Business

Plans to “breathe fresh life into disadvantaged communities” across England have been announced as part of the government’s Levelling Up White Paper. Wolverhampton and Sheffield will be the first of 20 areas picked to benefit from a “radical new regeneration programme” launched by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC). The chosen locations

Downing Street will next week unveil a gender-balanced line-up of business advisers to Boris Johnson, which includes the bosses of some of Britain’s fastest-growing technology companies. Sky News has obtained the list of members of the prime minister’s new business council, which is expected to be published as early as Monday. Half of its 28

Home Secretary Priti Patel has approved the extradition of a British entrepreneur to the US to answer criminal fraud charges. But Mike Lynch’s lawyers say they will file an appeal at the High Court as they fight the order which was earlier signed by Ms Patel following a midnight deadline. It comes on the day

UK entrepreneur Mike Lynch has lost a multi-billion pound fraud action brought over the sale of software company Autonomy to Hewlett Packard (HP) in 2011. The High Court judge found that HP had “substantially” succeeded in its bitter civil case but indicated that the US firm would get considerably less than the $5bn it had

Britain’s cyber security centre has urged UK organisations to check their cyber defences because of concern about the potential for new Russian cyber attacks linked to tensions with Ukraine. The public-facing arm of the spy agency GCHQ encouraged everyone to read new guidance published on its website entitled: “Actions to take when the cyber threat

The competition watchdog has launched a wide-ranging investigation into the music streaming market. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) confirmed last October an intention to examine the sector but was yet to determine the full scope of its inquiry. It followed hot on the heels of a report by MPs the previous month that raised

The head of America’s central bank has declared there is “quite a lot of room to raise interest rates” as it stepped closer to a March hike. Jerome Powell, chair of the US Federal Reserve, made the remarks in a news conference after the bank declared that a hike would “soon be appropriate” – as

The chief executive of a major household energy supplier has cast doubt on whether the sector and government will be able to spare households from a huge spike in bills from April. Greg Jackson, the founder of Octopus Energy, used a letter to the three million households on its books to explain the options facing

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has taken an axe to its global growth forecasts while listing a string of threats to the economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. The world’s lender of last resort downgraded a prediction, made in October, for 4.9% growth in collective gross domestic product this year, saying it now expected a

Britons complained more about their treatment at the hands of businesses last year than any other on record, according to a long-running consumer survey. Issues with supply and service were most likely to cause trouble. A number of the issues were related to COVID-19, according to the Institute of Customer Service (ICS). The survey from

Wholesale gas costs have risen sharply while Bitcoin and stock market values have plunged further as tensions over Russia’s intentions concerning Ukraine add to the cocktail of concerns being juggled by global investors. The market volatility builds on heavy sell-offs that saw the US Nasdaq index come under particular pressure and endure its worst week

The quoted bid vehicle pursuing a takeover of M&C Saatchi has tabled a fresh offer which includes a partial cash alternative for investors in the London-listed advertising group. Sky News has learnt that AdvancedAdvT, which is backed by the technology entrepreneur Vin Murria and serial dealmaking group Marwyn, submitted a revised bid to the board

Dame Carolyn Fairbairn has joined the race to head Channel 4, the state-owned broadcaster, two years after leaving the CBI after a period of fractious ties between Britain’s biggest employers’ group and Boris Johnson’s administration. Sky News has learnt that Dame Carolyn is among a handful of contenders shortlisted to become Channel 4’s next chairman

The FTSE 100 has joined a global markets sell-off as it followed Wall Street into the red amid jitters over rate rises and the outlook for tech stocks. London’s leading share index fell by more than 100 points, or about 1.5%, while Germany’s Dax and France’s Cac 40 were each down by around 2%. The

People should “get back to work” after Plan B rules were eased, the business secretary has said. Kwasi Kwarteng extolled the benefits of office-based staff interacting directly as he called for a return to “some degree of normality”. The comments came after the government this week dropped working from home guidance that was reintroduced late

Plans for a new British-owned battery gigaplant in Northumberland have been boosted by the commitment of around £100m of government funds to the £3.8bn scheme. The Britishvolt project intends to manufacture power cells for 300,000 electric vehicle battery packs a year at a new factory on the site of the former Blyth Power Station. The

A cross-Channel power cable project has been rejected by the government despite pressure to bolster energy supplies in the face of an unprecedented surge in prices. Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng decided to dismiss Aquind’s plans to provide a new electricity link between Portsmouth and Normandy in France. The proposal was controversial as a company director,

The governor of the Bank of England has voiced “concern” that inflationary pressures in the UK economy could prove more stubborn than it expected. Andrew Bailey told a committee of MPs a key element of this was market forecasts since Christmas of higher than normal natural gas costs through 2023 as households and businesses grapple

Sky News analysis of new data shows that it is becoming increasingly difficult to buy a home, especially for people in the parts of the country on the lowest incomes. Rents are also rising, albeit at a more moderate pace, with the exception of London where prices are actually falling. The price of the average

Households in Britain could soon be spending more of their money on energy than any previous generation, including during the oil shocks of the 1970s and ’80s, according to Sky News analysis. If the energy price cap rises in line with current wholesale prices, by the end of the year the share of family expenditure