The UK economy is going to grow less than expected this year – with the International Monetary Fund warning the country will remain the second worst performer in the G7. Newly revised forecasts indicate the UK’s gross domestic product will expand by just 0.5% in 2024 – a slight downgrade from previous estimates in January
Business
The future of Nick Read, the embattled Post Office chief executive, will be determined this week with the publication of a report triggered by whistleblowing allegations about the conduct of the state-owned company’s bosses. Sky News has learnt that an independent report compiled by Marianne Tutin, a barrister at Devereux Chambers, has been submitted to
An arm of Standard Chartered, the FTSE-100 bank, is taking a stake in a British company set up with the objective of providing ethical financial products to customers. Sky News understands that SC Ventures will announce on Monday that it is injecting an unspecified multimillion-dollar sum into Algbra, which counts a host of illustrious names
The former JD Sports Fashion boss who presided over its soaring stock market valuation is taking a stake in Applied Nutrition, the fast-growing sports supplement maker, as it steps up preparations for a bumper flotation. Sky News has learnt that Peter Cowgill, who left the high street giant just under two years ago, is acquiring
Getir, one of the world’s largest grocery delivery platforms, is in talks about a radical restructuring just two years after it was valued at nearly $12bn (£9.6bn). Sky News has learnt that Getir, which was founded in Turkey and now operates in five markets including the UK, is examining a number of options as part
Three of the “big four” boiler manufacturers for the UK cannot guarantee customers will be refunded the so-called “boiler tax” that companies added to new boilers earlier this year. In January boiler-makers hiked costs by up to an extra £120 per boiler to cover anticipated penalties for a green scheme – which has now been
By Howard Bloom A story broke in Newsweek magazine April 10th claiming that a study in a high prestige medical journal of the American Medical Association, JAMA Psychiatry, revealed that teenagers who spend a lot of time playing video games and who use their computers heavily are more likely to have a psychotic episode. In the study Newsweek was reporting on,
Poor software and bias toward making only small, sequential changes is one of the reasons economic forecasters at the Bank of England failed to predict and prepare for the cost of living crisis, brought about by high inflation, according to a “once in a generation” review. The review announced last year was undertaken by the
A former Post Office boss has said he wanted “most strongly” to record his personal apology to branch managers impacted by the Horizon IT scandal. As managing director of the group from 2006 to 2010, Alan Cook was at the helm when about 200 prosecutions were brought against subpostmasters. Hundreds of people were wrongly convicted
A former Post Office executive who celebrated the conviction of a pregnant sub-postmaster has said sorry. Former managing director David Smith made the apology to the Post Office Horizon IT inquiry, which is investigating who knew what and when about the faulty accounting software that ruined lives and led to the conviction of hundreds of
Hundreds of steel workers are set to go on strike over the proposed closure of Port Talbot’s blast furnaces. Unite the Union announced the result of its strike ballot on Thursday but walkout dates are yet to be confirmed. Around 1,500 workers based in Port Talbot and Newport voted in favour of strikes. It will
The investor trying to take control of Everton Football Club has pushed back its target date for completing the deal as it scrambles to raise hundreds of millions of pounds to fund it. Sky News has learnt that 777 Partners has told stakeholders including the Premier League and prospective lenders that it now expects its
China ramped up coal power capacity last year, according to new analysis, despite a pledge to “strictly control” the dirtiest fossil fuel. The country added 47.4 Gigawatts (GW) of new coal power in 2023, more than double the amount added by the rest of the world combined. It raises concerns that gains in clean power,
More than seven million people in the UK were struggling with bills and credit repayments in January, according to a financial watchdog. The number is down significantly on the 10.9 million people in the same position in January 2023. However, it’s still above the 5.8 million recorded in February 2020, before the pandemic and the
Post Office victims campaigner Alan Bates has told the inquiry into the Horizon IT scandal that it was “pretty obvious” the organisation “were after me – one way or another”. Mr Bates was also described as “unmanageable” by a former senior figure at the organisation, documents disclosed at the inquiry into the Horizon IT scandal
Barclays has launched a legal challenge over a ruling that it unfairly paid commission to a car finance broker, underlining growing anxiety among Britain’s biggest lenders about the potential scale of an industry-wide compensation bill. Sky News has learnt that Barclays is mounting a judicial review against the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) over a decision