Business

The owners of the Chicago Cubs are drafting in a heavyweight investment bank as they attempt to salvage their bid to buy Chelsea Football Club. Sky News has learnt that the Ricketts family and Ken Griffin, the Citadel hedge fund billionaire, are in talks to appoint Lazard to advise on their offer for the Stamford

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has said the boss of P&O Ferries should quit for his “brazen, breathtaking arrogance” in admitting “breaking the law” in sacking staff. The cabinet minister also said he would change the law to force a U-turn and prevent the ferry operator paying below minimum wage to its crews. It comes after

A string of bidders for Chelsea Football Club including the former US ambassador to the UK have been eliminated from the £3bn auction of last season’s Champions League winners as the hunt intensifies to find Roman Abramovich’s successor as owner. Sky News has learnt that a number of bidders including Woody Johnson, owner of the

Rishi Sunak has defended his spring statement amid much criticism as he argued the UK is recovering from its biggest shock in 300 years. The chancellor said he knows families are struggling with the rising cost of living and that is “why I announced a tax plan which delivers the biggest net cut in personal

Budgets – and let’s make no bones about it, today’s Spring Statement was significant enough to qualify as a budget – tend to follow a time-honoured pattern. The chancellor unveils his measures, makes a big noise about them in the House of Commons, and then – sometimes over a few hours, sometimes over a few

A change in the law signed off by former Conservative minister Chris Grayling cleared the way for P&O Ferries to legally sack 800 staff last week without telling the government, a leading maritime lawyer has told Sky News. Legislation to protect employees in the UK was amended by Mr Grayling in 2018 so that the

The annual rate of inflation has hit 6.2% as the chancellor prepares to outline how he will help households with soaring living costs in his Spring Statement 2022. The consumer prices index (CPI) increased in February from 5.5% in January and remains at the highest level in 30 years, according to the Office for National

The UK supply arm of Russia’s state-owned gas firm Gazprom is expected to be placed under taxpayer control within days as customers attempt to flee the firm in retaliation for the invasion of Ukraine. Gazprom Energy supplies over a fifth of gas used by commercial and public sector customers in the UK including companies like

800 P&O Ferries workers fired suddenly last week are only being given redundancy pay on the condition they sign Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs), according to the Transport Secretary. Grant Shapps told the House of Commons that the company is using the agreements to try and “keep the employees quiet” while behaving in a “shameful and unacceptable

The Indian-born businessman who owns the Sacramento Kings basketball team has joined forces with the former British Airways chairman Sir Martin Broughton in his effort to buy Chelsea Football Club. Sky News has learnt that Vivek Ranadive, who made a fortune from the technology industry, has agreed to make a minority investment in the Premier

Rishi Sunak is pledging a £5.5bn crackdown on Whitehall waste as he faces pressure to tackle the cost of living crisis in his mini-budget. Ahead of his spring statement on Wednesday, the chancellor claims the efficiency savings will both curb inflation and fund vital public services. “During these challenging times it’s vital that every single

P&O Ferries has restarted a limited service two days after sacking 800 crew members without notice in what it says is a cost-cutting exercise. The Dubai-owned travel firm said the Liverpool to Dublin ferry set sail on Saturday morning and has now resumed a normal service. The company’s other ships are still tied up as

The 9pm deadline for bids to buy Chelsea has passed, with consortiums led by Nick Candy, the Ricketts family and Sir Martin Broughton and Lord Sebastian Coe among the bidders. The sale has come amid UK and EU sanctions on Roman Abramovich following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with Chelsea also under a number of restrictions.

The London property entrepreneur Nick Candy is lining up backing from two South Korean groups as he prepares to lodge a takeover bid for Chelsea Football Club. Sky News has learnt that Hana Financial Group, a major Seoul-based lender, and C&P Sports, a sports management firm, were on Friday in discussions about joining Mr Candy’s

Two and a half million households with children will be in fuel poverty once the new energy price cap comes into effect on 1 April, according to estimates from the End Fuel Poverty Coalition. That’s equivalent to two in five households, and it rises to more than half if we look just at single-parent homes.

All remaining COVID travel measures, including the Passenger Locator Form and tests for unvaccinated arrivals, have now ended in the UK. A range of “contingency measures” will be kept in reserve so ministers can take “swift and proportionate action” if needed to tackle new variants, according to the Department for Transport. It is understood that