2022 Business customers face a 6.4 per cent hike to their dual water and wastewater bills, confirmed watchdog Ofwat
Brits face advertising blitz with Government energy saving campaign December 14, 2022 Brits face an advertising blitz over Christmas from the Government, urging them to save energy by turning down boilers and radiators.
Food inflation hits Christmas dinner as fresh turkey prices up by 45 per cent December 14, 2022 Brits shopping for the key groceries for their Christmas dinner are facing eye-watering price increases, as the price of fresh turkey has rocketed by as much to 45 per cent. Shortages arising from an outbreak of bird flu now mean that fresh turkey prices have soared in recent weeks, while choices for consumers are also [...]
HSBC confirms plans to stop funding new oil and gas fields December 14, 2022 HSBC has revealed it will stop funding new oil and gas fields, as part of a wider update of its environmental policies.
The Christmas Quiz: Twelve questions to test your grey matter December 14, 2022 Roll up, roll up, for the City A.M. quiz in association with Deloitte's economics team. Twelve questions, all (just about) related to business and economics
‘At last!’: City cheers signs of UK inflation passing its peak December 14, 2022 The City has cheered fresh figures out today that revealed this year’s historic inflation surge may have finally turned a corner. Prices accelerated 10.7 per cent over the year to November, down from a 41-year high rate of 11.1 per cent in the previous month, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The fall [...]
If we concede to the unions, Britain will find itself in a dizzying wage-price spiral December 14, 2022 A wage price spiral. We have not experienced one for so long that for most people the phrase might just as well be written in the Old English of a thousand years ago. It is, well, sort of comprehensible but only just. But such spirals can take hold with terrifying swiftness. Towards the end of [...]
Blockchain-based product passports could be the solution to luxury goods counterfeiting December 13, 2022 Protokol CEO Lars Rensing explains why blockchain provides an effective solution to forgeries in the luxury goods market.